Posted in: HBO, Max, Movies, TV | Tagged: the batman, The Penguin

The Penguin: How HBO's Spinoff Series Set Up The Batman II (SPOILERS)

SPOILERS: Here's how Showrunner Lauren LeFranc's Colin Farrell and Cristin Milioti-starring The Penguin set up things for The Batman II.

So now that the smoke has cleared on the finale of DC Studios, Showrunner Lauren LeFranc, and EPs Matt Reeves and Dylan Clark's Colin Farrell and Cristin Milioti-starring The Penguin, it would be safe to say two things. First, Oz (Farrell) is definitely sitting atop the criminal underworld as we head into The Batman II. Second, the spinoff series' writers made damn sure that while we may understand what Oz is all about and where he comes from, he's not someone we're going to be rooting for moving forward. In fact, if there was anyone in this universe deserving of being seen as any kind of "hero," it would be Sofia (Milioti). With that in mind, we're throwing on the "MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!" sign and throwing down an image spoiler buffer – you've been warned from this point forward! 

At the end of "A Great of Little Thing, we see Oz and Eve (Carmen Ejogo) celebrating Oz's new status – but it's one that came with a painful price for a lot of folks. For Sofia Falcone, it was a fate worse than death: arrested and returned to Arkham State Hospital. But when Oz heads over to see his mom with Vic (Rhenzy Feliz) to share the good news – and to seek her approval – he learns that Francis Francis (Deirdre O'Connell) suffered a major stroke, leaving her in a vegetative state but with her eyes open. Believing that family makes him weak after a heart-to-heart with Vic, Oz murders his right-hand man, making the crime look like a murder before walking off (with a whole ton of symbolism in that scene where Oz tosses Vic's ID into the river).

But some very interesting threads remain. Though back in Arkham, Sofia appears to be under the care of a returned Dr. Rush (Theo Rossi), who shares with Sofia a letter from her half-sister – Selina Kyle (Zoë Kravitz's Catwoman in The Batman), who's looking to connect. Meanwhile, with his mother being cared for in his private residence on another floor, Oz plays out some serious mommy issues while dancing with Eve (even having her dress like his mother), speaking to her and asking her to speak to him like he wanted Francis to – that she loves him and is proud of him. But just when Oz is at his moment confident, a very familiar Bat Signal lights up the sky. It looks like someone has caught the attention of Robert Pattinson's Batman.

"That's something that we figured out early on. It felt like an elegant handoff to the movie," LeFranc shared with Deadline Hollywood. "That was always a conversation that Matt Reeves and I had. Should Batman be in our show or not? I know it became sort of a controversial thing to say that he shouldn't, but it really just felt like it was detracting from our characters. Batman takes up a lot of space. So, in that regard, it just didn't feel appropriate for the characters in our show. If Oz has now achieved a level of power where the Batman is noticing him, that's really what we wanted to signify in the end."

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