The Penguin episode 5 recap and Easter eggs: Gotham catches on fire

After The Penguin took a detour into Sofia Falcone’s past, episode 5 brings The Batman spin-off right back into the present drama. Colin Farrell’s Oz Cobb and Sofia are on two sides of a war for power, as Gotham deals with the fallout of the murder of the Falcones. Add into the mix more drug trafficking, another criminal family on the rise, and plenty of betrayal, things are seriously heating up as we pass the halfway point of the season. 

Below, we get into all the major details in our recap of The Penguin episode 5, as well as diving into some of the Easter eggs that we spotted in The Batman spin-off. Although, needless to say, we’ll be getting into spoiler-heavy detail from here on out, so make sure you’re up to speed with the superhero crime drama before venturing on. 

While you’re here, why not check our guide to The Penguin release schedule too. 

The Penguin episode 5 recap

(Image credit: Warner Bros.)

Oz Cobb is going underground in the latest episode of The Penguin. We pick up with the gangster in the aftermath of him escaping the altercation outside of the Iceberg Lounge. He burns his purple car, as he and Victor kick off their new alliance. Their next target? The Maronis – and in particular their son, Taj Maroni, who the pair kidnap. Oz wastes no time heading to Blackgate Prison either, blackmailing Salvatore and Nadia. It’s here he finds out what’s happened to the Falcones.

Sofia is seen exiting the destroyed house as Chief Mackenzie Bock approaches her, suspicious about her involvement in the family massacre. It’s revealed Johnny Viti isn’t among the dead, and Sofia plays ignorant about where he is. The police chief doesn’t believe her at all, but without evidence, she’s a formidable foe. 

It’s not long before we find out where Johnny really is – Sofia is keeping him underground in the family crypt to torture him. She’s looking for untraceable cash, and promises to let him go if he tells her where to find some. She tortures him with cold water as Johnny reveals what really happened to her mom: Isabella was going to leave Carmine on the night she died, taking the children with her.

On the other side of town, Oz is happy about the news of the Falcones, as he hides out with his men at girlfriend Eve Karlo’s apartment with Taj Maroni in tow. Victor is given another task, though – looking after Francis, Oz’s mom. He starts helping her out with the dishes, and vows to keep her safe while everything is going on with the Falcones and the Maronis.

Back in Blackgate, Salvatore is stabbed by a prison guard on Oz’s orders, as Oz goes to meet Nadia with her son. He wants the ‘shrooms’ to grow the drugs, which is what he’s been negotiating for. Things go south quickly as a shootout ensues, but Oz has a sadistic back-up plan as he sets both Nadia and her son on fire and they burn to death. Unfortunately, most of the shrooms are destroyed in the crossfire too. 

Salvatore steals the keys to the prison and escapes, calling Oz to tell him it’s the end of the road for him. “You’re cooked,” he warns him, before Oz reveals that he’s killed Maroni’s wife. 

(Image credit: HBO/Max)

Meanwhile, Sofia is enjoying her life as head of the Falcone family when she receives a visit from Dr Julian Rush. He wants to work with her, becoming part of “whatever’s next” that she’s planning. Johnny Viti is out and safe, as Sofia reveals she killed all of the family, and with them, she’s killed her father’s legacy. Sofia Falcone is gone, meet Sofia Gigante. As soon as Johnny raises a slight issue, she shoots him in the head. It’s a new era for the crime family now.

That’s not all either, as Salvatore and Sofia make a potentially devastating alliance, joined over their suffering at Oz’s hands. “We join our families,” she suggests to him. Watch out Oz.

Victor is told to find Francis a place to hide, so takes her to his old neighborhood in Crown Point. She’s brought her essentials (a gaudy-looking lamp) but Victor sees someone from his past, and is a bit worried that they’ll draw attention to themselves. The area brings back a lot of bad memories for Victor, and it turns out for Francis too. Meanwhile, Oz goes to his girlfriend to try and get her to join him, but she won’t go with him. The walls are closing in around him.

At the end of the episode, Oz joins Francis and Victor at the apartment, but even his mother doesn’t want him. “What kind of man doesn’t take care of his own mother?” she asks him, before Oz hints to Victor that something happened to his brothers when he was younger. “City took them,” Oz says wistfully.

It’s not all doom and gloom though, as – of course – Oz has a plan. He brings Victor into the city’s sewers, where they’ll make their new base, growing shrooms in hope of dominating Gotham’s underground network.

The Penguin episode 5 Easter eggs

(Image credit: HBO/Sky)

Penguin’s purple car: RIP to the Maserati. At the beginning of the episode, Oz burns his iconic car, which is a nod to his character’s love of purple in the Batman comics. 

Rex Calabrese: Oz namechecks a local gangster that he used to look up to called Rex Calabrese. This is actually a character from the Batman Eternal comics, where he was depicted as a Gotham City mobster and local crime lord.

Taj Maroni: In The Penguin, Salvatore Maroni’s son is called Taj Maroni, but in the comics he actually has two sons: Giuseppe ‘Pino’ Maroni and Umberto Maroni. It’s not clear why this was changed. 

Crown Point: Victor and Oz head back to Crown Point in the latest episode, and it’s notorious as being one of the worst neighborhoods in Gotham City in the comics.

The Penguin airs weekly on Sky and NOW in the UK and on HBO and Max in the US. Read our The Penguin review to hear our verdict.

For more streaming picks, read our lists of the best movies on Max and the best shows on Max that you can watch right now.