The penultimate episode of season two of Pennyworth is here and with it we’ve got five thoughts. Almost at the end of what has been a much more by-the-numbers season. They’ve toned down the cannibalism and Satan worship, but we did get a cyborg dad return. Read on and remember spoilers ahead.
1. The Night Before
The episode begins with Wayne, Martha, and Lucius recruiting Alfred and Dave Boy on this week’s mission. Alfred’s mom is not happy about this, but the whole reason they didn’t leave for America is that Alfred wanted to fight for his country. For mum to be surprised or upset about this doesn’t make a ton of sense. Yeah of course she doesn’t want him to get hurt or killed and he’s already injured. It does give us a moment of angry mom and Dorothy Atkinson is great as Mary Pennyworth here.
They all know this is probably a suicide mission so each of the squad chooses to spend their night like it’s their last. Alfred goes to see the landlord’s daughter Sandra again. Which, let’s be honest, is cruel. He doesn’t want to be alone on his last night alive but he doesn’t love her anymore than he loved Melanie Troy. She forgives him straight away and then it’s off to her teenager twin sized bed.
Dave Boy doesn’t have anyone in his life which might be as sad as Sandra falling for Alfred’s lines again. He spends what he thinks might be his last night alive drinking with Lucius and Aziz. Also have to feel bad for Lucius here, he doesn’t even know anyone in England. He doesn’t have anyone special to spend the night with. He’s just doing what he knows is right.
Martha and Thomas reconcile and Thomas does a much better marriage proposal this time. I have grown to like the two of them together even if Martha is way cooler than Thomas. After Martha falls asleep Thomas starts writing a letter to his mother. The show goes to some lengths to let us know how dangerous the characters think this mission is.
Bet and Peg also have their night before moment setting up a reunion of the whole crew. They use their captive Vicki to talk to Salt and get a car sent to pick them up. They’ve got a plan to save Gaunt and it seems much better than the A-Team’s plan. It should be noted that Katie is loving Bet holding a straight razor to Vicki’s throat here.
2. This Week’s Reverse Kidnapping
The idea behind this mission is simple. Thomas as CIA liaison gets them into Raven headquarters by offering the return of their missing scientist Lucius Fox. A reverse kidnapping if you will. Once inside they’ll steal Stormcloud. The plan isn’t more detailed than that and they have no exit strategy. Probably why none of them are filled with any confidence they’ll live through it.
They roll up all dressed like cliche CIA spooks driving in a big Lincoln convertible Kennedy style. At first I thought this was ridiculous, but it does end up paying off at the end of the episode. These “disguises” help them get in without any problems.
Once inside they’ve got a little elevator fight for us, but they leave the bodies in the elevator. Heist 101 says you’ve gotta hide the bodies. Once in the lab they take an awful long time to get Stormcloud. Thomas and Lucius both get little speeches, Lucius about how dangerous it is and Thomas about the US government not sanctioning their actions. I’m guessing the delays are to ramp up the suspense, but all it did was give me a moment to think through the rationale behind their plan. Yes, this might be the only vial of Stormcloud the Ravens have, but the Ravens made it. They know the recipe. They could make more even if it does take time. They still have all of England except for London. It’s not their last ditch effort. Another flaw in the plan: how is Thomas going to explain leaving with Lucius if they only came there to drop him off in the first place?
On their way out Salt discovers the bodies in the elevator and they are caught as we knew they would be. Alfred threatens to use Stormcloud as leverage to help them escape, but Salt is too smart for that. He knows Stormcloud would kill a lot of innocent people and knows Alfred would not want to be responsible for that.
Continued below3. Return of the Jedi
While in captivity Salt brings out Cyborg Dad and I’m reminded of another famous cyborg father that we thought was dead, but is really a villain. Salt (Emperor) wants to use Cyborg Dad (Vader) to turn Alfred (Luke) to the Ravens (Empire). Once this conversation happened I knew Alfred would see the good in his father and save him. Dad even has a breathing apparatus on his chest that looks like Vader’s. They don’t mirror much of the rest of the plot around Jedi like they did with Casablanca, but it would have been cool to see Bet and some Ewoks.
Once Alfred tells his father that mom would forgive him he’s back on the right side. The payoff of the convertible comes up here. Once they turn Dad back to the light side they’ve got plenty of room for him with the top down driving to freedom!
4. The Gang’s All Here
In parallel to the main mission we have Bet, Peggy, and Vicki there to free Gaunt. Their plan goes much smoother thanks to the hostage Vicki being well known around Raven headquarters. Once they have Gaunt they bump into Alfred and squad held in some cages and let them free. It’s great to see Bet and Alfred together again, but the reunion is short lived. Once they part ways Alfred’s crew gets caught. It’s almost immediate. Seems like the writers wanted to have their Return of the Jedi moment, but also wanted them to meet up with Bet and the only way to do that was to just have him get caught again nonsensically.
5. The Queen and Aziz
When Aziz thinks the squad is captured and London has no choice but to surrender he plans to get the Queen to Paris for safety. They have a moment in the hallway where they imply if circumstances were different they would have a relationship and then they share another kiss. Their relationship really feels out of nowhere, but I guess it’s no more surprising than the Queen sleeping with Alfred last season. I think it would be a scandal in the real world if the Queen was in a relationship with the Prime Minister. Seems like a bit of a conflict of interest.
With only one episode left there isn’t much to accomplish. Our heroes have Stormcloud, although I’m sure the Ravens could make more. Bet and Peg will soon have Salt which should allow Gaunt to take control of the Ravens. Thomas and Martha are together with little Bruce on the way. The last big thread is the reunification of England. Still not sure how Aziz and the Queen will pull that off, but we are bound to find out next week!
