Spoilers through episode 4 of season 2.

Harry Da Souza is usually the man who steps in when everyone else has lost control. While the Harrigans argue, threaten and make their own problems worse, he observes, calculates and resolves them. It is part of the pleasure of watching MobLand: even when everything seems to be falling apart, we expect Harry to find a way out. Frankie Cooper, the new adversary played by Johnny Flynn, arrives precisely to test that confidence. What happens when the man responsible for managing crises becomes the target of one?

At first, Frankie might seem like just another criminal determined to take over the Harrigans’ business. But there is something deliberately disconcerting about the way he presents himself. The velour outfit, the haircut, his arrival on a scooter and the ease with which he provokes armed people create a figure who flirts with the ridiculous without ceasing to be dangerous. It is possible to laugh at him and, seconds later, realise that this was exactly the opening he needed to act.

Frankie is a London drug dealer recruited by Colin Tattersall to act on Kat McAllister’s behalf. She finds someone capable of attacking the Harrigans without exposing herself directly, while he gains an opportunity to move against an empire weakened by its own disputes. Their association, however, rests on more than ambition: Colin claims to have enough evidence to send him to prison for the rest of his life if he refuses the job. Frankie is also under pressure, even when he behaves as though he were above it.

So far, the series has not revealed a personal history between Frankie and Harry that would explain a revenge plot. The conflict has a practical basis: to bring down the Harrigans, it is necessary to attack the man who keeps the family functioning. Conrad may give orders and Kevin may claim command, but Harry is the one who turns those decisions into something workable — or tries to prevent their most disastrous consequences.

The meeting was a trap even before the explosion

In episode 3, Frankie offers a reorganisation of the business: Conrad would leave the top position, Frankie would take over, and the others could continue working within the new structure. Harry is included in the proposal. Is it an acknowledgement of his ability? On some level, yes. But Johnny Flynn added an important detail when discussing the scene: in his interpretation, Frankie never really expected them to accept the deal.

The speech is an opportunity to observe, embarrass and divide. Frankie is getting to know these people, absorbing their reactions and discovering how he might use them. The negotiation has something of a poker game about it, as the actor himself described it. As he talks, he tests everyone’s position within the family and exposes the fragility of its leadership.

This changes the significance of the sequence. The visit does not fail because Kevin and Seraphina reject the proposal. Their refusal already fits within the plan. The explosive-filled helmet, left behind after Bella’s release, guarantees a show of force and kills Dog, a member of Harry’s team. The almost comic quality of Frankie’s arrival makes the violence that follows even more brutal.

Harry is the adversary Frankie cannot read

Frankie’s problem is that Harry does not offer the same kind of reaction as the Harrigans. In episode 4, he tells Colin he could not read him. My interpretation is that a struggle for control emerges there: Frankie provokes people to discover where he can push further, while Harry watches without giving him that certainty.

Colin had already suggested how to get around this resistance. By recalling François Ravaillac’s execution, with horses pulling his limbs in different directions, he presents a metaphor for their strategy against Harry. The people and responsibilities Harry tries to protect can be used to pull him apart. The Harrigans, Jan and Gina become part of an offensive that forces him to respond to several threats at once.

That is precisely where the video of Jan with Donnie becomes significant. Frankie films their encounter and sends the footage to Harry, taking the attack into his private life. We can interpret the gesture as an attempt to obtain the reaction he failed to elicit during the meeting. Harry can manage a kidnapping or a business dispute; what will he do when the provocation involves his marriage?

The humiliation also challenges the fantasy that he can keep work separate from family. Jan tries to build a life outside that world, but becomes entangled in an operation directed against her husband. Harry does not need to be present for his world to continue shaping what happens around her.

Humour is part of the threat

Flynn drew on references that help explain this combination. In Get Carter, he found Michael Caine’s intelligence and irony, a menace that does not depend on displaying physical strength. Frankie possesses an almost feline languor, as though he were far too comfortable in places where everyone should be on alert.

The actor also mentioned British comedy, Kenneth Williams, the attitude of the Gallagher brothers and a deliberate sexual ambiguity, especially in the scenes with Colin. In another interview, he pointed to Joe Orton, the Rolling Stones’ Brian Jones and Mooney, a character he played on stage in Hangmen. Jez Butterworth wanted to recapture some of that energy for MobLand.

This construction explains why the eccentricity works. Frankie uses conversation, mockery and the invasion of other people’s space to exercise power. The humour is disorienting: we never know exactly how much time separates the joke from the violence. Harry’s restraint offers a particularly interesting resistance to that behaviour.

What Frankie changes in MobLand

The pressure also deepens the Harrigans’ fractures. Conrad questions Harry’s loyalty, while Bella compares Kevin’s impulsiveness with the fixer’s self-control. The family depends on an ability that does not belong to its surname and, when that dependence becomes evident, responds with resentment.

This is one of the season’s strongest contradictions. Harry needs to protect people who frequently make his task more difficult. Frankie exploits existing conflicts and adds new threats, forcing him to expend energy both on his adversary and on those he is supposed to defend.

We still need to learn more about Frankie’s past and discover how much autonomy he has in relation to Colin and Kat. But there is already a significant change: Harry remains capable, yet his ability to act is now being tested by wounds he cannot address with the same professional distance.

That is the promise that interests me. Frankie wants Harry to react as a husband, a father and a humiliated man, while he insists on functioning as the professional in control of the situation. If Frankie manages to break that self-control, he may find the vulnerability he is looking for. But he will also have to deal with what comes next — and we still do not know whether he understands the risk he is taking.