Wentworth Season 1 Recap

Wentworth Season 1 Cast

Wentworth believe it or not, is the new OZ. Unlike the latter, the former is based on female characters. it's set in Australia and is the adaptation of the 1979 Australian soap opera, Prisoner.

The show focused on the lives of the inmates, some who were or weren't the instrument of their own doing to earn them a spot in such a place, the lives of the officers working at Wentworth, some who are, if not worse than the inmates.

 

The main character is Bea Smith. Bea is transfered to Wentworth for attempted murder of her husband, Harry. Apparently, her husband has been physically abusing her in the absence of their daughter, Debbie.

Everyone knows that there's so much one can take and one day the person will eventually SNAP! Well Bea has had enough. The next time Harry attempt to hit her, she knocks him out, drags his unconscious body to the garage, pulls him to the driver's seat of the car, ties his hands to steering wheel, and starts the car.

Debbie walks in, just in time to talk her mother out of killing her daddy as the fumes spreads in the car. The police investigates the incident but Bea, Harry and Debbie's story didn't add up to the bruises they found on his arm which suggests he was duct taped to the wheels, hence her incarceration. Bea's welcome wasn't a pleasant one as she gets caught in the war between Franky Doyle and the prison Top Dog, Jacs Holt.

 

Meanwhile on the other side, the Governor, Meg Jackson, is determined to end drug trafficking in prison and her suspect? None other than Franky. The Deputy Governor, Vera Bennett, has been passed over three times for the post of Governor and Meg can't resist rubbing it in her face every chance she gets.

 

Franky is eager in putting Bea to work. If she wants to have a peaceful life for the rest of her sentence, she has no choice but to do whatever Franky tells her, anything to stay alive and make one phone call to her daughter, telling her that she's alright.


Unfortunately for Bea, she'll make a terrible undercover agent. She passes herself off as the girlfriend of Franky's dealer to get the drugs during the prison visit, she's caught by Meg who interrogates her to give up Franky or face more time. Bea of course didn't snitch, snitches don't live long, even in prison (tips from watching TV shows).

 

Jacs comes out of solitary and starts running the place again which Franky doesn't find comfortable with. Their war caused a prison riot that almost ended badly for Franky and also left one unlucky character dead.

Bea goes to look for a child belonging to one of the inmates, Doreen Anderson, amidst the riot when she tripped over the bleeding body of the governor who was stabbed in the neck, and did I forget to tell you that her husband, Will Jackson, is one of  the prison officers and she's sleeping with his best friend Matthew Fletcher, who also works there? Just when Vera is certain that she will be the next governor, she's passed over again for the prison lawyer, Erica Davidson.

As the war continues between Franky and Jacs, we also got to know the other inmates and the reason for their incarceration. Liz who's the Peer worker for the prison was an alcoholic who killed her mother-in-law. Doreen was a drug addict who killed her unborn child and is now taking care of a child belonging to one of the inmates who's also an addict. Franky was on a cooking show, her temper gets the best of her when she pours hot oil on the host who criticized her work.

 

Jacs goes after Bea and what better way to get into someone's head than to target their family. She sends her son, Braydon, to befriend Debbie. Debbie later died in the season from drug overdose, thanks to Braydon.

 

In the season one finale, Bae discovers Jacs involvement in her daughter's death. she confronts Jacs who surprisingly didn't deny. Filled with raged, she stabs Jacs in the neck. Drenched in Blood, the season ends with the guards taking her out of the prison compound as other inmates stare in disbelief.