A Deep Breath
Episode 6 of Gangs Of London begins with Ed heading straight up to Jevan and learning that he was the one who ordered the hit on Sean and Darren’s lives. As Ed steps in his office, Jevan tells him to think about Alex before he does anything silly. One week later, Sean and the rest of the family try to move on after their ordeal while Shannon and Elliot are now together but still jumpy over what happened with the shooting. Meanwhile, Ed strikes a deal with Luan but tells him he knows about Mosi, the Nigerian man from the previous episodes. Ed then phones Sean and reveals what’s transpired and promises to get to the bottom of who tried to kill them. Deep undercover, Elliot manages to slip away and tells Vic what’s happened so far, going on to reveal everything about the waitress inside the property. Given he’s stumbled onto something huge, he promises to get her names as he’s been summoned to a private meeting with Sean and the family. Ed reveals what’s happened to Alex, who pleads with his Father to tell Sean, given he’s been sitting on the truth for the past week. As Alex walks away, back at the Wallace household Marian continues to torture the waitress, Tove Frandsen, with her strung up underground and suspended from the ceiling. Elliot heads over to the Wallace household and they talk about what happened that night. With no finger prints in the van, they turn their attention to her dog, which happens to be micro-chipped meaning it can be traced back to the owner. Finding out where Tove lives, Elliot and Sean head over to her house together and learn she’s military trained and has a son named Felix. While Tove tries to escape from the basement, Marian instead shows up and cuts her down as it’s all too much for Billy to handle, hearing the screams reverberating around the house. Elliot and Sean find a whole stack of photos in the garage, along with military weapons. Realizing that she’s had surveillance on them and Dumani’s family, they talk their way out of the house when Felix returns home, pretending to be a police officer (ironic for Elliot of course). When they return to base, Marian uses the pictures of Tove’s children to torture her while Alex arrives at the building thanks to Billy’s tip-off. Seeing what’s happening in the basement he takes off, wanting no part of the torture. Instead, he heads back to Ed and has his scheduled meeting with Jevan. Unbeknownst to them, someone snaps Alex and his Father’s pictures outside. Back home, Sean pleads with Tove to talk but Marian is having none of it, deciding to go after Felix for leverage instead. Sean confronts Marian over Finn’s torturous ordeal and realizes that his Mother is more trouble than she’s worth, having been involved in the horrible incident involving the bucket man we’ve seen in previous flashbacks. Meanwhile, Billy heads downstairs and speaks to Tove. She reveals that the hit was commanded to take place when Ed and Alex Dumani weren’t near Sean. As Billy turns his back, Tove slips free from her restraints and holds him up at knife-point. Only, Sean arrives soon after and relinquishes his weapon. Marian meanwhile is not so forgiving and shoots the woman in cold blood. Billy ends up cut in the ensuing scuffle and holds his neck, apologizing to Sean for what’s happened. In the aftermath of this, Sean arrives to see Alex and confronts him over the shooting. Midway through talking, Alex watches in horror as he sees Luan’s accounts completely emptied, meaning this will almost certainly start a war between the Mafia and Sean’s group. Realizing what’s coming, Sean tries to work out who is pulling the strings at the top. Following the excellent previous episode, Gangs Of London was always going to need some time to settle itself down and act as a lull between big set pieces. Although the episode itself does adopt a slower pace this time around, there’s still enough in this episode to like. The investigative elements are nicely implemented and the tense stand-off at the end in the kitchen is definitely a highlight of this one. Quite what happens next however, remains to be seen but after what’s essentially a stop gap for us to catch our breath, Gangs Of London certainly has all the ingredients to kick into high gear again.
