Netflix’s “Top Boy” Season 2 begins just six months after the events of Season 1. In Season 1, Dushane Hill dealt with the lads from the rival gang from the London Fields and gradually climbed up the ladder to become the Top Boy of the London streets. He even tricked his arch-rival, Jamie Tovell, and sent him to prison instead of killing him. The reason being that Dushane was impressed by Jamie’s vision and passion and wanted him to join the Summerhouse. Season 1 left us on a cliffhanger as Dushane met Jamie in prison and offered to work for him in exchange for his release.
Dushane and Sully even devised a plan to kill their wild and untamed supplier, Sugar, who was inside a prison in Kingston, Jamaica. After Sugar’s murder, Dushane joined hands with Jamie’s Irish drug supplier, Lizzie. But to earn their victory, both Dushane and Sully had to make some serious sacrifices. The most difficult one for Sully was shooting his best pal, Dris, who had betrayed the gang. At the end of “Top Boy” season 1, Sully and Dushane had fallen apart as Sully didn’t approve of Dushane’s ways of dealing with situations. Sully didn’t want to involve kids in dealing with Jamie, while Dushane didn’t want to spill unnecessary blood to end the competition. Sully wanted to kill Jamie, but Dushane wished to tame Jamie, and the difference in their methods and intentions became the reason for their separation, which is further explored in Season 2 and also influenced the cliffhanger of Season 2, thereby paving the path for a Season 3.
Top Boy Season 2 majorly focuses on three storylines: the murder of a young boy named Atticus “Ats” Ayittey, who planted drugs in Jamie’s house; the abusive household and psycho-maniac lover of Lauryn, who couldn’t come back to London as she snitched on Sully to a rival gang member named Leyton; and the last one being the redevelopment of the Summerhouse community in which Dushane has invested his blood money, but his mother refuses to leave the building. Let’s continue further.
See More: ‘Top Boy’ Season 1: Ending & Dushane’s Plan, Explained: Will Jamie Join Summerhouse?
‘Top Boy’ Season 2: Recap Summary
After spending six months in prison, Jamie Tovell accepted Dushane’s proposal and came out of prison to work for him. In Season 1, Dushane told Jamie about video footage that could prove in the court of law that some hooded kid planted drugs and guns in his house to frame him, and as soon as Jamie pledged his loyalty to the Summerhouse gang, Dushane gave him the video evidence in exchange.
Meanwhile, a prominent pillar of the drug supply chain in Spain, Emilio, decided to leave the business for the sake of his ill wife, who took a promise from him that after her death, he would look after the girls and wouldn’t indulge himself in any illegal trade. At that moment, Dushane and Lizzie were expecting a big shipment from Morocco that was about to reach London through Spain, but as soon as the news of Emilio’s departure spread among the gangs, a corrupt police officer named Juan El Bueno decided to intervene. Lizzie came to Spain to meet Juan along with Emilio’s brother-in-law, Antonio, however, during the meeting, Juan tricked them and shot Antonio, and as soon as the shipment from Morocco reached Spain’s borders, Juan seized them.
When Dushane found out about the delay in supply, he decided to take matters into his own hand and reached Spain to meet the Moroccan supplier, named Mounir. The suppliers promised to send the drugs soon, and with their assurance, Dushane returned to London, when suddenly, Mounir informed him that there was a snitch in his gang. Dushane ordered Sully to go to Morocco, but he refused because Dushane started acting like a boss, while in fact, they were both partners, and it really vexed Sully. With no option, Dushane asked Jamie to meet the suppliers in Tangier and help them find out about the mole in their gang, who happened to be a bodyguard named Khrito. After the snitch was dealt with, Jamie decided to return to London when suddenly he decided to meet Juan El Bueno to crack a secret deal with him so that he could take over the supply after dealing with Dushane.
Meanwhile, in London, Sully tried to help his relative, Pebbles, who had stolen some drugs from a local gang. Sully got mixed up in the situation and tried to scare the lads named Cyprus and Khadeem when they retaliated and kidnapped Sully. The video of Sully taking a beating from new lads quickly went viral in the neighborhood, and as soon as Jaq and Dushane found out, they gathered the gang members to rescue him. Dushane and his lads finished off the entire gang and saved Sully’s life. Now Sully owed a debt to Dushane and thus decided to deal with the supply problem in his own way. As soon as Sully arrived in Spain, he organized a meeting with Juan and shot him to put an end to his demands. With Jaun dead, the drugs were free to move from Morocco to London without any further hindrance.
