There’s never a dull moment on Wentworth and in the season five premiere, we’re thrown a few curve balls that should keep us coming back every Tuesday night.

The story picks up in the days after the death of top dog Bea Smith (Danielle Cormack) at the hands of Joan Fergusson (Pamela Rabe).

Technically, though, she didn’t actually ‘murder’ Bea.  Sure there’s a screwdriver in the guts and our favourite redhead lying in a pool of blood, but she kind of forced The Freak’s hand.

And Bea did that because she had nothing to lose.  She’s lost all hope and thinks that her partner, Allie Novak (Kate Jenkinson) is as good as dead thanks to The Freak.

Except, Allie regains consciousness to be told of Bea’s death and now she’s hell bent on revenge. You can see how this will play out over the next eleven episodes!

So, old Joan’s protesting her innocence as she’s released into the general prison population.  Apparently keeping her in isolation would be a breach of her human rights. 

Personally, I think death at the hands of an angry inmate would be a bigger breach, but hey, what would I know!

With Bea’s death, Karen ‘Kaz’ Proctor fills the leadership void and becomes ‘top dog’.  Her first order; no one is to touch Fergusson. Or speak to her.  Or acknowledge her existence. She is invisible. Menacing, but invisible.

The question is; will this actually stop Allie seeking revenge?  And how will the staff handle this smouldering powder keg?

Will Jackson (Robbie Magasiva) is back at work after his drugs suspension, while Joan’s ‘man-on-the-inside’ Jake Stewart (Bernard Curry) is sniffing around looking for evidence that the Governor Vera Bennett (Kate Atkinson) had a hand in setting up Joan.

We all know she did, but he reports back that Vera is in the clear.  And you just have to love the Freak’s tension tic as she realises either a) she was wrong about a Vera-Bea plot all along or b) she’s been check-mated.

And while the women come to terms with the power shift at Wentworth, Franky Doyle (Nicole da Silva) is having her own problems.

She’s on the outside, working to become a lawyer, when she accidentally runs into Mike Pennisi; the cooking show host left horribly disfigured, when she dumped a pan of hot oil over him.

That got her seven years behind bars and despite it being it direct contravention of her parole, they have a coffee and talk about ‘old times’.

This is not going to end well. And it doesn’t.  He winds up dead and Franky winds up arrested for his murder.

No doubt episode two will see her back behind bars and back being a ‘Woman of Wentworth’.

And away we go. 

There’s no Bea Smith in the mix, but the strength of the characters and story lines show that Wentworth still has a lot going for it!!