Post by Dirty Epic on May 12, 2016 14:55:06 GMT
I’ve recently got the DVD for this contemporary 5 series drama about Dublin’s gangland and with a few slight flaws its on the whole quite good.
www.rte.ie/drama/tv/featured/lovehate/
www.rte.ie/drama/tv/featured/lovehate/
{Spoiler Alert - Click Here To Reveal}
Series 1 begins with the Darren (Robert Sheehan) returning to Dublin from Spain due to having to lie low from the Garda. His brother Robbie (Chris Newman) is being released from prison and Darren’s friend Tommy (Killian Scott) is meant to be picking him up. But he’s held up and Robbie is shot dead by unknown people. They all loosely work for a major crime figure ‘John Boy’ Power (Aiden Gillen) and are soldiers of his lieutenant Nidge (Tom Vaughan-Lawlor) and John Boy’s brother Hughie (Brian Gleeson). Complicating matters is Darren still holds a flame for Rosie (Ruth Negga) whose moved on to a relationship with a former friend/now rival of his Stumpy (Peter Campion). Darren is out to revenge the death of his brother but his sister Mary (Ruth Bradley) doesn’t want him to go down the revenge route with what that entails. After Stumpy violently attacks Rosie and Darren retaliates John Boy exploits the situation by putting word out that Stumpy killed Robbie. In fact it was John Boy’s brother Hughie who killed him and the scene is set for a violent showdown. However before this happens Hughie in a drink/drugs binge decides to kill Darren but accidently shoots/kills himself on the way. Meanwhile John Boy’s lieutenant Nidge is in the middle of all this and even has his wedding disrupted by John Boy and Hughie who turn up abusive and uninvited. Darren finds the truth of what happened to Robbie but with John Boy suffering loss too he reluctantly agrees to a truce and to pay off his and Robbie’s ‘debt’ to him. Stumpy though is still smarting and uses an associate Eric ‘Elmo’ Creed (Lawrence Kinlan) who shoots Darren before he has a chance to leave Dublin.
Series 2 picks up with Darren recovered but weakened from his shooting. He’s trying to build a relationship with Rosie who is on/off living in London. John Boy meanwhile gets involved with a big drugs deal with Fran (Peter Coonan) a maverick, rough and ready villain on the fringes of Ireland’s traveller community. John Boy though double crosses Fran when Fran’s shipment is intercepted by customs but his shipment passes through unchecked. Losing out Fran wants compensation from John Boy. John Boy wants none of it and after telling Fran where to go he gets shot in the shoulder by Fran a drinking club he/his gang use. Meanwhile Nidge has been in an affair with Fran’s de-facto Linda (Denise McCormack) behind his wife’s, John Boy’s and Fran’s back. Angry at Fran taking a shot at him John Boy orders Nidge to pipe bomb Fran’s house and make sure Linda is in and get’s it when he does it. Nidge is reluctant but carry’s out his orders with a bomb made by Patrick (John Connors) a member of the traveller community. As John Boy wishes Linda is maimed by the bomb and devastated by what it’s done to her she commits suicide. This devastates Nidge and Fran and Fran launches a random violent attack which see’s him do some jail time and out the way. Stumpy meanwhile has cost John Boy money when the Garda raid a drug operation he has in a Dublin hotel. John Boy orders Darren to kill him which he reluctantly (and perhaps his first time) agrees to do. Meanwhile Darren has befriended a small time criminal Luke (Gavin Drea) who he’s done both robberies and Stumpy’s murder with. Luke however has been stalking Mary and after he broken into Mary’s home action needs to be taken. Also a small time associate Ado (Mark Dunne) has hooked John Boy’s girlfriend Debbie (Susan Loughnane) on heroin. Debbie also holds a candle for Tommy and he eventually has an affair with her. John Boy orders Darren to kill Ado. Darren however shoots John Boy dead in the Dublin pub meant to be Ado’s ambush and not exactly disappointed Nidge steps up to be the leader. Darren and Nidge also decide to kill Luke (not just due to stalking Mary) and take him out to woodland outside Dublin on the premise stolen loot needs digging up. They shoot and bury him and Series 2 ends with Nidge slightly paranoid about Darren’s loyalty but convinced he’s on his side.
