Track 3: Bodies – As the third episode of Pistol begins, a nurse holds some type of exercise class as nurse Gary (Andrew Gallo) joins them. Pauline runs out of the room and climbs into a tree outside. Gary climbs the tree before grabbing a hold of her. He spits in her face while lowering her down to the others. During a performance, Johnny Rotten (Anson Boon) destroys some of their equipment. Someone in the audience insults them while Jordan (Maisie Williams) and the others scream for an encore. Rotten grabs the microphone and jumps off the stage. He sits down in a chair facing the band before saying he always wanted to see this band. He yells that they are crap while throwing the chair into the audience. As they play another song, Sid Vicious (Louis Partridge) is hit in the back with a bottle. He spits on them causing Helen of Troy (Francesca Mills) and the others to do the same.

Malcolm (Thomas Brodie-Sangster) gets spit on before Pauline enters the room and pays the admission. She starts spitting everywhere too. Steve Jones (Toby Wallace) admits he doesn’t like the spitting, but he thinks they’re getting better. Chrissie (Sydney Chandler) says a little although she recommends getting some originals. He tells her to say that to their rotten tooth genius who runs out of words when they’re writing songs. He invites her back to his place, but she is meeting Nick (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo). Rotten asks Malcolm if he always sounds like that. When Malcolm says no, Johnny says thank God. Malcolm mocks him by saying he is normally more out of tone than that. Steve talks to Pauline (Bianca Stephens) who says Johnny was amazing, but Steve says the guitarists are doing all the grunt work.

She thinks he is clever cause of his sad angry stories even though he didn’t write them. He sang them like he did. Steve tells her that he is good at fingering before Pauline asks if he wants to see what is in her bag. Once he says no, she claims she wasn’t going to show him anyway. Steve agrees that Rotten is more of her type so he gives up on her. Neil Spencer (Jamie Muscato) of NME approaches Johnny for a statement. Malcolm recommends telling his readers that it was unhygienic but glorious. Neil asks what they want to say with their music. Steve informs him that they’re not into music and instead are into chaos. Rotten tells Neil to say he said it since Steve doesn’t read the NME because it has too many long words. When Neil learns they’ve been together for four months, he jokes they’ll have a long and happy future.

Rotten complains about Steve taking a shot at him like that in front of other people. Malcolm confronts a student who filmed them because he liked it. Julien Temple (Lorne MacFadyen) tells him it belongs to the film school so he isn’t trying to make money or anything. He just hasn’t seen anything like this before and argues the Sex Pistols are the only thing happening in London right now. He wants to capture it. The others leave Malcolm. Chrissie surprisingly shows up at Steve’s place where they have sex. Once they finish, she asks if he is bored yet since he previously said he gets bored after sex. Steve claims he gets bored when feelings get involved. He won’t get bored as long as they keep it about the music. Malcolm takes Rotten for a signing lesson. The teacher tells him she wanted to sing like Maria Callas when she was young. She is impressed when he admits he knows all about her.

Rotten wonders if that is because he looks like a shabby little moron. He says he was himself last night, but that was a bloody nightmare. The teacher suggests performing might not be for him. Pauline goes to SEX as Jordan suggests she needs to be more confrontational with the customers. Jordan talks to a customer about William Reich’s theories about mass psychology and fascism being caused by sexual repression. Viv (Talulah Riley) says they live to proclaim and not to shame. Before long, Jordan learns that she is talking to Reginald Bosanquet (Matthew Cottle) and they might be on the news. Pauline continues looking around as Reginald leaves. Jordan tells Viv to look at her and her big bag. Pauline confronts Viv to see if she can find the Sex Pistols there.

