‘Gangs of London’ Episode 1: Who are the ‘pikey kids’ Darren and Ioan, why did they agree to kill Finn Wallace?
Spoilers for ‘Gangs of London’ Episode 1
Pull the trigger and you do not understand anything that happens after that. ‘Gangs of London’ presents one such complex scenario amid high-octane action drama right in its first episode as two ‘pikey kids’ get entangled in a murder. The trouble is that they didn't know they were going to kill Finn Wallace (Colm Meaney), the most powerful criminal in London.
The episode begins with a nail-biting scene as Finn's son, Sean Wallace (Joe Cole), hangs a man from a rope on a tall skyscraper and sets his body on fire, only to let the rope burn and let him fall onto the ground. At that point, we do not know who he kills. A Sky Atlantic original, the series soon unleashes into a world of gory action, grisly fight scenes, excruciating violence, and sadistic torture as the mystery around Finn's death hover over the crime family.
How was Finn killed? As we rewind back to events that occurred one week back, a young boy named Darren Edwards (Aled ap Steffan) — the son of Kinney Edwards, the leader of a group of Welsh travelers — comes into the picture. He gets a text titled “JOB” which reads: Flat 607, 132, MELTON COMMONS. 23:40. As soon as he gets it, he walks over to his accomplice, Ioan (Darren Evans). “Did you get it?” Ioan asks. Once they walk into a discreet space, Ioan asks again, “You gonna do it?” As Darren answers in the affirmative, the two team up and head out to the neglected tower block that night.
Darren goes up and locks himself into the room while waiting for his target to arrive. Meanwhile, Ioan waits downstairs in a red car. Another car arrives and Finn walks out while his driver, Jack O'Doherty (Emmett J Scanlan) stays back.
With Finn gone, Jack gets out of the car and looks around. One glimpse of the red car and he gets a little suspicious. When he tries to pry on why the young boy is waiting there, Ioan covers up by saying he's waiting for his girl.
At the same time, Ioan realizes that they have been tricked to kill someone else and calls Darren. “Darren, don't fucking do it. It ain't who they said,” he tells him on the phone call that goes to his voice mail. Upstairs, Finn tries to look for the key to the room. Unable to find it, he confusedly stands there as Darren aims at him through the keyhole. Shivering and stuttering, Darren then pulls the trigger and Finn falls to the ground.
He then tries to snatch the package from his hand but Finn — still breathing — tries to knock him off. Darren then fires another bullet and Finn is shot dead. The boys run off from the scene of the crime with the bag of money. As it looks like, they decided to commit the crime to get some money but didn't know it was Finn they were targeting. Now, Darren is a criminal and Ioan becomes his partner-in-crime. How long can they hide? The crime boss gets assassinated — and nobody knows who ordered the hit. How did the mobster boss get killed so easily? Who fired that bullet shot? And most importantly, who planned the murder? These questions keep floating in your mind as the Sky Atlantic original unleashes one bloody bath after another.
‘Gangs of London’ premieres on AMC Plus this October 1, 2020. The first three episodes will air on the premiere date and the rest of the 10-part series will be followed by weekly episodes on Thursdays. Following its April 2020 UK debut, the show premieres on April 4, 2021, on AMC for the US audience. If you are an AMC+ subscriber, this is the same season that streamed last year, though there is a second season coming at some point.