THE PENGUIN EPISODE 3 FULL Breakdown, Batman Flashbacks & Things You Missed
Category
🦄
CreativityTranscript
00:00Welcome back everyone it's Charlie.
00:08This will be my full penguin episode 3 video there a whole bunch of Batman Easter eggs
00:12and references.
00:13So will break it all down unlike the Joker 2 movie.
00:15It seems like everyone's actually digging this show.
00:18So this is actually holding up the DC universe for the time being until we get some more
00:21big movies careful for spoilers.
00:24If you have not seen the episode yet will start the beginning work away through shot
00:27by shot talking about Easter eggs and WTF moments starting with the episode title bliss
00:32which is a reference to the new mystery drug that they've been hyping up since episode
00:35one a psychoactive compound the creates a bliss like effect in the users which they
00:40test at the end of the episode we find out that it's created inside Arkham asylum meaning
00:45that some of the people that work there are connected to it making you think of Hugo strange
00:49making you think of scarecrow with his fear toxin there's a lot of people associated with
00:54Arkham the could be behind this.
00:56Also probably Sophia's psychologist that she's in a relationship with because she says
01:00that they use the compound on her when she was in Arkham.
01:04So they've been testing it for a while inside Arkham on the inmates meaning that is a good
01:08chance right now that Riddler in the Joker are probably getting doses of it to there
01:13is a compound in the DC universe for the Titans comics called bliss which is a drug that a
01:18villain named the brain uses to create a two-way psychic link between him and the people using
01:22it using it to enhance his mental capacity nearly infinitely which is some of you have
01:27probably guessed is the exact plot of Batman forever with Jim Carrey's Riddler trying to
01:33hack into everyone's brains to use them to make himself smarter, but on the penguin show
01:37this Matt Reeves Batman universe isn't connected to that so it just them borrowing the name
01:42bliss but it does seem like it's teeing up the idea that there's something larger behind
01:47this like more Batman villain related happening in Arkham the actual opening scene basically
01:51shows us a flashback to Victor from before the events of Riddler's attack blowing the
01:56dams flooding the city to explain how he wound up where he is in present day.
02:00So this is all meant to take place right at the end of the Batman movie.
02:03He's back in his own neighborhood going home.
02:05He steps over pictures of Bella Ray all heralding her campaign slogan real change which is kind
02:10of ironic because yes things change in Gotham, but they get way way worse before they get
02:15better.
02:16So it's meant to be darkly ironic because his whole family winds of dying shortly after
02:20this Victor as we've learned previously on the show comes from crown point in Gotham
02:25which is one of the poorest areas of the city and meaning that is also one of the areas
02:29that got hit the hardest because the way that Matt Reeves explained at the end of the Batman
02:32movie when the city floods most the areas that were affected were the poor areas all
02:38the rich people in Gotham live in more elevated territories other parts of the city outside
02:43of the city.
02:44So that's why the beginning of episode one they showed you that all the rich neighborhoods
02:47look just fine.
02:48We meet his girlfriend who was texting him last week that we meet his family.
02:52We find out he had a younger sister and both of his parents were alive on the news when
02:56he's talking to them.
02:57You hear about the mayoral campaign Bella Ray all is about to win because remember the
03:01timeline here.
03:02This is before the bombs go off at the end of the Batman movie.
03:04She did eventually wind up winning that election.
03:07He talks to his dad about being more ambitious.
03:09His father thinks they have more than enough in life is fine.
03:12This is sort of set up the idea that we saw in episode one where he was arguing with Penguin
03:16trying to get him to spare his life saying that he did have ambitions.
03:20We learn more about the friends that he was with when Penguin actually caught them trying
03:24to steal his rims one of them is named squid the other is Calvin.
03:28Then we see the Riddler's bombs go off in the area around his apartment floods and it's
03:32so bad that the waterline rushes up above the level of his family's apartment in seconds
03:38like before they have time to escape RIP we also find out that his girlfriend's family
03:42died in this event to so both of their families are dead.
03:46Then we jump back to present-day the Riddler's apartment he's hyped about Alberto's mystery
03:50drug the bliss that's going to make them rich, but he still has no idea what it's all about
03:54like Sophia hasn't told him in Alberto obviously didn't tell him either he's been waffling
03:58with her this whole time Penguin also assumes that eventually Luca the rest of the Falcons
04:03will kill Sophia and fix the issue for them.
