Gangs of London - Season 2

The return of Gareth Evans's spectacular gangster drama is still a solid London gangster series, but sadly it doesn't have the same quality as the first season (perhaps due to Evans only supervising but not directing this time). Koba, a new mob boss, comes to town and wants to take over London with his own rough methods. He commands respect, is portrayed very convincingly and is definitely a great asset to the series, even if he doesn’t get as much screen time the second half of the season. Old friends return and a few new characters are added, with drugs, guns and investors all being dealt with again, and the whole sleaze and corruption of London is downright palpable. I was a bit annoyed by the main character Elliot, who spent the first four episodes searching, not knowing quite whose side to be on, deliberately avoiding the fight, but it gets better in the end. Each character has a strong scene to themselves. Luan has a great opening home invasion, Lela has a perfect survival and escape from the house, and Elliot excels in the Paris club. The action this time around isn't quite as much as I would have liked and the gunfights dominate. There's probably only three purely physical contact fights. Season 2 lacks anything in the style of episode 5 in the first season, which was a half hour action inferno that's already iconic; there's nothing as epic here. Fortunately in terms of violence, torture and gore, Gangs of London is once again wholesome and they don’t fuck around. The music is uncomfortably creepy, underscoring all the brutal sequences and busting your balls. The visuals are decent, the craftsmanship is superb, the acting is excellent, the story is well paced and there are a few twists and turns, so definitely a great return and let there be a third, it promises interesting things again. 8/10 (18.11.2022)