How The Penguin is a Spiritual Successor to The Sopranos
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VOICE OVER: Rebecca Brayton
WRITTEN BY: Izhan Arif
From mob bosses to family drama, "The Penguin" and "The Sopranos" share more than just a criminal underworld. Join us as we explore how Oz Cobb's rise to power in Gotham mirrors Tony Soprano's reign in New Jersey. We'll dive into the parallels between characters, themes, and even specific scenes that make "The Penguin" a true spiritual successor to HBO's iconic mafia series. From the cycles of violence and betrayal to the complex mother-son relationships, we'll examine how both shows tackle similar themes in their own unique ways. We'll also look at the striking similarities between characters like Victor Aguilar and Christopher Moltisanti, and how Oz and Tony's actions impact those around them. Whether you're a fan of comic book adaptations or classic mob dramas, this video essay will give you a new perspective on both series.
How The Penguin Is A Spiritual Successor to The Sopranos
Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re going to be taking an extensive look at both “The Penguin” and “The Sopranos” to see how one carries the torch from the other. There will be major spoilers for both of these shows in this video essay, so consider this your warning!
The Immediate Connections
A spiritual successor can be considered as something which either pays homage to or shares numerous details in common with something that specifically came before it. Whether it’s a matching aesthetic or a similar type of character, it kickstarts that déjà vu feeling in your brain. It reminds you so much about something else that you can’t help but start drawing the comparisons. But while these things might be similar to each other, they don’t exactly share the same continuity. Meaning these works of art aren’t directly connected like they’re part of the same universe. A real case could be made for “The Penguin” being a spiritual successor to “The Sopranos”. From the get go, people were quick to point out all of the many similarities between them. In fact, it was kind of glaringly obvious. You’d kind of have to be living under a rock to not see everyone comparing the two. Point is, it wasn’t exactly a secret that this “The Batman” spinoff was paying homage to one of the greatest tv shows ever made. The DNA of the 21-time Emmy award-winning series is practically hardwired into the foundation of “The Penguin”.
For starters, “The Penguin” focuses on Oz Cobb, a small-time gangster embedded in the Falcone crime organization with dreams of taking over and running the streets of Gotham. Now you might say that this premise is a little bit different from “The Sopranos”, and you’re not wrong. “The Sopranos” focuses on Tony Soprano, a big-time mobster embedded in the DiMeo crime family, who is already in a prominent position of power in the very beginning of the show. There’s some more differences here and there, sure, but when you look at the bigger picture, trying to find things that set them apart is really just splitting hairs. At the end of the day, both of these HBO originals feature morally-gray mobsters with distinct accents making their bones. And the blurred lines between what goes on in their personal and professional lives are put on full display for the millions of viewers tuning in. And the fact that both shows share some of the same actors amidst their casts is an added bonus.
Even HBO themselves clearly think there’s something special connecting these two shows. HBO’s official social media handles promoted the release of “Penguin” by posting material directly invoking “Sopranos”. Whether it was a collage of both show’s dynamic duos, or an edit of “The Penguin” in the style of the “Sopranos” intro, they were trying to get people’s attention. But some social media synergy and parallels between premises obviously isn’t enough to call this a case closed. So, let’s unpack more of the nitty-gritty details.
The Mob’s Cycles of Violence & Backstabbing
Sorry to take off the rose-tinted glasses, but being in the mob kind of sucks. Shocking! Sure, it looks cool for a while, but in the end, nobody’s really safe when you’re in this line of work. Both shows make that crystal clear. Numerous characters are killed left and right, some are strategic, and some are senseless. There’s explosions, gunshots, stabbings, you name it! There’s also the reality that your word means nothing. We build up these ideas of honesty and integrity, but those don’t always end up shining through in the end. The hard truth is that people don’t always say what they mean, or mean what they say. A major plot thread in “The Sopranos” for example is the looming danger of close friends and allies secretly being FBI informants. Heck, it takes Tony two seasons to grapple with the truth that his buddy “Big Pussy” is a rat. On the other end, loyalty is also always in question when you’re dealing with Oz Cobb. If lying were a superpower it’d be his. He lies to Sofia Falcone[a] about who killed her brother Alberto, and simultaneously tries to play both the Maronis and the Falcones against each other. He’s a slick devil who says what you want to hear and then, when the chips are down, reveals his real self.
