MobLand is back for Season 2 and honestly, after everything that happened in the first season, I already knew these people were not going to suddenly decide to live normal lives... If anything, things are even worse now.
Season 2 picks up with the Harrigan family trying to hold their criminal empire together while dealing with new enemies and problems from inside their own family. Conrad and Maeve are still at the centre of everything, but their relationship and their grip on the family are becoming increasingly complicated and then there is Harry Da Souza..
Tom Hardy returns as Harry, the family fixer who somehow always finds himself standing in the middle of everybody else's problems. At this point, I genuinely feel sorry for the man. Every time he thinks he has solved one problem, three more appear.
What I enjoyed most about the opening of Season 2 is that the show does not waste too much time getting back into the violence. The first episode immediately throws us into another dangerous situation, and you can tell that the Harrigans are no longer operating from a position of complete control.
That is important because the first season was largely about a gang war and the consequences of betrayal. Season 2 feels more like a fight over what remains.
The Harrigans are fractured, rivals are watching them closely, and Harry has to keep navigating between people who could kill each other at any moment.
Tom Hardy remains one of the biggest reasons to watch this show.
Harry is not the typical loud gangster character. He is quiet, observant and usually seems like he is already thinking five steps ahead. Hardy does a lot with very little dialogue. Sometimes Harry's facial expression tells you more than an entire conversation and then we have Pierce Brosnan as Conrad Harrigan.
Conrad is becoming increasingly unpredictable, and Brosnan seems to be enjoying the darker side of the character. He has that old-school gangster presence where he can sit quietly in a room and still make everybody uncomfortable.
Helen Mirren also returns as Maeve, and she continues to be one of the most dangerous people in the family. I actually enjoy the relationship between Conrad and Maeve because it is not a normal marriage. These two people love each other, manipulate each other and sometimes look like they could destroy each other before breakfast.... Basically, family dinner at the Harrigans' house must be exhausting.
One of the interesting additions this season is Johnny Flynn's Frankie "Beast," a new threat to the Harrigans. He immediately gives the story another source of tension, while Toby Jones' Detective Colin Tattersall also becomes increasingly important.
I like that the series is expanding its criminal world rather than simply repeating the exact same conflict from Season 1.
The action is still brutal. People get beaten, shot and threatened with the kind of confidence that makes you wonder why anybody in this universe ever goes outside but MobLand is not really about the action. It is about power.
Who controls the family?.. Who can be trusted?.. Who is secretly making deals? And how long can an empire survive when the people inside it are fighting each other?
That part of the story is what keeps me interested.
However, I do have some problems with the series... The biggest one is that MobLand sometimes feels like it is trying very hard to be a gangster classic without always having the depth to match. We have the expensive cars, suits, guns, London locations, violent men and complicated family relationships... but some of the dialogue can feel more like gangster clich茅s than genuine conversations.
The show also has a very specific sense of humour. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it feels like the writers are trying a little too hard to make the characters sound outrageous and compared with something like The Sopranos or Peaky Blinders, the emotional depth is still not quite on the same level but I cannot deny that the show is entertaining.
The performances are strong, the production looks expensive, the story moves quickly and there is always another betrayal waiting around the corner and that is probably the biggest strength so far.. you never really know who is safe.
The Harrigans may still have money, influence and weapons, but their biggest threat might actually be the people closest to them.
MobLand Season 2 episode 1 starts strongly. It does not completely reinvent the gangster genre, but it builds on what worked in Season 1 and raises the pressure around the Harrigan family.
Tom Hardy remains the standout for me, while Brosnan and Mirren continue to make the Harrigan family fascinating to watch..
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Rating: 80/100