‘The Penguin’ expertly tackles the myth of female hysteria
This is one messed up origin story.
Sofia Falcone’s arc in HBO’s drama series The Penguin has officially taken a 180. In the latest episode, we learn that Sofia isn’t exactly the bad guy we think her to be, as she’s stuck in a vicious cycle created by the men around her. In a world of Trumps and Tates, it’s a hauntingly relevant message.
The following article contains spoilers for The Penguin episode 4, “Cent’anni.”
Colin Farrell’s titular mob boss-slash-mama’s boy Oswald “Oz” Cobb might have top billing on HBO’s The Batman spinoff series, The Penguin, but don’t be fooled: Cristin Milioti’s Sofia Falcone is the real star of the show, and episode 4 just proved that once and for all.
In the flashback episode, viewers watch helplessly as Sofia is wrongfully accused of committing a string of murders that, in truth, were carried out by her father, Carmine (Mark Strong). This lands her a decade-long stay at Arkham Asylum and earns her the “Hangman” alias. During her imprisonment, Sofia is tortured by her fellow inmates as well as the staff, most of whom are on her father’s payroll. It’s a coordinated effort to make Sofia look “crazy” so she can’t stand trial and expose Carmine’s sins.
It’s a brutal watch for women who know what it’s like to be gaslit by the systems that routinely fail them.
Sofia Falcone is a victim of systemic abuse in The Penguin
If you’re a woman who’s ever gone back and forth with a healthcare provider who dismisses your symptoms and immediately prescribes birth control or, say, discussed Star Wars with a man once or twice, you’ll know firsthand what it’s like not to be listened to because of your gender identity. And per Victorian-era sentiments, this probably would’ve led to you being deemed “mad.”
Historically, women were often diagnosed with “Female Hysteria”—a.k.a. 19th-century doctors’ answer to anxiety, libido, insomnia, and pretty much any symptom under the sun that gave them an excuse to send patients to insane asylums for involuntary hysterectomies or worse, lobotomies. Side note: “Hysteria” wasn’t removed from the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders until 1980. Yes, 1980.
In The Penguin, this is essentially what happens to Sofia. When she starts to investigate the unusual circumstances surrounding her mother’s death—who Sofia was told was depressed—she comes to realize that her “suicide” wasn’t as self-imposed as she’d been led to believe. Over the years, Sofia’s father and other members of The Family had manipulated her into thinking that her mother was mentally ill despite her not having any recollection of it. But when Sofia brings it up, Carmine flips the blame on her—why would she “pick away at old wounds” to upset him? After all, he loved his wife, right? Right?!
Eventually, when Sofia speaks to a reporter about multiple women who died under similar circumstances, The Family (via a tip from Oz) turns their back on her and accuses her of the murders, telling the court that Sofia is also sick, having never gotten over her mother’s death. She’s found to be incompetent to stand trial and undergoes shock treatment at Arkham as punishment à la Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper. Sofia is, in the purest sense, a victim of the male ego, and only becomes the villain of the week because she has to, forced to adapt at the hands of her abusers.
Showrunner Lauren LeFranc said it best when she told IndieWire, “[Sofia is] trying to inherently fit back into this mob patriarchal world, despite herself.” So when it came to unlocking the character of Sofia Falcone, LeFranc pulled inspiration from the real-life forgotten Kennedy sister Rosemary Kennedy, who was lobotomized at the age of 23 for being “difficult” at the orders of her father, Joseph P. Kennedy Sr.
“With the history of mental institutions, usually someone would say a woman’s ‘hysterical,’ and we don’t really know what that equates to, and then they would put her away. So I asked Matt [Reeves] early on, ‘I would like to have Sofia come from Arkham State Hospital,’ and he was on board, which I’m so grateful for because Matt has the ability to say absolutely not, and instead he leaned into it.”
Sofia Falcone’s origin story makes it impossible to root for Oz
Ultimately, Sofia gets the last laugh. By the end of the episode, which picks up in the present day after her release from Arkham, The Family is (mostly) dead thanks to an airborne poison, leaving her as the organization’s sole heir. And no matter how sympathetic the guy might be on occasion, things aren’t looking too good for Oz, who’s about to have a whole lot of doo-doo coming his way.
Sofia’s new drug operation has proven successful, she’s made powerful allies in Gotham’s underground, and although it might’ve been pretty gruesome, she’s gotten her revenge against The Family—no more pervy old dudes telling her what to do. But in a metaphorical sense, Sofia’s final moments in the episode see her confronting her trauma head-on. It’s a great arc for the character and sets up a juicy showdown with Oz for The Penguin to explore down the line. I, for one, support women’s rights and wrongs—especially when they’re this well-deserved.
New episodes of The Penguin roll out on HBO and Max every Sunday at 6PM PT/9PM ET.
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