Four – As the fourth episode of Penelope begins, Penelope (Megan Stott) struggles with her tent. She begins looking through the debris. She sees her phone on the ground. Penelope picks it up and looks at it before something startles her. Then, she checks the map for the Cascades National Forest. Penelope begins hiking along and checking the map regularly. When she sees a helicopter above her, Penelope hides behind a tree. It leaves and Penelope continues walking. She stops to hug a big tree. Helena (Krisha Fairchild) yells that she can tell she’s a good hugger. She doesn’t think Penelope is one of those loggers. Helena climbs down and speaks to Penelope who calls herself Amber. She’s been coming out there for decades.

There used to be more of them, but it’s gotten pretty quiet now. Helena explains her friends in the park service let her know when the loggers are coming. She comes when she’s needed. Her nephew comes and helps her sometimes. Penelope doesn’t understand why they have to take these trees. Helena says they claim the trees are sick so they can pick them off one by one. She believes it’s a big strategy. Helena is always watching to make sure the trees aren’t all cut down. Penelope asks questions about the trees being sick and making the others sick. Helena tells her about the stories in which babies can communicate with their mothers when they’re breastfed. Some people believe trees are all connected in a similar way underground. Helena doesn’t think it works that way though.

She says even a dying tree is going to give back to the forest around it. It’s only unnatural when a tree is cut down. She gets upset and goes on a rant. Penelope thinks it’s cool to see someone trying to do so much good. They have to hide when the helicopter returns. They climb the tree. Helena gives Penelope food and water. Helena tries to get information from Penelope. She asks if everything is safe for her back home. Penelope says she doesn’t really know how to talk about it. Helena urges her to try. Penelope is worried there’s a piece deep inside of her that is broken. Helena has been reading a lot about inherited trauma. She explains how that would work. Helena tells Penelope about a time she was at the grocery store with her mother. There was a mangy dog outside. When they came out of the store, they saw that someone had backed over the dog and killed it.

Helena’s mother snapped. She ran towards the dog screaming. Helena couldn’t look away. She didn’t understand that she was connected to that through her mother. Helena wakes Penelope in the morning. She says they won’t cut any trees as long as they’re there. Helena urges her to hold on. She yells at the tree while they urge her to leave. Someone begins cutting one of the trees. Helena watches in anger. She breaks down when the tree is cut down.

 

Penelope Review

The fourth episode of Penelope was different with the addition of Helena. Some people may like that character while others will not. After all, it appears Helena is a bit too far out there to be realistic. There are obviously people somewhat like this, but it seems the script has taken the mindset to the extreme.

A lot of the dialogue in this episode was very progressive mumbo gumbo that some gender studies professor might recite. It’s just a bit too far over the top considering how crazy they tried to portray Helena. Depending on how this goes, there is potential for the relationship between Penelope and Helena.

However, Helena and these other people obviously see Penelope out there. Wouldn’t it be a good idea to find out exactly what she’s doing? Perhaps there could be at least one adult in the nearby wilderness? We’ll see. There might be a deeper message here when the whole thing is said and done.

The fourth episode scores a 4.5 out of 10. Recaps of Penelope can be found here. Learn about supporting our independent site at this link. Find out how to advertise with us here. Discuss Penelope with others here.