As Wentworth’s final episode begins, Frazer (Dave Lawson) finishes the bomb and sets it to go off at 17:00. At Wentworth, Allie Novak (Kate Jenkinson) struggles to pull herself out of bed before looking at the wounds on her legs. She jams her thumb into one of them and doesn’t seem to feel anything. She goes with the others through the prison halls and is harassed by Lou and the other inmates. Will Jackson (Robbie Magasiva) admits they have a crisis at the prison so he is going to reopen the protection unit and the guards will have to work doubles. Jake Stewart (Bernard Curry) and Linda (Jacqueline Brennan) argue that Ann Reynolds (Jane Hall) isn’t going to like that. Ann enters and surprises them by saying she is focused on something more important that will get her a promotion soon enough. Once she leaves, Jake asks Will what they’re going to do about Ferguson.

Will tells him to let him deal with it. Ferguson (Pamela Rabe) visits Will moments later and learns he is going to transfer her to a mental hospital and Greg Miller signed the paperwork before he left. Will knows she is going to screw them over at some point, so he is going to let her do it from a padded cell. Once Joan leaves, Rita Connors (Leah Purcell) stops her in the hallway and tries to convince her to steal Lou’s cellphone. She offers to get her mob to join forces to protect each other although Joan believes that ship has already sailed. Ann tells Linda that Judy Bryant (Vivienne Awosoga) has a court appearance this afternoon. When Linda can’t find it in the schedule, Ann says it just came through to her. Ann says there have been complaints of prisoners being late so Judy needs to be there no later than 4:45. In the hallway, Vera Bennett (Kate Atkinson) stops Ann to talk about tomorrow’s board meeting because she reported her and will be supporting Will’s motion to have her removed.

Ann just laughs and warns Vera that she is in for a big surprise. Jake tells Vera about Ferguson being shipped out as soon as Ann leaves. Jake thinks they should pack their bags, run, and get new identities, but Vera is adamant she is done running from Ferguson. Frazer and the others load the massive bomb into a van that mimics a prison escort van. Boomer (Katrina Milosevic) tries to get in touch with Gavin but suspects he doesn’t want to talk to her. He answers at the last minute before she learns he was locked away because of the camera incident. She tells him about the baby, and he promises to support her and the baby. When Judy asks Lou (Kate Box) what Frazer said, she only replies that he is happy she is getting out. While Frazer drives to the prison, Lou threatens Allie in the hallway and boasts she is the one who killed Marie. Boomer returns to the girls and tells Ruby (Rarriwuy Hick) and the others about her baby and Gavin.

After Allie returns to warn them about Lou killing Marie, Jake tells them that two officers are going to be staged outside their cell to protect them. Ruby follows Rita into her cell and seems downtrodden that they’re not going to cell the phone. Rita argues she has done everything wrong and ended up putting her sister in prison for life, but Ruby says she sacrificed so much and killed for her. Although Rita says she might deserve to spend twenty years in prison, Ruby suggests otherwise arguing she only did what needed to be done. Allie hears Rita admit the phone is their last hope while Ruby says at least they’ll be in prison together. Dale Langdon (Gary Sweet) watches as the van arrives 45 minutes early. He says they’ll go as soon as the device is attached to the south wall. Judy gets a visit from her lawyer who believes he can have her out by this time tomorrow. When that conversation ends, she sees Frazer in the visiting room and realizes Lou has been lying.

When Judy confronts Lou, she is told Frazer likely needed to change his clothes before he got the heck out of Wentworth. Ferguson listens as Lou admits it was never about busting them out of there. Lou says she isn’t going to let Reb’s death go unpunished just because Judy’s daddy came through for her. Once Lou tells her no, Linda arrives to take Judy to the holding cell where she’ll wait to be transported to the hearing. Ferguson decides to take that information to Rita before faking a sickness to help Rita escape her cellblock. Ferguson admits she is helping because Lou hurt her hand and killed her goldfish. Once Judy is locked in the holding cell, she screams she needs to talk to the governor. Instead, she tells Ann about the bombing, but Ann already knows and argues she is way ahead of her.

Ann says having her there is insurance because she knows Judy isn’t going anywhere. When Judy pleads with her and cries that this is going to ruin everything for her, Ann accuses her of killing her daughter. However, Judy tells her she shouldn’t believe everything the NSO has told her. Lou puts the cellphone in her pocket just in time for Rita to come in and confront her. Rita tells her that the women don’t deserve this. When Lou says nobody gave Reb a chance, Rita attacks her. They fight for a bit and Lou’s cellphone falls out of her pocket and lands under a nearby stand. Ferguson hits the panic button while Allie sees the cellphone. The prison guards arrive and stop Rita from bashing Lou more. They’re taken to isolation cells and Allie is prevented from getting the cellphone. Rita tries to tell them that the women are in danger before she is taken to the isolation cell.

Dale can’t understand why the van is sitting there. Jake runs into Vera who asks about the alarm. He tells her about the fight before they discuss the van sitting outside. Vera goes outside to check the van while Rita tries to convince Lou to stop the bomb now that she is stuck in the isolation cell. Vera finds nothing suspicious about the van and goes back inside. Dale learns about the 5 PM prisoner transfer and believes they’re going to extract Judy. Jake tells Vera about it before she agrees to talk to Ann about Judy’s transfer. Linda takes Rita’s bomb threat information to Will while Dale and the others prepare to storm the prison transport vehicle. Rita tells Lou that she can’t give up on hope no matter how messed up you are, but Lou doesn’t believe she has ever been this screwed up. Lou believes her hope died with a rope around his neck. Rita insists there are good people in here and what happened to Reb was awful.

