“Penguin” star Clancy Brown on Sel’s war with Oz in episode 7

Note: This story contains spoilers from The Penguin, Episode 7.

Salvatore Maroni and Oz Cobb finally face off in the penultimate episode “Penguin” and it ended bloody, as expected.

From the beginning, Oz (Colin Farrell) poked and prodded Sel (Clancy Brown), knowing he was safe behind bars. He tried to make a deal with the Maroney family to flip Falcone and start a business selling Bliss. It all came to a head when he kidnapped Sal’s baby and burned him and his wife Nadia in a warehouse.

Brown told TheWrap that Sel was a “sleeping bear” while he was locked up, but when he got out and teamed up with Sofia (Christine Milioti), he only wants revenge.

“He’s just sleeping. He’s a big bear hibernating in his cave until he can break through the corrupt system to get out and get back to business,” Brown said. “It’s like the crowd in the 60s, 70s, the same thing happened in New York. I couldn’t really touch any, any knowledge. I had to somehow touch the real story. “

He added: “When he comes out he becomes a bear full of rage and he gives in to his animal desire for revenge and retribution.”

Sal is on the warpath because of what happened to his wife and son – burning them both alive would have that effect on anyone. It’s one of the most gruesome moments on the violent HBO series, but Brown said what makes it worse is that the Maroney family was one of the most wholesome on the show.

“It’s as close as you can get to a good relationship — a good parent-child relationship, a good marriage,” he said. “I mean, it’s as close as we can get in this stupid world that is Gotham. I thought it was interesting, I thought it was an interesting counterpoint. It’s kind of cool to have a relationship that works.”

Sel turns to Sofia for help in killing Oz. The two break bread at the safe house Sal lives in, and while the moment is certainly an “enemy of my enemy is my friend” kind of moment, there was a softness to the scene that Brown says showrunner Lauren LeFranc added.

“Lauren thought it was important for Sofia to see how the family works,” Brown said. “And there can be a family that can trust and love each other. She really wanted it to be a warm scene. I think Christine played it as warm as Sofia can be. She was very wary. I liken it to trying to coax a feral cat or a feral dog into your car to take them to a shelter.”

Thanks to Sophia, Cel gets hold of Oz and takes him to his covert operation Bliss. He’s ready to take it all off when Oz starts swinging the knife. He tells Sal about how his wife and boy stank when they burned to death. This confuses him as a fight breaks out throughout the area. Sal keeps Oz on the ropes until a heart attack stops him in his tracks.

Oz wants the satisfaction of beating up Sel himself—which shouldn’t have happened—and Brown says that Sel’s death naturally increases his frustration. He added that these two are animals, and defeating the Village – but almost a victory technically – pushes Oz even further into that animal nature.

“Sal has a look of fear that he knows he’s having a heart attack and he’s going to die,” Brown said. “He was going to kill him. He was ready to do it. He was actively doing it when it happened. Then it’s about Oz’s frustration because he’s an animal too and wants to win, he wants to kill. He wants to be a predator.”

“Penguin” airs every Sunday at 9:00 PM ET/PT on Max.