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Pennyworth returns with the fifth episode of the second season — the halfway point — and this week finds Alfie treading a dangerous line. Ever since he got mixed up with Gulliver Troy, aka Gully, his life has taken a darker turn than anyone expected and his quest to leave London and head to Gotham City has become much more expensive than anticipated.
Believing he could rely on Thomas Wayne to fly him to Gotham, Wayne (who’s just had a spat with Martha, and missed a communique from Lucius Fox requesting to be extracted ASAP) said those flights were not cheap since many others are looking for an escape before Harwood and his faction finally take London. The going rate for a seat is $5000 … and Alfred needs three (even though his mum insists she is not leaving). After having his cache of cash stolen, $15,000 is a pretty penny and there’s only one way to earn it — one more job with Gully, a notion that Dave Boy is not too keen on.
But it’s the only way they can escape London, and it’s just one last job. No harm in that. Except the job is robbing the box office of a wrestling match. Gully has the whole operation mapped out, but the friction between Dave Boy and Banjo, one of Gully’s team, threatens the whole operation. And Gully isn’t blind to the attraction between Alfred and his wife Melanie. Gully’s men, and Alfred, are surprised by Dave Boy’s naiveté about how the wrestling matches are staged when he asks what happens if it ends early. It’s a show, basically, and it will go to 11:00, giving them plenty of time to get in, blow the safe, and leave with all that cash.
The team makes it into the arena with Gully’s men watching the exits from the arena area. He takes Alfred and Dave Boy to the office where the money is held. Knowing the men there don’t have the combination, Gully is prepared with explosives to blow the door open. The wrestling match takes place as planned but for some reason the two women wrestlers get heated, and the staged match becomes a bare-knuckle brawl, ending things early when the ‘good’ wrestler is taken down by the ‘villain’. Hearing the commotion from the areas, Dave Boy points out that he was right to consider the match ending early.
Banjo and Rita (?) begin to panic when the crowd begins to exit the arena early, trying to bar the doors with a broom handle. The crowd breaks through and Banjo completely melts down, pulling out his gun and shooting the first of the spectators to break through the doors. Alfred and Dave Boy want to leave but Gully gets the safe open just in time and they abscond with the cash, running into the mob which is now panicked because of the gunshots. Alfred is separated and runs down a hallway, confronted by Mad Janet Murphy, the wrestler who was responsible for throwing the whole plan off kilter. Before she can strike a blow to Alfred, a gunshot rings out, the bullet hitting her square in the forehead. Gully and the others rush by and they make their exit. Back at headquarters, Dave Boy isn’t happy with how things played out, but Alfred tells him to just take their money and go.
At home, the robbery and the deaths have already become front page news, and Alfred’s mum Mary questions her son if he was involved. It’s not so much the robbery, but the fact that people were killed. Alfred tries to lie his way out of it, but he can’t look Mary in the eye and she knows he was there. Furious and disappointed, she smacks him across the face and tells him to get out, she doesn’t want to see him, she’s not going to America, and Dave Boy can stop by and collect his things. Ouch.
Meanwhile, Frances Gaunt has had an unsanctioned meeting with Prime Minister Aziz, which Harwood learns about from Colonel Salt. Jimmy tries to play off that he knew about it, but when Frances returns, he immediately presses her about the meeting, angry that she went behind his back. So angry, in fact, that he doesn’t even want to hear what was discussed, having her escorted to a holding cell. For what it’s worth, she did try to warn Aziz about Project Stormcloud, not giving him details but warning him that he didn’t want to see what will happen if it is implemented. Thinking she is being hyperbolic, Aziz says they are holding London for the good of the country.
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Bet has found herself in a very unlikely situation, working with her sister in the sex shop Peggy runs. Unfortunately, a gentleman customer is someone Bet recognizes from her previous line of work and completely loses her mind, smacking the man around, and eventually tying him up, prepared to kill him right in the middle of the shop. Katie has somehow managed to stick around and put up with Bet’s antics, and tries to stop her from making a huge mistake. Bet storms out as Peggy hints as to why Bet is the way she is, and after Bet storms out, Peggy reveals to Katie Bet’s years of abuse when she was a child. That certainly explains her behavior towards men. Katie finds Bet sitting on a bench and begs her to promise that she’ll try to reign in her angry outbursts. Bet hesitantly promises Katie that she will because Bet can see she finally has a true friend in Katie.
But Alfred’s life gets more complicated as he spies Melanie Troy sitting alone in a booth at his club. Earlier, Sandra Onslow and her pop brought Alfie the wonderful news that Sandra has been given an opportunity to record a demo record for some producers and she asks Alfred to be there because she sings better when he’s around. He half-heartedly promises to be there, and Dave Boy is a bit disgusted that Alfred hasn’t even told her yet about the plan to leave London. But Melanie shows up at the same time Sandra is due to record her record, and instead of going to the studio he takes Melanie, visibly bruised by her eye, to his office for a snog.
This all plays out as Sandra sing an absolutely stunning version of ‘Love is a Losing Game’ — first recorded by Amy Winehouse in 2006, but fitting perfectly in this 1960s setting, a tear rolling down her face because Alfred didn’t show. Honestly, him not being there probably made the emotion Sandra put into the song all the more real because the lyrics are certainly fitting for her situation. While she sings, we also see Bet and Katie, snuggled up together, Katie leaning in to give Bet a kiss. Can this be a turning point for Bet?
The final scene though is a chilling one. As the song fades out, two men walk through the forest at night. It’s Banjo and Gully. Banjo walks ahead, talking, and when they stop he recounts a story of when they were in the military. On the beach in the dead quiet, Banjo remembered hearing the sounds of hundred of turtles making their way from the beach to the ocean. Gully says he doesn’t remember that, but before Banjo could say any more, Gully points a gun at the back of Banjo’s head and pulls the trigger, leaving his dead on the forest floor. The question is where is Gully headed next?
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