The following review contains spoilers for the third episode of The Penguin, “Bliss” After watching The Penguin’s premiere, it was surprising how much Game of Thrones DNA was present, since everyone was comparing it to The Sopranos going in. Now, the third episode of The Penguin warrants even more comparison to HBO’s adaptation of A Song of Ice and Fire, mimicking its signature “people talking in rooms” style in “Bliss.” This is definitely the most dialogue-heavy episode so far, and all the better for it thanks to a good structure and pace that moves the characters smoothly from one conversation to the next.
It’s the conversations between Victor, Sofia, and Oz that stand out, though, homing in on who these characters are, what they want, and what they need (and how those differ). It’s the deepest look we’ve gotten into the minds of our three leads, and especially Victor, who is slowly becoming The Penguin’s most interesting character. It really is a Victor-centric episode, adding a ton of much-needed backstory to the character thanks to a lengthy flashback.
Flashbacks can be a difficult storytelling mechanism to get right. They’re often tasked with either providing context for a character and why they are the way they are in the present-day storyline, or revealing something that happened in the past that recontextualizes the events of the story so far. But if the throughline of how the character changed between flashback and present doesn’t add up,.