NEW YORK, Oct. 24 (UPI) — Friday’s episode of MobLand saw Mandeep Dhillon’s character Seraphina Harrigan present her father Conrad (Pierce Brosnan) and his criminal organization with a meticulous plan to make them all safe and successful.
Unfortunately, Conrad rejects the strategy, seemingly determined to continue down his self-destructive path in Guy Ritchie’s contemporary British drama, which is now in its second season on Paramount+
“It is so frustrating for her, the fact that she’s got it all laid out, the perfect plan for them to just not only sit at the top, but sit at the top and chill and be on a yacht whilst everyone else is doing your dirty work for you,” Dillon, 35, told UPI in a recent Zoom interview.
“Even if they believe, actually, that’s a really great idea, they’re still not going to do it, because, as he says, ‘We’re outlaws and we’d much rather be that than [expletive] Coca Cola,” she said, referring to Conrad’s vow not to seek legitimacy or globalization.
“I don’t think she’s the type of person to ever accept sinking with the ship. So, she will probably be sad for a little bit or be disappointed and then pull her boots up and say: ‘Right? What’s next? How can I make sure that I don’t sink?'”
The latest episode showed the Harrigans fleeing an attack at their home in the Cotswalds, with Seraphina suggesting they all head to Majorca and re-group at the posh home of her mother Priyanka (Koel Purie) and stepfather Charlton (David Bedella).
While most of the family agrees this is the safest place to hide out, Conrad’s wife Maeve (Helen Mirren) vehemently objects, largely because she resents Seraphina and Priyanka, who remind her Conrad cheated on her decades ago.
It is at the dinner table at Priyanka and Charlton’s beautiful seaside home that Seraphina strategically lays out her plan to have her father and step-father work together where their business interests align.
“I love when we all get together and we get to do a big, family dinner table scene like that. Honestly, it’s so much fun. We all have the best time,” Dhillon said.
“Delivering that to Pierce, especially with Helen next to him and, her as Maeve, giving me daggers. I love those things.”
Dhillon also enjoyed an earlier scene on a private plane when the shell-shocked family travels to Majorca and everyone is too exhausted to snipe at each other the way they usually do.
Serephina and Conrad have a moment alone where he asks what she knows about the ambush.
“I read the scene between me and Pierce on the private jet. I was like, ‘Oh, this is brilliant.’ And the fact that Seraphina lies to him again and she goes down that angle and I thought it was really cool and she’s getting brave,” Dhillon recalled.
“Who does she think she is? She’s straight-out lied to Conrad Harrigan — again. Is she OK,” Dhillon laughed.
“But it’s fun. It’s really nice to play this darker side of her. The more and more the season goes on, the less she’s sort of giving a [expletive] about the consequences.”
While most of the Harrigans are impulsive and blood-thirsty, their trusted fixer Harry (Tom Hardy) is calmer and more pragmatic, which could make him an ally of Seraphina, depending on the circumstances.
“It’s like a game of chess, really, and I really love those scenes with Tom, especially the ones that I get to lie to him and then he lets me off and then it’s like: ‘Are you really letting her off? Or not letting her off?’ That is such a wonderful dynamic to play,” she noted.
“They are both equally smart and capable of things. The decision that he makes to keep her alive? He didn’t need to do that. He could have easily have told Conrad what was what and she could have just been a goner,” Dhillon added. “There’s a reason for that, I believe, and I think he knows that.”
On the shallow end of the competency pool is Kevin (Paddy Considine), Seraphina’s half-brother and Harry’s best friend.
“I love Paddy, who plays Kevin. He’s so great. He’s such a great actor. He is such a great actor. Also, he’s in a band, and his band is incredible. He writes music. And he, him, Paddy as a human, is just wonderful,” Dhillon said.
“But then, when you look at Kevin? Kevin, Kevin, Kevin, you are NOT cut out for this gangster life,” she added. “Kevin’s at a certain age, that if you’re going to be cut out for it, you should be cut out for it by now. Whereas, Serephina, she’s stepping more and more over.”
Dhillon’s credits also include Sheep Detectives, CSI: Vegas and After Life.
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