Unlike last time out, the ending of the 2nd season of the Hulu British historical drama series, A Thousand Blows, is much more resolute and final. Aside from the fact that we do not get any teasers for a next season this time, the plotlines seem to have been sealed tighter with no loose ends left, as Hezekiah Moscow finally manages to carve out a new life for himself amidst all the chaos of London. Mary Carr also heads towards new beginnings at the end of A Thousand Blows Season 2, leaving the Forty Elephants under new leadership.
Spoiler Alert
Why does Hezekiah agree to leave London?
One of the highlights of the last episode of A Thousand Blows Season 2 is the protagonist Hezekiah Moscow’s boxing match against a new friend-cum-contender. On the night that Hezekiah successfully mentored Prince Albert to his first appearance and win in the sport of boxing, Hezekiah had first made acquaintance with a man named Nathaniel Washington. A Black boxer hailing from the United States of America, Nathaniel had first made high praise of Hezekiah and then tried to convince him to bring a change to his boxing career. Hezekiah had been banned from boxing in London for almost an entire year, after the accidental death of Buster Williams at the end of the previous season. The ban had only recently been lifted, and he was still exoticized and dehumanized for his race and color, all of which Nathaniel rightly pointed out to him.
Nathaniel first wanted to arrange an exhibition match between himself and Hezekiah, as such an event being held a few days after Prince Albert’s victory would bring in considerable crowds. Besides, facing the world champion, Hezekiah Moscow, for he had defeated the previous champion, Buster Williams, and snatched the title for himself, would bring Nathaniel a lot of recognition and fame. Despite initially having slight objections against it, Hezekiah agreed to participate in the exhibition match after growing friendly with Nathaniel. The grand event takes place in the finale, and both boxers prove their mettle, with it being a close fight in the ring. After the match, Nathaniel further harps on the racist mindsets of the British crowds, particularly with regard to boxers, who are considered almost superhuman beasts with exotic backstories. He assures Hezekiah that although things are not perfect back in the United States, there are at least far more Black people to find support and comfort in.
Finally, Nathaniel Washington proposes that Hezekiah travel to New York with him and join a boxing competition that he and a few of his friends have been trying to organize. This competition is all the more special because it will feature Black boxers and will attempt to prove a point to the white folks of high society, who have restricted boxing and all other sports to only their people. Nathaniel is confident that he and his friends will be able to win, but he needs more fighters like Hezekiah to join them and be a part of the revolution they are trying to stage. Although the protagonist had once been very keen on moving to London in search of a new and prosperous life, his dreams are finally dead, and he agrees to move to New York with a bigger purpose in life and career—to help other Black boxers earn the respect that they totally deserve. Early into the season, Hezekiah had successfully killed Indigo Jeremy, the man responsible for the murder of his best friend, Alec Munroe. Towards the end of the season, Mary also apologizes for Alec’s murder, saying that she cannot help but feel responsible to some degree, although she was never directly involved. All this had genuinely helped Hezekiah move on from the death of Alec, accepting it as part of his sad fate.
The only other purpose for Hezekiah to be in London was to exact revenge against the brutal attack that had been carried out on his village by the British Empire by killing the man who had led this attack, Edward John Eyre. Hezekiah had managed to track Eyre down, but had ultimately decided not to kill him, letting him live with the remorse and guilt of having butchered an entire village instead. Later on in the series, Prince Albert transfers the entire estate on Morant Bay to his name. Thus, the protagonist had managed to ensure that there would no longer be any British colonists on his native island of Morant Bay. Since Hezekiah has no family of his own and no intentions of ruling over Morant Bay either, he hands over the estate to Alec’s family, who still live on the island, so that the natives finally get back the land they once owned. With no attachments or reasons to live in London anymore, Hezekiah Moscow ultimately agrees to travel to New York and join the boxing competition, as Nathaniel Washington reveals that he had travelled to England only to find and convince the boxer to do so.
Did the Forty Elephants execute their daring heist?
Meanwhile, the Forty Elephants prepare for the daring heist at the house of Lord Graften, an English aristocrat with a grand art collection at his estate. This group had been led to this heist by the notorious scamster and trickster from the United States of America, Sophie Lyons, who came to England specifically to get hold of an invaluable Caravaggio painting with the help of Mary Carr and her gang. The painting that had not been spotted in three centuries had been found to be in the private collection of Graften, and so Mary and Sophie had made an elaborate plan. The first part of the plan was to introduce the charming and resourceful Alice Diamond of the Forty Elephants group as the daughter of a wealthy American businessman.
The son of the aristocrat, Nicholas, has been looking for a bride for himself, and the daughter of an American businessman is obviously a perfect candidate for such matrimonial ties. Thus, the father and son host a grand party at their house, mainly to impress Alice and show her their art collection. Naturally, the Caravaggio painting is also put up on display, just as the Elephants had hoped, and unbeknownst to the hosts, they have already infiltrated the house. The aristocratic family is known to support Catholic choir groups, and so the Elephants had disguised themselves as one such choir group consisting of poor and miserable women, having hired a few impoverished women to make the act more convincing as well.