Violence and betrayal are intrinsically tied together, and there’s two scenes from both shows that really hammer that theme home. In the episode “College” Tony spots Fabian Petrulio, one of those aforementioned rats, while visiting colleges with his daughter Meadow. We’ll cut to the chase and say that Tony ultimately kills Petrulio in the end with a wire. And in the episode “A Great Or Little Thing”, something similar plays out down in Gotham. An underling by the name of George McHugh snuffs out his boss Donnyboy Sullivan with a wire, the same way as Tony. Look, we're not trying to say that “The Sopranos” trademarked a specific way to kill people, this technique has been shown in movies and tv shows countless times before. But intentional or not, this blink-and-you-miss-it scene from “Penguin” still feels like a cool callback to “Sopranos”. Sorry, it’s just sort of hard to shake it. It’s like they share a similar frequency when it comes to murder. Another cool thing is that you can read between the lines here. Because if you look closely, there’s statements that are being made with these killings. By taking Petrulio down, Tony isn’t just getting revenge, he’s making sure this backstabbing rat doesn’t become a problem later. He’s making sure that his way of life isn’t disrupted. Essentially that way he keeps things the same. But that’s not what’s happening with Donnyboy. That murder is a very clear example of new blood trying to rise to the top. It’s not an act of self preservation like it is with Tony, it’s an act of destruction. If anything, with the way Oz gives a rousing speech, it’s a call to action, a damn rallying cry! Essentially both examples show how this kind of life costs you.
The Importance of Fire
Yeah, I know, what does that mean? Why is fire important? Is it just because both shows occasionally have fire in them? That’s like saying that “Taxi Driver” and “The Muppets Take Manhattan” are connected because both movies have New York City in them. But before you weaponize your keyboards, just let us explain what we mean. Because yeah, both shows have stuff that goes kablooey, but there’s more here. Each show uses fire to say something important. In “Homecoming”, Oz snuffs Nadia and Taj Maroni[b] out in flames. And when Salvatore Maroni tries to get revenge in a later episode, Oz enrages him with the gruesome details. In his speech, he mentions the distinct smell of burning hair. “Sopranos” fans are no strangers to the smell of burning hair. Well-I mean because it’s a detail from the show. I don’t mean that “Sopranos” fans regularly have their hair in flames or anything. Anyways, Carmine Lupertazzi Sr, smelled burning hair right before he croaked. And then later on, when Tony’s girlfriend Valentina lost her hair in an accidental fire, the smell got mentioned again. Fire and its after effects are a constant reminder of death, and loss. Naturally, that sounds like a no-brainer, but both shows also present fire in another way.
Fire can also be seen as a form of freedom too. Having renounced the Falcone name, Sofia Gigante[c] gets liberated when she burns down the family mansion. There’s still that sense of loss, but it’s not really a bad loss for her. Instead, it’s freeing. AJ Soprano also gets that kind of a rush when his expensive Nissan Xterra accidentally goes up in flames. It’s definitely bad in the moment but AJ just laughs it off later after the fact. Because for him it’s one less material object to dwell on. Sofia and AJ, while both nepo babies at heart, are seemingly freed of some of their burdens through the flames.
Mothers & Their Sons
You want to know what the opposite of freedom is though? Nagging mothers. Well maybe it’s not exactly the same, but it’s still not great. Parental supervision is prominent here. And in the case of these shows, it’s the sons supervising the parents, not the other way around. This is where the next crop of comparisons start to get really specific. Both Oz and Tony care about their mothers, and want to do right by them, but their actions largely go unnoticed by these women. Both Francis Cobb and Livia Soprano are aloof, and intense.
