Sofia Falcone, A.K.A. the Hangman, allegedly, This episode takes it upon itself to introduce us to Sofia's backstory, rightfully so, Right after the Penguin Betrayed her, an event which is expanded upon even more this time around, we go into Flashback.
It turns out, the Penguin is a real backstabber, even more so than the previous episode implied, threaten his life and he will just straight up Betray you, double triple betray you in fact.
I mean let's not forget the entire events of this series started because he shot his former boss's son simply because he insulted him.
Which would then bode well for this episode because this Episode decides to brush him to the Side and finally tell us what the actual previous relation between Sofia and the Penguin actually was, and how did this former driver, become the owner of the Ice-berg Lounge.
One of the more interesting things about this episode is that, this is a Flashback, and not just a part Flashback that gets over in the Beginning itself like in the Previous episode, no, this one is almost exclusively a flashback.
It would seem it would have been a good Idea to release these two episodes together, because they really are a set, put together they describe in detail the main motivations and backstories of the two secondary Characters of the show, Sofia Falcone and Victor.
They also subtly characterize the Penguin through the eyes of those he interacts with.
Who he supports, who he betrays, and How he betrays them, when he Betrays them, so far, there is no if, that is what makes the Penguin, the Penguin.
Apart from all that of course it has a deeper meaning beneath it all, which is of course, showing a different side to criminalism, Until recently we all thought Sofia is the Serial Killer, named the Hangman, as the previous episode revealed.
Now the moment it was revealed how her mother died it was very obvious that the following Serial killings also had something to do with these deaths.
When you first hear about the Reports coming from a junior reporter, you think, Oh, Sofia got triggered by her mother's death and then went on a murder spree recreating her mom's death scene, but nope.
See I had forgotten the Batman, since it had been such a long time since I had watched that movie, two years it would seem, but if one does take their head back to that time, to when they watched that movie, you realize something very important.
Carmine Falcone killed his wife, Sofia's mother, by strangulation, and he had a habit of doing the same to many other women.
So who did all those killings?
OF COURSE!
ITS CARMINE FALCONE!
Now, considering that he pretty much straight up tried to murder Selina Kyle while he was under the impression that she is his daughter, it would seem, that in his own twisted way, Carmine does love his daughter Sofia.
Sofia is approached by a reporter after an event held by an organization she owns that helps support women's equality causes.
The reporter takes a chance and approaches Sofia, believing that she will choose her loyalty to Feminism over her Loyalty to her father.
Sofia initially disagrees but eventually, she approaches the reporter, over seen by... that's right, the Penguin, and even though she becomes emotional and leaves, but in her heart she has recognized the truth.
The Penguin being the Penguin, goes to Carmine, and bam, betrayal.
Remember how I said Carmine loves his daughter?
So yeah, here is proof.
Sofia was a loose thread, she needed to be out of the way if anything was going to work out in favor of Carmine.
So he could just do what he does to all women and just choke her, but instead he chose to... blame her for his crimes and subject her to years and years of the finest treatment at Arkham, which was specifically skewed against her in order to deny her any means of escape, because if she is released, she is once again, a loose thread.
Yeah she is not treated well, as the above photo would imply.
Alberto stood by her during this time, and he was the only one who stood by her.
No wonder she was pissed when he died.
So Sofia was innocent, but she isn't anymore.
As it so happens, she was going to inherit the Falcone crime family's head position instead of Alberto, and while I believe if she had during the time Carmine intended for her to have it, she might have changed it for the better.
But unfortunately it was not to be.
In Arkham she commits her first crime, when she kills the inmate being friendly to her, for thinking she was a liar, played right into their hands there.
Sofia is a special kind of criminal, the one who is basically a good person who has been treated like trash, in such times, one's mind craves for justice, and one way to get justice, to "balance out" things, is to hurt the world back when it hurts you.
And not to mention such events obviously give you trust issues, suddenly, every single time she appeared to be having an emotional outburst giving us the impression that we were getting an insight into her twisted mind that led her to do several Serial killings, every single one of those times is now put in a different light.
Her outbursts were justified, even her hurting the Penguin was justified.
But here is the thing about Anger and trust issues, they often target not just the right people, but also the people who are "similar". Sofia, at this moment is trying to get a Drug on the streets that will potentially take Gotham to a darker place than it ever was in before, and by the end she kills almost her entire family.
Now while all of these people definitely deserved it, the inmate who was friendly to her didn't and while some may be quick to dismiss that as a short emotional outburst in a very trying time, there is the small problem of now that she has realized that the world works only through backstabbing and murder, and she has already crossed the threshold of her first murder.
She will undoubtedly kill many, many more people who are just in her way, like Gia's mother, she is just a part of the family, and to our knowledge has done nothing outwardly wrong.
While Sofia takes it upon herself to save Gia, because she is a child, she does orphan her by killing her mother.
Idk, she probably thought she deserved it.
Maybe she did, the thing is, it doesn't matter, from Sofia's perspective it only matters that Sofia thought she deserved it, and boom! Dead.
Johnny Viti is alive, but only because she has use of him.
Thing is, it is important that we realize that Sofia Falcone is a criminal, because her reasoning for murder, seems very similar to what the Penguin said in the previous episode, the world works this way, so you have to, although Sofia's distrust of the world also connects to a Larger cause.
I believe, if we stay long enough, we will learn, that the Penguin himself was actually good once, and then the world happened to him.
The scene where Sofia brings Gia to the only safe place to sleep in order to spare her an early death, in it self plays a trick on us, the framing of this scene leads you to believe that she is luring her for some reason, turns out she was, to save her.
I know that line seems out of place, I has to put it somewhere.
And speaking of the potential future relation between Sofia and Gia, where it seems Sofia potentially sees herself in the young girl, is it just me, or does the relation between Victor and the Penguin has some parallels to it?
The Penguin keeps Victor around cause he sees a younger self in him.
It would seem we have two young criminals in the making.
But speaking of Crime.
Carmine Falcone! His face is different!
Yeah so it appears John Turturro had some scheduling conflicts so here comes Blackwood(only Sherlock Holmes fans will get that joke), I mean Mark Strong. And well, its distracting at first, but you get used to it.
The only problem is John has a more calmer look to him, meaning that it is actually difficult to tell when he will randomly murder someone, but Mark Strong has a much more Menacing look about him, letting go of some of that Surprise factor.
He appears to be a much more cookie cutter villain(I mean in comparison).
But whatever, it's not that bad.
Also did you know Carmine is the name of an actual Pokemon character, the more you know!!!
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