As the 4th episode of Wentworth’s 9th season begins, Allie Novak (Kate Jenkinson) wakes up and goes through her new normal routine. She exercises, showers, and goes through the motions during her session with Dr. Greg Miller (David de Lautour). She repeats this several days in a roll before Boomer (Katrina Milosevic) joins her outside in the yard. Judy (Vivienne Awosoga) is gone for another drug test. Boomer begins naming off the women she describes as cunts as Marie Winter (Susie Porter) slings the ball and nearly hits Joan with it. Joan (Pamela Rabe) doesn’t flinch despite the ball coming close to smashing her in the face. Boomer goes on to say they need more cunts in here before Eve Wilder (Tina Bursill) is booked into Wentworth. She tells Jake (Bernard Curry) she isn’t on medication, doesn’t have any family, and was working as a nanny.

Jake recognizes her as Nanny Wilder and admits he saw her website since he is a new father now. Eve gives him tips for dealing with Grace’s colic before he learns she hit someone and left the scene of the accident. Rita Connors (Leah Purcell) speaks to two investigators about the murder of Paul Morelli. She tells them about Paul’s death, but they want to know why she didn’t tell straight away. She insists she is telling the truth and only ran to see her dying father. They promise to talk to Detective Jones while Jake tells Vera (Kate Atkinson) about Nanny Wilder and her website. Vera can’t believe he is taking parenting tips from a convicted criminal, but Jake is convinced it was an accident. Linda Miles (Jacqueline Brennan) interrupts with the latest drug results and wants help rounding up the abusers.

She tells Vera about Ferguson’s inconclusive drug test before leaving with Jake. She takes the information to Greg to see what he has to say about it. He insists he doesn’t have Joan on any medications and seems seriously concerned once Vera leaves. Moments later, Joan and Marie watch as Lou Kelly (Kate Box) scream at Wilder and force her to leave Reb’s cell. Marie quickly calms her while Joan tells Wilder about Lou’s lover who died. Eve seems to recognize Ferguson from somewhere although Joan continues calling herself Kath Maxwell. When Marie returns, Eve admits she knows Ferguson from Blackmoore when she was a guard. Marie promises Kath it is okay so Joan leaves. Marie stays behind and tells Eve about Joan’s accident and memory loss. After that, Allie visits the dentist who insists she is going to need a filling. She is quickly given gas to calm her nerves.

Allie gets high and imagines she is at the beach. Before she knows it, the operation is over. Before she leaves, she seems particularly interested in the dentist’s nitrous oxide. Ann Reynolds (Jane Hall) goes outside with Linda and admits she wants more restraint stations out there. Ann believes they can make the punishment more visible and cut back on abuses before she is hit with something from behind. It looks like a bag of urine and Judy is quickly blamed. Despite protesting her innocence, Judy is locked to the restraint bench. She asks Lou what she is going to do about it as top dog, but Lou says nothing. Allie goes to the library to research nitrous oxide and learns what nitrous oxide toxicity can do to someone. It is not pretty and can kill within 10 minutes. Eve is taken to the kitchen so she can help the others.

Zheng (Fanny Hanusin) quickly puts her in charge of folding the rags. She asks Joan to show her how to fold it again before Joan reminds her that her name is Kath. Joan shows her how it is done, and Eve reminds her she was always one to pay attention to detail. She asks Joan about not remembering anything and says the women at Blackmoore used to call her the fixer. Joan doesn’t want to hear it and quickly shows Eve how to fold the sheets once again. Kath gets angry and crushes a tomato before meeting with Greg who realizes she is agitated. She tells Greg about Eve and the fact she made her life a living hell at Blackmoore. He wants to give her a coping mantra and says he’ll top up her meds as Vera walks by. Greg insists keeping the dose up now is more important than ever so Joan swallows another pill. Vera goes to her office to check Liz’s drug tests and finds the amino acid levels were higher as well.

