MobLand was originally supposed to be a spin-off of Showtime's hit series Ray Donovan, but it was ultimately completely adapted into an independent series, having no connection with the Ray Donovan starring Liev Schreiber. The show kicks off in a dark bunker in London. Harry sits at one end of a table between the Dogan and Lazaro crime syndicates, which are locked in a bitter feud with each other. After a heated argument, although both sides are still seething with anger, they finally reach a fragile ceasefire agreement. Harry walks out of the bunker and reports the situation to Conrad. The mob boss is extremely dissatisfied with this false truce and then issues a new order, demanding that Harry resolve the conflict between the two families once and for all. For Harry, this is just another day at work. When he returns to his luxurious apartment and reunites with his long-suffering wife Jane (played by Joanne Froggatt, whose wonderful performance in Downton Abbey is unforgettable) and their teenage daughter Gina (played by Teddy Allen), he carefully hides this part of his life.
Harry may have completed his task, but on the other side of the city, the night of two young men is just beginning. Eddie Harrigan (played by Anson Boone) leaves a bar in Mayfair, trying to persuade the reluctant Tommy Stevenson (played by Felix Edwards) to continue the evening's activities. Tommy is vigilant, not only because they come from two opposing families, but also because the sense of threat emanating from Eddie makes him uneasy. Although the two young men are seen together later that night, Tommy never returns home the next morning.
While their son is missing, Richie and his wife Fren (played by Annie Cooper) begin to question and confront the Harrigan family. This escalating conflict, driven by historical grudges, pushes Harry to the forefront. He desperately tries to calm the anger of both sides and manage other potential explosive hazards on the verge of an impending crisis. The main problem with MobLand (at least in the first two episodes) is that its pace is too slow. Although there are no shortages of violence and dramatic elements in the show, the plot doesn't really unfold until about 25 minutes after the opening theme song "Stick or Twist" plays. Brosnan and Mirren's performances are as brilliant as ever. However, their devilish dynamic relationship — dominated by Maeve — only gradually takes shape in the final scene of the first episode.
Since the audience is introduced to the story when the Harrigan and Stevenson families are on the verge of war, it takes some time to unfold the intricate family trees of these two families and Harry's decades-long connection with them. In the second episode "The Puzzle", Harry's introduction to the Harrigan family is presented through a flashback with Eddie's father Kevin (played by Paddy Considine), who seems almost unable to bear the violence brought by his father's empire.
In addition, Tom Hardy, a movie star famous for creating grand characters, is initially overly confined to the role of Harry in the show. It's only at the end of the second episode that this stoic fixer is able to let loose. When he and his colleague Kiko (played by Antonio González Guerrero) walk into a crowded dance club in horror, the audience can't help but breathe a sigh of relief, finally seeing a character capable of more than verbal threats and handling logistics. It seems that the story really starts to unfold at this moment.
Without having watched the last eight episodes of the show, it's hard to make an accurate prediction about the overall ending of MobLand. However, it doesn't seem to have the grand narrative scale of Peacock's The Day of the Jackal nor the dazzling chaos of Guy Ritchie's 2024 Netflix show The Gentlemen. Nevertheless, due to some striking plot revelations in the show, mainly concentrated in the second episode, the audience is still full of expectations for whether this story can finally take shape, especially with such a group of A-list actors delivering wonderful performances.