What does the average television viewer want out of a show called MobLand starring Tom Hardy and directed by Guy Ritchie? I can only speak for myself, but I would hope that the hit Paramount+ thriller would come with at least one scene — just the one, I’m not greedy — wherein movie star Tom Hardy beats the bejesus out of a criminal underworld heavy in an empty sex club while a classic Prodigy song plays.
Well, what do you know? MobLand Episode 2 “Jigsaw Puzzle” delivers on just that demand!
**Spoilers for MobLand Episode 2 “Jigsaw Puzzle,” now streaming on Paramount+**
MobLand debuted just last week on Paramount+ and is already the streaming service’s biggest global premiere to date. (According to Paramount+, 2.2 million people watched MobLand Episode 1 “Stick or Twist” last Sunday alone!) Honestly, it’s easy to understand why it’s already a big hit. It’s a slick gangster drama starring Tom Hardy as a fixer, Pierce Brosnan as an Irish mob boss obsessed with the trappings of English country life, and Dame Helen Mirren as an erratic, but clever, mob matriarch. The show boasts celebrated playwright Jez Butterworth as one of its main writers and Guy Ritchie, the guy who arguably made British gangster dramas its own genre, as a director and EP.
MobLand has the goods.
Case in point: the end of MobLand Episode 2 “Jigsaw Puzzle.”
I wrote last week that the Paramount+ show lets both Tom Hardy and his character, Harry Da Souza, project understated toughness. In Episode 2, however, Harry finally gets to really unleash his raw, violent power. Harry’s ongoing wild goose chase for missing rival mob boss’s son Tommy Stevenson (Felix Edwards) finally brings him all the way back to the nightclub where Harrigan grandson Eddie (Anson Boon) started all this stress by stabbing a guy. Harry’s one lead is the club owner Valjon (Peter Ferdinando). So what does Harry do when Valjon won’t cooperate? Start beating the shit out of him.
Call it coarse, brutish, and cruel, but it’s also hella fun to watch an action star like Tom Hardy get to wail on a random criminal dude. Harry easily dominates Valjon, laying bare exactly why he can move through life without strutting or overcompensating. There’s no need.
The fact that all of this comes at the climax of a great, propulsive hour of TV, and accompanied by Prodigy’s “Breathe”? Incredible stuff.
Guy Ritchie is in his bag, Tom Hardy is in his element, and MobLand continues to have the juice to make it a bonafide streaming hit.
MobLand Episode 2 “Jigsaw Puzzle” is now streaming on Paramount+.
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