Don't Miss 'A Thousand Blows' Twice
Despite Hulu's inability to give 'A Thousand Blows' a weekly release or proper marketing, this series starring 'Adolescence's Stephen Graham and Erin Doherty is worth your time.
Hulu’s first season of A Thousand Blows was incredible when it debuted in early 2025, a tour de force historical series, co-starring Stephen Graham and Erin Doherty, best known for their other hit from the same year, Adolescence. Unfortunately, the timing (arriving just before the Netflix series broke big) meant it mostly slid under the radar, failing to capture the following of Peaky Blinders, a similarly set show from the same creator (Steven Knight). If you are only just hearing about it now that Season 2 dropped the same weekend Adolescence swept the Golden Globes, it’s worth your time to devour both seasons.
The 1880s-era drama takes us to London, mainly its hardscrabble East End, navigating the imagined lives of historical figures Hezekiah Moscow (Malachi Kirby), Mary Carr (Doherty), and Henry “Sugar” Goodson (Graham). With a split focus on Mary’s enterprises and Hezekiah’s boxing, both are equally riveting. Each season features a grand heist orchestrated by Mary: the first, a daring raid of the Queen’s silver; the second, a scheme to steal a Caravaggio painting.
This show’s standout character is Mary, “queen” of the Forty Elephants, a gang of female thieves. Proto-feminist Mary refuses to accept the subordinate position she’s been handed, declaring, “I am sick of everyone taking life lying down!” She’s ambitious, setting her sights on increasingly larger, riskier targets than the pickpocketing and smash-and-grab jobs that are her gang’s bread and butter. She wants to thrive, not just survive. A consummate plotter, she tells her crew that real money doesn’t come from the bottom of a man’s pocket; it’s time to target the upper crust.