Series 3. Nidge and his gang are seemingly at the top of Dublin’s criminal tree. However when Ado’s drug dealing comes to the attention of a dissident republican group led by Dano (Jason Barry) and is given a punishment shooting Nidge has to smooth things over with Dano’s father Christopher ‘Git’ Loughman (Jimmy Smallhorne). Things are complicated further by Darren launching a pipe bomb at their Dublin pub. Although distrustful of Nidge Git realises he can use his smuggling network to get arms into Ireland and the two share a ‘friendly’ St Patrick’s Day drinking session together. When Git rounds things off at a drinking club used by Nidge and his associates Tommy’s girlfriend and Nidge’s nice Siobhan catches Git’s eye. Git rapes Siobhan but caught in the act Tommy pulls him off her and bashes him senseless. Severely injured Nidge doesn’t know what to do with Git after Tommy’s bashing but Darren quickly decides to put Git out of his misery with a beer keg. Darren’s descent into Nidge’s gang has also resulted in him losing Rosie and his sister Mary disowning him too. Prior to this Dano witnesses an altercation between Git and Elmo and Nidge and his associates decide this is the best form of defence if questions are asked. Nidge contacts Fran to quickly dispose of Git’s body which he’s more than happy to do and Fran feeds his remains to the fighting dogs he keeps – although he does keep one of Git’s finger bones which will come back to haunt everyone later on. With Git missing Dano involves more of the republican movement to find his killer including Tony (Sean McGinley) an ‘inquisitor’ with a no nonsense reputation from the North. With Siobhan naturally distraught, Tommy/Darren angry and Fran a loose cannon Nidge fears everything will unravel but does enough to hold everything together and get Dano off his back (for now). They put word around the Elmo was responsible for Git’s disappearance and even offer to take him out to appease Dano and the rest of his republican cohorts. Darren and a hit-woman Lizzie (Caoilfhionn Dunne) try and fail to take out Elmo. Meanwhile word of Git’s disappearance and the links with Nidge and his associates has spread to the Garda. D.I. Mick Moynihan (Brian F O’Byrne) has Nidge and his gang in his sights and although having no evidence of their involvement in Git’s disappearance he can use it to disrupt their criminal activities. Nidge’s lies are catching up with him and after beating Tommy into a coma – he doesn’t fully recover from and Siobhan’s friend Donna (Siobhan Shanahan) ‘ratting’ to the Gard’s the rumours and pieces of why/where Git came to his end coming back to Dano. Nidge knows this and decides to flee to Spain before he can do this Dano decides to ambush Nidge at his luxury Castleknock home. He’s snatched into a car and driven away at speed. However Darren who saw Nidge a few minutes earlier to get money he’s owed in order to go to London witnesses this and opens fire upon Dano and his boys which causes their car to crash, Lizzie’s brothers death and Nidge to escape. Nidge puts his family in hiding decides to confront the situation and meets with the ‘inquisitor’ Tony in Dundalk. Tony is disdainful of Nidge but wants to use his smuggling network to suit his movement’s aims and will keep him safe – for now. Meanwhile Darren has been sacrificed by Nidge and rather than taking him to the airport Nidge uses Ado takes him to a car park where he is trapped and gunned down by Lizzie.