For Francis, it’s because she has Lewy Body Dementia[d], coupled with the depressing trauma of her other two sons dying early on. For Livia, her mind is more sharp, as is her tongue. She constantly nags and berates people. Tony’s psychiatrist Doctor Melfi actually suggests that Livia has borderline personality disorder. As both series go on, we learn that these dotty old ladies are actually a lot more complex than we thought. That’s because both of them later conspire to kill their sons, talk about a plot twist! With Oz, it’s because he actually let his brothers die when they were all kids, and she secretly knew about it. Francis actually tries killing Oz twice. She would’ve had it happen when he was young, but instead got cold feet. She then made what she called a deal with a devil. Then later when she finally reveals the truth while imprisoned by Sofia, she stabs Oz with a broken bottle. Yeesh, that therapy session went dark. With Tony, Livia resents him for sticking her inside a retirement home. And when Tony and Uncle Junior are having problems about leadership, she basically plants the idea to kill Tony in Junior’s head. You see how those cycles of betrayal that we talked about are coming back into play? Yep, mafia politics will do that. To say that these mothers have a complicated relationship with their sons is a major understatement.
Victor Aguilar[e] & Christopher Moltisanti: The Plight of the Proteges
It’s actually scary just how similar these two characters are. Like, they even have similar drip! That’s kind of a joke, but actually not. They really do have a similar fashion sense. Anyways though, Victor Aguilar and Christopher Moltisanti are basically one and the same. Both Victor and Christopher started out as drivers for Oz and Tony respectively. Both had aspirations of doing more. Chrissy wanted his damn arc so bad and Victor wanted a life beyond Crown Point. Both were taken under their mentors’ wings and saw Oz and Tony as father figures. Both had a chance to get out of this life with the women they loved. Victor could’ve moved to LA with his girlfriend, and Chrissy could’ve run off with Adriana after learning she was a federal informant. While both had their chances, both decided to stay behind. Both chose their mentors. And where did that loyalty get them in the end though?! They both died! They didn’t just die either, they were both killed by Oz and Tony. They even died in the exact same way, by being choked to death. These murders agonizingly concluded these young men’s lives, and cemented what Oz and Tony actually are: bad people.
Oz Cobb & Tony Soprano: Rooting for the Bad Guys
So many of us want to see Batman beat Oz into the ground in “The Batman: Part Two”, and so many of us also want to believe that Tony’s brains are blown out at the end of “The Sopranos”. Why? Because our hearts can only take so much, that’s why. We love to root for the villain, but at a certain point we have to be reminded that: oh yeah, we’re watching a show about monsters. And these monsters happen to have so much in common. Colin Farrell, the Academy Award nominee who’s buried underneath all of that Penguin makeup isn’t an expert on Tony Soprano. But that’s alright, because it’s clear that the writers of “The Penguin” are. So much of Oz is ripped right from Tony’s playbook. The leather jackets, the lying, the anger, the thirst for violence, the mommy issues. Both sometimes even maneuver out of danger in the same way. But, like vultures flying to a rotting carcass, we need to circle back to the destructive aftermath of their actions. Because Oz and Tony make choices that have ripple effects everywhere. For as much as these two men value family they don’t really have a problem destroying their own. We mentioned earlier how Oz killed his brothers, well Tony isn’t squeaky clean either. Sure, he didn’t murder his sisters, but he did gun down his cousin Tony Blundetto. And remember how we talked about Christopher? Well he wasn’t just Tony’s protege, he was his cousin too. We have an obsession with anti-heroes, and at certain points, these guys fit that bill. But when it comes down to the brass tacks, neither of them have the makings of a good person. So whenever we think that we can get close to them, we’re painfully reminded that they aren’t going to change.
Final Thoughts:
“The Penguin” treads much of the same ground as “The Sopranos”, and from what we’ve covered, it seems to’ve been done on purpose. From themes of violence and betrayal, to characters acting like mirrors of one another, these shows were made to be compared. So, is calling “The Penguin” a spiritual successor to “The Sopranos” valid? We sure think so!
Are there any other comparisons between these two series you think we missed? Let’s all share our thoughts over a nice plate of gabagool down in the comments.
