While Netflix’s Peaky Blinders might be a beloved piece of gangster TV, there is a contemporary Irish crime drama that can give the show a run for its money. Gangster shows are, it is fair to say, tough to get right. Although some of the best, most daring cop shows effectively depict the police themselves as glorified gangsters, as seen in The Shield, most police procedurals have a more idealistic view of law enforcement.
This means, even if the main characters of shows like Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone spinoff Marshals might have their flaws, viewers are ultimately left feeling like they are a force for good in the world. In contrast, gangster shows by definition focus on career criminals. From the gritty realism of This City Is Ours to more glamorous period dramas about gangsters of a bygone era, these characters are always antiheroes at best.
Some shows, like The Sopranos, lean into the mundane minutiae of the lives of criminals to humanize them despite their moral failings. Others, like The Wire, use subtle social commentary to explore how their environment can drive them inexorably into a life of crime. However, it is a rare feat for a show like Netflix’s Peaky Blinders to make its gangsters feel outright sympathetic. What is even more impressive is the ability of shows like Kin to pull this off without a single bad episode in the process.
Kin Is A Gangster Masterpiece With No Bad Episodes
Admittedly, Kin is a very different series from Peaky Blinders on the face of things. Peaky Blinders was a historical drama that lasted six seasons and a spinoff movie, whereas Kin is a taut, two-season story told over 18 episodes. However, like its spiritual predecessor, the acclaimed Irish gangster show Love/Hate, Kin does share the most impressive element of Peaky Blinders.
Kin explores a gangland feud between Aidan Gillen’s Frank Kinsella and Ciaran Hinds’ Eamon Cunningham, a pair of rival gang leaders who drag their entire extended families into a bloody, years-long spiral of violence and retribution. With an astounding ensemble cast including Charlie Cox, Emmett J. Scanlan, Clare Dunne, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Yasmin Seky, and Danielle Galligan, Kin’s tense, brutal story sees a turf war escalate into a bloodbath that costs both families dearly.
Loosely inspired by the infamous Hutch–Kinahan feud that has dominated Irish media coverage of the country’s organized crime rings for over a decade, Kin is a gripping, grim series that doesn’t share the glamour of Peaky Blinders. However, Kin does share the earlier Netflix show’s humanity, as the Irish crime drama manages to make characters who are far from likable feel complex and human despite their appalling crimes.
Kin Has A Spiritual Predecessor That’s Just As Good
A combination of factors worked together to make the heroes of Peaky Blinders uniquely sympathetic, from the fact that they were economically deprived to the reality that Anglo-Irish gangs of the era were pitted against substantially worse forces like Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists. In contrast, Kin’s main characters are less like misunderstood antiheroes and more akin to the characters of The Sopranos, proving unexpectedly fascinating in spite of their terrible misdeeds.
In this regard, Kin has an ideal predecessor in the equally iconic Irish crime drama Love/Hate, a five-season hit that launched stars like Peter Coonan and Robert Sheehan to stardom. Love/Hate’s incredible cast also included Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, Gillen, and Ruth Negga, but it was the show’s balance of grit and character drama that made it a perfect companion piece to Kin.
On paper, a show even loosely based on the Hutch/Kinahan feud could seem tasteless at worst and oppressively bleak at best. However, in reality, Kin feels like a contemporary update of the winning Peaky Blinders formula.
- Release Date
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2021 – 2027-00-00
- Network
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RTÉ One
- Directors
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Felix Thompson, Tessa Hoffe, Diarmuid Goggins, Joseph Lawlor, Christine Molloy
- Writers
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Ciaran Donnelly
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Aidan Gillen
Frank Kinsella
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David Herlihy
Detective Paul Breslin
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Danielle Galligan
Pharmacist Molly