HBO’s The Penguin Episodes Five and Six

It’s election night as we record but Anne and I are going to try and distract ourselves until we get a little later into the evening. Yes we’re talking about the HBO television show The Penguin but we hope to do it in a way that even if you’re not watching it, you might enjoy the hang. Anne, can we do it?

“Homecoming” Episode 5 Summary of The Penguin:

• The episode opens with Oz–aka the Penguin–and his bashed Maserati burning in the background. (I kind of liked that purple car). TikTok makes the show with the Maroni son talking trash about how his family is going to take over the city. Oz goes to the tattoo parlor and abducts the Maroni son so he can trade him for his stolen mushrooms that he needs to make the drug Bliss. Cut to…the police–including another incredibly raspy voice guy–who are visiting Sofia after she killed her whole family by gas for sending her away to a mental hospital for a murder (her mother) she didn’t commit. Sofia has her father’s second hand man–Johnny Vitti–chained up in the family catacombs. Is that where they are? Oz sends Victor to get his mom and take care of her so Sofia and the Maronis can’t find her. Sofia dumps a bucket of ice water on Vitti, who I should have said was almost naked, and while he freezes Sofia lies on a table and smokes. She wants to know where her dad’s money is. Vitti gives a great speech about loving Sofia’s mother that gets him loose to be the underboss for Sofia. Oz visits Papa Maroni in prison with Maroni’s wife to discuss trading the drug mushrooms for their son. Oz has Maroni shanked later that night. Sofia gives another incredible speech, this time to the Maroni mob workers, where she proclaims herself by her mother’s name Gigante, says she happily gassed her family, and then puts a big bag of money on the table. Oz goes to trade the Maroni son and the deal goes bad. Oz sets the mom and son on fire and loses almost all of his mushrooms he needs to make his drug. Vitti undercuts some of what Sofia is saying in her meeting with the mob workers and she shoots him in the head. Vic takes Oz’s mom to Crown Point, which is where he used to live, is a destroyed part of the city, and being ignored by city services. Oz goes to get his girl–Eve seems to be a madam–but she breaks up with him. Sofia goes to see boss Maroni, makes peace, and they decide to team up and kill Oz and take over the city. Squid, an old nemesis of Victor’s, sees Victor with Oz’s mom, and he’s got eyes to get in on the action. Oz too is from the Crown Point area, and he takes Victor down to the underground trolley’s where he believes they can have their home base. Oz remarks that their drug mushrooms will do great in the tunnels. The generator blows, the power goes out, and the episode ends.

Episode 5 Discussion Questions:

1. What’s the best in this show? Bliss is a pretty cool invention for drugs. Weaving the storylines, instead of sticking to one character, works really well for me in this. Names like Squid.
2. What jumps to mind for you about Sofia?
3. What does Oz want? respected, to take care of people,
4. The doctor has an interesting mustache. Anne, where are you at with mustaches?
5. So there is the main Maroni guy, Sofia, Carmine who is dead, and Oz–who you want to work for among that group if you gotta work for someone?
6. What do you make of the Oz’s mom dementia part of the storyline?
7. What do you think Oz’s girl sees in him?
8. What’s the “Homecoming” title of episode 5? Victor, Oz, and Oz’s mom.

Gold Summit Episode 6 Summary:

• We get a voice over opening from Oz in which he ponders who has the power. This turns out to be a speech he is giving to his men about the opportunities they have. Power is a problem in Crown Point because its being diverted to wealthier neighborhoods. Somewhere in here we see Sofia after she has had sex with her old doctor from the Arkham Mental Hospital. Man she’s got a lot of scars. Oz makes a nice “Mork and Mindy” allusion about Sofia and Papa Maroni. So this is a world where that TV show existed. Victor’s acquaintance Squid continues to pressure him to be cut into the action. Sofia and Salvatore Maroni kill some people selling the drug bliss to scare others from selling Oz’s product. Oz hatches a plan to give the drug away. Sofia tracks down Oz’s girl Eve. The end up becoming closer. Eve describes Oz as a liar narcissist. Eve gives up Oz’s location and tells Sofia she has her chance to earn her men’s respect. Victor shoots Squid and this bothers him more than when he ran over at least one guy with Oz’s Maserati. Somewhere in here Oz goes to the city and takes a councilman by the nose with a pair of pliers and tells the guy to do his job and get the power back on. Oz gives a great speech to the rival gangs from the various boroughs. He is up on his gang history while the rich of the city government don’t even know the gang members’ names. Oz says “I hustle; I do what it takes.” Oz and the gangs unify and crack beers to celebrate. Things are grim back at Crown Point where Oz’s mom is getting worse and Victor sits in the dark trying to rub the blood off his shoes as if he is MacBeth. The power comes on and Victor rises to dance with Oz’s mom. Amidst the celebration, the episode ends with the sight of someone lurking in the apartment.

Episode 6 questions:

1. How interested are you in driving a Maserati?
2. Why does Oz give bliss away?
3. Does Oz have a code? If so, what is it?
4. Oz’s mom asks him to kill her when she loses it enough to not know who he is. What do you think of that? Parkinson’s and Lewy bodies come up. Talk about dad.
5. What’s the Gold Summit?

Closing questions:

1. Does Oz do any good? Sofia?
2. Have you felt tension in the show? Where did it come from?
3. Can you remember a surprising moment in the show?
4. Let me name five actors and see if that sparks anything from you? Click here for cast.
5. A fatal flaw is a character trait that causes a character to bring about their own downfall. Let’s go through the big dawgs. Do you see a fatal flaw?
6. What would you like to see? Is this a show where you can hope for stuff?
7. What seems to be coming?

Episode 7 has already dropped for the Penguin. I think there are eight episodes of this first season. Anne, what do you say we come back and wrap it up after this last one next Sunday?

Do you think we’ll have decided on a president by the next time we talk?

Anne, good to see you.

Thanks for listening everyone!