The Penguin’s Colin Farrell "horrified" by monstrous episode 7 revelation
"I think he's convinced himself that it didn't happen the way it did."
*Warning: Major spoilers for the The Penguin episode 7 ahead.*
For the first few episodes of The Penguin, Oz Cobb (Colin Farrell) may have seemed actually quite a sympathetic figure in a weird way – but if that image hasn't come crumbling down already, it absolutely will have in episode 7.
The penultimate episode of The Batman spin-off was interspersed with flashbacks to Oz's childhood and answered the question of what actually happened to his brothers with a chilling scene.
One flashback shows Oz playing hide and seek with his brothers in the tunnels underneath Gotham as the rain comes pouring in. Oz struggles to climb down a ladder to reach his brothers and, enraged, he pushes shut a heavy metal door, locking them into the overflow tunnel beneath the city.
As he heads home on his own, the rain continues to pour down drains in Gotham – and into that tunnel, drowning both boys.
When he arrives home, he lies and tells his mother that his brothers are at the movies. Back in the tunnel, his brothers scream for help before eventually falling silent, with Oz now having to live with the fact that he's killed them both.
Reflecting on that disturbing revelation, actor Farrell told RadioTimes.com: "That's the cornerstone around which everything is built, the rest of his life.
"And it certainly is the foundation, or the springboard upon which he is launched into the world, that decision that he makes as a child in that moment, and the reasons why he does it – so that he can have the isolation of his mother's love directed solely towards him."
He added: "I understood it and was horrified by it. I think he washes his hands of it totally, and has convinced himself that it didn't happen the way it did. It's that grave. But it's in there somewhere – the darkness. And it was there at that age, that's the thing.
"[The show] should be entertaining more than anything else, but I know Lauren [LeFranc, showrunner] did want to approach the notion that monsters are, more often than not, created by family, by society, by circumstance, rather than just being born. [For Oz], I think both are the case... he was a creature of nature and nurture."
The final scenes of the episode leave Oz in grave danger as Gotham comes crashing down around him, with the finale episode on its way next week.
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