BOMB GIRLS Recap: “Armistice” (Episode 5, Season 1)

The penultimate episode of the debut season of Bomb Girls entitled “Armistice” aired this week with the focus being on letters received by both Gladys (Jodi Balfour) and Lorna (Meg Tilly) and the celebration of Armistice Day.

First, Gladys has received a “baker’s dozen” letters from Louis, the airman she had a dalliance with before he shipped out for the war. She shares the letters with Kate (Charlotte Hegele) and Betty (Ali Liebert); but, of course, keeps them hidden from her fiancé James (Sebastian Pigott).

Meanwhile, Lorna receives a letter from the War Department and with two sons serving in the war she is terrified it is bad news. She waits and waits for her husband Bob (Peter Outerbridge) [who is out all night drinking with his buddies] to show up at home so they can read it together. Upon finally being able to read the letter together, her fears are relieved as the couple learn their son Stanley helped save the life of a fellow soldier, being honored with an award. Lorna, obviously, is overjoyed by the news but Bob, being the overly pessimistic man he is, sees it as nothing more than a joke – that the government is just throwing metal at their son to make themselves look “good”.

But with Armistice Day fast approaching, a special ceremony is to be held at Victory Munitions that will include Lorna as its featured speaker. Being asked to give the keynote speech during the celebration by factory manager Harold Akins (Richard Fitzpatrick), Lorna is at first apprehensive about standing in front of everyone, but after getting the War Department letter about her son, she views the opportunity in a different light. So much so that she buys a new dress, gets her hair done and is “all dolled” up for her speech.

Much to her surprise, her husband along with her daughter, who is a nurse at the local hospital, both show up to the celebration, altering the well-planned speech she had written. Bob’s appearance at the Armistice Day celebration at the factory also puts Lorna’s dalliance with factory worker Marco (Antonio Cupo) into clearer perspective.

Over at the hospital, the injuries for which Archie (Billy MacLellan) sustained when the bad bomb went off in the test field at the munitions factory, has turned sepsis, causing him a great deal of pain. Factory worker Vera (Anatasia Phillips) is there by his side since she is still recovering from her own injury, being caught by one of the bomb hooks, having part of her scalp ripped off. Since her first day in the hospital Vera has been stockpiling her pain pills with the intention of using them for herself; but given how much pain Archie is in, she gives them to him instead, allowing him to die somewhat on his own terms.

Elsewhere, Kate is coming out of her shell, approaching Leon (Jim Codrington) about singing with his band at the local bar; but he is very hesitant to include her. Her big opportunity, however, does presents itself one night and she does a really great job, entertaining the bar guests and impressing Betty even more.

Rounding back to the letters from Gladys’s “fake” fiancé Louis, her real fiancé James discovers one of them in her room when he leaves a surprise gift of expensive earrings for her. Upon reading the letter and learning her secret, he ends their engagement; but Gladys does not give up, going to his apartment with her last letter to Louis that reveals the truth to him about her relationship with James. Gladys and James quickly make up and spent the night together.

The season finale of the debut season of Bomb Girls will air on Tuesday, October 16 at 10 PM.