Gangs of London season 2 ending explained: How finale sets up potential season 3

Grievous bodily arm

“You were out, so we’ve left your parcel containing a severed arm with a neighbour.” Thankfully, the courier didn’t need to leave this card because the threatening package was safely delivered.

After his Paris assassination plan unravelled, renegade enforcer Elliot Finch (Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù) took an axe to the tattooed left arm of Billy Wallace (Brian Vernel), before sending his lopped-off limb to brother Sean (Joe Cole) and matriarch Marian (Michelle Fairley) as grisly leverage.

Sean realised his mother hadn’t just colluded with Albanian mafia boss Luan (Orli Shuka) to intercept the shipment of heroin bound for Pakistani drug baron Asif Afridi (Asif Raza Mir), she’d also let Elliot know how to find it - and with it poor Billy, who she’d locked in the back of the van.

When Marian coldly tried to stop him from rescuing his brother, Sean exploded in fury and half-strangled her. He’d seen his mother’s true colours at last. Elliot promptly called to give Sean his instructions. If he wanted to see Billy alive again, he’d play ball.

Algerians' kitchen nightmare

Ruthless Georgian mercenary Koba (Waleed Zuaiter) and his henchmen marched teenager Saba (Jahz Armando) into the Algerian café. To avenge the assassination of her uncle Basem (Salem Kali) at Billingsgate Fish Market, she’d facilitated Elliot’s Parisian plan. Now she’d pay with her life.

In the nick of time, Sean arrived to ask for Koba’s help. Elliot had ordered him to surrender at a remote airfield in exchange for Billy. This was their chance to kill him. “I need full comms and a sniper team,” Koba told his right-hand man. “Let’s take this motherf**ker out.”

As he left, Koba warned the Algerians to deal with Saba. They marched her through the kitchen but before snaky Hakim (Aymen Hamdouchi) could do the deed, plucky Saba threw barbecue coals in his face, shot him and fled with cousin Faz (Fady Elsayed). Attagirl.

Meanwhile, Marian arrived at the woodland hideout to find both Billy and 1.4 tonnes of heroin gone. Elliot had taken Billy but who’d got the drugs? Consigliere Ed Dumani (Lucian Msamati) and his daughter Shannon (Pippa Bennett-Warner) were the only others who knew the location. Luckily, Luan had put a tracker inside the van as insurance. Marian told him to get their smack stash back, whatever it took.

Read more:

• Gangs of London's Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù on season 2: "There's a different atmosphere"
• Gangs of London showrunner breaks down Bond-style start to season 2

Dumanis make a power-grab

Honourable Ed didn’t like stealing from Marian. The ambitious Shannon was having none of it. The Wallaces had used their family as bag-carriers, grave-diggers and money launderers for years. The heroin was a chance to build their own empire - a similar pep talk to the one she gave Elliot in the previous episode. Besides, she wanted to ensure her brother Alex (Paapa Essiedu) hadn’t died in vain.

They stashed the drugs in their motel bathroom and waited, knowing Luan’s men would be coming. When two carloads of Albanians turned up, balaclava-clad and heavily armed, Ed warned Shannon: “If we do this, there’s no turning back.”

The Albanians burst in to find an empty suite, with heroin piled high in the bathroom. Too easy. It was a trap. Ed and Shannon opened fire from the room next door, their machine guns pumping bullets through the adjoining wall. Pillow feathers flew. Blood spattered. Six Albanians lay dead.

Ed called Luan, who was waiting across the car park, and cautioned against giving Marian all the power. “There’s a reckoning elsewhere tonight,” he added. “Let’s wait and see what tomorrow brings.” The two seasoned campaigners shared a mutual respect, especially since Ed helped Luan find his kidnapped wife, so Luan drove off. Cut to that reckoning…

Burger and chips, hold the poison

When Sean vowed to get rid of his mother, having already betrayed his lover Lale (Narges Rashidi), lone wolf Koba was impressed: “I thought I’d have to kill you because a weak partner is a liability. But we might be on the same page.” En route to the rendezvous with Elliot, the pair stopped at a service station for a comfort break.

Sean bought them both burgers and watched as Koba greedily tucked in. Soon he got a nosebleed. Then he bled from the eyes and vomited blood, which splashed over his chips like ketchup. “It’s a compound poison,” Sean calmly told him. “You’re paralysed.” Koba died and Sean crammed his body in the car boot. A flashback showed him poisoning the burger and slitting the throat of Koba’s driver in the garage toilets.

He’d complied with the first phase of his instructions. Elliot now sent him the real location, a disused scrapyard. The airfield had been a decoy, sending Koba’s sniper to the wrong place. Now it would just be Sean vs Elliot, with Billy along for the ride. He was in Elliot’s passenger seat, severed arm strapped up, high on morphine. What Elliot didn’t realise is that Billy had managed to conceal a screwdriver up his sleeve.

Read more:

• Gangs of London season 2 review: Same, but different
• Gangs of London's Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù on season 2: "There's a different atmosphere"

Fistfight at the OK Corral

Sean arrived at the mist-shrouded junkyard for a cowboy-style showdown, complete with western-tinged soundtrack. Elliot made him toss away his concealed weapon and produce Koba’s corpse. He then got both Wallace brothers on their knees. Time to avenge his father, who Sean had ordered killed.

Elliot was about to pull the trigger when Billy lunged with the screwdriver, stabbing Elliot in the stomach and through the hand. Sean pounced and as Billy looked on, the pair grunted their way through a bone-crunching fight. Sean threw engine oil in Elliot’s face, momentarily blinding him.

Sean was about to finish him with a fence spike when Elliot throttled him with Billy’s strapping and strung up Sean from a crane. As he clawed at his throat, Billy pleaded with Elliot to let him down but Sean croaked: “Your dad would be proud.” Elliot and Billy drove away. The screen faded to black. Was Sean dead for real this time?

The pawn became a king

The first twist came in flashback, with Elliot deciding that killing Sean wasn’t enough: “I’m going to make you watch as I take everything you ever built. Your power, your people, your city. I’m going to replace you.” He stood Sean on a tyre and left him for the police to find. We later glimpsed one-armed Billy visiting Sean in prison.

Meanwhile, Elliot was suited, booted and swaggering into a gangland summit, where he took his seat at the table between Ed and Shannon. As Marian arrived to sit opposite, she and Elliot smiled darkly. They’d once been on the same side. Now they were deadly rivals.

Still time for a tantalising postscript. Over in Pakistan, we saw Asif in exile, plotting his return to London. For that, he needed a partner who also wanted to reclaim what was hers: Lale. Yes, the kickass Kurdish freedom fighter was alive after all. Wallaces vs Dumanis vs the Asif/Lale alliance looks set to be the next battle for London’s soul. Roll credits – and bring on a season 3 confirmation please.

Loose ends & case notes

• Who will the string-pulling Investors now align behind? Asif originally had their backing but Elliot went rogue and Sean still has the microchip of incriminating evidence against them.
• The Algerian street gang weren’t seen again. Expect them to resurface next season.
• Shannon’s son Danny (Taye Matthew) was watching movie The Raid - a knowing in-joke, since the beat-’em-up thriller was directed by Gangs of London creator Gareth Evans.
• Can’t wait for Sean to come face-to-face with Lale again. Hearts and flowers are unlikely to feature.

Gangs of London season 2 is available on Sky and NOW – find out more about how to sign up for Sky TV. For more to watch, check out our TV guide or visit our Drama hub for all the latest news.

The latest issue of Radio Times magazine is on sale now – subscribe now and get the next 12 issues for only £1. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the Radio Times View From My Sofa podcast.