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The Penguin episode 2 is now streaming, and the action is amping up in Gotham City as Oz's quest for power takes him to ever more dangerous places. As the explosive events of episode 1 threaten to catch up with him, Oz must keep his wits about him to evade the wrath of the Falcone family…
We break down the main plot beats in the latest episode of The Batman spin-off right here, as well as the comic book references you might have missed. Be warned, though: there are major spoilers for The Penguin episode 2 ahead, so turn back now if you haven't watched the episode and don't want to know what happens! If you need a refresh on last week's installment, revisit our guide to The Penguin episode 1 recap and Easter eggs.
Inside man
The episode begins with Sofia having a nightmarish hallucination: she's still in Arkham Asylum and Alberto is paying her a visit – so far, so good, until he gets shot and dies in front of her.
Meanwhile, Oz is visiting Salvatore Maroni in prison. Sal isn't too happy with him after Oz framed Alberto's murder on the Maronis – he says Oz has brought "war" onto his family – but Oz convinces him that he deserves to take credit for taking down the new boss of the Falcone crime family.
As arrangements are made to transport Oz's drug operation away from Gotham (and out of his control), he's been making a counterplan of his own: the Maroni crew will intercept the vehicles carrying the product and seize control of it. The operation is successful, but Sofia quickly realizes there must be an inside man within their circle feeding information to the Maronis. She's keen to find out who it is and get revenge on Alberto's killer, but her uncles don't take her seriously. Oz capitalizes on these tensions and tries to convince her that she should be the one in charge and take over with the new drug – the plan for which he stole from Alberto.
Sofia enlists a corrupt detective who used to work for her father Carmine to investigate who the rat is and continues to be haunted by night terrors, waking up with deep, self-inflicted scratch marks on her neck.
Oz gets a call from his mother's landlord and heads to her house – she was found wandering around the neighborhood, confused. Oz slips the landlord some cash and asks him to keep an eye on her. He then heads to Alberto's memorial with Vic in tow.
Death at a funeral
As he arrives at the church, there are several anti-Falcone and anti-Hangman protestors outside (we learn via a radio broadcast earlier in the episode that the Hangman, AKA Sofia, killed at least seven women, but has since been exonerated prior to her release from Arkham). Oz continues to try and get in Sofia's good graces, telling her a story about his own brothers' deaths. He wraps up his tale by saying that his mother is also dead, so we can assume he's spinning a yarn.
Sofia's detective pulls up outside the memorial with a man in the trunk of his car: one of the Maroni crew, kidnapped from the hospital after the drug sting. This doesn't go unnoticed by the Maronis, and Sal's wife Nadia confronts Oz to find out who did it – she tells him that if he doesn't know exactly what the Falcones are up to then he's of no use to them. In an attempt to redeem himself, Oz shows her the photographs of Johnny Viti having sex with Luca Falcone's wife and promises more dirt on the family if they want it.
Oz then travels to the Falcone family home for Alberto's wake and instructs Vic to plant Alberto's jewels in Johnny Viti's car in order to implicate him as the rat. However, Vic chickens out when Johnny's security spots him, and he flees the scene. Oz, meanwhile, pays the kidnapped man a visit in the Falcone basement and tells him to tell his captors that Johnny is the inside man. When he discovers Vic bottled his mission and there's no damning evidence in Johnny's car, he has to resort to plan B, and he stabs the man to death.
Sofia soon finds the dead body, and everyone at the wake is searched to see who has a knife – and is therefore the rat. In the confusion, Oz manages to slip his weapon into the pocket of one of the Falcone henchmen and Sofia's uncle shoots him – despite Sofia's demands to do the honors herself. Instead, her uncle condescendingly tells her it's best if she leaves Gotham and heads to Lake Como in Italy.
Vic gets the unpleasant task of burying the kidnapped Maroni hospital patient and the framed Falcone henchman in the woods, and Oz makes him lie down in the grave to teach him a lesson about bottling important tasks. He then gets a call from Sofia and meets her at the Falcone mausoleum. She tells him that she's planning revenge on everyone who's wronged her and wants to run the family like she and Alberto once planned – and she wants Oz on side. Things are still coming up Penguin, then. For now…
The Penguin episode 2 Easter eggs
The Hangman: There are a few more references to Sofia Falcone's alter-ego the Hangman (who also appears in DC Comics) in episode 2. There are people protesting her release from Arkham outside her brother Alberto's funeral, and a radio show playing in Sofia's car informs us that she was convicted of murdering seven women – but there could be more that the authorities don't know about.
The Penguin airs weekly on HBO and Max in the US and Sky and NOW in the UK – stay up to date with our The Penguin release schedule. For more, check out our The Penguin review and our guide to the other upcoming DC movies and shows.
