MobLand Episode 5: How Maeve's Ireland Mission Cost the Harrigans

Maeve's decision to include Gina in her mission was always going to cost her something big, as I've argued before, and episode 5 of MobLand proved more of that. Paul tells Harry about the danger Maeve has put his daughter in, and Harry leaves for Ireland to rescue Gina. Meanwhile, Frankie and his crew break into the Harrigan house to ambush the family.

If Maeve hadn't pushed Gina into this situation, Harry could have gotten the family to a safe spot before Frankie even got there. So if Maeve had been shot and injured, would she have blamed Harry or herself?

Maeve didn't plan Frankie's ambush, but she made the mess that endangered the Harrigans

Before anyone says Maeve had this all planned, I want to be clear: she didn't plan for Frankie and his crew to ambush her own family. She made a big mess that put the Harrigans in great danger, and we need to hold that against her. I don't think she wanted Harry to leave so the family would stop trusting him. She could use his absence as evidence later to explain why Harry can't be trusted, but that would also expose her secret mission of killing an Irish criminal in Ireland using Eddie and Gina.

I'm very curious what Harry will do to Maeve now that he knows she put his daughter in danger. Would he kill her, or slowly chip away at her standing in the family? That's something the next episode should show us.

The family surviving doesn't mean the Harrigans suffered no losses. They lost their one and only family house and their security guards. They lost unity, and they lost Harry's presence. The family members escaped Frankie, but they lost a lot doing it. And don't forget who should be blamed, because if Harry hadn't left for Ireland, I'm not sure all of this would have happened.

Paul went to Harry because he knows who can get the family out of danger

Paul hears Maeve on the phone with Eddie and decides to tell Harry. That doesn't mean Paul now treats Harry as his new boss and reports every incident in the family to him. It means Paul knows who to contact when the family is in great danger. Conrad has the authority and Maeve has the influence, yet Paul refused to go to them about Maeve's plan.

That tells me who has respect in the family business. Harry has a respect that only a few people in the Harrigan family see. Bella is one of them, and in episode 5 we saw her defending Harry's integrity. Paul is another who respects Harry and knows how smart, trustworthy and worthy he is.

Paul telling Harry about the mission wasn't only because Gina was involved. Paul understands Harry's ability to get the family out of dangerous situations. Look at how he stressed Maeve's words, telling Harry she said to Eddie, "Bring me the Medusa's head." Paul was serious and desperate. He knew Harry was the only person who could rescue both Eddie and Gina.

Pay attention to Harry's behavior afterward, too. He doesn't lose his temper or burst out emotionally at Maeve. He becomes calm and calculated, and he travels to Ireland. I keep saying this: if there's one character everybody should learn from, it's Harry.

Sending Eddie after Medusa was a death trap, not a test

We now know why Maeve sent Eddie and Gina to Ireland: to kill Medusa, an Irish criminal. For now, I don't have any connection between Medusa and Maeve or the Harrigan family, so I can't talk about the main reason she wants him dead. Whether Medusa owes her money or took something valuable from her is something the next episode can explain.

What I can talk about is how heartless Maeve's instructions to Eddie are. She sent a boy who knows nothing about guns to use a gun on a criminal. That isn't a test. It's a careless and emotionless decision. Because Eddie wants to please Maeve, he feels he has no choice but to obey, so he searches online for how to set up a new gun. The mission even got tense and funny at the same time, with Eddie nervous and swallowing at every step.

Maeve sent Eddie knowing he knows nothing about guns. You test someone to show how good they are at something, not when they're only beginning. That was a death trap Maeve set for Eddie, though in her mind she believes he could finish the job.

Eddie can't stop pleasing Maeve because she has been a pillar in his life whenever he was down. Every time a Harrigan tried to belittle him, Maeve came in as the angel of the day to comfort him, so it's hard for him to refuse her. Even when Gina tries to stop him, he still goes ahead, all to make Maeve proud. For Gina to win Eddie away from Maeve's influence, she has to make him feel like a man without Maeve. If he can live without her influence and still feel like a man achieving his goals, he'll see how insignificant she is in his life. That will take a great deal of work, because doing a job you have no courage or knowledge for is a death trap you might not recover from.

