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Let’s Talk About ‘Rag Trade’:
- Alfie tells Sandra in the most awkward and unconvincing way that he loves her and wants to get married.
- Martha is stunned when Thomas returns home, but both of them get a big surprise from Mary Pennyworth.
- Lucius breaks into Level 7 in an attempt to liberate the PWEs and witnesses a horrifying experiment.
- Sally begs Daveboy for help in the aftermath of Francis’ party.
- Samantha Wayne is kidnapped and Martha calls the one person she believes can help — Alfred.
- Prime Minister Aziz is concerned that General Thursday is violating the rights of British citizens at Level 7.
- Thomas and Martha discover they have an unwanted guest in their house.
- Lucius finds he has an expected ally.
- Francis’ plan for Lullaby comes into focus.
There were a few major storylines on this week’s penultimate third season episode of Pennyworth, so let’s break each one of them down. Right off the bat, the episode picks up right where the previous one left off as Alfie asks Sandra to marry him. She says no and asks if he even loves her. He answers in a way no one wants to hear, ‘Yeah … sure … lots.’ She tells him she’s keeping the baby, he’ll be the father, but she’s doing it on her own. She tells him she’s doing him a favor because he doesn’t want it, and again he gives the wrong reaction — ‘Of course I don’t, I’m trying to do the right thing’ — and he tells her if he walks out that door he’s not coming back. The look in her eyes says don’t let it hit you on the ass on the way out.
The Wayne Family
Thomas has returned home, obviously without any notice as Martha looks completely stunned to see him walk in the door. Mrs. P is there to take Sam out to the park and offers her deepest condolences for his father. Martha tells him they need to talk. When Mary and Sam leave, Thomas says all he wanted to do was come home. Then why didn’t he call, she asks. ‘You know why’, he says. Martha says it’s because he killed his father, and he knew she knew and knew they’d have to have that conversation. She’s okay with the killing, but putting the family at risk she’s not okay with. So he brings up her lies about her work with MI5 … deflection and projection is never the best response when you’re being grilled about your own wrong-doings. Their talk does not go well, obviously, but he want to know how can he fix things. Martha doesn’t know, and they are interrupted when Mrs. P walks in apologizing for being late … but she just left with Sam 30 minutes ago.
Mrs. P swears she just got there, and Martha notices her coat is different than what she had on earlier. The phone rings … it’s the kidnapper. She wants $100,000 pounds cash. One hour. Don’t call the police. Thomas runs out to the bank, and he tells Martha not to call the police but she makes a call anyway. Not to the police, but to the one person she knows can help — Alfred. He arrives at their home and she tells him about the identical twin to his mum, assuming she must be a PWE. Thomas comes back and sees Alfie, who tells Thomas they need someone with a clear head. Now what motive would someone have to do this? Money? A grudge? Martha is blaming Thomas without actually saying that it’s because he murdered his father. The kidnapper calls and tells Thomas and Martha to bring the money to the northeast corner of Hyde Park and wait for instructions. Alfred will follow along and Mary will stay at the house in case they call again.
Thomas and Martha are at the park. It’s crowded with people protesting various things and they look for a sign that will give them further instructions. While Alfred observes from the shrubbery, the kidnapper comes up behind him. He’ a bit surprised to be confronted by the image of his mum, and she says if he tries anything his mother will go to jail. He then smarkily tells her he doesn’t see the resemblance. His mum has a certain sparkle, and the kidnapper just looks like a thug. She suspected they’d call for him but he won’t do them any good. Alfie says this isn’t about the money is it — ‘A girl’s got to eat’, she replies — but he’s right, she really wants to hurt the Wayne family, to take everything they hold dear: child, money, their good name. Alfie tells her to tell her man behind him not to take one more step, she tells Alfred to tell him himself, and then she sprays him with something that knocks him out. Martha spots a teddy bear, and it has a note. ‘Confess’, it says. Thomas gets up ona pedestal like the other protesters and starts talking, getting everyone’s attention by admitting loudly that he killed his father. The crowd quiets and listens. Thomas repeats his claim and says he’s glad he’s gone, the world will be a better place, but he has destroyed his own family in the process. Now, he asks, where is his daughter? He keeps repeating this until a car drives up. The fake Mrs. P tells him to get in and they do. But they haven’t yet done all she’s asked, and then she sprays them too.
