It’s not looking good for the Kinsellas.
On Kin Season 1 Episode 4, it seems like they are being caught out at every turn.
Eamon Cunningham has them cornered, but they can’t back down — all they can do is fight back.
The walls are closing in. The shots are getting closer up. Michael even gets put in a coffin-like MRI machine — this had better not be foreshadowing!
Amanda: Jesus Christ, Jimmy. Can we just have a break from all this for one night?
Jimmy: That’s the thing. There is no fucking break from this. This is it until it’s over.
Amanda seems more out of sorts than normal. Mind you; she’s just had to say goodbye to her other son, Anthony.
Amanda’s scene with Michael felt out-of-character and off-putting. It wasn’t clear what she was trying to do or convey exactly. It seems like her anger is misplaced. From what we’ve seen, Michael is always civil and level with Amanda.
Maybe that’s what’s frustrating her.
So, it seems like Amanda and Michael sleeping together wasn’t just a one-time thing; it was a full-on affair. It also happened a long time ago, around when she got pregnant with Jamie.
The timeline is somewhat confusing because we know she was sleeping with Michael when Jimmy was in prison. If she got pregnant while Jimmy was in prison, wouldn’t it be incredibly obvious that Jamie was Michael’s son?
It wouldn’t be a question — Jimmy and Michael would both know. But, maybe it was close enough to when Jimmy was released, or maybe Michael and Amanda had been carrying on for quite some time behind Jimmy’s back.
It seems like Amanda was trying to pick a fight with someone who has always had her back and has actually killed for her. Or maybe she knew he wouldn’t fight back, and that’s why she felt safe laying into him. In either case, it rubbed me the wrong way.
I’ve had a shitty day, now I’m gonna have a drink, and make somebody pay.
Amanda
As for Jimmy and Michael, their relationship might actually be the deepest and most meaningful in the series. There is a clear, unflappable love there. It truly shows that family bonds — brotherhood, specifically — are unbreakable.
Jimmy is obviously not happy that Amanda and Michael slept together, which indicates that he doesn’t know the extent of it. He likely does not suspect that Jamie is Michael’s son at all if that’s even true.
That would be a true test of their bond and possibly break it.
The Kinsella men all have radically different ways of expressing themselves — Frank is so cold and collected, always quietly seething. Jimmy is always on the verge of tears, unashamed of his vulnerability. Eric is all bluster and bravado with anger that deflects at his own insecurities. Michael is placid, calm, and unshakeable.
He’s trying to wipe us fucking out. What are we supposed to do? Wait here and hope he changes his mind?
Eric
Anna finally gets more to do in this episode. Hannah Adeogun is a strong young actor who does great work with the material, capturing the tumultuous highs and lows of being a teenager compounded by her traumatic past and unresolved family issues. Attitude, false confidence, and fragility are all at play here.
Anna wants answers and a connection. Michael is doing his best, but he is being selfish.
It is unfair of him to ask anything of his daughter. She owes him nothing. It would absolutely be best for him if he stayed out of her life completely. He’s putting her in danger. It’s a shame, but his love for her is blinding him.
This feels like one of the grand running themes of the whole series, honestly — being so blind with grief and love that you fail to see the potential consequences of your actions.
The supporting women in the show are uniformly excellent — they deserve a bit more screen time.
Observe how much Yasmin Seky can convey while sitting silently drinking her tea in that penultimate scene. Nikki is waiting patiently in the wings. She keeps building Eric up, hoping to get a seat at the table.
She wants to be a Kinsella — she wants the power and all infamy that comes with it, probably as strongly as Anna doesn’t.
Birdy ought to have more to do. We know very little about her, but Maria Doyle Kennedy infuses her with such gravitas and realness, she should have her moment. She deserves a few scenes to really dig in and show us what she’s truly capable of.
Luckily, Amanda starts to focus and zone in on what needs to happen by the end of the episode. Her plan to rob Con Doyle is gutsy as hell, but the Kinsellas are out of safe options. Why not do something that will benefit them?
Amanda is evolving. It’s like she has figured out how to switch the emotional part of herself off and become a vessel of revenge.
Something of note was how invisible Jimmy is in the scene where Amanda suggests the plan? Once she suggested it, Jimmy never says a word, and (except for one second, while she’s talking) he’s not in the frame at all.
Every shot is deliberate and supports the story, so perhaps Amanda coming into her own means Jimmy will be pushed to the sidelines.
Speaking of deliberate shots, the scene where Kem (Ryan Lincoln) moves through the different rooms is music video levels of cool. The way the colors shift as he moves from room to hallway from darkness to light is visually intense and enhances the rising suspense of the scene.
Let’s play a game. Let’s play a game called “Who’s Next?”
Jimmy
The Kinsellas have currently got a police presence, but it feels like we’re going to see many, many more deaths by the end of this — all-out gang war with mass casualties.
At this point, it’s not a matter of who’s going to die; the question is which lucky few will survive?
Here’s the thing — are any of these characters redeemable? Are they already too far gone? Michael certainly seems to have internalized this fact about himself. All of them have blood on their hands.
Anna is the most innocent of the lot, which suggests to me she’ll be the sacrifice. Would Eamon actually go so far as to kill an innocent teenage girl who had nothing to do with anything, just to hurt Michael? We know he has daughters himself. It could go either way.
We are at the halfway point now. With the first half of the series directed by Diarmuid Goggins, the next four will be directed by Tessa Hoffe.
Goggins’s work behind the camera is confident and distinctive. I’m curious to see how a new director will shift the tone of the series — will the scope contract or expand?
Might the women feature more prominently with a female director at the helm?
What do you think is in store for our family of anti-heroes? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Mary Littlejohn is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.