04:05So he's not gonna have to deal with her that much in the future like eventually they'll
04:09figure it out they'll deal with it Penguin reminds and that they're cool for now despite
04:13his screw up with the jewels Penguin still likes him.
04:15He's not planning on killing him anytime soon.
04:17There a couple moments in this episode where he reiterates that like he keeps complimenting
04:21him all because Penguin feels like Victor is just like he was when he was a kid.
04:27So is kind of treating him like a little brother in effect like the not that close yet, but
04:31he is trying to help him because he senses you're just like me.
04:35He finally starts paying him for being the sidekick $1000 a week which is to set up the
04:40bribe with the cop later in the episode, but also now he's giving him money.
04:43So he has a reason to stick around is meant to be more money than he's ever seen his life
04:48like $1000 a week is a lot for him.
04:51He gets a call from Salvatore Moroni just as Sophia shows up probably to set up the
04:56Moroni showing up at the end of the episode trying to kill him for betraying them while
05:01is on the phone Sophia shows up giving Victor a nice awkward scene with her and is meant
05:05to show you a couple different things mostly her ability to sense bullcrap when it's coming
05:10from people like she doesn't know everything about Victor, but she can tell that Victor's
05:13lying to her instantly.
05:15There's also a little bit of set before this to where Penguin tells Victor not to believe
05:19everything that he reads when he talks about Sophia me that Penguin doesn't totally believe
05:24that Sophia killed those seven girls and became the hangman thrown into Arkham like the news
05:29was talking about earlier this season.
05:31There's a couple moments later in the episode where they tease more information about what
05:35really happened in it seems like an episode for next week will get the full flashbacks
05:39will see the actual truth of what happened with all those seven girls, but the way they've
05:43been presenting it.
05:44She was not totally responsible.
05:46She also says the Penguin she is not hangman me that she either didn't kill those girls
05:50or there was somebody else involved and she just wound up taking the fall for that other
05:54person she reveals to Victor that Penguin used to be her driver when she was younger
05:58before she got sent to Arkham also setting up more of the back story between them which
06:02we get later in the episode and will see in next week's episode she makes Penguin drive
06:06her to get the drug shipment using it is another opportunity to make fun of him to his face
06:11just like old times reminding him of when he was a nobody and reminding him of the time
06:16that he betrayed her.
06:18There's a couple times later in the episode to where she reminds remember when you screwed
06:21me over was it worth it to betray me the couple other funny moments during the episode to
06:25worth Sophia just making fun of Penguin left and right when she gets a chance to she calls
06:29his apartment tacky.
06:31When they leave Victor calls his girlfriend in on his phone we see two other mystery numbers
06:35that don't have names on them will probably learn what those phone numbers are in the
06:39next couple episodes that we see Sophia giving the jewels from episode one in the heist in
06:44last week's episode to someone named Marco who brought them the new drug from Arkham
06:49we learned that it did come from inside Arkham that's why it's inside the Arkham bags buried
06:53in earth to hide it.
06:55Like I said this could lead back to Hugo strange or scarecrow or just any number of Batman
06:59villains that are associated with Arkham in the comics.
07:03So start your theory crafting now who is behind this.
07:06In addition to probably Sophia's boyfriend the psychiatrist we saw him in the flashbacks
07:11to Arkham.
07:12So he was treating her inside Arkham probably one of the people testing the drug on her
07:16the chemist they're using on the outside is named Trey bloom he's not based on a one-to-one
07:20copy of any comic book characters, but there is a Batman villain named Mr. Bloom, but his
07:26plan in the comics was to turn everyone into metahumans was a completely separate plot
07:31the actual compound was his finish looks like red crystals giving you a breaking bad blue
07:35crystal vibe what are they cooking in there.
07:38They explain the rest the process of how they created.
