Note: This story contains spoilers from “The Penguin” Episode 7.
Salvatore Maroni and Oz Cobb finally collided in the penultimate episode of “The Penguin” and it ended as bloody as expected.
From the start, Oz (Colin Farrell) has been poking and prodding Sal (Clancy Brown) knowing he was safely behind bars. He tried to make his deal with the Maroni family to screw over the Falcone’s and go into business selling Bliss. That all went down the drain when he kidnapped Sal’s kid and burned him and his wife Nadia in a warehouse.
Brown told TheWrap that Sal was a “hibernating bear” while locked up, but with him out and teamed up with Sofia (Cristin Milioti) he’s got a mind only for revenge.
“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,” Brown said. “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. “
He added, “When he gets out he’s a bear full of rage, and he gives up to his animal desire for revenge and retribution.”
Sal’s on the warpath because of what happened to his wife and son — having them both burned alive would have that effect on anyone. It’s one of the more gruesome moments in HBO’s violent series, but Brown said what makes it worse is that the Maroni family was one of the healthier ones displayed in the show.
“He’s as close as we get to a good relationship — a good parent/child relationship, a good marriage,” he said. “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.”
Sal turns to Sofia for help taking down Oz. The two break bread in the safe house Sal’s staying in and while the moment definitely feels akin to “the enemy of my enemy is my friend,” there was a softness to the scene that Brown said was hammered home by showrunner Lauren LeFranc.
“Lauren thought it was important for Sofia to see that there was a way family works,” Brown said. “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.”
Thanks to Sofia, Sal gets his hands on Oz and takes him to his hidden Bliss operation. He’s ready to take it all off his hands when Oz starts twisting the knife. He tells Sal about how his wife and boy stank while they burned to death. That sets him off as fighting erupts throughout the compound. Sal has Oz on the ropes until a heart attack stops him in his tracks.
Oz wants the satisfaction of beating Sal himself — which wasn’t going to happen — and Brown says Sal’s death naturally adds to his frustrations. He added that the two are animals and winning against Sal – but almost winning by technicality – pushes Oz further into that animalistic nature.
“Sal has an expression of fear that he knows he’s having a heart attack and dying,” Brown said. “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.”
“The Penguin” airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT and streams on Max.