Series 4. Despite the spectre of Dano/the dissident republican’s wanting revenge for Git, Nidge’s activities are up and running again and engages his gang in a ‘Tiger kidnapping’ of a security guard and his family in order to do a robbery. However the robbery is bungled and Tommy is still messed up from Nidge’s beating and drops the gang – particularly Fran, in it with the Garda when he unwisely makes a return visit to the kidnapped family in order to see if they’re alright. Fran won’t do jail time for Tommy and is putting pressure on Nidge to do something about him – despite the fact Tommy’s testimony won’t convict Fran unless he confesses to being involved in the robbery. He also challenges Nidge’s leadership. Meanwhile Andrew a punter at a brothel Nidge is involved with gets violent with one of the girls. He’s a dentist but heavily in debt and Nidge uses this as a point of leverage for Andrew to legitimately bring in some novocaine they can use for their drug operations. Moynihan steps things up with the undercover operation against Nidge and with Tommy’s predicament – he’s back in hospital, he uses Siobhan to get information which ultimately leads to them intercepting Nidge’s shipment. Nidge is also paranoid the dissident republicans are closing in on him, they were but instead carry out a punishment shooting and murder of Dano for disobeying their orders. Meanwhile Fran believes Andrew has been working with the Gard’s and decides after violently torturing him to kill him in his dentist surgery and dumps his body near a LUAS trackside in a desolate area of the city. However while arranging to meet Fran at his dog breeding farm Nidge see’s Patrick – whom he got the pipe bomb from, buying a dog from him. Paranoid he’ll tell Fran what the bomb was used for Nidge decides to confront Patrick at his lock up. Patrick doesn’t want to get involved and swears to Nidge he doesn’t tell anyone anything. Unconvinced Nidge decides to do a hit on Patrick which doesn’t work out and now Patrick wants revenge on Nidge. With the net closing in on him Nidge flees to Spain.
Series 5. Nidge has hooked up with an ex-pat Dublin gangster Terrance May (Paudge Behan) to help him get his drug business back on the road. May enlists his nephew Paulie Lawless (Johnny Ward) to watch Nidge’s back – until the debt to him is paid. He’ll throw him to the wolves afterwards. Meanwhile Patrick also returns to Dublin with the intention to kill Nidge. More specifically Lizzie is out for revenge for her brother too and shows up submachine gun and all at Nidge’s house to ambush him. Nidge hides when she and a youth look around the house to find him. They assume he’s not at home and leave not before Lizzie engages in a road rage incident and severely assaults the other driver. Nidge deals with Lizzie by using one of the youth’s on her housing estate to gun her down in her own flat and solves one of a growing list of problems. Fran meanwhile is perplexed why Patrick’s out to get Nidge and offers to have a word with him. Nidge doesn’t want him to but curious Fran does talk to Patrick who reluctantly tells him Nidge was responsible for the pipe bomb which injured (then killed) Linda. Furious Fran try’s to kill Nidge but is intercepted by the Garda with firearms in his possession and is remanded in custody. Nidge is unaware of this and visits Fran in jail. When he’s attacked in the visiting room he decides he now has to deal with Fran as well as Patrick. He forcibly coerces Fran’s associate Deano (Ian Lloyd Anderson) to feed him disinformation and uses a enemy of Fran’s Noely Hughes (Stephen Clinch) to extract revenge on him. Noely initially couldn’t care what’s happening between Nidge and Fran but when Nidge tells him Fran desecrated his mothers grave he decides he’ll help Nidge. Nidge also enlists Ado to deal with Patrick. Ado uses a junkie associate Scotty (Paul Brannigan) to help with the hit on Patrick. After watching his movements on the day of the hit these change and Scotty accidently shoots Patrick’s son and is captured by Patrick and his associates who torture then murder him. Patrick’s son recovers but he wants more than anything revenge on Nidge. Meanwhile Siobhan is in a quandary between feeding Moynihan more information on Nidge and his activities, Tommy’s helplessness, turning to drink and drugs and a growing attraction to Paulie. After finding out Fran has kept Git’s finger bone she decides she’ll get hold of this and plant it in Nidge’s house. However in a drunken moment she has with Paulie she lets slip she knew of a drug buy at Dublin Zoo that the Gard’s had under surveillance and once Paulie reacts to this she throws him over the balcony of her apartment. Paulie’s death brings Terrance to Dublin wanting answers and he confronts Siobhan and Nidge. Siobhan however does another to convince him it was an accident and he’s actually impressed with Nidge’s operation ‘so long as he gets rid of the rats!’. Prior to this Nidge let slip brothel boss Janet (Mary McMurray) had Garda number on her phone. This was purely innocuous as it was a young offender officer she was friendly with after her son got involved with some tearaway car thieves. Terrance wants her sacrificed and against Nidge’s wishes has her killed. Fran meanwhile stabs himself in jail in order to escape from hospital and have a showdown with Nidge but is re-arrested by the Gard’s after he shows up at the Brothel looking for him. Back in jail Noely who’s been acting friendly with Fran suddenly ambushes him and with some help indecently assaults him with a pool cue. Moynihan too loses the plot and confronts/assaults Nidge at a roadside stop but it seems Nidge has got away with things. However after Siobhan visits Nidge’s wife Trish (Aoibhinn McGinnity) at his new home and plants Gits finger bone in their bathroom the two confront each other where Siobhan reveals she’s been working for Moynihan who is coming to get him. However before Nidge can react Siobhan is gunned down by Patrick and after a foot chase in his back garden Nidge is also shot – presumed killed too.
