This story contains spoilers from “The Penguin” Episode 7.
In the second-to-last episode of The Penguin, Salvatore Maroni and Oz Cobb finally met face-to-face. The showdown between the two ended just as intense and violent as everyone expected, with a lot of action and a bloody conclusion.
From the beginning, Oz (played by Colin Farrell) teases and provokes Sal (played by Clancy Brown) because he thinks Sal couldn’t do anything in prison. Oz wanted to team up with Sal’s family to betray the Falcones and sell a drug called Bliss together. But everything went wrong when Oz kidnapped Sal’s son and trapped him and his wife, Nadia, in a warehouse, setting it on fire.
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Brown told TheWrap that while Sal was in prison, he was like a “sleeping bear.”
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But now that he’s free and working with Sofia (played by Cristin Milioti), he can only think about getting back at those who wronged him.
He’s just hibernating. He’s a big bear hibernating his cave until he can work his way through the corrupt system to get out and get back to business. It’s like mobs in the ’60s, ’70s, same thing happened in New York. I couldn’t really reach into any of the, any of the lore. I had to sort of reach into actual history. When he gets out he’s a bear full of rage, and he gives up to his animal desire for revenge and retribution.
Brown said
Sal is out for revenge because of what happened to his wife and son—losing them in such a terrible way would make anyone angry. It was one of the more shocking moments in HBO’s intense show, but what makes it even sadder is that the Maroni family seemed closer and more caring than some of the others in the series.
He’s as close as we get to a good relationship — a good parent/child relationship, a good marriage. I mean he’s about as close as we can get in this f—d up world that is Gotham. I thought that was an interesting I thought that was kind of an interesting counterpoint. It’s kind of cool to be the relationship that works.
he said
Sal teams up with Sofia to help him go after Oz. They share a meal together at Sal’s safe house, and even though it feels like they’re only joining forces because they both have a common enemy, the scene has a gentle, friendly vibe.
Brown said this softer moment was really emphasized by the show’s director, Lauren LeFranc.
Lauren thought it was important for Sofia to see that there was a way family works. And there can be a family that can trust and love each other. She really wanted that to be a warm scene. I think Cristin played it about as warm as Sofia can get. She was very wary. I liken it to trying to coax a feral cat or a feral dog into your car to take it to the shelter.
Brown said
With Sofia’s help, Sal captures Oz and brings him to his secret Bliss operation. Sal is ready to take everything from Oz, but Oz starts taunting him, cruelly describing how his wife and son smelled as they burned. This makes Sal furious, and a big fight breaks out everywhere. Sal almost defeats Oz but suddenly has a heart attack that stops him.
Oz wants to defeat Sal, though he probably wouldn’t have won. Actor Brown says that Sal’s sudden death makes Oz angrier. He explains that both characters act like wild animals, and almost winning just pushes Oz to act even more like one.
Sal has an expression of fear that he knows he’s having a heart attack and dying. He was going to kill him. He was ready to do it. He was doing it actively when it happened. Then it becomes about Oz’s frustration because he’s an animal too and he wants to win, he wants to kill. He wants to be a predator.
Brown said
Source: The Wrap