Taboo: How's it shaping up midway through the series?

We’re now five (of eight) episodes into Taboo – BBC’s newest and arguably grittiest drama in a while – which sees Tom Hardy assume the explosive yet compelling role of James Delaney.

Having discussed the first episode at some length (that you can check out here) and its first hour making a considerable impression on me, the following string of instalments have seen the programme continue with a slow burning, methodical unwinding of Delaney’s impending plans to get one over on The Company and the Crown, whilst remaining intact and, importantly, alive. So far he’s done a crafty job of turning them on each other.

Firstly, it’s the latter investigating the Company’s questionable ethics over the sinking of a slave ship, brought to their attention by the Sons of Africa anti-slavery worker George Chichester.

Second, the carefully orchestrated heist of saltpetre Delaney staged has raised concerns the Company’s reliability. As we learn, it’s to produce huge amounts of gunpowder to pay off the American Indians for his father’s acquisition of Nookta Sound (the land he passed on after death).

All the while allowing Delaney and his ever-growing posse to go about their schemings unnoticed.

Read more: HBO’s Beware the Slenderman review

Despite a more than satisfactory season opener, it was clear that this was set to be a brooding, painstaking story that unravels Delaney’s character in terms of who he is, where he’s been, and what his intentions are. And, thus far, the series ha delivered on these promises – we’re gradually learning all about his relationship with his father and what sort of witchcraft he developed during his time in Africa.

More so, things have seriously stepped up a gear, as I hoped they would, in terms of increasing its episodic tension and incident: it only took us a few episodes to see how grizzly it’d get, with the violence becoming more explicit, which also accounts for the sexual content too. By its most recent hour we’ve become accustomed to its gratuitous sex and animalistic brutality.

As is evident, this is no Game of Thrones – despite featuring some familiar faces from the HBO fantasy series. Instead, Taboo goes about things in its own sweet time so as to establish its own identity while serving up a murky drama for adults only.

Fortunately it’s not all about the sex, violence, and visuals either. The unpeeling of Delaney’s motives and apparent end goals remain semi-transparent, at least. What engages us more and more with each episode is the barbaric fear that he instils into everyone he meets, but despite appearing to be the devil incarnate he maintains plenty of humanistic traits and compassion veiled by a seeming thirst to intimidate his way to victory.

Read more: Arrested Development is returning, but does anyone care?

Its aesthetic has, over the course of five episodes, evolved into something even grimier; something unclean that could erupt from the simmering tensions into explosive bursts of bloodshed and murder at the nod of Delaney’s exquisite hat. Taboo is comfortable in its skin as a Gothic tale of lust, fantasy and magic that appears to be setting up a cunning finale.

Whatever the final three episodes have in store, its writing so far hints towards a payoff we’ve seen building, especially during the past two hours where we’ve seen (the aforementioned) well-organised robbery to produce gun powder, as well as a few assassination attempts. Whether everything will go to plan is anyone’s guess.

In James Delaney we have a multi-layered character than emboldens the brash, brutish nature of a man backed into a corner while displaying a reserved intellect. A somewhat enigmatic, even legendary name of his time uses his reputation to rule by fear, undertaking any necessity no matter how questionable.

He’s also a person that can masterfully play his enemies off against one another and preempt their moves several steps ahead of them, which I’m sure will have much bigger repercussions and consequences all the way to the final episode.

Is Taboo living up to your expectations so far? Share your thoughts below…

Mike is a freelance TV, film, music and entertainment writer, with an unhealthy obsession for Game of Thrones. He’s written for Shortlist, MTV, GamesRadar+, Total Film, GoThinkBig, Loaded, and regularly scribbles for Yahoo Movies, BBC Radio 1, BuzzFeed, VODzilla, and Metro.

Read more:
9 famous actors who nearly appeared in Game of Thrones
6 essential TV shows that stand out from 2016
Stranger Things: What we can expect in season two