Thomas and Martha come to and find they are tied to pillars at their home. The kidnapper reveals herself — it’s Virginia on her first mission as the new her. Thomas thinks she’s working for the CIA but she’s not, she has a new job to carry out so why not tie up some loose ends in the process. She tells Thomas he screwed things up for her with the CIA for not killing Martha, he and Pennyworth exposed her operation, and to top it off he kills his own father, her most valuable asset. The agency was going to fire her because of all this so she let them experiment on her. It was her only way back in. Thomas will give her all the money she wants, control of Wayne Enterprises, whatever, just let Martha and Sam go. She won’t turn down the money but she wants justice: if he wants to save Sam, he has to kill Martha.
Alfie is still unconscious, and his mum is tied up in the room with him. Sam is there too. Alfie wakes up and Mary tells him they are in the basement of the Waynes’ house. Mary assumes Thomas and Martha are upstairs, and Sam gets upset but she tells her she’s sure they are perfectly fine. Alfie calls Sam over and tells her a story about the lion and the mouse, or how a mouse helps a lion. It’s a way to get Sam to help him without being too obvious — she happens to have a hair pin on with a mouse on it — but the guard tells him to shut up and hits him in the head.
Upstairs, Virginia unties Thomas but he refuses to kill Martha. If he doesn’t, Virginia warns him, they all die including Pennyworth and his mother. Martha says the CIA will never turn a blind eye to the murder of their family, but Virginia says with them gone Wayne Enterprises, with it’s advanced weapons and pharma divisions, will be ripe for an agency takeover. Her bosses will be just fine with their deaths. Virginia asks Thomas if he thinks Martha will ever look at him the same way again knowing that he’s a killer. No, he says, as he looks into Martha’s eyes. Virginia is offering him and Sam a fresh start, blame her if he has to, but it’s enough for her to know that he knows what he did and has to live with it. Thomas says he went to Gotham intending to kill his father, but didn’t think he’d actually do it, not until he pulled the trigger. He didn’t think he was that person … but he is. Martha says he’s a good person. He takes the knife from Virginia and she moves behind him with a gun pointed at his head. Thomas says to Martha that he’s sorry. Down below, Alfred is trying to unlock his cuffs with Sam’s hair pin, the mouse helping the lion. The guard hears him fussing about, but it works and Alfie gets one cuff unlocked.
Martha tells Thomas he can’t listen to Virginia because she’s going to kill them all anyway. Maybe, he says, but would she have ever forgiven him? Misguided as his actions were, Martha believes he was trying to protect them. She thinks he’s always trying to protect them. ‘I am’, he says. ‘Are you sure’, she asks. ‘There’s no other way.’ He tells Martha he loves her and turns on Virginia, knocking the gun out of her hand. With both of them trained in hand-to-hand combat they get into a wicked fight. He gets the upper hand for a moment but she tosses him onto a glass table, shattering it. The guard in the basement is about to check on Alfred when they hear the commotion above. Before he can go up, Alfred stops him but ends up getting hit in the head again. Virginia tells Thomas she would have failed his ass day one at CIA training as she’s whopping his ass. But he isn’t out yet, slammming her into a bookcase. Martha is cutting her ropes, Alfie and the guard are fighting, Virginia smashes a vase on Thomas’ head, and he appears to be out. The guard in the basement is also out, and Alfred gets his gun. Sam runs over to give him a hug. Virginia gets a few more punches in on Thomas while he’s splayed out on the floor, telling him she was going to enjoy watching him kill his beloved wife, but this is all very satisfying. She’s got a large shard of the vase ready to plunge into his heart but before she can do anything Alfred yells stop and catches her off guard. He tells her to drop the shard, and she does saying, ‘You got me’. She says he should call his Prime Minister, he’ll probably want to work something out to keep all of this hush-hush and not cause an issue between their governments … and suddenly there is a gun shot and she collapses. Martha has killed Virginia, stunning Alfred. Martha runs to Thomas, and he’s roughed up but okay.
Mary and Alfie are outside the Waynes’ home as the police arrive. She tells him he did good, and perhaps now he’ll tell her what’s going on. But the first thing he says is, ‘Sandra’s pregnant, I’m going to be a father.’ ‘Crikey’, replies Mary. He tells her he asked Sandra to marry him so he could do the right thing, and Mary rolls her eyes saying, ‘You didn’t ask her like that, did you?’ Well … anyway she said no, because she knew he didn’t want it, marriage or children. Mary asks if he does, and he says yeah, he does, as he looks at Sam’s mouse hair pin. Then it’s his job to make her see that, his mum tells him. She’s happy for him. Alfie wonders what Roger’s going to say now that his girlfriend’s going to be a granny. They have a chuckle. So will Alfie and Sandra give it a go?
