WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Nevers, Episode 5, "Hanged," which premiered Sunday on HBO.
On last week's episode of The Nevers, Amalia True learned that Lucy Best was spying on the Touched for Lord Massen. After banishing Lucy from London, Amalia came home to discover Myrtle, Harriet and Primrose had enlisted the other orphans to help translate Mary Brighton's song. The translation revealed that it held a personal message for Amalia. It urged her to come find the entity that was speaking through Mary, which said it had gone inside London to heal. Now as the fifth episode, "Hanged," begins, workers continue to excavate the glowing blue object in the ceiling of Dr. Hague's lair, an object that now is almost certainly the entity that reached out to Amalia through Mary's song. As the work continues, a crack forms in the object. Is something about to hatch?
Elsewhere in London, the trial of Touched serial killer Maladie, who Inspector Mundi caught in last week's episode, is coming to an end. The judge finds her guilty and sentences her to be hanged. Even more surprisingly, he orders her sentence to take place in the public square for all of London to see.
Massen and his cronies in the government get together to discuss Maladie's coming execution. They're divided on the public nature of the event. Such displays were banned 30 years ago, but some think London needs to see the sentence carried out and others believe England will look savage to the rest of the world. In the course of the conversation, one of them admits that the group was behind Mary Brighton's murder. Given the number of Touched Mary's song brought to the orphanage anyway, the man questions the wisdom of their actions, but Massen points out that if they hadn't murdered Mary the orphanage may have brought in even more Touched.
Meanwhile, Amalia and Penance are making plans to drill into the city to rescue the entity that contacted Amalia, which they refer to as the "Galanthie." Penance has determined that the best time to complete the task is during Maladie's hanging because the city, including the Royal Military, will be paying attention to that.
Lavinia Bidlow has arrived at the excavation site in Dr. Hague's lair. The crack in the egg concerns her but Dr. Hague explains that the object, which is projecting a blinding blue light at regular intervals, is more of a chrysalis than an egg. Lavinia wants Dr. Hague to kill it, but Dr. Hague argues that by the time the chrysalis breaks open they'll have extracted the object and moved it to a secure bunker miles from London. Lavinia counters that their hopes for finding a cure for the Touched were childish and now she simply fears the power of the object is somehow negatively influencing the public. She believes Maladie's execution is somehow evidence of that, and is convinced the object ultimately intends to destroy them. But Dr. Hague doesn't agree, observing that Lavinia hasn't lost her moral compass by being exposed to it.
At the orphanage, Desiree reads a piece in the newspaper by reporter Effie Boyle arguing against the public execution of Maladie. The group discusses the event, and Harriet, who aspires to be a lawyer, points out that there's no legal argument justifying a public hanging. She boils down the real reason behind the choice, "They're hanging Maladie for being Touched."
And it does seem the government is cracking down on the Touched. Not only are they now required to register, they are also required to wear blue ribbons so they can be identified as Touched in public. As the other officers at the police station deal with these new Touched-specific duties, Effie Boyle begs Mundi to get her an exclusive with Maladie before the hanging. He flatly refuses.
Later, Hugo Swann comes to see Mundi about a situation one of the Touched he employs has gotten into with one of his clients. Mundi decides against charging him for the incident but warns he'll shut Swann's Ferryman's Club down if it happens again. Effie Boyle confronts Swann as he leaves Mundi's office. She seems to be manipulating him into getting her the time she seeks with Maladie.
At the orphanage, Augie Bidlow comes to meet with Penance and Amalia. Though he told his sister he'll be out of town during the execution the next day, in truth he's been enlisted to help find the Galanthie. He will use his turn to control birds to distract anyone who happens to be around while they drill into the city.
At the same time, the Beggar King is preparing for the execution by supervising the children in his warehouses as they create souvenirs of hanged dolls to commemorate the occasion. He's informed that Lord Massen has come to see him and has him escorted into another part of his warehouse. Massen starts the conversation by arguing that the Touched are against the natural order, but the Beggar King counters that he doesn't believe order is so natural. So Massen tries to convince him that the Touched are a threat to them both. The Beggar King is more flexible, however, believing he can adapt regardless of what happens with the Touched. With that, Massen finally reveals what he really wants: the Beggar King's people to cause just enough chaos to ensure London decides it wants to be free from the chaos caused by the Touched.
