Review: ‘Pennyworth’ S03 Ep.7 – ‘Don’t Push It’

Similar to the Tower of London prison break in episode four, getting Zahra’s dad (David Yip) out of the secret prison he’s been cooped up in since Alfie (Jack Bannon) helped kidnap him ultimately isn’t that difficult. All it really takes is pulling a plug and the psychic fence that earned the prison its nickname, “prison without walls,” is out of commission. “Impossible to escape” my foot.

Getting Thomas (Ben Aldridge) out of the Tower of London was a job, though — one which Alfie would eventually forgo being paid for but one which he probably wouldn’t have taken if Patrick Wayne (Richard Dillane) hadn’t offered him a cash incentive (and unwittingly sealed his fate in the process).

“Don’t Push It,” is about Alfie and gives Bannon some of his best material since season one, when Alfie was reeling with grief over losing his fiancée (Emma Corrin).

Is it a perfect episode? Well, no. For one thing, it would’ve been cool if the show had let the subplot with Martha (Emma Paetz) being tipped off about the existence of Salt’s lab wait until next week. It’s not personal (and given that Martha had to sit out last week, two weeks in a row would’ve sucked) but “Don’t Push It” wants to be a single storyline episode and while it’s certainly pared down, with fewer characters than usual, so the focus can stay on Alfie and (tangentially) Daveboy (Ryan Fletcher), the Martha storyline is a return to normal and how the series is usually structured.

The reveal of what, or who (Robert Knowles), was powering the psychic fence was a great tie-in to this season’s interest in PWEs, but could’ve been a lot more powerful if the show had let viewers get to know the guy first. Instead, no sooner do we learn of his existence then Alfie has to kill him.

Still, there aren’t too many things that can rock Alfie and the events of this week’s episode are going to be hard to shake off. Basically, instead of a physical fight (where Alfie knows how to handle himself) he was berated by memories and guilt. Guilt is why he’s at the prison and it’s why he usually pushes people away, but will this experience change that? And for who? All roads point to Sandra (Harriet Slater), but what would really be neat is if the show threw a curve ball and brought Zahra (Jing Lusi) back instead.

Some other thoughts on this week’s episode:

• If Aziz (Ramon Tikaram) was telling Martha the truth about not knowing who killed Salt (Edward Hogg), could that mean Bet (Paloma Faith) survived and didn’t die on that bench after all?
• Anyone else’s brain flash to An American Werewolf in London during the scenes at the local village pub, or Lost when the prison entrance turned out to be a hatch? One more pop culture reference but Alfie’s storyline this week felt a lot like the redemption arcs Xena would have all the time on Xena.

New episodes of Pennyworth: The Origin of Batman’s Butler stream Thursdays on HBO Max.