As Wentworth begins, Joan Ferguson (Pamela Rabe) has a nightmare before Vera (Kate Atkinson) checks on a crying Grace at home. Dr. Greg Miller (David de Lautour) wakes Joan who has been sleeping in medical. She confirms that she hasn’t had any hallucinations but she doesn’t want to be alone. She pleads with Greg not to abandon her. In the cafeteria, Lou Kelly (Kate Box) confronts Allie Novak (Kate Jenkinson) about lagging on her for bashing the general manager and threatens to see what the women think about it. Allie tells her to go for it before sitting down with Ruby (Rarriwuy Hick) and Boomer (Katrina Milosevic).
Boomer is excited to have a visitation with Gavin. Sheila (Marta Dusseldorp) confronts Reb (Zoe Terakes) wanting to know why he has decided not to help her after all. She promises that she had nothing to do with it and that Lou is lying. Lou interrupts and tells Sheila to back off. Marie Winter (Susie Porter) watches it go down and follows Sheila outside so she can learn more. Sheila tells Marie about the suicide cult and that their leader thought he was the Messiah. She wonders why he left her behind and admits she was under his spell until he was gone. Marie is confident that Reb trusts her and he reminds her of her son.
They agree that Lou has too much influence over Reb. Jake Stewart (Bernard Curry) stops Vera in the hallway and asks about her being late. He gives her advice for getting Grace to sleep but Vera believes the baby is picking up on her anxiety due to the Ferguson hearing. Ferguson returns to her cell and checks on the goldfish. Will Jackson (Robbie Magasiva) works on the order of transfer for Joan to Melbourne Magistrates Court. He signs the paperwork before Linda Miles (Jacqueline Brennan) surprises him with her presence. She tells him that she wants to come back and will sue the department for PTSD if he doesn’t reinstate her. She nods at Ann Reynolds (Jane Hall) on the way out.
Boomer gets a visit from Gavin but she isn’t happy to find out that he lied about his appearance. She gets up and leaves the room. Reb lets Lou know that Trev has been hassling them for the money before they find out that the phone has gone missing. Also, Lou tells Mullet to spread the word about Allie lagging so they can turn people against her. Lou gets upset and lashes out at Reb until Marie steps in and tries to calm her down. Marie denies taking the phone and admits she saw Kath with the phone yesterday. Kath promises that she put the phone back where she found it but Lou doesn’t accept that. Lou decides to take it out on Ferguson’s goldfish by making her swallow it. Instead, the goldfish dies when the glass jar falls to the ground.
Ferguson gets blood on her hands and she remembers her father drowning her mother. She tells Greg about that memory a short time later. She admits that the child wasn’t someone she harmed. It was her. She doesn’t remember anything else. Vera goes to Greg and asks about Ferguson’s freak-out. He tells her about Ferguson’s memory and this convinces her that he is going to testify that Ferguson has amnesia. Vera goes to Will and complains that Ferguson is going to sue the department and take the governorship back. Lou calls Trev and asks him to make a payment to a friend. She finds out that the funds are missing. Later, Boomer tells Ruby and the others about Gavin lying about her appearance. Ruby reminds her that it is what is in the inside that counts before Judy gets upset.
Allie tells Boomer to calm down. She follows Judy to her cell and tries to make sure everything is okay. Judy lets her know that Lou is telling everyone that she lagged. Meanwhile, Reb complains that he won’t get his surgery because someone stole their money. Lou thinks about it and believes Allie might be responsible. Reb says he saw Allie coming out of their unit yesterday and this makes Lou even more suspicious. Boomer meets with Gavin again and they agree to forgive each other. However, Boomer finds out that Gavin has been running a website about prison fantasies and he wants her to write for it. When the conversation ends, Boomer goes to Ruby and asks her to write a few letters for her because she has a plan to get back at Gavin.
Vera lets Allie know that Greg is going to tell the court that Ferguson has amnesia and there is nothing they can do about it. Lou, Reb, and Marie confront Allie about the phone. Things get physical and Allie gets roughed up while Marie watches for guards outside. When Marie has had enough, she pushes the panic button and puts a stop to the abuse. Allie is given a deadline for returning the phone and money. When the others leave, Marie checks on Allie. Then, she tells Lou that she is on Reb’s side and that killing Allie means he’ll never get what he wants. Lou attacks and chokes Marie until Reb puts a stop to it. However, he lets Marie know that she isn’t his mother.
Linda enters and tells Marie that the governor wants to see her. Before Linda lets Will see Marie, she tells him that Vera wanted anything to do with Winter to go through her. Linda lets the receptionist take a break while Will asks Marie about Allie being bashed. She admits to being there but she doesn’t tell him who bashed Allie. When Marie leaves, the transport vehicle arrives for Ferguson. Vera tracks Greg down in the parking lot and tries to convince him that his testimony will put a psycho on the streets. Next, Judy Bryant (Vivienne Awosoga) watches a news report about the US Secretary of Defense Michael Schwartz attending a meeting in Melbourne. Allie returns and tells everyone about being bashed. She wants to go to war against Lou until Ruby and Boomer tell her the truth about bashing Ann.
Judy says she attacked Ann because she has been riding her since she arrived. This upsets Allie who heads outside and sits down with Marie Winter. Meanwhile, Greg takes the stand and prepares to testify during Ferguson’s hearing. He admits he believes Ferguson has amnesia. Allie tells her that she can’t trust anyone and that includes Marie. She is warned that Lou is barking mad and will follow through on her threats. Marie lets Allie know that she saw Kath with the phone last so Allie goes to Vera and asks to see the video footage they recorded. Allie watches the footage and sees Judy leave with the phone. Vera and Will believe Ferguson is going to try to escape so they work quickly to notify Greg but can’t get through to him. Sheila tells Reb that she’ll pay for his surgery as long as he gives a statement for her.