07:40So it's a special mushroom in the sap that comes off of the mushroom has the psychoactive
07:45compound that they dehydrate and turn into these crystals basically creating a bliss
07:50like effect in people where the episode gets its name from they cut to a couple scenes
07:54of Victor with his girlfriend inside penguins apartment probably a bad move to invite her
07:59there like the coaster moved like no no we got to put these on coasters he'll know if
08:02we don't use coasters the funny thing about that is the penguin probably would know that
08:06he didn't use a coaster the Calvin friend that she asked about was the kid that Sophia
08:11killed which he asked to lie about obviously like I don't know what happened to him.
08:15He just kind of disappeared.
08:17Maybe he'll never come back please stop asking questions about him.
08:20She sets up the whole plot with her leaving Gotham for California because currently life
08:24in Gotham sucks as we've seen at the end of the Batman movie.
08:27The first couple episodes of the series most of the city is still underwater their existence
08:32is terrible.
08:33She reveals that both their families died during Riddler's attack.
08:36So she's leaving tomorrow and he should come with her and even if you didn't watch the
08:40rest the episode just knowing from this is only episode three.
08:43He's probably to be in the rest the episodes he was not going to go with her ultimately
08:47it was more matter of them explaining why he didn't ultimately go with her.
08:51But it's a basic lover money sort of choice that he has to make classic choice in mob
08:55related stories like this like do you pursue the life more money more respect more power
09:00or do you pursue love back at the Falcons Sophia has it out with VD again remember everybody
09:06on this show seems like they hate VD for some different reason he tries to push her aside
09:11again basically giving her a plane ticket to Italy and essentially challenging her outright
09:16saying that she's a spoiled brat who got what she deserved by being thrown in Arkham
09:19and if she doesn't go to Italy in the next two days he'll kill her and just tell people
09:24that that's where she went which just put VD at the top of her kill list.
09:29They use the rival gang of the triads to test out the bliss also doing a little exposition
09:33and backstory they do this throughout most the episodes to with the like slip in a whole
09:37bunch of exposition to explain the history of the universe and the characters all the
09:41relationships they explain the history of Gotham Falcone push the triads out of the
09:45area taking over what they used to control penguin was involved during those events they're
09:50using them now because they hate the Falcons and just like the Moroni's are less likely
09:54to inform on them.
09:56We meet their organizations version of what penguin is inside the Falcons they call him
10:01a deputy he has to talk himself out of being shot on site again this happens in pretty
10:06much every single episode like he finds himself in a situation that he has to waffle his way
10:10out of on the spot and that really is his superpower like penguin on this show in this
10:14Batman universe has no actual superpowers except for improvisation.
10:19You also notice during this scene that penguin is the one who comes up with the idea to name
10:24the compound bliss and Sophia actually seems a little impressed like wow that was great
10:29thinking we get the scene of Victor bribing the police officer.
10:32Now the cop pulls him over because he is breaking the law technically he wasn't profiling or
10:37anything like that, but you can kind of see things go downhill for him really bass when
10:41he can't speak because of the stutter making the cop more suspicious of him that he finds
10:45the wad of cash on him making things even worse, but as we learned in the previous episode
10:50with the dirty detective most of the cops in Gotham city are dirty.
10:55So is cleverly able to improvise showing how he's learning from penguin to bribe the police
11:00officer what money I don't know what you're talking about them probably one of my favorite
11:04scenes in the episode was when penguin and Sophia try to improvise together like they
11:09both try to yes and each other as they're creating a more elaborate lie.
11:13Just the way they bounce off of each other.
11:14They're both meant to be really quick on their feet verbally and mentally.
11:18So hope we get to see a couple more scenes like this, but the idea is that they now need
11:22VD to help arrange the meeting with the boss of the triads which they wind up using this
11:27nice lunch the penguin takes Victor for in town.
11:31He gets super impressed with Victor when he tells about the story of bribing the cop penguin
11:35stands up for him when he can't finish speaking the name of the dish to the waiter tries to
11:39give a little pep talk to about standing up for himself more all this all these compliments
11:43from penguin are meant to set up Victor choosing the life over his girlfriend basically choosing
11:48penguin over his girlfriend.
11:50I think before the incident with the cop and before the restaurant his chances of going
11:55with her were way way higher like he was actually still likely to leave, but this is also penguin
12:00giving Victor another Scarface style speech about how the world should be different and
12:04is his opportunity to seize everything that should have already been his then he winds
12:09up using his blackmail who's also there at the restaurant explain the reason for them
12:12being at the restaurant the first place to get her to betray VD so they can actually
12:16break in on the room.
