THE PENGUIN Episode 1 Recap: Oz Cobb Makes His Move On Gotham City In Thrilling Opener "After Hours"

THE PENGUIN Episode 1 Recap: Oz Cobb Makes His Move On Gotham City In Thrilling Opener "After Hours"

The first episode of The Penguin just dropped and we're now recapping the events of "After Hours" as The Batman's Oz Cobb makes his move on Gotham City. Can he possibly become the new Kingpin of Crime?

By JoshWilding - Sep 19, 2024 10:09 PM EST
Filed Under: The Batman

The Penguin's first episode, "After Hours," opens by recapping the events of The Batman and giving us a glimpse at the destruction and death The Riddler's attack on Gotham City led to.

Only a week has passed and Oz Cobb makes his way to Carmine Falcone's office in the Iceberg Lounge where he recovers various valuables and documents his dead boss used to blackmail many of the city's most powerful people (along with dirt on his associates). However, he's then confronted by Alberto Falcone, heir to the empire, and recovering drophead. 

A tense conversation follows in which Oz pretends he was only there to bring that stuff, including Salvatore Maroni's prized ring, to Alberto. Fondly remembering growing up in the same neighbourhood as gangster Rex Calabrese, Oz is incensed when Alberto laughs at his ambitions and guns his new boss down. 

Moving the body, Oz finds a group of teenagers trying to steal his car and takes one of them, Victor, hostage. Forcing the kid to help him move Alberto, the villain makes sure he has an alibi and takes the body to a scrapyard where he intends to kill the kid. Oz relents and instead takes the boy under his wing. Heading home, we learn "The Penguin" has a clubfoot and that he's holding on to Maroni's ring. 

The flood has caused major issues with the family's drops operation and Oz is called in to the higher-ups who demand he close it down because they're moving out of Gotham. He's not happy and pitches Alberto's idea to create a new version of the drug, something his sister, Sofia Falcone, overhears. 

She clearly believes Oz had something to do with her brother's disappearance - how else would he know? - prompting him to take Victor and go on the run. Heading to his mother's house - she appears to be suffering from dementia - he presents her with one of Carmine's necklaces and gathers cash before she points out to him that this is his chance to get everything he wants. 

Oz hatches a plan with Victor but is eventually captured by Sofia's goons. Known as "The Hangman," she was in Arkham Asylum for what sounds like multiple murders and tortures a naked Oz for information. Suddenly, a car cashes outside the house and Alberto's body is in the trunk with his ring finger missing and "PAYBACK" scrawled on the trunk's roof. 

Oz laughs to himself, but why? Well, he previously visited Maroni in prison and offered to be a double agent, bringing the Falcones down from the inside. Sal scoffs at the prospect but his demeanour changes when Oz gives him that ring. Now, the Falcones will believe that he orchestrated Alberto's death, clearing Oz's name and creating a gang war he can take full advantage of.

Oz tells Victor that his goal is to take it all. He will be Gotham's new Kingpin of crime and watches over the city with his new protege to the tune of Dolly Parton's "9 to 5" as the credits roll.

The first episode of The Penguin is now streaming on Max.

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RolandD
RolandD - 9/19/2024, 10:03 PM
That thumbnail. Wait! Aubrey Plaza is in this too? Of course I know she’s not, but that she looks like her at least on first glance.
RolandD
RolandD - 9/19/2024, 10:04 PM
@RolandD - please bring back the edit button!
Malatrova15
Malatrova15 - 9/19/2024, 10:15 PM
@RolandD - there is no RonaldD..why you people talk to ghosts here?...Dracula....Mark Cassidy ...Grif...wtf man lol get a grip
HashTagSwagg
HashTagSwagg - 9/19/2024, 10:04 PM
Penguin better fly by the end of the season, I'm sick of this "realism" crap.
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Malatrova15
Malatrova15 - 9/19/2024, 10:11 PM
@HashTagSwagg - he gets his monocle and turns into an insuferable bostonian hack in the las chapter.
HashTagSwagg
HashTagSwagg - 9/19/2024, 10:17 PM
@Malatrova15 - That's just gonna look goofy as hell in live-action, they really should try and aim to make it look more realistic for realism.
Malatrova15
Malatrova15 - 9/19/2024, 10:23 PM
@HashTagSwagg - they should shorten Batman name to Man fora more grounden experience.
Malatrova15
Malatrova15 - 9/19/2024, 10:10 PM
This not Aubry Gaga Plaza Kirby chick is really cute such a Kinamman type
Godzilla2000Zer
Godzilla2000Zer - 9/19/2024, 10:13 PM
Lots of fun I really enjoyed it plus I literally watched The Batman again just before the series premiered.
JustAWaffle
JustAWaffle - 9/20/2024, 5:17 AM
@Godzilla2000Zer - I’m about 20 min in. It feels like this could have been a movie. The cinematography has an even grittier tone than The Batman.
JustAWaffle
JustAWaffle - 9/20/2024, 6:12 AM
@Godzilla2000Zer - Just finished it. First episode was legit. It feels like the beginning of a rise to power kind of story. We’ll see how big he gets by the end of the season.

