Gangs Of London: 8 Issues That Hold It Back From Greatness
A good show, but it could've been great with a few tweaks.
While the film industry has ground to a halt thanks to the ongoing global crisis, the TV release schedule has largely continued uninterrupted. So far, it's been a somewhat quiet year in terms of truly stand-out TV shows that have got everyone talking, but there have still been a few. These include Normal People, I May Destroy You and Gangs of London, the highly anticipated crime-action series co-created by Gareth Evans, the director of The Raid films.
So, is Gangs of London any good? Absolutely. The performances from the cast are terrific, it's consistently entertaining, there's a nice dose of pathos and, of course, the action sequences are some of the best in television history.
Still, while it's certainly worth watching, it isn't quite a great show and there's a sense that, had a few issues been cleared up, it could've been a truly outstanding TV series rather than merely a good one.
A second series is on the way and in order to improve on the solid foundations of season one and become even better, these following issues should be fixed...
8. The Series' Best Episode Had A Very Annoying Ending
It's likely many will agree that episode five was the best of the series. After all, it centres around one of the best, most brutal and most cinematic action sequences ever seen in a TV show - a stunning shootout at a farm-house - but this mostly great bit of television still had a major flaw which dragged it down: how it ended.
The battle ends with all of the characters we've been following for that episode and throughout the set-piece dying, meaning that it feels like our investment was wasted. It was especially annoying since the people who die in this episode are some of the most interesting characters in the whole thing.
Then, it ends with one of the mercenaries calling his real employer, a character named Jevan (Ray Panthaki). It seems likely that this was meant to be a big twist, but most viewers will probably be thinking "Who's that again?" since the character hadn't even appeared that much, so this reveal doesn't quite work.
It is a great episode for the most part, but it could've stuck the landing better.