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Let’s Talk About ‘Red Marauder’:
- The people of England are beginning to feel some type of way about the PWEs, aka People With Enhancements.
- Gully, aka Captain Blighty, is beginning to grow weaker and weaker due to his exposure to Stormcloud.
- Mary and Roger are still an item.
- Sally is prepping another party for Francis, but is disappointed that Daveboy can’t open his mind.
- A PWE has attacked a power station and Aziz needs Alfred and Daveboy to accompany Gully to bring the man in.
- Patricia returns but she has no information about Thomas to give to Martha.
- Sandra delivers some shocking news to Alfred, news that she thought he’d gotten already.
- Dr. Glubb is upset by how Francis is planning to use Lullaby.
- Lucius makes a shocking discovery when he returns to the PWE facility.
On this week’s episode of Pennyworth, people are in the streets protesting, chanting ‘No PWEs for England. Lock them up.’ The people, however, love Captain Blighty just not the rest of them. Gully thinks Lucius is lying to the rest of the PWEs that people will love them. Unfortunately Blighty’s getting weaker every day. It’s a miracle Gully is still alive, and he says he wants to die a good death.
Elsewhere around town, Alfie is moping over Zahra returning to her country with her father. His mum Mary and her boyfriend Roger are still together, and they try to make him feel better but when the phone rings Roger tells Alfie that he’s actually tried to get Mary to back off a bit and give him some space. The power is also fluctuating, and the Prime Minister has summoned Alfred to his office. In another part of town, Sally is preparing some kind of party or event for Francis. She says Daveboy should be grateful to be so close to Francis, but maybe he shouldn’t come to the party if he can’t broaden his mind. They argue and he says he should probably go. And on cue two men with badges have come for Daveboy. He believes he knows why they are there for him and basically tells Sally goodbye. And at the Wayne residence, Patricia is back. Thomas is not with her. She says she’s there to help out. She also says Thomas is more uptight than usual. She’s somewhat surprised that he hasn’t spoken to Martha at all. Martha says she calls, leaves messages, nothing. He’s said nothing to Patricia either. She assures Martha he’s working 18 hours a day and he will be home. She’s also there for the Francis Faulks party and hopes Martha will let her wear the dress she gave Martha, who said she’d never wear it. Of course she can wear it. But she also gets called in by the PM and needs Patricia to stay with Sam until she gets home and the dress is a thank you. Patricia says she will be there when Martha returns.
Alfie and Daveboy are at the PM’s office thinking they were summoned about the Hebrides trip. Daveboy has some attitude too and Alfred assumes he must be upset about Sally, but Daveboy won’t talk about it. When the go into the office, Aziz assures them he is not seeing them about the Hebrides even though Alfie took full responsibility to get Daveboy off the hook. All is forgiven, says Aziz because Khin’s freedom actually makes his own government very nervous and therefore more dependent on the UK. They are actually needed because a PWE has attacked a power station. Alfred wants to know if Gully is responsible, and Aziz tells him that Gully is not well. General Thursday, who is also present, wants to activate the military but Aziz says any role of the military on British soil is at his discretion. Thursday is not happy about that. Aziz knows they need PWEs and they need to get the people on their side. Alfred and Daveboy need to help Gully complete his mission. Thursday warns that if this is a cock-up, Aziz will bear the consequences. Aziz dismisses Thursday and tells Alfred that Martha will join them, and she has the details.
Before heading off on their mission, Sandra barges into Alfie’s office and she needs to talk. She said she wanted to give him some time to figure out how he feels after that message she gave him, but he has no idea what she’s talking about. She apparently told him in the letter that she’s pregnant and he had no reaction when she delivered this news to his face. Stunned might be how you’d say he felt. She told Alfie it was all in the letter she gave Daveboy, but he didn’t remember her giving him a letter. He might have been fucked up on Sally’s drugs though (he apparently doesn’t remember that he ate the letter). So how does Alfie feel? No reaction. Sandra is a bit furious and isn’t sure what she’s going to do but she’ll let him know. Lucius and Martha’s timing leaves a lot to be desired, and when Alfred and Daveboy get in the fan, Gully can sense that something is up, both with his men and this whole mission. Why did Aziz put them with him? Gully seems to think Alfie is the one who is there to carry out the mission and Gully is just there to play the hero in the media.
