The Gentlemen Season 2 keeps its narrative trajectory moving forward, but with a noticeable tonal shift from its 2024 debut. It still has the wit and style easily identifiable as a Guy Ritchie creation, but rather than continue an even split of comical and eccentric with its more serious elements, it leans almost entirely into being a consequence-driven crime drama. While the uniqueness of the series suffers for this choice, its overall quality improves.
Season one sees Eddie (Theo James, Divergent) return home to inherit his family estate, much to the dismay of his addict brother Freddy (Daniel Ings, The Marvels) and slowly become enveloped in the marijuana business due to his family’s criminal partnership with the Glass family — led by Bobby (Ray Winstone, Damsel) from a resort prison, and his daughter Susie (Kaya Scodelario, Crawl), to grow on their land due to financial hardship. It is a partnership that Eddie has no way of breaking off cleanly, and while his involvement is reluctant at first, when things left off, he is relishing it and aspires to grow.
With his brother now in rehab, there are fewer distractions, and as he tells family friend and caretaker Geoff (Vinnie Jones, Snatch) that he wants to restore his family’s estate back to what it once was. That desire edges Eddie towards completing his crime boss transformation. He’ll still make an effort to accomplish his goals without violence, though rarely successful. That doesn’t mean he can’t remain sophisticated and keep up appearances. A shooting party at his estate, and discussions of expensive wine, guns and automobiles remain surprisingly engrossing and demonstrate the juxtaposition of the worlds he exists within.
Last season prominently features outrageous characters like Freddy and grower Chang (Michael Vu, Anuvahood), who are immensely entertaining, but seems to counter the direction that Ritchie wants to take the series. As a result, those characters largely become background in the new season, and that screen time is used to better develop Eddie’s sister Charly (Jasmine Blackborow, Marie Antoinette), introduce her new partner Nanny (Benjamin Clementine, Dune: Part 1), and others, including Italian Mafia boss Marco Moretti (Sergio Castellitto, Conclave) and his beautiful goddaughter Bella (Benedetta Porcaroli, Immaculate).
From the opening frame, it’s clear that Eddie is in deep, but not over his head. We find him beaten but purposely left alive, crawling back to his position in life, and his new resolve. As the story reverts to show how things play out from three months earlier, Eddie’s pride is what leads him to that fate, but it’s also what earns him the respect that’s necessary to survive in this world he’s in. James and Scodelario are the clear leads of this series, and they’re magnetic. While their relationship remains professional, they clearly care for each other, and it’s that dynamic that makes their tension with Bobby so interesting.
Eddie and Susie grow increasingly frustrated as Bobby stifles their ambitious moves to legalize marijuana through parliament as part of their expansion and partnership with Marco. That frustration sparks dangerous choices and sets up some terrific action set pieces. Everyone is looking to make calculated moves and believes themselves to be the smartest in the room, but not everyone can be right. Difficult decisions of loyalty and the consequences of misplaced trust may blind them to more obvious threats.
While the tone shifts with the second season, the well-placed action sequences and infrequent brutality remain effective, and the performances of everyone involved remain engaging. The storytelling of this season and the goal to push Eddie towards what’s next requires the change in focus, but it would be just as easy to reincorporate some of the more outlandish characters and humor as the series continues forward.
