Okay, there's not much 2020 style in the 'Pennyworth' Britain. Although I don't recall male barely-clad male cancan dancers. Oh, well, its 2020 in the real world.
The episode is One Year Later. The Raven Union and the No-Name League have divided up Britain, but the Union is winning and the League has retreated to a few small enclaves. London is apparently a Casablanca-like neutral zone, and Alfred now owns a night club there. From which he runs his "security firm", so Alfred can make enough money to get him, his mates, and his mother to America.
Martha is still working for the League, doing undercover work. Thomas is still a CIA observer, since American is remaining neutral in the civil war. Bet Sykes is doing... something for the Union. A prison matron at one of their detention center, but she goes berserk, kills her superior, and help prisoner Katie Browning escape. More as an aftereffect of Bet killing her superior when he dismissed her as the hired help, and because Bet was interested in Katie's art, then any kind-heartedness.
Alfred's father is still dead after Alfred killed him at the end of season 1, and neither Alfred nor his mother Mary are is happy about it. Alfred also appears to have his club singer, Sandra, as his new girlfriend but not much is made of their relationship in the premiere episode of season 2. Inspector Aziz is working with Martha, Lord Harwood is only seen on news footage, and Alfred's friends Bazza and Dave Boy are still working with Alfred.
There's a another new character, Colonel John Salt (Edward Hogg), who seems to be the focus of the Union's development of a poison gas that kills quickly and "humanely", and Martha hires Alfred and his mates to abduct John. But Alfred takes money to abduct John for the League, he then apparently takes more money to have a former commander--I think--abduct John back for the Union.
We also get Mr. Pennyworth showing up in on of Alfred's dreams. In case you thought actor Ian Puleston-Davies was gone for good after his character dying last year.
Got all that? Good, because it's all dropped on the viewers in media res. Thank goodness (say the production staff) for "One Year Later" jumps. They can drop a bunch of whole things on the audience and either explain, explain down the road, or not explain at all, as they see fit. Which avoids characters telling each other what they presumably already know, so the production staff can catch up the viewers. But it can get very confusing to the viewers, who are mostly wondering what is going on. It's an... interesting choice, for the second season premiere of the show.
My description above is an approximation: take it as you will and no doubt some readers will dispute some of my decipherings/interpretations. I _think_ that's what going on. There's lot of little bits: the Queen apparently has a thing for Alfred (after he saved her in last year's finale) but he's avoiding her. Alfred is playing both sides against the middle, Rick Blaine/"Casablanca" style, but his heart seems to be with the League. Or maybe not, since he stole John back from them after giving him to them.
The chemistry between the cast is still amusing. Alfred, Bazza, and Dave Boy have a good rapport going, and Ramon Tikaram, who plays Aziz, gets boosted to main star status and has a bit more of a relationship with both Alfred and Martha. We also get Thomas and Martha, since Thomas pays a visit to his old girlfriend. And Alfred and Mary, who have an... interesting mother-and-son relationship going. What with Alfred killing his father and all.
Basically, all of the cast is still good. Jack Bannon as Alfred is still a weird mix of hard man to the outside world, and devoted son to his mother. We get charming club owner now tossed on that. Paloma Faith as Bet is still playing the rather kooky semi-psychotic henchwoman.
I hate to judge the season 2 premiere too much, since it's a work in progress. It's like most "One Year Later" episodes of other series we've seen, where the production staff is more interested in wowing the audience with all the changes, _and_ setting up the story arcs to come. Rather than explaining what the heck has come before. The focus is primarily on Alfred and Bet, we'll see if anyone else (like Katie, who appears to be partnered with Bet for the foreseeable future) gets more development.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?
The episode is One Year Later. The Raven Union and the No-Name League have divided up Britain, but the Union is winning and the League has retreated to a few small enclaves. London is apparently a Casablanca-like neutral zone, and Alfred now owns a night club there. From which he runs his "security firm", so Alfred can make enough money to get him, his mates, and his mother to America.
Martha is still working for the League, doing undercover work. Thomas is still a CIA observer, since American is remaining neutral in the civil war. Bet Sykes is doing... something for the Union. A prison matron at one of their detention center, but she goes berserk, kills her superior, and help prisoner Katie Browning escape. More as an aftereffect of Bet killing her superior when he dismissed her as the hired help, and because Bet was interested in Katie's art, then any kind-heartedness.
Alfred's father is still dead after Alfred killed him at the end of season 1, and neither Alfred nor his mother Mary are is happy about it. Alfred also appears to have his club singer, Sandra, as his new girlfriend but not much is made of their relationship in the premiere episode of season 2. Inspector Aziz is working with Martha, Lord Harwood is only seen on news footage, and Alfred's friends Bazza and Dave Boy are still working with Alfred.
There's a another new character, Colonel John Salt (Edward Hogg), who seems to be the focus of the Union's development of a poison gas that kills quickly and "humanely", and Martha hires Alfred and his mates to abduct John. But Alfred takes money to abduct John for the League, he then apparently takes more money to have a former commander--I think--abduct John back for the Union.
We also get Mr. Pennyworth showing up in on of Alfred's dreams. In case you thought actor Ian Puleston-Davies was gone for good after his character dying last year.
Got all that? Good, because it's all dropped on the viewers in media res. Thank goodness (say the production staff) for "One Year Later" jumps. They can drop a bunch of whole things on the audience and either explain, explain down the road, or not explain at all, as they see fit. Which avoids characters telling each other what they presumably already know, so the production staff can catch up the viewers. But it can get very confusing to the viewers, who are mostly wondering what is going on. It's an... interesting choice, for the second season premiere of the show.
My description above is an approximation: take it as you will and no doubt some readers will dispute some of my decipherings/interpretations. I _think_ that's what going on. There's lot of little bits: the Queen apparently has a thing for Alfred (after he saved her in last year's finale) but he's avoiding her. Alfred is playing both sides against the middle, Rick Blaine/"Casablanca" style, but his heart seems to be with the League. Or maybe not, since he stole John back from them after giving him to them.
The chemistry between the cast is still amusing. Alfred, Bazza, and Dave Boy have a good rapport going, and Ramon Tikaram, who plays Aziz, gets boosted to main star status and has a bit more of a relationship with both Alfred and Martha. We also get Thomas and Martha, since Thomas pays a visit to his old girlfriend. And Alfred and Mary, who have an... interesting mother-and-son relationship going. What with Alfred killing his father and all.
Basically, all of the cast is still good. Jack Bannon as Alfred is still a weird mix of hard man to the outside world, and devoted son to his mother. We get charming club owner now tossed on that. Paloma Faith as Bet is still playing the rather kooky semi-psychotic henchwoman.
I hate to judge the season 2 premiere too much, since it's a work in progress. It's like most "One Year Later" episodes of other series we've seen, where the production staff is more interested in wowing the audience with all the changes, _and_ setting up the story arcs to come. Rather than explaining what the heck has come before. The focus is primarily on Alfred and Bet, we'll see if anyone else (like Katie, who appears to be partnered with Bet for the foreseeable future) gets more development.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?
