MOBLAND - SEASON ONE: Those Horrible Harrigans

MOBLAND Season One (DVD)

2025 / 472 min

Paramount

Review by Carl, the Couch Potato😺

MobLand is a show that revels in bad behavior, centered around an Irish crime family, the Harrigans, whose patriarch, Conrad (Pierce Brosnan), is self-aggrandizing, short-tempered, sociopathic, perverted, arrogant and completely ignorant of his own shortcomings. And he ain’t even the worst of them.

That honor goes to his wife, Maeve (Helen Mirren), whose obsession with keeping the Harrigan name atop the mountain knows no bounds. In addition to having many of the attributes as her husband, she’s conniving, sadistic, twisted, manipulative…and more-than-ready to throw allies and family members under the bus to achieve her goals. Both of them are over-the-top caricatures, played with scenery-chewing zeal by Brosnan and Mirren. As such, they’re kind of a hoot to watch.

But the real backbone of the family - and indeed, the show itself - is Harry Da Soiza (Tom Hardy), the Harrigans’ trusted fixer and easily MobLand’s most complex, interesting character. When psychopathic grandson Eddie (Anson Boon) murders the son of rival mob boss Richie Stevenson (Geoff Bell), Harry’s tasked with trying to keep the peace, while other Harrigans continue to exacerbate the problem. Though obviously aware of this, he remains loyal to a fault, even as it threatens to destroy his marriage. However, Harry’s longtime friendship with Conrad’s son, Kevin (Paddy Considine), is arguably the most engaging relationship in the show.

Harry realizes who stole his hat.

Most of these 10 episodes focus on the escalating war between the Harrigans and Stevenson, along with a few subplots of varying interest. There ain’t much in the way of intricacy or subtlety, but overall, the show’s a lot of fun. It’s not often you have a series whose protagonists are generally more reprehensible than their enemies. In fact, some of them are so hateful that we might be rage-watching in the hope of seeing them die (or in Eddie’s case, that Harry will beat him within an inch of his life).

Throughout the season, there are plenty of plot twists and a few shocking character revelations, along with frequent bursts of action and violence to keep things lively. And while it finishes by setting the stage for Season Two, at least Season One’s main story comes to a satisfying conclusion. MobLand isn’t exactly the most original (or plausible) organized crime series ever made, but as a twisted soap opera with morally-bankrupt characters (including some of the police), it’s morbidly compelling.