Top Boy season 1, episode 2: Building Bridges recap, explained

Netflix’s original series Top Boy is available now on the streaming service. This is Show Snob’s recap and explanation of season one – actually, it’s the third series chronologically – episode two.

Episode two of Top Boy starts with a drone dropping drugs to prison for a new character called Modie, the incarcerated boss of Fields is inside. Sully is in the same institution, we find him on his way to the dining hall where he greets Modie but they quickly argue as the latter is the “Daddy of the wing” – he runs the show.

Back in his cell, sully is in an almost meditative state after being so quick in attempting to fight. Jamie wakes at home and seems melancholy as he holds a picture of his mother, whom I assume deceased. Stephen eats breakfast as Jamie counts money in his bedroom; he seems to think he’s missing some. He confronts his other sibling Aaron for stealing it; Aaron is very apologetic.

Ats has breakfast while his mother cooks and talks to immigration agents, they are there to speak to her about her right to live and work in England. Elsewhere the Fields gang pet their dog and chat about “laying down” the Turks. Leyton is worried about a prospective pusher for their business but Jamie tells him he has a cheaper connection. Jamie assures Leyton that he is now in charge on the streets, Leyton leaves.

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Jaq and her sister have a frank exchange, Dris arrives to collect a gun; Lauryn, Jaq’s sibling, reveals the reason for his abnormal arm is that he had a stroke recently. Dushane returns to the “endz” and goes to a coffee shop, surprised to learn they do good business. A reason for this is partial gentrification of his domain, East London. Mrs. Hill welcomes her son home, she has diabetes. Shelley, who was preparing Lauryn’s nails, is there as home assistance and has been for a year.

At his dealers’ apartment block, Jamie flirts with the ‘queenpin’. She and her male partner are part of the real estate regeneration of the area. They all discuss their illicit deal; Jamie wants a steady supply: 15 kilos of cocaine a month. Kit, his right-hand-man, is skeptical that they can move that amount. However, Jamie suggests a co-op with Cam, from A-Road, who is an apparent psychopath. Again, Kit is unsure but convinced by the leader.

On the prison yard, Sully watches basketball then wanders back to his cell where a convict from Birmingham is dealing crack. Sully ejects a ‘crackhead’ then headbutts one dealer before another, with a London accent, threatens him with a shank. They are both working for Modie, whom Sully finds with a corrupt prison officer; Modie warns his opponent that he isn’t leaving on his release day.

Dris and Dushane reunite; Dris notifies him their drug market is saturated, and that he had a stroke because of inhaling too much NOS. Always a perceptive man, Dushane explains that the person who will come to Dris with an offer of Kilos is the one who “duppied” – or killed – the Turkish dealers they dealt with.

Before meeting Cam, Jamie chats up a jewelry sales girl. An animated, menacing Cam claims not to know Jamie and tries to intimidate Kit. Though the new possible ally says he and his crew will consider the offer of heroin, cannabis, and coke in bulk. Back in the watch store, Jamie is rejected but buys the timepiece and leaves Tilly his number.

Stef is rude to his history teacher at ‘parents evening’, but Jamie assures her Stefan will try harder. Ats, Stef’s friend, is doing better than him. Jamie scares the next tutor into giving his brother improved marks. They rendezvous with the other sibling Aaron on at a familiar family place for their late mother’s birthday. Aaron and Stef are given money by the elder; Aaron is assured all is well.

Ats’ mum, Amma, is fired from work for immigration issues. While Modie and gang play cards in the recreation area of their wing, Sully waits with a concoction of boiling water and sugar and disfigures his “opp”.

Meanwhile on London’s streets, Dushane parlays with Sugar’s man and is warned to stick to the rules of the arrangement or he and his disabilities Jamaican cousin will suffer the consequences. Not guilty is the plea Sully enters in response to charges for the attack on Modie; he is proficient at his own defense, nullifying the case officially.

Tilly does arrange a date with Jamie – he arrives with three mates in the car, to her annoyance. Begrudgingly, his associates vacate the vehicle just as gunshots sound – the men dive for cover. Tilly lays motionless and bleeding in the aftermath.

Upon release, Sully is given the departing dressing down from a desk officer who returns the former inmate £46. Jason is waiting for his mentor when the correctional facility’s gates open. Top Boy season one, episode two ends as Dushane watches them walk off into the distance.