The previous episode of “Pennyworth” ended with one of the biggest plot twists in the series’ history, one that surely had surprised the wits out of comic-book fans too. A disguised, seemingly sane Thomas Wayne murdered his father, Patrick Wayne, in an alley, a scene that reminded viewers of the infamous murder of the Waynes depicted in various adaptations, which served as the origin of Batman. Bet Sykes ensured Julie’s safety by sending her to Peggy, but she collapsed from her wounds, and her fate remains unknown. Alfie’s past catches up to him as Kahlpoor rebel leader Zahra Khin discovers his involvement with her father’s abduction and loathes him for it. Alfie decides to go to the Hebrides to break out Zahra’s father from a classified prison. The seventh episode of the series deals majorly with that and unearths a dark, repressed memory of Alfie.
Spoilers Ahead
‘Pennyworth: The Origin Of Batman’s Butler’ Season 3, Episode 7: Recap And Ending
The episode begins with a wide shot of the beautiful Hebrides archipelago of Scotland, where Alfie and Daveboy have been stationed. They searched for the location for two days but to no avail. As they are about to return to the village, Alfie catches a glimpse of a boy in the distance but loses his track. Even after returning to the village inn, Alfie is visibly shaken over the encounter, and as Daveboy tries to inquire about the incident, it is hinted that Alfred, in fact, met the boy earlier in his life. A local old man overhears their conversation and speculates whether the duo is searching for ‘the prison without walls. Alfred asks the old man about the whereabouts of the prison, who instructs them to follow the boy if they want to find the prison. The next morning, Alfie goes to the location where he last saw the boy and finds an entrance to a subterranean bunker, presumably the secret prison itself.
Meanwhile, Martha is contacted by a mysterious caller, who informs her about John Salt’s death and his involvement with the creation of an army of PWEs (People with Enhancements). He also mentions the army has confiscated Salt’s test subjects and lab, and the government is involved in the entire ordeal. Martha studies the file that the caller has left at their doorstep and verifies Salt’s death. Martha comes across the term level 7 in those files, which she mentions later to PM Aziz. She also informs the PM about the caller and the files. Initially pretending to be in the dark about the entire thing, Aziz later refuses to clarify the situation to Martha and asks her to investigate to uncover the caller’s identity instead.
Lucius Fox visits the inn at Hebrides and meets Daveboy. He reveals that a few years ago, the underground prison had a psychic barrier built in, something which feeds off people’s pain and makes them relive their worst fears and memories. Prisoners and people who steer too close to the barrier start hallucinating, lose the sense of reality and eventually end up losing their minds. No sooner than they prepare to go on a search for Alfie, some British guards arrive at the inn, presumably to capture them. It is hinted Daveboy, and Fox easily overpowered them and used them to gain safe access to the prison.
Elsewhere, Alfie enters the prison, and the psychic barrier continues to mess up his mind. He begins to have flashbacks of his SAS days. It is revealed that during war years, he had rescued a local kid from an enemy camp, and the boy eventually started to trust Alfie. Unable to return to his own camp or to leave the boy to his fate, Alfie decided to take him to the nearest village, which could have ensured the boy’s safe return to his home. The rest of the memory is cut short as Alfie finds himself confronted by a prison guard. However, he easily overpowers the guard and makes him lead the way to Zeya Khin, Zahra’s father.
Martha tries to reach out to Thomas but to no avail. After a brief discussion with Mrs.P, it is hinted that Martha starts suspecting whether Thomas was involved in his father’s murder. She tries to contact Thomas several times but ends up with the same result each time. A heartbroken Martha suspects the worst and bursts into tears.
After a bit of persuading, Zeya Khin finally agrees to move out of prison with Alfred, but he also warns about the psychological hold the prison has over its inmates and intruders. All of a sudden, Zeya tricks Alfred into giving him a firearm and corners him, as he has memorized the voice of his former abductor, which was Alfie himself. However, after Alfred manages to convince him that he is truly apologetic and repentant and he loves Zahra, his father trusts him. Their reconciliation is cut short as they are captured by the prison warden.
The sadistic warden ties Alfred to supposedly a torture machine and increases the load of psychic waves, which forces Alfred to relive the sordid past he was trying to escape from. Turns out, he went to the threshold of the village. The boy finally trusted Alfie enough to say that his name was Levan. After a bittersweet farewell, Alfie asked the boy to move on his own from that point; as a soldier, he was unable to go with him. Unfortunately, he had forgotten about the landmines which took the boy’s life. Alfie bursts into a fit of rage and finds out that, in the meantime, Daveboy and Lucius have managed to rescue them. As they prepare to leave the prison, the warden warns them that the psychic hold won’t allow their escape and will lobotomize them. Fox reveals that the core of the psychic barrier control is a metahuman or PWE, who can feed upon the pain of others. Alfie understands it was their own repressed guilt or feelings which made the prison one with no walls, and the person in the core tried to draw him closer to end his own miserable existence being a government pawn. Alfie goes to the base of the prison and removes the psychic’s connection with the amplifier. The psychic thanks him as he passes away.
The scene cuts back to London, where Zahra has reunited with her father, thanks to Alfie. Alfie and Zahra reconcile and kiss each other goodbye. Alfie is shown to carry the lucky coin of his father with him, something which he gave the kid Levan as a token of luck.
Thoughts
After the shocking ending of the sixth episode, the seventh one was emotionally heavy and almost felt detached from the rest of the season. Ghosts of the past continue to haunt Alfie. In season one, he lost his beloved Esme as the past haunted him, lost his father twice, and once again, it doesn’t seem he’ll ever be free of the burdens that entail painful memories. The episode also highlighted the brutality and sheer futility of war and how badly it affects the common people while the warmongers weave their glory banners. The hidden landmine disasters during and post-war took numerous innocent civilian lives throughout the world, and the show highlights the problem, which is commendable. PM Aziz, who so far seemed like a straight arrow in this season, might turn out to belong from the wrong side after all, as not only he had knowledge of Salt exploiting people to convert them into PWEs, but also the human psychic barrier which was installed under his government. Alfie managed to let go of the trauma after facing his fears, something which will be instrumental in the future as he’ll guides orphan Bruce. Hopefully, the next episode will highlight the fates of Thomas Wayne and Bet Sykes, both of whom are in dire situations mentally and physically, respectively! As this season draws closer to its end, each episode has started to get more exciting than the previous one.
See more: ‘Pennyworth: The Origin Of Batman’s Butler’ Season 3, Episode 6: Recap And Ending, Explained