Overall Love/Hate is a very good drama and exceptionally well put together for RTE. It’s take on Dublin’s underworld is frighteningly realistic and some recent events in the city show life does imitate art too. The gangland life Love/Hate depicts is about as honest as it can be and could very easily been transposed to many major UK cities and it’s the sort of thing ITV/BBC should be looking into too. It’s also interesting that it’s showing a Dublin/Ireland which isn’t necessarily the sugar-coated nice country of Ballykissangel etc. but is a more realistic Dublin of drug addiction, squalor, violence and organised crime that has grown post Celtic tiger era in Ireland. I’m surprised the full five series haven’t been properly shown on British television as ITV Studios distribute it and apart from it being available on Netflix/DVD only Series 1-2 have been shown on Channel 5/STV which is how I came across this series by chance myself. Things up a gear from Series 3 onwards and if you like a good gritty gangland drama then Love/Hate is definitely for you – however I do admit certain aspects of it may not appeal to everyone on this forum. All of the cast are good in Love/Hate but Tom Vaughan-Lawlor (Nidge) is amazing throughout and you don’t know whether to like, hate, despise or admire him.
Overall I’d rate Love/Hate on a par with things like Australia’s Underbelly – albeit these characters are fictitious and if that’s the sort of thing you like I’d fully recommend getting hold of it!
Series 1 begins with the Darren (Robert Sheehan) returning to Dublin from Spain due to having to lie low from the Garda. His brother Robbie (Chris Newman) is being released from prison and Darren’s friend Tommy (Killian Scott) is meant to be picking him up. But he’s held up and Robbie is shot dead by unknown people. They all loosely work for a major crime figure ‘John Boy’ Power (Aiden Gillen) and are soldiers of his lieutenant Nidge (Tom Vaughan-Lawlor) and John Boy’s brother Hughie (Brian Gleeson). Complicating matters is Darren still holds a flame for Rosie (Ruth Negga) whose moved on to a relationship with a former friend/now rival of his Stumpy (Peter Campion). Darren is out to revenge the death of his brother but his sister Mary (Ruth Bradley) doesn’t want him to go down the revenge route with what that entails. After Stumpy violently attacks Rosie and Darren retaliates John Boy exploits the situation by putting word out that Stumpy killed Robbie. In fact it was John Boy’s brother Hughie who killed him and the scene is set for a violent showdown. However before this happens Hughie in a drink/drugs binge decides to kill Darren but accidently shoots/kills himself on the way. Meanwhile John Boy’s lieutenant Nidge is in the middle of all this and even has his wedding disrupted by John Boy and Hughie who turn up abusive and uninvited. Darren finds the truth of what happened to Robbie but with John Boy suffering loss too he reluctantly agrees to a truce and to pay off his and Robbie’s ‘debt’ to him. Stumpy though is still smarting and uses an associate Eric ‘Elmo’ Creed (Lawrence Kinlan) who shoots Darren before he has a chance to leave Dublin.