The second foremost conflict was the murder of Atticus “Ats” Ayittey. In “Top Boy,” Season 1, Dushane blackmailed Ats to plant drugs in Jamie’s house, which enraged Jamie’s best friend Kit. Earlier in Season 1, Kit tried to shoot Ats at his own house, but the boy was saved by his mother, Amma Ayittey. However, in Season 2, Kit strikes again and kidnaps Ats with the help of another low-life thug named Dexter. Kit just wanted to scare Ats, but Dexter killed him. Dushane and his gang were looking for Dexter, and so Kit mercilessly bashed Dexter’s head to silence him, but Dushane had his doubts about Kit, and thus, as soon as Jamie returned from Morocco, he asked Jamie to deal with Kit. Finally, Kit confessed to kidnapping and accidentally killing Atticus. When Jamie told Dushane that Kit was indeed involved in the murder, Dushane asked him to shoot Kit. At this point, Jamie decided to flee to Wales with his brothers and Kit, but when his brothers refused to part ways from their roots, Jamie had no other option but to shoot Kit.
In the third consecutive storyline, Jaq’s sister, Laura, who was pregnant with her boyfriend, Curtis’ child, decided to run away from the house after constant emotional abuse. As soon as Lauryn escaped to London, she reached out to Jaq. Jaq hid Lauryn in her girlfriend’s house and informed Dushane about Lauryn’s return and her situation. In season 1, Dushane gave money to Lauryn to leave London and even hid her act of betrayal from Sully, because Jaq and Dushane knew that once Sully knew about it, he would kill Lauryn, the same way he killed Dris. After her return in Season 2, Dushane and Jaq had to inform Sully about it, but fortunately, Sully decided to help Lauryn deal with Curtis and his sister. At the end of “Top Boy” Season 2, Jaq called Curtis and stole Dushane’s drugs and money and blackmailed them to return Lauryn in exchange for it. Jaq and her gang devised a plan to ambush Curtis, but Lauryn decided to take matters into her own hands and called Curtis to her hiding place alone, where she stabbed him to death.
As the tragedies faded away, Dushane decided to preserve the Summerhouse community instead of giving it to the rich builders. As “Top Boy” season 2 began, Lizzie’s husband and their accountant convinced Dushane to invest his blood money in real estate to turn it into legal income. Lizzie’s husband wanted Dushane to invest in the Summerhouse redevelopment plan as his mother, and other neighbors refused to empty the blocks, and Lizzie’s husband thought that Dushane would be able to influence their decision. But after his mother’s death, Dushane had a change of heart and blackmailed Lizzie’s husband, saying that he would kill Lizzie for betraying him in Spain if he didn’t take back the project and return the flats to the respective flat-mates. The builders and investors had no other option but to suspend the redevelopment plans.
Meanwhile, Ruben Miller, who was arrested by the cops to get testimony against Dushane, refused to betray the summerhouse gang and was finally sent to prison for being an accessory to the brutal murders. For the time being, Dushane was free from all conflicts, but in the end, a new tragedy awaited, and this time the betrayal came from his most loyal friend, Sully.
Why Did Dushane and Sully Fall Out?
Dushane Hill and Gerald “Sully” Sullivan were an odd pair even from the beginning of the Chaos. And the difference in their personality traits eventually became a reason for tense arguments and fights. Dushane was a calculative gangster, and more than just a field thug, he was a leader. He didn’t get involved in unnecessary gunfights or fistfights to keep the gang off the cop’s radar and often tried to tactfully deal with the situation before resorting to violent bloodshed.
On the other hand, Sully was a hot-headed person who believed in following a certain code of conduct as a gangster. There was no gray area for Sully. Things for him were simple. If someone betrayed him, he’d shoot them no matter who they were. Sully’s hand shook a bit, and his eyes were all teary when he shot Dris, but he shot him a hundred times because he betrayed. In Dushane’s court of law, a person is free to put up his case, but in Sully’s case, there was no court in the first place, just blood, death, loyalty, and revenge.
In “Top Boy,” season 1, Sully despised Dushane for running away to Kingston, which was a calculated move for Dushane, or he would have ended up in prison just like Sully and would have spent his days in misery. Dushane didn’t enter the business on his own will but was pushed into it by Sugar, who threatened to kill Dushane’s cousin and brother, Donovan. But once he ended up on the streets, like a true leader, he decided to make the best out of it. When Dushane entered the business for the second time, he made sure not to unnecessarily kill people on the streets and keep his slate clean. He avoided fighting with rival London Fields as much as he could and finally set a trap to stop Jamie.
