Stream It Or Skip It?

Anyone who is a fan of Steven Knight’s work, like Hulu‘s A Thousand Blows, knows that he doesn’t do period dramas where women in corsets politely dance with men in shoes with buckles and heels. His shows are gritty, full of f-bombs, and often set their 19th century stories against a modern soundtrack. He also has great casts, and ATB is no exception.

A THOUSAND BLOWS SEASON 2: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT? 

Opening Shot: A closeup of Hezekiah Moscow (Malachi Kirby) in a bare-knuckled boxing match.

The Gist:  During the match, he encourages his opponent to go down, because he’s exhausted. But the opponent keeps going, and when he lands a punch, Hezekiah knocks him senseless. Of course, the crowd was heavily favoring the white boxer over the Jamacian immigrant, and the angry mob has to be held back so Hezekiah can leave.

He’s back to bare-knuckling in order to earn money to go back to Jamacia, a dream that both he and his late friend Alec Munroe (Francis Lovehall) had. On the street, Hezekiah encounters a shaggy, drunk Henry ‘Sugar’ Goodson (Stephen Graham), who has been on this bender ever since he was exiled from the Blue Coat Boy tavern, which he ran with his brother, Edward “Treacle” Goodson (James Nelson-Joyce). Hezekiah drags Sugar back to the tavern, which Treacle, who is now experiencing hallucinations from the beating he took in his last match, now runs with the help of Esme Long (Morgan Hilaire).

In the meantime, Mary Carr (Erin Doherty), who schemes with Alice Diamond (Darci Shaw) to rob the safe deposit boxes at a big-time bank. They get some jewelry and gems, but know the good stuff was in the safe. Still, Mary has bigger plans: She wants to get the Forty Elephants back together for another big score. First, though, she has to get out from under the partnership she and her mother Jane (Susan Lynch) are in wtih Indigo Jeremy (Robert Glenister). She also has to convince Sugar to stay sober long enough to be part of her scheme.

Not long before Hezekiah is slated to get on a ship back to Jamaica, he encounters Victoria Davies (Aliyah Odoffin), the African-born goddaughter of Queen Victoria. She’s been looking for Hezekiah, as she wants him to teach a friend of hers how to box; she assures him that killing his American opponent in the ring, the incident that doomed his professional boxing career, wasn’t his fault.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? A Thousand Blows was created and written by Steven Knight, and it’s reminiscent of other shows he’s created, like Peaky Blinders and House Of Guinness.

Our Take: Like with the first season, A Thousand Blows is most compelling when Erin Doherty is on screen as Mary Carr. It’s not just because the Emmy winner (for her turn on Graham’s hit series Adolesence) is a powerful acting presence, rising to the top of an ensemble full of fine actors. It’s because Mary’s mind is always working on different levels, and we’re always interest in seeing what kind of schemes she comes up with, and how she convinces the people around her to execute those schemes.

She wouldn’t get the Forty Elephants back together, for instance, unless she knew that there was money to be made in doing so. But on a different level, her aim isn’t just to rob the rich to help themselves, but to be the “queen” that’s in control of the enterprise, not needing to partner with rapacious men like Indigo or anyone else. If there are men as part of her schemes, she’s the one who wants to choose who to work with.

She’s the only character who isn’t really leading a grim existence. Sugar is drinking himself to death, while Treacle’s beating-induced cognitive issues are slowly driving him mad. Hezekiah is angry over Alec’s death and Indigo’s role in it, and he’s bitter over the lies Mary told him, though it seems that he’s willing to work with her if they have a common enemy and goal.

There’s some hope for all of them, mainly after Hezekiah’s encounter with Victoria Davies. But what we’re here to watch is Mary try to literally get the gang back together and execute the plan she has swimming in her fertile mind.

Performance Worth Watching: Since we’ve already mentioned Doherty, we’ll mention Graham here, becauase he’s playing a very broken version of Sugar, who is quite the opposite of the fierce fighter we saw in Season 1. And he performance in the first episode is equally effective.

Sex And Skin: Nothing in the first episode.

Parting Shot: Hezekiah opens the gift Victoria gave him to remind him of “who you used to be”; it’s a photo of him during his professional boxing career.

Sleeper Star: It seems that Aliyah Odoffin’s Victoria will be more invovled this season, as we’re guessing that Hezekiah will take her up on her offer. If so, that’s a welcome development.

Most Pilot-y Line: As with the first season, don’t even try to watch this show without closed captioning on.

Our Call: STREAM IT. A Thousand Blows continues to be a delightfully gritty period drama, made even more watchable by the presence of Erin Doherty.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.