No Place Like Home (Wentworth)
| "No Place Like Home" | |
|---|---|
| Wentworth Prison episode | |
| Episode no. |
Season 1 Episode Episode 1 |
| Directed by | Kevin Carlin |
| Written by | Pete McTighe |
| Original air date |
1 May 2013 (Australia) 28 August 2013 (UK) |
| Running time | 46 minutes |
| Guest actors | |
|
Georgia Flood as Debbie Smith | |
"No Place Like Home" is the first episode of Wentworth. The episode primarily centres around Bea Smith. This episode introduced the major characters Bea, Franky, Liz, Doreen, Jacs, Vera, Erica, Will, Boomer, Harry and Debbie.
Plot
The episode begins with Bea being transported to Wentworth Prison. Before arriving at Wentworth Bea witnesses another prisoner in the van giving the guard oral sex for cigarettes. Bea then meets Will who is processing her; when she realises she hasn’t spoken to her daughter Debbie she loses her cool and has to be sedated.
The next day, Bea is being taken to her cell by Vera Bennett. Bea then meets Franky and Kim when they are having sex in her cell. Franky mocks Bea’s name and then shows a form of interest in that Bea is a hairdresser. Bea then meets Liz and Doreen. Bea offends Doreen a little when she notes that she wouldn’t want Debbie seeing the inside of a prison.
Franky plans to use Bea as a drug mule, when Bea is caught by Meg Jackson with drugs in her possession she is slotted for refusing to speak against the other prisoners. When in the slot Bea overhears Jacs Holt singing On the Inside (the theme of the original series Prisoner). Will visits Bea with her breakfast the next morning and tells Bea that her silent approach is the best way to be especially with the women.
Meg releases Jacs from the slot and Franky is scared and gets up support to cause a riot, Liz fails to talk Franky out of the riot. During the riot Franky gets ambushed and Jacs tries to cut around Franky’s tattoos. Bea is chasing Kaiya during the riot and then trips over Meg’s dead body while the other prisoners and staff watch.
The episode ends with Will crying over Meg’s body.
Flashbacks
The flashbacks in this episode focus on Bea and the physical and sexual abuse she received from husband Harry. Bea got the courage to stand up to Harry but her plan was foiled by Debbie, who immediately called an ambulance.
Harry later told the police that he was feeling suicidal covering up for Bea but he went and hit Bea when Debbie wasn't looking.
Reception
TV Equals described this episode as "Things have been changed to suit modern sensibilities, of course, and this updated series has been stripped of the campy sets, dialogue and black humour and populated instead with sex, violence and a heroine with a journey to go on. That’s Bea Smith, a woman whose been put away for the attempted murder of her abusive husband, and her experience in this first episode will surely inform her future trajectory up the hierarchy of her new surroundings. But first she’ll have to contend with warring queen bees Franky and Jacs, whose confrontation this week results in the death of a warden."[1]
An IMDB review claims that the end scene between Franky and Jacs is "beautifully staged and filmed, forming a dramatic crux, to a largely introductory episode."[2]
Ratings
Wentworth drew in 244,000 viewers for its premiere.[3] Meanwhile Foxtel spokesperson Jamie Campbell said that "more people watched Wentworth last night than any other Australian drama series premiere in Foxtel history".[3]
References
- ↑ "Wentworth Prison series 1 channel 5 review No Place Like Home". TV Equals. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
- ↑ "Wentworth Prison No Place Like Home Reviews". IMDB. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
- 1 2 "Wentworth breaks out with a bang as Arrow strikes for Nine". Sydney Morning Hearald. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
External links
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