Gangs of London Review: A Not So Safe House Reveals Important Secrets (Season 1 Episode 6)

We’re halfway through Gangs of London, so at this point we’re expecting to get some answers. Gangs of London Season 1 Episode 6, finally starts to deliver them, but as we’ve come to expect from this show, more questions pop up.

Following the deadly yet revealing trip we took to the country in Gangs of London Season 1 Episode 5, we’re back in the city trying to figure out who attacked the Wallaces and why?

We immediately discover that our suspicions from the end of Episode 5 were correct, and it was in fact Jevan who organized the ambush.

Turns out he, and his investors, don’t want Sean in their business, as he’s “too loud and unpredictable.” They want the smarter, more rational Alex in charge of their money, and it’s hard to argue with their logic.

Ed confronts Jevan about the ambush, also learning that Jevan had Finn killed. Finn was trying to escape the life with Floriana, and the investors were not happy about that.

While that solves the main mystery of the show, there are still several questions left to be answered. Among them, the state of Elliot’s investigation.

Speaking of Elliot, he survived being shot and has been spending his time with Shannon and her son Danny.

Not only does this couple seem forced, like the writers felt they needed to jam in a romance somewhere, but the characters lack chemistry.

His love life isn’t the only thing annoying us about Elliot. We continue to be baffled at why he hasn’t been found out yet.

Turns out the Wallaces are holding the assassin who infiltrated their home and torturing her for information. Since Elliot took a bullet for him, Sean has invited him to the safe house. The duo uses her dog to find her real home.

They discover she and her husband are former Danish military, coming across the surveillance they’ve done on the Wallaces and Dumanis.

Unfortunately, the couple’s son shows up and Elliot lies to the kid, saying they are police officers. Of course, this immediately rouses Sean’s suspicions.

It’s three steps forward, four steps back with this guy. He can’t get out of his own way.

At some point, undercover cop stories always include a line where the cop says, “I can’t push too hard, they’ll figure it out.” Apparently, Elliot has never seen any of those, because he’s constantly pushing way too hard.

Everyone has seen enough undercover cop movies and TV shows to know this doesn’t end well for Elliot. He either dies or is forced to disappear from his life forever. The real question is, do we care?

One of this show’s main problems is that Elliot is a character we’re not necessarily rooting for. Frankly, we’re not even sure what his motivation is to go through all this. Other than doing his job, why is he so determined to bring down the Wallaces?

Now that we’re six episodes in, we need to talk about the violence. Yes, the action sequences are amazingly cinematic and beautifully shot. However, there have been plenty of times when it’s also been over the top gratuitous.

That happens here as we repeatedly come back to Marian torturing the assassin who came after her family. Obviously, she’s justified in wanting revenge, but it’s just too much for one hour of television.

Since she’s ex-special forces, the assassin does eventually escape, taking Billy hostage in the process. Marian finally gets her revenge by killing the woman and saving her son.

The most interesting moment of this episode comes at the end when Alex and Sean see that someone has stolen Luan’s billion-dollar investment, which everyone will think they did. This sets up the drama and violence we’ll get from a war between Luan and the Wallaces/Dumanis.

Following the high of the excellent Gangs of London Season 1 Episode 5, this installment was somewhat of a letdown. It’s true we got more answers, but honestly, the deep dive into Wallace family drama wasn’t nearly as fascinating as the show wanted it to be.

Despite strong performances from Michelle Fairley and Joe Cole, we didn’t learn anything new about this family that we didn’t already suspect, or that we haven’t already seen from countless other mob stories.

What did you think of this episode of Gangs of London? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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