Series 2 picks up with Darren recovered but weakened from his shooting. He’s trying to build a relationship with Rosie who is on/off living in London. John Boy meanwhile gets involved with a big drugs deal with Fran (Peter Coonan) a maverick, rough and ready villain on the fringes of Ireland’s traveller community. John Boy though double crosses Fran when Fran’s shipment is intercepted by customs but his shipment passes through unchecked. Losing out Fran wants compensation from John Boy. John Boy wants none of it and after telling Fran where to go he gets shot in the shoulder by Fran a drinking club he/his gang use. Meanwhile Nidge has been in an affair with Fran’s de-facto Linda (Denise McCormack) behind his wife’s, John Boy’s and Fran’s back. Angry at Fran taking a shot at him John Boy orders Nidge to pipe bomb Fran’s house and make sure Linda is in and get’s it when he does it. Nidge is reluctant but carry’s out his orders with a bomb made by Patrick (John Connors) a member of the traveller community. As John Boy wishes Linda is maimed by the bomb and devastated by what it’s done to her she commits suicide. This devastates Nidge and Fran and Fran launches a random violent attack which see’s him do some jail time and out the way. Stumpy meanwhile has cost John Boy money when the Garda raid a drug operation he has in a Dublin hotel. John Boy orders Darren to kill him which he reluctantly (and perhaps his first time) agrees to do. Meanwhile Darren has befriended a small time criminal Luke (Gavin Drea) who he’s done both robberies and Stumpy’s murder with. Luke however has been stalking Mary and after he broken into Mary’s home action needs to be taken. Also a small time associate Ado (Mark Dunne) has hooked John Boy’s girlfriend Debbie (Susan Loughnane) on heroin. Debbie also holds a candle for Tommy and he eventually has an affair with her. John Boy orders Darren to kill Ado. Darren however shoots John Boy dead in the Dublin pub meant to be Ado’s ambush and not exactly disappointed Nidge steps up to be the leader. Darren and Nidge also decide to kill Luke (not just due to stalking Mary) and take him out to woodland outside Dublin on the premise stolen loot needs digging up. They shoot and bury him and Series 2 ends with Nidge slightly paranoid about Darren’s loyalty but convinced he’s on his side.
Series 3. Nidge and his gang are seemingly at the top of Dublin’s criminal tree. However when Ado’s drug dealing comes to the attention of a dissident republican group led by Dano (Jason Barry) and is given a punishment shooting Nidge has to smooth things over with Dano’s father Christopher ‘Git’ Loughman (Jimmy Smallhorne). Things are complicated further by Darren launching a pipe bomb at their Dublin pub. Although distrustful of Nidge Git realises he can use his smuggling network to get arms into Ireland and the two share a ‘friendly’ St Patrick’s Day drinking session together. When Git rounds things off at a drinking club used by Nidge and his associates Tommy’s girlfriend and Nidge’s nice Siobhan catches Git’s eye. Git rapes Siobhan but caught in the act Tommy pulls him off her and bashes him senseless. Severely injured Nidge doesn’t know what to do with Git after Tommy’s bashing but Darren quickly decides to put Git out of his misery with a beer keg. Darren’s descent into Nidge’s gang has also resulted in him losing Rosie and his sister Mary disowning him too. Prior to this Dano witnesses an altercation between Git and Elmo and Nidge and his associates decide this is the best form of defence if questions are asked. Nidge contacts Fran to quickly dispose of Git’s body which he’s more than happy to do and Fran feeds his remains to the fighting dogs he keeps – although he does keep one of Git’s finger bones which will come back to haunt everyone later on. With Git missing Dano involves more of the republican movement to find his killer including Tony (Sean McGinley) an ‘inquisitor’ with a no nonsense reputation from the North. With Siobhan naturally distraught, Tommy/Darren angry and Fran a loose cannon Nidge fears everything will unravel but does enough to hold everything together and get Dano off his back (for now). They put word around the Elmo was responsible for Git’s disappearance and even offer to take him out to appease Dano and the rest of his republican cohorts. Darren and a hit-woman Lizzie (Caoilfhionn Dunne) try and fail to take out Elmo. Meanwhile word of Git’s disappearance and the links with Nidge and his associates has spread to the Garda. D.I. Mick Moynihan (Brian F O’Byrne) has Nidge and his gang in his sights and although having no evidence of their involvement in Git’s disappearance he can use it to disrupt their criminal activities. Nidge’s lies are catching up with him and after beating Tommy into a coma – he doesn’t fully recover from and Siobhan’s friend Donna (Siobhan Shanahan) ‘ratting’ to the Gard’s the rumours and pieces of why/where Git came to his end coming back to Dano. Nidge knows this and decides to flee to Spain before he can do this Dano decides to ambush Nidge at his luxury Castleknock home. He’s snatched into a car and driven away at speed. However Darren who saw Nidge a few minutes earlier to get money he’s owed in order to go to London witnesses this and opens fire upon Dano and his boys which causes their car to crash, Lizzie’s brothers death and Nidge to escape. Nidge puts his family in hiding decides to confront the situation and meets with the ‘inquisitor’ Tony in Dundalk. Tony is disdainful of Nidge but wants to use his smuggling network to suit his movement’s aims and will keep him safe – for now. Meanwhile Darren has been sacrificed by Nidge and rather than taking him to the airport Nidge uses Ado takes him to a car park where he is trapped and gunned down by Lizzie.