Sully, on the other hand, was driven by emotions rather than critical thinking. He was obsessed with his moral code of conduct, because of which he only categorized men as either good or bad. He wanted to kill Jamie face-to-face in a gunfight or fistfight, but Dushane convinced him to use Ats to plant drugs in Jamie’s house to get him arrested and then use him later for business. Much like Dushane, Jamie was a man who weighed his rational thinking above his emotions, because of which he made some really tactical moves, and killing his best friend, Kit, was one of them. If Jamie had fled to Wales, he would have not only lost the opportunity to rule the drug empire but also his brothers.
The way Dushane dealt with Jamie was the first fatal strike on their friendship and business partnership. Sully could see Dushane’s inclination towards Jamie and thus decided to drift apart and start living on a boat while having no involvement in the business. When Dushane ordered Sully to deal with the police officer in Spain, Sully brought back the past arguments and entered into a fistfight with Dushane while pointing out that he was a partner in the business and not his servant. Dushane had to send Jamie to Morocco after Sully backed out, and while Jamie tried to resolve the matter peacefully, Sully arrived in Spain and shot the man dead to end the conflict.
At first, Sully wanted to deal with Ruben Miller in his own way by getting him killed in prison, but when his plan failed, Dushane brought in his tactics once again, which involved blackmailing Ruben and threatening his family. Though Dushane convinced Ruben not to become a state witness against him, Sully didn’t approve of his approach. He told Dushane that their ways of dealing with things didn’t align so much, and it was better to stay apart.
‘Top Boy’ Season 2: Ending Explained: Why Did Sully Shoot Jamie?
Even in Season 1, Sully wanted to kill Jamie, but Dushane stopped him. In Season 2, Sully got suspicious of Jamie’s betrayal in Spain after Juan suggested that Jamie was planning something of his own. Though Sully informed Dushane about Jamie, he didn’t want to harm Jamie because, unlike Sully, Dushane wanted to come clean from the drug business and run it from a distance. Dushane wanted to put Jamie in-charge of the streets while he wanted to reign over the empire from a distance without getting directly involved in the trade. Again, Dushane had planned this because he never wanted to get involved in the drug business, and, secondly, his late mother despised his illegal profession.
Sully was certain that after Jamie killed his own friend Kit, Dushane wouldn’t question his loyalty, and thus he decided to take matters into his own hand. Now, Sully’s shooting of Jamie could have any other motive, but until now, it looks like he did it because he was certain that Jamie was going to betray them. Sully, being a person who didn’t spare his best friend’s life, won’t step back from taking revenge on a new lad who hardly respected him.
The final act of revenge portrays Sully as a potential antagonist in the series, and probably the third (and maybe final) season of “Top Boy” will again put two friends face-to-face against each other to protect their beliefs and ideology. And like Dushane’s lover, Shelly, rightly said, Dushane might be in the wrong business, but he would do anything to protect the people whom he loved. Dushane not only protected Lauryn and saved him from Sully, but also gave his rival, Jamie, a second chance. Dushane’s decision to compel the investors from suspending the redevelopment plan was an act of redemption for him, which made him a better leader than Sully.
Conclusion
The constant theme that “Top Boy” Season 2 followed was the importance and love of family. Whether it’s Jaq and her sister, Lauryn, Dushane and his mother, Emilio and his wife, Jamie and his brothers, Sully and his relative Pebbles, or Ruben and his sister. Even the boy on the Tangier beach whom Jamie met wanted to go to Spain to meet his family, so Jamie handed over his expensive watch to him so that he could trade it for a ride. But even though Jamie helped a total stranger meet his family, in the end, it was him who was taken away from his own.
Also, throughout “Top Boy” Season 2, Dushane suffered from minor chest pains, which could be a suggestion of an impending heart attack, as he never tried to consult a doctor about it, even if he visited the hospital to attend to his mother. Maybe in “Top Boy” Season 3, Dushane would finally suffer a stroke, and Sully would step in to take over the business in his absence. However, first, the two would have to sort out Sully’s impulsive decision to kill Jamie. The cliffhanger sets the stage for a final clash between Dushane and Sully, and let’s see who wins this battle in the end.
