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The Sandie Shaw of this week’s title of Pennyworth is another British singer who won the Eurovision contest and was known for singing on stage barefoot because of her oddly misshapen feet (for which she had surgery to correct them a few years ago). What any of this has to do with the episode is anyone’s guess but perhaps a look at her discography would lend a few clues. Her hits ‘(There’s) Always Something There To Remind Me’ and ‘Puppet on a String’ could be some connective tissue to the episode. Or not.
After last week’s shocking conclusion in which we learned Mr. Pennyworth is a card carrying member of the Raven Society, things are coming to a head as we rush headlong into the season finale. At that meeting, Dr. Gaunt promised that there was something major on the horizon, and this week the Ravens announced a public rally to draw people to their cause, which was of grave concern to Mrs. Thwaite considering the truce she believed she had with Gaunt. Of course, Gaunt is concerned about that truce as well, but stunned everyone when she resigned as head of the Ravens to make way for the once and future head, Lord Harwood, now revealing himself to be alive and well (and with a shiny new nose). The crowd went wild, and jaws across the land from TV viewers including the prime minister and Thomas Wayne and Martha Kane hit the floor. I have to give props to the director and editor of this episode for some masterful work here cutting between the event and the people watching at home. This was some great work that amped up the tension for those of us watching the episode.
Harwood’s ‘resurrection’ has certainly sent shock waves through the land. The prime minister is rightfully concerned that Harwood is coming after him. But he’s also concerned about how this will shift the country and affect the queen, fearing she may be forced to abdicate. Harwood would love nothing more than to have the queen on the side of the Ravens, but if she doesn’t come around he’s prepared to bring someone else in, someone Gaunt is horrified to even consider sitting on the throne, a man she calls a pretender because he lives in the Bahamas, wears jewelry and is married to an American, the Duke of Windemere, the queen’s cousin. Harwood agrees that the duke would probably not be the best way to go … and then brings the duke and duchess back to England perhaps to show the queen he’s not kidding.
Prior to Harwood’s big reveal, the prime minister wanted to have a show of force on hand at the rally just in case things got out of control. The queen disapproved of such a display and insisted on police on horses. But when Harwood revealed himself, the PM called for the police to disperse the event and things turned violent (and more great direction and editing here) until Harwood forcefully yelled ‘STOP!’ into the microphone. It was such a shockingly loud sound that everyone was stunned into silence. Harwood asked the police to put down their weapons and allow the people to leave peacefully, and they did, putting more fear into the prime minister’s heart. Has he lost total control now? One of those who suffered a minor cut above his brow was Mr. Pennyworth, and while his wife was attending to the matter as Alfred returned home from his adventures, it became clear that mum knows all about the Raven Society as well, setting up a huge betrayal for Alfred.
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For his part, Alfred was one step closer to capturing Captain Curzon, especially after he had a cuppa with Bet who revealed to him that she was there the night Esme was killed, and that she also saw a woman enter the building with Curzon. Had she known what they were up to, she could have stopped them. Alfred is still all kinds of confused about how Bet is still alive and why she’s so focused on tracking down Esme’s killer, with Bet insisting that she loved Esme more than he did. Alfie’s had just about enough of Bet Sykes, but the pair travel to the rental agent to find out why he gave those people the keys to the building. For his part, he thought they were just potential renters for another flat. But Bet also knows that the police knew who Esme’s killer was and covered it up which sends Alfred straight to the office of Detective Aziz, who claims he knows nothing of the killer’s identity or the cover up. Alfred makes a vague threat to Aziz who says he will do what he can to get some answers. Alfred gives him 24 hours.
Turns out Curzon is the son of a very important Lord who has called in favors with the Prime Minister and the police to keep his son out of trouble, claiming the young man is not right in the head. Well, he’s got that right. Aziz, the PM and Lord Smytth make a deal to keep Curzon safe, but Aziz then calls Alfred to tell him to go to the pumping station where he’ll find his killers gift wrapped for him. Alfred goes, but he knows it’s a trap and calls out Aziz. While Alfred came alone, Aziz has a full complement of men and snipers ready to kill Alfred if he makes a move on Curzon, Aziz or any of the other officers. Alfred even says he could take out a few of them before they killed him. They seem to be at a stalemate when Bet suddenly appears out of nowhere and puts a knife to Aziz’s throat, forcing his men to drop their weapons.
Knowing that she and Alfred are now safe, she goes after Curzon, cutting his face with her brooch as she is wont to do but Alfred stops her. Curzon begins pleading for Aziz to shoot Alfred and Bet and to save him (the housekeeper is also there, bound and blindfolded as she was Curzon’s accomplice and, it turns out … his nanny), but Alfred has finally had enough and puts a couple of bullets in Curzon and the nanny, leaving Bet to clean up the mess. With Aziz and the others handcuffed to the railings, they can only watch as Bet beats in the skull of Curzon with an iron bar before dumping his body into the water. Aziz thinks Bet looks familiar but he doesn’t know her true identity because of her red hair.
As we roll into the final two episodes of the season, Alfred may have crossed the point of no return, Martha is insisting that she’s fine with Thomas being CIA (which he keeps denying) and that she’s ready to get back to work with him, and the country is on the brink of a civil war if the Raven Society gets its way. I can’t wait to see what happens and I’m not yet ready for it to all be over! Let’s hope the TV gods are enjoying the show as well and will grant us a second season.
What did you think of this episode? Sound off in the comments below!
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