It was always going to be difficult for The Penguin episode 5 to hit the same stunning high of the previous chapter, but DC’s best live-action show continues to soar. Showrunner Lauren LeFranc could have been forgiven for easing off, but instead the story draws in even tighter to Oz’s precarious position, with a major development that sets up an exciting arc for the rest of the season.

This time out, The Penguin‘s action snaps back to the present after episode 4 explored Sofia Falcone’s backstory. It’s very much a piece-setting episode, as you’d expect from the midseason point of any show, but that doesn’t mean The Penguin pulls its punches. As this excellent show continues to develop Oz’s story, it’s impossible not to be impressed.

Naturally, “Homecoming” deals with Sofia’s betrayal of her family in The Penguin episode 4’s ending, as well as revealing more of Oz Cobb’s plan for Gotham. Inevitably, nothing is as straight-forward as it seems, and Oz’s resilience and resourcefulness are both put into action. And at the same time, we get a real indication of exactly what Penguin can offer as a kingpin in one of the most memorable scenes in any DC release.

The Penguin Episode 5 Earns Its TV-MA Rating In Style

Oz Cobb’s Gotham Is Kill Or Be Killed

Despite the kill count in episode 4, and the flashes of ultra-violence elsewhere in the season, “Homecoming” dials everything up by going for the jugular. Having built up Oz as a sympathetic character – or at least one with fairly understandable motivation – here we’re reminded that this is not a good man by any definition. The hard swerve from his almost tender request to Victor to take care of his mother because she “keeps him good” to his plan to deal with the Maroni family is jaw-dropping.

Such is the decidedly murky morality of this show and the entire The Batman‘s expanded universe. There are no heroes – rather pointedly in the case of Batman’s continued absence – and the real question is how far any of the power players are willing to go to achieve their goals. Both Oz and Sofia use sharp flashes of violence to express their own credentials, while the emerging threat of Clancy Brown’s Sal Maroni offers a new and thrilling dynamic for future episodes to explore further.

The Penguin Announces Sofia Gigante’s Arrival

Another Excellent Showing For DC’s Best New Screen Villain

After being saddled with an origin story that wasn’t hers thanks to the Hangman crimes that saw her locked away in Arkham for a decade, Cristin Milioti’s Sofia has now arrived. Episode 4 was about reclamation and rebirth, and “Homecoming” adds to that new origin for Sofia by focusing on her new crime family, her new name, and her renewed threat on Gotham City. All of that spells disaster for Oz, of course.

Milioti’s performance has rightfully received rave reviews, and episode 5 refuses to take its foot off the gas in her excellent story. The actor is terrifying coolness personified, a chilling, reserved addition to the Batman Rogues Gallery whose only downside is that it’s impossible to see her actually facing Batman at any point. Impressively, Milioti’s performance is all about restraint and subtlety – a marked contrast to Colin Farrell’s more animated take on Oz – and Milioti deserves infinite credit for capturing the right balance.

The Penguin Episode 5 Has Another Excellent Performance

Oz’s Mother Is The Heart Of Everything

It’s almost wasteful to comment on how great Colin Farrell is as Oz Cobb, and once more the storytelling expertly positions him exactly where that performance is most rewarding. When he’s winning, he’s menacingly good fun – particularly when he watches his grim handywork in the factory – but Farrell is best when Oz is unravelling, and there’s a lot of that in “Homecoming”.

The manipulator of some of the episode’s emotional undercurrent, his on-screen mother, Francis (Deirdre O’Connell) deserves equal praise. Her gentle take on a mind lost to dementia is as touching as it is thoroughly believable, and the hard swerve in her performance when she’s lucid is hugely impressive. O’Connell is effectively playing two characters at once, and set against her influence, Oz’s extreme behavior makes perfect sense.

As for the rest of The Penguin‘s cast: praise must also go to Michael Kelly as Johnny Vitti, one of the few survivors of Sofia’s massacre in episode 4, who shows a completely different side to the character in the fallout of the Falcone “tragedy”. He does desperate, snivelling wretch very well. It’s a shame, though, that we didn’t get more from Shohreh Aghdashloo, who feels a little underused.

Final Thoughts On The Penguin Episode 5

Another Stand-Out Episode Keeps The Show’s Winning Trend Up

“Homecoming” is both very present in its storytelling moments – giving them time to really leave a mark – and also very much focused on what comes next. That’s often a difficult balance to achieve, but The Penguin is a masterfully crafted story, capable of manipulating the audience in directions that are unexpected but never stolen. And technically, the way this episode is shot feels like David Fincher dropped in for a quick consultation.

The only real issue – and I’m sorry to keep bringing it up – is The Penguin‘s lack of acknowledgment for The Batman‘s missing characters. Batman’s absence now feels like a conscious expansion of the uncertain tone of The Batman’s ending and his future, but not having Jim Gordon even remotely involved in the fallout of Gotham’s gang war feels strange. There is at least an allusion to that, thanks to the return of Chief Mackenzie Bock (Con O’Neill), but Gordon’s shadow insists.

The Penguin episode 5 isn’t as monumentally good as its predecessor, but this is genuinely brilliant television from top to bottom, and a joy to be able to recommend. And as a final reward, using emo rock icons The Cure over the final scenes is the culmination of a personal campaign to match up Batman with his perfect music that I can claim played absolutely no part in the actual decision. But it’s tremendous and appropriate all the same.