'Gangs of London' Episode 7 Review: Did Finn Wallace 'f**k them over' or was it Sean's impulse?
Spoilers for Episode 7
After six long episodes, it is finally time to nail the coffin on why Finn Wallace (Colm Meaney) was murdered. The answer is simple: like most business deals gone wrong, Finn's fate was a consequence of his fleeting allegiance from the empire. Having found love in a younger mistress and expecting a child any time now, the crimelord of London's finest was heading for an out.
He didn't want this life anymore, but his peers weren't ready to offer him any other alternate. So out he went, once and for all, with his impulsive, naive son Sean (Joe Cole) left behind to pick up the fragments. True, Sean does all he can to avenge his father's death; but in his frustrated desperation lie the same mistakes his father made: scorning all of his allies.
The episode kicks off with a flashback of Finn telling Ed Dumani (Lucian Msamati) about his affair and plans to move away. It is followed by the present, where Ed is telling his son Alex the details of the investors' plans and about him leading the business forward. But the father-son duo's plans fall apart when Luan's money for the deal with Finn never reaches the Nigerian gangster Mosi.
Even with Ed shrugging off all accountability over the lost 1.5 billion, Luan has to bear the brunt of it through Mosi's sudden attack at his bank. The bloodbath that ensues involved machetes and chopped hands — the biblical punishment for stealing. And this paralleled the massacre at Lale's gardening warehouse, courtesy Asif Afridi maintain the torturous and violent steep the series has embarked upon.
Attacked by Asif for stealing his drugs, Lale finds herself near death once again. She was at the warehouse when Asif's snipers head right in, killing everyone and anyone in sight. She wakes up to lying sprawled amid several other dead bodies, all scattered across the makeshift garden of now tattered and ruined flowers. And even though she confronts Sean about where his protection was when she needed it the most, Sean's concerns lie elsewhere — specifically a stolen one billion and half.
He doesn't have to worry for much longer though; his mother heads back to her hometown to gather an army of her own, who are loyal to the core. And with them securing all exits, she once again decides to entertain her guests from the dinner before: the Dumanis.
When Marian finally confronts Ed about knowing of her husband's philandering life, Ed reveals he knew everything. He knew that Finn was looking for an out with his mistress and their soon to be born child, somewhere far away, where the blood, gore, and horrors of this life won't be able to rope him back in. And soon it is revealed that Finn played his cards just right enough for a domino effect to topple them over.
As can be deduced by now, Finn stole that 1.5 billion for his life away in the exotic island and had decided to leave the other families tear each other apart from the lost fortune. And finally, from having Luan kill an entire family to secretly deciding to leave Marian and his sons back in London as he goes looking for a new life, Finn's lies are sprawled all over the dinner table.
Along with Finn's secrets, the Dumanis' visits with the investors come to light as well, and soon things take a nasty turn. Ed reveals the investors targetted Sean as they want Alex to head the Wallace business and subsequently, also has to spill Finn's wishes in Alex leading the empire. The moment he slips out, Finn thought Sean wasn't ready, the grieving son's pain turns into a rage about not being enough, and he ends up shooting Ed in the thigh.
It is Sean's heartbreak and spite at the same time — the very impulse that snaps all ties of allegiance and loyalty between the two families. And even though Finn died making his own silly decision, their bond with the Dumanis was the only thing helping them sail in the wake of the patriarch's passing.
It is obvious, without Alex and Ed, Sean is nothing. And even his growing bond with undercover agent Elliot Finch can't salvage that. The plot thickens with the Wallaces pretty much resorting to the fugitive life as two distinct pathways digress from their core: Sean sides with his mother, and Billy sets off to find his own way out of the mess their father landed them in. But is it really his father's mess? Because Sean's desperation to prove he's a worthy heir is having the better of him now.
'Gangs of London' airs weekly on Fridays at 9 pm on Sky Atlantic.