Love/Hate introduction and Season One, Episode One

Ireland has always been on the fringes when it comes to TV drama. Sure, we do rural stuff fine, and our soaps are as good (or bad) as the ones 'cross the water, and we can make reality shows just as terrible as those on "the Mainland", but we lag seriously behind when you start talking about true, gritty, cutting-edge drama. We just don't do it well. We've had the odd success, but they've almost exclusively been insular accolades, and due to the nature of RTE (Radio Telifis Eireann, pronounced rah-dee-oh tel-ee-feesh air-un, the Irish national TV channel) it's almost universally unavailable outside of Ireland, so the chances of anyone seeing anything good we do are minimal to say the least.

Love/Hate has managed to break that chain, mostly I guess due to the proliferation of DVD. Now, people can buy the series and watch it even if they're not in Ireland and don't get RTE as part of their package. In fact, Love/Hate is so good that I am a little surprised that none of the UK channels like Dave or Channel Four made a bid to show it. Written by Irish playwright Stuart Carolan, it's based on the lives of a team of ne'er-do-wells, criminals who run with an Irish gang and who are all, in one way or another, on the opposite side of the law. Its gritty and realistic portrayal of Irish gangland culture has won it many adherents, and the initial first season has now turned into five, with a sixth in the works at time of writing.

The series follows a basic plotline, filling in around the edges various activities and crimes engaged in by the gang, as they take on rival gangs, local law enforcement and even each other. You could compare it to Sons of Anarchy more than The Sopranos, though it's nowhere near as glossy or well-written as either of those, I have to admit. Also, in both those shows there's a sense of family, of belonging, of "us against them". In Love/Hate it's not so much love or mutual respect that keeps the gang together but what Ambassador G'Kar (see my Babylon 5 write-ups) called "enlightened self-interest". Each knows too much about the others to be allowed to fall out with the gang, and any attempt at disloyalty or "grassing" is met with brutal retribution. Everyone knows their place, and is wise enough not to step out of line. If I had to compare the show to anything, it would be the often less-than-well-known but excellent Italian crime dramas like Corleone, Romanzo Criminale or the one currently on telly as I write, and in its second season, the showstopping Gomorrah.

But underneath it all there's a sense that most of these guys are not engaging in crime because they enjoy it. For some, it's their only means of support. For others, it's all they've ever known. There are the psychos and "headbangers" in the gang, and outside it, who get a thrill out of shooting guns and scaring people, but in general it's almost seen more as a job they go into than something they take pleasure in, or look forward to. Supplementing your income, as they say.

Like all good crime-based drama though, the emphasis is on the relationships between the gang members. A show wouldn't be much good if you didn't feel for the characters, understand them to a degree and perhaps even sympathise with them on occasion. Love/Hate does this very well, while at the same time never condoning what the guys get up to. In the end, it's just the way things are. It may not be right, but what else can they do?

CAST

In season one and two the gang is run by John "Boy" Power, played by Game of Thrones' Aiden Gillen, but the main protagonist is Darren, played by Robert Sheehan, whom you may know from Misfits, but I don't.

Darren Treacy, played by Robert Sheehan: At the beginning of the series, Darren returns to Dublin from Spain, where he has been hiding out since running from arms charges some years ago. It's dangerous for him to return but he has come back to see his brother, Robbie, who is being released from prison that day. Robbie though is shot, and part of the "arc" of the first series sees Darren trying to find out who killed his brother and to bring them to the gang's own vicious and permanent brand of justice.

Nidge Delaney, played by Tom Vaughan-Lawlor. Nidge is second-in-command to John Boy, and a tough little nut. He lives with his wife and son and does everything he can to protect them. He is often the butt of his boss's jokes, but bides his time, knowing his chance will eventually come.

John Boy Power, played by Aiden Gillen. The cold psycho of the gang, its brains and its leader. No-one dares go up against John Boy. He's a criminal boss, feared and respected, though there are rumours that he's a little soft in the head, as he seems to think he can see ghosts...

