As the finale of The Outlaws begins, Christian (Gamba Cole) works the club and learns that Spider (James Nelson-Joyce) is there selling drugs again. Christian kicks him out of the club. Soon, he takes a beating from Souljah (Marcus Fraser), Spider, and Malaki (Charles Babalola) as punishment for his behavior. Malaki offers to pay him to look the other way, but Christian refuses. Then, he tells him he could use him, but again Christian turns down his offer. Eventually, Christian agrees to turn a blind eye to the drug dealer although he doesn’t want any money. We see Christian hanging out with Esme (Aiyana Goodfellow) just before the intro begins. After the intro, Malaki or Christian Taylor gets a visit from two police officers. Meanwhile, Myrna (Clare Perkins) and the others are interviewed by DS Lucy Haines (Grace Calder) and DS Selforth (Kojo Kamara). Gabby (Eleanor Tomlinson), Greg (Stephen Merchant), and the others do not offer any helpful information to the detectives.

Rani (Rhianne Barreto) insists she wasn’t friends with the impostor and didn’t see him outside of the community service group. Diane (Jessica Gunning) backs her claims since Rani ratted on Christian twice. Diane learns that the gun was used during a shooting while Rani is asked about the van. Once the interviews end, Diane tells everyone to contact her if they find Christian. John Halloran (Darren Boyd) waits for Rani and asks what they’re up to. She explains they’re going to meet at the placement at 4 and search for Christian. Diane tries to convince Wilder (Sam Troughton) to let her take the minivan so she can search for Christian, but he refuses and reminds her she is never going to be a police detective. She tells him she doesn’t want to end up like him because she actually wants to do something with her life.

When he leaves, she takes the minivan anyway. Malaki is interviewed by Lucy Haines and asked about Spider. Then, she asks who he has been paying to do his hours for him. He denies it saying he’d have to believe all law enforcement is racist to try to get away with that. Lucy tells him she knows he runs the Brook Hill Crew and she is coming for him. He is allowed to leave after that. Diane works with an officer to create a profile picture for the impostor. Diane snaps a picture of the completed work and receives thanks from Lucy. Frank sits down with Tom (Guillermo Bedward), Margaret (Dolly Wells), and Holly Isla Gie). Margaret admits she has been mean to him because she didn’t true him, but he proved her wrong. She apologizes and offers to let him stay permanent when his ankle tag comes off. Frank agrees before everyone hugs him although Tom does so reluctantly.

Spencer (Tom Hanson) tells Greg they should share a beer. Then, he reveals he rearranged his cupboard so the others wouldn’t see the mess he had. When Greg searches it, he finds that all the paperwork is missing besides a penis drawing. John returns to the office and finds John Halloran Senior (Ian McElhinney) waiting for him. He knows John has been lying about Howard Cherry so John admits they found the money and took it from a gang member. John insists he is saving the business and the boy won’t come looking for the money because he is going to be in prison. Rani tells Shanthi (Nina Wadia) that she is going to go look for the boy, but her mother isn’t going to let that happen. She tells her daughter how she did sketches while working for a company that imported clothes. She fell for the man who was working with her. During this time, her father was struggling. She eventually left the company because she couldn’t stand being with him.

She says it only matters what is right and not what might’ve been. She admits she had a duty to her family just like Rani does right now. However, Rani says that isn’t her choice. When she tries to leave, Shanthi and Jerzy (Gyuri Sarossy) stop her and take her upstairs to her room. Meanwhile, Greg, Myrna, and Frank wait for her to arrive. Lady Gabby arrives before John does and explains Myrna was right because they can’t let the police hunt him down like a rabid dog. Rani calls Myrna to get help to escape her house. Selforth shows Haines the robbery video again. He suspects the driver and robbery suspect knew one another and the robber was encouraging the driver to get out of there. Frank is tasked with staying at the community center to wait for Christian in case he shows up there since Rani texted him telling him to do that.

The others go to Rani’s house to break her out. Myrna knocks on the door and asks Rani’s mother if she’d like to end racism. Rani’s mother decides to get her husband involved since he usually deals with things like that. While Myrna keeps her parents distracted, Rani manages to escape. Meanwhile, Esme realizes it is her birthday. She jokes about giving the Airbnb a bad review although Christian says they’ve slept in worse places. We jump back and watch as the Letting Agent (Alexander Cobb) shows the flat to Christian and Esme. He decides to overcharge them because Christian doesn’t have references and has poor credit. Later that evening, he approaches Christian or Malaki and agrees to take on some work because he needs money. Esme watches as her brother is forced to kiss Malaki’s shoes. Back in the present, Christian finds an old pipe and quickly comes up with a plan. His sister hugs him before he goes.

Rani and the others track down Malaki or Christian Taylor to ask about the impostor. He explains his name is actually Ben and he was his best friend. He goes on to say his dad needs care around the clock so Ben offered to do his community service hours for him so he could care for his father. They agree Ben is a great guy, but Malaki doesn’t know where to find him. Before they go, Myrna tries to convince Malaki to give money to her anti-racism initiative. John quickly pulls her away. Malaki waves at one of his men to follow them. Rani and Greg check the flats where they were staying but nobody has seen them. They also check the local shops. They do not get any leads though. Frank gets tired of waiting for something to happen. When he finds the toilet blocked, he puts up a sign letting them know he’ll be back and hits the pub nearby. He grabs drinks and joins two women sitting near the window. After Greg gets into a fight with some little kids, he meets with the others outside the porn shop.

