SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers for “Jigsaw Puzzle,” Episode 2 of “MobLand,” now streaming on Paramount+.
This week’s episode of “MobLand” picks up in the aftermath of Episode 1, with Harry (Tom Hardy) helping the Harrigans clean up the scene where Conrad (Pierce Brosnan) killed Archie (Alex Jennings).
Kevin (Paddy Considine) breaks down what led to Archie’s death, telling Harry that Maeve (Helen Mirren) called Archie a traitor in front of everyone before Conrad put a bullet in his heart. In bed together, Conrad is conflicted over killing one of his oldest friends, but Maeve reassures him that doing so and moving to wrest control of the fentanyl trade from the Stevensons is the right move.
“[Conrad’s] equilibrium has been rocked,” Brosnan said in an interview with Variety. “He’s teetering on a certain kind of psychosis which he doesn’t have much control over. He relies heavily on the guidance and the tiller of Maeve. They’re joined at the hip.”
After disposing of Archie with a connection at a local funeral parlor, Harry heads home. In a flashback, we see that Harry and Kevin met in prison when they were young men. Harry was on his third prison term by then, and Kevin had been arrested for an armed robbery, but got a lighter sentence due to his father’s influence.
In the present, Harry barely makes it into bed before armed police bust down his door and drag him out in handcuffs in front of his wife, Jan (Joanne Froggatt), and his daughter, Gina (Teddie Allen). He is interrogated at the police station by DS Ivan Fisk (Luke Mably), who already seems to know that Archie is dead and tells Harry he should get out from under the Harrigans while he can. Harry stays quiet and is escorted out of the station by Harrigan family lawyer, O’Hara (Lisa Dwan).
Later, we learn that Fisk is part of a task force investigating the Harrigans, and that someone placed an anonymous call to them tipping them off that Archie was dead.
Meanwhile, Richie Stevenson (Geoff Bell) is out for revenge over his missing son, Tommy. He tails and threatens Kevin, convinced that Kevin’s son, Eddie (Anson Boon), knows what happened to his boy. Richie tells Kevin he has one hour to produce Eddie and to find out where Tommy is. Kevin raises the alarm with his family, telling his wife, Bella (Lara Pulver), to move Eddie to Conrad and Maeve’s home for his own safety.
We then see Brendan Harrigan (Daniel Betts) reach out to his half-sister, Seraphina (Mandeep Dhillon), at her jewelry business. Brendan has been on the outs with their father for some seemingly bad deals he made, and he wants Seraphina’s help getting back in Conrad’s good graces. Seraphina, wary of Brendan’s past failures, quickly rebuffs him.
Elsewhere in London, Bella goes to visit her estranged father, who it turns out is a high-ranking government official. She wants to arrange a meeting between him and an unnamed associate, who wants access to her father’s government contacts in exchange for money.
According to Hardy, the difference between those in the criminal underworld and upper echelons of society and government are not so great.
“There’s a lot in common with the upper class and piracy,” Hardy said. “There’s an honesty between the two. They’re not pretending to be anything other than what they are. It’s the middle classes that struggles with identity, whereas somebody else is like ‘I am what I am. If you don’t like it you can fuck off.’ That’s a criminal. Then the upper classes are pretty much the same, but they say it more politely.”
On the way to the Harrigan estate with Harry’s associates, Zosia (Jasmine Jobson) and Kiko (Antonio González Guerrero), Eddie is attacked by Stevenson’s men. A shootout ensues, with Zosia and Kiko successfully killing their assailants. At the estate, Harry tells Conrad he suspects Archie may have been an informant, given how quickly Fisk pulled him in following Archie’s death.
Maeve sits down with Eddie, who feels down because everyone in the family views him as a screwup. Maeve comforts him, telling him he did well by stabbing the man in the club. Eddie admits he enjoyed the feeling of stabbing him, and Maeve rewards him with a small bag of cocaine.
“Eddie is very much living off the name of the family and going out and behaving in the exact opposite way you should behave,” Hardy said. “You shouldn’t be going out and bringing any sort of heat on the family. But he is being influenced.”
Maeve later tells Conrad she views Eddie as the future of the family, as he has no pretensions about being anything other than a criminal. Maeve is clearly pulling the strings within the family, but Conrad reminds her that he is still in charge of things.
“Conrad is aware of her manipulation,” Brosnan said. “Conrad has found himself in this position in life thanks to Maeve and he’s very conscious of the fact that she has a lot of power. That makes for very troubled waters.”
Harry travels back to London to try to smooth things over with Richie, but Richie is out for blood. He threatens Gina, telling Harry that she will suffer if Tommy isn’t found soon. Harry heads home, where Jan tells him she is considering divorce because Harry missed a couples therapy appointment he had previously agreed to do with her. He fills her in on the situation with the Stevensons, insisting that Jan and Gina are not in danger.
Harry continues the search for the young Stevenson, but first meets with Bella at a London hotel. She tells him about her plan to introduce her father to her associate, which Harry had previously advised was a bad idea. She propositions Harry, but he simply advises her to stay in the hotel until the Stevenson situation calms down.
Harry then tracks down the two other boys who were with Eddie and Tommy Stevenson the night Tommy disappeared. They don’t know what happened to Tommy, but they do reveal that Eddie knew the manager at the nightclub who had feigned ignorance with Harry in Episode 1.
Back at the club, Harry and Kiko brutally assault the manager. He finally admits he knows what happened to Tommy. As the episode ends, he shows Harry a trunk in the back of the club that contains Tommy’s dismembered corpse.