Series 4. Despite the spectre of Dano/the dissident republican’s wanting revenge for Git, Nidge’s activities are up and running again and engages his gang in a ‘Tiger kidnapping’ of a security guard and his family in order to do a robbery. However the robbery is bungled and Tommy is still messed up from Nidge’s beating and drops the gang – particularly Fran, in it with the Garda when he unwisely makes a return visit to the kidnapped family in order to see if they’re alright. Fran won’t do jail time for Tommy and is putting pressure on Nidge to do something about him – despite the fact Tommy’s testimony won’t convict Fran unless he confesses to being involved in the robbery. He also challenges Nidge’s leadership. Meanwhile Andrew a punter at a brothel Nidge is involved with gets violent with one of the girls. He’s a dentist but heavily in debt and Nidge uses this as a point of leverage for Andrew to legitimately bring in some novocaine they can use for their drug operations. Moynihan steps things up with the undercover operation against Nidge and with Tommy’s predicament – he’s back in hospital, he uses Siobhan to get information which ultimately leads to them intercepting Nidge’s shipment. Nidge is also paranoid the dissident republicans are closing in on him, they were but instead carry out a punishment shooting and murder of Dano for disobeying their orders. Meanwhile Fran believes Andrew has been working with the Gard’s and decides after violently torturing him to kill him in his dentist surgery and dumps his body near a LUAS trackside in a desolate area of the city. However while arranging to meet Fran at his dog breeding farm Nidge see’s Patrick – whom he got the pipe bomb from, buying a dog from him. Paranoid he’ll tell Fran what the bomb was used for Nidge decides to confront Patrick at his lock up. Patrick doesn’t want to get involved and swears to Nidge he doesn’t tell anyone anything. Unconvinced Nidge decides to do a hit on Patrick which doesn’t work out and now Patrick wants revenge on Nidge. With the net closing in on him Nidge flees to Spain.
