A rather grimly impressive series with no comforting, positive conclusion other than for one character. The interweaving of all the characters and their stories and beliefs is well and elegantly done, showing how actions and beliefs have both immediate and long-term consequences. The internal familial conflicts are particularly well done with the ebb and flow of beliefs and possibilities very convincingly done.
Thematically, it deals with an aspect of toxic masculinity, with particular emphasis on a –‘no snitching’ code of ‘honour’ by the gang members, the grim and life-changing results that this had and its overwhelming power on those who succumb to it. Equally powerful is the pull of the past and its effect on the present. Ostensibly about soccer gang supporters, it is, nevertheless, largely a cover for criminal activity as well as a psychotic pleasure in violence.
But at the end, the power of the code is largely unbroken and likely to be continued into the next generation, as suggested in one of the final shots of the film of Kuba’s little brother enthusiastically enjoying a parade by his father’s and brother’s soccer team. This is a sad but probably grimly realistic acknowledgement of the difficulty of breaking the cycle of this form of toxic masculinity. .