***Spoilers ahead***
In the early ‘90s, a group of people joined a small team to assist Britain’s Customs team in tackling an illegal drug-smuggling issue by going undercover. They found their way into notorious drug gangs by creating “Legends”, their term for tougher alter egos. While those in the government took the credit for putting a stop to the drugs, the team’s bravery wasn’t as well-known.
Now, the crew is getting their turn in the spotlight, thanks to writer Neil Forsyth, who crafted the new Netflix thriller, aptly titled Legends. Steve Coogan delivers a strong performance as Don, an old-school officer tasked with discovering dedicated people through posters that ask if there’s more they can offer. He also has to do everything he can, to the best of his ability, to protect them as they enter the dangerous underbelly.
Don recruits the team of officers by encouraging those who are bored with their typical day-to-day lives to sign up, and then narrows it down to a final group of four from there: Guy (Tom Burke), Kate (Hailey Squires), Bailey (Aml Ameen), and Erin (Jasmine Blackborow). Although Guy tries to stay hidden in the background during the training, Don ultimately singles him out and sends him into a club to bust a small-level drug dealer to test not only how he’ll succeed undercover, but also his loyalty to Customs.
“A lot of [the Legends] are from working-class backgrounds without any kind of financial support underpinning their decisions. So they’re trapped, and that’s very important,” Forsyth shared during an interview with Tudum. “I’ve written shows in the past that are about well-known events. You then tell the story behind it, which isn’t so well-known. This is unique in that the work of the Legends is barely known at all. There was this core team of people that did all of this, and they did it almost without any public recognition.”
The “Legends” soon discover that two factions are smuggling the drugs into England. One of these is a group in Liverpool, led by Declan (Tom Hughes) and Eddie (Johnny Harris). The latter character becomes a grieving father after losing his son to an overdose, but his family is unaware that he is working in the drug business. Because of this tragic death, Eddie becomes a pivotal character in the series, deciding to work with Bailey to bring down the business from the inside.
Meanwhile, Burke’s character was based on real-life Guy Stanton, who consulted with Forsyth on the show. Once a happy father, Guy’s personality soon shifts to that of a tough businessman who will stop at nothing to help the drug dealers, and the line between the two personas starts to blur.
As the series progresses, Don begins to see Guy not only as an extension of himself but also as a child. During a heart-to-heart with the crew, Don confesses about how he was once undercover himself and was attacked during a trip to the beach with his daughter after trying to acclimate back to normal life. It serves as one of the moments that drives the underlying themes of the first season home.
The final shot of Burke-as-Guy staring at the car through the window, as his reflection shows that the “legend” version of himself isn’t gone just by coming home, is just as haunting. As Don described, legends never truly die, and danger means always looking over your shoulder, given that he had to learn the hard way. While we don’t know if Guy is truly out of the clear, he was put through the toughest experience of the bunch, something the other three legends will never truly understand.
Along the way, there are plenty of twists that each character encounters, even for the drug smugglers like Declan, allowing it to be an entertaining watch, even if you already know the Legends will succeed to some degree. Still, the core four all gave their all for the experience, only for someone else to swoop in and take the credit for their efforts. Is it better for them to watch from the shadows for safety purposes? Probably, though.
While Legends is not a full-throttle thriller the entire time, the tension that builds during the quieter moments, like when Kate and Erin are trying to track down a corrupt mole, allows the final episode’s action to be totally worth the wait. Plus, with a few cliff-hangers at the end of some episodes, the show is a gripping drama that will hold your attention, simply to see the fates each character meets.
★★★★
On Netflix from May 7th / Steve Coogan, Tom Burke, Charlotte Ritchie, Hayley Squires, Aml Ameen, Jasmine Blackborow / Dir: Brady Hood, Julian Holmes / Netflix
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