Gangs of London Review: The Family Legacy Comes Tumbling Down (Season 1 Episode 8)

Following Mosi’s brutal introduction to the city, and the violent split between the Wallaces and Dumanis, Gangs of London Season 1 Episode 8 has a lot of ground to cover before the finale.

The Wallaces are once again forced into hiding, as Jevan is still trying to kill them. He sends his mercenary Leif, after Jack, so he can use her as bait to lure out the rest of the family.

Fortunately, Billy gets to her first, and after another round of complaints about Marian, the duo get away just in time.

To this point, Billy has been presented as the loser addict, who’s more embarrassing than helpful. However, Brian Vernel has always portrayed him as a lost boy trapped in a terrible family, who’s just as dangerous and perhaps uses the heroin to avoid becoming like Sean and his father.

His layered performance is finally given a chance to shine in his scenes with Valene Kane’s Jack. The sweet way he informs his sister that he’s been planning their escape with new identities for five years is a lovely payoff to all the negativity we’ve seen him put up with.

For the time being, the siblings safely leave the chaos behind, and hopefully make a more stable life for themselves, and Jack’s baby.

Marian wants the family to go to Ireland, regroup, and return even stronger. Sean, still reeling from both the Dumanis and Finn’s betrayal, seems ready to give up. He sees that they can’t win, with their only choices being to run away or get revenge on everyone.

The psychopath that he is, he chooses the latter, but we’ll get to that later.

The Wallaces aren’t the only ones in trouble, as the walls are also closing in on Elliot.

He tries to see Shannon and Danny, but Ed is there to stop him, and give him an earful about his nonsensical choices. He still can’t figure out why Elliot won’t choose a side. He also lets him know that when he does decide, it’s not the side Ed and his family are on.

As if things weren’t bad enough, Elliot is told that Anthony, the cop he and Vic tried to get arrested, was actually captured by Sean’s men. His captain says this is all on him and the only way he can remotely redeem himself is to save Anthony.

Elliot gets Sean to tell him where Anthony is being held. Unfortunately, Anthony is being tortured for information. Even though Elliot kills all Sean’s men, he’s too late and Anthony dies of his wounds.

Elliot’s poor handling of this investigation has been a topic of concern for weeks. We’ve endlessly discussed how bad he is at being undercover, as well as, how he’s yielded no results. Now his arrogance has cost another officer his life.

We’ve talked a lot about the plot holes in Elliot’s story as an undercover cop, but let’s be clear, Sope Dirisu has been excellent as Elliot. He skillfully negotiates all the different aspects of Elliot’s multiple lives, making each incarnation a separate character.

It’s disappointing that Elliot’s story hasn’t matched up to Dirisu’s stellar performance.

It’s not an episode of Gangs of London without a brutal fight scene, which once again centers around Mosi.

Fearing for his family’s safety, Luan tries to make a preemptive strike against Mosi, but it backfires. His inside man ends up dead, and Luan is captured. However, the minute Mosi mentions his wife and children, Luan goes off, using a machete to savagely kill everyone.

To this point, Luan had been presented as a businessman who was trying to get away from the violence for the good of his family. Despite the carnage, it was cool to see Orli Shuka show off Luan’s dangerous side.

Considering how bloody it was, that wasn’t even the biggest action sequence of the episode.

So, about Sean’s revenge.

Sean calls Alex to discuss their family history, the business, and all they’ve been through. Of course, there’s more to it, as Sean triggers a bomb in one of the Wallaces’ towers, causing the whole thing to collapse.

We get that he’s hurt and betrayed, but this seems like a drastic overreaction, even for Sean Wallace.

The episode ends with every character around the city watching the destruction, as “Nessun Dorma” plays, setting up what is sure to be a very dramatic finale.

One of Gangs of London’s main problems has been pacing. The story arcs have all felt drawn out, leaving too many unanswered questions for the final episodes. We wondered how the show would go about revealing everything, but it was handled really well.

There were plenty of answers and closure, but unlike Gangs of London Season 1 Episode 7, it was not exposition-heavy.

A good penultimate episode gives you just enough story to draw you to the edge of your seat, then has an ending that keeps you there until the finale. Gangs of London Season 1 Episode 8 did all of that, and more.

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

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