MobLand Season 1, Episode 6 – “Antwerp Blues” Breakdown: The Night the War Really Started
Season 1 of MobLand spends five episodes winding a tight coil of grief, vendettas, and backchannel deals. Episode 6, “Antwerp Blues,” is the moment that coil finally snaps.
Released on May 4, 2025 on Paramount+ as the sixth of the season’s 10 episodes, “Antwerp Blues” runs about 42–43 minutes and sits right at the midpoint of the season. Directed by Daniel Syrkin and written by Ronan Bennett and Jez Butterworth, it’s where the Harrigan–Stevenson feud stops being a cold war and turns into a full-blown shooting conflict—while also exposing just how rotten things are inside the Harrigan dynasty itself.
Below, we walk through the key story beats, the character turns, and why critics and fans alike point to this episode as the true hinge of Season 1.
Setting the Stage: From Vron’s Car Bomb to Open War
“Antwerp Blues” picks up immediately after the devastating ending of Episode 5, “Funeral for a Friend,” where Vron Stevenson is killed by a car bomb. Recaps of Episode 5 describe that explosion as the moment the fragile truce between the Harrigans and Stevensons finally shatters, and Episode 6 wastes no time showing the fallout.
The opening images are grim: police and first responders crowd around the charred wreck as Richie Stevenson collapses in grief over the body of his wife. Detective Ivan Fisk and DC Mukasa are on the scene, and their assessment is blunt—this is not an isolated hit, it’s the opening shot of a gang war.
With that, the tone of the season shifts. Up to now, MobLand has leaned on tense sit-downs and behind-the-scenes maneuvering. In “Antwerp Blues,” the violence stops feeling theoretical. It’s right there in the wreckage of Vron’s car, and everyone knows it.
Bunkered in the Cotswolds: The Harrigans Go to Ground
As police brace for the inevitable escalation, the Harrigans switch to survival mode. Harry Da Souza (Tom Hardy) does what he always does: he moves fast to contain the damage. He yanks Jan Da Souza (Joanne Froggatt) and their daughter Gina out of London—Gina is pulled out in the middle of a school exam—and escorts them to the family’s safe haven: Conrad and Maeve Harrigan’s country estate in the Cotswolds.
They’re not alone. Kevin Harrigan, Bella Harrigan, and others are also brought to the estate. The Cotswolds retreat functions almost like a pressure cooker. It’s physically removed from the chaos in London, but emotionally it’s where the family’s fractures become impossible to hide.
At a tense family council, Kevin openly questions how Vron’s assassination happened and who pulled the strings. The obvious suspect—if you’ve watched the previous episode—is Maeve Harrigan (Helen Mirren), whose appetite for escalation has been clear since earlier in the season. Instead, Conrad Harrigan (Pierce Brosnan) abruptly claims responsibility for the hit.
He insists he had Vron’s car wired with Semtex as a pre-planned “Plan B” after he felt disrespected by Richie, and he now declares total war, talking openly about eradicating the Stevenson family. Recaps and reviews point out that viewers are left to wonder whether Conrad is actually telling the truth or simply covering for Maeve, but in-universe, his confession formalizes what the detectives already fear: the war is on.
To make matters worse, Maeve and Eddie Harrigan call Richie in the middle of his grief and mock him. In one shot, the show makes it clear that, for the Harrigan leadership, even this level of bloodshed is just another move on the board.
Antwerp: Seraphina and Brendan Gamble Everything
While the core of the family hides in rural England, Seraphina Harrigan (Mandeep Dhillon) and her brother Brendan (Daniel Betts) take the fight—financially, at least—abroad. Their storyline pulls the episode’s title into focus: they travel to Antwerp, Belgium, for a high-risk ruby and diamond deal in the city’s underworld.
Critics note that this Antwerp subplot is where Seraphina finally steps out of the background. Written off as an outsider within the family, she shows sharp tactical instincts in a world that doesn’t take her seriously. In the negotiations with shady gem dealers, she pushes for strict terms:
- No cash on site
- A deposit up front
- A hugely favorable share of the profits—recaps highlight that she pushes for 90%
It’s a classic MobLand dynamic: on the surface it’s about contraband, but underneath it’s about legitimacy. Seraphina is trying to prove her worth within a family that keeps her at arm’s length, and Brendan is along for the ride as her loyal but somewhat less capable counterpart.
