The Bloody Mary

**The Bloody Mary** is the seventh episode of the second season of *Pennyworth* and the seventeenth episode of the series overall. It aired on Epix on March 21, 2021.

## Synopsis

*While Alfred prepares to depart England for good, Bet and Peggy Sykes set out to rescue their old friend Lord Harwood from imminent danger.*

## Plot

Alfred finds himself on the eve of his departure. He makes his final preparations, but an unexpected visit from Gulliver Troy complicates matters. Troy's presence is menacing and ominous, and Alfred suspects that his old SAS Captain finally knows that he is sleeping with his wife, Melanie. While Troy doesn't confront Alfred directly, he does end up cornering his wife, forcing her to tell him the truth. In answer, Gulliver violently beats his wife, and she fights back by stabbing him repeatedly with a broken piece of glass that leaves him wounded.

Melanie runs to Alfred, explaining what has just happened. Realizing that Gulliver now represents an awfully dangerous threat to the both of them, Alfred agrees to take Melanie with him to America, where they will be able to live happily as a couple, far away from her husband. However, once he, Melanie, Dave Boy and Mary are all about to embark on the plane, Alfred changes his mind. Just before departing, he realizes that London is his home and that he needs to stay and fight for it. Mary and Dave Boy both agree to stay with him, but Melanie still leaves, in order to be free of her abusive husband. Melanie and Alfred share a tearful goodbye, and he promises to visit her whenever he finally travels to America.

As it turns out, Alfred isn't the only one who ends up declining to leave London. Thomas Wayne and Lucius Fox are both set to depart on the very same plane. Lucius is adamant that their CIA superiors intervene to stop the Raven Union from unleashing their chemical weapon, Project Stormcloud, but the organization has no interest in letting the war go on any longer. They cite plausible deniability and agree to let the Union win. However, Lucius simply can't abide by that, and neither can Thomas.

The two agree to remain in London and, at the airport, Thomas reconnects with Alfred. The two bond over their willingness to fight for London and all three men travel to the English League's headquarters where they tell Prime Minister Aziz and Martha Kane all that they know about "Project Stormcloud." Everyone sees the horror in this weapon, and they are all determined to prevent it from being used.

Meanwhile, Lord Harwood now finds himself under house arrest at his family's estate. After he lost control and killed one of the Raven Union's soldiers, the army is determined to have him prosecuted. However, Colonel Salt , who is now at the head of the Union, is determined to keep all of this quiet for the time being. In truth, all he wants is to keep Harwood alive, so that he may use him as a scapegoat when "Project Stormcloud" is unleashed on London.

However, Salt's plan runs into a massive complication when one of Harwood's secretaries contacts Bet Sykes and her sister, Peggy . She informs them about Lord Harwood's situation, and the two women rapidly storm the estate in order to free him. Unfortunately, the army is simply too numerous, and they are unable to escape. But Harwood devises a plan: he agrees to surrender to Salt, which he will use to create a diversion to allow Bet and Peggy to escape.

Harwood despite being unhinged, knows exactly why Salt needs him alive, and that is why, when he surrenders to him and the army, he draws a weapon on them. The soldiers open fire, and Lord Harwood is shot repeatedly until he falls dead to the ground. His death temporary halts Salt's plan from using "Stormcloud right away, and Bet and her sister end up successfully escaping, with the mission to find and free Frances Gaunt, the one woman who could wrestle control of the Raven Union from Salt's treacherous hands.

## Cast

* Ben Aldridge as Thomas Wayne
* Emma Paetz as Martha Kane
* Hainsley Lloyd Bennett as Bazza
* Dorothy Atkinson as Mary Pennyworth
* Ian Puleston-Davies as Arthur Pennyworth
* Polly Walker as Peggy Sykes
* Ramon Tikaram as Inspector Victor Aziz
* Edward Hogg as Colonel John Salt
* Harriet Slater as Sandra Onslow
* Jessye Romeo as Katie Browning
* Paloma Faith as Bet Sykes
* Jason Flemyng as Lord James Harwood

Special Guest Star* James Purefoy as Captain Gulliver Troy

* Salóme R. Gunnarsdóttir as Patricia Wayne
* Jessica de Gouw as Melanie Troy
* Simon Manyonda as Lucius Fox

Co-Starring* Saikat Ahamed as Mr. Chadley
* Sally Tatum as Miss Dixon
* Gretchen Egolf as Dallas
* Tristram Wymark as General Nelson Thursday
* Simon Gregor as Mr Applebaum
* Avin Shah as Airport Clerk
* Christopher Brand as Soldier
* Sarah Elizabeth Cotton as TV Newsreader

## Trivia

* Thomas' observation, "You know, Alfred, I think this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship." is essentially the last line of *Casablanca* (1942).

## References

1. ↑ Pennyworth (EPIX 2020 Series) Season 2 Returns Tease - YouTube