Viv refuses to give her Johnny’s address before Jordan asks her to open her bag thinking she is a thief. When Jordan tries to confront her, Pauline remembers Gary and the hospital. She begins breaking down and yelling. Jordan and Viv put her into a chair and give her water. Viv tells her it is her shop before asking what kind of assistance she would like. Pauline says she needs every kind of assistance. She is okay with letting Viv look into her bag because she is nice. Once she looks in the bag, she freaks out and screams for Pauline to get out. Steve asks Glen (Christian Lees) to read the NME article to him. Glen tells him to read it himself. Steve agrees it is typical NME. He claims it isn’t worth reading although Paul (Jacob Slater) and Glen believe Malcolm will like the last bit. Steve tries to find out what they’re talking about since he can’t read it.

Rotten storms in and claims he isn’t interested in the article. He asks Glen what he wants to be. Steve wants to be in a band where the geezer that writes the words writes some. Rotten asks how he is supposed to be inspired when his collaborators are a mommy’s boy, a pleaser, and a moron. Paul asks where all of this is coming from. Rotten eventually gets angrier and storms out. Glen suggests getting another singer. Paul takes Steve outside to say he is going to leave the band for good. He believes he has a chance with his apprenticeship although Steve calls him a wage slave. Steve asks if that is what he wants. Paul knows Steve hasn’t had good parents and such, but he has to do what is right for him. Rotten goes to Viv so he can talk to Malcolm. He learns about Pauline looking for him. Johnny is seriously considering leaving the band. He doesn’t expect them to care because that is exactly like them.

He asks why she is printing Swastikas with her children. Ben says they want to not only reject the values of the older generation, but their taboos too. Ben explains it although Rotten says many Jews might hate a shirt with a swastika on it. Viv says possibly, but Malcolm is Jewish and it was his idea. She claims nothing ever changes because people’s minds are too imprisoned by lies, fear, and misguided respect for the very institutions that have exploited them for centuries. She wants to destroy all that so a future can emerge from all the chaos. They don’t hate anyone except Nazis, racists, fascists, and anyone too boring or scared to stand up and say what they mean. She tells John goodbye. Steve tries to get Glen to play harder like a punch in the face. Johnny rushes in and grabs the microphone. He offers to give them the words if they give him a tune.

Paul’s parents learn that he is leaving the band. He thought they’d be happy, but it doesn’t seem like it. When Paul returns, he learns that they just wrote a song. He argues they’re playing it too fast because they sound like the Ramones on pills. He tells them to think reggae. Although it drives, it doesn’t give it all away. They perform together. Malcolm holds a microphone while saying all rock ‘n’ roll is political to an extent. He says the music is only a launching pad while the criteria is whether you’ve got something to say. While Julien films everything, they go into a prison to perform for the inmates. However, he is forced to put the camera away before they perform at the prison in Chelmsford. As the inmates harass the band members, Rotten tells them her Majesty sends her regards.

Once they finish at the prison, Reginald finishes his story. Later that night, Chrissie tells Steve that line from the article is great. The quote is worth more than a five-star front page write-up. He gets mad when she won’t read it to him. Chrissie grabs the newspaper and reads it for him. “I straightaway sighted a chair flying through the chair. I thought, they can’t be that bad, can they? Then I saw that the person who threw the chair was the singer. No one asked for an encore but they did one anyway.” After the performance, one of the members told him they’re into chaos. Chrissie thought John said it until Steve tells her otherwise.

The article only states one of the band members said it. Chrissie asks him whether he’ll marry her. She promises she is joking, but admits she needs to get married for a visa. She isn’t leaving London until she conquers it. Chrissie believes it won’t mean anything if she marries him instead of Nick. Pauline finds out where Johnny is living. At SEX, Chrissie doesn’t know why everyone is making such a big deal out of her marriage. Once they pick out their outfits and leave, Steve asks how long it’ll be before they can get a divorce. Chrissie isn’t sure although she will check. She swore she’d never get married when she looked at her parents’ wedding photos. Even though it is fake, it feels like a thing for her. Steve doesn’t know about that since his dad didn’t stick around.

