The Penguin finale, titled "A Great or Little Thing," opens with Rex Calabrese visiting Francis Cobb in flashbacks that are playing out thanks to Dr. Julian Rush’s manipulations. It’s revealed that she found the torch Oz took beneath the streets of Gotham when he left his brothers behind to die, leaving her to conclude that her needy son killed them so he could have her all to himself.
Rex offers to take Oz under his wing because it’s possible to make a child like that into something great, particularly if she steers him in the right direction. Alternatively, he can kill the boy. Ma chooses the latter and their big night out was actually meant as his last night on Earth before taking a bullet for what he’d done.
However, his promises of a better figure and a top-floor apartment seemingly change her mind.
Back in the present, Vic searches for Oz and pushes his luck by calling the various gang leaders cowards for leaving. Oz, meanwhile, wakes up alongside his mother as Sofia delights in delivering some home truths about his past and what Francis intended to do to him.
Sofia tries to compel Oz into confessing to killing his brothers, but even when she promises to cut his mother’s fingers off, he still won’t tell the truth. With that, Francis drops the bombshell that she’s always known what he did and admits to always hating him. She stabs him with a broken bottle and collapses, leaving Oz to take advantage of the situation by escaping.
He gets his mom to the hospital after gunning down Sofia's men and stitches himself up while Vic inspires him by reminding the gangster of everything he's achieved since they met. He tracks down Councilman Sebastian Hady and blames Sal Maroni and Sofia for what happened in Crown Point. Providing Hady with everything he needs to make her the villain, Oz demands an opportunity to get to know the Councilman's allies and be welcomed into their circle. He's agreeable but warns Oz that mayor-elect Bella Reál is cracking down on corruption and explains he'll need to make himself look clean moving forward.
While this is happening, Sofia decides to leave Gotham and offers up her home, territory, and businesses to whoever finds Oz.
The Triads track him down and call Sofia; she arranges a meeting at the airport where she plans to kill him. However, it was all a set-up; Link, the second-in-command, kills Feng Zhao and Sofia's men. It turns out Oz successfully managed to convince the underbosses to murder their leaders. Like him, they're sick of having a boot on their throat.
Oz takes Sofia for a drive and they argue back and forth; marching her out of the car, it appears he's going to kill his foe...until he vanishes and the cops show up and arrest her for that explosion. Sofia is returned to Arkham where Julian keeps a watchful eye on her and delivers a letter from a woman claiming to be her half-sister: Selina Kyle.
Francis had a stroke and is now a vegetable, meaning she's unable to see what her son achieved. He sobs over her and begs his mother to say she's proud; he became a King for her, but she understands nothing.
Outside, Oz thanks Vic for everything he's done and says he's become like family. He saw him at his lowest but can't allow himself to be weak like that again for anyone. With that, Oz strangles and kills the teenager, callously taking the cash out of his wallet and throwing Vic's ID into the water, leaving him just another unidentified dead body in Gotham.
Later, we find Oz having met with his new high society pals returning to his new penthouse. His mother is in a hospital bed and a tear runs down her cheek as she looks out at the city. Oz then dances with Eve; she's dressed just like his mother and roleplays being her, telling Oz how proud she is and how much she loves him.
However, just as she promises that Gotham is now his and that nothing can stop him, the camera pans outside where we see the Bat-Signal shining in the distance, setting the stage for a future clash...