We Should Be Talking More About Tom Hardy's 'Mobland'

We’re just past the halfway point in Paramount+’s Tom Hardy-led series, Mobland, and while the ratings have been strong, it’s clearly not generating the buzz of the other Sunday night heavyweight, The Last of Us. But it should be. It’s really good.

Created by Irish novelist Rowan Bennett (who also penned Peacock’s The Day of the Jackal), Mobland is executive produced by Guy Ritchie, who also directed the first two episodes—and his fingerprints are all over it. The premise is refreshingly straightforward: Tom Hardy plays Harry Da Souza, a fixer for the Harrigans, a powerful crime family on the verge of war with a rival outfit, the Stevensons.

The Harrigans require a lot of fixing. Their patriarch, Conrad Harrigan (Pierce Brosnan), is paranoid, volatile, and domineering. But it’s his wife, Maeve (Helen Mirren), who appears to be the real power behind the throne, possibly orchestrating her husband’s downfall. The conflict ignites when their grandson, Eddie (Anson Boon), kills the son of the Stevensons’ boss, Ritchie Stevenson (Geoff Bell). Harry is tasked with preventing an all-out war, a near-impossible job given that there may be a mole inside the Harrigan family and the fact that Maeve seems to want the war. Whether she’s bored, hungry for power, or just tired of being humiliated by her womanizing husband (who fathered a daughter with another woman), Maeve is pulling strings. That daughter, Seraphina (Mandeep Dhillon), is now trying to carve out her own role in the family, much to Maeve’s disgust, since she believes only her direct bloodline should have a say.

Amid the chaos, Harry is desperately trying to hold his own family together. He wants to protect his wife, Jan (Joanne Froggatt), and their daughter from retaliation by the Stevensons, who see Harry as just another Harrigan. They’re not wrong. Harry seems to place the Harrigans above his own family, despite their dysfunction. The lone exception is Kevin (Paddy Considine), who works with Harry to maintain peace and appears to be the only other sane voice in the room (and my guess is that he’s the mole).

The story may be simple, but it’s loaded with intrigue. In addition to the Stevensons, the Harrigans are also under police scrutiny; one of the cops has befriended Jan as part of their investigation. Meanwhile, Kevin’s wife, Bella (Lara Pulver), is the black sheep of a powerful political family she despises. She also has feelings for Harry, which could jeopardize both his loyalty to the Harrigans and his already strained marriage.

It’s a lot, but the show never feels overstuffed. It moves at a brisk pace, and nearly every episode sees Harry pushed into a corner that seems impossible to escape. It’s a stellar British crime drama laced with dark humor, brutal violence, and killer performances. The central question hanging over the series: When will Harry finally reach his breaking point and turn on the Harrigans to protect his own family? Or is he already in too deep?

It’s also textbook competence porn. Harry may be surrounded by chaos, but he’s the only one who consistently keeps it together … except, ironically, when it comes to his wife and daughter.

Mobland is gripping, smart, and sharp, and unlike other crime shows that flame out early, it’s managed to keep the momentum alive halfway through the season.

Mobland is streaming now on Paramount+.