Love/Hate Best Season

Season 3 is so far the clear winner with most people. In terms of sheer excitement and extreme violence, I think this season is unbeaten. Season 4 was probably the second most violent of the series but season 3's gruesome rape and murder scene in the first episode pales all other acts of violence including bloodsoaked fights in toilets, sock and balling a traveller to death, the two brutal head beatings doled out by Nidge and Lizzie, and even the two kneecapping incidents Dano was involved in as both the giver and receiver!

Season 3 had such incidents of the Ado kneecapping, Darren's pipebombing of the IRA car, Git's rape of Siobhan and his brutal murder, Dano hitting Nidge, Darren killing Elmo's cousin and girlfriend, and the finale of Nidge doing the deal with Tony and Darren's subsequent death.

Season 1 I thought was good. True, it was too short at just four episodes but back then, no one was aware of how successful it was going to be. Robbie's shooting, Hughie's self inflicted death, the attempt on Darren's life and the brutal killing of Martin the traveller by Hughie and the introduction of all the characters such as favourite Nidge set things up nicely.

Season 2 swiftly dealt with the unfinished business of series 1 (Stumpy's death, Rosie and Darren back together) and introduces another firm favourite in Fran. The Fran v John Boy rivalry with Nidge caught up in it had repercussions in series 4 and will have also in series 5. Probably overall the least violent of the series, season 2 nevertheless is full of shootings and betrayals especially with the shooting of John Boy at the end.

Season 4 is very underrated in my opinion and reminds me of season 2 (albeit a lot more violent) in a lot of ways. Fans complain that the finale was not as dramatic as season 1 or 3 but they forget that the season 4 finale is actually much better than the season 2 one! Season 2s finale was just the funeral of John Boy, setting up Nidge as the new boss and the wrapping up of the Luke subplot. Season 4 perhaps more than any other season reached back to previous seasons and pointed the way to the fifth season. Hence, we are set up with all the main characters - apart from Dano - that survived seasons 1-3 still alive. I think that when season 5 comes out, season 4 will be put into context much more. To me, it was a great season.

Overall, season 3 was the best in my view too. So much so, that it pales its successor and predecessors even though they are also excellent. However, all seasons cannot be season 3 and the relatively quieter finales of seasons 2 and 4 are necessary for the greater story. Sure, Stuart Carolan could have written an 'everyone out trying to kill Nidge' type episode for the finale of season 4 but this would have become too repetitive (as it was done for the climatic season 3 finale and also was the theme of season 4's climatic episode 4). He could also have someone shoot Nidge and we left wondering was he dead and who did it (but this has been done several times with JR Ewing's character in Dallas). With regard to season 2, the same decision arose: kill John Boy in episode 5 and then use episode 6 to set up Nidge as the leader rather than wasting time doing this in season 3. Season 3 started things off heading in a different direction (no more John Boy; Darren's focus is no longer getting even) and season 4 decided to end some of the stories like the Dano v Nidge feud relatively early in order to set things up for next season. I think season 5 could well be the best of all and just like the much less eventful finale of season 2 allowed season 3 to fully blossom, I feel that the season 4 finale (which is a lot more tense, violent and eventful than season 2's) will do the same.