WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Nevers, Episode 4, "Undertaking," which premiered Sunday on HBO.
Last week's episode of The Nevers ended with Mary Brighton being gunned down just as her song of hope was being broadcast to London's Touched. While the tragedy of her death was acutely felt by the residents of the orphanage, it also inspired dozens of new Touched to join them there, including Bonfire Annie. This week's episode, "Undertaking," opens with the characters attending Mary's funeral, but one person is missing: Amalia True, who instead of mourning with the others is busy drinking and getting into fights at a local pub.
Elsewhere in London, someone is organizing a worker rebellion at a local warehouse owned by Lord Gilbert Massen. The workers are demanding higher wages because they've discovered there are explosives in the cargo they're handling. Massen, however, is unmoved, pointing out both that the explosives are stable and that he could easily replace them. They go back to work after Massen says he'll let them keep their jobs if they drop their grievance.
Meanwhile, the Touched have returned to the orphanage, and with Amalia gone, Annie has taken over her office. When Dr. Cousens finds her there, she complains about Amalia shirking her leadership duties and missing the funeral. They discuss the men wearing pink rags who showed up to heckle the Touched there, a group Annie refers to as the Purists. As Dr. Cousens questions how Annie can go from Maladie's gang to joining Amalia, Penance enters wondering where Amalia is. Just as she starts to express her frustration with her absence, Amalia appears.
Amalia wants to know if Maladie was at the funeral. The papers that are reporting Mary's murder are blaming Maladie, but although the shooter was a member of her gang, Amalia, Penance and the others aren't sure she is truly the one responsible. Amalia has also uncovered the identity of the Touched man who attacked her in the previous episode. His name is Nicholas Perbal but he goes by the name Odium. Still, it's unclear if the attack on her and the attack on Mary are related.
Just then, Amalia's turn kicks in and she glimpses a future in which she's talking to Lord Massen. When the vision stops, she says she's going to go take a bath. Penance follows her out to reprimand her for failing to attend the funeral and reminds her she needs to make time for her pain. Amalia responds by sharing she was left alone with a mission she wasn't actually given and now she's in a place where a woman can be killed just for having a voice. She desperately wants to figure out who's responsible for Mary's murder, and tells Penance she needs to stop worrying about who was at Mary's funeral and start considering if there was someone amongst the Touched who was somehow involved in her demise.
Meanwhile, Primrose finds Myrtle crying in Penance's workshop. She's drawing something and Primrose asks if she wants to talk, but of course, because of Myrtle's turn, they can't communicate by speaking. Instead, Myrtle lays out a series of drawings, which Primrose attempts to interpret. She eventually figures out that Myrtle is saying that she could understand Mary's song.
At the police station, a woman reporter, F.E. Boyle tries to question Inspector Mundi about what happened to Mary. While Mundi isn't interested in speaking to her, she seems to be the only person in the press pursuing an angle other than the simplistic notion that Maladie was responsible.
Mundi walks into the questioning of the Purists who harassed the Touched at Mary's funeral. They claim they just happened upon the funeral and were simply expressing themselves. But when they discover that Mundi was once a boxer called "the East End Ape," they back off and tell the truth: a couple guys in suits gave them the information about the funeral at a Purist meeting and proposed that they should call the Touched out during the event. The card they hand over with the funeral time and location has a swan on the back.
At the orphanage, Lucy Best watches as Myrtle and Harriet approach the newest arrivals to determine if they know any languages that can help them translate Mary's song. Penance calls her into Amalia's office where Amalia, Penance, Annie and Dr. Cousens are brainstorming a list of people powerful enough to orchestrate Mary's murder. On their list: Lord Massen, the Beggar King, and Augustus and Lavinia Bidlow. They divide the list with the goal of questioning their suspects. Penance goes to see Augustus, Annie to see the Beggar King and Amalia follows her vision and goes to see Massen.
