The Gentlemen spinoff series recently arrived on Netflix, and there’s a lot to break down about that explosive season 1 finale.
Based on the 2019 movie of the same name, The Gentlemen tells the story of Eddie Horniman (Theo James), a young man who inherits his father’s estate only to discover it has become a cannabis empire. As a result, selling off the estate is no easy business, mainly because of the Hornimans’ financial arrangement with the Glass family. However, Eddie desperately needs money to fix the messes of his father and irresponsible older brother, Freddy (Daniel Ings). As a result, the former army officer must decide if he’s willing to navigate into a life of crime to deal with the deadly sequence of events that kick off with his father’s death.
The Gentlemen marks one of Guy Ritchie’s rare forays onto the small screen, as he returned to direct the spinoff series after helming The Gentlemen film. So far, the series has received relatively favorable reviews for its solid performances and outlandish premise. Since Ritchie’s show is only inspired by the original movie, it is essentially its own story. However, the movie’s influence can be seen very well in the gangster antics and absolute rollercoaster ride of emotions, violence, and plot twists in the show. Given how wild and complicated the plot can be, here’s a detailed breakdown of where The Gentlemen ends and what it might signal for the future of the franchise.
What happens between Eddie and Susie?
Throughout the majority of The Gentlemen, viewers follow Eddie as he forms a tentative partnership with Susie Glass (Kaya Scodelario). As the daughter of the imprisoned Bobby Glass (Ray Winstone), Susie’s job is to try to maintain the financial relationship with Eddie that Bobby had with Eddie’s father. It’s quite obvious that the pair distrust each other, given that they have entirely different goals. Susie wants to maintain her family’s business, while Eddie wants out.
Unfortunately, the pair can’t easily part as, across seven episodes, they both get dragged into feuds and the war for the cannabis empire. As shipments go missing and Freddy gets on the radar of countless gangsters for killing Tommy (Peter Sarafinowicz), a member of a prominent crime family, Eddie and Susie tally up countless enemies by the time the finale comes around. Eventually, things come to a head between them when Eddie visits her father behind her back and nearly gets her brother killed. Susie perceives it as a betrayal and hits back by sending Tommy’s friend, John “The Gospel” Dixon (Pearce Quigley), to kill Eddie and his entire family.
For a moment, it seems Eddie and his family’s demise is imminent in the finale, until John and his men abruptly back off. The call-off is because there’s a far greater criminal force than John: Bobby. Bobby calls off the hit with an offer of compensation because he has another task that requires Eddie and Susie to partner together, whether they like it or not. He requests that they sell the cannabis empire he built on Eddie’s family’s estate. It’s quite a shocking twist to hear that Bobby wants to retire and eliminate the lucrative empire. However, there certainly isn’t a lack of interested buyers.
Who gets Bobby’s cannabis empire?
In the end, there are three major potential buyers still standing: con-man Sticky Pete (Joshua McGuire), drug dealer Mercy Moreno (Martha Millan), and billionaire Stanley Johnston (Giancarlo Esposito). All of them make handsome bids, but there’s one problem: They’re all enemies of Susie and Eddie. Initially, Stanley seemed like the best choice, with his sophisticated mannerisms and fortune. In episode 1, Eddie actually was ready to hand over the estate to him. However, Eddie and Susie soon learn that the failure to proceed with the transaction led to Stanley’s retaliation. It turns out he was responsible for the empire’s business problems, such as missing shipments and the near-death of Susie’s brother.
Of all the enemies they attracted, Stanley proves to be one of the biggest and most cunning masterminds. So, Susie and Eddie “accept” his deal, but only to attain vital evidence of his tax evasion and land him in prison. Meanwhile, Pete has a lousy history with Freddy, so Susie and Eddie decide to feign accepting his offer, which leads to Mercy murdering him in a fit of rage. Of course, they’re not about to hand the empire to the brutal Mercy, so they hire a gangster to kill her off.
One would think that Bobby wouldn’t be happy when Susie and Eddie revealed that they made an oopsie and eliminated every potential buyer. However, it was precisely what Bobby wanted. He wasn’t ever going to sell his empire; it was merely a test to force Eddie to recognize his adeptness in the criminal world and force his daughter to accept Eddie as a partner. Of course, the real reason he wants Eddie and Susie in the business is so that he can maintain a stake in it. While the pair technically runs the empire now, it’s quite clear that the real person in control is Bobby.
How the finale teases season 2
There are lots more adventures that could happen in The Gentlemen season 2, given Eddie’s acceptance of a life of crime and his and Susie’s ownership of the cannabis empire. However, the finale also teases a specific arc for season 2. In the final scene, viewers learn that Eddie and Susie may not have fully taken care of Stanley. Although he went to prison for tax evasion, it turns out he’s in the same comfortable prison as Bobby. Hence, the finale teases a potential partnership between the show’s two most formidable villains.
Bobby and Stanley are criminal masterminds who could easily formulate and execute a plot against Eddie and Susie, even behind bars. At the same time, these are two people who both love to be in control, so a partnership could get tense. Ultimately, there are lots of interesting directions The Gentlemen season 2 could go, as season 1 effectively sets the stage for the stories of Eddie, Susie, Bobby, and Stanley to continue.
(featured image: Netflix)