12:18They catch him mid hump and force him to make the call to the triad boss.
12:22We also get a little more backstory here to VD implies penguin did betray Sophia to Falcom
12:27that was one of my theories in an earlier episode, but this episode just give us a little
12:30more confirmation of some of those and that's how she got locked up in Arkham in the first
12:35place and after that Falcom rewarded penguin by letting him run what he calls the 44 which
12:40I think is meant to be the iceberg lounge that we saw him running in the Batman movie.
12:45Then we get a bit of a replay of what we saw at the beginning of episode one with Alberto
12:48where VD starts insulting penguin more and more notice he calls him penguin to his face
12:53which in the universe of the Batman Matt Reeves explain is meant to be a derogatory term like
12:58people call him penguin when they want to insult him and he winds up kind of losing
13:02control but not quite as much as he did with Alberto like he almost kills VD but stops
13:07just short and I love the way that he does it with his phone like he almost kills him
13:11by shoving his phone inside his mouth and just breaking his skull VD then makes the
13:16call and then there's time jump to them testing the bliss out in that club notice penguin
13:21is now in his full Scarface white suit attire.
13:23I can't see him in a white suit without thinking of Scarface Matt Reeves even called the penguin
13:27series sort of like his Scarface moment he's using Eve Carlos girls to distribute it around
13:33the club and I can't tell what picture Victor has on his lock screen here it looks kind
13:37of like an anime picture, but it could be a comic book panel.
13:40Let me know in the comments if you think you know what this is.
13:43There's a bunch more great scenes between Sophia and penguin she lets him know that
13:46she doesn't totally trust him and knows what he's trying to do be smooth with her feeding
13:51people lines like complimenting her sucking up to her.
13:53She knows it's all meant to be an act.
13:55She then confronts him over his betrayal 10 years ago.
13:59They also clarify some details about when things happen with the timeline was how she
14:02wound up in Arkham in the surprising thing is that later in the episode he actually confesses
14:07yes it was worth it.
14:08Look at all the things that I got that I never would've had the opportunity for given where
14:12I come from like it might not mean a lot to you because you were born a rich girl, but
14:15I was born from nothing.
14:17So I think the idea is that Sophia still doesn't trust him, but appreciates him being honest
14:22with her in in that moment when he confessed to actually thinking that it was worth it
14:26betraying her.
14:27He was being honest and the idea that he felt sorry for doing it.
14:31But the whole idea is that if he had to do it again he would still do the same thing
14:34he still would betray her and we learn that whatever happened with those dead girls in
14:39the past when she got thrown in Arkham.
14:40It was 10 years ago.
14:42Like I said episode four next week is gonna give us the flashback that I think will explain
14:46most if not all that then you probably recognize Francois Xiao from lost in a billion other
14:52things he's been in a bunch different shows and movies.
14:54He's the head of the triads organization Sophia winds up bonding with him over the death of
14:59her father like they both hated her father and then uses her knowledge of Xiao's own
15:03father his family history to her advantage when he tries to call her on her mental state
15:08for being inside Arkham.
15:10There's probably gonna be a lot of that from other characters for the rest the series where
15:13people question her mental state like are you crazy you're in Arkham should we worry
15:17about you are you nuts right now.
15:19Even though she's been playing it really cool.
15:20The last couple of episodes.
15:22I'm really hoping that at some point this season we get to see her absolutely lose it
15:26on someone if we're just talking about characters that you want to see the biggest payoff deaths
15:31for VD is at the top of that list right now.
15:33Just because penguin hates him Sophia hates him.
15:36He already threatened Sophia's life he threatened penguins life is make sense that at some point
15:41she or penguin will wind up killing him Victor then has another PTSD flashback to the dams
15:46breaking in Riddler's attack the death of his family while that's happening Sophia starts
15:51talking more about the bliss inside Arkham like I said this could have something to do
15:55with Hugo strange you could have something to do with scarecrow just any number of Batman
15:59villains that could be associated with this in addition to her psychiatrist that we saw
16:02last week will probably get more answers about that in the next two or three episodes when
16:07she mentions the neon dragons in the Odessa mob from the comics.