Jeff recognizes Greg because he has been to the shop a lot. Gabby reminds them of the porn star name game they played and wonders whether Christian’s answer could help. John remembers that Christian used the name Fluffy Lambs Bottom. While Frank dances and sings karaoke with his new female friend, Ben returns to the house he robbed and uses the pipe to intimidate the man inside. He learns about the Dean and the fact he pays the local Brook Hill gang for protection. Diane visits Malaki to ask about Ben, but she quickly gets the door shut in her face. Lucy Haines visits Rani’s parents to ask why they never said anything about Rani doing community payback before they learn their daughter is missing. When she looks through Rani’s room, she finds the pictures of her with Ben and suspects Rani was driving the van during the drug house robbery. Her father agrees to track her phone so they can find her.

The others go to Lambs Bottom and John speaks to a woman while pretending to be running a program at the church that helps at-risk kids. She tells him she has spotted Ben coming and going from a house nearby sometimes. They visit the house and encounter Ben’s mother Jacqui Eastfield (Rayna Campbell). Marky brings her drugs during their visit and quickly leaves. Rani grabs her drugs until she tells them that Ben and Esme used to run away to the burnt warehouse near the Cumberland Basin. She tells them that Ben looks after her and his sister. As they leave, Spencer calls Greg to tell him he’ll contact the Solicitor’s Regulation Authority if he doesn’t arrive within the next hour and he’ll never practice law again. Ben calls Malaki to tell him he set him up to steal the line so he could blame him. Malaki claims he had no choice because he has been running lines all over the west that should be his and taxing his operation too.

Malaki complains he didn’t get a COVID furlough and has to care for his entire family. Ben admits the money is gone and he can’t get it back. He wants Malaki to let him leave Bristol with his sister, but Malaki is going to turn him into the Dean. Rani and the others make it to the warehouse and find Esme sleeping there. Ben arrives, pulls Rani aside, and asks why she is there. She says they’re friends although Ben only believes she is there to tick off her mother and father. He encourages her to go home. Rani says he doesn’t have to trust her, but he should let the four strangers in there help him. John calls Diane to tell her where they’ve found Ben. Greg goes through the scenarios with Ben until they learn that the gun was used, and the victim could be dead. Ben takes the responsibility of shooting Spider while Greg tells him he needs to turn himself in because running makes him look guilty.

He insists it was self-defense though. Myrna tells him how the police were roughing up black people in the 1970s and they took one boy to the police station only to be told to screw off. Myrna got upset and created some makeshift Molotov cocktails which she used to torch the police station when it was empty. Later, she found out it wasn’t empty, and she actually killed 28-year-old PC Colin Denison. She warns him that not facing up to the consequences of his actions will cause the guilt to remain for the rest of his life. Once they step outside, Diane surprises Greg and gets hit in the eye. Myrna believes John called her, but Ben has bigger problems since Malaki’s guy has been following them this whole time. While the others go for the minibus, Malaki chases Ben and Rani. John helps Myrna escape before they jump in the minivan and speed away.

Souljah goes after Ben and Rani too. The chase continues until Rani and Ben find themselves on a ledge. They jump off and crash into an old shack below. They make it back to the community center and Esme finally admits she is the one who shot someone, but Ben says it is a lie. He reminds his sister that she is smart, and everything will be okay. Frank returns singing before Malaki bursts in and tells everyone to get down on the ground. Spencer calls Greg, but Malaki won’t let him answer it. Frank checks his watch and his ankle monitor turns red so he is out of bounds. As Malaki tries to leave with Ben, John and Myrna stand up and Myrna begins talking to Malaki. She says the only way this ends is with Ben staying and Malaki walking out the door. Malaki screams at her to move so she grabs John’s hand. Rani, Diane, Frank, and the others stand up with John and Myrna.

Malaki hears sirens in the distance, so he decides to leave. Greg tells everyone they need to get their stories straight for the police. Diane hands Ben over to the police outside and he is put in the squad car. Then, everyone is interviewed by Lucy and Selforth. Rani claims she made up the gun thing to get back at Ben. Gabby says Rani said she had feelings for Ben, but he didn’t have the same feelings for her. They learn that Spider is doing okay although he won’t tell them who shot him. John won’t say whether Ben is the one who threatened him with the gun and says black kids are 9 times more likely to be stopped by white kids. Myrna tells them that John is being sued for racial assault. Greg explains they have no fingerprints on the gun and their only witnesses are a jilted lover and a racist. He wonders if they’re really going to charge his client. Frank spins a yarn until he is told to leave.

Diane doesn’t believe they can prove Ben shot the gun. When Lucy asks if he should be allowed to go, Diane says no and suggests giving him 100 hours of community payback. Everyone returns to the community service program and Frank finds a Bansky graffiti rat and asks Diane what they should do with it. She forces him to paint over it without looking at it. When she finishes her book, she says she knew who it was from page one and nothing gets past her.

 

The Outlaws Review

The first season of The Outlaws was pretty good although the first episode tried a bit too hard. The humor was great for the second and third episodes, but it eventually just dropped off as the show took a serious turn. The funny scenes and serious scenes were equally exciting although I enjoyed the crude humor of the second and third episodes the most.

Another thing that made The Outlaws a success was the relationships. The characters really learned to like each other despite their stark differences. The finale had enough twists and turns to keep it interesting from the beginning to the end. It was good they managed to wrap everything up in the end while creating space for the upcoming second series.

The Banksy graffiti at the end was equally cool and cringey, but a good way to end the finale regardless. The finale wasn’t terribly groundbreaking although it did many things right. It scores an 8 out of 10. All recaps of The Outlaws are available on Reel Mockery here.