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“The Penguin” ends with “dark” moments, heroic signs (spoiler!)

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Spoiler alert! This story contains key plot points (and the ending) from the Season 1 finale of The Penguin (now streaming on Max). So be careful if you haven't seen them yet.

The season finale of HBO's “The Penguin” delivers an emotional punch in the gut but also a stirring sense of hope as Colin Farrell's scarred gangster finally becomes the Gotham City supervillain he was meant to be and the city's Dark Knight his presence makes known. (Well, sort of.)

Lauren LeFranc, creator of spin-off drama “The Batman,” says she always knew it was a “story of the rise to power” of the criminally underrated Oz Cobb, “but he couldn’t do it without losing so much at the same time.” . There had to be a price – an emotional price – that was largely of his own choosing,” and Oz sacrifices “himself, the people around him, and things to achieve this level of power.”

And by the end of the episode, “Oz really loses his own humanity at the same time,” LeFranc adds. “He sees it as a weakness and that’s really what makes him so villainous. I knew it was important.”

Let's recap what happens to Oz and Co. in the finale:

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Colin Farrell's The Penguin gangster makes a fateful decision

The series follows Oz's maneuvers to take over Gotham's drug trade (and with it the city's underworld), and he sparks a revolution in which young, underrated criminals take out their gang leaders. But he also has to struggle with difficulties: his mother, Francis (Deidre O'Connell) suffers a stroke after a showdown with Oz's rival Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti). His young right-hand man Victor (Rhenzy Feliz) comforts Oz in a tender moment that ends fatally when the gangster brutally chokes him to death. “You’re a good man, Vic. You have a good heart. “It wasn’t in vain,” says Oz as his companion falls to the ground.

“I wanted to make sure that Oz made a decision like that and he didn’t have to,” LeFranc says. “There is no justification for what he is doing. That felt really, really important.”

Farrell believes that “any semblance of decency that Oz had up to that point has disappeared.” I mean, that's the final extinguishing of the pilot light, so to speak. This is an evil, evil, dark, dark person.”

Cristin Milioti's Sofia Falcone has an unfortunate but bittersweet ending

After detonating a car bomb to destroy Oz's underground drug lab – resulting in massive destruction of the city – Sofia wants to leave the city and get rid of her family's criminal empire. She gets the chance to take down Oz one last time, but is betrayed, giving Oz his own chance for revenge. “You’re going to hell, darling,” Oz says, brandishing a gun and telling her to turn around. “I’ll save you a seat,” she replies, ready to take a bullet in the head. Instead, the police show up, arrest her and take her back to Arkham Asylum.

For Sofia, this is “a fate worse than death,” says Milioti. “He found the one thing that was actually the worst thing for her.” It's not all bad, though: Sofia receives a letter in a black envelope from her half-sister Selina Kyle (aka Catwoman, played by Zoë Kravitz in “The Batman”) and Even though you can't see what's written, she's depressed Sofia smiles as she reads it.

“It’s like a glimmer of hope,” Milioti says of the scene. “And of course, selfishly, I would like to see them band together and wreak havoc. Just spruced up to the last detail, kicking ass and making names.”

The Penguin finally takes his place – but the Batman is watching

In the final scenes of the finale, Oz (wearing his familiar top hat and tuxedo from the comics) arrives at his penthouse and visits his mother, now in a vegetative state. (As a child, Oz promised her a look at the “top floor,” but the tear on her face suggests she didn't want that.) Since his mother can't communicate, it's Oz's friend Eve who is motherly (and scary) tells him how proud she is of him.

“Gotham is yours, darling. Now nothing stands in your way,” says Eve.

Oz agrees, “You're damn right.” They dance a little as the camera pans forward to show the bat symbol lighting up the cloudy Gotham sky.

Robert Pattinson's Caped Crusader from “The Batman” plays no role in “The Penguin” despite all sorts of criminal chicanery. But since the show represents a bridge between director Matt Reeves' first film and the upcoming “The Batman Part II” (in theaters October 2, 2026), this final moment is “an elegant way to segue into the second film,” say “We, Batman exists in Gotham,” says LeFranc. “We haven't seen him in a while, but you'll definitely see him in the next film now.

“Oz has achieved a level of power that has brought him more attention. In the first film, Batman doesn't think twice about Oz, he means nothing to him, but now he's a threat.”

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