At a gentleman's club, Hugo Swann is playing chess with cheese when Mundi appears and drags him into an empty room. He believes Swann is the one who sent the Purists to mock the funeral and he's furious. But Swann doesn't know who the Purists are, and when Mundi shows him the card the Purists gave him, Swann claims the card's not his. Mundi calms down at this, but Swann points out that someone orchestrated this situation to ensure Mundi would sacrifice good police work for an emotional response. Mundi's still not convinced Swann's innocent, but Swann says he's not a murderer.
Penance surprises Augustus at the Bidlow estate. Given the way he blew her off at the party in Episode 2, Penance is defensive before they even start talking. Augustus on the other hand, is clearly happy to see Penance. They have a conversation in which Augustus admits his guilt over how he treated her, which Penance takes as a confession to Mary's murder. Once Augustus realizes what's going on, he sets her straight, and although Penance is still hurt, Augustus expresses his desire to make it up to her and become her friend.
On the docks, Annie is using her fire to question the Beggar King's men when she comes upon someone new, a man who calls himself Nimble Jack. When Annie aims her fire at him, he stops it with a shield of ice, confirming he too is Touched. Annie deduces he works for the Beggar King, and Nimble Jack discloses that although Odium works for the Beggar King too, the Beggar King wasn't behind Odium's attack on Amalia. He asks Annie not to kill Odium, pointing out that someone is trying to misdirect the Touched away from the people who really perpetrated the attacks on Mary and Amalia.
Meanwhile, Amalia arrives at Lord Massen's mansion. Although the man agrees to see her due to her relationship with Lavinia, he immediately informs her he had nothing to do with Mary's death. Then Amalia proposes an exercise where he pretends to be the mastermind behind the murder and she pretends to be Mary. During their exchange Massen cleverly explains the broader motivation for the act and calls Mary a casualty of war. For all intents and purposes, he admits he's behind what happened without actually admitting to it, while also indicating there's a larger apparatus at work against the Touched.
Amalia brings the information back to the orphanage where Annie argues they have to retaliate in some way even if it isn't by killing Massen. Lucy Best suggests they torch Massen's warehouse where the munitions are held that night.
At the same time, Mundi returns to the police station after his confrontation with Swann only to have the superintendent calls him into his office. Mundi thinks he's in trouble but instead he finds Maladie's there with a wire wrapped around the man's neck. She's upset because everyone believes she killed Mary when she didn't. She wants Mundi to set the public straight. When Mundi agrees, she flees out the window. Mundi follows while calling for the other officers. He catches up with Maladie and wrestles her into unconsciousness.
That night, Amalia and Lucy go to the warehouse. But when Amalia opens one of the crates it's got nothing but rocks in it. Lucy tries to feign ignorance, but she realizes Amalia already knows she's working for Massen. Last week Penance disclosed Lucy's backstory: she didn't know about her turn -- the ability to break anything she touches -- until she picked up her six-month-old baby and broke every bone in his body, killing him. Amalia is devastated that Lucy isn't the ally she believed her to be, but now that the truth is out, Lucy expresses her contempt for Amalia and her cause. While Amalia's offering Mary's hopeful platitudes, Massen told Lucy he'd find a cure for her turn, which she views as an affliction.
Amalia draws a gun and threatens Lucy, but Lucy uses her turn to destroy the crates around them. They fight and Lucy almost escapes. But when she notices she's lost the elephant pin Penance made for her, a symbol in remembrance of her mother, she goes back for it. This gives Amalia enough time to retrieve her gun and get the upper hand. She tells Lucy she's banishing her from London after Lucy tells her everything she knows about Massen's operation. Amalia uses the intel she gets from Lucy to blow up the warehouse containing the real munitions, alerting Massen to the fact that she's discovered Lucy's true allegiances.
Back at the orphanage, Amalia and Penance are discussing the loss of Lucy when Primrose, Myrtle and Harriet come in. They've translated Mary's song and want to share its message. Part of the song was specifically addressed to Amalia. It says she isn't alone but she needs to find something. As Harriet reads the translation, Amalia starts to cry. While the song's message is puzzling to everyone else, she seems to understand it. Harriet and Penance realize someone was speaking through Mary, and Amalia knows who they are.
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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