by Oz Cobb has always been a bit cagey about his brothers in The Penguin, and in episode 7 we find out exactly how they died – and it’s gruesome.
The Penguin has already changed a few things about the iconic Batman villain. For starters, his name isn’t Oswald Cobblepot, he doesn’t wear a monocle and top hat, and unlike in the comics, he had two brothers: Jack and Benny.
Earlier in the series, Oz told Victor that they were “lost for the city,” implying that they had been killed in the Riddler’s attacks. However, he bit Victor’s head off when he spoke to his mother about his brothers and told him that he ‘had no right’.
In other words, there was clearly a story to be told about their fate, and episode 7 looks back in time to the day they died.
The penguin killed his brothers
HBOWhen he was a child, Oz locked his brothers in an underground sewer during a storm. As the rain poured down on Gotham, the sewers filled up and no one could hear them scream before they drowned.
Oz was the middle child (Jack was 15 and Benny was 10 when they died). However, it is clear that he always felt like the more responsible brother of the three; more specifically, he cared most about his mother and wanted to spend all his time helping her. He also idolized Rex Calabrese, the neighborhood gangster.
Oz’s mother asks her three boys to go outside while she works in the apartment, and they watch Rex and his men beat up a man on the street. He gives Jack a $50 bill and asks about Francis, but in Jack’s eyes Rex is not a good person – something Oz strongly disagrees with (remember, in the first episode he told Alberto Falcone how much he admired Rex and wanted to be known). as someone who helped people in the same way he did).
Before heading home, they play a game of “flash tag” in the underground railway tunnels. Oz gets to ‘it’ first, so he counts to 10 and tries to find them. He finds them hiding in the sewer, but he can’t climb down because of his club foot. “Damn it guys, you know it’s hard for me to get down there,” he shouts.
Jack tries to apologize, but Oz doesn’t listen. Instead, he closes the door to the sewer… which cannot be opened from the inside. He walks home alone, and when his mother asks where his brothers went, he lies and says they went to the movies.
He sits with Francis and watches a movie, occasionally watching the rain drip through the window, knowing that his brothers are still trapped underground. Meanwhile, Jack and Benny bang on the door and beg Oz (or whoever) to release them.
Their cries fall on deaf ears. Their screams are eventually muffled by the sound of underwater gurgling, and soon the sewers become silent.
The deaths of Oz’s brothers prove that he is a monster
HBOThe Penguin has portrayed Oz as a somewhat tragic, undoubtedly villainous character; he walks with a limp, everyone doubts him and makes fun of him, and all he wants is to be the man who respects everyone and supports his mother.
He’s also done (sort of) nice things for people. Vic tried to steal his Maserati rims, and instead of getting revenge, he gave him more money, power, and purpose than ever before. He takes care of all the men who work for him and keeps his Bliss operation running. I also believe he would have happily allied with Sofia if Salvatore’s wife hadn’t bothered him.
But here’s the difference: Oz is a bad person capable of good things, and Sofia is a good person capable of bad things. Sofia killed people (including her entire family), but they betrayed her and left her in Arkham while they protected the patriarch, who happened to be a serial killer.
She captured Oz’s mother in episode 7, and while she was certainly tempted, she didn’t hurt her. Once she learned of Francis’ condition and visited her cousin Gia in Brookside, she saw to some extent the error of her actions.
Oz is broken and angry at his core. No peak is ever high enough and no deal is ever set in stone. Even as Salvatore dies of a heart attack, he proclaims that he “beat him” and litters his corpse with bullets out of spite.
It didn’t start after his brothers died. His mother is not to blame. He was a clinical backstabber from the start, and while I’m sure he regrets his brother’s death, it doesn’t change who he is: a bad guy.
Stay up to date with our release schedule for The Penguin, find out more about Magpie, whether Robert Pattinson will star in The Penguin, and why Dr. Julian Rush might be a secret Batman villain, and read our list of the best superhero movies of all time.
