The Real Reason The Penguin Killed Off That Major Supporting Character In Its Finale

This post contains spoilers for "The Penguin."

When "The Penguin" was first announced, some fans were concerned over how much the show would affect the overall franchise (aka the Batman Epic Crime Saga). Would moviegoers feel the need to watch this show first if they wanted to understand "The Batman: Part II"? If they did, that would probably do some damage to the sequel's box office potential. We've seen with the Marvel Cinematic Universe lately that having everything be connected can lead to diminishing returns; if everything is sold as being important, soon nothing will feel that way.

Fortunately, "The Penguin" avoids this problem by wrapping up its storylines in a nice little bow. By the end of season 1, Oz Cobb/The Penguin's (Colin Farrell) mother Francis (Deirdre O'Connell) is incapacitated, his enemy Sofia (Cristin Milioti) is back in Arkham Asylum, and all the other mob bosses in Gotham City are either on his side or sleeping with the fishes. Oz is exactly where "The Batman" left off with him, except he's even more powerful now.

And although we've learned quite a bit about Oz throughout these past eight episodes, there's nothing here that movie-only viewers need to know. "The Batman" established that the Penguin is a smart yet ruthless villain; the TV show toys with the idea that he's got some good in him, but by the end it's clear that our initial impression was spot on: this guy sucks. He's a bad dude, and Robert Pattinson's Caped Crusader is right to beat him up whenever he gets the chance.

Near the end of the "Penguin" finale, "A Great or Little Thing," the show's only major addition to the larger franchise seems to be Vic (Rhenzy Feliz), Oz's good-natured sidekick. By the time Oz and Vic are drinking booze in an empty park together, it seems like Vic is all but certain to play a role in the next Batman movie. But then "The Penguin" cuts this thread off too; Oz invites Vic in for a hug, and starts choking him to death. It's brutal, even by this show's standards. Murder via gunshot is one thing, but to lovingly invite someone into your arms and then kill them? That's a whole new intimate level of cruelty.

The worst part is how Oz kills Vic for seemingly no reason at all. You'd think, even just from a cold-hearted strategy perspective, that Oz would prefer to keep Vic around. Why would he murder the kid who's become his fiercest supporter?

In an interview with Deadline, "The Penguin" showrunner Lauren LeFranc explained why she thinks Oz killed poor sweet Vic: 

"Oz has shown himself to be someone who is narcissistic and lives in his own delusion. He has really struggled with receiving love and seeks it out from his mother, but never fully trusts it from people. In so many ways, he is a broken man. When it comes to Victor, it was really important to me that Oz kill him — not because he has any reason to, and Victor did come through for him. Victor is like family. Yet Victor saw Oz at his weakest, at his most vulnerable. Oz really feels like he needs a level of power. He can't have weakness, so he kills Victor."

It's a tragic explanation, especially since Vic's gesture of comfort amidst Oz's grief over his mother was one of the most touching moments of the whole show. It seemed, for a moment there, that Oz had managed a breakthrough; after eight episodes of two-faced scheming, maybe Oz had unwittingly wandered his way into a genuine friendship with a kindred soul.

But then Vic tells Oz that he's "like family" to him, not knowing how little family means to Oz, and it soon becomes clear that any sympathetic reading of their friendship we had was wishful thinking. Oz never cared for Vic, not for a moment. Whereas Vic went through a whole season-long arc of learning to trust and even admire his new boss, for Oz this kid was always a means to an end, nothing more. Oh, if only Vic had gotten onto that bus!

What makes Vic's murder even more despicable is that, for most of the season, it sure seemed like Oz had a soft spot for the kid. Vic has a stutter and Oz has a clubfoot; both of these conditions make it harder for them to be taken seriously in life, yet they both persist and keep winning battles anyway. Oz sees some of himself in Vic, which might be why he doesn't kill Vic on the first night they meet. 

Oz sparing Vic's life is a twisted "save the cat" moment. He does a ton of other messed-up things in that first episode, but his relative kindness towards Vic is the one thing that keeps the audience firmly on his side. It juxtaposes well with Sofia, who's more sympathetic in the season overall but who casually murders a kid in the first episode. Throughout the season, Sofia grows more sympathetic while Oz is revealed to be increasingly sleazy, yet the Oz/Vic dynamic (with its echoes of the beloved Batman/Robin dynamic) provides Oz with just enough goodwill to keep us from turning on him entirely. That is, of course, until those final moments. 

Throughout the season, we've allowed ourselves the comfort of believing that Oz only kills for strategic reasons. (Or, in the case of Alberto Falcone in the first episode, out of understandable anger.) All of Oz's murders we'd seen, even his childhood killing of his brothers, were at least in pursuit of a long-term goal for himself. However, his murder of Vic is a clear departure from this pattern and an act utterly divorced from any sort of coherent strategy. This is the misdeed that is, even by this show's warped sense of morality, truly unforgivable. Vic's death is the moment where Oz loses all sympathy. It may have been fun watching Oz climb his way up to the top of Gotham's underworld, but now it's time for Batman to take this monster down.

"The Penguin" is now streaming on Max.