Pennyworth Season 3: What Happened?
Pennyworth burst onto the scene in 2019. It told the origins of Alfred Pennyworth, known mostly as Bruce Wayne’s butler. After Michael Caine was approached to play Alfred in the Christian Bale version of the Batman films, he created the backstory for Alfred, which evolved into this prequel Epix/Max series.
Seasons 1 & 2
Pennyworth Seasons 1 & 2 were great pieces of entertainment. Action-packed, sexy, hilarious, with a touch of camp. Ex-SAS officer Alfred Pennyworth suffers loss, a questionable home life, a lack of moral direction, not to mention funds. His fight in the war against the fascist Ravens made Pennyworth a bingeable, fun ride. Close your eyes, and Jack Bannon sounded like the younger Michael Caine.
Season 3, however, was a debacle.
Pennyworth’s Non-creative decisions
First, the show’s name changed to “Pennyworth, the Origin of Batman’s Butler,” which was entirely too long. You’re describing the premise, in the title, in the THIRD season? Oh yea! That tactic worked for “Ted Lasso: Upbeat American Goes to England to Coach Soccer.” Was it a ploy to sell it overseas?
Then, each episode started with a character narrating what happened in the last episode, an antiquated tactic we might have seen in the campy, 1960’s Batman series. And they put subtitles on it! In ALL CAPS we might add, as if some exec said, “I can’t understand the accents. Fix this!”
Pennyworth Episode Plotlines
The episodes were lifeless. Bruce and Martha’s constant fighting was not only unenjoyable to watch, but it lead nowhere and wasn’t satisfactorily resolved. Oh yea, they previously had a kid, and it was not named Bruce. Batman doesn’t have an older sister. So that little girl, Samantha, is nothing in this series. To add to the confusion, Samantha Wayne is the daughter of Bruce and Wonder Woman outside of Pennyworth canon. I mean, fine, but – where are you going with this?
Bet Sykes – played wonderfully by Paloma Faith – could’ve continued being great. That did not happen. She went Raven hunting, went after Salt, and like everything else this season, went nowhere. Lucius Fox, another great character who wasn’t given anything to do but babysit the superhumans, joined Bet on the bus to nowhere.
The unfocused episodes often had Alfie going on one-off missions, like we were tuning into an old western each week. The season-long arc of Francis dispersing the mind control chemical “Lullabye” across the city was fine in its conception, but terrible in its execution. Francis is not even portrayed as a criminal, just as some type of misguided, artsy guru. He seems shocked when *spoiler* – umm, the mindless zombies that he unleashed – kill him. As if he didn’t know what he was doing. Francis is barely in Season 3, yet he masterminds the entire arc. Maybe next time, have a real criminal as a villain, and umm, have Alfie actually engage with him.
Conclusion
Some reviewers actually liked Season 3, and we don’t begrudge them for doing so. If joy can be squeezed from this bat-lemon, then by all bat-means.
We don’t know what happened behind the scenes at Warner/Discovery to destroy Pennyworth. Maybe had something to do with consolidation of management or the merger in general. But it’s sad to see such a fun show die such a horrible death.
Pennyworth was officially cancelled in February 2023.
Hook Factor: 5/10
Our Rating: 3/10
Released: Season 3, HBOMax, October 6, 2022. Died: October 6, 2022.
Where did Pennyworth land in our Top 22 of ’22 list?
