Very strong characters with great acting skills. story line is very strong. The series is not slow, this is how mafia works in developing and developed nations.This is an era of economic warfare and no more street fights.

Where to begin. The main character who appears to be in his 30s was raised wealthy in London, doesn't have a Russian accent and went to best schools including Harvard but later they keep saying the family left Russia 15 years ago. Doesn't really compute along with much of the rest of the story. His 'loving' uncle hurts his business purposesly with rumors so he'll have to let a criminal element into his investment fund. Which even though they try to present him as a man of impeccable character he quickly agrees by buying into the title McMafia idea of we'll go outperform the Russian syndicate that killed your traitor uncle by having a bigger presence (for revenge purposes). And after the first pushback which obviously would be coming when the Russian syndicate figured out what was going on the guy he sold out to basically folds like a cheap suit and gives up. Huh?! Meanwhile the show turns to soap opera drama about his washed up father having an affair, a pregnancy with the mistress, the pretense of drama about his fiancé learning he is not exactly legit. The fiance also gets shot and spends weeks in the hospital with no visible wound or need to be there. There is a lot of crying, suicide attempts and screaming, we see his father feeding ducks about as much as the toy Star Ship Enterprise flew pointlessly around the original Star Trek and more crying. I think about every character gets their shot at crying at least once. The storyline literally barely advances each episode. Not a very good show. They should have focused on an actual crime syndicate war and had characters you cared about like in the Sopranos. This does none of that. Just kill the main guy and end this sad saga.

I'm not generally a fan of James Norton who plays Alex, son of a Russian high flyer in exile in London. I've seen him play too many parts as a villain before, especially in HAPPY VALLEY where he tries to murder his son and in GRANTCHESTER where he abandons the love of his life. I'm guessing that's again the truth in McMaffia. His acting is convincing, the plot enthralling and the co actors are very supportive. I'd say very addictive series and no fairytale endings here.....but some get their just deserts. Highly recommended.

Love a good gangster series and McMafia doesn't disappoint. Great cast great writing and no expense spared for the production which goest from Moscow, London, India UAE and France.