Plot: It’s been one year since Eddie and Susie joined forces to work together in Bobby’s criminal empire overseas. As they drive to expand their enterprise, the decisions Bobby is making seem to be increasingly unsound. Now Eddie and Susie must decide whether to take action or risk losing it all, but unfettered ambition never ends well…
Review: I don’t usually start reviews like this, but I just finished watching the eight-episode second season of Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen, and I am gobsmacked. The first season was a solid variation on Ritchie’s 2020 film of the same name, which starred Matthew McConaughey, Colin Farrell, Hugh Grant, and Charlie Hunnam. In adapting the film into a Netflix series, Ritchie and co-creator Matthew Read shifted the focus of a weed empire housed under the property of British aristocrats from the criminals fighting over control to the aristocrats themselves. Led by Theo James as Eddie Horniman, the 13th Duke of Halstead, The Gentlemen chronicled a good man’s descent from war hero to criminal kingpin. For season two, rather than continue more of the same, Ritchie and Read have delivered a darker crime saga that shares more in common with Breaking Bad than it does with the first season, as we see Eddie completely transform into something new.
The first season of The Gentlemen ended with Eddie (Theo James) and Susie Glass (Kaya Scodelario) proving to her father, Bobby (Ray Winstone), that the pair were suited to one day inherit his criminal empire. Season two opens with Eddie dragging himself across a field with two broken legs before flashing back to three months earlier. Set a year after the first season, The Gentlemen finds Eddie in a prime leadership role and more than just a figurehead as he negotiates with the Mafia, Italian contessas, and Arabian sheiks on behalf of Bobby. With Susie alongside him, Eddie is a natural leader as he dons tuxedos and hunts pheasants. As an aside, this season could be one long audition for 007 as Theo James looks like a pitch-perfect James Bond in this series as he leads his enterprise while trying to make his way into a role in Parliament to better secure his business interests. But, as it would not be a very interesting season without some conflict, the premiere episode sets in motion a chain of events that set the tone for the entire eight episode run.
The new season boasts most of the returning cast from the first season including Vinnie Jones as Geoffrey, the Halstead Manor gamekeeper as well as Joely Richardson as Eddie’s mother, Sabrina. We also see more of Eddie’s brother, Freddy (Daniel Ings), the wild card of the first season. Freddy’s rampant drug use and unreliability led to Eddie being named Duke despite Freddy being the eldest in the family, and that oversight continues to be a factor this season. Giancarlo Esposito reprises his role as Stanley Johnston but this season also sees the introduction of new characters Bella (Benedetta Porcaroli), an Italian contessa, as well as Hugh Bonneville as a fellow lord with whom Eddie and Susie partner with. The shift in story moving between London and Italy offers some variety in settings, but The Gentlemen remains embedded in the aristocratic world laying just on top of the seedy criminal enterprises hidden beneath the pristine lawns and castles.
Theo James remains the central focus of this series but there are plenty of scene-stealing moments from Kaya Scodelario and Ray Winstone who embody the Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels world that Guy Ritchie has included in many of his films. This season plays with identity as a key theme as Theo James comes into his own as Eddie embraces his ducal title as well as his criminal side. My previous comparison to Breaking Bad comes into its own as this season progresses and we watch Eddie’s noble demeanor as a United Nations peacekeeping soldier put to use for more nefarious purposes. Eddie’s mother fought against the family embracing illegal activity, but The Gentlemen puts Eddie so deeply into the marijuana business that by the end of this season, he is a far different man than at the beginning. Where this season goes changes this from being remotely comedic and into something much more dramatic. Like Bryan Cranston’s transformation of Walter White, by the time I reached the season finale, The Gentlemen has created a new kingpin.
Guy Ritchie and Matthew Read, who co-wrote the first two episodes of the first season, script more entries this season. Guy Ritchie also returns as director of four episodes including the premiere and finale. Eran Creevy helmed three episodes with Nick Rowland on one. Ritchie and Read structure this season with the Snatch director’s signature flair including on screen text when characters are listing off items or putting a plan together and there is propulsive action including a solid chase scene in the premiere episode. This season is also far more violent than the first including so much in the final two episodes that Netflix has asked for nothing to be spoiled about them. As a fan of Guy Ritchie’s filmography, I am not above calling out his weaker offerings, but this season of The Gentlemen is not only better than season one but also an improvement over the movie.
With the third season already on the way, Guy Ritchie and Matthew Read clearly have a plan for where this story is headed next and it will hopefully take less than the three year gap between the first two seasons. Everything is improved this season compared to the first with a stronger story, better character development, and a shift from comedy-drama to straight drama with some comedic moments. Theo James is fantastic with Kaya Scodelario and Ray Winstone continuing to fit perfectly into Ritchie’s signature world of thugs and drugs. Whether it is delivered in Cockney accents or the King’s english, The Gentlemen is better this season than before and the most fun from a Guy Ritchie project in years. This is a series that reinforces why getting to binge Netflix series can be a lot of fun and I expect a lot of reactions once viewers finish the finale.
The Gentlemen returns on September 3rd on Netflix.