After gushing through metahuman shenanigans, high-stakes espionage, several prison breaks, and a mind-controlling weaponized drug plot with ample drama, comedy, and shocking twists, season three of “Pennyworth” comes to an end with its tenth episode. The season saw a distant Alfie coming to terms with new changes, shouldering responsibilities, facing ghosts of his past, and emerging as a better human being—all the while saving the day with his natural suave. Delving into the metahuman plot gave the season a scope to connect with the larger Batman mythos, just as the newly added subtitle “The Origin of Batman’s Butler” suggested. While characters like Mary Pennyworth, Daveboy, and Lucius Fox were given substantial roles in this season’s overall plot progression, that of fan-favorite Bet Sykes left fans wishing for more. The lead-up to the finale had the deliberate leakage of psychokinetic lullaby drugs into the milk supply acting as a pivot, with the PWE (people with enhancements) crisis bringing the three leads—Alfie, Martha, and Thomas—together to once again save the country from imminent peril.
Spoilers Ahead
‘Pennyworth: The Origin Of Batman’s Butler’ Season 3, Episode 10: Recap And Ending
The episode begins with a sequence of Alfie running with Sandra as they are being chased by a horde of lullaby-controlled masses. The next scene moves back to hours earlier, where we see Chadley receiving his daily supply of milk from the same company where Fuchs spiked the milk with a lullaby, hinting a major portion of the London population has already ingested it. Luckily for Chadley, though, a phone call from Lucius and his own sloppiness caused the milk bottle to fall and shatter. Imprisoned, Lucius, accompanied by Bets, has managed to create a makeshift telephone and calls Alfie’s security office to make them aware of the alarming situation on level seven. Chadley calls Wayne House to get Alfie on the line, as in the previous episode, we saw Alfie being busy rescuing Wayne’s household from the rogue CIA agent Virginia Devereaux. After Martha learns of Lucius’ warning, she notifies PM Aziz of the recent developments. Aziz, in a roundabout way, gives Martha permission to break into the facility. Unfortunately for Aziz, he takes a sip from the tea infused with lullaby-spiked mixed milk.
After getting Aziz’s approval, Martha decides to take Alfie along with her to rescue Fox. However, Thomas is not too thrilled with this proposition, as their family has just averted a great crisis, and he is in no way willing to let Martha risk her life again. After a brief argument and another bout of the blame game, Martha makes him realize that it’s partly because of her that Lucius is in trouble and that it’s her responsibility as a friend to try to help him in his time of need. Alfie agrees to undertake the mission without taking a dime, as Lucius is also his friend. They go to the MI5 hideout, and Alfie uses the guard to gain security clearance to level seven. Reaching the facility, they quite easily overpowered General Thursday’s personal troops and then held him hostage to ensure their safe escape from the facility. The duo rescues Bet Sykes and Fox. Subsequently, feeling a sense of responsibility due to his involvement and witnessing earlier the kind of tortures PWE had to go through, Fox decides to bring the captive PWEs along to the surface world. Before leaving with the team, he ensures Thursday and his military troops don’t get to leave the facility soon by ensuring the destruction of the elevator and the airlock system upon reaching the surface and setting the cell lock on a timer that will enable self-destruct protocol if opened forcibly. As they leave the hideout, it is revealed that lullaby has already taken hold of the city; cases of mass psychosis are rampant as infected people in a state of trance are massacring each other. Amidst this chaos, Alfie hears the familiar song “Candlesticks and Caravans,” which at once reminds him of Sandra, and he rushes to rescue her. The rest of the team, except Martha, heads towards Queen Anne’s.
