The city will end up devouring you
Catching up on the series created by Steven Knight, I watched the first season of A Thousand Blows and also found it to be excellent entertainment. I already mentioned in the post about House of Guinness that this filmmaker continued with the visual style of Peaky Blinders, and that style is also reflected in A Thousand Blows, making it very visually striking.
From the outset, we are immersed in the story, with two Jamaicans arriving in London's East End to try to improve their lives. Hezekiah is the protagonist and believes he is going to be hired as a lion tamer at a zoo, but disappointment awaits him. Fate brings him and his friend Alec together with Mary Carr, a woman who leads a gang of professional thieves called The Forty Elephants, or at least what appears to be a faction of a larger gang.
The search for money to survive in that wild, dirty, and dangerous London, especially for two black foreigners, pushes them to participate in organized fights in a pub owned by Sugar Goodson, an extremely violent boxer and mobster. It is the meeting of these three main characters that triggers everything that happens in the season.
The surprising thing about this is that it is inspired by real characters and events.
In real life, these characters existed; the gang of women and Mary Carr were real. Of course, the creator of the series adds fiction to create a very entertaining story, since, like his other productions, it maintains a good pace, scenes of violence, and also adds other elements, such as class differences, racism, and all those things that immigrants have to suffer when they arrive in a country where racial differences are very evident. A Danish immigrant is not the same as a Jamaican immigrant.
I'm not a fan of boxing, I don't like the sport, but I do like to watch it in movies or series. The Rocky saga and the movie Raging Bull, for example, are movies that I love and are set in that world. In the case of this series, it is set in a time when this sport was beginning to enter the upper echelons of London society, and when people who came from underground fighting could earn money, as is the case with the protagonist of the story, Hezekiah, about whom it is difficult to find information on the real character.
I found a website that, before the series premiered, was dedicated to compiling information about this real-life character, and it's very interesting to see how much information is missing. Perhaps that's why the series creator also had to take what was available and invent many other things.
I like the actor Malachi Kirby, who plays Hezekiah Moscow, who manages to win over the viewer, but the ones who stand out the most are Stephen Graham as the violent Sugar Goodson. He trained hard for his physical transformation and looks terrifying. He is a first-rate actor; everything he does, he does brilliantly. The other standout is Erin Doherty, who plays Mary Carr, damn her. She's my favorite character in the series. The actress, like Graham, will be recognized for the miniseries Teenage. Here she confirms once again that she has extraordinary acting talent. By the end of the episodes, I didn't even care what happened to Hezekiah, I just wanted to know how Mary Carr would end up.
The last episode ends with a cliffhanger, but don't worry, right after the credits roll, there are previews for the second season, which means they had already filmed the second batch of episodes. And I have more good news: the trailer for the second season was released at the end of 2025, because apparently the idea was to release it last year, but they left it for now, for 2026. I haven't looked up the release date, but it's probably not too far off, since they're promoting the trailer, so we'll soon find out how the whole story ends.
If you're already familiar with Steven Knight's style, then you'll like this series too. It has all the positive aspects of his other productions. I invite you to watch it and let me know what you think in the comments.
Poni茅ndome al d铆a con la serie creada por Steven Knight, vi la primera temporada de A Thousand Blows y tambi茅n me pareci贸 un entretenimiento excelente. Ya mencion茅 en la publicaci贸n sobre House of Guinness que este cineasta continu贸 con el estilo visual de Peaky Blinders, y ese estilo tambi茅n se refleja en A Thousand Blows, lo que la hace muy llamativa visualmente.
Desde el principio, nos sumergimos en la historia, con dos jamaicanos que llegan al East End de Londres para intentar mejorar sus vidas. Hezekiah es el protagonista y cree que va a ser contratado como domador de leones en un zool贸gico, pero le espera una decepci贸n. El destino le une a 茅l y a su amigo Alec con Mary Carr, una mujer que lidera una banda de ladronas profesionales llamada The Forty Elephants, o al menos lo que parece ser una facci贸n de una banda m谩s grande.
