The Penguin: Why Does Oz Tell Sofia His Mom Died?

The second episode of HBO’s The Penguin ramps up the stakes in Oz Cobb’s desperate power plays, putting himself on the line at a funeral of all places. However, a conversation with Sofia Falcone has viewers asking one question: why did Penguin tell Sofia that his mom died?

Why Does Oz Lie About His Mom in The Penguin?

Toward the middle part of the second episode of The Penguin, Oz walks up to Sofia Falcone after the funeral service for her brother Alberto and attempts to empathize with her loss. In doing so, Oz brings up the death of his two brothers and how much it affected his mother. While telling the story of how he and his mother went dancing months after the tragedy, Oz also brings up an interesting and untrue detail: that his mother has already passed away.

Oz is ambiguous about his mother’s “passing,” but he is sure to make it a point to Sofia that he has no one in his life that he cares about anymore. While viewers can look too deeply into the conversation and say that Oz’s mother, Francis Cobb, introduced in the first episode of the series, isn’t really his mother, that feels like it’s stretching the story’s limitations. Instead, it’s probably the most straightforward answer that’s the truth: Oz is simply continuing to manipulate Sofia to gain her trust.

Related: The Penguin: Is Victor Aguilar a Character From DC Comics?

This second option becomes even more evident by the end of the second episode when Sofia decides to trust Oz and offers him a place at her side in her plans for her new drug operation. It becomes clear that Penguin only lies about his mom to Sofia to kill two birds with one stone: to emotionally manipulate Sofia to gain her trust and to cover his own back and protect his loved one in the event that a partnership with Sofia goes sour. From the looks of things and Oz’s knack for betrayal and deceit, it doesn’t seem like his partnership with Sofia Falcone is one that’s meant to last.

This small story detail only continues to highlight everything deplorable about Oz Cobb/The Penguin in just the first two episodes of the series. Between this scene of Oz lying and his conversations with Salvatore Maroni, it’s clear that this Batman villain is willing to say whatever he has to benefit himself and take advantage of others. All that remains to be seen is if Oz will end up facing the consequences of his actions.

The Penguin releases new episodes on Sundays on HBO and Max.