Whoa… that fourth episode of The Penguin was absolutely incredible! This is great storytelling and character development. The episode focused on Sofia Falcone, how she ended up in Arkham Asylum, what happened while she was there, and how it shaped her future.
Sophia is played by Cristin Milioti in the series, and she gave an incredible performance! She was amazing in this episode! I was left in awe as the episode came to a close.
The episode also featured Mark Strong, who was recast as Carmine Falcone. One of the most surprising reveals was the introduction of the Batman villain Magpie, who was portrayed by Marié Botha.
The story arc for Magpie was set in Arkham and her encounters with Sofia. During a recent interview with CinemaBlend, showrunner Lauren LeFranc offered some interesting insight into this episode, which was titled “Cent’anni,” and she explains why Sofia made that brutal and bloody choice.
Before her time in Arkham, Sofia was on the path of taking over her father’s empire, but after getting on he father’s bad side by questioning her mother’s alleged suicide, which was actually a murder, Carmine had her framed as the Hangman for murder and ended up being locked away in Arkham Asylum.
It’s here that she meets Magpie. “My name is Magpie. Like the bird. Not ‘Margaret.’ My stepmom used to call me Margaret, and I told her not to, and she didn’t listen. . . . Ooh, I bet there’ll be lots of paparazzi at your trial. No one even wrote about mine. Is it fun being famous? Oh, I bet it’s fun!”
Magpie was brought to life in the series in an interesting way, and while I would’ve liked to see more of her, that’s not going to happen.
The experiences and torture that Sophia endured in Arkham eventually drove her to the point where she decided to brutally kill Magpie. It was a shocking twist of events in the story that I didn’t see coming.
LeFranc talked about the twists throughout Episode 4, and he asked why she thought Sofia had to kill Magpie at that moment, she explained:
“Well the truth is, Sofia didn’t have to do that. She chose to do it. She’s obviously coming into that scene in the Mess Hall devastated.
“She had an inkling of hope left until Alberto told her that there was no way that she was ever going to get out of Arkham. And this whole time, she’s felt gaslit. She’s felt like she’s innocent, and her father had the power to put her in there.
“She has suspected that Dr. Ventress works for her father, and she’s just getting severely punished in the most terrible way by her own family.”
LeFranc went on to point out how the slightest bit of suspicion pushed Sofia over the edge: “And that level of devastation and anger and rage that has been boiling under the surface for her.
“When she believes that Magpie might have been spying on her in the cell next door, and telling Dr. Ventress what she’s been doing, or what she’s been thinking or feeling, the idea of one more person gaslighting her, and doing something as terrible as that, whether it’s true or not, something breaks inside of her in that moment.”
She then unleashed her fury to make sure that Magpie couldn’t hurt her in anyway. LeFranc went on to explain the inherent irony running throughout Sofia’s actions and what came after, saying:
“Ironically, the whole episode, she’s telling Dr. Ventress that she’s innocent, and she tells Dr. Rush that she would never kill women. And in this moment, she just breaks and kills Magpie.
“And yet, because she chooses to do that – and obviously she declares her innocence, ironically, in that moment – but because she does that, I think it’s partly why she survives Arkham for the next 10 years.
“Because there’s a strength in that terrible of an environment by taking such violent action. And she’s wholly changed as a result in that moment.”
Sophia embraced that dark side of her and when she finally got out of Arkham it led to another brutal act of revenge against her family.
Again, this is just such great storytelling and character development. This show is diving deep into the psyche of these characters and it’s being done in a very smart way with strong writing.
