Both the London underworld and the realm of City high finance will be shaken by the murder of crime boss and construction magnate Finn Wallace. The young Traveller who pulled the trigger had no idea who he was duped into killing, but he soon goes into hiding. Tracking down any lead will help deep undercover cop Elliott Finch rise in the ranks of the Wallace gang. He certainly has the fighting skills, as we see in the Raid-like first episode, directed by Evans.
Subsequent episodes fall into a bit of a pattern, wherein the first two acts explore the intrigue of the Wallace organization and their rivalries and alliances with other ethnic-identified gangs in London, but they usually conclude with a big, loud action set piece. The one at the end of episode two (directed by Corin Hardy) is especially brutal, but the spectacularly cinematic shoot-out climax of episode five (also helmed by Evans) could very well be the highlight of the entire series.
For what its worth, the gangster-finance-politics skullduggery is also interesting in its own right. In fact, it is a minor miracle Evans, Flannery, and their team of co-writers were allowed to portray Nasir Afridi, a leftwing Labour candidate for London mayor and the son of a Pakistani drug cartel boss in such unflattering terms.
Regardless, it is the action that hooks viewers and it should make Sope Dirisu an international star. He has serious action cred and he burns up the screen with his brooding intensity. He also generates some effective heat with Pippa Bennett-Warner, playing his potential love interest, Shannon Dumani, the daughter of Ed Dumani, Wallace’s consigliere and legit business partner.
