Pennyworth: 9 Ups And 5 Downs From "Pilot"

Ups...

9. The Horrors Of War

Pennyworth Jack Bannon
Warner Bros.

One of the most striking elements of Pennyworth’s first episode is how the show spotlights the horrors of war.

Laced with PTSD, Alfred and his SAS cohorts are immensely troubled at every turn by what they had to endure during their time in the military. Even as the show opens up, one of the very first things we see is the funeral of one of the trio’s fallen comrades. Worse still, this isn’t the first of their fellow soldiers they’ve had to bury – and the guy took his own life!

Elsewhere, we’re shown Alfred waking up in a sweaty panic after revising his time at war, and we get a glimpse of one of his friends being killed in front of him on the battlefield.

It’s hard-hitting stuff, and Pennyworth goes strong with how war affects different people in different ways as they try to somehow continue on with life.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.