She insists Lou shouldn’t take away the good people’s hope. Nothing is going to change Lou’s mind though and she couldn’t stop it if she wanted to. Dale and the others circle the van before it explodes and likely kills all of them. After the explosion, Will wakes up and learns what is going on from the radio. Rita wakes up while Allie finds her wheelchair trapped by the debris. Rita gets out of the isolation cell as Will tries to get others out of the prison. Allie calls for her and can’t move her wheelchair. Officer Deng (Ceilia Low) seems to be dead next to her. Boomer and Ruby find themselves locked in, but Boomer says she is going to lose everything now. Lou calls for help but Rita leaves her there before crawling through a hole to escape. Zaina Saad (Louisa Mignone) stops by Ruby’s cell and tells her and Boomer about the bomb. She agrees to get an officer who can get them out of there.

Jakes runs into Will who hasn’t seen Vera either. Rita tries to dig herself out while Allie spots a possible exit nearby. Vera makes it to the holding cell where Judy has been kept only to find her dead. Allie desperately crawls on the ground in hopes of escaping the rubble. Vera finds Ann in the office trying to locate the transfer order she put in for Judy Bryant earlier. Ann reveals they had to let the bomb in so they could tie the entire thing to Judy Bryant. Vera can’t believe she let the bomb in and caused innocent people to die although Ann says Judy planned everything. Ann blames Judy for her daughter’s death before learning that Judy is dead. When Vera walks away, Ann chases her down and insists she can’t tell anyone about this, but it turns physical. Ann begins choking Vera to death until Ferguson shows up, grabs Ann, and breaks her neck. Vera begins blacking out as Ferguson kneels next to her.

Rita makes it out of the prison and catches up with Boomer and Ruby. They soon realize that Allie is missing, and nobody is allowed back in the prison. Jake tells Will that Vera is missing as well. Linda tells Will that the prisoners are escaping into no man’s land. Rita hears this and seems particularly interested. Back in the prison, Allie moves toward the cellphone. A rescue worker walks past as Allie struggles to reach the cellphone. As she grabs it, the roof falls in on her. Linda and the other guards try to stop the women from escaping. Lou Kelly continues running and jumps on the fence. However, Rita pulls her down, attacks her a bit, and Lou is quickly subdued. A rescuer finds Allie and shines their flashlight on her face. She calls for help. Back outside, Lou is handcuffed and placed in a chair nearby. Boomer offers to go back into the prison to help Allie before Rita arrives and learns about the collapse.

Ferguson carries Vera out of the prison and sits her down on the ground. Then, she says Vera asked her what her end game was when she changed her story in court and she didn’t know what it was at the time. Now, she knows. She tells Vera a child needs her mother before she gets up and walks away. Linda gathers the women for a headcount and informs Boomer that H1 is gone now. Vera joins Jake who is relieved to see her alive. Will joins them before Vera learns that Ann is dead and Allie is still missing. When Linda tells them Joan Ferguson is unaccounted for, Jake says she won’t be their problem anymore if she is dead. Vera says nothing about Joan carrying her out of Wentworth. Allie is finally wheeled out on the stretcher and Boomer is thrilled to see her alive. She gives Rita the cellphone. Vera, Jake, and Will watch the women as the final episode ends. The original Cell Block H theme plays during the credits and that is a nice touch.

 

Wentworth Review

I can’t imagine how difficult it has been for the cast and crew to leave Wentworth behind after this long. The montage at the end with the original theme song was a nice gesture, if not the best part of the finale. At the end of the day, we have to remember the individuals who made Wentworth possible and brought the characters to life once again. Kudos to those people for keeping this show going for as long as it did. As for the finale, it went exactly as I suspected with one or two twists.

I knew coming in there were a lot of storylines left and the finale would either cover them all in a rush or leave them untouched. Sadly, the finale only ended a few storylines while creating even more cliffhangers for viewers. The finale’s description claims, “In the ruins, one final battle rears its head.” I am sure viewers suspected this would be the battle between Lou Kelly and Rita Connors, but the finale never gave us a satisfying battle besides a quick scuffle in Lou’s cell. And, there wasn’t a satisfying conclusion there either.

I knew exactly what was coming as soon as Rita battered Lou Kelly in her cell, but I didn’t expect the writers would let Lou survive or that this would be the only real “battle”. It was predictable considering the writers never pulled the trigger on any of the main characters even until the very end. It could just be me, but I never felt any urgency from the women as they escaped the prison and waited for their friends to escape. It just seemed they were going through the motions by that point.

The finale wasn’t terrible although it felt a bit rushed and never reached an exhilarating climax. I suppose the writers knew Lou Kelly was the season’s standout so they decided to walk the fine line of keeping fans of Lou and fans of Rita happy. I didn’t have the highest expectations coming in, so I didn’t think it was too bad, but not nearly as good as it could’ve been. As a whole, Wentworth was one of the few shows I could tolerate from start to finish although it tempted me to give up at several points along the way.

While it is sad to see Wentworth end, it is exciting to see where those involved will go from here and what they’ll create next. I look forward to following the careers of these actors and actresses as they finally break free of the restraints of Wentworth. All recaps of Wentworth can be found on Reel Mockery here. Finally, I would like to thank everyone who has been following my recaps all this time and commenting. I sincerely hope we can find another show to bring us together once again.