Taboo Series Review

Taboo (2017)

Season 1 - 8 episodes
Rent Taboo on Amazon Video (paid link)
Created by: Steven Knight, Tom Hardy, Chips Hardy
Starring: Tom Hardy, Leo Bill, Jessie Buckley, Oona Chaplin,  Mark Gatiss,  Tom Hollander,  Stephen Graham,  Jefferson Hall, David Hayman, Ed Hogg, Michael Kelly, Jonathan Pryce, Jason Watkins, Nicholas Woodeson, Franka Potente
Rated: TV-MA
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Plot
Adventurer James Delaney returns to London during the War of 1812 to rebuild his late father's shipping empire. However, both the government and his biggest competitor want his inheritance at any cost, even murder.

Verdict
This offers a great performance from Hardy as Delaney, a man with a coveted piece of land and a vendetta against the East India Company. His methods are frequently brutal as the show implies he may have some kind of preternatural ability. The character carries the show as a source of everything entertaining. He murders without remorse, had a taboo relationship with his sister, may be able to enter dreams, and he doesn't seem to fear death. Aside from this character and the setting, which does a lot, the rest of the show isn't nearly as interesting.
It depends.

Review
Knight is known for Peaky Blinders and also wrote Eastern Promises.

James Delaney (Tom Hardy) returns to London from Africa for his father's funeral. Everyone thought him dead due to a shipwreck. He can claim his father's inheritance, a piece of land called Nootka Sound, which his half sister Zilpha (Oona Chaplin) had already agreed to sell to the East India Company. He doesn't want to sell. Delaney is a dark and mysterious character, and the show makes you wonder if he has some kind of preternatural power. Hardy is great in every scene, an imposing figure that's intriguing and scary. He claims he can speak to the dead, knowing many things he couldn't possibly know. East India assumes he won't know the value of his land, but to their dismay he does. They plan to kill him for it.

E1: Tom Hardy plays James Keziah Delaney

Delaney hasn't been in London long, but he's managed to irritate everyone. East India wants to kill him, his sister wishes he hadn't returned, a madam wants to kill him for kicking her out of the dock office she had taken over, and then a woman claiming to be his father's wife appears. The widow Lorna (Jessie Buckley) wants half of Nootka Sound. She offers to give Delaney her half of Nootka for half of the house. He doesn't like any of it.

Zilpha's husband challenges Delaney to a duel. It's clear Delaney and Zilpha had a relationship he wants to continue and she doesn't. He states he'll visit her in dreams. Can he do that or is it just the power of suggestion? The husband fires first in the duel but misses Delaney. Delaney instead kills the husband's second, an East India man of course.

Delaney is nicknamed the devil, and it's easy to see why. He kills anyone in his way, but it's never just killing. He mutilates the bodies. East India can't get rid of Delaney despite their efforts. With a new investigation against them, the leaders wonder if Delaney has a part in that just to discredit them. It's clear he has a grudge. East India blows up Delaney's ship in a a declaration of all out war.

E3: Tom Hardy plays James Keziah Delaney

Delaney's hatred of East India has been clear since the beginning. Towards the end of the season we begin to understand why. It also begins to explain his knowledge that seemed to be supernatural. His gambit this season seems to be to take down East India, but with Delaney nothing is ever clear. East India manages to get him imprisoned for treason. They plan to torture him, but we knew that wouldn't work against him. Delaney tells them he has the upper hand, and he just might. How will he escape and take down East India?

The most enjoyable part of the show is Hardy's performance. He's a domineering presence in every appearance. The story isn't much more than a revenge tale, all the more brutal as Delaney murders and disembowels anyone in his way. His mysticism adds some intrigue, and the Taboo title could reference many things, but one of those has to be Delaney's relationship with his step sister. Delaney isn't someone that conforms to society's norms within any aspects of society.