Penguin star Clancy Brown on Sal’s war with Oz in episode 7

Note: This story contains spoilers from Episode 7 of Penguin.

Salvatore Maroni and Oz Cobb finally clashed in the penultimate episode of Penguin, and it ended just as bloody as expected.

From the beginning, Oz (Colin Farrell) poked and prodded Sal (Clancy Brown), knowing he was safe behind bars. He tried to make a deal with the Maroni family to deceive Falcone and go into the business of selling Bliss. Everything went wrong when he kidnapped Sal’s child and burned him and his wife Nadia in a warehouse.

Brown told TheWrap that Sal was a “sleeping bear” while he was locked up, but when he came out and teamed up with Sofia (Cristin Milioti), all he thought about was revenge.

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

He added: “When he comes out, he becomes an angry bear and gives up his animal desire for revenge and retribution.”

Sal was on the warpath because of what happened to his wife and son—burning them both alive would have had that effect on anyone. It’s one of the worst moments in the brutal HBO series, but Brown said what’s even worse is that the Maroney family was one of the healthiest ones featured 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, he’s as close as you can get in this damn world that is Gotham. I thought it was interesting, I thought it was kind of an interesting counterpoint. It’s great when the relationship works.”

Sal turns to Sofia for help in taking down Oz. The two break bread at the hideout where Sal is staying, and while the moment definitely feels like “the enemy of my enemy is my friend,” there was a softness to the scene that Brown said showedrunner Lauren LeFranc was impressed with.

“Lauren felt it was important for Sophia to see how a 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 warmly as Sophia could. She was very careful. I liken it to trying to get a feral cat or feral dog to get into your car and take it to a shelter.”

Thanks to Sofia, Sal gets Oz and takes him on his covert operation, Bliss. He’s ready to take it all out of his hands when Oz starts twisting the knife. He tells Sal about how his wife and boy stank while they were burning alive. This sets him off as fighting breaks out throughout the complex. Sal holds Oz in the ropes until a heart attack stops him.

Oz wants the satisfaction of defeating Sal himself—which shouldn’t have happened—and Brown says Sal’s death naturally adds to his frustration. He added that these two are animals, and defeating Sal – but almost winning technically – pushes Oz even further into this animal nature.

“Sal has a look of fear: He knows he’s having a heart attack and he’s dying,” 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 also an animal and he wants to win, he wants to kill. He wants to be a predator.”

Penguin airs Sundays at 9:00 PM ET/PT and streams on Max.