(This recap was originally published on Jun 11, 2015.)
Previously on Wentworth, Joan Ferguson built a seemingly unstoppable regime based on violence and shame. Those who rose against her were swiftly struck down by disease, torture, and murder vans. Yet, like Lord Voldemort before her, Joan’s weakness was her inability to conceive of hearts not ruled, as her’s is, by hate and vengeance. She failed to account for selflessness, friendship, and above all, the overwhelming power of two women who really, really, really want to have sex. This episode, my darlings, is when she starts to pay for her miscalculation.
One happy consequence of the Meg Jackson murder being resurrected is it affords us the opportunity to see just how haunted by it Franky is. The show has put in a lot of work this season to redeem Franky, which would have been an impossible task were it not for Nicole da Silva’s vulnerability and charm, and the fact that they’re forcing her to come to a reckoning with her past sins. (Hopefully they are not redeeming her just so we’ll be that much more heartbroken when she dies, but we’ll get to that later.)
This episode opens with Franky mopping the hallway where she accidentally murdered Meg. She’s having pretty hardcore flashbacks when Will shows up to fetch her. Joan watches their interaction via CCTV; it’s obvious she put them both in this hallway for the pleasure of watching them squirm. It took a long time for me to really fear Joan as a villain, but here at (what I hope is) the end, the look of quiet pleasure on her face when she causes someone pain has finally made her as scary as she always thought she was. She calls Franky to her office to say that her parole hearing has been unexpectedly moved up to the following morning, and even though Franky shrugs it off, behind her eyes you can see her steeling herself for Wentworth to throw everything it has at her in one final, furious barrage.
Over in Cell Block H, Bea has recovered from her Temptation of Christ moment, and is steeling herself to be the Warrior Jesus this prison needs. The first step in this process is a badass queer haircut that looks like something from Dragon Age: Inquisition.
Honestly, the whole rest of the episode could just be people complimenting it, and it would not be wasted time. Bea tries to enlist Fletch’s help to take down Joan, but Fletch has had just about enough of prisoners confusing him. Of course, in his current state, revolving doors confuse Fletch, but it still doesn’t answer why he continues to work in the employ of someone he knows wants him dead.
Vera, at least, has finally come to her senses. She meets Bridget for coffee, and the first thing out of her mouth is “I owe you an apology.” Let me stop you there, Vera. You owe everyone an apology. As a matter of fact, I think it best you resign your position, take up a cloak and walking stick, and roam the earth apologizing to every single lesbian you meet.
Bridget takes the apology with a little more grace than me and offers to help Vera take down Joan—as soon as Franky is released. Joan does not even bat an eye at this stipulation, hopefully because she has learned that it is none of her goddamn business. And even though I will never forgive her, it’s comforting to know that there is someone on the inside with a vested interest in Franky’s parole. Vera helpfully informs Bridget that Franky’s parole hearing is the next day, a detail of which Joan had conveniently forgotten to inform her.