Considering how hell-bent episode four was on pushing the story further, I found it quite surprising that episode five would switch up perspectives for a flashback/side-story. While the characters mostly fall flat and are unremarkably placed into their predicament, Evans does something that no TV show has done beforehand: Deliver a coherent, isolated action-film within a pre-existing programme. A lot shows currently on air have a defining scene or episode that becomes their standard. Ladies and gentlemen, "Gangs of London" has its house-siege episode. It's big, bold and filled with good bloody carnage.
Something I noticed is that this show, more than any loves to line up a squadron of gunmen in single file and march them at their targets guns blazing, with breaks in between for reloads. I don't think I will ever get tired of seeing that. It worked so well in episode two, but that was with only a handful of coat-clad men. Here, it's a fully armed, tactical mercenary team. There are some incredible camera moves and the firefight feels authentic. Debris, glass, splinters and bullets fly as both people and constructs are ripped to shreds. There are also some shocking uses of explosives, like C4 and grenades, with special effects combining with that of the practical to work magic. I don't think I've ever seen explosives in general portrayed so realistically and devastatingly. Or do the things they do to human beings.
It's shame that this episode chooses to focus on pivotal characters by disconnecting them from the main storyline entirely, as if they were their own separate little niche. It works in the context of the episode, but the isolation is too great, with only small hooks tying it into the happenings back in London itself. Sure, the effects that are employed here are shocking, but you know maybe one or two characters, out of which neither are sympathetic in the slightest. It's a frustration that ebbs and flows as the episode progresses and mostly subsides by the time it ends.
What this particular chapter of "Gangs of London" does pretty well is that it actually sets up some potentially prominent characters, especially from its posse of armed gunmen. It's shame that its other characters (both new and familiar) do not work as well as the action scenes, but when said scenes are practically dialling normal TV and even movie levels of awesomeness up to an eleven, it's hard to pass it up.
Something I noticed is that this show, more than any loves to line up a squadron of gunmen in single file and march them at their targets guns blazing, with breaks in between for reloads. I don't think I will ever get tired of seeing that. It worked so well in episode two, but that was with only a handful of coat-clad men. Here, it's a fully armed, tactical mercenary team. There are some incredible camera moves and the firefight feels authentic. Debris, glass, splinters and bullets fly as both people and constructs are ripped to shreds. There are also some shocking uses of explosives, like C4 and grenades, with special effects combining with that of the practical to work magic. I don't think I've ever seen explosives in general portrayed so realistically and devastatingly. Or do the things they do to human beings.
It's shame that this episode chooses to focus on pivotal characters by disconnecting them from the main storyline entirely, as if they were their own separate little niche. It works in the context of the episode, but the isolation is too great, with only small hooks tying it into the happenings back in London itself. Sure, the effects that are employed here are shocking, but you know maybe one or two characters, out of which neither are sympathetic in the slightest. It's a frustration that ebbs and flows as the episode progresses and mostly subsides by the time it ends.
What this particular chapter of "Gangs of London" does pretty well is that it actually sets up some potentially prominent characters, especially from its posse of armed gunmen. It's shame that its other characters (both new and familiar) do not work as well as the action scenes, but when said scenes are practically dialling normal TV and even movie levels of awesomeness up to an eleven, it's hard to pass it up.