EntertainmentTVAction ShowsDC TV ShowsThe PenguinThe Penguin episode 3 recap and Easter eggs: Betrayal, betrayal, and more betrayalWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
EntertainmentTVAction ShowsDC TV ShowsThe PenguinThe Penguin episode 3 recap and Easter eggs: Betrayal, betrayal, and more betrayalWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: HBO/Max)
There’s plenty to unpack so we dive into it all below, including any Easter eggs you might have initially missed.Warning! The following features spoilers if you’ve not yet tuned in, and don’t want to know anything that happens, come back later. If you need a refresher on last week’s instalment, check out our guide toThe Penguin episode 2 recap and Easter eggs.
Victor’s dilemma
(Image credit: HBO/Max)
Episode 3 starts with a flashback to events set at the same time as The Batman, but this time focusing on Victor. He meets his girlfriend and we see his life at home with his family in Crown Point, one of Gotham’s poorest neighborhoods. His dad is uneasy as to who Victor has been spending time with due to their criminal connections, but later that night Vic meets his pals anyways. From a rooftop, the group watch the Riddler’s bombs explode and collapse his apartment building, killing his family.
We then return to the present timeline, where Oz offers Vic the official role as his driver, offering to pay the teenager $1,000 a week for his services. As Oz takes a call, Victor is forced to spend time with Sofia Falcone, who questions him about his past. She then tells Vic to stay in, asking Oz to drive her instead that night, “just like old times”.
Sofia takes Oz to the base of her drug operation, showing him the rare, mushroom spores they are using to create their new product – which they later dub ‘bliss’. She asks him to find a distributor for the substance.
Elsewhere, Vic uses the downtime to meet up with his girlfriend, lying to her about what he’s been up to. She tells him she’s leaving for California as there’s nothing left in Gotham for them now, with their families dead. She invites Vic along, but he says he doesn’t think Oz will let him go, though he promises to figure it out.
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A night of ‘bliss’
(Image credit: HBO)
Later that night at a club, they start selling bliss, with Vic in charge of looking after the drugs. Initially the triad leader is unsure about joining forces, but Sofia delivers a persuading argument detailing how it was used to subdue patients in Arkham and that whoever peddles bliss would control the drug trade.
Outside the club, Oz has a confrontation with Sofia, before apologizing for everything that has happened to her. A car then arrives with armed men, and out steps an angry Nadia Maroni who reveals she’s been watching Oz. Arriving at the scene, Victor notices Nadia holding Oz and Sofia at gunpoint, so he crashes a car into the armed men. Oz jumps into the car making his escape and when Vic asks whether they should save Sofia too, he urges them to leave her.
The Penguin episode 3 Easter eggs
(Image credit: HBO/Sky)
The Hangman:Once again there are a few references to Sofia Falcone’s alter-ego the Hangman, her serial killer identity inDC Comics. At one point Oz tells Vic you shouldn’t believe everything you hear in the media, when the teenager raises concern about spending time alone with Sofia.
The Batman:The episode begins with a flashback to the events of 2022’s The Batman, but this time from the perspective of Victor who sees The Riddler’s bombs explore. We learn that this caused the death of his family.
The Penguin airs weekly on Sky and NOW in the UK and on HBO and Max in the US. Stay up to date with ourThe Penguin release schedule.
For more streaming picks, read our lists of thebest movies on Maxand thebest shows on Maxthat you can watch right now.
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1Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension”
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Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension”
2Arcs review: “A whole lot of game in a small package”
2Arcs review: “A whole lot of game in a small package”
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3Path of Exile 2 review: “A stellar start to a thrilling and brutal dark adventure”
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Path of Exile 2 review: “A stellar start to a thrilling and brutal dark adventure”
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4The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim review – “An uninspired expansion of the most iconic screen take on Tolkien”
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