Eddie gave up Maeve's name under Medusa, and Gina and Harry saved him

When Medusa captures Eddie, isolates him in a separate room to torture him and asks who sent him, Eddie doesn't hesitate to name Maeve. That was immature and not courageous. Eddie looked scared in that room, and that fear made him spill everything. Harry was the perfect person to do this job for Maeve, but out of arrogance and ego, she chose Eddie.

What I was waiting for was to see Eddie lose control of himself in that room while his leg kept shaking. After all his attempts to prove he's a man and all his talking down about Harry, he got scared and gave up his own grandmother like a five year old. If Gina hadn't come to his rescue, that rod would have been driven through his intestines.

I have to recognize how deep Gina's love for Eddie is. Even after he betrayed her trust by hiding the real purpose of the Ireland trip, she still came to his rescue, screaming at Medusa to let him go. Then Harry shows up and does what Harry always does. He kills Medusa along with the gang protecting him, and Eddie is freed. Maeve still accomplished her mission, even though her warrior turned into a panicking dancer shaking his legs in Medusa's room.

Harry chose his daughter over the Harrigans, and I see that as respect

Harry was caught between two places and had to choose one. The Harrigan family needs him in these crucial moments, because Frankie is now playing a game ahead of them after they underestimated him from the start. Harry tells Conrad that Frankie is no clown, which shows how quickly and clearly Harry reads him. But even with an emergency in the Harrigan family, Harry can't abandon his own daughter. When Paul told him where Gina was and what Maeve had dragged her into, he didn't hesitate to go and rescue her.

You can't say Harry doesn't care for the Harrigans because he chose his family over theirs. That sounds like respect to me. When Conrad finds out Harry left to save his daughter, he'll know what kind of man Harry is: one who won't sacrifice his own family for a billionaire family just to please them. Any man who hears what Harry did for Gina would appreciate and respect the man he has become.

The moment after Paul told him about Maeve made me see him as the mature man he has always been. Instead of confronting Maeve and trading insults, he took the helicopter to Ireland without informing anyone. Only Paul and one other person knew where he was going. If Conrad had been in that situation, you would have seen a very different reaction.

I'm not trying to say Harry is a better leader than Conrad, even though everything shows Harry is a better leader than every current Harrigan family member. I don't know what the Harrigans will do without Harry's help. Conrad is doing everything to act without Harry's advice and direction, and it leads him nowhere. That shows how important Harry is to the family, and yet he still chose his daughter. That shows how important family is to Harry. Even though his own family is separated, he still makes time for them, putting their needs above his own. It does leave me wondering: would Harry have gone to Ireland if Gina weren't involved and only Eddie had been on that mission, or would he have stayed focused on the Harrigans?

Seraphina's mistake, not Maeve's mission, led Frankie to the Harrigan house

Maeve's secret mission didn't lead Frankie to the house. Seraphina's mistake did. She tells Donnie that the whole family has gathered for a special meeting, and Donnie passes it along until it reaches Frankie, who prepares his gang for an ambush. Frankie makes a call about the gathering and whether he can go ahead, and he gets the green light.

When Seraphina learns that Frankie and his crew have set off, she warns the family. But Maeve doesn't want to listen, since she has always disliked Seraphina and would even prefer her dead than part of the family. Even if they had listened, it would have been too late to escape. Seconds after Seraphina breaks the news, Frankie's crew arrives, shooting the guard out front and forcing their way in.

Paul manages to get everybody into the helicopter, and they all escape without anyone getting shot. If Frankie had known there was a helicopter at the house, he would have brought a bomb to take it down. Imagine the family flying off thinking they had escaped, only to be bombed out of the sky. That would have been a tragedy.

In a way, Seraphina exposed herself during that meeting, because how did she know Frankie was planning an attack? Maybe she can say Harry tipped her off, since the two of them have a secret deal. That could also cover Harry's absence. I know Maeve especially would start raising suspicions about how Seraphina found out, which means Seraphina has a target on her back and should start preparing for that.

Escaping doesn't mean the Harrigans have lost the war with Frankie

Frankie planning an ambush and watching the family run off like babies doesn't mean the Harrigans have lost the war. The escape gives them a chance to strike back. Frankie has struck them twice, and I'm very sure Harry and the family will plan their next attack on him. This is another phase where they have to sit down and plan carefully. It also gives them space to figure out where Harry was during the attack and how Seraphina knew about it.

