‘Gangs of London’ Recap: ‘Season 2, Episode 4’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 204 of ‘Gangs of London’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
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For the most part, gangster stories and stories about crime… tend to hold back in their presentation of how badly things can become in the crime world and understandably so. After all, such stories are entertainment and showing us the cruelty that a gangster will commit, to get their way in a world without rules… might be more than an audience can stomach. Plus, putting that on a backburner allows for quality character development to take place, the kind that gives us something to care about in a world that quite frankly… we fear and know little of. But now and again, you run into a crime or gangster story that defies those rules and offers up both quality character development and a true look at the harsh nature of that world and one show that has mastered both elements and still manages to entertain, is Gangs of London on AMC+.
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For this really is that rare gangster series that knows how to juggle the ugly, so it is never completely overwhelming. It just makes use of it when necessary to remind us of the dark world we’ve ventured into and how twisted and cruel it can become and that’s top of mind today, simply because it reminded us of that reality in its next episode. For this week’s journey into the underbelly of London put Koba’s true cruelty and working style on display. In fact, people feared this man so much, that even those tasked with bringing him down… were done with dealing with him. Such as Elliot, who continued to defy his ’bosses’ in the hopes of getting the hell out of this nightmare so he could be free and keep his father safe. To the point where he was even covering for others, such as Shannon, to keep her from Koba’s wrath and rightfully so.

After all, this is a story that revealed to us that Koba took Luan’s wife and buried her alive, complete with wireless camera so that he could easily make demands of Luan. For he came to learn about Luan’s lack of loyalty to him, and informed Luan that if he ever wanted to see his wife again, he had to show his loyalty at an evening meeting. Which would run the risk of ending her life since she only had so much air left. A move that quite frankly, broke Luan and left him listless regarding his career choice. For all that mattered was his love and with Ed’s help, he tried to release her from her prison in the ground… only to be captured and hauled before Koba and his peers at the meeting and well… it doesn’t get much darker than that. Especially when one considers that Koba handed Luan a phone with the camera feed on it and the show deserves serious credit for showing us just how twisted Koba can be and for shocking us with this level of cruelty. Because that was hard to sit through for certain.

But there was of course, a grand payoff to going that route. Since it gave a new ‘hero’ in the city a chance to rise up. For while Luan was being tortured by Koba, the Wallace family was in the midst of making quite the decision. In that, what was their next move going to be? Because they discovered their funds were depleted, their lawyer had to be dealt with for such problems, hence the whole mess with Shannon and Elliot, and what little they had left would take time to collect. Which prompted Sean to make a grand move now. To express his intention, stun Koba and buy precious time to collect the funds needed to really stick it to the Investors and well… he certainly impressed in such matters. Because while Koba was grandstanding and putting fear into the rest of the criminal underworld, the Wallace alliance struck hard at Koba’s budding Empire and Koba for that matter as well. Making it clear that war was on the horizon and if the Investors left now… they would be spared great pain. 

Which of course, they won’t… because come on, this is the Investors we are talking about here. But what matters more here, is that sequence of events and the horrors that preceded it, truly reminded us of the darkness of the underworld. How it is a bad place where bad things happen and where the rules of the world don’t apply in the slightest, and this show once again deserves a massive round of applause for sending us that reminder. Because it helps to de-mystify and de-glorify a genre that is often held in the wrong regard and also because… it offers up some powerful storytelling. For this truly moved us and left us in a tough place watching Luan fight to save his wife and oddly enough, his ability to do so and Sean’s decision to be the hammer at last… offers hope to the audience as well. Hope that Koba can be defeated so that perhaps a new era can come to London’s underworld, one where decorum and class rule the day, now that everyone has had a taste of how low their world can go. Until next time.  

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