After last week’s premiere, The Nevers shows no signs of slowing down in “Exposure,” which has fun, heartbreak, revelations and a whopper of a twist ending. As Penance is invited to a gala at the Bidlow estate, Amalia teams up with Mundi to find Maladie. Augustus bonds with Penance, while Swann expands his social circle.
Aftermath | In a boutique, a Touched woman named Clara (Sylvie Briggs) who can make anything she touches float runs off after exposing her gifts to the crowd and finds a flyer advertising the orphanage. At said orphanage, Inspector Mundi (Ben Chaplin) raids the place looking for signs of Maladie (Amy Manson), but is silenced when Lavinia (Olivia Williams) shows up.
Amalia (Laura Donnelly) suspects that the raid was ordered by Lord Massen (Pip Torrens), but Lavinia has other priorities, namely getting Penance (Ann Skelly) to attend a ball at her estate. Penance agrees and takes Lucy (Elizabeth Berrington), Myrtle (Viola Prettajohn) and Primrose (Anna Devlin) along.
Massen runs into Swann (James Norton) at a gathering and has a spat with him over his Ferryman’s Club employing Touched and adds that his father lost his mind after Caleb Swann drowned. Amalia is then contacted by Desiree Blodgett (Ella Smith), a prostitute who’s gift is to make everyone around her tell the truth, and Amalia takes her to see Mundi, who immediately spills that he was engaged to Mary (Eleanor Tomlinson) before she ran off. With this information, Amalia blackmails him into letting her tag along with tracking down Maladie.
It Feels Like Flying | At the Bidlow estate, Penance is taken aside by Augustus (Tom Riley), who confesses to her that he has had memories of flying like a bird, causing the two of them to bond. Unfortunately, Lavinia sees them run off together and privately tells Augustus that the two of them together won’t look good for the family, forcing Augustus to blow her off and Penance to storm out in a huff.
Upset, Augustus gets drunk and heads off to the Ferryman’s Club, where Swann offers him a membership with the club. Clara is looking for the orphanage when she is grabbed by masked men who bring her to Hague (Denis O’Hare).
Things That Don’t Kill You | While looking at photos of Maladie’s potential hideouts, Amalia has a vision of her punching Maladie in a factory. She heads there to find Maladie with a “Welcome” sign and the two have a talk, during which Maladie refers to Amalia as Mali. This causes Amalia to realize that Maladie is someone she knows named Sarah whom she abandoned years ago.
Maladie then reveals that she has Mary and Penance tied to the same noose high above the ground and that Amalia can only save one. Amalia’s natural solution is to shoot herself and then Maladie right before Mundi and his cops run in and rescue Mary and Penance, as Maladie gets away.
Amalia gets stitched up by Cousens (Zackary Momoh) and is about to tell Penance of her connection to Maladie, but Penance says they can get to that tomorrow. As Mary gets settled at the orphanage, Hague meets his benefactor in the mine- and hold onto your hats for this one- Lavinia! The two of them look over a glowing sphere in the mine, as Clara works in the mine, looking like she’s in a trance.
The Nevers airs Sundays on HBO.