The two leaders, Sophie Lyons and Marie Carr, are not part of the choir, though, as they have their own roles to play. Marie arrives at the party as Polly Crane, the latest model and muse of the artist Sir Frederic Leighton, a very close friend of Lord Graften. Sophie is already somewhat the center of attention at the party as a ‘mesmerist,’ or magician/trickster named Isabel Bridges. It is during Sophie’s performance, which tightly holds the attention of everyone at the party, that three of the women from the choir, actually members of the Forty Elephants gang, remove the heavy painting from the wall and carefully steal the canvas, leaving the empty frame as is.
However, things do not go as smoothly as the women had hoped, because of the lecherous acts of a close friend of Nicholas Graften. The vile man tries to force himself upon one of the choir women who had been hired by the Elephants, and Marie makes the tough decision of stepping in to protect her, which creates enough ruckus to distract the guests from Sophie’s act. Naturally, the theft of the Caravaggio painting is also noticed, and Marie now reveals her true face and manages to carve her escape by pointing her gun at everyone at the party. Thus, the heist is completed, albeit a bit roughly and in a hasty manner, and the women return to their safehouse. But this is where a grand betrayal takes place, as Sophie Lyons refuses to give Marie and the others a share of the heist, and Alice goes against her gang members to help Sophie get the painting so that the latter can take it back to the USA and give her all the money that was supposed to be divided between Marie and all the members of the Forty Elephants.
Can Sugar protect his brother and his friends from the law?
Sugar Goodson remains caught up with more familial troubles this season, as his brother, Treacle, is seemingly involved in the murder of a woman. Towards the end of the series, it becomes evident that the police detective, Vance Murtagh, is extremely biased against the people of the neighborhood of Wapping, and he seems to be only drawing Sugar into a trap. Although Treacle has no recollection of what he had done on the night of the murder, as he had been drunk out of his senses, it is ultimately confirmed at the very end of the season that he was only being framed by Murtagh. The body of a woman had indeed been found, but the timing and details of the murder had been altered to make Treacle seem responsible. The reason for doing so was that Murtagh wanted to get hold of Mary Carr and the Forty Elephants, and he chose to use Sugar for this plan, reeling him into working for him by threatening that his brother would be hanged to death otherwise.
Sugar keeps helping Murtagh reluctantly throughout the season, but he ultimately decides to take a stand for his brother and friends in the end. When Murtagh arrests Treacle and directly forces Sugar to act fast, the latter agrees to bring Mary and hand her over, but he crucially chooses the meeting spot to be the now-shutdown tailor shop of Saul Woolfe. This is because the local gangster, Jack MacAllen, had hidden the dynamite brought by the French revolutionary at this very place. Therefore, Sugar asks Murtagh to come to the shop, giving him a glimpse of Mary, before he lets her leave and directly attacks the detective. Although Murtagh tries to fight back, he is not ready for Sugar’s next move, as the man lights up the dynamite and runs out of the store.
Despite being caught in the explosion and injuring his arm, Sugar ultimately manages to save his brother and friends by killing Vance Murtagh. With the help of the local police chief, who is corrupt and therefore has good relations with the Goodsons, the matter is made to look like the detective had been trying to investigate the shop after having received a tip about French dynamite being stored inside, dying when the dynamite accidentally exploded. While Treacle had secretly signed an agreement to sell off the family bar to the local municipality out of his drunken depression, Sugar had corrected this wrong as well by cancelling the deal using brute force. This means that the Goodsons will continue to live and run their business in Wapping without facing any more legal or professional trouble.
Did Alice really betray her gang?
In A Thousand Blows Season 2’s ending, we are taken to New York for the first time, where Sophie Lyons arrives at the house of Mr. Ellis, a wealthy art collector who had hired her services. It was Ellis who had given Sophie the responsibility of getting him the Caravaggio painting, and he was ready to pay a high price for this service. But just as Sophie unrolls the canvas in front of her client, it turns out to be the portrait of Mary that Sir Leighton had been painting throughout the season, instead of the invaluable Caravaggio painting. This is because Alice had not really betrayed the Forty Elephants, but had only pretended to do so to fool Sophie and replace the Caravaggio.
This was actually part of a secret plan that Mary had made with Alice, and using her communication skills, she had convinced Sir Leighton to get in on it. Mary had already decided to not let the invaluable painting leave the country, and she wanted Leighton to keep it with him. She seems to have convinced Alice to act like she had switched sides, but in reality, Alice Diamond was given the responsibility of changing the painting at the right moment, handing Sophie the portrait of Mary instead. Thus, Alice is seen returning to the Forty Elephants safehouse with a box full of cash, which has been given by Sir Leighton in exchange for the prestigious and invaluable Caravaggio painting.
Are Hezekiah and Mary finally together in the end?
When he decides to leave for New York, Hezekiah asks Mary to accompany him, and although this is not exactly a romantic proposal, their obvious chemistry plays a part. In the end, Mary Carr finally agrees to move to New York as well, as she explains to her followers that the Forty Elephants will now be a trans-Atlantic organization. This confirms that Mary will continue with her criminal acts in America as well, while Hezekiah will possibly support her as well through the funds that he will be earning through his boxing endeavors. Considering that the show actually takes us to the USA in a brief scene at the very end of season 2, it might be taken as a hint that A Thousand Blows will continue, and will follow events from the protagonists’ lives in America. Mary leaves the Forty Elephants in the hands of Alice Diamond, who was known as the real leader of the gang in history, meaning that in case the series returns with a 3rd season, we will actually follow events from both countries.