[b]tawjjj https://youtu.be/BhJPT01D8NU?si=DLnJIDhNHJ3rvkC7&t=253
muh-ROH-nees
sal-vuh-tore
looper-tozzy https://www.yarn.co/yarn-clip/48d3da52-09cc-4824-870f-b5f690892f53
[c]jig-GAWN-tay
[d]louie https://youtu.be/WhSpS4IaqOg?si=RpjRua405qJsyVWL&t=4
[e]AGGY-lar
Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re going to be taking an extensive look at both “The Penguin” and “The Sopranos” to see how one carries the torch from the other. There will be major spoilers for both of these shows in this video essay, so consider this your warning!
The Immediate Connections
A spiritual successor can be considered as something which either pays homage to or shares numerous details in common with something that specifically came before it. Whether it’s a matching aesthetic or a similar type of character, it kickstarts that déjà vu feeling in your brain. It reminds you so much about something else that you can’t help but start drawing the comparisons. But while these things might be similar to each other, they don’t exactly share the same continuity. Meaning these works of art aren’t directly connected like they’re part of the same universe. A real case could be made for “The Penguin” being a spiritual successor to “The Sopranos”. From the get go, people were quick to point out all of the many similarities between them. In fact, it was kind of glaringly obvious. You’d kind of have to be living under a rock to not see everyone comparing the two. Point is, it wasn’t exactly a secret that this “The Batman” spinoff was paying homage to one of the greatest tv shows ever made. The DNA of the 21-time Emmy award-winning series is practically hardwired into the foundation of “The Penguin”.
For starters, “The Penguin” focuses on Oz Cobb, a small-time gangster embedded in the Falcone crime organization with dreams of taking over and running the streets of Gotham. Now you might say that this premise is a little bit different from “The Sopranos”, and you’re not wrong. “The Sopranos” focuses on Tony Soprano, a big-time mobster embedded in the DiMeo crime family, who is already in a prominent position of power in the very beginning of the show. There’s some more differences here and there, sure, but when you look at the bigger picture, trying to find things that set them apart is really just splitting hairs. At the end of the day, both of these HBO originals feature morally-gray mobsters with distinct accents making their bones. And the blurred lines between what goes on in their personal and professional lives are put on full display for the millions of viewers tuning in. And the fact that both shows share some of the same actors amidst their casts is an added bonus.
Even HBO themselves clearly think there’s something special connecting these two shows. HBO’s official social media handles promoted the release of “Penguin” by posting material directly invoking “Sopranos”. Whether it was a collage of both show’s dynamic duos, or an edit of “The Penguin” in the style of the “Sopranos” intro, they were trying to get people’s attention. But some social media synergy and parallels between premises obviously isn’t enough to call this a case closed. So, let’s unpack more of the nitty-gritty details.
The Mob’s Cycles of Violence & Backstabbing
Sorry to take off the rose-tinted glasses, but being in the mob kind of sucks. Shocking! Sure, it looks cool for a while, but in the end, nobody’s really safe when you’re in this line of work. Both shows make that crystal clear. Numerous characters are killed left and right, some are strategic, and some are senseless. There’s explosions, gunshots, stabbings, you name it! There’s also the reality that your word means nothing. We build up these ideas of honesty and integrity, but those don’t always end up shining through in the end. The hard truth is that people don’t always say what they mean, or mean what they say. A major plot thread in “The Sopranos” for example is the looming danger of close friends and allies secretly being FBI informants. Heck, it takes Tony two seasons to grapple with the truth that his buddy “Big Pussy” is a rat. On the other end, loyalty is also always in question when you’re dealing with Oz Cobb. If lying were a superpower it’d be his. He lies to Sofia Falcone[a] about who killed her brother Alberto, and simultaneously tries to play both the Maronis and the Falcones against each other. He’s a slick devil who says what you want to hear and then, when the chips are down, reveals his real self.