Martha calls Aziz and tells him about Virginia. She doesn’t know why she was in London but she assumes it was about Lullaby. Aziz tells her Glubb’s body was found in Holland Park, stabbed multiple times which raises several questions including who has Lullaby and what do they plan to do with it.
Level 7
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A PWE tries to escape Level 7 but gets shot. Lucius sneaks into the facility through a vent. One of the PWEs he finds in a cell tells him they’re being tortured. He finds the female PWE with the goggles, Celia, and tries to unlock her cell door with his unlocking device but it doesn’t work. It’s obvious those two have feelings for each other. While Lucius tries to make his way to the control room to find a way to unlock all of the cell doors, General Thursday is summoned by the PM. Lucius manages to slip into the control room as Thursday exits, going to a large control panel looking for the right button to unlock the cells. Instead he opens covered window overlooking a large operating room where a PWE has just been brought in against his will.
at the PM’s office, Aziz asks Thursday if any British citizens’ rights have been violated. Thursday deflects and wants to know when they were at war, were the citizen’s rights violated when they were fighting the Germans? This isn’t war, Aziz tells him. Thursday says the Americans, Chinese and Soviets all have PWE programs, so they are very much at war. Aziz wants access to the PWE facility. Thursday says no because Parliament allows him to run Level 7 as he sees fit, and Aziz reminds him that holds true as long as no laws are broken. Thursday says they have not broken any laws, unless Aziz has proof otherwise. No? Okay, then he has work to do. At Level 7 Lucius continues to observe as the PWE is undergoing some tests. He’s zapped with the red beams of electricity, and all that’s left at the end of the experiment is a charred skeleton. Back to the drawing board, the techs say. Lucius is horrified, and he goes back to the panel, managing to find the right button to unlock the cells. He goes back to get Celia, but she’s gone. Guards rush by, doctors and others are running in the opposite direction as there is major commotion in the large operating room. It’s … Bet Sykes, killing guards and terrifying everyone. She grabs Lucius by the throat, and asks if he work there? No, he tells her, he’s just there to rescue them. Sorry then, she says and releases him. She’s a PWE now, apparently with super strength. Lucius says they have to get everyone out, but before they can Thursday and his men come in and stop them. But can they stop what appears to be the unstoppable Bet Sykes?
Daveboy & Sally
We find Daveboy asleep at the pub, his head on the bar, as Sally comes to him for help. She tells him about Francis drugging everyone and the killing. He reluctantly agrees to go, still feeling stung by the way things ended with them. They go back to the site of the party, but the dead man is gone. Daveboy assumes she imagined the body because she was on whatever he had been given previously and he wants to know why didn’t she join in? She told him she didn’t drink the tea, so she wasn’t affected but she doesn’t know where everyone went. She mentions the dead man was a doctor, and Daveboy immediately knows it was Dr. Glubb. He tells her needs to find Alfie right away. Sally is confused by all of this but everything stops when they hear someone banging around in another room. Daveboy throw open the door and it’s Patricia, who had been hiding in a closet. She falls into Daveboy’s arms and passes out.
Patricia is drinking off her shock. Daveboy tells Sally about the drug Glubb made that made Jessica Thistle kill her parents. Patricia interjects that Francis is going to drug all of London. She assumes that from what he said when he left the party the night before … and now she’s leaving. She saw what happened when fifty people were on that stuff so she doesn’t want to be around when it’s an entire city. Off to the airport and, by the way, Daveboy and Sally make a cute couple. Now they wait for Alfie, but Sally slaps Daveboy and tells him to stop acting like he’s not smart. He figured out about the drug, Dr. Glubb and Jessica, and tells him to ask himself would she be with him if he was stupid? He plants a kiss on her in response.
But wait for Alfred they do. Daveboy and Sally are sleeping at the office, obviously passing the time with a snog. Sally is awakened by the sound of a baby and she sees a woman sitting across from them. Daveboy wakes up and sees … Peg Sykes. Sally quickly slips away saying she’ll make some tea. Daveboy asks Peg what brings her to London, and she says ‘my mad sister’. Has he seen her? She has something of hers to return, referring to the baby.
The work day begins at Merry Cow Dairy. Francis is there, putting drops of Lullaby into the bottled milk. He tells the workers under his control that it is the dawn of a new day, time to do the rounds. They all get in their milk trucks and begin delivering the milk … and a dose of Lullaby to the residents of London.
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New episodes of Pennyworth stream Thursdays on HBO Max.
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