Bomb Girls: Episode 2 Recap
Posted 09.19.12 by Chris
Don't be such a girl.
In Misfires, the second episode of the Reelz original series Bomb Girls, we see some surprising sides of people.
The episode opens with a bang. Literally. A bomb misfires during testing, critically injuring two male worker. Marco (Antonio Cupo) was injured but luckily (thanks to St. Christopher) he avoided serious hurt. But now the question is: Who was responsible for the bad bomb? The blame automatically goes to the girls on the Blue Line.
Make it a Bomb Girls NightWednesday starting at 9p E/ 6p P
Victory Munitions boss Harold Akins (Richard Fitzpatrick) orders Lorna Corbett (Meg Tilly) to test the girls on the line. Under the watchful eye of Lorna, the girls do their best to pass. Without flinching, rich-girl Gladys (Jodi Balfour) finds a dead rat in a mortar and hides in it in her apron. When it's Kate Andrews' (Charlotte Hegele) turn to be observed, Lorna discovers she's missing Kate's security clearance. Kate promises to bring it the next day but, of course, Kate doesn't have a security clearance because she's really not Kate Andrews. What does a girl have to do to get a forged security clearance? More on that in a bit.
After observing the girls, Lorna heads to Akins' office with the results but instead of going with the girl with the lowest grade, she suggests firing Gladys, who unlike the rest of the girls, really doesn't need the job, but Akins demands to fire the girl with the lowest grade — Edith (Lisa Norton), you know the girl whose husband was killed overseas and has yet to tell her two kids the truth (she's been forging letters home to avoid telling her kids their father is dead). This is where Lorna learns just how little influence she has at work. If she couldn't fight to keep Edith's job, was anyone's job at the factory safe?
At the boarding house, Kate is frantically and unsuccessfully trying to forge her security papers when Betty (Ali Liebert) tells her she might know a guy who can get her the papers but with the warning that this guy might require "more than money." Of course, the guy wants Kate to compromise her morals and pose for some pinup photos. With her back against the wall, she's forced to show a little skin.
At home, Gladys embarrasses her family when she gets out of line with a potential contractor that her husband and fiance are trying to land a contract with. Earlier in the episode she was disappointed in her co-workers for not standing up to Akins about improvements needed at the factory. So she shows up with a suggestion box made from a hat box she found in the closet, hoping that the girls will be more willing to offer suggestions on how to improve their work conditions if they can do it anonymously. But when she later goes to read the suggestions, she finds the box is full of lewd and crude comments from the male factory workers. Speaking of which... after reviewing why that bomb misfired, Marco discovered it was one of the men responsible for the bomb, not the girls — but Akins doesn't want to hear of it.
Lorna warns the girls they're playing with fire with the suggestion box but after reading some of their suggestions, she takes the box to Akins. Yet again, he's not too interested in what the girls have to say.
At the soldiers' dance at the Sandy Shore Pavilion (guessing this is a weekly affair), Marco tells Lorna what he discovered and says that he's like her, an outsider without much clout to change anything. Lorna tells Marco that once her girls find out they're taking the heat for one of the guys, their productivity will drop. Maybe it was the treat or maybe it was because he almost died but Marco surprisingly kisses Lorna. The kiss doesn't win Lorna over. Later that night she tells her husband (who probably hasn't surprised her with a kiss in awhile) that she still plans to find a way to get rid of Marco.
Though Kate posed for that slimy photographer, when she goes to get her security papers, he demands money and pretty much claims her entire first paycheck. Back at the boarding house, she and and Betty are looking at Kate's pinup photos and it's here we discover why Betty doesn't like to dance with the soldiers. Apparently she's a lady's lady and she has her eyes set on Kate.
Before we conclude this recap, let's not forget about poor Vera (Anastasia Phillips), who was horribly disfigured in a cringe-inducing accident in the first episode. Recovering at the hospital, Vera is visited by Lorna and Edith but tells them she doesn't want to see the other girls. And when she tries to visit with Archie, one of the factory men injured from the misfired bomb, she's ridiculed for her scar. Poor, poor Vera.
We'll see what happens next when Episode 3 airs Tuesday on Reelz at 10p ET and 10p PT. Let us know what you think of the show in the comments below.