Violence and betrayal are intrinsically tied together, and there’s two scenes from both shows that really hammer that theme home. In the episode “College” Tony spots Fabian Petrulio, one of those aforementioned rats, while visiting colleges with his daughter Meadow. We’ll cut to the chase and say that Tony ultimately kills Petrulio in the end with a wire. And in the episode “A Great Or Little Thing”, something similar plays out down in Gotham. An underling by the name of George McHugh snuffs out his boss Donnyboy Sullivan with a wire, the same way as Tony. Look, we're not trying to say that “The Sopranos” trademarked a specific way to kill people, this technique has been shown in movies and tv shows countless times before. But intentional or not, this blink-and-you-miss-it scene from “Penguin” still feels like a cool callback to “Sopranos”. Sorry, it’s just sort of hard to shake it. It’s like they share a similar frequency when it comes to murder. Another cool thing is that you can read between the lines here. Because if you look closely, there’s statements that are being made with these killings. By taking Petrulio down, Tony isn’t just getting revenge, he’s making sure this backstabbing rat doesn’t become a problem later. He’s making sure that his way of life isn’t disrupted. Essentially that way he keeps things the same. But that’s not what’s happening with Donnyboy. That murder is a very clear example of new blood trying to rise to the top. It’s not an act of self preservation like it is with Tony, it’s an act of destruction. If anything, with the way Oz gives a rousing speech, it’s a call to action, a damn rallying cry! Essentially both examples show how this kind of life costs you.
The Importance of Fire
Yeah, I know, what does that mean? Why is fire important? Is it just because both shows occasionally have fire in them? That’s like saying that “Taxi Driver” and “The Muppets Take Manhattan” are connected because both movies have New York City in them. But before you weaponize your keyboards, just let us explain what we mean. Because yeah, both shows have stuff that goes kablooey, but there’s more here. Each show uses fire to say something important. In “Homecoming”, Oz snuffs Nadia and Taj Maroni[b] out in flames. And when Salvatore Maroni tries to get revenge in a later episode, Oz enrages him with the gruesome details. In his speech, he mentions the distinct smell of burning hair. “Sopranos” fans are no strangers to the smell of burning hair. Well-I mean because it’s a detail from the show. I don’t mean that “Sopranos” fans regularly have their hair in flames or anything. Anyways, Carmine Lupertazzi Sr, smelled burning hair right before he croaked. And then later on, when Tony’s girlfriend Valentina lost her hair in an accidental fire, the smell got mentioned again. Fire and its after effects are a constant reminder of death, and loss. Naturally, that sounds like a no-brainer, but both shows also present fire in another way.
Fire can also be seen as a form of freedom too. Having renounced the Falcone name, Sofia Gigante[c] gets liberated when she burns down the family mansion. There’s still that sense of loss, but it’s not really a bad loss for her. Instead, it’s freeing. AJ Soprano also gets that kind of a rush when his expensive Nissan Xterra accidentally goes up in flames. It’s definitely bad in the moment but AJ just laughs it off later after the fact. Because for him it’s one less material object to dwell on. Sofia and AJ, while both nepo babies at heart, are seemingly freed of some of their burdens through the flames.
Mothers & Their Sons
You want to know what the opposite of freedom is though? Nagging mothers. Well maybe it’s not exactly the same, but it’s still not great. Parental supervision is prominent here. And in the case of these shows, it’s the sons supervising the parents, not the other way around. This is where the next crop of comparisons start to get really specific. Both Oz and Tony care about their mothers, and want to do right by them, but their actions largely go unnoticed by these women. Both Francis Cobb and Livia Soprano are aloof, and intense.
For Francis, it’s because she has Lewy Body Dementia[d], coupled with the depressing trauma of her other two sons dying early on. For Livia, her mind is more sharp, as is her tongue. She constantly nags and berates people. Tony’s psychiatrist Doctor Melfi actually suggests that Livia has borderline personality disorder. As both series go on, we learn that these dotty old ladies are actually a lot more complex than we thought. That’s because both of them later conspire to kill their sons, talk about a plot twist! With Oz, it’s because he actually let his brothers die when they were all kids, and she secretly knew about it. Francis actually tries killing Oz twice. She would’ve had it happen when he was young, but instead got cold feet. She then made what she called a deal with a devil. Then later when she finally reveals the truth while imprisoned by Sofia, she stabs Oz with a broken bottle. Yeesh, that therapy session went dark. With Tony, Livia resents him for sticking her inside a retirement home. And when Tony and Uncle Junior are having problems about leadership, she basically plants the idea to kill Tony in Junior’s head. You see how those cycles of betrayal that we talked about are coming back into play? Yep, mafia politics will do that. To say that these mothers have a complicated relationship with their sons is a major understatement.
