Colin Farrell’s Oz Cobb may be the title character of The Penguin, but it’s Cristin Milioti’s Sofia Falcone whose origin story really stands out in this tale of the Gotham criminal underworld. In Episode 4, “Cent’anni,” we learn that 10 years ago Sofia’s father, Carmine (Mark Strong), was tipped off by Oz that Sofia was talking to a reporter about how he strangles women and covers the crimes up to look like hangings. As a result, he had Sofia accused of his crimes and sent to Arkham Asylum. She was even dubbed “The Hangman” by the press.

However, someone else died by hanging as well: Sofia’s mother, Isabella (Jenny Heaton), and in Episode 5, “Homecoming,” we learn more details about her mother’s death from Johnny Vitti (Michael Kelly), a higher-up in the Falcone crime family. But what exactly happened to Isabella, and how did Sofia decide to honor her legacy — and ignore her father’s? Let’s find out.

What Really Happened to Sofia’s Mother?
Release Date September 19, 2024 Cast Colin Farrell , Cristin Milioti , Rhenzy Feliz , Michael Kelly , Shohreh Aghdashloo , Deirdre O’Connell , Clancy Brown , James Madio , Scott Cohen , Michael Zegen , Carmen Ejogo , Theo Rossi Showrunner Lauren LeFranc

Sofia’s mother died when Sofia was quite young. For that reason, she accepted that her mother took her own life. In fact, Sofia was the one who found her mother’s dead body hanging in her room. Carmine pulled her away and then covered his eyes with his glasses when Sofia went to look behind them, so she wouldn’t see the bruise he had there. But she doesn’t remember that much from that night.

However, when prompted by the reporter, Summer Gleeson (Nadine Malouf), the circumstances of her mother’s death start coming back to her. Specifically, her mother had defensive wounds on her hands, just like the women that her father is accused of killing by Gleeson. Though Carmine is also dead when she finally gets out of Arkham, Sofia now knows he is the one responsible for her mother’s death. She also knows that he is the reason she went to Arkham in the first place. He accused her of being mentally ill. So mentally ill, in fact, that she committed the murders he was accused of. He got the other members of her family to write testimonials saying the same thing too. Only her brother Alberto (Michael Zegen) helped her.

In addition, Sofia got more information about her mother from Johnny Vitti, Isabella’s cousin and Carmine’s underboss. Vitti was responsible for Carmine and Isabella’s relationship because he introduced them. Carmine was smitten, but things eventually turned sour. Isabella had tried to leave Carmine but didn’t make it far because of Sofia and Alberto. So the second time she tried, Isabella took the kids with her. Isabella told Sofia and Alberto that they were going on a trip, but really she was leaving Carmine. In fact, Johnny insists that he had a car waiting for her a few blocks down the road. But instead of Isabella leaving Carmine, he killed her.

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How Sofia Takes Over the Falcone Crime Family

When asked how Johnny could continue to work for Carmine after he killed his beloved cousin, Johnny doesn’t seem to have an answer, but Sofia keeps him alive. This is in contrast to the rest of the higher-ups in the Falcone family, whom she killed previously, making it look like a gas leak. But Johnny offers to get her power and money, and he seems to deliver. He has the remaining members of the Falcone crime family, the men who are not yet “made,” come to her house to see her.

As she tells the men who are gathered that her family disposed of her mother and then did the same to her, she seems to have other things on her mind than being grateful to Johnny. Johnny is surprised as she tells the men that they are no longer the Falcone family but, using her mother’s original last name, the Gigante family, and they will never mention Carmine again. As Johnny struggles to understand this, Sofia shoots him in the head at close range, getting her revenge against him for his part in her mother’s murder.

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She tells the others that she won’t treat them like cannon fodder as the rest of her family did. She sets a bag of money out before the gathered men and tells them it’s theirs. They did the dirty work, which is more than her father or anyone else in her family can say. She then lets the men take the money for themselves. This seems to be enough to sway them to be members of her new family, the Gigante family. So Sofia seems to have taken over the business and changed the family name all in one fell swoop.

Sofia isn’t exactly a good person, but she’s the closest thing to a protagonist we have on The Penguin, and as a result, it’s hard not to root for her. After years of being wronged by her family, she’s getting what she deserves, even if she has to kill a few people to get there.