IR TV Review: THE GENTLEMEN [Netflix-S2]
The hijinks of Season 1 of The Gentlemen upped the ante in many ways with Guy Ritchie’s style of filming. Whereas with his films he is doing a close ended exercise, "The Gentlemen" on Netflix showed he could weave his old school gangster writing with his always detailed and wicked sense of humor and a decent budget. Season One ended with Eddie (Theo James) and Susie (Kaya Scodelario) moving forward with the blessing of Bobby Long, her father. As Season 2 begins of course you see it bites Eddie in some ways right away as he is crawling across a bare field battered and broken. While doing it in his own way, the progression in a certain way has Eddie taking the Michael Corleone path, right down to the Italian tragedy. Granted there is also a tinge of the Lazenby Bond. Even Eddie's brother Freddy is keyed in in this way. But Ritchie makes the story his own and if you are doing a story of family you have to pay homage to the best. Granted there is the chicanery in the play of it but Eddie has to take a decidedly darker turn even as he is trying to push his way into the light. But Eddie has faults as with anyone.
As Bobby indicates a couple episodes in, Eddie doesn’t see the bigger picture. But it takes until he is too far behind to really catch up. There are also dealings behind his back. There are some side aspects like Joe with Susie and Lord Hawthorne with Eddie. There is even a weird little omen that plays into Bobby’s story (it is a quirk but the only story element that truly feels out of place). The great thing is the loopy coast the show runs before hardlining it in within the last two episodes. Betrayal is a weird monster because it does depend why people are actually doing it. Freddy has his motivations as does Eddie. But is Eddie's move after being broken really made out of a true intent or simply an angle? That part tends to dictate who is at fault. Ritchie catches the Italian lake region with gusto, slickness and elegance as he does everywhere else. The show is beautiful and intense, and almost more violent than before but this season has a classical bent of storytelling that feels a little different than Ritchie’s recent film material (though "In The Grey" was quite good on its own). His writing is just as crispy and is now almost better than earlier in his career. This show creates a great confluence of his gifts with some great actors, locations and twists to make it slightly brilliant. 94%/A
By Tim Wassberg