Of course, Antwerp isn’t just about Seraphina finally getting to play. It’s also the perfect place to betray her.
Maeve’s Coldest Move Yet: Trading Seraphina for Peace
Back at the Cotswolds estate, Maeve Harrigan is working several moves ahead of everyone else. With Conrad and Kevin arguing about who ordered Vron’s death, and Harry busy trying to keep his immediate family safe, Maeve quietly makes a phone call that changes the trajectory of the season.
She reaches out directly to Richie Stevenson—the man whose wife has just been blown up—and offers him a deal. According to episode summaries and Entertainment Weekly’s recap, Maeve:
- Tips Richie off to Seraphina and Brendan’s exact location in Antwerp
- Frames Seraphina’s life as a peace offering
- Insists that Brendan must be spared
In other words, she unilaterally decides that Seraphina is expendable, but Brendan, Conrad’s biological son, should survive. Critics have seized on this as the moment Maeve stops being just a formidable matriarch and becomes something closer to the show’s coldest strategist. Even Helen Mirren, in later interviews about Episodes 6 and 7, describes Maeve as essentially a psychopath and admits Maeve “certainly wanted to get rid of” Seraphina, while only “kind of cared” about Brendan.
Maeve’s decision turns the Antwerp deal into a trap. Richie accepts the offer and sends heavily armed associates—including Mexican gunmen—into Antwerp to ambush the Harrigan siblings.
The Ambush: A Bloodbath in the Antwerp Underworld
Once Maeve’s call goes through, Antwerp becomes less a business trip and more an execution site.
During the gem exchange in a warehouse-style setting, things go sideways with surgical speed. Richie’s men storm the deal, and the result—according to multiple recap outlets—is a bloodbath:
- Dealers and security on site are gunned down
- Seraphina and Brendan are cut off and cornered at gunpoint
- The warehouse transforms into a kill box built on Maeve’s betrayal
Meanwhile, Harry gets wind that something is wrong. He heads for Antwerp with Zosia (Jasmine Jobson) and Kiko (Antonio González Guerrero) in a desperate attempt to pull the Harrigan siblings out before Richie’s gunmen close the trap.
The timing couldn’t be worse. By the time Harry reaches the city, the ambush is already in motion.
Harry on a Motorcycle, “Lust for Life” on the Soundtrack
The final stretch of “Antwerp Blues” is one of the most stylized sequences of the season. Harry ends up on a stolen motorcycle, racing through Antwerp’s streets in a last-ditch attempt to reach Seraphina and Brendan before they’re shot.
Over this, the episode drops a needle‑drop that’s gotten a lot of attention in coverage of the show: Iggy Pop’s 1977 track “Lust for Life,” co‑written with David Bowie. Men’s Journal describes the song as an “incredibly propulsive 1970s rock‑pop track,” and it fits the moment perfectly—joyful on the surface, but desperate and manic underneath.
The combination of the roaring bike, the pounding drums, and the knowledge of what’s waiting for Seraphina and Brendan at the end of that ride gives the scene its punch. It’s the classic MobLand mixture of swagger and dread.
And then, just as Harry closes in, the episode cuts. Seraphina and Brendan are held at gunpoint, and the screen goes black. Viewers don’t find out what happens until Episode 7.
Inside the Safe House: Jan, Bella, and Gina Wake Up
While the Antwerp storyline provides the obvious action, some of the episode’s most disturbing and revealing material happens back in the Cotswolds.
Several critics have argued that the quieter scenes between Jan, Bella, and Gina are among the strongest in “Antwerp Blues.” Forced into hiding, Jan is furious about being uprooted and starts questioning the life she’s built with Harry. Bella, meanwhile, is clearly rattled but practiced at masking it.
In one particularly noted moment, Bella shares anti‑anxiety pills with Jan and describes her life under Conrad as “one long panic attack.” Reviews single out that line as a concise summary of years of emotional and implied physical abuse, compressing Bella’s whole backstory into a single sentence.
