First, I really enjoyed Top Boy as a whole. You can see there was a lot of love and craft poured into this show - and that it was the role of a lifetime for many in the cast.
Now, what happened to this last season?
After Sully killed Jamie at the end of season 4, I expected shi* to go down between Sully and Dushane. Instead, first episode starts with Dushane politely surrendering to the other Top Boy. Although you could see in season 4 that Dushane was thinking about retiring (and so does Sully...), rushing the battle to the throne between the two main characters was super disappointing. Was it not what the show was about?!
So instead of reaching the long-awaited climax, we are back to the supply chain. Not even sending a proper farewell to the Spanish and Moroccan crews (who were centerstage in the last season), the show introduces an Irish gang to the party. But for what? I like Barry Keoghan, seen recently in the Banshees of Inisherin, but he only gets two episodes of screentime... It felt like a useless filler.
Meanwhile, Dushane realizes his money launderer and Lizzie (wait, was she still a thing?) went off with his money. Shame: he won't be able to finance her girlfriend's nails chain. Shelley says goodbye to Dushane after he goes very angry, again.
Jaq has the most disappointing arc of them all. After she loses her sister and sees a junkie ill-treating her child, she goes batshit and decides to steal the gang's drugs to "keep it out of the street". LOL, what? She's not exactly the most kind and inclusive girl out there. Oh, and she also put Kieron in the know for no reason, costing the latter his life. It really felt painful to watch. But worry not, because she realizes, like us, that what she's doing makes no sense. She backtracks and decides to give back the drugs to Sully. Dushane intercepts the food and waits for a crew to extradite him, all while Summerhouse is in flames.
This leads to the farewell between Sully and Dushane. The scene was OK although not as intense as I would have liked. At least, Sully knows that Dushane respects him.
Fortunately, Stef gets a propre conclusion. His relation with the daughter of another Sully's victim was nice to watch. And more importantly, he manages to break free, deciding that Sully is not worth going to jail. But speaking about Stef, where is his brother Aaron, who once promised to Jamie to take care of his sibling? Well, Dude is doing marketing and basically abandoned him... What?
I like the fact we don't know who killed Sully. He made plenty of enemies and our imagination will get going.
There are also plenty of lost plots: the Summerhouse project (if it was abandoned in season 4, why are they expropriating people, leading to the riot in the last episode?), the police investigation that led to nothing etc.
So yeah, good show but terrible conclusion. Maybe we will know one day what happened? It felt too good to have a decent show on Netflix for once!
Now, what happened to this last season?
After Sully killed Jamie at the end of season 4, I expected shi* to go down between Sully and Dushane. Instead, first episode starts with Dushane politely surrendering to the other Top Boy. Although you could see in season 4 that Dushane was thinking about retiring (and so does Sully...), rushing the battle to the throne between the two main characters was super disappointing. Was it not what the show was about?!
So instead of reaching the long-awaited climax, we are back to the supply chain. Not even sending a proper farewell to the Spanish and Moroccan crews (who were centerstage in the last season), the show introduces an Irish gang to the party. But for what? I like Barry Keoghan, seen recently in the Banshees of Inisherin, but he only gets two episodes of screentime... It felt like a useless filler.
Meanwhile, Dushane realizes his money launderer and Lizzie (wait, was she still a thing?) went off with his money. Shame: he won't be able to finance her girlfriend's nails chain. Shelley says goodbye to Dushane after he goes very angry, again.
Jaq has the most disappointing arc of them all. After she loses her sister and sees a junkie ill-treating her child, she goes batshit and decides to steal the gang's drugs to "keep it out of the street". LOL, what? She's not exactly the most kind and inclusive girl out there. Oh, and she also put Kieron in the know for no reason, costing the latter his life. It really felt painful to watch. But worry not, because she realizes, like us, that what she's doing makes no sense. She backtracks and decides to give back the drugs to Sully. Dushane intercepts the food and waits for a crew to extradite him, all while Summerhouse is in flames.
This leads to the farewell between Sully and Dushane. The scene was OK although not as intense as I would have liked. At least, Sully knows that Dushane respects him.
Fortunately, Stef gets a propre conclusion. His relation with the daughter of another Sully's victim was nice to watch. And more importantly, he manages to break free, deciding that Sully is not worth going to jail. But speaking about Stef, where is his brother Aaron, who once promised to Jamie to take care of his sibling? Well, Dude is doing marketing and basically abandoned him... What?
I like the fact we don't know who killed Sully. He made plenty of enemies and our imagination will get going.
There are also plenty of lost plots: the Summerhouse project (if it was abandoned in season 4, why are they expropriating people, leading to the riot in the last episode?), the police investigation that led to nothing etc.
So yeah, good show but terrible conclusion. Maybe we will know one day what happened? It felt too good to have a decent show on Netflix for once!