He’ll be a solid lord of the underworld kind of villain for future Batman films. And Collin Ferell is amazing in this role.
Godzilla2000Zer
Godzilla2000Zer - 9/20/2024, 4:08 PM
@JustAWaffle - Indeed and best thing is that Sofia doesn't really underestimate him all that much either.
JustAWaffle
JustAWaffle - 9/21/2024, 1:23 AM
@Godzilla2000Zer - And she is playing the hell out of that role. Totally unpredictable. Can’t tell if she’s ready to join him or kill him half the time.
MisterBones
MisterBones - 9/19/2024, 10:25 PM
“Oz Cobb”
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ImNotaBot
ImNotaBot - 9/19/2024, 10:28 PM
I like James Gunn but i think he should wait for Reeves to finish his trilogy before bringing a new Batman. Right now nothing is going to top Reeves Batman universe, for me this is by far the best live action incarnation of Gotham ever made.

After only one episode i just want to rewatch The Batman again. I really liked episode one and i hope they make more shows set in this universe. A Hugo Strange show would be amazing.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 9/20/2024, 7:31 AM
@ImNotaBot - With Dave Bautista as Hugo.
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HistoryofMatt
HistoryofMatt - 9/19/2024, 11:00 PM
So much better than the MCU garbage on D+, and yet this site gives it about a tenth of the coverage of that crappy Agatha show.

Disney truly does pay, don't they?
SonOfAGif
SonOfAGif - 9/19/2024, 11:56 PM
@HistoryofMatt - Maga syndrome in full effect. Step 1: Bring up the enemy. Step 2: Blame them. Step 3: Play the victim.
cubrn
cubrn - 9/20/2024, 12:51 AM
@HistoryofMatt - What if I told you both things can exist at the same time in perfect harmony?
EnergyVamp
EnergyVamp - 9/20/2024, 2:43 AM
@SonOfAGif - Trump Derangement on full display. Living rent free. No one brought up Orange mans name.
TheNewYorker
TheNewYorker - 9/19/2024, 11:30 PM
Good episode. The color grading was a bit.. anyways, I enjoyed it.
Nightmare
Nightmare - 9/20/2024, 12:33 AM
@TheNewYorker - Looked like it was done with a wet grocery bag.
MahN166A
MahN166A - 9/20/2024, 12:02 AM
Awesome episode!!
Cristin Miloti is killing it as Sofia Falcone.
Can’t wait to see more of her and I am loving what I am seeing so far from Colin Farrell’s Oz.

Wish the whole series was already out to watch so I could binge it
AllsGood
AllsGood - 9/20/2024, 12:19 AM
Aug. 7, 2024, Warner Bros. Discovery WBD -3.01% posted a nearly $10 billion quarterly loss mostly due to a write-down of the value of its cable networks, a stunning acknowledgment of how the television industry has deteriorated since the blockbuster deal that created the conglomerate two years ago.
ModHaterSLADE
ModHaterSLADE - 9/20/2024, 2:02 AM
This was damn good, never been a Penguin fan before but man Farrell is changing that.
SDCA27
SDCA27 - 9/20/2024, 3:32 AM
@ModHaterSLADE - yeah this is a way different interpretation of Penguin than what you see in the books, starting with his family not being loaded. But if it’s this good then I’m all about it
ModHaterSLADE
ModHaterSLADE - 9/20/2024, 7:34 AM
@SDCA27 - Yeah, I like the more grounded approach to him.
Himura
Himura - 9/20/2024, 3:20 AM
They finally did it. They actually cracked the code on how to make a great Batman show without Batman.
FireandBlood
FireandBlood - 9/20/2024, 4:37 AM
@Himura - Gotham is a universe within itself, always has been. Half of DC’s entire output is Batman/Gotham centric. It was never a question of whether or not it could viably sustain its own universe; it already does. The key in translating that to live action was always execution, and they’ve sussed it with Joker and Penguin.
batman001
batman001 - 9/20/2024, 4:53 AM
Anybody else notice that there using www.rataalada . com to promote the show much like what they did when The Batman was first being released.
FireandBlood
FireandBlood - 9/20/2024, 6:27 AM
Episode was really good, but that kids gonna die
MahN166A
MahN166A - 9/20/2024, 6:50 PM
@FireandBlood -

I actually feel like this Victor, is eventually going to become Victor Zsasz.

The way Oz says there is room for him to grow into something more like him, and the fact that Victor was getting detailed in his indecisiveness about how to mutilate Alberto to pull off their plan.

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