Tommy Daly, played by Killian Scott. One of John Boy's footsoldiers, desperately hoping to get up the ladder of power. Tommy is supposed to collect Darren's brother from jail when he's let out in the pilot episode, but is sleeping with Mary, who is both Darren and Robbie's sister, and doesn't make the rendezvous. He also has a somewhat unhealthy attraction to a local junkie, Debbie.

Hughie Power, played by Brian Gleeson (son of Irish actor Brendan). Hughie is John Boy's brother and a total whack job. If John Boy is the cold psycho, Hughie is the psycho psycho. He's the kind of guy who will shoot you in the face "just for a laugh". Even the gang members think he's off his head. One dangerous man.

Trish Delaney, played by Aoibhinn McGinty. Nidge's wife. She's a hard-as-nails, heart-of-gold Dublin slapper who is fiercely loyal to Nidge but in her heart just wants a normal, quiet life for her and her son. She doesn't say no to all the expensive gifts her husband gets her though. She is however tired of the constant knocks on the door at all hours, Nidge being taken away by the Gardai to "assist in their enquiries".

Rosie Moynihan, played by Ruth Negga. Darren's love interest though she's with someone else. They knew each other before Darren went away to Spain, now they're unsure if they should try to rekindle the relationship. And then there's Stumpy!

Stumpy (Stephen Doyle), played by Peter Campion. A real hard case, he's with Ruth now and knocks her about. Darren is just looking for a chance to kill him, but John Boy needs him and forbids it.

These then are the main characters in the series, at least for season one. Some will die, move on, not be needed for seasons two and three, but the main core cast will remain. Love/Hate has many twists and surprises, not a little humour and as a Dublin guy makes me wonder just how safe those streets I avoid at night really are?

An interesting thing about the series is that the first season ran to a mere four episodes, whereas subsequent seasons were expanded to six episodes each. That I think demonstrates how popular it became. To be fair, six episodes per season didn't seem like nearly enough, though Carolan covered all the plot points and basically tied up all the loose ends in each - apart from those which weren't supposed to be resolved, carrying through into future seasons. At the time of writing it has finished its fifth season and a sixth is promised, though "not this year". 

Season one, episode one

We open on a normal house in a suburb of Dublin, the camera pans up to the window as we hear a voice with an American accent explain how to disassemble a Glock automatic pistol. We then see Nidge (though we don't see his face) avidly watching a YouTube video as he takes his Glock apart. Meanwhile Darren Treacy arrives in Dublin Airport, just off the flight from Spain and tries not to look nervous as he passes through Customs. At the same time a key scrapes in a lock and we see his brother, Robbie, being released. He gives the guard the finger as he steps out into the afternoon sunlight, looks around, waits a moment then begins walking. Darren is shown still getting out of the airport.

Cut to two people in bed. We will quickly learn that the man is Tommy, Darren's friend and a member of Nidge's gang, and the woman he is in bed with is Mary, Darren's sister. Darren, having been away - and Robbie, having also been away, though in a different sense - knows nothing of the relationship. What will emerge as being important to both Darren and Robbie is that Tommy is supposed to have been collecting the latter from prison as he's released, but instead he's in bed with the ex-con's sister. We next see Nidge, frustrated at not being able to follow the instructions onscreen, hide his Glock as his girlfriend Trish bangs on the door.

Darren calls Robbie and tells him he's waiting for Tommy to collect him, and Darren says he's on the way to meet him (wondering where the hell Tommy is). Tommy realises that he's forgotten about Robbie and gets a call from Darren, says he's on the way. Meanwhile, Robbie goes to a nearby shop to get credit for his mobile phone but as he comes out of the shop he's shot by a masked gunman. Darren arrives to find his brother dead, no sign of Tommy. When he does turn up he can't say why he was late, as Darren doesn't know, and might not approve, that he was screwing his sister. Darren blames him for Robbie's killing, and Tommy can't deny it. If he had been there when he was supposed to be...