Then, she learns that Liz had been taking Psuldrycin. Ann approaches Judy to tell her she owes her an apology. Judy admits she convinced Allie to file the lawsuit against the prison and believes it will mess up their precious budget. Once Judy asks about Ann’s ribs and whether they’ve healed, Ann tells Linda to leave her locked up overnight. That night, Joan tries to calm herself while alone in her cell. She overhears Eve and Marie talking about her and her time at Blackmoore. Eve tells Marie how Ferguson used to attack the inmates with a wet tea towel in the middle of the night. She goes on to say Joan once convinced a woman to pull out her own eye, but Marie doesn’t believe Joan is the same person now. Marie encourages her to respect that Joan is Kath now while Joan struggles to control her emotions. Allie and Boomer talk about Judy before Ruby (Rarriwuy Hick) learns she’ll be questioned after Jones.

They begin talking about Boomer’s fight before she calls herself a bloody idiot for not recording it for Slammer. In the middle of the night, Eve tries to attack Joan with a tea towel, but Joan catches her and begins fighting back. She begins choking Wilder with the towel while telling her she knows what she is because she saw into her soul. She knows Wilder was trying to kill the husband of the family she worked for back then even though it was overturned on appeal. Joan wonders if she tried to kill another man who said no. Eve says it was an accident, but Joan chokes her harder and says otherwise. Joan eventually relents and lets her go. Joan tells her she isn’t a guard now so both can be who they want to be. Ferguson whips her with the towel and Eve begins laughing. Meanwhile, Judy remains locked up outside.

Allie takes a knife to her tooth and pulls it out. Will (Robbie Magasiva) arrives in the morning to find Judy still locked to the restrain station outside. He releases her immediately. Meanwhile, a sleepy Vera drives in her vehicle and struggles to stay awake. She runs over the curb before stopping immediately. She checks Grace and continues to work where she asks Jake to pick up Grace from childcare and keep her for the night. Jake is happy to help and offers to keep Grace for as long as necessary. He reminds Vera he is there for both of them. Detective Carr (Samantha Tolj) returns to Rita to tell her Jones denied she was part of his undercover unit, but she already knew he would. He claims she was working for the motorcycle club, became a snitch, and the relationship soured over money. Ruby is questioned and asked about her role in Morelli’s murder too. Rita insists Ruby was a victim in the whole ordeal and Ruby claims she can prove her sister wouldn’t murder anyone.

Once the interviews end, Rita tells Ruby they just want to shut them up. Ruby isn’t going to let that happen and admits she told them about Eddie. She still believes Eddie will help them despite everything, so Rita tells her to get him in there today before the cops talk to him. Ann gets a message from David before Will joins her in the elevator and asks if she was responsible for Judy being restrained outside all night and getting hypothermia. Despite the urine and assault, Will believes Ann went too far this time and intends to take it to the board. Vera finds Ann crying in her office and leaves it is her anniversary. Charlotte was taken from them two years ago and Ann hasn’t slept in days. Ann knows she messed up with Judy and her judgment is all over the place because she tries to do everything herself. Vera insists she needs to accept help from others before agreeing to talk to Will.

Vera immediately approaches Will and tries to convince him not to take this to the board. She explains it is the anniversary of Charlotte’s death and she was killed in a London bombing. Will insists this was the last straw. He says Ann made it personal as Vera pushes him to drop it. He agrees to do so as long as Ann apologizes to Bryant. Next, Boomer gets a visit from Gavin Thompson (Huw Higginson) who gets the SD card. Eddie (Paul Moder) meets with Ruby and apologizes for what he has done. He promises to come clean to the cops. Gavin pushes Boomer to get more footage and promises to pay more if she does. She agrees while Jake goes outside to ask Eve for advice. She recommends using boiled onion water to deal with the baby’s colic as Joan watches Eva touch Jake’s hand. Allie goes back to the dentist who finds out her cap fell out. She urinates on herself to create a distraction as Dr. Vince Ghosh (Sachin Joab) agrees to step out and give her some privacy. She manages to steal one of the bottles of nitrous oxide before pushing herself back to her cell. That night, Ferguson and Eve talk about Eve’s man and his physical features. Eve tells Joan how he broke it off. Joan realizes she wasn’t going to stand for that.

