Penguin Goes Back To His Old Ways On 'Gotham'

The kind and sweet version of Oswald Cobblepot could only last for so long on Gotham. In the April 11 episode, he finally reverted to his old self when Penguin killed the Van Dahls as an act of revenge against his adopted family for murdering his father. It took a lot of abuse for Penguin to break down, since he first attempted to be a good brother/son by moving into the Van Dahl mansion and becoming their live-in servant. In the end, Grace Van Dahl's greed was her own undoing. She could have paid Oswald off, allowed him to find a new place to live, and thrown away the sherry decanter that she used to poison Elijah. Instead, she allowed her children to torture the Penguin and left the poison-filled pitcher in the bar where she wanted him to prepare her drinks.

And when Cobblepot transformed back into the evil, scheming Penguin, he did so with some serious flair. I mean, not only did he kill his step-siblings for the crime of insulting his mother's goulash recipe, he also cut them into pieces and served them to their own mother for Sunday dinner. Oh, and then he stabbed said mother with the very same carving knife she used to saw off a slice of her own kids. This guy is definitely destined to become a Batman villain, if not a Thomas Harris villain.

But this puts the Penguin in an interesting spot going forward. I presume that since he's back to his dastardly ways, he'll figure out how to become the beneficiary of Elijah Van Dahl's will and take over his mansion. He's already inherited his love of expensive suits from his father, and perhaps he'll adopt his eccentricities as well. But I wonder whether Penguin will go after Butch in hopes of getting his former kingdom back. He has the money, he has the killer instinct — now, all he needs is his club and the loyalty of his henchmen.

Images: Jessica Miglio/FOX; Giphy