The accident sets a number of things into motion: the first instinct of the female workers it to blame themselves for what happened; they panic over the prospect that they might be making bad bombs without knowing, that they are an unintentional enemy from within – and then they start to voice their concerns over the working conditions in the factory, something they’ve obviously never done before, at least not to each other, since they are all surprised to find out that everybody has something to contribute to that conversation. The light is wobbly. There aren’t enough breaks during the shift. The ventilation isn’t sufficient. Gladys, thinking that standing up for her co-workers could finally make them accept her as one of their own (“Ladies, is that right? Do you find Miss Witham to be one of you?”, asked Lorna sarcastically when the shift began), voices their complaints to Akins, not realizing that she is the only one in the room who can even afford that kind of outspoken idealism; everybody is just worried that they could lose their job if they appear to oppose management (“It was just talk, Sir. Like women do.”, explains Betty to Akins).
Gladys in fighting on more than one front in this episode, as she usually does. She is trying to find a way for the female workers in the factory to stand up for their rights while she is still technically an outsider among them, and she watches James try and make a deal with a producer of tin cans who revolts her especially because he does not respect the soldiers that he is meant to feed, soldiers that she identifies with because she is working in the factory (“We are too busy building bombs that will destroy the enemy”).
Mrs Witham: There are other ways, our ways to affect an outcome. So you powder your noise and walk down stairs, you’ll titter at jokes, compliment tie clips, and charm Tank Treleven’s cold crass heart. That, dear Gladys, is your job.
This is precisely the conflict that Gladys is engaged in: the old way in which women of her social standing had power, subtly influencing their husbands’ and fathers’ decisions, always in the background, always with a smile on their face – except Gladys wants something else. She wants power of her own. She wants for the female workers in the factory to be able to stand up to management and improve the working conditions. She wants to be able to voice her opinion, especially when she has good reason to believe that her opinion is more fact-based than others at the dinner table. She wants to talk to James eye-to-eye – and that particular frustration goes back to the very first scene. The kind of influence that her mother imagines isn’t enough anymore, and Gladys literally has a new job now.
James: Your daughter reminded us all why we’re in this business. To help win a war.
Mr Witham: Well, I’m sure as hell not in it to lose.
Kate: You will if you only fight for yourself.
Mr Witham: And who are you fighting for, my dear? It’s all just a chance to play dress up for you. This week it’s Hepburn, next it’s Crawford or Greer Garson.
James: Gladys believes in the cause.
Mr Witham: Yes. As long as the cause features her in a starring role. She showed last night that she’s not a team player.
She isn’t being taken seriously at work because the others blame her for not having as much at stake as they do; she is disrespected by her parents because they are convinced that this is a game to her, so Gladys sets out to prove them wrong. She brings in a suggestion box, but it isn’t until the male workers ridicule it that Betty finally comes around to her side and gives it credibility by adding a suggestion of her own and asking the others to do the same. Gladys couldn’t achieve this because she isn’t yet “one of the gals” – but Betty is, and Lorna, in spite of criticizing them for the public display of protest (“Well, who’s playing the stupid game?”), takes the box up to the manager.
Lorna is fighting the same fight, but on a different front. She is essentially middle management, trying to affect the outcome by convincing Mr Akins that his approach is wrong and will not lead to better results. She fails. Worse, he forces her to fire Edith, one of her closest friends at the factory, who has recently lost her husband. Now that she has been made brutally aware how little influence she actually has, there are only two things to do: take part in Gladys’ effort and suggesting that Akins sends a productivity report with improvements instead of firing Edith, and finding proof that a male worker was responsible for the misfire.
Lorna: You think I enjoy doing this?
Bob: Yes, Lorna. Yes I do.
And this brings her back to Marco, and the episodes focuses on Lorna, but Marco kind of mirrors her in a way off-screen: he is aware that the female workers are not to blame for the misfire. He identified the person who is actually responsible, but his position at the factory does not allow him to change anything. When Lorna asks him to help her (“I want you to talk to our boss for some ridiculous reason you’re the only person…”), he tells her that he is “an outsider, just like you” – and kisses her. Later, when Bob questions her about her encounter with Marco, she responds with “A man like Mister Moretti should not be working at the factory. It’s a disaster waiting to happen.” – except she now has a whole lot of new reasons to be worried that have absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he is Italian.
Meanwhile, Kate tries to forge her security clearance, a document she needs to work at the factory, and Betty walks in just as she is about to give up on it (“I’m guessing crafts aren’t your bag?”).
