Much like how I knew episode nine of FX’s Shogun would net Anna Sawai an Emmy, episode four of The Penguin seems tailor-made for Cristin Milioti’s “for your consideration” next year. A powerhouse of an episode, Cent’Anni focuses in on Sofia Falcone and gives us fascinating insight into her character thanks to an episode long flashback sequence.

The episode actually opens up where we left off last time, with the Maroni family cornering Oz and Sofia. This time around, we get to see what Shohreh Aghdashloo’s Nadia said before Vic swoops in and saves the day, and it’s not looking good for Oz. Nadia not only confirms to Sofia that Oz has visited Blackgate and was making deals with the Maroni crime family, but that he had a hand in the death of Alberto Falcone as well. I don’t see how Oz can talk his way out of this one, it’s pretty much the definition of a smoking gun. While Vic saves Oz and escapes, Sofia is injured and after calling for backup, she passes out and the flashback begins.

What’s interesting to see is that, thanks to this flashback, neither Sofia nor Oz were lying about their place in this story. Sofia is revealed not to be The Hangman, a statement she said as much earlier on in the show, and Oz didn’t know that Carmine Falcone would send his daughter to Arkham, he believed she would be cast aside and he would gain favour. He acted legitimately confused and furious to her being arrested; if he is part of the plan, he did a great job at convincing me that he wasn’t.

The reason for Sofia’s internment at Arkham stems from her curiosity about the Hangman murders, with one of the victims being her own mother when she was a child. When more women die in similar fashions, all linked to the Iceberg Lounge that her father operates, she begins to wonder about the involvement of her father and seeks out a journalist who may have answers. She gets cold feet and doesn’t pursuit the investigation further, but Oz doesn’t like that Sofia was speaking to the press and knows her father would absolutely loathe it. Seeing a chance to get promoted and leave the world of chauffering behind him, Oz tells Carmine, now played by Mark Strong, what happened but when Sofia infers that she thinks her father is the Hangman, she quickly finds herself in Arkham State Hospital when her father starts gaslighting her and tells her she’s delusional and not herself to be thinking such things.

It should come to no surprise to anyone whose seen or read anything related to Batman, but Arkham is a truly terrible place and it’s great to see more of it beyond the visiting booth seen in The Batman. And unlike the other denizens of the hospital, who are unwell, Sofia has no underlying mental illness. Not only that but she’s innocent of any crime and sticks to this story for the months to come. But the doctors and judge aren’t interested and she’s subjected to electroshock therapy and conditioning during her stay. Her pleads of innocence even have an effect on Theo Rossi’s Dr. Rush, who questions the morality of the work being done on Sofia to the point where he eventually quits the hospital; something Sofia chastizes him for as abandoning her in her time of need.

But with every shock and news that her six-month stay at Arkham has been extended to an indefinite hold without trial, Sofia begins to break. It’s fascinating to see how an environment can mould and influence a person. Sofia may have been innocent walking into Arkham, but the hospital most certainly corrupted her into someone capable of violence and murder. She not only kills her one ally in Arkham, Magpie, purely based on an emotional reaction, but wipes out the entire Falcone crime family in the present-day storyline at the end, barring her niece Gia, and Johnny Viti, who she spares for probably some kind of nefarious reason.

The episode was already great from a writing and directing perspective, but what elevated this to an excellent episode was Cristin Milioti, who dominated this episode. She brought to life this transition from doubtful to fearful, to rage and acceptance masterfully. When she was told by her lawyer that she was facing six months in Arkham on the day of her arrest, the fear in her acting was honestly terrifying and believable; she knew she wouldn’t do well in an environment like that and knew that she had no reason to go there, being an innocent party. Going in, she was a scared child but ten years later, she emerged as a stone-cold killer. Throw Miloto all the awards at this point!

Now that we’ve had a lot of context for Vic and Sofia, I’m quite curious to see how the main story is going to move forward with Oz, who’s burned his bridges with both the Maronis and Sofia. What move will he play next and how will he survive Sofia’s wrath? Genuinely curious and can’t wait to see the answer. I do hope we progress the mainline story forward for the next few episodes that said, as we have had two backstory episodes and now I feel that Oz needs some time to develop as a character. Considering the show is called The Penguin, he is the least interesting character on the show and hope that we start to empathize and understand him more going forward now, ideally in the present-day story. I don’t think next week’s episode should be an Oz flashback for instance, but I hope we expand upon his character nonetheless. Stay tuned for more reviews!