‘The Penguin’ Director Explains THAT Shocking Character Death Was Always Meant to Happen in the First Episode

‘The Penguin’ recently premiered with the first episode, and following good critics’ reactions, fans chimed in as well, going as far as to call it the greatest pilot episode ever.

The events of ‘The Penguin’ pick up shortly after the events of ‘The Batman Part I.’ We can see the aftermath of Riddler’s destruction of the Seawall and the aftermath of Carmine Falcone’s death.

The city is in disarray, there is a shortage of drugs, and Falcone family is now in the hands of deeply troubled junkie Alberto Falcone. At the beginning of the episode, we can see Alberto catching Oz in theft, but instead of dealing with him violently, Oz manages to talk him into drinking and celebrating his new leadership.

Oz opens up to Alberto as they are drinking and accidentally reveals his hopes and dreams, inspired by a local mobster who “took care” of everyone in the neighborhood. Alberto starts mocking him and calling him weak, breaking into a fit of laughter.

In a split-second decision, Oz shoots Alberto dead. The Falcone family is once again without a leader, mere days after Alberto “taking over the reigns.”

Now you can see how the death of such an important character is an unconventional manner in which to start the show, however, Craig Zobel, the director of the show explained to Screenrant that it was always planned to have Alberto die so early in the show:

It was always the plan for Alberto to die. It was an addition, I would say, to Colin’s Penguin. With Oz in the movie, you don’t see this as much just because there’s not as much time, but here we get to see him in a [new] scenario.

In my mind, the thing that’s interesting is that Oz is a guy who, in order to try to win people over and do things, puts his foot in his mouth a lot. Some part of his brain makes a rash decision that pushes him into action. That can mean a lot of things, but in this case, the thing that pushes him into action is that he makes a terrible decision of maybe shooting the head of the crime family and then is like, “Now I have to solve this. Now I’ve got a problem to solve.”

But what is fun about the show and what’s attractive is that you like to see him make a mistake, and then you’d like to see him problem-solve his way out of the mistake. Both are kind of charming in a way. Considering he is a narcissist and a bad human, you still want enough charm to stick with the character and watch him for eight hours.

As you can see, Penguin’s rash decisions eventually resulted in him picking up an “extra witness” in the form of Victor Aguilar and it allowed Sofia Falcone to figure out what happened to her brother in a span of a few short hours.

Still, we’re in for an exciting ride as Oz manages to talk his way out of anything. What do you think about the show so far? Let us know in the comments below!

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