That dynamic plays out in the episode’s best scene, a confrontation that occurs in a fancy restaurant. After Oz barks out his order, Vic takes his turn, but his stutter prevents him from getting out the words. When the waiter finishes Vic’s sentence, Oz snaps, “Don’t do that. The man is speaking.” He then insists that the waiter pause for Vic to state his desires on his own.
It’s a powerful moment, one in which Colin Farrell‘s sometimes too big portrayal leaves room for Vic’s actor Rhenzy Feliz to work. Feliz sells the mixture of fear and confidence as he makes his order, feeding off Oz’s encouragement.
But instead of just letting the scene speak for itself, Valdivia and Zobel allow Oz to continue into the heavy-handed. He delivers a diatribe about taking what’s yours and never waiting for anyone else to give you respect. True, these are Oz’s mantra and the source of his bond with Vic. But it’s also the same thing that Oz has said in the two previous episodes, something that the waiter confrontation already made clear.
Ironically, Oz speech about confidence underscores a lack of confidence in The Penguin. The show was met with skepticism from the beginning, a spin-off reeking of Warner Brothers Discovery‘s need to create more “content” based on recognizable IP instead of a desire to explore one of Batman‘s oldest enemies. Moreover, it had to follow the realism of the Matt Reeves movie, despite choosing that film’s most colorful and cartoonish character as a lead.
Three episodes in, The Penguin seems desperate to be taken seriously as a character-rich crime drama, not a show about a laughable guy who stymies Batman and Robin with bird-themed crimes. That desperation is never more clear than it is in “Bliss,” with its characters who declare the show’s themes in plain dialogue and dramatic beats borrowed from other, more familiar works.
The problems in the Vic storyline are accentuated by the episode’s delightful B-plot, which finally puts Oz and Sofia on the same team. The pair of shifty schemers are ready to move Alberto’s heightened version of Drop, called “Bliss,” onto the streets. Because they’re playing against Luca and the current heads of the Falcone family (with Oz playing against the Maronis as well), they need to distribute through Gotham’s Triads. However, the Triads have one requirement: that Johnny Vitti, Luca’s right-hand man and sworn enemy of Sofia and Oz, call them personally to request help.