They stop to pick up Cookie. She goes inside where everyone has gathered to celebrate and Julien is going to record it. Chrissie argues it isn’t that type of wedding. As Steve gets out of the car, he is scared by Pauline who he calls Looney Tunes. She thinks he is like her and scared all the time. He is always looking for somewhere to hide just like her. She won’t let Steve do her although she might do him. As she climbs on top of him in the car, she remembers Gary asking her what game they’re going to play tonight. Sid and Johnny bang on the car to interrupt them and threaten to tell Chrissie. Johnny enters and offers his condolences to Chrissie since she has been jilted. He offers to marry her instead. Chrissie says yes before questioning whether they can just go.

Pauline rushes inside while saying she needs to speak to Johnny. Steve looks inside the bag she left in his vehicle. She comes back and asks if he is trying to steal from her. Steve asks what she is doing and what she is. Pauline says they are the bad babies that were left when the good ones were taken. Steve questions why she said that while recalling what Ron (Jay Simpson) told him. Nick joins Chrissie on the bus before learning she is getting married. He suspects she is shagging Jones and gets rough with her, but Sid stops him. Johnny says she is marrying him and he went down on one knee. Nick wishes she would’ve told him. He ends up calling her a cold-hearted b!tch. Chrissie doesn’t know why everything in London has to have so many pubs and confrontations. Johnny says confrontation leads to truth so he has to leave them here.

He explains that this confrontation has revealed there are real emotions involved here and you should never play with people’s emotions. Chrissie asks Nick to marry her once Johnny leaves. Later, she confronts Steve and complains that he humiliated her on her fake wedding day. Even though it was fake, she wanted to fake it with him. She knows he is screwed up, but she still doesn’t want to see him anymore. Before she leaves, she tells him that his guitar is out of tune. Johnny sees Pauline outside in the rain. He approaches her to say he has been avoiding her. They begin discussing her shirt and why everyone is scared of her. She believes everyone is scared of her because of what is in her bag. Once she opens the bag, she says he doesn’t have to look if he doesn’t want to.

Johnny tells her to come in before putting his jacket around her. When he meets with the band the next day, he tells them what he has about a girl from Birmingham. In a flashback, Pauline tells him she is a no-one. He says everyone is a no-one and that isn’t special. She is an animal and a bloody disgrace. Johnny says she lived in a tree. Paul asks where that came from. Johnny says Steve knows. Pauline says she killed her baby because he made her pregnant and she had no choice. He made her kill her to get rid of it. She saw where they put the baby and got her back. Now, she keeps the baby in her bag. She feels better she has told someone the whole story and might leave her behind, but Johnny doesn’t want it at his place.

It is his mom’s kitchen. He urges Pauline to give her a decent burial somewhere at least. She admits that is a good idea. Johnny gives her his jacket before she leaves. During their next performance, Jordan and Chrissie say they got good and powerful. Johnny sings the song about Pauline. After Pauline finishes burying her baby, she shows up to the band’s gig. She finds Gary and tells him she has something for him. She pulls out a pair of scissors and spits in his face. Chrissie tells Steve that the song Bodies is powerful. Steve says it is John because he didn’t want to hear her story although Chrissie thinks he heard it. She is in the music. Steve confesses it is the only thing he is halfway good at. They discuss whether they might play again. Steve tells her about the live version of Starman he found and asks if she wants to hear it.

 

Pistol Review

Overall, this was easily the best episode of Pistol yet because it dove beneath the surface a bit. I would expect things to become more exciting as the band really starts putting things together. It is still difficult to believe everything we’re being fed and it feels like too many creative liberties have been taken with the story at times. It is easy enough to overlook the flaws here and enjoy some of the lore behind the band.

I wouldn’t consider this a comprehensive retelling of the events because it obviously isn’t. It is a fun enough ride to keep viewers entertained so far. The episode scores a 7 out of 10. Recaps of Pistol can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support us at this link.