Matt Reeves Discusses ‘The Penguin’ Finale & The Moment We All Started Hating Oz

Matt Reeves’ Batman Epic Crime Saga has successfully expanded via ‘The Penguin’ spinoff. The show was a success since its pilot episode, breaking all kinds of viewership records and keeping the viewers entertained with Oz’s twisted ascent to the top of Gotham’s crime underworld.

The best part of the show were definitely the performances delivered by Colin Farrell, Cristin Milioti, and Rhenzy Feliz.

Feliz portrayed Victor Aguilar, an original character created for the show. Victor’s journey was heartbreaking from the start and his character development ultimately ended in the most hopeless way possible. Victor found himself in the company of the Penguin in the first episode.

By chance the teenager decides to steal Oz’s rims, only to be forced to “work” with him throughout the show. Vic did have moments during which it seemed that he enjoyed his work, but for the most part, the kid struggled constantly, trying to reconnect his upbringing with the new reality of his life.

Despite Oz and Vic having a clear master-apprentice, father-son dynamic, Oz ultimately kills Vic beacuse he knows too much. In retrospect, knowing what kind of a character Oz is, we should have expected this from the beginning.

Matt Reeves recently discussed this hopeless ending with DiscussingFilm.

Matt Reeves mentioned that the idea for the show, in general, came from Lauren LeFranc, who pitched the story of a young kid in the wrong place at the wrong time, stealing rims from a Maserati, which set the stage for the series.

You’re always looking for the lens through which to see something, right? You’re trying to give the audience access. It was important, by the way, that was part of Lauren [LeFranc’s] conception. When she came to us and pitched what could happen in this series, the idea of this young kid who was in the wrong place at the wrong time stealing those rims from that Maserati.

Reeves gave all the credit to showrunner Lauren LeFranc for creating Victor Aguilar and his storyline. He explained that as soon as he met the character, he knew Vic’s fate would be a tragic one.

They approached the character’s story with a director’s mindset, realizing that Vic was in the wrong place at the wrong time and that his death was inevitable, which created an emotional moment for the audience.

It was like, ‘Oh, that poor kid.’ I got very excited, and it started making me think as a director like, you’re just waiting for the moment when this kid is going to die. He’s going to kill this kid. That’s what you have to do. He’s come in at the wrong time, and [Oz] is using him in this way that you know, ‘Clearly, this guy is going to die.’

So, to have Oz be revealed to another person [Vic] who is questioning, ‘Who is this guy?’ is a great access point for the audience. Having these kinds of roles in stories where you have larger-than-life characters is a great tool, and that was a complete invention of Lauren [LeFranc].

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It’s funny, over the course plenty of fans speculated which villain Vic is eventually going to turn into, I think every single one of us wanted to believe that there’s something more to Oz underneath miles and miles of slime and pure sociopathy. Even if Episode 7 should have dispelled all our misconceptions regarding him.

What did you think about the finale? Let us know in the comments below!

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