On the way to the power station, Martha lays out the mission for them. Darren Thompson is the PWE who entered the power station and barricaded himself inside, feeding himself off of the power. He’s already killed two cops, and there is no word from the employees inside. They have to get inside and shut down the power. Alfie is still mad about Daveboy not giving him the letter, and Gully isn’t happy with fighting among the ranks. They arrive and Gully, Alfie and Daveboy go in, but Gully insists on going in to do his job. Alfie won’t let him, but Gully says he doesn’t need their help. Alfie gets Gully all riled up about who’s in charge, and Daveboy spills the beans about Alfie’s news. A soldier approaches but before he can say anything he’s hit by a blast of electricity. Darren warns them to stay away. Turns out he’s just a bloke in a track suit. They go into the power plant, with Gully telling Alfie how great it is to be a parent. Alfie thinks it better if they talk about that later. Darren is recharging, and Gully goes in to confront him. Darren just fanboys about meeting Captain Blighty face-to-face. Gully asks if he did this to himself, made himself a PWE, but he says he didn’t. He woke up at a bus stop one day, thought he’d had quite the night, went home and found out he’d been gone for a month. Next thing he knows he’s a Double-D battery. And not about to let Captain Blighty take him out.
In the van, Lucius regrets sending Gully in. An electrical blast could fry his suit completely. Perhaps to distract Lucius, Martha gives him a folder and Lucius says he doesn’t know what it is, asking her what’s Level 7? She says she’s learned that Level 7 is a militarized arm of PWE research led by General Thursday. They’ve co-opted the results of John Salt’s experiments, and after bringing this information to the PM, Aziz wants her to find the source of the leak, but she hasn’t. Because she realized it was Lucius. He admits he gave her the files so she could do something about it because she has the PM’s ear, so she can pressure him to shut it down. She says Aziz is freezing her out. Lucius can’t be involved in helping her. If he does, he’ll be fired and he can’t leave the other PWEs unprotected. She’s on her own. She says she hopes he can live with himself.
Inside there are dead bodies everywhere. Alfie finds the switch to turn off the power but it’s been disconnected. Darren says Gully looks like shite. Why did they even bother to send him in? Gully gives him one more chance to come quietly but Darren zaps him. Gully zaps Darren back and he appears to be dead (or at least unconscious since the mission was to bring him back alive). But Gully hears Darren behind him ask if that’s all he’s got. Gully tries to zap him again but he has no more power. Darren puts his hand on Gully’s chest and blasts him again but Alfie and Daveboy show up just in time, shooting at him. Bullets and electricity shoot across the room giving Alfie a chance to dragGully out. Daveboy gets hit in the leg by one of Darren’s electric bolts, but Darren runs out of juice and the three men get outside of the room. Daveboy wants to retreat and have the military launch an air strike on the building but Gully reminds him they have to get past Darren to get out. The have no choice but to fight. Darren has gotten recharged by this point. Gully says they go back and do what they did before, he distracts Darren to draw his fire, they come in and take him out, they call Aziz and it’s done. Gully’s suit isn’t working but he bangs on it hard enough to get it going again. He says Darren’s power shields him somehow so they need to get him to lose energy, and Gully can take him out. Alfie says they’re not doing that. Daveboy says it’s a suicide mission. Alfie says that guy is not worth dying for, but Gully says some things are worth dying for, like being sure Alfie’s child has a father who is alive and fighting. And then he knocks Alfie out. He tells Daveboy to be sure he carries Alfred out and Daveboy asks if he’s sure about this. Gully says, ‘Who dares, wins and this is worth winning.’ Daveboy salutes his former commanding officer and Gully goes in.
