‘Pennyworth’ Series Premiere Review: A Noble Gentleman

Fresh out of the English Air Service, a young man dreams of independence. However, not everyone shares his same views. As Pennyworth tries to start a business on his terms, a series of events lands him to a profession he thought he left behind. Forced back into the life of violence, he strives hard to keep his loved ones safe.

On the series premiere of Pennyworth, Alfred Pennyworth (Jack Bannon) concludes his Military Career. Eager to start a security service, Alfred tirelessly works to save enough for capital. However, his life changes when he meets Thomas Wayne (Ben Aldridge). When Alfred’s relationship with Esmé Winikus (Emma Corrin) seemingly ends, Thomas’ enemies come after him, too.

Alfie

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Alfred’s character takes inspiration from his various comic book as well as live-action incarnations. In this case, he retains the military background. Also, the show hints at him having an acting affiliation, since his girlfriend, Esmé, is a dancer/up-and-coming actress. His father (Ian Puleston-Davies), although not named ‘Jarvis’ like in the comics, is a butler. At some point in the episode, Alfred denies the prospect of becoming a butler, much to his father’s dismay.

It does seem as if the show wishes to focus on Alfred’s military career. Characters such as Wallace ‘Dave Boy’ MacDougal (Ryan Fetcher) and Deon ‘Bazza’ Bashford (Hainsley Lloyd Bennett) come from Alfred’s military life. When Alfred rescues Esmé, the duo covers for their friend. Also. Alfred shows exceptional combat skills, both in hand-to-hand and armed conflict. Alfred has a 007 vibe in the show’s portrayal of the well-loved character.

Yank

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Thomas Wayne’s introduction to the series is rather quite comical. He meets Alfred as he fetches his drunk sister, Patricia Wayne (Salóme Gunnarsdóttir) at a pub where Alfred works as a bouncer. He is visibly embarrassed by the incident and fumbles to give Alfred proper compensation. At the time, Thomas was England on business when he discovers a shady transaction in one of the accounts he handles. Because of this, he finds himself hunted by the Raven Society, a fascist anti-government group linked to the shady transaction. Unintentionally, he drags Alfred and Esmé into the mix.

Alfred easily tracks Thomas, surprised by Alfred and his friends’ skills and scared for his life. The entire hostage-taking sequence is where Alfred and Thomas developed a substantial relationship. Eventually, Alfred saved both Thomas and Esmé’s lives, further impressing the businessman. Thomas does offer a contract to Alfred as his security, but Alfred and Esmé initially decline, but this does not discourage Thomas. He will be back, for sure.

The Actress

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Alfred and Esmé’s relationship begins and progresses admittedly quickly. Although their introduction was as smooth as Alfred’s manner of asking Esmé out, a timelapse of two weeks comes into place as soon as they start dating. They likely did this in the show so that their next scenes made sense since it led up to the point of the disappointing meeting with Alfred’s parents and Esmé’s abduction. The lovebirds’ arc passes the minimum requirement in developing a love interest in a story, although the presentation could have some improvements.

The thing about Esmé that makes her character appealing is how likable she is. Upon her first meeting with Alfred, audiences could easily fall for her personality. This fact makes up for their rushed love story. Also, the way the writers connected her character to Alfred kept her from feeling out of place. When she mentions acting, longtime fans quickly identified the reference. With that said, Esmé is not too unfamiliar, then, despite how completely new she is.

Raven Society

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Collectively, the show’s antagonist comes in the form of the Raven Society. This group wishes to overthrow the Government and start a fascist utopia. As a whole, they do not seem to be that threatening to Alfred. The guy waltzes into their mansion with relative ease, knocking out two of them while handcuffed, too. That scene felt reminiscent to the Arkham City Bruce Wayne sequence. Individually, however, they seemed to have a fighting chance against Alfred.

Lord Harwood (Jason Flemyng) comes in menacing but does not own up to his introduction. The part where he tortures some guy who ratted them out to Thomas Wayne was a good start, coupled with the intimidating Bet Sykes (Paloma Faith). However, their characters as villains slowly turned from convincing to laugh-inducing. Sure, Sykes was violent until the end, but Harwood? The guy got himself disowned after their entire operation almost ended at the hands of three former English Air Servicemen. As the episode ended, we saw that the main enemy is the Prime Minister (Richard Clothier) himself. That twisted man maintains two anti-government institutions, probably weighing which one would topple the government better.

‘Pennyworth’ Series Premiere Final Verdict

Pennyworth gives us an amalgam of Alfred’s origin stories presented in an orderly fashion. Much of its key elements are on points, such as the casting, the world-building, and the scriptwriting. Still, a few parts of it need some polishing, but they are mostly minor details credited to what the show is trying to achieve. Regardless of such issues, it was an epic way of introducing a character often left on the sidelines. Giving the spotlight to characters traditionally held as supporting roles is a trend that the show exploits well. Overall, Pennyworth brings promise and excitement to those who wish to know more about Batman’s Batman. 

Pennyworth continues Sunday, August 4th on Epix.