16:11Those are other rival gangs in Gotham will probably meet some more those characters in
16:14future episodes as well to penguin winds up closing the deal.
16:18So they're going to move forward with the triads and then he finds out about Victor's
16:21girlfriend and confronts him over wanting to leave.
16:24So the key here like this actually really important speecher in the episode love penguin
16:27speech when he says Victor could have left any time he wanted during all this the deep
16:33down secretly he didn't want to leave.
16:36So the rest the episode is Victor just coming to the terms with that realizing the deep
16:40down he does want to stay he is ambitious.
16:42He wants that power the money he leaves stealing penguins car briefly just kind of borrows
16:47it probably intend to actually steal it forever watches his girlfriend leave at the port authority
16:52as penguin and Sophia or sort of having it out and he's apologizing to her.
16:56The other important thing during Victor and penguins speech here to is penguin explaining
17:01his own ethos for being like what life means in general that there's no such thing as right
17:06or wrong is just about survival and having something to show for what you've done it's
17:11a way to explain penguin in a sort of shades of gray kind of situation where like he's
17:15not outright evil, but he's not that good either explaining why he can both help Batman
17:21for instance like he'll work with Batman when he has to but also work against Batman at
17:26certain times to really great performance by Colin Farrell during the episode, but he's
17:30amazing in all these episodes.
17:33There's another moment when penguin and Sophia are going back and forth with each other where
17:36she says that she is not hangman and he didn't intend to betray her.
17:40So I think this is partially meant to confirm that she wasn't solely responsible for what
17:44everyone thinks she did killing those girls 10 years ago.
17:48She also reminds penguin that the Falcons never made him which in the mafia is when
17:53they officially make you part of the family you become way more powerful if you've ever
17:57watch the Sopranos or goodfellas they get into this during a lot of those mob stories
18:01getting made by a family is a really, really big deal in the life of a mobster there's
18:06a bit of a funny moment, but they play like a darkly comedic kind of way because Sophia
18:10tells him I don't totally trust you now and penguins like let me show you how you'll be
18:14able to trust me going for justice Maroney's wife shows up with their crew to kill him
18:19for betraying them Victor saves him by running over one of the dudes and he bails on Sophia
18:25like what we do we wait for and penguin tells them to take off leave her we need to go right
18:29now basically is penguin telling Sophia oh you can definitely trust me just as he betrays
18:35her five seconds later absolutely cannot wait to see how he spins this the next time he
18:40see Sophia remember that is his superpower is basically talking himself out of situations
18:46their budget big Easter eggs references and reveals during the episode.
18:50So there's a you spotted that I didn't talk about in the video just write them below in
18:53the comments and everybody let me know if someone inside Arkham is behind this bliss
18:58compound besides Sophia's psychiatrist who else do you think from the Batman comics is
19:03involved in this their number of other Batman villains.
19:06It could be, but like the list of people who would be in positions of power inside Arkham
19:11like you're talking about staff here is not that long.
19:15So it just feels like we're building up towards a bigger reveal of like a Batman villain behind
19:19the scenes before the end of the season and because the penguin series is meant to directly
19:24set up the events of the Batman to movie that probably just spill over into the Batman
19:28to like whoever that Batman villain winds up being will show up in the Batman to my
19:33full episode four video will post next week after they release it like I said it seems
19:37like it's going to be a flashback heavy episode to 10 years ago to explain what really happened
19:41with those seven dead girls in why penguin betrayed Sophia what everybody thinks she
19:46did it just explain the full truth of what really did happen.
19:49We're also going to see Mark strong as a younger version of Carmine Falcone.
19:54They said that they recast him because John Turturro was not available for filming the
19:58series.
19:59Otherwise they would just use him and deaged him with some makeup and practical effects.
20:03But really it's only a flashback to like 10 years ago.
20:05So it's not that long of a flashback.
20:07I just did a couple videos for the Joker to movie very controversial.
20:11Most people probably going to hate it, but there are a couple alternate endings deleted
20:15scenes I explain what's going on with that whole Batman ending scene connecting things
20:19to other Batman movies.
20:21Everybody click here for that video and click here to learn about the alternate ending to
20:24that movie.
20:25Thank you so much for watching and I'll see you guys the next one!