Catching up with the content I still want to put out there is my Episode 7 of Mobland RECAP and I gotta say, this show continues to be one of those series that dances between potential greatness in front of you but never quite delivers, like seriously seven episodes in and the pacing still feels off, the characters still feel underdeveloped and the plot twists feel forced rather than earned, its like they're desperately trying to create a British version of The Sopranos but forgot to include what made that show great in the first place. Its the details, the evolution of the characters and the believable world building so it makes me wonder for how long this series will really run or is this a one season thing??. Instead what we get is a showcase for Tom Hardy to look intense and Pierce Brosnan to chew scenery with his over the top performance as Conrad.
- IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt32125927/
- Platform: Paramount+
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This episode titled "The Crossroads" opens with Harry realizing he's too late to rescue Brendan and Seraphina from the warehouse in Antwerp, the kidnappers have taken them and left behind a super cliche "WAR" message written in blood, not very subtle at all btw, like the audience didnt know there is a war going on, this is the type of cliche things I often talk about from this series. We find out that the Moroccan gang El Youfsi has them, working for Jaime of the Mexican cartel, who's working for Richie and if that chain of command sounds over crowded and unnecessary, well its not so different on the Harrigans, welcome to Mobland. Sorry if I'm nagging too much but feels like nothing can be simple and straightforward, meanwhile Maeve continues to be the absolute worst pretending to be heartbroken about both her kidnapped children when she's actually the one who set Seraphina up to be killed, her call with Richie reveals that he's not honoring their deal to spare Brendan and watching her meltdown would be satisfying if the show had done a better job establishing her character beyond "evil stepmother stereotype" in previous episodes, its probably what kepts me watching when Conrad kills her or someone puts her under a lot of pain.
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The side storylines continue to feel disconnected with Eddie and Gina suddenly developing romantic feelings that come out of nowhere, Jan being manipulated by Alice without ever questioning why this woman suddenly wants to meet her hours away from London to what she agrees and sneak out of Costwold just like that? like she could outsmart the army looking after them. There is Bella ignoring Harry's advice about her shady business deal to screw her dad and Kevin obsessing over Rusby, an old guard from his juvenile detention days who rape him, none of these plotlines get enough screen time to feel meaningful and they're constantly interrupted by cutting to other scenes just when they might be getting interesting and thats the problem with neither giving the characters enough screen time or there side stories.
The most frustrating part is how oblivious Conrad is to Maeve's betrayal even when she refuses to show him a text from Richie about their children, COME ON!!! this guy is supposed to be this ruthless crime boss who's survived decades in the underworld but he can't see that his wife is playing him and ok Im fine with the story be like this is how their entire life has been but she is just going too far how, isnt she? Then there is this contrast between these fumbling subplots and Harry's action sequences is jarring, Tom Hardy gets to look cool taking down thugs while everyone else gets stuck in boring conversations that go nowhere, the action scenes themselves are well shot but they feel disconnected from the rest of the show almost like they belong to a different one like Harry can be a spin off or even a better series that I'd rather be watching instead.
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The episode's climax involving Brendan and Seraphina tied up facing execution should be tense and emotional, but it's hard to care about characters the show hasn't given us reason to care about and I mention this a couple of episodes ago until they finally gave them something to work with, the Ruby deal but its like the series shut that down the moment it only took one episode to kidnap them after Brendan had this drama queen episode "THIS IS MY SHOW" for what Im so glad of his brutal death by chainsaw that feels more like shock value rather than a meaningful plot development because there is that he is dead and does that affect anyone? nop, and the last minute introduction of Cat Mallister as some uber powerful crime figure who can stop Mexican cartels with a phone call feels like lazy writing, it really feels like MI6 agents from 007 movies.
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