KIN – Season 1 Episode 2 – SPOILERS

Amanda learns of her son’s death

Last episode, some of the folks who work for rival drug boss Eamon Cunningham (Ciarán Hinds) poked fun at Frank Kinsella’s son Viking (Sam Keeley), who, along with a friend of his did a drive by shooting of those fun-poking fellows. Then Viking told Frank that he did not do that. Frank (Aidan Gillen) believed him, but Cunningham got reliable information identifying Viking as the shooter, and so had some more of his boys ambush Viking outside a bowling alley. Viking was seriously, but not fatally, injured. Jamie (Cian Fitzsimmons), the son of Amanda (Clare Dunne) and Jimmy Kinsella (Emmett J Scanlan), took an unintended bullet to the brain and died instantly.

Amanda’s parents. In the foreground, we see examples of their taste in magazines

Frank goes to see Cunningham in hopes of getting an explanation, and when he learns the truth, decides that Cunningham is right (according to some unofficial code adhered to by Dublin drug distributors) and accepts financial compensation for the accidental shooting of Jamie in order to avoid a war with Cunningham’s much larger organization. The volatile Viking is busy healing from his wounds in hospital, and Frank’s nephew Jimmy has agreed to go along with his father on the matter. Jimmy’s wife, however, has different ideas, and persuades Jimmy to re-approach his brother Michael (Charlie Cox) and attempt to enlist his help with an unauthorized retaliatory attack, because one cannot drive and shoot at the same time.

Amanda after her road rage incident

Amanda’s role in this seem extraordinary. First of all, why can’t she be the driver? We know she drives (although she is so overwrought after the death of her son that she wrecks her car), and she’s the one who’s all gung-ho for a retaliatory strike. Secondly, Amanda is not Kinsella by blood, so how can she possibly influence the two brothers to go against Frank? It seems that Irish mobsters might differ significantly from their Italian counterparts in this regard, at least in the way they are depicted on TV. For example, in BAD BLOOD, another series which dealt with a territorial conflict between a rebel mobster and the mob establishment, Valentina Cosoleto was never really included in the family business because she was not a blood relative.

Michael’s daughter Anna

Amanda’s militancy is understandable. Her parents disapprove of her association with the Kinsellas so she gets no support from them while she is grieving, and indications are that all of her acquaintances are from the Kinsellas’ circle. She has nowhere else to go. One wonders about Sharon Obi (Taby Ruigu), an employee at the money-laundering car dealership that Amanda runs. How exactly is she connected to the Kinsella clan? It seems that she might become a more important character down the line.

Amanda’s other son Anthony

We get to meet Michael’s daughter Anna Areoye (Hannah Adeogun) who lives with her grandmother Winnie (Jennifer Ogedegbe). This could indicate that her mother is deceased. After hearing about the shooting, she stands outside her father’s house, but does not go inside. It seems clear that for one reason or another, Anna wants to see her father, who is prohibited by the courts from contacting her. Will Anna contact her father? Does she miss him, or bear him ill will? As for Michael, he sits on his sofa, still staring at two bullet holes in the brick wall opposite.