BOMB GIRLS Recap: “Elements of Surprise” (Season 1, Finale)

In the season finale of Bomb Girls entitled “Elements of Surprise” there is, of course, a great deal of storylines being bandied about, starting with Lorna (Meg Tilly) getting sick at the factory and letting it slip to Edith (Lisa Norton) that she is pregnant. Lorna asks Edith not to say anything as she hasn’t told Bob yet; and that would be a big problem seeing as how she hasn’t had sex with her husband in a very long time; and the baby is obviously from her dalliance with fellow munitions factory worker Marco (Antonio Cupo).

At the hospital, injured factory worker Vera (Anastasia Phillips) is being released from the hospital and she is resigned to the fact she has to move back home with her parents; but that seems to be an arrangement that she is not happy about at all. But even a one-to-one conversation with Betty (Ali Liebert) doesn’t seem to cause Vera to have a change of heart.

Elsewhere, Gladys (Jodi Balfour) is still having ongoing problems with her parents, who are still not supportive of her working at the munitions factory even though they think she is just in the office. The fact that she is on the assembly line has not been revealed to them until her father shows up for a surprise visit at the factory, discovering what she is really doing there – creating bombs alongside all the other female workers – and lying to them. He disrupts the entire factory, putting all of the workers in danger by not taking the necessary precautions with the clothing (and even the shoes) he is wearing. He, of course, argues with Gladys – but she stands up for herself – and Marco steps in to warn her father that he will be forcible removed.

Outside the factory, Gladys’ parents discuss her lies with her mother Adele (Kate Hennig) saying she will take care of the situation. Her resolution to the problem…she goes to the home of Lorna to make a deal. Lorna gets Gladys fired and Adele will fund any efforts Lorna’s daughter Sheila (Natasha Greenblatt) makes with nursing school. In fact, Adele tells Lorna that Sheila shouldn’t just try to be a nurse, but rather become a doctor; and she will be the benefactor making it possible. Lorna, of course, is visibly shaking by that offer, as she wants what is best for her daughter, but she can’t get Gladys fired, as she doesn’t have that kind of influence at the factory.

Much to everyone’s surprise, Vera returns to the factory and is put on as a relief worker for the assembly line. When Gladys asks for a break, Vera steps in to take over but has a horrible flashback to the day she was violently injured at work, causing a scene and injuring Betty. That incident sets in motion a plan of action that Lorna regrets making, but is necessary to keep her secret covered. Rumors had been going around the factory that one of the girls on the assembly line was pregnant (which is actually Lorna) and Lorna using Gladys as the scapegoat. She tells factory manager Harold (Richard Fitzpatrick) that Gladys is actually the one who is pregnant – given him the pregnancy test that Lorna had her daughter run through the hospital – and that the incident with Vera and her pregnancy were reason enough to let her go.

Gladys, of course, is not happy about this surprise, thinking that her parents have sunk to an all new low to get her out of working at the factory. Meanwhile, Marco gets wise to what is going on, thinking that Lorna is pregnant with his child (she is), but she claims it is not his; and proceeds to convince her husband to have sex with her after the alarming news has broken that the attack on Pearl Harbor has taken place, causing the Americans to declare war.

That declaration has a profound effect on Gladys and her fiancé James (Sebastian Pigott), who were going to elope in just a few days-time; but upon returning from a business trip Gladys is surprised to find out that James has enlisted. They will marry regardless, but she is out of a job that was providing her with her first taste of freedom and losing him to the war.

Meanwhile, the relationship between Kate (nee Marion) [Charlotte Hegele] and Betty comes to a head by the very unexpected surprise visit by Kate’s minister father – the man who abused her and for whom she ran away from, hiding under her assumed name and taking a job at the factory. Betty tried to protect Kate from his first visit, getting Kate’s dad to leave; but the second encounter did not go as well; especially after Betty tried to kiss Kate at the local bar where the two girls were visiting with Leon after the news of Pearl Harbor was announced. Kate, of course, reacted poorly to Betty’s advances and later Kate left the boarding house with her father which ended with Betty getting a nasty slap to the face by Kate’s father.

Also, Edith finally had to come clean with her children about the death of their father after Bob spent a day flying kites with Edith’s young son at the local park. As it turns out, the little boy had figured it out – because his mother spends a lot of nights crying herself to sleep. Edith, of course, was upset with Bob for telling her son the truth; but in the end she realized he was only trying to comfort and explain to the boy something he had already, for the most part, figured out on his own.

In the end, despite the surprises dealt to them, the four women of Victory Munitions – Gladys, Edith, Betty and Vera – proudly marched side-by-side back into the factory to continue their work there no matter what.

A second season of Bomb Girls has been ordered by their Canadian home network known as Global TV, but it is unclear at this time if Reelz Channel will air the second season for the U.S. viewers.