Pennyworth – Season 1 Episode 8 Recap & Review

Lord Harwood’s Return

Back for another week, Pennyworth returns for a conclusive chapter to the Curzon saga, leaving things on a tantalizing note ready for next week’s episode. With more drama and some surprisingly good chemistry between Alfred and Bet, Pennyworth continues to deliver good drama with its latest episode.

We begin with Bet and Alfred sitting down to an awkward cup of tea in a local cafe. He asks why she’s still alive but instead she turns the conversation to Captain Curzon. As they begin investigating, Alfred finds out the police knew the description of the man beforehand, sending him on a mission to find out what they know.

Meanwhile the No-Name League deliberate over why the Raven Society are holding a rally and whether to act on this. The news spreads across to the pub too, where a fight breaks out, reduced to background noise as Alfred tells Bazza and Dave Boy about what he’s found out. This leads him to Inspector Aziz whom he threatens, before he reveals to Alfred that a Lord behind the cover-up. Alfred gives him 24 hours to come up with some information and disappears out the room, letting the man breathe a sigh of relief.

Aziz goes straight to the Lords he’s working with and tells them what’s happening with Alfred. He warns them they’re dealing with a dangerous ex-SAS agent and they vow to work together to bring Alfred down.

Meanwhile Martha visits Thomas who’s clearly rattled from what’s happened before and she asks what the No-Name League are going to do about the Raven Society. He tells her they’ll hold back for now but she doesn’t agree; she tells him it would be a mistake and that they should act sooner rather than later. It’s here she steers the conversation across to Crowley, asking Thomas about the devil. He refuses to believe what he saw, brushing it off as Crowley simply being a spooky guy.

Alfred receives an anonymous call on the day of the rally, telling him that Curzon has been gift-wrapped for him. As he heads out, gun hidden in his jacket pocket, the Raven Society prepare for their big rally. Alfred makes his way to an ominous, abandoned warehouse and heads inside where he finds Curzon and a woman blindfolded and tied up.

After speaking to Curzon, he calls out Inspector Aziz, knowing he’s walked into a trap. Confidently, he tells Aziz he doesn’t care anymore and assesses that he can kill Curzon and two men before being killed himself. As he counts down from three, the Inspector tells him he has no choice and drip feeds some vital information about who he’s working for. Just as things look set to kick off, Bet arrives and holds Aziz up at knifepoint, turning the tide of the conflict. It’s here she learns the woman with Curzon is his Nanny but as she looks set to torture him Alfred tells her to back off. He steps forward and kills both Curzon and his Nanny while Aziz tells him this will cause trouble for him in the near future as he walks away.

At the rally, Frances announces her formal resignation as Leader, introducing Lord Harwood instead who steps forward, much to the disbelief and horror of everyone involved in trying to silence him. Before he can deliver his speech however, the Prime Minister calls in the heavy artillery; horse-back guards arrive and begin dispersing the crowds with violence. As they aproach Harwood on the stand he defiantly stands his ground and shouts “no” into the microphone, a booming word that reverberates across the field and stops the guards in their tracks. It’s a small act, but one that sends ripples across the political landscape as it makes headline news and only further solidifies his place as the Raven Society leader.

As he and Frances dance over their victory back at their headquarters, Alfred visits Esme’s grave and tells her what he’s done, as guards surround him and prepare to arrest him.

Once again Pennyworth continues to deliver with another action-packed episode. The duo of Bet and Alfred work surprisingly well together on screen too, with a good chemistry that allows their scenes to really shine. It’s something this episode does particularly well too, while the reveal of Lord Harwood again in the public eye is a satisfying moment, one that shakes up the conflict between the No-Name League and Raven Society and leaves things wide open for the two episodes left in this season.

Quite what these episodes have in store for us remains to be seen but for now, Pennyworth continues to deliver the goods in its latest episode.