Season 1 - 8 episodes
Watch The Gentlemen on Netflix
Created by: Guy Ritchie
Starring: Theo James, Kaya Scodelario, Daniel Ings, Joely Richardson, Vinnie Jones, Giancarlo Esposito, Ray Winstone
Rated: TV-MA
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Plot
When aristocratic Eddie inherits the family estate, he discovers that it's home to a huge weed empire, and its proprietors aren't going anywhere.
Verdict
Guy Ritchie's British gangster films are a lot of fun, and he adapts to television well. This still has his typical style from the dark humor to the music video type attention span and the memorable side characters. The theme is one bad deed begets another as the more the characters struggle to distance themselves from criminals, the deeper they get. One favor leads to another and another.
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Review
Inspired by Ritchie's 2019 movie, The Gentlemen, this uses the same premise.
Edward (Theo James) inherits his father's estate over his elder brother, Freddy (Daniel Ings). It turns out their father was renting out his land to weed farmers and no one knew. Freddy was counting on the inheritance to pays off debt, so Edward's first goal is to get his brother out of debt and it's all downhill from there. The more Edward tries to separate from the criminal element, the deeper he gets. Freddy being a complete screw up doesn't help anything. It's a great first episode.
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| Theo James plays Edward |
It starts with Edward reluctantly partnering with the weed dealer renting his property, Susie (Kaya Scodelario), for a loan. She needs a favor in return, and it just doesn't stop. They keep having to bring in others to dig themselves out.
Giancarlo Esposito plays the meth dealer Mr. Johnston that would like to buy the estate. It's got to be a meta joke with Esposito yet again dealing meth like in Breaking Bad.
It's a fun show with a great sense of humor. In episode three Ed acts as a butler to Fred so they can get access to a car to steal. It's yet another favor they must endure in an attempt to extricate themselves from their mess. This is very Ritchie, from the use of music to the jumps cuts and the back and forth storytelling. He's done a great job of adapting his style and stories to series length. That provides more time to explore these characters.
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| Kaya Scodelario, Theo James play Susie, Edward |
Episode four may be the most ridiculous as Eddie does a favor for his cousin Max. That guy has some issues. The situation just keeps escalating as they travel to Max's basement to see his private collection. I'm not sure anyone could have guessed where that was going or the crown jewel of his collection.
Edward and Susie become uneasy partners. With every episode they have to make yet another criminal acquaintance. In the underworld, allies and enemies are always switching. While Edward wanted out, he does have fun playing a criminal. He's one of the few built for this world. His brother and other ill-equipped characters always provide comic relief. The final episode twists and turns as deals are made and undone while Edward reveals his plan with aid of many of the characters we've seen this season.
Ritchie's movie The Gentlemen was a return to form after Aladdin and King Arthur: Legend of the Sword. His gangster movies are a lot of fun, and this series has that same style and humor. The banter between characters, their schemes, and failures make this a fun watch. While this season's story wraps up satisfactorily, I'd love for Ritchie to make this some kind of anthology with additional seasons.
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