As the first episode of the second season of Gangs of London begins, a group of men retrieves guns from the back of a van. Basem (Salem Kali) tells Hakim (Aymen Hamdouchi) that they’ll need to distribute the guns tomorrow and guard them for the time being. Marco and Medhi are left behind to protect them. Then, they’re confronted by three masked men with rifles. Koba (Waleed Zuaiter) enters and tells the Algerians that this will only take a few minutes. He pulls out a handgun and tells them that one of them can walk away. Medhi is shot and told he can go. Koba takes the rifle. He wants to know who sold it to them. Koba forces Faz to swallow a bullet and another. He puts the rifle in Faz’s hands and instructs him to ask the other man if he knows who sold the guns. Koba promises to let him go if he does it. Marco promises that they don’t know anything, but Koba makes Faz shoot him anyway.

Koba warns Faz that he makes the rules now and secrets are very bad things. He wants him to go tell Uncle Basem. Koba forces him to run out of the building to tell Basem. In Istanbul, Elliot Carter (Sope Dirisu) kills people and gets into a fight with another. After a brief fight, Elliot kills that man as well. Elliot takes a picture of Abdullah Shafak and sends it to Miss Kane (Amanda Drew) to prove that he has finished the job. He finds a piece of paper with Alex Dumani’s name on it just before leaving. Meanwhile, Alexander Dumani (Paapa Essiedu) gets himself ready to speak to the investors. He uses drugs and goes out to speak to them. After the speech, they share a toast to the deal. Alex steps outside with Asif Afridi (Asif Raza Mir) to tell him about one of his clients named Abdullah Shafak being killed in Turkey last night. Asif reminds him that the 200 million he laundered for Shafak wasn’t his to give nor was it his to invest elsewhere.

Their investors would like it back. Alex doesn’t think that’ll be a problem. Asif believes he is worried that his new friends will find out who he is dealing with. Alex claims they’re dealing with Dumani Finances and clean funds all the way. Alex wants to be told the next time something like this happens. Asif reminds him that everyone thought the Wallaces would take him down with them, but he never doubted him. Before Asif leaves, he tells Alex to let him know when he has transferred the funds. When Alex goes to the bathroom, he imagines seeing a bleeding Sean Wallace on the ground pleading for help. He is brought back to reality when the cleaner interrupts. Ed Dumani (Lucian Msamati) rides in a vehicle while fixing his suit. Once he arrives, Basem asks him if he can fix this only for Ed to suggest it is too late for that. During the meeting, Asif thanks everyone for coming so they can sort out this unnecessary mess.

He begins talking to them about Koba. Asif suggests he wouldn’t have been in London if the bodies weren’t pilling up on the streets. The investors have asked for order and Asif is going to give them that so he wants them all to fall in line. Koba arrives as the guns are dumped on the table. He sits and asks Basem to stand. He says Mr. Soudani is here to help. When asked who sold him the guns, Basem claims it was a blind deal so there were no names or faces. Koba claims that is the same thing he’d do if he wanted to insult Mr. Afridi. Koba says nobody sells guns in this city except him. He tells Basem that he owes a debt to himself and Asif but that’s for later. He says business has rules and whoever sold the guns thought they were special just like Finn Wallace thought he was special and his lunatic son. Koba believes there is a future for Ed and his son Alex. He tells everyone that someone here wants to start a war that they cannot win. He promises that he will find them and they will make amends.

Once Koba leaves, Ed tells Asif that he doesn’t know the first thing about this city. That is why Asif picked him. Asif asks him to help him find out who is behind the guns because these people still listen to Ed Dumani. Faz passes the bullets while Marco’s family grieves his passing. Saba (Jahz Armando) gets help from Faz as they serve the grieving loved ones. Although they’re saying it was a car accident, Saba doesn’t believe that. Faz doesn’t say anything. Faz talks to Hakim about knowing that Koba was coming that night. Saba listens as Hakim says Basem doesn’t know what day it is and he has them in the wrong sight. As Luan (Orli Shuka) and his family move, Mirlanda lets him know that Saranda said they’re coming over this afternoon. Ed visits to tell him that Basem did a fantastic cover-up job. Luan asks what he is talking about, but Ed claims he knows he sold those guns.

Luan says his partners need to defend themselves and he needs to defend himself. Ed suspects he is plotting a war and warns him that isn’t good for any business. Luan reminds him that heroin is his business now. He always uses his own suppliers, but Koba wants him to buy from Asif. Since Koba wants to control him, Luan insists he won’t do it. Otherwise, Koba will come for his profit the next time. Ed suggests he can offer reassurances from the investors. Ed says he needs to give them something in return so he wants to know who supplied the guns. Luan wants him to talk to the investors and get him guarantees first. Elliot takes a shower. Miss Kane calls to remind him that he was support to hit Mr. Shafak on arrival in his car. She complains that he was late, drunk, and drew undue attention to them. There are consequences if he doesn’t follow the plan. Kane says they own him and his father. Elliot looks at pictures of his dad who has been beaten.

