Sexy Beast – Season 1 Episode 1 “More” Recap & Review

More

Sexy Beast Episode 1 begins with Gal sunbathing on the top of a building when his crime partner Don comes up on him with an unloaded shotgun. Gal knows it’s him lurking around and simply says, ‘Hi Don.’

Gal and Don and a group of men prepare for a heist. The crew enters an arcade, and the gang intimidates the staff and customers, using brute force to gain access to the safe. A staff member claims he doesn’t know the combination to the safe, but they intimidate him into giving it up, and they manage to open it and steal the money. Don tells the staff member to give a message to the owner to stop bothering his sister.

They celebrate afterwards, and we meet Dee Dee, whom Gal is immediately drawn to. He asks her to come back with him but she plays it cool with him. Turns out, she’s a well-known adult entertainer. We also meet Gal’s family and his long-suffering fiancee. 

Teddy Bass is a big deal in the crime world. He is planning a heist, and Gal and Don are mentioned to him by his associate Stanley Higgins, who is aware of their progression up the ladder. We meet Don’s sister, Cecilia, who is very much the one in control. She runs a little casino. 

Teddy Bass meets with Gal and Don at a club to discuss the possibility of them coming to work with him on a heist. Gal isn’t sure, as he prefers their independent operations, but Don is very much up for it, as he’s eager for a better lifestyle. 

Gal is still drawn to Dee Dee, and they have an in-depth discussion. She says there’s more to life, and she longs to escape her current world. Gal tells her he’s a thief as the straight life wasn’t for him. Dee Dee says she wants to go somewhere sunny. They are at her house but Dee Dee hears a noise and tells Gal to leave. Gal suspects this is a husband or boyfriend coming back. 

Gal and Don are on the phone with each other and Gal says he wants to join the high-stakes job. They meet with Teddy, but Gal tells him they want to be partners all the way. “In for a penny, in for a pound,” he says. 

The crew executes a meticulously planned heist, which targets an armoured van carrying a rare coin. Teddy tells them to take the blue box with the coin in deposit box number 403. 

Teddy says the coin is the first piece of a very big puzzle. But unfortunately, the gang has a witness problem. A security guard who witnessed the crime is a liability, and Teddy wants no loose ends. Gal is charged with taking care of it, and Cecelia warns Don that if Gal won’t do it, he needs to do it. 

Gal turns up to do the hit on the security guard, but Don also turns up. Gal points a gun at Don and they have a standoff. Gal tells him they aren’t murderers. Gal gives the security guard money and tells him to run away. Don is incensed, but Gal insists he’s saved his life and then drives off from the scene. 

The episode ends with the group drinking and celebrating the heist. Teddy turns up to celebrate with them, but in a shock move, he shoots and kills Larry, one of the men in the gang, as it was his fault the security guard saw them, and asks Gal if he sorted out their problem. He says it’s taken care of. 

The Episode Review

It’s a lacklustre start to this prequel series of the classic British gangster movie. It was a totally pointless decision to extend the universe of Sexy Beast as it was such a one-off that it didn’t require the backstory being told.

James McArdle and Emun Elliott do their best impersonations of Ray Winstone and Ben Kingsley as Gal and Don, but they don’t offer anything new. The heist is a bit rushed and there’s a feeling that this storyline is going to be dragged out.