Underestimate The Penguin at your peril is the resounding message coming out of Gotham City. Initially, this series felt like a placeholder for Matt Reeve's Batman movies, keeping the brand awareness out there, but with each new episode, the show eclipses that mandate because it's getting quite good - it's feeling more at home in the HBO Sunday night slot. All that said, it was inevitable that the episode following 'Cent'anni' would feel like a back-to-business episode of sorts - setting the table for the next round of the Gotham gang war.
Nevertheless, The Penguin continues to dish out a winning configuration of Batman villain lore, American crime-genre tropes, and plenty of room for Cristin Milioti to cook. At the top of the episode, Oz sets his Plum chariot ablaze (RIP King), reconciles with Victor, and kidnaps the Maronis' shitass son Taj as ransom for the Bliss mushrooms they swiped.
Meanwhile, Sofia plays the cops like a fiddle back at the Falcone house, now officially a crime scene. Chief Mackenzie Bock makes a welcome appearance - he has me absolutely howling with glee every time he opens his mouth and speaks in that thick East Coast tough-guy rasp. Bock starts asking Sofia about her whereabouts the night before, and the whereabouts of Johnny Viti, who is missing from the scene.
That seems to be enough to get Bock off her back for now. Time to get back to Viti, tied up in the crypt and on the verge of freezing to death. I love how much the setup here is giving dominatrix: Viti chained up with the horse bit in his mouth and Sofia smoking a cigarette atop a freshly laid casket between rounds of ice-bucket challenges.
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