MobLand Season two definetly learn so much from the first season, its not running around and waiting on things, it just do them. Episode 1 of Season 2, Title I Wanna Be Your Dog, gives the Harrigans several problems at once without making the episode hard to follow, and Harry is the reason most of it stays clear, he has always be the one leading the way. Everybody around him wants something different. Conrad wants Harry to be loyal but I think this all comes from his situation with Kevin, after all Kevin and Harry were in jail together and went through a lot. Kevin still expects Harry to understand his side even when he went around his father back, yes he is probably his best friend but he works for his dad not him, and Maeve just been herself, she just does not trust how close he is to Kevin, Jan is done accepting that the Harrigans always come first than her family, and Gina has disappeared into another problem Harry does not fully understand yet but eventually is not as bad, yet. That sounds like too much for one episode, but it mostly works because Harry connects all of those problems without making them feel like separate stories fighting for attention. The marriage trouble matters because it shows what his loyalty is costing him outside the family, while the conflict between Conrad and Kevin matters because Harry knows that the Harrigans cannot keep splitting apart while McAllister is moving against them. I also like that Harry is not pretending everything is under control, because he understand how all this makes the family weak, and he keeps trying to tell people around him but nobody listens, they all fighting for power to the point there starting to form cracks in the family, first with Kevin. That makes Harry the easiest character to follow because his goal is simple even when everything around him is messy. He wants the Harrigans to stop making their own situation worse, but as I mention, the problem is that almost nobody seems interested in helping him do that.
- IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt31510819/
- Platform: PARAMOUNT PLUS
Conrad’s Recklessness Is Making the Harrigans Weaker
Conrad is the clearest example of why Harry has such a miserable job, and I think Conrad's dog track shooting says a lot about the Harrigans, its just a wild move and I get how that works until they face someone like Harry, they just lucky Harry is on their side, makes me think if he will ever get tired of all the stupidity and keep the Harrigans mob for himself. Conrad already shook on a deal with Gakbu weeks earlier, and now finds out Gakbu went around him and sent the first shipment straight to Kevin instead. He gets mocked over it right there in the meeting and answers that humiliation by killing people in a public place. I can accept Conrad being violent because that is obviously who he is, but what makes the scene useful is how stupid the choice looks once Harry has to clean it up. There are witnesses, the police get involved, and a man identifies Conrad by name. Harry then has to remove evidence, pressure the witness into changing his story, and deal with a problem that never needed to exist in the first place. That is why I like Harry warning Conrad instead of simply agreeing with him, he understands that killing Gakbu does not fix the real problem. The Harrigans are already divided, their position is weaker, and someone else is taking advantage of that. Conrad still orders the hit because looking weak seems to bother him more than actually becoming weaker. Pierce Brosnan sells that stubbornness so so good, Conrad can still be threatening, but the episode does not make every reckless choice look smart just because he is the boss, we have seen him been very sleek in the past and the entire theme of the series is that he is loosing the grip as he gest old. My concern is that this could get repetitive if Conrad keeps responding to every insult with the same kind of violence, because for now it works because his behavior creates a real difference between him and Harry. Harry thinks about what happens next. Conrad wants to prove that nobody can disrespect him, even when the proof costs the family more.
McAllister Is Letting the Harrigans Destroy Themselves
I also like Kat McAllister more as a threat here because she does not need to come after Conrad directly, in her favor the Harrigans are already doing enough damage to themselves that she can work through the cracks that are already there. Harry figures out that she pushed Gakbu toward Kevin and that turns the family conflict into something more dangerous because Kevin is not just arguing with his father anymore, somebody with more money and influence is helping that split become useful to her. Then comes in Seraphina who make this idea way worst as her stupid childish ass wants to grap some of that Harrigan power for herself, for this she goes to McAllister because she thinks Conrad should no longer control the family. Their deal gives McAllister another way inside and I think that is much more interesting than simply sending people to attack the Harrigans directly. Seraphina wants something for herself, but making an agreement with the person Harry is warning everyone about feels like the kind of move that could go very wrong for her later. Harry sees McAllister as a threat the family cannot treat like another normal enemy, while Kevin is still focused on getting out from under Conrad, its like nobody is paying attention while Harry has been on this campaign telling everyone they need to worry about McAllister. I understand why Kevin is angry and I like that Conrad doesnt take the good dad attitude with Kevin because first they gangsters and second they men, it doesnt make any of the two characters vulnerable. Kevin can be right about his father and still make a terrible choice by thinking he can separate himself from the family while McAllister is working against all of them at once. That is where the episode gets more interesting for me, since nobody needs to suddenly switch sides for McAllister to win, she only needs them to keep distrusting each other.
Jan and Gina Show What Harry’s Loyalty Is Costing Him
The personal side with Jan works because her marriage to Harry is part of the same Harrigan problem, not some separate drama that the episode forgets once the crime stuff starts up again, everything seem to be so well connected with Harry, because if we only had Jan nagging about Harry but there is also their daughter who is now working with part of the Harrigans. Jan telling Harry their marriage is over makes Harry face the same basic issue he is trying to solve for the Harrigans. He keeps choosing the family business and everybody around him knows it by now. The therapy scene makes that clear without needing a long speech about Harry being absent all the time, he gets called away because Conrad has created another disaster and later Jan tells him she wants a divorce because she no longer believes she comes first with him. Its obvious to anyone watching the series that Harry does care about her, the problem is that caring has not changed what he actually does, when the phone rings, he still has to answers it. That pressure gets worse once Zosia finds Gina with Eddie and as I mention, I like that connection because Harry has spent the whole episode trying to stop the Harrigans from destroying themselves, and now his own daughter is mixed up with Eddie and his protection scheme. Maeve even tells Eddie to stop involving Gina, which is funny in a dark way because Maeve has spent plenty of time questioning Harry while somebody inside her own family is helping drag his daughter deeper into the family business, makes me think if Maeve will eventually get Gina killed. Harry does not know everything yet, but now the family problem and his home problem are becoming the same problem, making his loyalty to the Harrigans come in at a high cost. He cannot keep fixing every Harrigan disaster without eventually losing something he cannot replace liker his wife, his daughter, his family.
Harry Cannot Keep Everybody Happy
By the end, I think MobLand Season 2 Episode 1 has done enough to make this season look busy without feeling messy, not like season one at all, and that is the part I was most worried about once so many people started moving in different directions at once. Harry confirms that McAllister was behind Gakbu, Seraphina has made her own deal with McAllister, Kevin still wants his own path, Gina has been found with Eddie, and Tattersall brings Frankie into the game as another person who could be used against the Harrigans. That is a lot of ways this thing can go and get complicated really fast but the good thing is that it doesnt feel complicated to follow as everything goes through Harry, I do not mind it because most of it points back to the same problem. The Harrigans are divided, Harry knows it and their enemies know it too, makes me more interested in what Harry does next than in which person can cause the biggest shootout down the line. He is still loyal to Conrad, still close to Kevin, still trying to keep his own family from falling apart and now he has proof that McAllister is using the Harrigan conflict against them. At some point he is going to have to choose what matters most because keeping everybody happy already looks impossible, so I want the season to avoid making Conrad too easy to predict. If every bad decision comes from him getting angry and killing somebody, the character could get simple fast and the series will have to wipe him out soon, although right now his recklessness gives Harry something to push against. I would give MobLand S02E01 a 7 out of 10.
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Rating: 70/100
Originally posted through scrobble.life/tv.