Victor Aguilar[e] & Christopher Moltisanti: The Plight of the Proteges
It’s actually scary just how similar these two characters are. Like, they even have similar drip! That’s kind of a joke, but actually not. They really do have a similar fashion sense. Anyways though, Victor Aguilar and Christopher Moltisanti are basically one and the same. Both Victor and Christopher started out as drivers for Oz and Tony respectively. Both had aspirations of doing more. Chrissy wanted his damn arc so bad and Victor wanted a life beyond Crown Point. Both were taken under their mentors’ wings and saw Oz and Tony as father figures. Both had a chance to get out of this life with the women they loved. Victor could’ve moved to LA with his girlfriend, and Chrissy could’ve run off with Adriana after learning she was a federal informant. While both had their chances, both decided to stay behind. Both chose their mentors. And where did that loyalty get them in the end though?! They both died! They didn’t just die either, they were both killed by Oz and Tony. They even died in the exact same way, by being choked to death. These murders agonizingly concluded these young men’s lives, and cemented what Oz and Tony actually are: bad people.
Oz Cobb & Tony Soprano: Rooting for the Bad Guys
So many of us want to see Batman beat Oz into the ground in “The Batman: Part Two”, and so many of us also want to believe that Tony’s brains are blown out at the end of “The Sopranos”. Why? Because our hearts can only take so much, that’s why. We love to root for the villain, but at a certain point we have to be reminded that: oh yeah, we’re watching a show about monsters. And these monsters happen to have so much in common. Colin Farrell, the Academy Award nominee who’s buried underneath all of that Penguin makeup isn’t an expert on Tony Soprano. But that’s alright, because it’s clear that the writers of “The Penguin” are. So much of Oz is ripped right from Tony’s playbook. The leather jackets, the lying, the anger, the thirst for violence, the mommy issues. Both sometimes even maneuver out of danger in the same way. But, like vultures flying to a rotting carcass, we need to circle back to the destructive aftermath of their actions. Because Oz and Tony make choices that have ripple effects everywhere. For as much as these two men value family they don’t really have a problem destroying their own. We mentioned earlier how Oz killed his brothers, well Tony isn’t squeaky clean either. Sure, he didn’t murder his sisters, but he did gun down his cousin Tony Blundetto. And remember how we talked about Christopher? Well he wasn’t just Tony’s protege, he was his cousin too. We have an obsession with anti-heroes, and at certain points, these guys fit that bill. But when it comes down to the brass tacks, neither of them have the makings of a good person. So whenever we think that we can get close to them, we’re painfully reminded that they aren’t going to change.
Final Thoughts:
“The Penguin” treads much of the same ground as “The Sopranos”, and from what we’ve covered, it seems to’ve been done on purpose. From themes of violence and betrayal, to characters acting like mirrors of one another, these shows were made to be compared. So, is calling “The Penguin” a spiritual successor to “The Sopranos” valid? We sure think so!
Are there any other comparisons between these two series you think we missed? Let’s all share our thoughts over a nice plate of gabagool down in the comments.
[a]fal-cone
al-BURR-toh[b]tawjjj https://youtu.be/BhJPT01D8NU?si=DLnJIDhNHJ3rvkC7&t=253
muh-ROH-nees
sal-vuh-tore
looper-tozzy https://www.yarn.co/yarn-clip/48d3da52-09cc-4824-870f-b5f690892f53
[c]jig-GAWN-tay
[d]louie https://youtu.be/WhSpS4IaqOg?si=RpjRua405qJsyVWL&t=4
[e]AGGY-lar