At the same time, Gina has her own encounter with Conrad that leaves her deeply troubled. Accounts of the episode describe it as a disturbing private moment that strongly hints at predatory behavior. Gina’s takeaway is clear enough: she begs Jan to leave Harry and cut ties with the Harrigans altogether.
Though the show stops short in this episode of spelling out the full extent of Conrad’s abuse—that comes in more explicit detail later—“Antwerp Blues” is where those implications move from subtext to near-text. By the end of the hour, both Jan and Gina are seeing the family, and Harry’s role in it, with new eyes.
Donnie, Kat McAllister, and the Expanding Chessboard
Amid all the war talk and betrayals, “Antwerp Blues” also quietly introduces another key player: Kat McAllister.
Donnie—a Harrigan operative—returns to the family with an offer from Kat, a power broker who hasn’t yet appeared fully on screen but is already casting a long shadow over the London underworld. While Episode 6 doesn’t spell out the contents of Kat’s proposal in detail, recaps note that her involvement signals the chessboard is bigger than just Harrigans versus Stevensons.
This is important for fans tracking Season 2 prospects. Paramount executives have repeatedly pitched MobLand as a flagship global series, and the mid-season expansion of the show’s criminal ecosystem—through figures like Kat—is part of how the narrative lays groundwork for future arcs. Official stats show the strategy is working: by June 23, 2025, MobLand had reached 26 million viewers on Paramount+ and become the streamer’s #2 original series by viewership, after Landman.
How Critics Read “Antwerp Blues”
Although Rotten Tomatoes lists only a small number of episode‑specific critic reviews for “Antwerp Blues,” the ones that exist are broadly positive. A CBR reviewer scored the episode 8/10, praising it as a turning point that blends high-stakes action with more grounded character work.
Other outlets add nuance:
- Decider frames Episode 6 as a “violent and emotional turning point”, emphasizing Richie as the tragic center of the story after losing both his son and his wife.
- Entertainment Weekly’s recap calls Maeve’s decision to sacrifice Seraphina a “shocking move” that repositions her as the series’ most ruthless strategist.
- The TVCave highlights the Antwerp sequences and the cliff‑hanger as evidence that “Antwerp Blues” marks the shift from “simmering threats to open warfare.”
User reception has been similarly solid. On IMDb, “Antwerp Blues” holds an 8.3/10 rating from around 3.5–3.7k user scores as of late 2025, putting it in the upper tier of the season’s episodes.
Why Episode 6 Matters So Much to the Season Arc
Stepping back, “Antwerp Blues” is crucial for a few reasons:
- It formalizes the gang war.
The cops’ recognition of the car bomb as the start of a war, Conrad’s open declaration, and Richie’s retaliatory ambush in Antwerp all mark the point where diplomacy dies.
- It exposes the Harrigan family’s inner rot.
Between Maeve’s calculated betrayal, Conrad’s claim of responsibility for Vron’s death, Bella’s confession of a life-long panic state, and Gina’s fear after being alone with Conrad, the episode lays bare that the real horror might be inside the “winning” family.
- It elevates Seraphina and Brendan.
Antwerp turns them from background relatives into the central stakes of the mid‑season. What happens to them in Episodes 7 and 8—especially Brendan’s fate—only lands as hard as it does because “Antwerp Blues” gives them something real to fight for and lose.
- It repositions Harry and Jan.
Harry’s desperate motorcycle dash, contrasted with Jan’s slow disillusionment in the Cotswolds, sets up the eventual breakdown of their relationship in the finale, where Jan’s actions against Harry are rooted in everything she begins to see here.
- It sharpens the show’s themes.
The episode pulls together MobLand’s core threads—female power, generational abuse, and chessboard-style strategy. Maeve literally teaches Eddie about chess in this hour, but she’s the one treating her own family as expendable pieces.
By the time the credits roll—on that blast of Iggy Pop’s “Lust for Life”—“Antwerp Blues” has done something important: it turns MobLand from an intriguing crime drama into a war story, and it makes clear that the deadliest weapons in that war aren’t just guns or bombs. They’re the choices people like Maeve make when they decide who gets to be sacrificed.
For anyone rewatching ahead of Season 2, this is the episode where you feel the show lock into its final trajectory. Everything that explodes in Episodes 7 through 10 is already wired here.
