Likewise, Clancy Brown finally gets to have some fun as Salvatore Maroni unleashed, at least for a while. A veteran of B-movies and shows, Brown knows how to make the most of limited screen time and doesn’t disappoint here, roaring into the scene to hand Oz a long-deserved beatdown. The scene also gives Oz a chance to show off his skills as a master manipulator. When he starts talking about smell of Sal’s burning wife and son, Oz distracts the stronger man long enough to win the fight.
Although the face-off between Sal and Oz has more than enough delights in its brutality and in the joy of watching Brown and Colin Farrell fight over the scenery they chew, the moment doesn’t do much thematically. In fact, that’s been the problem with The Penguin all along, as highlighted by the flashbacks.
“Top Hat” begins and ends with a look at Oz as a child in the 1980s. As Frances (played by Emily Meade in flashback) works hard to make ends meet, Oz feels neglected and jealous of his siblings, one older and one younger. Oz turns a game of hide and go seek into an opportunity to murder his brothers by locking them in a sewer and leaving them to drown.
On a plot level, all of this makes sense, and is (somewhat) true to the Penguin’s modern comic book origins. But on a thematic level, the flashbacks add nothing. Oz has always been cruel and manipulative? Oz caused his mother’s pain? At his core, Oz is just a middle child who wants attention?
As has so often been the case with Oz’s storylines, he’s been the least interesting part of his own show, despite Farrell giving it his all. When compared to Sofia’s rich and entertaining rise, one cannot help but wonder why the show isn’t called “Sofia” or “Gigante” (because IP and branding, we know, we know).
Yet, in light of the history of women in refrigerators, maybe The Penguin‘s focus on Sofia is a good thing. Not only does it relegate Oz to other-the-top comic relief, where he works best (Oz even repeats a memorable line from The Batman here), but it also draws attention to the way women get ignored, even when they take the name “Gigante,” even when they’re the best part of the show.
