WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Season 2, Episode 8, of Pennyworth, “The Hangman’s Noose,” which aired Sunday on EPIX.
In last week’s episode of Pennyworth, Gulliver Troy (James Purefoy) finally learned that his wife Melanie (Jessica de Gouw) and Alfred (Jack Bannon) were having an affair. The two men didn’t face-off, but Alfred took Melanie on a plane departing for America so she could leave forever. While he was supposed to go on the plane with her, he decided to stay in England and take part in the war for London between the English League and the Raven Union.
Now, in “The Hangman’s Noose,” the war is close to reaching its end. Following the funeral of Lord Harwood (Jason Flemyng), the leaders of the Union League and the Raven Society agree to meet for peace talks. However, these negotiations don’t exactly go as planned. While Prime Minister Aziz (Ramon Tikaram), the Queen (Jessica Ellerby) and the rest of the League anticipate a fair discussion, the Union’s power-mad new leader, John Salt (Edward Hogg) gives the League an ultimatum: he wants their full and unconditional surrender, or else he will unleash his “Stormcloud” weapon on the citizens of London.
The League doesn’t believe the Raven Union council will approve of the use of such a horrific weapon but, as the episode comes to a close, Salt organizes a vote, and every member gives their approval for “Stormcloud” to be used. Worse still, one of the council members is revealed to be Alfred Pennyworth’s father, who is being kept alive thanks to advanced medical equipment.
Elsewhere in the episode, Martha (Emma Paetz) finally announces to Thomas (Ben Aldridge) that she’s pregnant. The CIA agent is caught by surprise, but he quickly realizes that it’s good news. For a moment, it all seems like everything will be fine between the two characters — that is, until Thomas insists that they get married, which once again causes them to be at odds with one another. As for Bet Sykes (Paloma Faith), she and her sister Peggy (Polly Walker) kidnap Salt’s girlfriend in an attempt to get back at him for the death of Lord Harwood.
As tensions between the Union and the League continue to rise, Alfred is stuck dealing with a personal matter. Now that he has chosen to stay in London, he must face Gulliver Troy. After growing tired of waiting for his old SAS Captain to find him, Alfred goes to him. In Troy’s house, Alfred falls into a trap when he is cornered by the last two members of Troy’s crew of thieves. In order to get even, Troy takes Alfred into the woods. After stabbing him in the chest, he gives Alfred a knife and a five-minute head start, after which he will start hunting for him. Alfred begs his old friend to talk things through, but Troy isn’t exactly someone to be reasoned with. With no other option, Alfred starts running through the forest, knowing full well he doesn’t stand much of a chance.
Fortunately, Alfred’s loss of blood leads him to hallucinate the ghost of his old friend Bazza (Hainsley Lloyd Bennett). Their talk convinces Alfred to save his energy and to better plan for Troy’s arrival. When Troy finally finds up to him, Alfred catches him off guard, and the two end up in a lethal knife fight. Alfred finally puts an end to the battle by springing a trap he built during the head start Troy gave him.
But while Troy expects his opponent to finish him off, Alfred decides to spare his life and leaves him in the forest. Dave Boy (Ryan Fletcher) and Mary Pennyworth (Dorothy Atkinson) then track Alfred down and save him, and at the very moment, Alfred comes to the realization he’s ready to stand for something and fight for what he believes in.
Developed by former Gotham collaborators Bruno Heller and Danny Cannon, Pennyworth stars Jack Bannon as Alfred Pennyworth, Ben Aldridge as Thomas Wayne, Jason Flemyng as Lord Harwood, Paloma Faith as Bet Sykes, Ryan Fletcher as Dave Boy, Hainsley Lloyd Bennett as Bazza, Jessica Ellerby as the Queen and Simon Manyonda as Lucius Fox.
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