The next morning Darren is arrested. He knew this would happen; he had skipped the country on arms charges, but gets off on a technicality. When he asks the gang's lawyer how he should organise paying him, he's told it's been sorted. However this now trashes his plans for leaving in two days and returning to Spain, as he had originally intended to. Until the paperwork is complete and the charges dropped totally, he can't leave the country.

Enter John Boy, criminal boss and don to the Dublin gangland, and his psycho brother, Hughie. On the way to Robbie's house they're stopped by the Guards but there's nothing to charge them with. Also at the house we meet Stumpy and Rosie. Darren used to date Rosie and had intended to hook back up with her on arriving back in Dublin, and is upset to see she is with someone else now. Following old Irish tradition the family are having a wake for Robbie at the house, and this is where all the family, and the gang members, gather. Rumours abound as to who killed Robbie, and a name is mentioned - Jimmy Byrne, who apparently Robbie attacked while inside, and who has skipped town.

At the graveside, Mary tries to confess to Darren about Tommy, but it's unclear if he gets the intimation. Of course, they're both heartbroken so the actual impact of what she's trying to tell him may not be too clear. Back in the pub, a scuffle breaks out between Hughie and Stumpy when the latter takes exception to his off-colour jokes and innuendos about Darren catching up with Rosie. It's clear the two don't like each other and Stumpy storms off. Meanwhile in one of the cars Darren and Rosie discuss the past, and why he left when he did. It's equally clear the attraction between them is still strong. On the way out though Stumpy comes across the two in the car and you can see he's not happy about her hooking up with her old flame again. He makes it clear Rosie is pregnant, which is news to Darren. The tension in the air as she and Stumpy talk shows that they are far from in love.

John Boy tells Darren about the rumour concerning Jimmy Byrne, but also floats the possibility that Tommy could have been involved. Without knowing the details, it does look a little suspicious that he failed to pick Robbie up from jail, and can offer no real excuse. Tommy is therefore worried when Nidge and Darren invite him to take a trip with them, and go to a forest, where Nidge produces his Glock. However, it turns out they're just looking to test it out, and Tommy is not a suspect, as he thought. However Darren tells him that he knows about Mary, but as long as he doesn't hurt his sister, he doesn't care that he's with her. The trip was though set up deliberately to give Tommy the idea that his number was up. A message has been sent, and received.

Quotes

Trish: "What are ye doin' in here with the door locked?"

Nidge: "I was updatin' me Bebo page!"

Mary: "Darren said it was a mandatory ten years he could get for it!"

Trish: "For what? Possession?"

Mary: "For having a gun in the house."

Nidge: "Mary, it was a 9mm semi automatic, not a bleedin' rocket launcher he had! Jesus! He'll get ... five. Tops!"

Trish: "Shut up you! You're makin' it worse!"

Trish, as she and Nidge are on the way to the house after the funeral: "How long do we have to go to this thing for?"

Nidge: "We're staying."

Trish: "It's gonna be depressin', is all."

Nidge: "Well what do you expect? It's not the X Factor, is it?"

Darren: "Which is worse, Tommy? Being late for Robbie, or ridin' my sister?"

Tommy: "Bein' late for Robbie."

Darren: "Yeah. So if I'm not gonna shoot you for that, how do you reckon I'm gonna shoot you for being with Mary?"

Questions?

At this point, the obvious one: who shot Robbie, and why?

We're not told how long Darren has been away, so is it possible that the baby is his and not Stumpy's?

Family

As in most if not all crime shows, relationships play a huge and important role in "Love/Hate", and none moreso than the family, but sometimes it's hard for those on the outside (or even the inside) to separate the "loving family man" from the cold-blooded killer. In this section I'll be looking at how those who aren't in the gang, or those who are on the periphery, relate to the ones they love, how they reconcile the nefarious deeds they know or suspect their other half perpetrate with the man they know and love.

