Hezekiah Moscow did not come to London to be put on display. He made that clear when he locked his would-be zookeeper into the cage meant for himself. He’s going to earn a place in high society with his own very literal blood, sweat, and tears. Then he can be truly free, or as free as a man with his color skin can be in the heart of the Empire.
But Alec, his brother (they use this word a lot in Episode 4 of A Thousand Blows, but since they have different surnames and Alec hasn’t featured in the flashbacks to Hezekiah’s traumatic youth, I assume it’s just a term of endearment), is less sure about this plan. It involves entrusting Hezekiah’s future to white people of the same nation that massacred his family and his village. Specifically, it means counting on Mary Carr, an admitted liar, and Peggy Bettinson (Ziggy Heath), a potentially unscrupulous West End gloved boxing promoter, to keep their word. And since Hezekiah is about to participate in Mary’s big heist, it’s doubly important for Hezekiah to know whom he can trust.
For what it’s worth, the plan goes off…well, “without a hitch” would be overselling it somewhat. But Mary makes her way into the party as Lady Augusta Farnley, with Hezekiah, who’s been impressing people at Peggy’s upper-class boxing club, as her special guest. The idea is that the presence of a Jamaican-born pugilist will help distract the other guests from what’s going on behind the scenes.
This is also where Mr. Lao comes in. He’s posing as a translator between the delegation of the Chinese Emperor and the British, represented by the louche and occasionally nude Earl of Lonsdale (Adam Nagaitis, whose superlative work in the first season of The Terror is must-watch stuff if you haven’t already caught it). His real job is to mistranslate on command, so that the room where Queen Victoria’s gift of incredibly expensive silverware will go unattended. He pulls this off expertly.
Little does anyone know that Lao’s real reason for participating in the heist is to assassinate one of the Chinese ministers, a condescending creep named Lo Feng Lu. Even as the aristocrat bullies the man he sees as a lowly servant, Lao pulls off his big reveal: Lo Feng Lu and his men massacred his family and his village, and Lao stabs him to death as payback. The redoubtable Alice Diamond, who clearly has bigger and better things in mind for herself than the lowest run on the Forty Elephants’ ladder, stumbles across the crime; given that she was ready to murder the house’s butler for his depredations upon the female staff, she probably sympathizes.
Unfortunately, Alice has already been spotted in the company of the other thieves, all wearing maids’ uniforms when they do the big smash-and grab, by the Earl’s wife, Lady Grace. What’s more, her rival Belle socks her in the face a few time and leaves her behind, since she has to look like an innocent victim rather than a participant. If it comes to questioning the staff, Lady Grace will know exactly where to look…if she feels like ratting out a young woman who’s actually been a fantastic source of moral support for her, that is.
And what’s Hezekiah’s job during all this? He’s a human distraction, picking a fight with Lonsdale and starting an impromptu boxing match right there in front of all the guests, regaling them with a fairy tale about the spidery trickster god Anansi while he bobs and weaves and beats the tar out of this English boxing specialist. (Lonsdale at least has the good graces to know and accept when he’s been beaten.) While everyone is hooting and hollering, that’s when the Elephants break the glass and grab the loot.
For now, Hezekiah is coming out on top of these transactions. He really has gained entry into the higher echelons of society. He’s meeting other formidable Black presences on the scene, like the Queen’s goddaughter Victoria Davies, once again present at the function. He’s gaining valuable practice against the English boxing style, which gives him some trouble until Alec coaches him to use their expectations — as a savage from the West Indies he’s all brawn and no brains — against them.
Perhaps most importantly, at least if you’re an audience member, he’s growing closer than ever to Mary herself. On at least one occasion during this episode they come with in a finger’s breadth of kissing before Mary calls it off, openly saying she’s not quite sure if this is a relationship she wants or not. Cue that Dumb and Dumber “So you’re saying there’s a chance” gif, only for real this time. And well there should be: The chemistry between these two gives off a lot of steam, perhaps because Mary is the only person around whom Hezekiah really comes out of his shell and starts acting like a future world champion. If you find someone who brings that out of you, lock that shit down, my friends.
Sugar Goodson sure could use someone like that. He spends the episode in various states of outrage and despair, as is his wont. He storms into that West End boxing club just to threaten Hezekiah and berate the toffs who, in his opinion, merely playact at fighting while he does the real thing. He doesn’t want the cheers of the upper class. He wants Hezekiah dead at his feet.
But Peggy and Sugar’s brother-manager Treacle have a scheme in mind, one that can get a potential star attraction like Sugar into the mainstream while still sparing his and Hezekiah’s lives. They scheme to place the two men on opposite sides of the big upcoming tournament to decide boxing’s first world champion. Sugar will feel humored, but the odds that both he and Hezekiah make it to the finals, the only place where they’d be able to actually face each other, are almost impossibly long. This of course makes their eventual faceoff in the finals a virtual guarantee from a TV-drama perspective.
A Thousand Blows’s greatest weapon remains the charisma of its three leads. Maybe it’s Stephen Graham as Sugar, craggy and dark-eyed, accepting his six-year-old niece’s diagnosis that he’s sad inside. Maybe it’s Erin Doherty as Mary, alabaster skin resplendent as she barks out orders in her natural Cockney accent while in aristocratic drag. Maybe it’s Malachi Kirby as Hezekiah, sparring with a former Jamaican colonial official (Fergus Craig) over dinner, then rising to toast to Jamaica’s victory over the British Empire and committing what would otherwise be a scheme-ending social sin if not for his sheer magnetism.
In the end, Hezekiah’s fears are justified: This is a show in which its main characters live on permanent display, whether it’s up in the ring or seated at a banquet table or out in the streets of the East End. Sugar, Mary, and Hezekiah are constantly being looked at and judged accordingly; it’s hard to think of a show since Mad Men where that’s been more true. I’ve found the results hard to look away from since the start.
Sean T. Collins (@theseantcollins) writes about TV for Rolling Stone, Vulture, The New York Times, and anyplace that will have him, really. He and his family live on Long Island.
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