A Thousand Blows is a gritty drama set in 1880s London. It’s based on real people and true events. It explores a gang of women thieves and a couple of elite boxers.
Hulu is currently streaming season 1 of A Thousand Blows. Season 2 is already filmed and ready to release. The series tells two interconnecting stories. One is about a gang of women thieves called The Forty Elephants. Mary Carr (Erin Doherty) was the leader of this gang. She was ambitious and full of schemes to make a fortune.
Recent Jamaican immigrants Hezekiah Moscow (Malachi Kirby) and his good friend Alec (Francis Lovehall) moved into the area of London where The 40 Elephants operated. Hezediah wanted to be a lion tamer. But he was a good boxer, as was Alec. Boxing was growing in importance and offered them a way to make some money.
Hezekiah took his boxing skills to the upper crust who wore boxing gloves and had gentlemanly rules. He became involved with Mary Carr and her gang.
Sugar Goodson (Stephen Graham) was the local boxing legend. He was a vicious man, a bare knuckle boxer who was known to beat people to death. His brother Treacle Goodson (James Nelson-Joyce) was also a boxer. Sugar considered it a family business and scorned the trend toward following rules and wearing gloves.
The first time Hezekiah and Sugar fought, Hezekiah was clearly the winner. Sugar determined to kill him in the ring after that and was obsessed with the idea throughout season 1.
Mary and her group of pickpockets and thieves had been trained by Jane Carr (Susan Lynch) in a foundling home. She still expected money from them whenever they stole.
Hezekiah and Alec rented a sad basement room from Lao (Jason Tobin). They became friends, but Lao really threw a wrench in one of Mary’s scheme to steal a huge haul right from under the noses of the aristocracy. At the end of season 1, the main characters were under threat of murder, in hiding, arrested, or in danger when the screen faded to a card that said “To Be Continued.”
The world was full of bad people in this grimy and dirty world. Hezekiah was the only upright man among the entire cast. Even so, I was invested in their stories and am eager to see a second season of the series. The portrait of life in London at that time felt real and authentic. Surviving wasn’t easy. The characters in A Thousand Blows had to fight hard for every success and try not to be killed for every failure. I thought character development was particularly well done. Personalities and vulnerabilities were revealed in dynamic ways that added to plot events.
The show’s historical advisor gave an interview to The Standard in which he explained what was known about this truth based story. The people really existed and really were thieves and boxers, but some of the rest of it is obviously fictional.
I’m happy to report that there were several women directors: Katrin Gebbe, Tinge, Coky Giedroyc, and Dionne Edwards. I don’t know when season 2 will be released, but I’m hoping it will be soon. This complicated drama is well worth seeing.
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