Then, he learns he is going back to London so he can’t get distracted by the past. Shannon Dumani (Pippa Bennett-Warner) is released from her cell. Before she is allowed to leave, she asks them not to tell her family anything. They call her a cop killer. Ed sits down with Asif to tell him that Luan is distributing the guns. Asif also learns how Luan wants to buy from his own supply. Ed explains that he wants a guarantee from the investors. Asif wants the stuff with the guns to stop and Luan to say who supplied them. He thanks Ed for looking into this and admits Finn was smart when he picked him. Another car crashes into the back of the one transporting Koba. When his driver gets out to check on it, he is shot and killed. As the killer speeds away, Koba gets out and tries to see who it is. Ed and Asif hear the chaos from inside. When Danny gets out of school, Shannon takes him and leaves with him in a vehicle. Ed gets a call about it seconds later.

Ed tells Alex that Shannon is out because the police messed up evidence procedures. Alex suggests they should celebrate since she will come home. Later, Alex apologizes to Shannon who is walking with Danny. She wants to be with Danny so Alex can do whatever he wants. Alex confesses they gave in because the investors didn’t want a Dumani walking free after killing a cop. He believes he is close to getting them out of this and can make it right. Shannon tells him to leave them alone if he really wants to help out. Later, Asif sits down with Alex to talk about the business and investors. He believes Alex wants that 200 million for his new business. The investor concerned would like it passed over to him so he shouldn’t make him wait. Asif claims what happened to Sean was just business leading to Alex cursing him. He is told he has bitten the hand that feeds him. He shouldn’t be surprised if it bites him back.

Asif argues he should’ve let him handle this just before he leaves. Elliot arrives and gets into his car while someone watches him. They nearly run him down but barely miss. Luan calls someone to ask them to hold off on the next delivery because there is an issue on his end. He will wait for the call to confirm there will be no delivery. His wife is surprised to find a gift on the bed waiting for her. Shannon and Danny sit down for pizza before someone knocks on the door and interrupts. She finds a bag full of money so she brings it inside. Alex snorts drugs while waiting for his guests to arrive. Asif calls Ed to say the investors want anyone who acts out of line to be dealt with. Ed asks who they’re talking about. Elliot gets his next target. He shows up behind Alex with a gun. Once they sit down, Elliot shows him the evidence that someone wants him killed.

Alex admits it is almost funny that Elliot is working for them. He killed Sean for them although Elliot says he didn’t have a choice. He tells Alex that he is only here because they wanted him here. They don’t now because he has become too much of a liability. Elliot gives him a USB drive that contains years of incriminating evidence on their bosses. They can’t go to the police, courts, or media because the investors own it all. Elliot believes this is how they can get out and Alex will know how to blackmail the investors better than anyone. Alex asks if there was anything he could’ve done to save Sean only to be told no. Elliot encourages him to look at the files. Alex worries they’ll find him and kill his family. He tells Elliot to go to Shannon and watch over his father. He says you can’t beat them before throwing himself over the railing and falling to his death. Luan goes to the kitchen for a snack when he hears Zeus barking.

He takes the dog out to pee before coming back inside to check the cameras. He sees that all of the guards have been killed. Luan puts his family in the safe room and gets the safe’s code from his wife. On the cameras, people are shown breaking into the home as Zeus is shot and killed. Soon, the assassins see Luan and come after him, but he struggles to close the door to keep them out. He tries to get the safe open. He does and retrieves the gun in time to kill one of the intruders. They shut off the electricity to the home. We see that Koba is among them. Luan gets into a physical fight with one of them and stabs them in the head. He gets the shotgun back and quickly reloads it. Luan begins screaming for Koba while following a trail of blood. He is attacked from behind and pulled underwater.

Luan killed the guy underwater before coming up for air. While confronting the other intruders, he is told it is too late and hears his family screaming. He finds the young girls, but they don’t know where their mother has gone. Marian Wallace (Michelle Fairley) tries to call him and gets no answer. She walks with a gun and exits the hangar as the episode ends.

 

Gangs Of London Review

It has been a long time since the first season of Gangs of London so it is going to take some time to once again familiarize ourselves with the characters and everything going on. The opening episode of season two didn’t follow the prior story much but touched on it a great deal towards the end of the episode. The old characters are still engaged in illegal activity with the investors watching over their moves.

Luan has started distributing guns without permission leading to Koba coming to London to sort everything out. Elliot is also working for the investors and was sent to kill Alex who ended up killing himself instead. Both wanted a way out of the business although Elliot may actually have enough collateral to achieve that goal. The first episode was surprisingly decent considering I wasn’t a big fan of the first season even though some of the same issues are present.

The story feels needlessly complicated at times since it is more enjoyable when it gets to the point and the bullets are flying. The episode’s action scenes were very stylish and well done although some viewers aren’t going to appreciate them because the jerky style can be a bit too much. The show didn’t care about eliminating main characters so it is questionable whether this will be the final season.

The first episode was watchable with some genuinely enjoyable moments even though the main plot is thin. It scores a 6.5 out of 10. Recaps of Gangs of London can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our work by following this link.