The Harrigans could employ one of the best workers in the country and still lose a war because of their insecurities and division. Harry has been the family's best fixer for years, and what has he gotten for it? Doubts and trust issues. I think the universe wants to teach the Harrigans a lesson not to take Harry for granted. Even a short absence from Harry caused a big mess for them.

I'm sure Maeve will find a way to blame Harry

Even if Maeve learns that Harry helped kill Medusa, she still won't give him credit. She might even say she never sent him on that mission, that he should have been with the family protecting them from Frankie, and that he got emotional and abandoned them, which we all know isn't the case. Maeve's secret mission has caused the family a lot of harm. She's the one who brings problems to the family while pretending to save them by blaming someone else.

I'm sure that once the family learns she involved Harry's daughter and Eddie in a dangerous mission that made Harry fly to Ireland, she'll still find a way to put the blame on him. Her selfish decision has cost the family a great deal. All their guards were killed, with Paul the only one left. Imagine if someone in the family had died. Who would have been blamed? Harry, of course, because he's the most vulnerable person in the family.

When I say vulnerable, I don't mean weak. I mean he's the one who isn't a Harrigan, so anyone could blame him for what happens. He still chooses to serve the family. His skills and talents are being exploited without anyone giving him real credit, only blame and confusion. Harry is no weak man. He works for a family that doesn't recognize his hard work. Maeve was the first Harrigan to plant doubts about Harry with Conrad, which at one point made Conrad lose trust in him.

If Harry gets blamed for this attack, it's time for him to leave the Harrigan family for good. I know it would sound like a betrayal of his longtime friend Kevin, but a family that has shown a pattern of not valuing your efforts, and then turns those efforts into the reason something went wrong, isn't worth staying for. For me, Harry leaving means he has stopped carrying all the burdens laid on him. If he truly cares about his state of mind, I believe leaving is the best option, because Maeve will never see his efforts or accept him as part of the family. She dislikes him for a reason only she knows, and since she has the most influence, his involvement in family affairs seems like a threat to her.

Maeve dislikes Harry because he's the one person she can't control

I know the main reason Maeve doesn't like Harry. Who's the one person she can't control? Harry. Her influence does nothing to him because he's more aware and very smart, so she sees him as a threat she can't manipulate. Have you thought about why Maeve likes Eddie more than most of the family? It's mainly because she can control him. She has put him in a state where he wants to please her, so he'll do anything she wants.

In episode 5, you saw the look on Harry's face when Maeve spotted him in the Harrigan house and gave him a welcome. Harry knew none of what she said came from the heart. It was another of her acting moments. Harry knows who Maeve really is, but exposing her right away could destroy him and his own family.

I'm very sure Harry is planning something strategic to expose Maeve's true behavior and how it has damaged the family. That will take a while, gathering evidence and setting traps. What pains me is that Maeve got what she wanted from that mission, and Harry is the one who did the job for her.

My theory for episode 6: blaming Harry could be Maeve's downfall

My theory for episode 6 is that Maeve could start putting the blame on Harry, accusing him of being the enemy in the family while knowing full well she's the enemy. I find that dangerous because of what Harry could do in that moment. Some tests don't work on Harry, and Maeve should know that by now. She might bring shame and danger on herself, because Harry understands the game and knows how to put her back in her place.

Harry isn't like Seraphina, who gets emotional and desperate when Maeve blames her. Harry will stare at you as if he knows nothing about what you're saying while he plots something against you. Blaming Harry is a bad idea that could lead to Maeve's downfall. She could use her tricks on anyone but Harry.

This is also a big test for Conrad to prove he truly values Harry. Conrad has begun raising suspicions about Maeve, though she keeps getting chances to manipulate him into feeling that what he knows about her is irrelevant. I can't say Conrad doesn't trust Maeve right now. But if he still trusts her after everything he has found out, why wouldn't he side with her when she blames Harry? Conrad has already criticized Harry over his trust issues with him, and I think he wouldn't blink before telling Harry that Maeve's accusation is true rather than fabricated. If Conrad sides with Maeve, Harry shouldn't hesitate to leave the Harrigan family for good without looking back.