HBO’s ‘The Penguin’ Episode 2 Review - Let’s Dance

Sofia Falcone, aka The Hangman, is a psychopathic serial killer, but Cristin Milioti's performance never becomes scary or unhinged. We get a glimpse of her wild insanity in Episode 2 during the scene where she wears the menacing mask of madness to scare a mother. Still, Milioti is quite uneven - she doesn't fit her character like a glove. Her big eyes and indignant face try too hard to pass her off as "delirious" and "unstable." For now, all we know about Sofia is that she loves her brother and is eagerly searching for his murderer. These narrow details are matched by a narrow performance. If Sofia loves her brother, Oz loves his mother. I am no longer distracted by Colin Farrell's makeup. Episode 2 displays Oz as a smooth manipulator - a man who's always active and alert. Even though the situations are heavily contrived, there is some pleasure in watching him slipping away from his enemy's fingers. Two scenes stand out in this episode. One has Oz dancing and sharing a moment of peace with his mother (it sticks out as something that foreshadows the mother's demise), while the other finds him cooking up a story about grief and death to earn Sofia's trust. Oz tells this story in a way that makes it seem like a mixture of reality and fiction.

Oz really shines in this second episode. Notice how, while crossing a road, he doesn't stop a car (he tells the driver to go first). This small incident shows that Oz doesn't want to take advantage of his disability (he walks with a limp) and sees himself as a "normal" person. In this second episode, Oz helps Salvatore Maroni's men steal "the Drops," which further riles up the Falcone members, especially Sofia. First, they shot down Alberto, and now this? Sofia suspects there's a traitor in their organization and seeks the help of a detective to get to the bottom of the problem. The detective catches one of Maroni's men, putting Oz in a dangerous position. But Oz has a plan. He instructs Vic to plant a box of jewels in Johnny Vitti's car and manages to make a deal with Alberto's man, who is held in the basement. In exchange for whispering the name Johnny Vitti, he promises to help the man escape unharmed. By this point, Oz becomes so untrustworthy in your eyes that, for a second, you think he will pin the entire blame on Vic. This teen driver might not be very innocent, as there seems to be something suspicious in his life, hinted at by a text and his stutter when questioned about his background.

Overall, Episode 2 of The Penguin is strictly decent. It's slightly better than Episode 1, but that's not saying much. More than the plot details, I am impatient to see if Milioti will become better. She has talent. I just want to know if The Penguin will be able to use her well. As far as the story is concerned, I hope it doesn't reveal itself to be yet another generic origins story containing surface-level rewards.

Final Score – [6/10]