The Penguin's first episode, "After Hours," opens by recapping the events of The Batman and giving us a glimpse at the destruction and death The Riddler's attack on Gotham City led to.
Only a week has passed and Oz Cobb makes his way to Carmine Falcone's office in the Iceberg Lounge where he recovers various valuables and documents his dead boss used to blackmail many of the city's most powerful people (along with dirt on his associates). However, he's then confronted by Alberto Falcone, heir to the empire, and recovering drophead.
A tense conversation follows in which Oz pretends he was only there to bring that stuff, including Salvatore Maroni's prized ring, to Alberto. Fondly remembering growing up in the same neighbourhood as gangster Rex Calabrese, Oz is incensed when Alberto laughs at his ambitions and guns his new boss down.
Moving the body, Oz finds a group of teenagers trying to steal his car and takes one of them, Victor, hostage. Forcing the kid to help him move Alberto, the villain makes sure he has an alibi and takes the body to a scrapyard where he intends to kill the kid. Oz relents and instead takes the boy under his wing. Heading home, we learn "The Penguin" has a clubfoot and that he's holding on to Maroni's ring.
The flood has caused major issues with the family's drops operation and Oz is called in to the higher-ups who demand he close it down because they're moving out of Gotham. He's not happy and pitches Alberto's idea to create a new version of the drug, something his sister, Sofia Falcone, overhears.
She clearly believes Oz had something to do with her brother's disappearance - how else would he know? - prompting him to take Victor and go on the run. Heading to his mother's house - she appears to be suffering from dementia - he presents her with one of Carmine's necklaces and gathers cash before she points out to him that this is his chance to get everything he wants.
Oz hatches a plan with Victor but is eventually captured by Sofia's goons. Known as "The Hangman," she was in Arkham Asylum for what sounds like multiple murders and tortures a naked Oz for information. Suddenly, a car cashes outside the house and Alberto's body is in the trunk with his ring finger missing and "PAYBACK" scrawled on the trunk's roof.
Oz laughs to himself, but why? Well, he previously visited Maroni in prison and offered to be a double agent, bringing the Falcones down from the inside. Sal scoffs at the prospect but his demeanour changes when Oz gives him that ring. Now, the Falcones will believe that he orchestrated Alberto's death, clearing Oz's name and creating a gang war he can take full advantage of.
Oz tells Victor that his goal is to take it all. He will be Gotham's new Kingpin of crime and watches over the city with his new protege to the tune of Dolly Parton's "9 to 5" as the credits roll.
The first episode of The Penguin is now streaming on Max.