The penultimate episode of “Pennyworth” had to tie in a number of subplots that had been unfolded this season into the main storyline. Up to this point, three series leads, Alfred Pennyworth, Thomas, and Martha Wayne, have found themselves entangled in a cross-continental conspiracy regarding a psychokinetic drug named lullaby. Lucius Fox gets involved in the PWE (Persons with Enhancements) crisis, and in the previous episode, we saw him taking on the responsibility of rescuing them from governmental control. Thomas hasn’t returned Martha’s calls after being involved in the murder of his father, Patrick Wayne, in Gotham. After Gully Troy’s heroic sacrifice and getting advised by Daveboy, Alfie finds himself confident and responsible enough to accept his role as a father by asking Sandra to marry him. Bet Sykes had managed to kill John Salt, but in the process, she got severely injured, which made her future uncertain. Also, in the last episode, we saw Sally Prufrock and Patricia Wayne getting surrounded by a mind-controlled mob that was drugged by Francis Fuchs. Overall, this season has found itself gravitating more towards Bruce Wayne’s, aka Batman’s, role while retaining its uniqueness.
Spoilers Ahead
‘Pennyworth: The Origin Of Batman’s Butler’ Season 3, Episode 9: Recap And Ending
The episode starts exactly where the previous one left off. Alfie knocks at Sandra’s penthouse to ask her to marry, which Sandra refuses. Clueless, Alfie wonders what might be the reason, and Sandra exposes his insincerity then and there. Sandra states her wish to raise the child on her own without Alfie’s involvement. Alfie is dumbfounded, and even then, he manages to say all the wrong things, like he is doing this out of a sense of responsibility and not because he wants it. Sandra throws him out of the apartment and slams the door right in Alfie’s face.
Thomas finally returns to the Wayne house in London and reunites with his family. His meeting with his daughter Samantha is cut short when Martha entrusts her to Mrs. P and sends them both to the park in order to have a proper conversation with each other. Confirming Martha’s suspicion and to Martha’s and, at the same time, viewers’ utter shock, Thomas reveals that he indeed murdered his father to protect their family. Both of them argue about how irresponsibility has worked its way through both of their lives. Thomas’ senseless actions could have hurt the family, similar to how Martha’s life as an MI5 agent put their family at risk. Suddenly, Mrs. P enters the room and greets Thomas anew. They quickly realize that they have sent Samantha off with someone who only looks like Mrs. P. Soon enough, the doppelganger of Mrs. P calls them and asks for a hundred thousand dollars as ransom, also warning against calling the cops. Thomas arranges the amount while Martha informs Alfie about the situation, which assures both of them of Samantha’s safe return. The doppelganger instructs them to meet in Hyde Park.
Elsewhere, Sally Prufrock seeks out Daveboy to ask for help, who is handling the recent break “neat.” Visiting her home, where the murder of Dr. Glubb took place, they learn the drugs were inserted by spiking their beverages. They rescue a traumatized Patricia, who reveals that Francis Fuchs plans to infect the entire population of London with the drug. Patricia also bids them farewell as she prepares to leave the city. Daveboy deduces the drug used by Francis is the lullaby drug that led Jessica Thistle to go into a tranced mass murderer state in the first place. During their conversation, he and Sally reconcile, and they make love. After waking up, they are greeted by Peg Sykes, with all three of them inside Alfie’s security agency office. Peggy is accompanied by the infant Julie as she asks them about Bet’s whereabouts, of which they have no clue.
Lucius Fox enters level 07 to assist the PWEs and witnesses the first PWE of this season, the mechanically armed man, being shot to death by the armed forces. He goes past multiple PWE cells and meets a PWE named Cecilia, for whom he has developed feelings. Unable to open the locks with an encryptor, he assures her that he will free all of them soon and keeps progressing. As General Thursday, the director of the place, moves from his surveillance office to respond to PM Aziz’s call, Fox sneaks inside. PM asked Thursday to cease their operations in level 07 and for full access to be given to him, which the general refused on the ground of having no proof of illegal conduct on the site. Once again, Fox had to witness another gruesome PWE death as the scientists of the facility burned one right down to his bone while experimenting on them. Fox opens some facility doors from the room but is unable to find Cecilia, even though her cell is unlocked. Most unexpectedly, however, Bet Sykes returns and kills all the scientists and a few henchmen. She reveals that as the military seized Salt’s operation, they started experimenting with people to give them enhanced powers and use them as the government’s stooges. Bet and Fox prepare to lead the rescue when they are confronted by General Nelson.
Meanwhile, Martha and Thomas Wayne go to Hyde Park and are given the instruction to “confess.” Anxious and worried to death for her daughter, Thomas keeps confessing his actions in Gotham. Alfie gets captured from his lookout point and deduces that the doppelganger must have had a sour history with Waynes and is now seeking revenge. Alfie is knocked unconscious by the abductors, and the same thing happens with Martha and Thomas Wayne after a while. Upon waking up, they find themselves tied in the Wayne house, with Alfie and Mrs. P tied in the basement. The doppelganger is revealed to be Virginia Devereaux, the disgraced CIA officer. She reveals not only did her botch up in Wayne’s incident cost her performance, reputation, and rank, but also Thomas murdering his father left her without their biggest asset. She had to allow the CIA to experiment on her in order to stay inside the organization, and she became a shapeshifter PWE. To take revenge, Virginia asks Thomas to do what he was supposed to do a long time ago, i.e., kill Martha. Thomas stalls Virginia long enough to catch her off guard, and a brief fight ensues. Alfie manages to free himself by using Samantha’s hair clip and overpowers the guard. Just as Virginia pins Thomas down to kill him, Alfie reaches the scene and warns him. However, as she once again tries to negotiate her way out, she is shot to death by Martha. After all, is said and done, Mrs. P is overjoyed at the news of Alfie becoming a parent and advises him to take a more sincere approach to apprehending Sandra. The episode ends with Francis Fuchs spiking daily milk dressed as a milkman, and the supply gets spread out quickly.
Thoughts
With a tight plotline, nice action, and great pacing, this episode was almost everything fans could have asked for. There are a few hiccups, though, like how Bet Sykes’ side of the story felt a bit rushed. PWEs are rampant as both the CIA and the British army are exploiting humans to create super-powered individuals to be used in modern warfare. Both Thomas and Martha turn out to be killers, which is extremely unprecedented across any media, even given the validation of their reason for protecting their family. PM Aziz is indeed a good leader, as he had no idea about the PWE’s exploitation but tried to control the situation nonetheless. It remains to be seen how Alfie manages to stop Fuchs from carrying out the plan, as no one has the slightest idea how the contamination will happen.
See more: ‘Pennyworth: The Origin Of Batman’s Butler’ Season 3, Episode 8: Recap And Ending, Explained