During this time, Allie prepares the bottle of nitrous oxide. Joan learns what Eve did to Gary when he rejected her and pretended he was gay. She claims she stabbed him 16 times and dumped him in the river. Allie begins inhaling the gas and is soon transported to the island once again. She has a flashback of the attack and remembers Lou standing above her after it. She pulls off the mask. Vera goes to Greg’s office when he isn’t there and finds the bottle of medicine that he has been giving Ferguson in his drawer. When he enters, she accuses him of giving the medication to Ferguson. She knows about Liz’s tests as well so Greg says he can explain. He says he is trying to stimulate her memory. It worked for Liz and might work for Ferguson too. He insists she cannot tell anyone before saying she wants Ferguson to remember who she is anyway.

Vera leaves the bottle on his desk and leaves. Rita gets another visit from Detectives Carr and Levy only to learn that Eddie is dead. When she goes outside and joins Ruby, she argues Jones got to Eddie and shut him up. Ruby believes they’re screwed since he is cleaning house, but Rita thinks they can fix it. Will rushes outside to thank Eve for her colic remedy which worked perfectly. Once Stewart leaves, Ferguson sits with Eve and admits she has never seen Jake so smitten. Next, Marie finds out that Lou has received a letter from Reb’s mother, but she isn’t going to read it because she knows what it’ll say. Marie says she is worried about Lou and her threat to kill them all. Lou agrees it was just the grief talking and Marie shouldn’t worry about it. Lou checks the letter and finds a picture of Reb’s tombstone that calls him she. She begins complaining before Allie attacks her from behind with the bottle.

When Lou wakes up, she is strapped to a chair with the nitrous oxide mask on her face. Allie opens the canister and Lou begins feeling the effects of the nitrous oxide immediately. She tells Lou what will happen to her when she continues inhaling the gas. Allie admits she doesn’t want to kill her even though she has thought about revenge since waking up in the hospital. Lou says it wasn’t her while Allie says killing her would be a merciful release. Allie describes her plan to give Lou enough of the gas to turn her into a vegetable. Lou confesses she wanted to kill her, but Allie was already stabbed when she got there. In a flashback, we see Lou bump into Judy after Allie was stabbed. Allie turns off the gas when Lou tells her it was Judy who stabbed her. Allie asks why Judy would do it, but it seems she is putting the pieces together.

Lou burns the picture of the tombstone Reb’s mother sent her. Marie walks in to check on her and Lou admits she has been better. Ann returns to the prison so she can apologize to Judy and admit she was wrong. Judy tells her she is in a forgiving mood because she just received some good news. Judy returns to the cellblock to tell everyone that the judge has agreed to investigate Allie’s claim that Judy is her primary caretaker. Judy thanks her personally and kisses her on the cheek.

 

Wentworth Review

Judas Kiss was a step back for Wentworth’s 9th season since it was slow and a bit drawn out. While a lot happened, the most significant event was Allie finding out Judy put her in the wheelchair. Thankfully, it should be a short time before Judy is finally dealt with. There is a lot going on right now and it might be too much for the writers to juggle at once.

I am getting worried they’re going to leave a lot of stories unfinished when the season is said and done. As someone who has stuck with it this long, I feel we deserve a conclusion to every storyline they’ve created so I am not sure bringing in a new character was wise. I do appreciate the Eve and Ferguson relationship and hope it brings about a fitting conclusion.

While the episode was decent, it didn’t pack the same punch as the first and second. The episode was a bit too predictable and convenient for some of the main characters. At some point, the switch needs to flip and the chaos must begin. The sooner that happens the better the final season will be. The episode scores a 7 out of 10. All recaps of Wentworth can be found on Reel Mockery here.