The Harrigans’ war with Frankie Cooper has never felt more personal, and episode 8 of MobLand season 2 lets the consequences sink in. It’s a quieter, sadder hour than usual.
We’re in Kerry, as the telly says, at the start of this episode, looking on as Colm “Medusa” O’Connor is buried and his son’s blood boils as he towers over the grave. Kelly “Mad Dog” O’Connor (Colin Morgan) is among the chief mourners, the telly confirms. Freshly released from prison, he pours whisky over his father’s coffin and vows to find whoever is responsible. Kelly’s studying pub footage from the night his father died, placing Eddie and Gina in his warpath.
A bedtime story in the Cotswolds
Meanwhile, in the Cotswolds, Eddie (Anson Boon) has very nice pyjamas, as Conrad (Pierce Brosnan) tells him a bedtime story about how he killed the man who raised him, so Eddie shouldn’t wonder at Conrad killing him, his own son. Eddie notes it is “the first time you’ve ever called me that,” with a genuine smile. He looks older.
Conrad chose the family name himself after seeing it on the back of a knacker wagon: “Harrigan’s Slaughterers.” They started in a knacker wagon, and perhaps they'll return to a knacker wagon. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, and all that.
Maeve (Helen Mirren) kisses Eddie in the sauna, which is every bit as skin-crawling as you'd think. When he rejects her, she accuses him, makes him kneel and apologize, and films it. We now have enough here, it seems, to actually hope Eddie grows a brain cell and avenges his dignity somewhat.
A body on a slab
A body lies on a slab: male, 19. Frankie Cooper (Johnny Flynn) visits. “His name’s Michael Cooper. My son.” Frankie had questioned how Harry (Tom Hardy) knew he cared about his son, but Harry called his bluff and killed him anyway. Harry later explains to Kevin (Paddy Considine) that his warning to Michael in the last episode was the setup all along. It got Michael moved into solitary, where Harry secured access.
Paul’s back
Paul (Emmett J. Scanlan) is holding his own like a champ since being held hostage by Frankie. Harry and Kev lock him in a stinking shipping container with Donnie’s rotting corpse. Paul reckons his time has come, but the guys are just messing with him—bromance isn't dead. Paul chainsaws Donnie’s corpse while dancing in leopard-print pants with a vengeance, a la Reservoir Dogs’ “Stuck in the Middle with You” scene.
“Bella’s yours, mate” is a good acknowledgment between Harry and Kevin of Bella (Lara Pulver) admitting she propositioned Harry. Even if Harry does mean she's his problem, not just his. “If I didn’t know him and I met that c***,” Kev would sock Eddie, one assumes, with him trailing off in disgust. Kev hates Eddie, and Harry hates Eddie, and it’s kind of nice that Harry’s hatred of Eddie doesn’t come between Harry and Kev, given that not even Bella's propositions have come between them. That is, if we're shooting for a standard of 'nice' here. Speaking of Bella... where is she, and what vengeance is bubbling beneath her icy exterior?
Conrad sees dead people
Conrad forgets his dogs are dead, which is sad. And he sees dead people. “They’re in my head, they’re in my soul,” he says. Fair. Kevin and Conrad reconnect as Conrad confesses his mental deterioration.
But then Conrad points a gun at Kevin when he comes back with the brandy Conrad asked for, warning him to tell no one, and it's strikingly just really horrible. One doesn’t often feel sorry for Kevin, but this scene does the trick. Maeve smiling and watching him go from the window is pretty horrible too.
Harry and Jan
Jan (Joanne Froggatt) agrees to meet Harry and asks if it's still dangerous at their house. “Yeah, but you know, I’ve got you with me now, ain’t I?” He's still got it. It looks like Jan’s murder of Donnie has brought them back together. Are we going to get Mr. and Mrs. Smith, an action couple with each other's backs?
Jan asks if no part of Harry wants to escape, to run away with her and Gina forever. Great question. He’s unreadable. It’s interesting, considering how hard he tried to keep Jan and how utterly up the creek the Harrigans are, that he doesn’t drop everything and ask where to sign. We know he “can’t leave,” as he told Gina in Mallorca. But the show needs him to acknowledge Jan now she’s turned back toward him, after turning what seemed so permanently away. Jan’s no Maeve when it comes to gravitas, but the show owes her that much.
Frankie’s call
Frankie’s been crying. We never meet his family, despite the big house he’s rattling around in, and it’s quite a palpable absence. That’s especially true given that destroying a family is how gang wars in this show have traditionally been fought. Where this goes, we’ll have to see.
Frankie’s call with Harry is quite extraordinary. There’s an agelessness to Frankie's deep well of sadness; it knows that empires rise on top of body after body, but conquest can’t raise the dead. Harry’s sophistication was unmatched on MobLand until Frankie cried his heart out to him about losing his son, as if Harry weren’t the one who killed him, and as if Harry were the only one who’d understand. The big empty house wonders if Frankie might be right.
Meeting Frankie in his vulnerability, Harry is devastated by Frankie's pain as if he wasn't the one who caused it. These two are somehow so together in their unique aloneness, so equally world-weary that even their conversation about killing each other's family is adult. It's a sickly glowing light in a dark world of lethally overgrown man-children.
The crux of the issue then—why would Harry actually go through with the callous and incendiary murder of Frankie's 19-year-old son when Frankie hasn't yet landed any major blows on Harry or his aside from some spousal revenge porn?
Harry is probably trying to throw Frankie off-kilter and lead him into a trap to neutralize his threat as soon as he can. But given he surely knows Frankie will come after Gina next, that’s hard to like and harder to understand. The sadness drenching this episode is an important interlude before Harry lays his cards out, presumably in the next episode. With a detective tipped off about the Harrigans’ lake, a body lying beneath its surface, and Mad Dog off the leash, those cards may need to be played fast. And we are so morbidly excited to see them.
New episodes of MobLand season 2 stream Fridays on Paramount+.
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