Series 5. Nidge has hooked up with an ex-pat Dublin gangster Terrance May (Paudge Behan) to help him get his drug business back on the road. May enlists his nephew Paulie Lawless (Johnny Ward) to watch Nidge’s back – until the debt to him is paid. He’ll throw him to the wolves afterwards. Meanwhile Patrick also returns to Dublin with the intention to kill Nidge. More specifically Lizzie is out for revenge for her brother too and shows up submachine gun and all at Nidge’s house to ambush him. Nidge hides when she and a youth look around the house to find him. They assume he’s not at home and leave not before Lizzie engages in a road rage incident and severely assaults the other driver. Nidge deals with Lizzie by using one of the youth’s on her housing estate to gun her down in her own flat and solves one of a growing list of problems. Fran meanwhile is perplexed why Patrick’s out to get Nidge and offers to have a word with him. Nidge doesn’t want him to but curious Fran does talk to Patrick who reluctantly tells him Nidge was responsible for the pipe bomb which injured (then killed) Linda. Furious Fran try’s to kill Nidge but is intercepted by the Garda with firearms in his possession and is remanded in custody. Nidge is unaware of this and visits Fran in jail. When he’s attacked in the visiting room he decides he now has to deal with Fran as well as Patrick. He forcibly coerces Fran’s associate Deano (Ian Lloyd Anderson) to feed him disinformation and uses a enemy of Fran’s Noely Hughes (Stephen Clinch) to extract revenge on him. Noely initially couldn’t care what’s happening between Nidge and Fran but when Nidge tells him Fran desecrated his mothers grave he decides he’ll help Nidge. Nidge also enlists Ado to deal with Patrick. Ado uses a junkie associate Scotty (Paul Brannigan) to help with the hit on Patrick. After watching his movements on the day of the hit these change and Scotty accidently shoots Patrick’s son and is captured by Patrick and his associates who torture then murder him. Patrick’s son recovers but he wants more than anything revenge on Nidge. Meanwhile Siobhan is in a quandary between feeding Moynihan more information on Nidge and his activities, Tommy’s helplessness, turning to drink and drugs and a growing attraction to Paulie. After finding out Fran has kept Git’s finger bone she decides she’ll get hold of this and plant it in Nidge’s house. However in a drunken moment she has with Paulie she lets slip she knew of a drug buy at Dublin Zoo that the Gard’s had under surveillance and once Paulie reacts to this she throws him over the balcony of her apartment. Paulie’s death brings Terrance to Dublin wanting answers and he confronts Siobhan and Nidge. Siobhan however does another to convince him it was an accident and he’s actually impressed with Nidge’s operation ‘so long as he gets rid of the rats!’. Prior to this Nidge let slip brothel boss Janet (Mary McMurray) had Garda number on her phone. This was purely innocuous as it was a young offender officer she was friendly with after her son got involved with some tearaway car thieves. Terrance wants her sacrificed and against Nidge’s wishes has her killed. Fran meanwhile stabs himself in jail in order to escape from hospital and have a showdown with Nidge but is re-arrested by the Gard’s after he shows up at the Brothel looking for him. Back in jail Noely who’s been acting friendly with Fran suddenly ambushes him and with some help indecently assaults him with a pool cue. Moynihan too loses the plot and confronts/assaults Nidge at a roadside stop but it seems Nidge has got away with things. However after Siobhan visits Nidge’s wife Trish (Aoibhinn McGinnity) at his new home and plants Gits finger bone in their bathroom the two confront each other where Siobhan reveals she’s been working for Moynihan who is coming to get him. However before Nidge can react Siobhan is gunned down by Patrick and after a foot chase in his back garden Nidge is also shot – presumed killed too.
Overall Love/Hate is a very good drama and exceptionally well put together for RTE. It’s take on Dublin’s underworld is frighteningly realistic and some recent events in the city show life does imitate art too. The gangland life Love/Hate depicts is about as honest as it can be and could very easily been transposed to many major UK cities and it’s the sort of thing ITV/BBC should be looking into too. It’s also interesting that it’s showing a Dublin/Ireland which isn’t necessarily the sugar-coated nice country of Ballykissangel etc. but is a more realistic Dublin of drug addiction, squalor, violence and organised crime that has grown post Celtic tiger era in Ireland. I’m surprised the full five series haven’t been properly shown on British television as ITV Studios distribute it and apart from it being available on Netflix/DVD only Series 1-2 have been shown on Channel 5/STV which is how I came across this series by chance myself. Things up a gear from Series 3 onwards and if you like a good gritty gangland drama then Love/Hate is definitely for you – however I do admit certain aspects of it may not appeal to everyone on this forum. All of the cast are good in Love/Hate but Tom Vaughan-Lawlor (Nidge) is amazing throughout and you don’t know whether to like, hate, despise or admire him.
Overall I’d rate Love/Hate on a par with things like Australia’s Underbelly – albeit these characters are fictitious and if that’s the sort of thing you like I’d fully recommend getting hold of it!