Channel 5
Isn’t that grand? The young one Wayne (Barry Keoghan) there with the Kalashnikov massacring the cat. Ah Jaysus, I remember the times… And isn’t Ian with the one Lizzie (Caoilfhionn Dunne) from last series? And isn’t Dano himself in the background secretly plotting to bump off Nidge? As we join the fourth series of Love/Hate he’s a tough man to pin down, let alone kill. He’s rarely home and spends a fair amount of time at the massage parlour knocking shop. Running a criminal empire is taking its toll on our boy. He’s jumpy, chippy and feels the walls closing in around him. What’s a drug lord to do when danger lurks around every corner?
Isn’t that grand? The young one Wayne there with the machine gun massacring the cat.
I’ll tell you what he’s to do: tiger kidnapping! That’s right, that’s right, that’s right, that’s right. Just snatch and terrorise the family of a security van driver (with the help of his bent inside man colleague), grab his loot and GITGAWN. Serious crime doesn’t come any simpler. Unfortunately Nidge employs freshly brain-damaged Tommy in the caper who, after acting like a complete dipshit during the job, goes round to the family’s home that night to check if the young girl he bonded with during the kidnapping is OK. That must have been some serious ass whipping Nidge put on him (don’t forget gang, Tommy doesn’t remember shit and believes Nidge’s story that it was filthy Nigerians who put the smackdown on him). That’s jacks for you – always quick to blame a brother.
I’ll tell you what he’s to do: tiger kidnapping! That’s right, that’s right, that’s right, that’s right.
Even the Dublin police aren’t so stupid they don’t figure out that Tommy’s in on this one. Detective Inspector Mick Moynihan reaches out to Siobhan and tells her Simple Tom will eat the full meal if he doesn’t cooperate. It’s just another problem for Nidge who’s already clocked an undercover policeman working the door of the Vantage club showing a special interest in him.
At least he’s got some leverage with a pukey broke dentist client from the brothel. He’s got some kind of long game plan for him and whatever it is I have a feeling the dentist is not going to like it. But between vengeful IRA psychos, feral machine gun-wielding kids and brain-damaged criminal associates Nidge has more than enough problems of his own. It’s good to have the jackeen piece of shit back.
The verdict: I remember Dublin city in the rare ould times.
Marks out of 10: 7.5