La b煤squeda de dinero para sobrevivir en ese Londres salvaje, sucio y peligroso, especialmente para dos extranjeros negros, los empuja a participar en peleas organizadas en un pub propiedad de Sugar Goodson, un boxeador y mafioso extremadamente violento. Es el encuentro de estos tres personajes principales lo que desencadena todo lo que sucede en la temporada.
Lo sorprendente de esto es que est谩 inspirado en personajes y acontecimientos reales. En la vida real, estos personajes existieron, la banda de mujeres y Mary Carr fueron reales. Por supuesto, el creador de la serie a帽ade ficci贸n para crear una historia muy entretenida, ya que, al igual que sus otras producciones, mantiene un buen ritmo, escenas de violencia y tambi茅n a帽ade otros elementos, como las diferencias de clase, el racismo y todas esas cosas que tienen que sufrir los inmigrantes cuando llegan a un pa铆s donde las diferencias raciales son muy evidentes. Un inmigrante dan茅s no es lo mismo que un inmigrante jamaicano.
No soy fan del boxeo, no me gusta este deporte, pero s铆 me gusta verlo en pel铆culas o series. La saga Rocky y la pel铆cula Raging Bull, por ejemplo, son pel铆culas que me encantan y est谩n ambientadas en ese mundo. En el caso de esta serie, est谩 ambientada en una 茅poca en la que este deporte empezaba a entrar en las altas esferas de la sociedad londinense, y en la que las personas que ven铆an de las peleas clandestinas pod铆an ganar dinero, como es el caso del protagonista de la historia, Hezekiah, sobre el que es dif铆cil encontrar informaci贸n sobre el personaje real.
He encontrado una p谩gina web que, antes del estreno de la serie, se dedicaba a recopilar informaci贸n sobre este personaje real, y es muy interesante ver c贸mo hay mucha informaci贸n que falta. Quiz谩s por eso el creador de la serie tambi茅n ha tenido que tomar lo que hay disponible e inventar muchas otras cosas.
Me gusta el actor Malachi Kirby, que interpreta a Hezekiah Moscow, que consigue ganarse al espectador, pero los que m谩s destacan son Stephen Graham como el violento Sugar Goodson. Se entren贸 duro para su transformaci贸n f铆sica y tiene un aspecto aterrador. Es un actor de primera categor铆a; todo lo que hace, lo hace de forma brillante. La otra que se lleva todo el protagonismo es Erin Doherty, que interpreta a Mary Carr, maldita sea. Es mi personaje favorito de la serie. La actriz, al igual que Graham, ser谩 reconocida por la miniserie Teenage. Aqu铆 confirma una vez m谩s que tiene un talento interpretativo extraordinario. Al final de los episodios, ni siquiera me importaba lo que le pasara a Hezekiah, solo quer铆a saber c贸mo acabar铆a Mary Carr.
En el 煤ltimo episodio hay un buen cliffhanger, pero no te preocupes, justo despu茅s de los cr茅ditos aparecen los avances de la segunda temporada, lo que significa que ya hab铆an rodado la segunda tanda de episodios, y tengo m谩s buenas noticias: el tr谩iler de la segunda temporada se estren贸 a finales de 2025, porque al parecer la idea era estrenarla el a帽o pasado, pero la dejaron para ahora, para 2026. No he buscado la fecha de estreno, pero probablemente no est茅 muy lejos, ya que est谩n promocionando el tr谩iler, as铆 que pronto sabremos c贸mo termina toda la historia.
Si ya conoces el estilo de Steven Knight, entonces tambi茅n te gustar谩 esta serie. Tiene todos los aspectos positivos de sus otras producciones. Te invito a que la veas y me digas qu茅 te parece en los comentarios.
Gifs and separators made by me in photoshop. Translation with Deepl
