This season of Top Boy seemed to pop out of nowhere. One second, I noticed some YouTube related content pop up and next thing you know, I had friends asking what I thought of the season. “What Season?” I replied.
Another step, another move in the right direction from the Top Boy cast. I ended up binging the season within the space of two days. A common thing for a lot of Netflix users, but something that has been a lot less common for me as of late. Either way I ended up finishing the eight-part series as if it were a feature length film. This was partly due to the gripping story but also the all-round powerhouse performances. Gauging the online reaction, I think it’s clear that Jaq played by Jasmine Jobson, was a clear fan favourite. Her ability to humanise an outwardly tough character whilst balancing an extreme sense of vulnerability, was something that had everyone routing for her. This is true for the rest of the characters as well.
Whilst in my mind I thought, “what possible other narratives could they explore when it comes to gang life in London?”, I couldn’t have been more wrong. Season 3 had been a whirlwind. There was a lot of action and tense moments, and understandably so. Season 3 had been a return for the series after almost 6 years, so there needed to be a big flash and bang to reign in an entirely new audience on Netflix. Not to say that there weren’t beautiful, introspective moments in between the action. Kano’s performance as Sully had stuck with me since. The train scene where he’s left at rock bottom, questioning life, is some of the best acting I’ve ever witnessed. A powerful non-verbal performance. In a lot of ways, it was almost a first Season. Introducing a near-entirely new cast in an enticing way, had left little room for fleshing out these characters.
Season 4 on the other hand, seemed slower in pace and in a good way. Don’t get me wrong, there was still plenty of shootouts and violence to have you at the edge of your seats. There was just a lot more time spent humanising the characters. Dushane seemed to be going through his trial-by-fire that Sully did in the last season, with a lot more of his vulnerabilities and weaknesses out on display. As for his partner Shelley, played by Little Simz, cracks in her morally perfect character were explored which only made her more likable. The producers seemed to focus on balance, with the ‘good’ revealing a darker past and the ‘bad’ having to deal with their comeuppance. Lauryn, Jaq’s troublesome sister who I forgot about from season 3, was utilised in such a clever way. What I thought was the end of her story, brought in a whole new element of problems into this season, true to her past ways.
Jamie, played by Michael Ward, had another top tier performance. I certainly feel like he was a fan favourite from Season 3, having won the hearts of many of the female audience. His character had gone through one of the hardest and complicated journeys this time around. Each episode had a set of tough scenarios for him to deal with, but unlike previous issues, these couldn’t be solved by the gun. His business trip to Morocco was a beautiful way in which the producers were able to explore the problems of “Hood Mentality”. When in a car ride with Moroccan business partner, Jamie looks out to people on the beach and says, “this shit’s like movies”. A bit of a meta moment, yet one that reminds the audience that, the World that existed to Jamie was confined to the streets of London.
Given the bigger budget for this season, we finally got to see the Global dynamic of the drugs trade. We were longer wondering, “where does this food come from” because we were finally taken there. Granted, Season 3 did explore this as well, through its Jamaican storyline but it was different. In Jamaica, Dushane only spent a small portion there and had family ties there. However, this time our three main characters all went abroad, the foreign settings used as way to explore how they react when they are out of their depth. A ‘fish out of water’ type of scenario.
Whilst the series did reflect a more global scale, it also did well to introduce a more varied UK demographic, one that’s truer of today’s scene. With a huge growth and presence of Northern artists in the music industry, we finally got a proper reflection of UK that isn’t just London. There was a slight connection to Manchester in Season 3, with two younger characters doing County Lines and getting the train up North. Yet in Season 4, we had a full feature of Liverpudlian Arms Dealers mixed into the cast. With the City’s rich history of the Weapons and Drugs trade, it was only a matter of time before they made a crossover into the hostile world of London-based Top Boy. I think the Liverpool dynamic was a very welcomed story line, with Curtis and his sister being two vile characters that always did well to gauge a reaction out of me. As far as that story goes, I don’t think it’s the last we’ve heard of the Liverpudlian gang.
Top Boy Season 4 added another notch to its belt, a world that was made more real and consequently, one which I care about even more. I hugely enjoyed the experience and don my hats off to the producers and cast for doing such an excellent job. I look forward to returning to the world of Top Boy and am eager for what Season 5 will have to offer, even if I have to wait another 3 years.
wear shoes, write poems 