Episode 7

The seventh episode begins in a holding cell, with Eric Kinsella learning that he is unlikely to get bail because the evidence against him is a mountain. Eamon Cunningham, newly sober after the ceremony, paces the grounds of the retreat. Amanda, at the dealership that has been raided and closed, warns Anthony about what is happening; he takes the news of Dotser Reid's death badly and rushes off in tears. She meets the defence solicitor she has hired, Lauren Bridges, and learns that even with no previous convictions she could face six to ten years for money laundering.

Eamon's people are working. Con Doyle and Glen Wright torture and question a man about where the Kinsella drug stash is hidden, relaying what they learn to Eamon, who tells them they have no use for anyone not useful and lets Glen execute him. Michael is served with a summons from the social worker Monica Butler, warning him to stay away from Anna, and told that if he genuinely cared about his daughter he would stay away so she is not dragged into his family's world.

The episode's addition that matters is the family's father. Frank and Jimmy visit Bren Kinsella at Castlewood Prison. Bren accuses them of wrecking things outside while he rots inside, and when Frank asks him to keep Eric safe, Bren says the family name carries no weight inside any more because of their meddling; he insults Frank repeatedly, likening him to a hairdresser, until Frank is on his feet shouting and a guard warns him. Bren refuses to help, and Frank attacks an innocent man on his way out of the prison.

The episode is the season at its most static, and its centre is a patio conversation. Amanda, drinking with Michael, admits that her greatest fear about prison is missing the biggest moments of Anthony's life; he comforts her and tells her she is clever and still has time to fix things, and they kiss. Jimmy arrives and tells her he does not take her for granted, that he loves her; she says nothing. The juxtaposition of the two scenes defines the family's three-way fracture for the finale.

The resolution is the plan that ends the season's war. Amanda takes the family's finances to Jenny Lawlor at work and tries to bribe her to take the blame for the money laundering; Jenny refuses, and Amanda appeals to her as a mother. Con Doyle visits Anthony at the school and threatens to douse him in petrol and set him alight, the same threat Jimmy used against Con's own son. Michael receives a surprise visit from Anna, who realises he is keeping her at arm's length and storms out. Birdy goes to meet Eamon and is held at gunpoint; he tells her all Kinsellas are now fair game and refuses a deal even when she offers the return of the stolen drugs. Anna narrowly escapes a kidnapping attempt, and returns to Michael's flat. Michael waits in the driveway for Amanda and Anthony; once Anthony is inside he tells her about Anna, and she tells him about Con's threat. She proposes that they end the threat by chopping the head off the snake.

Bren Kinsella is the strongest thing in the hour. One scene explains the family, and the Irish Times wrote that as Bren prowls across the screen, Michael's quiet damage and Jimmy's impulsiveness suddenly make sense. The weakness is the pace: the same paper judged the hour filler, the story stretched so that the season can reach the episode count the streaming services want. It is the only episode of the season with no killing and no robbery, its action legal, procedural and domestic, and it is the episode that makes the finale's accounting possible.