This post contains spoilers from MobLand season 1 episode 3, “Plan B.”
Now that Tommy (Felix Edwards) has been found, the real challenge begins for our fixer: preventing a bloody war. Harry (Tom Hardy) promised Richie (Geoff Bell) that he’d find his son, and he did… just not in one piece. Richie makes a brazen move in the opening of episode 3 and sends the Harrigans a message that he’s done waiting and is coming for them.
Additionally, Harry continues to juggle problems that need fixing, like his crumbling marriage, his housekeeper’s mother’s financial issues, and something secretive with Kevin’s (Paddy Considine) wife Bella (Lara Pulver), who has gone to great lengths to set her father up and record him bribing a foreign official, only to find herself the subject of extortion by a French spy.
What the purpose and endgame are here we do not yet know. However, her secrecy and traitorous impression serve as solid ground in the possibility that it could be she who is snitching. And speaking of snitching, more of that happens in episode 3, when D.S. Fisk (Luke Mably) gets a tip about where to find Archie Hammond’s (Alex Jennings) body.
Richie makes a bold move
Richie has given Harry multiple chances to locate Tommy or deliver Eddie (Anson Boon). Though Harry is well-liked, respected, and trusted, Richie reaches his breaking point in episode 3 and blows up Kevin’s house. Luckily, no one was home, but the message was received loud and clear, and the Harrigans are on high alert.
As news of Richie’s manhunt spreads, Harry rushes his family to safety before meeting privately with Kevin and Eddie at the shipyard. There, in a plastic-lined shipping container that’s not at all unlike a Dexter Morgan kill room, sits a beaten, bloodied, hooded Valjon (Peter Ferdinando), the owner of the club from whence Tommy disappeared.
After exposing Tommy’s mutilated body to Kevin and Eddie, Harry makes Valjon tell Kevin what Eddie paid him to do: Eddie offered him money to take care of Tommy, that after the stabbing when they all ran away, Eddie texted Valjon to come pick him and Tommy up and bring them back to the club, which Valjon did. He then left, and when he returned, Tommy was dead, and Eddie was nowhere to be seen.
Kevin becomes enraged, understanding the gravity of danger staring them down because of his son’s arrogance and stupidity. He screams at Eddie, who still fails to grasp the seriousness of his actions or the deadly consequences their family and anyone associated with them now face, and he certainly doesn’t care that he’s just put his family in the position of having to call in every favor ever owed to them by anyone affiliated with a crime syndicate. Kevin knows that if Richie finds out Eddie killed his son, Eddie’s death won’t be enough to satiate Richie’s need for vengeance. How many more bold moves does Richie have planned and already in place?
Conrad and Maeve lock horns
When Kevin calls Conrad with the news, the patriarch is speechless. However, instead of lecturing Eddie, he lets him off easy after Maeve (Helen Mirren), who is beaming with pride over what her grandson has done, tells him that Eddie “is a true Harrigan” and urges Conrad to tell him how proud he is, but he doesn’t. Instead, he says they’ll discuss this later, allowing Harry the chance to fix this problem.
Conrad and Maeve retire to the sauna for a powwow, where they initially lock horns over Eddie. Conrad sees him as a liability. Maeve sees him as their savior. They then shift their conversation to retaliation against the Stevensons should Plan A (Harry) fail, but where Conrad wants to take out Richie, Maeve says there’s a better option and suggests killing his wife, Vron (Annie Cooper), as a back-up plan. “Don’t you want Richie to suffer before he dies?” she asks. This is the second time she has stepped in to divert Conrad from killing Richie.
When Conrad tells her she’s a queen on the board, Maeve comments that she’s always been on the board: “I’m the White Queen, baby,” she says before getting him to agree that if needed, killing Vron will be their plan B. She’s in more control than anyone realizes, even those closest to her.
The couple further lock horns when their children arrive and Conrad names Seraphina (Mandeep Dhillon) before mentioning Brendan (Daniel Betts). Maeve is quick to remind him that Seraphina isn’t their child: She’s his child from an affair, and Maeve does not like her. She never will and as such, when speaking publicly about his children, Maeve tells Conrad, he is to always name her last.
Harry kills two birds with one stone… or so he hopes
Harry tells Kevin he has a plan and if it works, there will be no war, and he will have killed two birds with one stone. So, the two lead Valjon to think they’re not only going to kill him but also his kids, which compels him to do anything they want, which is exactly what they wanted to hear. Thinking he’s protecting the Harrigans and bringing peace to the Stevensons, Harry delivers Valjon to Richie to convince him of Eddie’s innocence.
Valjon says he found Tommy drunk and when he tried to help him, Tommy tried to stab him, so he defended himself and a stabbing war ensued. He pulled Tommy into his office, where he bled out, and then he chopped Tommy up, feeling he didn’t have a choice. Richie shoots Valjon but doesn’t kill him.
For now, it seems Richie believes the story, but before Harry leaves, Richie tells him he’s going to do everything possible to try and find a crack in Valjon’s story, that if something doesn’t add up, he’ll be in touch. Plan A seems to have worked, but will it stick, or will the Harrigans have to resort to their back-up plan?
MobLand episode 3 review
One of the most fascinating dynamics in MobLand exists between Conrad and Maeve. While he’s a robust character with a bit of blind charisma, he’s mangled inside, and every action he takes brings him one step closer to the edge of danger. She, on the other hand, is equally outrageous but fueled and intrigued by this underground world in which they live, from which she draws her savviness and power. There’s even a scene in episode 2 where Conrad reminds her that she might be the lawyer, but he’s still the judge… for now. We’ll see how long that lasts, especially since he has consistently deferred to her on every major decision since episode 1 and continues to do so.
Episode 3 also shares a little more about Harry’s past. While detained in juvie with Kevin, they were both beaten by a certain security guard, who now lives in the same nursing home community Harry’s housekeeper’s mother does. When Harry sees him, it triggers some flashbacks. Now that he’s all grown up and can fight back, will Harry fix this past situation in order to resolve his trauma?
And let’s rap about the changing ambiance of MobLand. Everything is cast in blue and black shadows, almost as though the world around our characters is bruised and getting worse, reinforcing the serious tone of this gangster saga and likely foreshadowing where we’re headed. While Guy Richie directed the first two episodes, he serves as executive producer on the rest, and that was noticeable in episode 3, which lacked the black comic banter, playfulness, and sudden violent bloodshed of Richie’s works. It’s a marked shift from playful to serious, though — one which we shouldn’t overlook.
MobLand releases new episodes on Sundays on Paramount+.