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Spoilers for The Penguin episode 4 follow.

Wow. How about The Penguin episode 4? Not only was it one of the highest-rated TV episodes in history, it put the focus squarely on breakout character Sofia Falcone, diving into a backstory that was as shockingly dark as it was impossible to look away from. The episode was a popular topic of conversation at New York Comic Con 2024's Penguin panel, presented by HBO and attended by not just Sofia actor Cristin Milioti, but showrunner Lauren LeFranc. During the panel, LeFranc revealed a surprising inspiration for Sofia's character: Rosemary Kennedy, sister of JFK and RFK, and real-life tragic figure.

Sofia's horrible past begins when she became inconvenient for her father, gangster Carmine Falcone. After discovering that her father seemingly murdered her mother (maybe, we're still not 100% sure), Sofia is shipped off to Arkham State Hospital, where she spends a decade being experimented on and undergoing physically and psychologically scarring violence. 

"I was inspired by Rosemary Kennedy's story," LeFranc told the packed Empire Stage at the Javits Center. "She's deemed the forgotten or hidden Kennedy daughter and she came from a very well-to-do family of course. Very renowned family."

Yes, that family is the Kennedy's. As in: one president and one very near president, plus a legacy of other power players in American history. As LeFranc mentions, Rosemary was "forgotten," by her family, and very much on purpose. Rosemary suffered from mental illness, and experienced a cruel exile from her "well-to-do" clan.

"In her 20s," LeFranc explains, "Her father put her in an institution and she was given a lobotomy. So for me, in digging into these characters and trying to put my own spin on things, and thinking about a character like Sofia and bringing her into the world, [I asked] what would make her very interesting and dynamic as a character? [...] I wanted to relate her to something that felt very real. I did think about Rosemary Kennedy." 

Of course, Sofia's story does not end with her staying in a cruel institution for good, as it did quite horribly for Rosemary Kennedy. And yet, the idea of "inconvenient" women being institutionalized by powerful men is no less terrible, particularly because its affects are still seen today. Lauren LeFranc's Gotham is fictional, but the terrors it holds, in Sofia's case and plenty others, are all too real.

The Penguin episodes 1-4 are streaming now on Max. 

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