Another week, another Pennyworth. Do we get the titular Rose and Thorn? What is Alfred up to this week? Does he stop digging? Probably no on all accounts, but read on to find out. Remember spoilers ahead.
1. Is this Alfred’s rock bottom?
We start the episode with Alfred in bed with Melanie Troy. They are at a hotel and it’s implied this isn’t their first time together. Picking right up from last week we are given some good opportunity for Alfred to be terrible. He tells Mrs. Troy that he likes her because she doesn’t love him and have dreams about a happy life together. Pennyworth clearly wants to keep it casual, but then does his best to string her along with his line “I’d find it hard to say no.” Really abhorrent behavior here, Alfie.
Alfred brings the money from the wrestling robbery to Wayne to secure passage to America, bribes and all. Wayne admits he hoped Alfred would take a job from him to get the money and offers Alfred the job anyway. Alfred, despite being self serving, isn’t an idiot and tells Wayne he’d never work for him or anyone ever again. Little bit of foreshadowing never hurt anyone right?
After handling his travel arrangements, Alfred finally steps up to tell Sandra that he’s leaving. He’s been using this poor girl since episode five of last season. He even tries to give her some money for her time. The show plays it as a sad moment, but it’s less of a heart-wrenching break-up between them and more of Sandra coming to the realization we’ve known for a long time. Alfred is a fuckboy.
Later the Queen and Aziz pay Alfred a visit and do a better job convincing Alfred to take the job. It takes them a battalion of soldiers and a threat to expose his affair, but they get it done. Alfred’s job: extract Lucius Fox. Alfred gives Mrs. Troy the heads up that Mr. Troy may know about the affair and to get out. Thanks for the heads up, Alfred.
Dave Boy and Martha assist him on the job and once again it goes wrong. Not sure why he keeps getting hired for these jobs when they all turn into bloodbaths. Martha points out she can tell Bazza’s death has hit them both hard. Are they going to let Alfred’s bad behavior slide because his friend died? His friend only died because of his selfish quest to get to America. He was doing some pretty terrible things before Bazza died too. They do manage to successfully extract Lucius and only kill four people in the process.
Alfred wraps up this week back at the bar. Tensions are high between him and Dave Boy who has been dragged along quite a bit these two seasons. Then Alfred gets a good punch in the face from Sandra’s dad before ending with his mom. Is her forgiveness what he needs to turn it around? She agrees to come to America with him on the condition there are no more guns and violence. Oh and she wants grandchildren. And no bears or wolves or snakes. Does Gotham have much wildlife? We’ll see if he can keep this promise.
2. Kidnapping of the week
Some shows have freak of the week or monster of the week, Pennyworth gets kidnapping of the week. Thomas wants to extract Lucius Fox and since he couldn’t convince Alfred to take the job himself he brings it to Aziz. At first Aziz isn’t interested in helping, the CIA is backing the Ravens after all. But Thomas offers a personal favor to the Prime Minister. He suggests Alfred handle the kidnapping since it’s his speciality, but again they always end bad.
Once they get Lucius out of Raven control he reports back to Thomas on what he has seen. Lucius is smart and pegs Wayne for exactly what he is: rich boy with a new job. Lucius is seriously concerned about Stormcloud and the Raven’s willingness to use it. He tells Wayne it can kill everyone in London with a device the size of a lighter, the victims die of terror, and they will be ready to deploy within the week. Not sure if this is a Scarecrow reference or not, but it sounds terrible. Lucius wants to go straight to the top, bring in the President. Wayne tries to play it cool, but Fox isn’t having it. “If our government doesn’t act I damn sure will.” Is Fox the new hero of the show? With no Bet this week, we need someone we can cheer for.
Continued below3. Puking is writer’s shorthand for pregnant
Martha starts the episode puking and I rolled my eyes in response. It’s confirmed at the end of the episode by Thomas’s sister. She’s got the pregnant glow apparently. Are the writers going to tease the Bruce reveal for the rest of the season? Will we get a fake out and it isn’t Bruce? Martha even says that she doesn’t want to know if it’s a boy or a girl. What will Thomas say? Is it going to be a shotgun wedding? This fell really flat for me.
4. Ripper Vs. Crowley? Winner Aziz
The favor Aziz asks Wayne for? To sew discord between John Ripper and Aleister Crowley. Which Aziz continues in his own way by mailing a fly taped to a pentagram to Ripper. It’s a major power play here which harkens back to the Aziz of last season. We had almost started to think this Aziz really wants the best for England and believed in the speech he gave about the liberal virtues of love and compassion. Apparently not. He’s just as power hungry as the rest of them. I would applaud the consistent characterization, but I think the show is sorely lacking in heroism. I enjoy heroes in my superhero shows.
The confrontation between Ripper and Crowley is fun though. We see Crowley get ready for what looks like a fancy night out on the town. Complete with lipstick and drinking quite a bit of what at first I thought looked like cologne. It was not, dear reader. Ripper rolls up with his driver, picks up Crowley, and throws a dog out the car window. This brings me to my next incorrect assumption: these two are much too smart to be tricked by Aziz. Nope, we need to amp up the drama. Despite Ripper being sure he has the upper hand a quick Poison Ivy style kiss from Crowley makes short work of our weird cannibal. The next we see of Ripper is him digging himself out of a shallow grave which we realize is a hallucination. Another Scarecrow reference? Looks like Mr. Crane has no original ideas, it was all done before he was born.
5. The Fall of Harwood
Salt’s scheming pays off in a big way this week. His ambitions were much bigger than just get close and control Harwood like Wormtongue. He wants to be in charge, this way no one can stop him unleashing Stormcloud. It’s an interesting coincidence that this episode airs during a week where a portion of the country is having a conversation about the English Royal Family. We see Salt’s interest in the title and status of British nobility. He uses his influence on Harwood to elevate his status and teardown a soldier of higher rank in society. That it also helps finish bringing down Harwood is probably icing on the cake for Salt. It’s also made much clearer that the medicine Salt has been giving Harwood is part of the way he’s being controlled. Bringing out his worst fears perhaps? Certainly making him paranoid. After poisoning him against Gaunt, the new Baron Salt uses Harwood’s paranoia to push him over the edge and murder a soldier. Harwood is taken away and confined to his quarters.
Will Gaunt and Harwood reunite to defeat Salt and stop the launch of Stormcloud? Will it be Lucius who saves the day? Will Alfred’s redemption last and he’ll save the day? And where was Bet this week? Maybe she got the happy ending she deserved. Next week: “The Bloody Mary.”
