The story behind Sofia’s time in Arkham Asylum

SPOILER ALERT! This story contains details from Sunday’s episode of The penguin on HBO.

If HBO’s adaptation of the classic DC villain can be described as dark, then the fourth episode, titled “Cent’Anni,” is a simple black hole as it explains how Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti) became the villainous enemy of Colin Farrell’s Oz Cobbs was .

Although “Cent’anni” is a common Italian toast to 100 years of health, that’s not exactly the case for anyone celebrate the decision to commit Sofia to Arkham State Hospital after she questions her father’s role in her mother’s death. There, Sofia is tortured relentlessly, which further escalates the violence The penguin seem relatively civilized in comparison. (And it should only take six months!)

But no matter how harrowing it was to watch Sofia being repeatedly shocked during shock treatment, it was important to showrunner Lauren LeFranc to show what made the Executioner someone Oz should fear.

“I really enjoy storytelling where the action takes a break and you can delve deeper into a character. If you engage the audience properly, people should be willing to go for a ride with you,” LeFranc tells Deadline. “It probably felt strange spending time with Sofia while we’re on a show called The Penguin. But I think it’s just as important for understanding Oz psychologically. While I don’t consider Oz a hero or villain, he is a bigger villain than anyone else in the series. And for you to feel that way, I think you need to better understand his main antagonist. And this is Sofia.”

LeFranc hired actress/director Helen Shaver, with whom she collaborated on the YouTube Original drama Pulse, to preside over the crucial episode.

“When I read the fourth episode, I was like, ‘Okay, I’ll do this.’ “I understood so well this woman’s journey to primal trauma and her unraveling, her rebirth,” Shaver says. “I could make the trip. And Cristin’s commitment to this piece! I’m very fortunate to have all these years of acting so I can really relate to an actress like her and being a woman in her mid-thirties in this industry. We found each other and had great trust in each other. What I knew was needed, and Lauren certainly agreed, was a willingness and an examination of what it would mean to be stripped of everything… to be stripped of the moment when you realize that your whole Life as understood isn’t actually the truth, that your father killed your mother and then told you not to look. That’s what often happens with trauma: we bury it deep. So I knew I wanted the audience to experience what she experienced.”

And while Shaver admits the torture may have seemed “ruthless,” she believes the episode served its purpose in explaining “the impact this has on humans.”

“That’s what moves the audience. It is this truth that hits us and that cannot be denied,” explains Slaver. “Otherwise it’s just unnecessary torture, like, ‘Let’s beat this woman.'” If we beat her, there must be a bruise. But the bruise is not just a physical bruise. We want to see the wound and we want to see the recovery from it, or not necessarily the recovery, but the impact of what that means to the person.”

For her part, Milioti says she had “the time of my life” filming “Cent’Anni.”

“It was a privilege to be able to explore things like that. And Helen was an incredible lighthouse and guide throughout all of this,” recalls the actress. “I felt like we were in the trenches together. And coupled with Lauren’s brilliant writing style, I just felt like it was a real pinch-hitting experience. We got to see Sofia driven insane. She becomes what everyone accused her of being. And then she enters this other part of herself. Regardless of whether you agree with what she’s doing or not, she just lets that power flow. And so she is free in a very twisted way.”