It’s got an oddly low profile outside its native country, but for its initial five season run from 2010–2014, brutal drama Love/Hate was all anybody in Ireland could talk about. Bleak, violent and populated by characters about as trustworthy as a hungry python in a neonatal ward, it nonetheless pulled in record viewing numbers – the second season was the number one most-watched show in Ireland that year – and critical acclaim, scooping up eight Irish Film & Television Awards. Now all five seasons are at SBS On Demand, offering an unflinching look at Dublin’s gangland.
Imagine a version of The Wire focussing almost solely on the street-level corner drug dealers and you’re in the right neighbourhood. Season one, which clocks in at a brisk and bloody four episodes, opens with the return of Darren Treacy (The Umbrella Academy’s Robert Sheehan) from a spell hiding out from the law in Spain. He’s just in time for his brother Robbie (Chris Newman) to be gunned down, sending Darren off on a quest for vengeance. He promptly falls into the orbit of small-time gang boss John Boy (the reliably weaselly Aiden Gillen of Game of Thrones and Peaky Blinders) and reconnects with old friends Nidge (Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, who quickly becomes the series MVP) and Tommy (Killian Scott).
From there we spend five seasons careering through Dublin’s modern underworld, a milieu where betrayal and violent death lurk around every corner. Series creator and sole writer Stuart Carolan cleaves closely to the “anyone can die” philosophy of crime drama and this, coupled with the show’s seemingly infinite web of mixed loyalties, old grudges and ruthless ambitions, means the audience will find their sympathies switching rapidly as the bodies drop and favourite characters reveal the unspeakable depths they’re prepared to plumb.
Hughie (Brian Gleeson), John Boy (Aidan Gillen) and Darren (Robert Sheehan) in ‘Love/Hate’. Source: Octagon Films
Before he was in ‘Game of Thrones’, Aiden Gillen was to be feared as John Boy in ‘Love/Hate’. Source: Octagon Films
Which is to say that Love/Hate is at times horrifically violent and confronting, but it certainly helps that the various villains eyeing each other up are played by an incredible cast, many seen here in “before they were famous” mode.
Sheehan’s Misfits co-star and future Oscar nominee Ruth Negga has a strong presence in the first two seasons as Darren’s love interest, Rosie, while Charlie Murphy excels as Darren’s innocent sister Siobhan, the fragile moral centre of the series. And speaking of Oscar nominees, The Banshees of Inisherin’s Barry Keoghan crops up in a small role in season four as an IRA footsoldier.
But what really impresses about Love/Hate is its depiction of contemporary Dublin, a city caught between the modern world and ancient traditions. Criminals watch YouTube videos to figure out how to operate stolen handguns and the garda employ state-of-the-art surveillance tech to try and catch them, but both turn up to church on Sunday.
Robert Sheehan as Darren in ‘Love/Hate’. Source: Octagon Films
Tom Vaughan-Lawlor as Nidge. Source: Octagon Films
Faith and venality go hand in hand here; the charming, merciless John Boy, whose descent into paranoia over the course of the first two seasons is superbly handled by Gillen, sports a huge “Only God Can Judge Me” tattoo across his back, and we’re compelled to ponder how He might measure this pious but pitiless gangster.
Love/Hate is, as they say, a tough watch, but a rewarding one. Fans of the recent series Kin, which was also set in the Irish criminal demimonde (and also starred Aiden Gillen, come to think of it) will find themselves in familiar, albeit darker, territory, and if you’ve got a fondness for the horribly flawed protagonists of Breaking Bad or The Shield, you’ll find their match in Dublin’s mean streets and squalid councils. Just don’t get too attached to any of them – in Love/Hate, the price of crime is always high.
Old mates reunited: Darren (Robert Sheehan), Nidge (Tom Vaughan-Lawlor) and Tommy (Killian Scott) in ‘Love/Hate’. Source: Octagon Films
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