<em>MobLand</em> Season 1 Finale Recap

When The Sopranos ended, HBO reached a fork in the road. Though regarded as one of the greatest TV shows of all time (if not the greatest), The Sopranos dealt with two distinct fan bases throughout its six-season run: those who loved the family drama, and those who just wanted to see mob guys kill other mob guys. So, when HBO had the choice to produce Mad Men (introspective drama) or Boardwalk Empire (mob guys killing other mob guys), the network passed on Mad Men (which eventually landed on Showtime) and chose violence.

Since then, TV shows have struggled to reintegrate family drama back into gang warfare as seamlessly as The Sopranos. Peaky Blinders did a fantastic job to push the needle forward, coupled with superb acting. But now, Paramount has found something special in MobLand. Family drama returns not just because everyone on the show is largely related to each other, but because the Harrigans—played by Pierce Brosnan, Helen Mirren, Paddy Considine, Tom Hardy, and newcomer Anson Boon—are quite simply the craziest motherfuckers on TV.

In MobLand, the characters seem to look at every scene like a choose-your-own-adventure game where they know every ending—and then choose the worst option. The Harrigans aren’t the most successful mob family in London because they're sound businessmen; it's just that they just take out their competition as quickly and recklessly as possible. So, it’s up to the family’s fixer, Harry Da Souza (Hardy), to sort out their problems. And boy, do the Harrigans create problems.

Take for example, a scene from the season 1 finale. Eddie Harrigan (Boon), the youngest and most Joffrey Baratheon-coded member of the family, finds out that his grandfather, Conrad Harrigan (Brosnan), is actually his father. How? Well, because Conrad slept with his son’s wife—which is a bit of an open secret in the family, though unbeknownst to Eddie until the batshit Harrigan matriarch (Mirren) finally spills the beans.

Looking at Eddie’s possible next moves from here, what would you expect him to do with this information? A) Confront Conrad? B) Betray the family? or C) Have a heart-to-heart with Kevin (Considine), who raised him like a son even though he’s technically his half-brother? Well, Eddie chooses the craziest option: D) Attempt to strangle your mother to death for lying to you.

These are the kinds of situations that Harry sorts out in every episode of MobLand. He’s your typical fixer, much like Landman’s Tommy Norris or Mayor of Kingstown’s Mike McLusky, but the Harrigans are like toddlers holding hand grenades. Much like the aforementioned situation with Eddie, the drama in MobLand isn’t born from good writing or even smart cliff-hangers. MobLand just has more insane ideas packed into each episode than any other show on TV. And for some reason, Harry decides to go down with the ship even if it the crew are the ones tearing it apart.

Pierce Brosnan and Helen Mirren are the craziest couple on TV.

The whole mess starts when Eddie kills the son of a rival gang leader, Richie Stevenson (Geoff Bell), seemingly just for fun. Then, Maeve (Mirren) blows up Richie’s wife in her car, again, because she simply wants to create chaos. Conrad (Brosnan), the head of the family, is even worse. When he believes that his longtime advisor and best friend Archie (Alex Jennings) is a potential mole in their operation, he shoots and kills him in front of the whole family with zero evidence that Archie ever betrayed them. In the season 1 finale, he’s dumbfounded to find out that Archie was innocent, yet unresolved to create even more chaos moving forward. He even tells Kevin that the only reason he’s on top is because he put a thousand men in the ground first.

MobLand scatters reasons throughout the series that eventually explain why the Harrigans are all homicidal maniacs. Kevin was sexually abused as a teenager in prison, Eddie is a privileged asshole who has never spent a second of his life without having his way, Harry has seemingly removed all emotions from his life so that he can kill without a second thought, and Conrad and Maeve are like Batman villains for parents.

It may sound like a show full of blood and gloom, but the beauty of MobLand is that it’s consistently funny in its outlandish deaths. Not in the same, gory and ridiculous way as The Boys or Final Destination. MobLand's humor is rooted more in how little thought the Harrigans put behind the consequences of their violence.

It’s possible that executive producer Guy Ritchie—who also directed the first two episodes—had a hand in adding such a witty tone to these London wise guys. For example: one of Harry’s quirks is poking fun at how many mixed metaphors his wordy rivals use. After asking a powerful friend for help in the season 1 finale, he creates a new enemy—and likely season 2 villain—when he points out that they stated that the “ship is sinking” and the “plane is going down” in the same speech. “Ship or plane?” he asks, immediately starting their conversation off on the wrong foot. Like I said: wise guys.

But Harry has bigger problems at home, and it’s truly the ending you never saw coming. When Harry returns from killing rival gang leader Richie Stevenson in the season 1 finale, he finds his shell-shocked wife (Joanne Froggatt) cutting carrots in the Harrigan’s kitchen. Then, he’s accidentally stabbed in the chest with a kitchen knife. As it turns out, being emotionless isn’t a great quality to have when you’re trying to comfort your loved ones. So, she pushes him away and forgets that she’s holding a knife. “Fucking hell,” Harry says. “Well, now you have my complete attention.”

Somehow, Harry will survive. Tom Hardy is already talking to press about his ideas for season 2. Plus, MobLand executive producer Jez Butterworth confirmed told the New York Post that Harry is not dead. “No. We’re not gonna... We love Harry. We love Tom,” Butterworth said.

Moving from Harry on to Conrad’s incarceration for his merciless killing spree, the season 1 finale finishes with the Harrigan family patriarch leaving prison to rapturous applause from his fellow inmates. “Bring it on!” Conrad chants. “Fuck ‘em! Fuck ‘em!”

No lessons learned, and nothing gained. I wouldn’t have it any other way.