Warning: This article contains spoilers for MobLand Season 1, Episode 8

In MobLand season 1, episode 8, "Helter Skelter", Brendan (Daniel Betts) is dead, Seraphina (Mandeep Dhillon) is back at the Cotswolds, Conrad (Pierce Brosnan) still smells a rat, and we head towards an end to this ten-episode season with many of the questions laid out in episode 1 still unanswered, or worse, totally forgotten about. With only a little bit of time remaining in MobLand, threads are going to need to start being wrapped up one way or another, and satisfaction is no longer guaranteed.

There’s not a whole lot to say about episode 8, despite there being some key revelations. For the most part, characters sit in cars and talk, or they sit in Conrad’s home and talk, or they sit in a police station and talk. There’s nothing wrong with talking, but when people in MobLand talk, they repeat lines to one another: "Kat McAllister?" asks one. "Kat McAllister", confirms the other. Or they recap; there are two long ones in this episode. And if they don’t do either of those, they hint at a show far cooler than the one we’re watching.

The Revelations In MobLand Episode 8 Have Come Too Late

Every Character Speaks The Same

Everyone in MobLand speaks in metaphors and similes, vaguely threatening, or cautiously reminding, or brazenly insulting. Perhaps fun in a vacuum, these quips are exhausting when said one after another, and every character blends together into a sarcastic, unperturbed mash. Despite all the talking, we learn all of two things this episode. Eddie (Anson Boon) is Kevin’s (Paddy Considine) brother, and the police officers who have ineffectively harped after the Harrigans this season are now dead because a new copper, Tattersall (Toby Jones), has taken over the case.

Who Eddie’s parents are is left for another day. It could be Conrad and Maeve, or Conrad and Bella (Lara Pulver), but I’m not sure why Maeve would be so doting if Eddie was another "base-born bastard", as she calls Serpahina, moments after proudly declaring her a Harrigan. So maybe Eddie is Maeve’s and someone else’s. If Conrad can play the field, why not his wife?

Frankly, it’s an uninteresting question, because though Maeve raises the specter of who will lead the family, the succession plan has never been the issue in MobLand. I mean, if Maeve and Conrad are having kids as young as Eddie, those two are in plenty good shape and not going anywhere anytime soon.

MobLand episodes release on Paramount+ on Sundays at 12am ET.

As for the cops, they’ve never been a critical part of this story before, and their deaths change so little, I wonder why Tattersall wasn’t in the series from the start. It would have been nice to have an actor of Jones’ quality hanging out in the wings, even if all he was doing was showing up to crime scenes long after the fun is over.

Tom Hardy's Best Episode Of MobLand Comes In "Helter Skelter"

Harry Harrigan Has Not Felt Like A Main Character

Tom Hardy does get his chance to shine in "Helter Skelter". For a series with his name at the top of the casting list, Hardy does not feel as big a presence as he should in MobLand. He’s called on to take care of dirty business, but Eddie’s right, he's just a gopher, and Hardy really feels like that, a small step above his crew , Zosia (Jasmine Jobson) and Kiko (Antonio González Guerrero).

Finally, in episode 8, he has a chance to spin the wheel of his own fate. It turns out, he and Kevin are planning to usurp Conrad. Maeve’s in charge, and Harry knows it and isn’t happy about it.

Harry wants out of the Harrigans.

Whether he came to this conclusion now or has harbored this feeling for a while makes no difference. Harry wants out of the Harrigans. However, some news given to him by a two-faced member of Richie’s gang sends him into enough of a rage that he throws the poor schmuck off the roof of the parking garage. Apparently, someone unexpected was working to get fentanyl shipments before Conrad gave the OK. Could it be Kevin? Or could it be an entirely new character, introduced as if we should just know who they are?

Speaking of such characters, Harry calls Kat McAllister (Janet McTeer). Conrad told Harry that a man thinks long and hard before calling Kat McAllister, so powerful is she. It can’t be that difficult, though, because Harry gets on the horn with her again pretty quickly. Now we see what Harry’s gambit has cost him. Actually, no; instead, he asks for another favor: to hook the Harrigans up with the Lopezes. Fentanyl is back on the menu, boys. What will this cost Harry? Well, the most onerous of burdens in MobLand: TWO favors! One for each remaining episode, I suppose.