Meanwhile, Daveboy and Sally track down Francis Fuchs and hold him accountable for the citywide anarchy. Fuchs has absolutely no realization of the severity of his actions and continues his pretentious, high-minded philosophical rubbish when his cult of followers (the ones wearing Guy Fawkes masks) appears. The looney mob beats Fuchs to death as Daveboy and Sally take refuge in Alfie’s bar/security office, Queen Anne’s. Alfie manages to enter Sandra’s penthouse but finds her unwilling to leave with him, as his callous attitude has bittered her to the point that she no longer trusts him. However, a couple of Sandra’s lullaby-induced fans break into the penthouse and are quickly dispatched by Alfie. Despite having her reservations, Sandra joins Alfie, and the scene cuts to the first sequence of the episode as they are being chased by the crazed mob.
Martha returns to Wayne House after successfully rescuing the PWEs, Bet, and Fox. Her housemaid Gladys, unfortunately, got infected by the lullaby, but she has been restrained as Thomas is already familiar with the drug, having had first-hand experience with it himself. With the city plunging into chaos, they decide to take a break from the entirety of it and leave London for a few days as a family, but they are unsure about the means of doing so. The couple finally reconciles after half a season’s worth of turbulence.
After the timer ends, General Thursday and his troops still remain entrapped in level seven. Suspecting this to be PM Aziz’s handiwork, Thursday calls him to chastise him but instead, he gets threatened by lullaby-infected Aziz. Another call to the PM’s office results in a similar response, and Thursday mistakenly concludes that Aziz is attempting a coup to become a dictator himself by removing the army chief. Elsewhere, at Queen Anne’s, Alfie and his companions meet and try to fend off the crazed mob. Bet reunites with her elder sisters, Peggy and Julie, and has her moment of closure. Sensing Sandra’s hurt due to his negligence and his promise to Mrs.P and Daveboy to become responsible father, Alfie proposes to Sandra in public. The entire group, along with Roger and his pooch, leave London in a red double-decker bus and pick up the Waynes en route. The episode title comes into play as they indeed arrange a Highland wedding for Alfred Pennyworth and Sandra Onslow, with Lucius playing the role of officiator. However, before they could finish their vows, they saw an explosion in the city from afar, as Thursday had ordered an airstrike on Downing Street (the PM’s office). The season ends, leaving confusion and panic on everyone’s faces.
Thoughts
After a topsy-turvy ride through ten episodes, “Pennyworth” ended with a brilliant cliffhanger, leaving the fate of the nation in question. There is a particular sequence in the season three finale where the hulking PWE, Kevin, performs to Gloria Gaynor’s soul track “I Will Survive” at Queen Anne’s, giving the present audience a sense of respite amidst the chaos brewing outside. Although it may feel out of place at first, the sequence actually perfectly captures the essence of the series and is a commentary in the sense that it showcases the series’ uniqueness and its strange likeability. Something which has been generated from the showrunner handling a bunch of important themes, cast performance, and at times whimsical tone. Nowadays, when comic-book literature is one of the most adapted mediums on the small screen, despite not being associated with the larger DC universe, “Pennyworth” holds its ground firmly in the way it takes liberties with the source material, making the characters grounded and the settings feel believable as a form of alternate history. The newer facets the audience gets to see of the familiar characters like Lucius, Alfie, Thomas, and Martha, along with interesting series originals like Daveboy and Bet Sykes, allow the series to move free of the usual trappings generally associated with comic-book adaptations. Also, exploring a number of subgenres in this season contributed to its unique storytelling. After the Warner Brothers and Discovery merger, lots of DC content saw the ax in the process of cost-cutting, and much like previous seasons, we are not sure whether “Pennyworth” will be renewed for a fourth season or not. Showrunners Bruno Heller and Danny Cannon wished to continue the series up to the pivotal moment of the murder of the Waynes and Alfie becoming Bruce’s guardian. If not for the nth time replay of the most infamous murder sequence, we will surely wish for the show’s survival and see Alfie growing into the role most fans are familiar and in love with, guardian of the Dark Knight.
See more: ‘Pennyworth: The Origin Of Batman’s Butler’ Season 3, Episode 9: Recap And Ending, Explained
