“MobLand” recap: The mob war heats up at home while trouble threatens Seraphina in Antwerp

Key Points

• Conrad takes full responsibility for Vron’s murder, going all-in on his war with Richie Stevenson.

• Seraphina and Brendan pursue a shady deal in Antwerp, while Harry desperately tries to track them down.

• Behind Conrad’s back, Maeve gives Richie the okay to eliminate Seraphina in retribution for Vron’s execution.

The shocking explosion that concluded MobLand‘s fifth episode left little to the imagination: Richie’s (Geoff Bell) wife Vron (Annie Cooper) sealed her fate when she started up her adorable little sports car.

This week’s installment, titled “Antwerp Blues,” picks up in the immediate aftermath. Vron’s vehicle, charred and still smoking, is surrounded by first responders, while Richie sits on his couch sobbing beneath a collage of family photos.

Detective Fisk (Luke Mably) and his partner Mukasa inspect what’s left of Vron’s ride. Upon getting a closer look at the carnage, the former tells the latter that a war between the Harrigan and Stevenson clans has officially started.

Meanwhile, Harry (Tom Hardy) – who’s worked so hard to keep the families’ inevitable battle at bay – gets a call from Zosia (Jasmine Jobson). Donnie, the mysterious mate who’s been attempting to track Harry down, is looking for him again at Zosia’s garage. Donnie’s boss, Kat McAllister, has a proposal for the fixer. Harry tells Zosia to collect the deets, but send him away, as he currently has more pressing matters to attend to.

Namely, Harry needs to get his family to safety following word from Richie’s goon Freddie that Vron’s been killed. He first picks up Jan (Joanne Froggatt), who’s at a cafe with new friend/ Fisk mole Alice (Emily Barber). Next, he scoops up daughter Gina (Teddie Allen), who’s none too happy about being physically pulled from an important school exam.

With the fam safely collected, it’s off to Conrad (Pierce Brosnan) and Maeve’s (Helen Mirren) mansion for another big Harrigan summit. Upon arrival, Kevin (Paddy Considine) tells Harry he believes his mum was behind the car-bombing. But at the meeting, Conrad seemingly covers for his wife, saying he ordered the hit on Vron after Richie disrespected him at Tommy’s funeral.

He goes on to detail how they’ll eliminate the rest of his rival’s family and friends when – speak of the devil – Richie rings Conrad. He puts the mob boss on speaker phone, then relentlessly ridicules and taunts him, telling Richie he’ll happily send his dogs over to eat what’s left of his wife. Eddie (Anson Boon) even gets in on the action, not only  owning up to Tommy’s murder, but saying the lad squealed like a piglet before dying.

Conrad’s abuse toward his enemy soon turns to concern for his own kids when Harry questions Brendan (Daniel Betts) and Seraphina’s (Mandeep Dhillon) whereabouts. The siblings are not only absent from the meeting, but seem to be completely AWOL. With a bit of digging – and some help from Zosia and Kiko (Antonio González Guerrero) – it’s discovered that they’ve packed a suitcase full of cash and chartered a private boat to Antwerp.

Upstairs, Jan and Bella (Lara Pulver) are commiserating over their miserable, mob-tied lives. Nervously wondering if they’ll suffer the same fate as Vron, they ease their pain with pills and booze. Harry interrupts their pity party to tell his wife he’s off to Antwerp. He also pulls Bella aside to ask her to put her deal with Antoine on hold until things are sorted with Richie. She reluctantly agrees.

We next catch up with Seraphina and Brendan, who have indeed settled into Antwerp with a whole lot of money. They’ve moved forward with the priceless ruby deal Brendan’s been desperately trying to rope his sister into. After some hardcore haggling with the client’s middlemen, Seraphina decides to recruit her friend Lorenzo – who runs a private security firm – to join them at the exchange.

Back at the Harrigan estate, Conrad tries to connect with Gina. The convo is a bit uncomfortable though, leading Jan to come to her daughter’s rescue. Upset after her brief talk with the Harrigan patriarch, Gina tells her mom she wants them to run away. She’s not a fan of their complicated, crime-intertwined life, and would be fine leaving her father behind. She then asks her mom if she even loves Harry, to which Jan responds with a silent hug.

The awkward conversations continue when Maeve confronts Conrad about Seraphina messing with the family’s finances. No fan of her husband’s illegitimate daughter, she even goes so far as to say she’d be okay with Seraphina becoming a casualty in their coming war with Richie.

As Conrad leaves angry, Eddie arrives, giving his grandmother yet another opportunity to obscenely fawn over him. Using a loose chess analogy, Maeve schools Eddie on the art of making a sacrifice to ultimately win a war. She then calls Richie directly with a surprising offer.

To Eddie’s surprise, she sweet talks her husband’s rival, reminding Richie that they go way back. She then offers him an olive branch by giving up Seraphina’s location. Maeve tells him he can’t hurt Brendan, but is free to eliminate her stepdaughter. Richie accepts, immediately sending his Mexican allies to Antwerp to carry out the hit.

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Harry’s just arrived in Antwerp as well, via Conrad’s private chopper. He heads to Seraphina and Brendan’s hotel, where he finds the business card of the former’s security friend. Harry phones Lorenzo and asks to speak with Seraphina. Brendan takes the call and learns that Harry wants to bring them home immediately. Furious, he tells Harry to leave, lest he jeopardize the delicate ruby deal.

Smartly sensing that Harry knows what he’s doing, Seraphina secretly texts her location to the fixer. With the intel secured, Harry steals a motorcycle, rather violently, and heads for the remote warehouse where the deal is about to go down. Unfortunately, Richie’s small army of hitmen is also on their way… and they have a sizable head start.

At the meet, heavily armed men from both camps oversee the incredibly tense exchange. Just as Brendan and the client shake hands to complete the deal, however, the lights unexpectedly go out. With the room in darkness and the security details caught off guard, Richie’s men move in from all sides.

In a hail of gunfire, bodies – including that of Lorenzo – drop left and right. Both Seraphina and Brendan manage to find cover, but their safety is short-lived. The episode’s penultimate scene finds the siblings staring down the barrels of their respective executioners’ weapons. Seraphina breathes heavily, but puts on a brave face. Brendan begs for his life and pees his pants.

In the final scene, both Iggy Pop’s “Lust for Life” and Harry’s motorcycle kick into high gear, leaving us with yet another Mobland cliffhanger.

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