In this opening episode the most striking and immediate example of this "divided loyalty" is Trish, girlfriend to Nidge. She knows, or has an idea, what sort of things her man gets up to, but is prepared most of the time to turn a blind eye. As long as the safety of her son is not in question. Because make no mistake about it, if it comes down to a straight choice - Warren or Nidge - she'll take the safety of her son every time. Even in the opening exchanges we see Nidge is something of a harassed man, which gets him ribbing from his colleagues, even in his absence. Darren talks to Robbie and asks if Nidge is coming out with them that night, and Robbie grins "If he can get Trish to let go of his nutsack!" They know Nidge loves Trish, and that sort of love has real power, even over a gangster.

Trish refers to the night out, moaning and saying that it's been nice and quiet this past year, leading us to the conclusion that none of the gang (Darren's been away, Robbie in jail) have been up to anything special recently. Or if they have, she doesn't know about it. That's all of course due to change very soon. She also frowns, as would any woman, on her boyfriend's penchant for hookers, something that comes with the territory. She does not, however, forbid him from such pursuits, but warns him if he "starts that shit again" she'll throw him out. It is clear though that she knows when she's gone too far. Nidge loves her but he can only be pushed so far.

Mirror, Mirror

Although at times the characters here are viewed in a generally favourable light, seen as just ordinary guys, Stuart Carolan, creator of the show, is careful to show us that they are far from ordinary, not at all like you and me. The "guy next door" front is just a facade and beneath this lurks an evil, scheming, heartless and coldly brutal monster. In this section I'll be digging below the surface, tearing aside the masks and forcing these characters to peer deeply into the mirror, to see the terrible reflection they cast.

Nidge, who is shown to be a family man, fond of a drink and a support to Darren when Robbie is killed, shows his other side, his true side, when we see him collecting a debt that's owed. It's twenty-two thousand Euro, a lot of money in anyone's language, but the wife has only been able to muster twenty thousand. She hopes Nidge will take it, but he sneers that she owes two grand more. Where will she get it, she pleads despairingly: the credit union would only give her a maximum of twenty. Nidge shrugs: she'll have to borrow it from someone. It's not his problem how or where she gets the money, just that the debt is paid. As he drives off with the twenty grand, the woman asks him in a faltering voice will he be okay, obviously referring to her husband, or son, whoever owes the debt. Nidge grins nastily: "I don't know. Will he?"

This callous disregard for the financial position of a vulnerable woman shows Nidge up for what he is, a cheap, nasty thug who is happy to allow people to get into debt but has no qualms about putting the screws on them when they can't pay up. It's not like going to the bank: when you owe the gangs, you had better be able to pay or you're going to end up losing something. Maybe a limb, maybe an eye, maybe your life. It's particularly harrowing when the criminal, after having this scary confrontation with the woman, calmly drives back to his loving family and continues his "second" life, as if nothing had happened. The ability of these people to rationalise and compartmentalise their gangland life is nothing short of chilling.

Honour among thieves?

Here I'll be looking at the widely-held belief, which is a myth, that criminals in gangs look after each other. They don't. Scumbags look after number one, and that's it. There's a wolf pack mentality in that they stick together both to look and be more intimidating to their enemies and because each has dirt they can dish on the other, but generally it's a mutual reliance that provides the glue that holds gangs together. It's also this refusal to stand by one another that will, eventually, lead to the downfall of many of the gang members here.

Stumpy: Although not an actual gang member, Stumpy runs with them and is known to them, but there is no love lost, as is evident when Nidge refuses to let him into the house, slamming the door in his face. Darren too has reason to dislike the man, as he now has the woman he wants to get back together with. Like everyone else, Stumpy will be tolerated for his earning power and his muscle, and for fear of what he knows that can damage the gang, until he either becomes no longer useful or a liability, at which point all bets are off and the pack will show its true colours, turning on him and tearing him to pieces.