MobLand season 1 episode 5 saw the war between our crime families ignited and burning wildly after the grisly murder of the Stevenson matriarch, allegedly on Maeve’s (Helen Mirren) orders.
In episode 6, insight abounds in the wake of Vron’s (Annie Cooper) death as Conrad (Pierce Brosnan) twists the knife, Maeve (Helen Mirren) schools Eddie (Anson Boon) in the art of chess, and Brendan (Daniel Betts) and Seraphina (Mandeep Dhillon) go rogue. This week’s recap also finds Richie (Geoff Bell) completely devastated, then vengeful, as he fires back against the Harrigans and sets the stage for a war full of carnage.
Across the criminal line, DS Fisk (Luke Mably) realizes the severity of what’s about to happen if the crime families aren’t stopped. It seems the police have a big decision to make.
Who gave the order to kill Vron?
In the aftermath of Vron’s death, the Harrigans urgently meet in the Cotswolds, where Conrad reveals it was he who gave the order, not Maeve. In fact, Vron’s car had been rigged to blow up for a full week before it actually did.
Kevin (Paddy Considine) is angry; he knows what happens when dying empires get into wars like this. When asked why he did it, Conrad says he will not stand for Richie mouthing off to him like he did at Tommy’s (Felix Edwards) wake: “We are at war, and we’re going to take the Stephensons out one by one.” As the father and son argue nose to nose, Maeve leans in to slurp it up like the energy vampire she’s proving herself to be (and we love it).
Conrad instructs Harry (Tom Hardy) to set a meeting with the Mexican cartel, but without Archie around for access, that’s going to prove difficult. When Richie calls, Conrad twists the knife and taunts Vron’s death before Maeve chimes in and puts Eddie on the phone. We all know what an arrogant fool he is, and here is no different.
After rubbing it in that Tommy squealed for his mum as Eddie murdered him, Richie responds with one word before hanging up the phone: RUN.
Brendan and Seraphina go rogue
Brendan and Seraphina go rogue and meet with his connection to iron out a deal, a location, and a time, then Seraphina obtains security. No one even realizes the siblings are missing until the end of the family meeting. So, where are they? Antwerp. They decided to go rogue on this underground Mozambique ruby deal, which they hope will make Conrad a whole lot of money and, in the process, make them look good.
Harry finds out they took a private boat out of port, which the Harrigans know can only mean one thing: They’re carrying a large amount of cash. Maeve is not happy. She knows if Richie gets wind of this, he’ll target her and Conrad’s firstborn, and that would be Kevin. As such, Harry is dispatched to bring them home.
Maeve schools Eddie in the art of chess
Maeve tells Conrad, if she had her choice of whom to lose in the war, she’d choose Brendan and Seraphina for their incompetence. Knowing she has to do something to prevent Brendan's death, Maeve teaches Eddie about chess. She doesn’t know how to play the board game, but she does know how to play chess with people.
Maeve schools Eddie on sacrificing pieces to win the match. She makes a calculated risk – a queen’s gambit – and calls Richie with an olive branch. She gives him the location of Brendan and Seraphina, warning him not to touch a hair on Brendan’s head, reminding him Seraphina is his for the taking.
Richie takes the bait and fires back
After working her magic, Richie takes the bait from Maeve and makes a move to fire back against the Harrigans. He can’t get to Antwerp as quickly as he needs to carry out this task, so he dispatches people to do it for him.
As Brendan and Seraphina head out to make their ruby deal, Harry arrives at their hotel and searches for clues as to where they might have gone. A heated phone call with Brendan leads to a revelatory text from Seraphina, and off he goes to save the siblings from the carnage he knows is coming.
Just as Seraphina finishes inspecting the gems and agrees to the deal, the lights go out and automatic gunfire erupts. Hitting the ground right and left are shells and bodies as the siblings scramble to hide. When a gunman finds Brendan, he’s so scared, he wets himself and begs for his life. As Seraphina rounds a corner to escape, she finds herself staring down the barrel of a gun.
MobLand episode 6 review
The heat and tension increase tenfold in episode 6 as Conrad, Maeve, and Richie make their move in the wake of Vron’s death. Richie has fired back against Conrad and, given that he’s already lost two of his clan, you know he isn’t going to settle for just one of the Harrigans.
With our matriarch and patriarchs playing games separately and together, when truths are revealed, it’s likely that we could see two pitted against one. As for which two remains yet to be seen.
So, what happens next? What, exactly, has Eddie learned from Maeve? Will Richie take both Brendan and Seraphina, or just one, and if both, will he kill both or use one for leverage?
MobLand releases new episodes on Sundays on Paramount+.