MobLand Season 2 TV Review: Tom Hardy and Helen Mirren steal the show in the violent new chapter of the British crime series

Plot: The Harrigans struggle to show a unified front as rising rivals threaten their fractured criminal empire – and Harry Da Souza, their street-smart and formidable ‘fixer,’ must walk a dangerous tightrope when tensions within the family intensify. As violence spills into every corner of their lives, loyalties snap, safety proves temporary, and the battle for power leaves no room for mercy.

Review: In the year and a half since the finale of MobLand‘s first season, the drama hasn’t been the cliffhanger where the new season would go, but whether Tom Hardy would return for a third season after an alleged feud between the actor and veteran stars Helen Mirren and Pierce Brosnan during production of the second run. Such rumors have been quashed by the actors leading to the premeire of the new season of the show, but once you watch the new chapter in the crime saga you may have an idea where these rumors came from. MobLand started out as a series about the Harrigans and their vast hold over a crime syndicate but this season transforms the story into an intergenerational war between the family members as they vie for control over the empire run by Conrad Harrigan (Pierce Brosnan). With rivals outside of the family coming after the Harrigans, Harry Da Souza (Tom Hardy) must determine with whom his allegiance lies. MobLand continues to balance the familial drama reminsicent of Yellowstone with the criminal conceits of director Guy Ritchie resulting in this second season being an improvement over the already solid first run.

Season two opens with a sequence in which Conrad makes a statement to his rivals, including his son Kevin (Paddy Considine). It is a violent, funny, and trademark set-up that director Guy Ritchie delivers as a statement for where this season goes. While Harry factors directly into this season’s narrative, Harry is dealing with his own personal issues after his estranged wife, Jan (Joanne Froggatt), accidentally stabbed him last season. Harry, always the calm and cool fixer for the Harrigans, is dealing with the fallout of his marriage as well as choosing sides between his longtime employer, Conrad, and his best friend, Kevin. Add in that Conrad and his wife Maeve (Helen Mirren) are keeping secrets from each other and moving chess pieces around to secure their interests and MobLand has a lot of players vying for control. The family drama itself leaves enough for us to dig into including Conrad’s other children, Seraphina (Mandeep Dhillon) and Eddie (Anson Boon), Kevin’s son who was revealed to actually be Conrad’s child with Kevin’s wife, Bella (Lara Pulver). That makes at least a half dozen characters with the Harrigan surname going opposite one another with the real external threat still looming.

Last season also introduced Kat McAllister (Janet McTeer), an American with political connections and a connection to Harry who wants to take a piece of the Harrigan empire. Aligning with former DCI Colin Tattersall (Toby Jones), they present the biggest threat to Conrad as they back a new criminal upstart played by Johnny Flynn. There is also the new police threat (Ophelia Lovibond) on the case bringing the sheer number of characters to keep track of daunting compared to the first season. Over the first four episodes, the body count is pretty high and leaves me wondering just how many of those connected to the Harrigans will be alive in the remaining six chapters. MobLand began as a spin-off of the Showtime series Ray Donovan, but has evolved into something else entirely. While not as stylized as the other Guy Ritchie series, The Gentlemen, MobLand does still have a sense of humor beneath the body count. But there is a noticeably serious tone that takes precedence over this season. That doesn’t mean it is less fun, but it does change the tone of what happens.

Tom Hardy’s performance this season stays even-keeled and cool, evoking a British equivalent to Liev Schrieber’s title role in Ray Donovan. Unlike that series, Hardy’s portrayal of Harry rarely lets his emotions take control, something that Pierce Brosnan and Helen Mirren get to enjoy more than anyone. Brosnan has long been associated with his iconic portrayal of James Bond as well as memorable comedic turns in Mrs. Doubtfire, romantic leads in The Thomas Crown Affair and Mamma Mia!, and small-screen performances in Remington Steele and the underappreciated western The Son. Here, Brosnan plays the most against-type role of his career and makes Conrad Harrigan a formidable figure who is both likable and easy to hate, but never someone you can take your eyes off of. Helen Mirren is equally as fun to watch as she takes the complete opposite of her Taylor Sheridan matriarch in 1923 and gives us Maeve as a calculating and dangerous Lady Macbeth figure. The three leads are explosive here, with many confrontational scenes opposite one another, and you can see countless scenes that could have spilled over into reality, leading to friction on set. But these are professional actors, and they respect each other, giving more depth to how solid this season really is.

While all episodes of the first season were co-written by Jez Butterworth and series creator Ronan Bennett, this season boasts a new scribe, Esther Watson, sharing credit on the four episodes made available for review alongside Butterworth. Guy Ritchie returns to helm the first two episodes, followed by Lawrence Gough on the next two. Gough directed two episodes of the first season, and the two directors kept the style and tone consistent here. The opening episode sequence set at the dog racing track present the most Guy Ritchie-esque elements of the four episodes I have seen, notably when Helen Mirren breaks down a plan involving a dog as well as the shootout sequence, but everything after settles into a more formulaic filmmaking style With so many subplots and overlapping character threads, the first four episodes don’t deviate from focusing on the drama on screen without added flair. There is still more than enough intensity with each episode boasting multiple deaths, explosions, gunfights, and more.

MobLand continues to impress as a solid crime drama that fills the void left by shows like Boardwalk Empire and the original Yellowstone. With a large ensemble that gets bigger and better this season, it is impressive how so many fantastic actors appear on this show. I hope that the behind-the-scenes drama involving Tom Hardy is being blown out of proportion since this show has gotten better this season than it was in the first, and it would be a shame to see it come to an end just as it is hitting its stride. Still, this series is good because any of the characters could be written off, and the rest of the cast is more than capable of filling the gap without the overall series suffering because of it. I love it when no characters are safe, as it keeps the tension high and makes each hour-long chapter worth truly investing in. MobLand is great this season, and I cannot wait to see where this story goes next and which characters will make it to season three.

MobLand premieres on September 18th on Paramount+.