Reb doesn’t want to do that because Sheila held him down when he was raped. Sheila tells Reb that Lou isn’t telling the truth about the incident either. The transport arrives with Ferguson in the back. Allie searches Judy’s cell and finds the phone just before Judy enters and catches her. Allie gives her a stern talking to and tells her to repay the money before tossing the phone on the bed and leaving. Reb confronts Lou and learns that Lou let the cult leader rape him. Lou admits it is true but reveals she killed everyone to get revenge for Reb. Keane still isn’t happy because he is trapped in that body and Lou blames Novak. Reb tells Lou to take care of Allie so Lou begins sharpening a shiv and preparing. Vera and Linda discuss Ferguson winning once again. Vera orders her to put a spit bag on her head and Linda says it would be her pleasure.
Lou disguises herself and heads to the bathroom to kill Allie. Seconds later, Allie is attacked from behind and stabbed in the back several times but it isn’t Lou. It is Judy. She leaves before Lou enters. Allie sees Lou standing above her before she leaves and Allie is left in a pool of blood. Judy hears a news report about Schwartz being killed as he left his motorcade. She sends someone $40,000 and calls them to thank them for doing a good job. Then, she smashes the phone. Ferguson freaks out with the spit bag on and her memories return. She remembers who she is and everything she has done. Linda returns and removes the mask before Ferguson looks in the mirror and says she is Joan Ferguson.
Wentworth Review
This season of Wentworth had some ups and downs. The finale wasn’t the worst I have seen but it wasn’t perfect either. It is tough to stomach that the writers brought in a brand-new, weak character and used that character to kill or violently bash the new top dog who only lasted a season or so. The Judy Bryant storyline is too farfetched to enjoy or even take seriously at this point. It was also disappointing that so much was going on and we didn’t get any conclusions.
We really don’t know if Allie is dead. We don’t know what Boomer was going to do to Gavin. Mostly everything was pushed to the next season but we’ll likely forget a lot of this season before they produce and release the next season. I really wish they would’ve done something different with Ferguson.
It feels like we got the run around all season. We went back and forth with Ferguson having amnesia and I guess she did until they decided to put a spit bag over her head. If they wanted to bring the full-fledged Freak back, they should’ve done it episodes ago.
The courtroom drama was anti-climatic but learning about Joan’s childhood tragedy was okay. The finale was a mixed bag much like this season. It scores a 6.5 out of 10. Previous recaps of Wentworth are available on Reel Mockery.
Jay Skelton is a fan of all television shows and movies. He tries his best to keep up with the latest foreign television shows and movies. Jay loves skinny dipping in the dark too.
“Run-around” is an apt description, IMO.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the writers were so excited to learn that they would get two more seasons that they found themselves in over their heads when it came to actually writing those seasons. I think they realized that they only had…at best…one season’s worth of story, as a result of which they treaded (sp?) water for most of this season, leaving so much unanswered as a lure for us to tune in next season. I will, if for no other reason that I’ve been there since the beginning, and I’m determined to see it all through to the end.
Thanks for your recaps. They made the show easier to get through.
Totally agree with everything you said. There is always a chance that things are going to improve although I am skeptical. I’ll watch it until it ends because I’ve stuck with it this long. Nothing to lose expect time at this point.
We see it all the time that the writers/producers don’t know when to end these shows. Sometimes they go on too long but sometimes they’re cut too short. In other cases, I think it is more about keeping the money flowing in and I think Wentworth falls into this category.
With the show being shuffled around to a different network, they were likely hoping to piggyback from its success and get new viewers for Fox Showcase and it seemed to have worked initially. Now though, the ratings are dropping so I am really surprised they are going to keep it going.
Makes me wonder if they’ll regret that decision in the long run. Either way, I’ll stick with it just to see what happens. Hope to see you around here again. Thanks for chiming in! 🙂
I don’t think people understand story structure. This season was a slow burner but the only reason next season can work is because they have this season. Look at how boring/disappointing season 6 was compared to 7.
I’m telling you, nothing was random this season. It just wasn’t the big thing you hoped for. That’s coming in season 9.
We’ll see. I haven’t been thrilled with any of the past seasons although I did like Rick Donald’s performance/character. Been sticking with too long to give up on the show now, but my expectations are at the bottom of the barrel at this point. Hopefully I’ll be pleasantly surprised. Thanks for chiming in.
I had to search for a review because I felt crazy for not liking this season. The finale was nothing like the huge events or suspense we’ve been left with other seasons. Allie was signalling her own death for episodes, the new characters lack complexity, lots of contrived moments (let’s storyboard THERAPIST). I feel like an attack on Allie would have been a mid-season event in prior seasons, with the story arc building from there to a much greater finale. Joan got her memory back (again, conveniently, from Vera wanting her spitbagged out of spite?) and we all knew it was coming, and so what, anyway?
I sadly agree. The prior finales at least were explosive. Social media and elsewhere sometimes seem like they’re full of bots hyping up these shows so people will feel obligated to like them too. I’ll stick with it because I have this far but I am afraid it is only going to get more disappointing from here on out.
I like the Reb and Marie relationship but most everything is just lifeless. We’ll see. I am sure they’ll have a new season coming out soon so it won’t be long before we find out. Thanks for chiming in! Either way, I would expect the love fest on social media and elsewhere to continue no matter how bad things get.
Wentworth ended beautifully! We get such satisfaction knowing all the leading characters that are still alive get a happy ending………………………and I laughed so hard at the freak just walking away but after carrying Vera out safely it was also touching…………………………………………………….whoever wrote the ending I applaud you…………great job!
Thanks for commenting. Glad you enjoyed it!