Warning: SPOILERS for The Penguin Episode 4: “Cent'Anni” and Episode 5: “Homecoming” are in play. If you haven’t watched yet, you’ve been warned.
One of the latest hits on the 2024 TV schedule is, without question, HBO’s The Penguin. If you ask me, the most recent episodes have started to bank even harder on the mad ascent to power of Cristin Miloti’s Sofia Gigante (nee Falcone). Just as bespoke as her reclaiming her mother’s last name, the method in which she used to dispatch a handful of The Penguin’s cast makes a very specific statement of its own, one that showrunner Lauren LeFranc shared with us while we were still swimming in its wake.
Why A Gas Attack Was The Logical Choice For Sofia’s ‘Cent’Anni’ Murder Spree
I had the absolute delight to attend not only The Penguin’s New York Comic-Con panel, but also take part in a roundtable experience with members of the cast and Ms. LeFranc. In sitting down with the woman who has given the world another piece of appointment television to keep up, this episode in particular was a prime topic for discussion.
You could say that the pivotal bloodletting of the Falcone Family Dinner equates to one of Game of Thrones’ most gruesome deaths; more specifically the Red Wedding. However, as Lauren LeFranc told CinemaBlend, this cocktail of symbolism and opportunity made it all possible:
We knew she needed to take 'em out in one fell swoop, so there's only so many options for that. She couldn't go around like, well she could hypothetically go around silently knifing [her family], or use a gun. But we're like, ‘It has to be something that feels a little poetic in that moment, that feels sly, like her character. … They were all there housed together, so she took that opportunity and ran with it. But we went with gassing felt right. And also you get the gas mask image with the dress and that combination. I think even as Sophia was unpredictable before, now it's like a whole other level. Like, you don't know what she's gonna do next.
Lauren LeFranc - CinemaBlend
As you’d remember from the end of “Cent’Anni,” Sofia disowns the Falcone name after learning her mother planned to leave father Carmine (Mark Strong), only to be killed before she had the chance. In a move that shot her almost immediately to the top of the chain of command, Ms. Gigante kills almost everyone at the dinner table she addresses with her big speech.
Though I’m kind of surprised that Cristin Miloti’s “full body chills” wearing her Arkham Asylum costume weren’t also present when strolling around the Falcone Mansion in that rather imposing gas mask. This DC spinoff’s fourth chapter was a pivotal one for the woman once known as Sofia Falcone, as it allowed her to finally snuff out her voices of opposition. As she's doing throughout the entire run so far, Ms. Milioti's portrayal has done so with style.
After watching the events during her incarceration at Arkham Asylum, which included that shocking Penguin murder of inmate Magpie (Marié Botha), Ms. Gigante’s past caught up with the present. With her additional murder of Johnny Viti (Michael Kelly) in Episode 5, “Homecoming,” Sofia’s vengeance had officially landed her in the position of power she’d always wanted. With her fresh alliance with Sal Maroni (Clancy Brown) ready to take off, Oz's aspirations to own Gotham City are far from assured.
However, there’s a reason that Sofia spared her nemesis/cousin Johnny Viti, as well as her second cousin Gia (Kenzie Grey). In the case of the young girl being sent to Brookside Children’s Home in The Penguin Episode 5, the showrunner played with that character’s fate in a way that even I have to admit caught my attention.
The Penguin Misdirection That Lauren LeFranc Felt Was Important To Sofia’s Big Move
The moment that Sofia Falcone/Gigante showed up with a piece of chocolate cake for Gia Viti, I was indeed having flashbacks to Game of Thrones. After icing the rest of her family, what’s to say that Cristin Miloti’s newly empowered baddie would be shy about killing a child?
Well, that’s just an example of my brain falling into the trap that Lauren LeFranc and her team had set, as she admitted as much with this tidbit in her chat with CinemaBlend:
I really was interested in the misdirect of Gia, the little girl, of her taking her away. Because I think you've seen a lot of female villains, or just women in history, who've poisoned. So that's something that, you know, a lot of women historically have done. Trying to lean into that a little bit, and I don't know if people would think this or not, but the idea of maybe they think she's poisoning this little girl’s cake. What's she gonna do with this little girl? Sophia's so unpredictable, you have no idea genuinely what she's gonna do next. But to realize that she's actually protected this little girl, and kept her alive only to gas everyone inside, there was [a] ripe opportunity. … No, we're not Game of Thrones. We're not trying to be, we're our own version of twisted and weird. for sure.
Lauren LeFranc - CinemaBlend
I’d say that’s a fair assessment of what’s going on with this DC Comics spinoff, as The Penguin isn’t even trying to be twisted in the same way that The Batman achieved in 2022. Not to mention, in her own way, I think Sofia Gigante was trying to give both herself and Gia a chance to live a life free from their family’s expectation.
There’s still a question as to how well this is going to work in the long run, and we’ll just have to continue to tune into The Penguin to see where that saga goes. As new episodes hit HBO at 9 pm ET on Sunday nights, there are only a couple of weeks before the grand finale shows us how Sofia and Oz’s competition comes to an end.
Just don’t forget that you can always catch up with anything you missed through using your Max subscription. You wouldn’t want to miss any future shocks that may be in store between now and the November 10th finale.
