"A Great or Little Thing" is the eighth episode and series finale of the American crime drama television miniseries The Penguin, a spin-off from the film The Batman.
Set shortly after the events of the film, the series explores the rise to power of Oswald "Oz" Cobb / Penguin (portrayed by Colin Farrell) in Gotham City's criminal underworld.
Oz finds himself allied with a young man named Victor (Rhenzy Feliz), while also having to deal with the presence of Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti), who wants answers regarding her brother's disappearance.
In the episode, Oz faces Sofia in a final showdown, while she also forces Francis (Deirdre O'Connell) to confront her son for their past.
According to Nielsen Media Research, the episode was seen by an estimated 0.464 million household viewers and gained a 0.10 ratings share among adults aged 18–49.
The episode received highly positive reviews from critics, who praised its closure, performances, tone and production values.
Rex brings up her sidelining Oz, but Francis reveals that she found out he locked Jack and Benny in the sewer tunnel, leading to their deaths.
Oz releases himself and kills Sofia's henchmen, including Detective Marcus Wise, and escapes in a car to taking Francis to the hospital.
Sofia meets with the heads of the gangs, offering her criminal empire to whoever captures Oz, preparing to leave Gotham for good.
Oz offers to give Hady full credit for restoring peace to Crown Point and ending the gang war in exchange for access to and influence over the council.
Having bought a new car, Oz takes a bedridden Francis to a penthouse suite overlooking the city skyline, stating that he has finally fulfilled his promise to her; a single tear rolls down her eye.
[1] The episode's title is derived from a line in Oscar Wilde's poem The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898) after Farrell had given a copy to LeFranc.
When questioned over the flashback sequences, Lauren LeFranc explained, "He previously told Sofia a story about how his mom didn't get out of bed for weeks after his brothers died.
You are living in this fantasy, but there's a real larger world out there.’"[11] Matt Reeves added, "We're kind of flicking you at the end to say the story's not over.
Meanwhile, O'Connell had been thinking about how she would execute the last page in the episode's script throughout the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, which had been to shed a single tear during Francis Cobb's vegetative state.
At least it culminates in a way that says, with its full chest, that Oswald Cobb is a monster – one who'll require an equal and opposite good to take him down.
Club gave the episode an "A–" grade and wrote, "We don't get Eve's perspective on this latest weird and humiliating gig in what's presumably been a long line of them, outside a few pained expressions over Oz's shoulder.
"[18] Andy Andersen of Vulture gave the episode a 4 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "The Penguin's gamble on telling a Gotham story sans Batman has paid off in dividends, materializing into one of the best shows of the year and a comic-book origin story that speaks to the times without losing sight of the source material's heightened reality.
Oz is the Penguin now — like everyone in Batman's Rogues Gallery, a caricature of his own trauma, drawn to criminal means of false liberation.
"[20] Joe George of Den of Geek gave the episode a 4 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "To the credit of LeFranc and her collaborators, The Penguin proved itself much more.
The Penguin does all this, kills all these people, leaves almost every enemy and ally he has in the world dead, so he can run Gotham City... until they switch on the Bat-signal.
"[22] Nate Richard of Collider gave the episode a 9 out of 10 rating and wrote, "The Penguin has done a phenomenal job of fleshing out its ensemble, particularly Sofia, Vic, and Francis.
Ending with Oz's high note, The Penguin concludes with a tremendous impact for things to come while leaving a fulfilling sendoff for this series.
The site wrote, "It was a hell of a performance throughout the entire finale, including the awful moment when Oz kills Vic because he perceived the teenage boy's love and loyalty as a hindrance and potential weakness for him.