The season finale of The Penguin hit HBO yesterday evening and it was nothing short of devastating. Despite the shocking final fate of some characters, the series delivered a satisfying conclusion to this story, with Oz Cobb now Gotham City's new Kingpin of Crime.
His evolution is one we expect to see continue in The Batman Part II as filmmaker Matt Reeves' "The Batman Epic Crime Saga" unfurls. We broke down all the biggest moments in "A Great or Little Thing" here but it's now time to explore exactly how the finale lays the groundwork for that long-awaited sequel.
From potential team-ups to Oz's new status quo and the Batman of it all, The Penguin is essential viewing to follow where this story goes next.
Check out our analysis of those moments, along with a few more comments from the cast, below.
Selina Kyle's Letter
Outsmarted by Oz and returned to Arkham when her involvement with the Crown Point disaster is revealed (also courtesy of Oz), things look bleak for Sofia Gigante as the finale comes to an end.
However, Dr. Julian Rush offers up some hope when he brings a letter from a woman claiming to be her half-sister: Selina Kyle. The Batman concluded with Catwoman leaving Gotham, but this might just be enough to bring her back home and give Sofia a role in The Batman Part II.
"I mean, it's my wildest hope that I get to revisit her, because I've loved this role so immensely," Cristin Milioti recently told The Direct. "I think if [Sofia and Selina Kyle] were united, we would just really tear shit up. I don't know how to say it... We would just like, burn it down. You know what I mean? In a fun way. I think we'd have a lot of fun."
We don't expect Selina to break her sister out of Arkham, but this leaves the door open to the daughters of Carmine Falcone eventually doing something to help bring down The Penguin.
Oz Cobb Wins
Having finally dealt with Sofia, Oz convinces his fellow lackeys to murder their bosses and take control of Gotham City alongside him. However, he also manages to find some legitimacy after forging an alliance with Councilman Hady.
The politician warns Oz that mayor-elect Bella Reál is cracking down on corruption and that he needs to make himself appear clean. This suggests that, heading into The Batman Part II, he'll have created the facade of an "honest" businessman who can no longer be bullied or threatened by a vigilante like Batman or even Lieutenant Jim Gordon.
Talking to The Hollywood Reporter, Colin Farrell said, "[Oz's personality] was forming and changing in the limited series, and, by the end of the eight episodes, it’s concretized into something else. There is a degree of almost delusion psychopathy present in the last scene. So how is that taken up in the second film? I was told I have five or six scenes."
This points to him not having an extended role in The Batman Part II and, like the first film, means he'll be on the periphery instead. Farrell has confirmed he's signed up for a third movie, though, so may be that chapter's big bad.
The Bat-Signal
Oz finally has the power he always craved but his mother is in a vegetative state and he's paying a prostitute, Eve, to dress as Francis and tell him how proud she is of his rise to power. Oh, and he killed one of his most trusted allies when he strangled poor Vic to death in cold blood.
Even when Oz wins, he loses, and a hint at what's to come plays out when the camera pans outside to reveal that the Bat-Signal has been lit. That doesn't mean Jim Gordon is calling on the Caped Crusader to help deal with The Penguin, of course, and instead suggests there's another major threat requiring the vigilante's help.
"I would have hated the show to finish and end up with the final credits and Batman not be addressed at all," Farrell admitted when he caught up with Collider. "And it's right down to the wire, but when that signal came up, I mean, it's so iconic, and it's so exciting for me and the inner kid that lives inside this 48-year-old body. I just thought, 'Oh, shit, there's a reckoning coming. There's another storm coming.'"
The Dark Knight's absence throughout The Penguin was undeniably distracting, but at least we know the stage is being set for Batman to make sure Oz pays for his crimes...eventually!
Where Is Batman, Anyway?
There are likely any number of reasons for Robert Pattinson's absence from The Penguin. The actor may not have wanted to appear in a TV series or HBO/Max might have been unwilling to pay the actor what he required to make the leap to the small screen.
For what it's worth, the show's creatives have insisted it was never the plan for Batman to show up. With so much going on in Gotham City during this story - including the destruction of Crown Point - The Batman Part II will need to explain the vigilante's absence.
Farrell has some thoughts on that, telling Collider, "Batman himself, the way I remember it at the end of the film, he’s having a moment of existential shift in regards to what he feels his purpose is and how he’s going to go forth, as a dispirited sense of right in a city that needs an extraordinary amount of help to fix the moral wrongs of what is constantly at play."
It's as good an explanation as any. We're sure Batman and Gordon will also deliver some exposition for moviegoers by reflecting on the fall of the Falcone's and Oz's rise through the ranks, particularly as they have a shared history with the villain.