Betty: Kate, you need this to work.
Kate: It’s not real.
Betty: Why?
Kate: Because Kate Andrews doesn’t exist.
Only a couple of days ago, Kate was so fearful and wary, and now she doesn’t even bother to lie to Betty. In part, it’s probably her anxiety over being unable to get the papers herself, so in a way, it doesn’t really matter if she will be exposed by Lorna anyway – but at the same time, Betty told her she’d make sure she was safe – and she promptly does, telling her she has a friend (Betty has the most exciting friends…) who can get her the papers, even though he might not necessarily want money as payment.
Her counterfeiting acquaintance turns out to be a photographer and he wants Kate to pose for pictures as payment for her papers – and Kate goes through with it, with Betty’s moral support (she literally shoves the photographer away when he intimated Kate and choreographs the shot herself – “Look at me, don’t worry about him. Just focus on me.”), but it triggers a horrible nightmare about her father. When the papers aren’t ready the next day, she blames Betty for “forcing” her into this, but when they finally go to pick up the security clearance, she seems stronger than ever before.
Kate: It’s my first pay check. You wanted to bleed me dry, you did it. I’m sure it’s a wonderful career you got, but like my daddy used to say, go gentle when choking the golden goose.
Photographer: Wish I’d seen fire like that last night.
He sends them home with the forged papers and the photographs. “I barely recognize myself”, says Kate, looking at them, and Betty responds with “this is a new you. And this is for you”, and gives her a piece of jewellery that she admired earlier. I think part of the beauty of this show is that the sweetness of the scene isn’t diminished by the fact that they aren’t on the same page; at least it’s not necessarily important at this point: Betty is courting Kate (compared to the straight couples on the show, in the most classically romantic way possible), Kate is infinitely happy that she has found a safe place and a friend. The problems start afterwards: for Betty, this is the beginning of something. She asks Kate to sleep over and is turned down without Kate even realizing what she is doing, exactly.
Kate: I am so lucky I met you.
Betty: You know those nightmares you’re having, if you ever wanna sleep over here…
Kate: That’s very kind. But I think I’ll be having better dreams now.
Betty: Well… that’s just grand.
Kate: It was a fun dance. There sure were some dreamboats.
Betty: Yeah, definitely.
Betty is disappointed. And this is perfectly acted, too (the delivery of “that’s just grand” always cracks me up and then I feel bad for Betty), because of course Betty is glad that Kate feels better, but this also puts her in a difficult position because “helping Kate” is such a perfect pretext (not that it isn't sincere) for getting closer to her (and later episodes continue with this tragic inside: whenever Betty helps Kate to pursue her dream or gain freedom, it also inevitably comes with the risk of driving her further away). “There sure were some dreamboats” is the ultimate pain, really. At the end, it’s just Betty and the photographs.
Random notes:
Bomb Girls just got renewed for a second season!
Gladys’ introduction into the dress code is a bit harsh: “We don’t have the time to mop up bloody bits of rich girl.” Betty, on the other hand: “Looking good, McRae”.
Betty: Why don’t you take a hike, see if there’s a Girl Scout troop around that’s short a patrol leader.
Marco tries visiting Archie in the hospital (he brings cannoli – “cheese in a donut? That’s disgusting!”) but since he’s knocked out on pain meds, he goes and sees Vera, and kind of manages to cheer her up – his “There’s first impressions. And then there’s what you make after that” also wonderfully applies to his relationship with Vera (and Vera’s with him), because they spend the entire episode rethinking their first impression of each other.
Gladys talks to Kate (currently trying to teach herself how to smoke, not very successfully) after her attempt to rally the girls fails, and Kate quotes her dad at her and tells her that “Nobody wants a Joan of Arc to lead us to battle. Let’s just keep our heads down and work.” which is really interesting because she later uses another quote from her father, except this time it actually empowers her (when she tells the fake papers guy she doesn’t have any more money for him), and Kate will be the successful Joan of Arc (and in a couple of episodes, a “hero”).
“Well, you’re Kate Andrews now. New name, new job, new life. Okay?”
This is the most literal take on the idea that the war provides an entirely new situation for some women – risk and opportunities.
Also the entire shoot has the subtext that Betty has a pretty good idea of what the soldiers would want to see.
The photographer’s little smirk at Betty when he hands Kate the photos – “Here. Gift with purchase.” is hilarious. It also fits in well with the fact that people in general seem to recognize that Betty is gay, but it’s never explicitly discussed (particularly in episode four).
James: When you add it all up, this war was the best thing that happened to us.
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