MobLand

I'm Irish and have lived in Ireland all my 52 years. Why is Pierce Brosnan not able to do a convincing accent in this, when he's also, you know, Irish? It is so cringeworthy to hear. They've obviously asked him to go full mob Irish and he can't do it justice AT ALL. His scenes with Helen Mirren - also delivering a terrible Irish accent - come across like comic relief plonked in the middle of some genuinely interesting and exciting work from the rest of the cast.

Thankfully they only take up about a quarter of screen time, so my high rating is all for Tom Hardy, who yet again, serves up a nuanced and believable character. He's mesmerising to watch. He almost underplays it (which makes Brosnan's overacting even more jarring). I'm intrigued to see where this goes.

The last 2 or 3 episodes are quite ridiculous in how effortless the casual killing sprees are, and how fictional and convenient certain plot devices are.

I was hoping for something a bit more intelligent and cunning, but this series falls victim to laziness and convenience. It wants to be smart, but wanders into cheesy cliches on occasion.

Many unanswered questions by the end, but even if you had the answers they'd be implausible and impossible. Just accept it. This isn't sophisticated storytelling, it's blunt force rounded edges.

Yes yes, the Hardy character is good, up until he performs a miracle one-man operation against a gang on their turf, and comes out without a scratch. Okay, cool.

The final unravelling is all a bit messy, almost like the writers were in hurry to wrap things up. Maybe they got word there wouldn't be a second season. Honestly I don't think it deserves a second season.

Show did an excellent job of establishing characters and what their individual idiosyncrasies are. A mob story but character driven. It reminded me of the Sopranos that way. The characters are just as interesting as the plot lines. What happened in the last few episodes was what happens to a lot of shows that start strong, the writers just start throwing too much on top of the characters. They become inconsistent with the exception of Harry. The writers amp up the brutality to wear the violence becomes disproportionately too much. It is not lost on me that a mob story will have violence. What sometimes happens and I think what happened with this show, is that the characters become more erratic and more violent but at the same time they're asked to plot and think and connive their way towards their own ends. In a 10 episode season, some characters are not even recognizable from where they were built to where they wind up. That's not necessarily character evolution. It felt like a lot of the characters were lobotomized. Plot devices are inserted in a heavy-handed way to make this one a good guy and this one a bad guy. I don't feel like we were treated very intelligently as the season moved along. There was a lot of potential here, and as some reviewers have written, the show really lost its way.

Don't be fooled by the many glowing reviews, which, oddly enough, are by brand-new accounts with only one review (Mobland) to their name...

I'm not saying this show is all bad.

It's just a bid generic - generic killings, car chases, plot twists, etc.

And soapy - my good god, is it soapy.

I don't care for soapy, but many people do, I suppose - and if you are one of those; Dive right in!

Otherwise: Go re-watch the Sopranos or Breaking bad.

Who knew a combo of Tom Hardy, Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Guy Ritchie AND a bunch of Britain's greatest character actors would turn out to be strictly mediocre?

Well, shaite happens...

Tom Hardy. That's it.

Great to see him back in something substantial after years wasting his talent in those godawful super hero films or turgid biker movies.

Anyway, dubious accents from Mirren and Brosnan notwithstanding, this is very good stuff so far. Slow burn sure, but I'm loving the controlled menace from Hardy - his understated anti-hero is like comfort food.

Good story telling and nice performances from Paddy and others. And I'm glad the Guy Ritchie signature style is dialled back.

Really looking forward to future eps.

Every director and producer out there, hire Tom Hardy, please. He's so damn good.