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Darren says when they ask him how Captain Blighty died, he’ll tell them he took it like a man. Gully says that won’t be necessary. ‘Why is that then’, Darren asks. ‘Because I’m going to kill you’, says Gully. Darren says let’s have it then. He tells Gully to hit him with his best shot, but when Gully fires he fires at the electrical equipment, causing all of the power in London to flicker and go out. Aziz is concerned as his office lights go out, knowing something is going down. Daveboy is dragging Alfie out when he comes to. Warning sirens start blaring and Alfie runs off to find Gully. Darren gets up and starts zapping Gully, angry that he killed the power source. Just as he’s about to kill Gully, Alfie shows up and shoots but Darren zaps him instead. He goes to finish off Alfie but Gully comes from behind and grabs his hands. Darren places it on Gully’s chest but Gully manages to pry it off, then says ‘enough’ and uses his power to shoot a beam through the bottom of Darren’s chin and out the top of his head. So much for bringing him back alive. Gully collapses, Daveboy makes his way back in, Alfie jumps up to get help for Gully but he says they may be past that point. What about all those people out there who need him, Alfie asks. Gully says for all his fellow ‘P-Dubs’ nothing brings sympathy more than a martyr. He’s doing the cause a great service by dying. He says it’s been a tremendous honor serving there with Alfie and Daveboy. Alfie says he didn’t have to do this, they could have … but Gully interrupts, ‘Could have what?’ He says it’s better this way, better to die when you believe in something. He does wish he could have seen Alfie as a father, and makes him promise him he’ll do it right. Alfie promises. Gully says he’s going to need a hug. Alfie grabs him and holds tight. Gully whispers in Alfie’s ear that he loves him and gives him a kiss on the cheek. Alfie puts him down and he dies. Alfie says, ‘I love you too, Gully.’
Martha returns home (her power is on), and puts a picture of her and Thomas face down on the table. Sam runs down to greet her and Martha smells perfume and notices makeup on her. Patricia comes down and says they had a lovely girls’ day. Martha thanks her and Patricia tells them not to wait up. She leaves and Martha puts the picture back up. Meanwhile, Alfie and Daveboy are having a wake for Gully at the pub, his body on the bar, a sailor singing ‘Lili Marlene’. Mr. Chadley says the wake looks like a lot of health and safety violations. Daveboy tells Alfred he has to go see Sally, and Alfie says he does not, but Daveboy says Gully died so Alfie could be a father, so what is he going to do about the baby? Alfie says he’s going to keep his promise to Gully. Aziz delivers an address on TV announcing Captain Blighty’s death. Lucius is at the PWE facility and it’s a mess, everyone is gone. Aziz assures that the government will continue to work with the PWEs for the good of the nation. Martha is watching the telly when the phone rings. It’s Lucius telling her that General Thursday took all of the PWEs to Level 7. He tells her she’s right, it is his responsibility, he’ll deal with it. He hangs up before she can say anything.
Back at the venue where Francis’ party will take place, Dr. Glubb is upset with him for using Lullaby as a hippie party drug. Glubb says the drug is meant to control people, and the more he gives his followers the infect each other. Sixty people under the influence could get very bad, but Francis pays no heed to the warning. Later, Patricia arrives at the party but Francis is leaving. When she asks where he’s off to, he says they need him, everyone in this beautiful, broken city, they need to be set free! His car drives off and she goes inside. She enters a room with psychedelic lighting, a group of people are staring at something, she asks what it is and they all turn, all wearing the Guy Fawkes mask. They lead her to the table and she sits down across from Sally. Patricia asks if this is a performance piece, but a terrified Sally warns her to not drink the tea. She starts crying and looks at the end of the table. Patricia turns and sees Dr. Glubb sitting there with several knives sticking out of his body. Everyone directs their gaze toward Patricia.
Alfie goes to Sandra’a apartment. Sandra is listening to ‘Sunshine After the Rain’ by Elkie Brooks. (A bit of an anachronism as the song was released in 1977, a cover of the 1968 original by Ellie Greenwich.) Alfie asks if he can come in, Sandra says no, but she’s sorry about his friend. She asks him what he wants, and he says just one thing — he thinks they should get married. Now Sandra is the speechless one.
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New episodes of Pennyworth stream Thursdays on HBO Max.
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