GANGS OF LONDON S2: E3-E6 Review: Backstabbers And Gamechangers As War Erupts On The Streets
Following my coverage of the first two episodes of the second season of Gangs Of London, I can certainly confirm that while I await the final two episodes, the next four chapters of the season only get more grim and enticing. The show is already streaming in the UK so folks overseas and anyone who can otherwise currently access it will know what’s what, but I’ll insofar disclose as much that even more twists and dark turns are on the horizon as we follow Elliot’s quest to get out, and ultimately, Marian’s fight for survival as Georgian assassin and gunrunner Koba continues his onslaught throughout London.
While more is revealed about the preceding events leading into the second season, the alleged murder of Sean Wallace – played by Joe Cole in season one, it’s only a small peak and doesn’t answer the question of just what happened and why in the full breadth. All we know is what we see and continue to witness as Elliott (Ṣọpẹ Dìrísù) battles his way through the underworld while Marian (Michelle Fairley) ultimately finds herself in bed with the Kurds, led by Lale (Narges Rashidi), who herself ends up becoming an underworld football used by people she once assumed were allies, the Algerians are left in a standstill with Basem’s daughter, Saba (Jahz Armando) struggling to deal with her own tragedy, and Billy (Brian Vernel) is still left dealing with a shocking revelation.
The treachery goes even beyond this point as Albanian mafia leader Luan (Orli Shurka) ends up cornered by Koba while Wallace family cohort Ed Dumani (Lucian Msamati) continues to play as many sides as he can while skirting his own moral compass for as long as he can, that is, without endangering himself or his family. As we engage the second half of season two, the consequences begin to pile on almost in full as the first wave of violence overtakes London through several explosive raids led by the Kurdish gang as it targets Koba, while Elliot continues to toil for the investors in a stoic bid to get out of London until he comes across a thumb drive with all the info that could take down London’s crime families and organizations, all the way to the shadowy figures of influence behind the curtains.
Perhaps the biggest and most important aspect of this second season is that it completely turns everything you know about Wallace family inheritor Sean on its head. The violence and skullduggery come fresh out of inspiration from Greek and Shakespearean lore and speak directly to the true nature of how we should see someone I believe many of us saw as anti-heroic. It’s easy to get behind Sean in the first season as we look toward him avenging his father’s heinous murder, but the revelations that arise in season two will truly blow the lid off of some of your expectations if any.
The episodes are topped off with the usual escalating of ballistic action and violence, point-blank range shots to the head of a rather personal nature, and scenes of torture including a man who gets his hand sliced. Shuka and Msamati get done and dusted in a rainy fight sequence with a few Gerogian gangsters, with one gruesome death involving a pick axe, while Dirisu himself gets caught scrapping with a hulking Georgian gangster before the last shot sees an explicitly gory moment of bullet fare as gunfire rips through a goon’s mouth and into the head of another, and Rashidi must take several other thugs to task as she fights her way from captivity, ultimately beating one sorry dude to a bloody pulp and turning the bulb end of a flashlight blood-red.
If the remaining two episodes continue at this rate, then I don’t expect the rest of this show to be a forgiving affair in the least. All the cards are on the table for this second season, so if you haven’t dived in yet or indulged yourself in any spoilers, be ready for just about anything.
Gangs Of London is now available in the UK streaming all episodes as a Sky Original on Sky Atlantic, and on streaming service NOW. The series will stream exclusively in the U.S. on AMC+ beginning November 17.
Native New Yorker. Been writing for a long time now, and I enjoy what I do. Be nice to me!