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When Tom Hardy came together with the Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight to bring to life a story that sprang from Hardy and his father, we knew Taboo was going to be something else entirely. This period drama subsequently stood up to these expectations and raised the bar even more with its disastrous mayhem and the constant thrill of death and revenge, which doesn't stop for even a second throughout the show.
The period drama, set in early 19th-century Victorian London, follows James Keziah Delaney, played by Tom Hardy, as he sets out on a journey of discovery, revenge, death, and decay.
Here's a look back on the finale of one of the most gloriously chaotic yet beautifully wrapped period dramas of this decade.
A lay of the land in Tom Hardy's greatest period drama, Taboo
Taboo, which means 'forbidden' or 'outcast' as a general meaning, has an overarching theme of the outsiders pitted against the general society, leading to the theme of freedom and acceptance. From James' connection to the spirit world to Lorna's acting, often being treated derogatorily as a result, the group is made up of outcasts in one way or another. And they are standing together in their fight against society.
From the moment Tom Hardy's Delaney enters his father's funeral in 1814 London, after being presumed dead for a decade, he is labelled an outcast. However, Delaney doesn't mind this at all, since he has his own vendetta against the two leading powers of the time, the Crown and the East India Company (EIC).
Delaney, born to an indigenous Nooka woman and a British EIC agent, is a product of colonialism and has his own vendetta for returning. First off, he aims at solving the mystery behind his father's death and then finding his half-sister, full-lover Zilpha, and rekindling their affair. Finally, and most importantly, he aims at exposing the EIC and Sir Stuart Strange for their involvement in the illegal capture, transportation, and deaths of enslaved Africans.
Does Hardy's James fulfill his vendetta in Taboo: Ending Explained
By the end of the eight episodes of Taboo, all of which were filled with mud and mayhem, much unlike the 19th-century London in Austen adaptations, James manages to run circles around Sir Stuart Strange and the crown and find himself a ship to set sail to Ponta Delgada in the Azores instead of America and Nootka Sound to find American intelligence agent 'Colonnade.'
The dead bodies left behind on the way to this declaration of independence are best not counted. From Zilpha, Helga, Dumbatron, and finally Sir Stuart Strange, the death is endless.
When the final episode of Taboo opens, Delaney is still locked up; however, he's using his time to bring about the final proposition with Sir Strange while his minions tie up all the loose ends in England before their ship sets sail. In return for not exposing Strange and the EIC's involvement in the illegal capture and transportation of the African Americans, and how he was ordered to fly an American flag instead of the Union Jack flag,
James proposes that Strange get him a ship and drop the charges of treason against him so that he can leave without any barriers. Strange reluctantly agrees, convinced that this business will soon be over, but it's far from over, as the generally quiet Taboo is exchanged for an action-packed finale. As part of the proposition, Pearl and Helga, the s*x workers, are also released. Helga finds out through Lorna that the EIC worker killed her daughter, Winter, and not Delaney, even though this doesn't bring any peace to Helga.
On the other side, we find James collecting the letters of passage per his proposition with Strange from Dumbarton, who demands the deed to Nootka Sound in return. However, Delaney is not one to be cornered, and one more dead body falls behind him as he reveals Dumbarton as a double agent for both the Americans and the EIC. How exactly James became privy to this information, we still don't know.
Lorna, per James' instructions, visits the Countess and blackmails her into securing new letters of safe passage for James. Just as the Regent has had enough of James and Co. and orders his men to just kill him, we discover that James was more than prepared for this turn of events, and his men were already waiting at the Wapping docks for the prince's men in red coats.
The biggest showdown ensues on Taboo, which ends with countless dead soldiers, and even Helga, Martinez, and some of Delaney's men are down. The rest of the members of James and Co. make their way to the supposedly America-bound boat, including Cholmondeley, who is bloody and scarred from the explosions, and Lorna, who was shot in the side.
Nevertheless, team Delaney leaves London for good, at least for now, and we find out that Sir Stuart Strange doesn't get off so easily. He opens a letter thinking they were the deeds to trade routes, just to witness a massive bomb go off.
Will Taboo return for Season 2?
The greatest period drama from Tom Hardy and Knight has been renewed for a second season, eight years after its premiere in 2017. According to Hardy, the show is extremely personal and important to him, so he has very high standards for it, meaning that it has a lengthy development process ahead of it.
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