The Penguin Season 1 Finale: The Real Reason He Broke Down

Well, that was bleak. HBO's The Penguin wraps its first season not with a victory lap, but with a cold shrug and a dance macabre. If you were hoping for catharsis, you wandered into the wrong crime story.

The finale: Oz gets everything he wants, and it is horrifying

Spun out of Matt Reeves' The Batman, the series has tracked Colin Farrell's Oswald 'Oz' Cobblepot clawing his way up Gotham's food chain. The finale makes it crystal clear who he really is. After murdering his own brothers and plenty of other obstacles, he is still obsessively tethered to the one person he can never truly have back: his mother.

Earlier, when Oz refused to admit to what he had become, Frances stabbed him with a broken bottle. He still dragged her along anyway. Later, after she suffers a stroke that leaves her unable to move or speak, he installs her in a penthouse like a trophy no one asked for. Years before, she had told him to kill her if she could no longer care for herself. Instead, he denies her mercy and keeps her alive, trapped. A single tear slides down her cheek — the quietest scream in the episode.

While all that emotional rot is festering, Cristin Milioti's Sofia puts a bounty on Oz's head. He counters by flipping Sebastian Hady to his side and getting Sofia arrested. Then comes the real shock: he strangles Victor 'Vic' Aguilar — the one guy who actually had his back — and tosses Vic's ID into the river. There is your new king of Gotham.

The dance, the dress, the signal

Just when things seem like they cannot get any darker, Eve returns dressed as Frances, right down to the outfit from the night she took Oz dancing — the same night Rex was supposed to kill him. Oz, now fully wearing the Penguin persona, asks his 'Ma' for the one thing he has been chasing forever: approval.

"I am proud of you. I knew my beautiful boy would do it."

They keep dancing while the Bat-Signal lights up the sky. The message is pretty simple: Gotham might finally get some peace and quiet — at least for a minute — but it will not come cheap.

So... did Oz cry?

Not at the very end. But he does look glassy-eyed as he kills Vic. Right before Oz tightens his grip, Vic tells him he is grateful they met. Oz responds by ending him, then erasing him with a quick flick of an ID into the water. Brutal.

Why the near-tears? Take your pick: Vic was the closest thing Oz had to a friend, which made him a liability. Keeping attachments is a weakness when you want to run a city, and Oz has finally embraced the kind of ruthless paranoia that does not allow for sentiment. Or, if you want to be generous, that flicker in his eyes is the realization that he has outlived or betrayed literally everyone who ever cared about him. Either way, it is the look of a man who has chosen power over anything human.

Season 2: what is actually happening

• A new profile of DC Studios in Bloomberg says The Penguin Season 2 is in the works (picked up via ComicBookMovie.com).
• This was originally conceived as a one-and-done, but the critical and fan response cracked the door open for more.
• Showrunner Lauren LeFranc told The Hollywood Reporter earlier this year that Season 2 cannot arrive until after Matt Reeves' The Batman Part II because of how tightly the stories connect.
• Expect more Gotham regulars next time — Catwoman was teased at the end of Season 1, and Robin is on the speculation board.
• Colin Farrell will be back. Everyone else is a question mark for now.
• The Batman Part II is dated for October 2027, so pencil in The Penguin Season 2 for sometime after that.

The Penguin Season 1 is streaming on HBO.