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It’s a bittersweet day for Top Boy fans as the final season is now on Netflix.
Season four’s jaw-dropping finale saw Michael Ward’s character shot dead by Sully (played by Kane ’Kano Robinson), and the last ever batch of episodes sees the Summerhouse estate respond to death.
And if reviews are anything to go by, it doesn’t disappoint.
The drama’s main stars are all back for the final outing with Sully facing off against rival drug dealer Dushane (Ashley Walters), and Little Simz, Jasmine Jobson and Araloyin Oshunremi among those reprising their roles.
Netflix’s synopsis reads: “Sully’s actions at the end of the last series have rewritten his business rules with Dushane.
“As new shared problems arise, everything they’ve built comes under threat from forces outside and within their empire.
“Can they coexist by the rules of the road they’ve lived by their whole lives in a world that is changing before them? Or can there only be one Top Boy?”
Here’s what critics have had to say…
“As the characters reel from Season 4′s shocking ending, characters attempt to maintain a sense of control in the final season, especially when a rival Irish gang arrives to threaten territory. With superb performances — including an outstanding turn by Jasmine Jobson — and all possibilities on the table, Top Boy Season 5 leaves no loose ends, for better or worse, for the characters we’ve lived with for 12 years.
“Actions have consequences and the characters will truly feel it this season. But the one thing Top Boy wants you to remember at the end of all things? Everyone’s got family.”
“In the final episode, Top Boy serves its audience all the chaos, violence and scope its long-gestating tensions have promised. The camera rarely pauses and the dialogue is sparse as the estate descends into chaos.
“Monologues and farewells are expertly delivered, and violence is depicted with the full weight of human loss. As Sully tells his best friend, ‘We’re not monsters, we’re food’ – just something the world around them is ready to devour. But the show sees them as three-dimensional men in the throes of a Shakespearean tragedy.”
“Top Boy continues strong with the thrilling writing, beautiful cinematography and infectious music that made it successful. The final season’s promise of ‘no loose ends’ however, isn’t exactly true. How could it be, because crime – as this season shows to devastating effect – never stops.
“In the final two episodes, everything really does come together, dismissing any previous fears about how the show would reach one of its characteristically gripping season endings.”
“The shorter episode order – compared to the first Netflix season’s 10 episodes and the second’s eight-part run – means that events here unfold at a rapid pace.
“With fewer secondary plot strands, this is a lean and mean final season – and the callousness with which the charismatic Jamie (Micheal Ward) was offed at the close of the previous season, coupled with the knowledge that this is Top Boy’s swan song, means that a newfound sense of dread permeates every scene. Anyone, you feel, could go at any time.”
“There are a lot of explosive moments painted with blood and body matter but none of it was self-indulgent despite reaching cinematic heights. All the action was purposeful and all antagonists serve a point beyond dramatised shock.
“These moments were tactfully balanced out by the more emotionally driven plot points that sensitively approached topics like postnatal depression, child neglect and young love in a way that honours the world they inhabit.”
“Since its arrival in 2011, Top Boy has offered a distinctive vision of [London], one where rival pushers run the streets, at once both in conflict with and abetted by the middle-class forces that keep them down.
“The Hackney of Top Boy crackles with life (not unlike the Hackney of Hackney). And it provides a fitting backdrop for the increasingly fraught relations that govern the show’s twisted interpersonal politics.”
“As ever, Top Boy transcends gang matters to consider its wider impact and contexts. A quasi-novelistic saga of the streets, it continues to immerse us in a fragile community and to probe failing social systems. Thoughtful writing and instinctual performances meanwhile give real human texture to supporting characters — not least Jasmine Jobson’s drug dealer Jaq, who sees how the life that sustains her destroys those she loves most.
“What stands out again is the complete absence of glamour. Criminality here is never aspirational but is often inevitable, as seen in a subplot involving Jamie’s brother Stef becoming drawn to the world he was sheltered from. The show may be coming to an end, but the cycle of violence seems set to go on.”
”With so much anticipation, in a landmark London show that has brought through so much talent in front of and behind the camera, the big question was simply: could it bring the final season home?
“Fans needn’t have worried. This takes previous series’ established formula, with taut writing and thrilling action, well-loved characters, extraordinary guest stars and stunning cinematography and cranks it up to another level. The marketing’s promise of ‘no loose ends’ means it all hurtles towards a fitting finale. Boy, is this good TV.”
“Despite the savagery, there are flickers of hope. In episode one, the Summerhouse community band together to stop one of their own being unfairly deported – a powerful, joyous sequence. The series also explores postnatal depression, trauma and gentrification in a vital way, with these meaningful diversions adding to the show’s gritty yet vibrant feel.
“There are flourishes of nostalgia too, but creator Ronan Bennett is more interested in driving everything towards a satisfying conclusion than getting lost in legacy. Not a second is wasted, with big moments happening right up until the final credits roll. It seems certain that we’ll be talking about Top Boy for years to come.”
Top Boy is now available to stream on Netflix.
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