At the orphanage, Penance laments the violence her inventions could cause to Amalia. As Amalia tries to comfort her, there's a knock on the door and the women open it to find nooses strung up throughout the courtyard.
The next morning, Penance admits she's spent the night figuring out how to save Maladie. She now wants to pursue that objective instead of going for the Galanthie as she and Amalia previously agreed. Amalia tries to talk Penance out of it, but Penance won't be swayed. Amalia finally relents to Penance's plan but makes it clear that while Penance saves Maladie, she's going for the Galanthie. Penance is surprised Amalia isn't planning to postpone, but Amalia claims the future of the world depends on what she's doing.
They take their different missions to the courtyard, and each one tries to convince the orphans to join them. Ultimately, a majority of the group chooses to go with Amalia, but Harriet, Desiree and a couple others decide to go with Penance, while both Primrose and Myrtle refuse to take part in either mission. Penance also recruits Nimble Jack, whose turn involves generating plates of ice and has recently joined the Touched at the orphanage, because he's essential to her plan.
At the site of the execution, Mundi is doing his best to ensure the crowd will be controlled. There's a gate set up around the public viewing area closest to the gallows and Mundi orders only a fraction of the crowd to be let in and the gates to be locked. Nearby, the Colonel, a Touched member of Maladie's gang who's able to make people believe anything he says, approaches a policeman guarding a tent. The Colonel identifies himself as the man's favorite uncle and he lets him inside. He then convinces the men in the tent to dig for something.
Outside around the town square, Penance and her team get into place as the drums signal Maladie's arrival, and as the ground mysteriously shakes, she walks up the platform and a noose is hung around her neck. As the crowd chants, Mundi notices Penance. He approaches her as she gives the signal to start the plan. As Mundi and Penance watch, Maladie realizes someone's trying to rescue her, so she hits the lever to open the floor and jumps through, breaking her own neck.
Penance and Mundi realize Maladie wanted an audience for her execution because it will give her a means to kill as many people as possible. As they try to get the on-lookers away from the metal barricades, the Colonel flips a switch in the box he had the policemen dig up and electrocutes everyone touching the barrier. Penance runs at the Colonel, who drops the box and walks off. As the crowd descends into chaos, she pulls the wire out of the box to cut the electricity.
Since Mundi locked the gates the crowd used to enter the town square, they head towards the nearest door and down a dead end where Harriet has already gotten stuck. Harriet uses her ability to turn objects into glass with her breath to create an opening but the crowd runs at her. They trample her as they rush out. Effie Boyle, who'd been watching the execution, grabs Harriet and pulls her away from the stampede, leaving her with Desiree.
With the town square cleared out, Mundi watches as Maladie's body is pulled up. Her shoe falls off and Mundie realizes several of Maladie's toes have been cut off -- a clue this isn't actually Maladie. As Mundi returns to the office, he realizes the person he captured wasn't actually Maladie but a decoy. It's Clara, the girl in Maladie's gang who desperately wanted to be Touched but wasn't. Mundi further deduces that the unidentified woman whose murder scene he investigated in the pilot was the real Effie Boyle. While at the time, he believed the murder wasn't Maladie's work, he now realizes she was in fact behind the crime because the real Maladie has been impersonating Effie. And indeed, as the episode ends, Maladie walks away from the rioting crowd, removes her disguise and exalts in the chaos she's created.
Created by Joss Whedon, The Nevers stars Laura Donnelly, Olivia Williams, James Norton, Tom Riley, Ann Skelly, Ben Chaplin, Pip Torrens, Zackary Momoh, Amy Manson, Nick Frost, Rochelle Neil, Eleanor Tomlinson and Denis O’Hare. New episodes air Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO.
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