Guy Ritchie’s spinoff of his quintessential British crime drama of the same name finally comes to a finale in episode 8. I had hoped to see some resemblance in the characters in the series, but I can’t say that I am disappointed at all. One can’t deny that the characters in The Gentlemen are a treat to watch. About Theo James, I never thought of him as that significant an actor, but now I feel he might even pull off a decent James Bond. The plotline at least for a few episodes does feel like a spinoff about the everyday adventures of Eddie and Susie, yet it wraps up pretty intensely towards the end and packs a punch in The Gentlemen finale.
Spoilers Ahead
The Story So Far
Edward Horniman, a captain of the Queen’s Dragoon, finds himself to be the heir of his father’s inheritance. Taking charge of his new position as Duke, he unearths a sprawling marijuana operation run by the notorious Glass family on his estate. It turns out that his father had leased the land to Glass to run an underground marijuana farm in exchange for a handsome annual rent. After his irresponsible elder brother, Freddy, runs up a sizable debt with the leader of a Scouse cartel, Eddie is forced to take help from Susie Glass, the current face of the operation, as her father is in prison. After solving Freddy’s predicament, Eddie offers to make a bigger sum of money for the Glass family in return for them vacating the Horniman estate. Involving himself in the Glass family’s operation, he ends up proving his worth to the Glass family, making them a huge profit in the process. As a result, Bobby Glass tells his daughter that Eddie cannot leave as he is way too valuable to the business now.
In the penultimate episode, following Henry Collins’ tried to strongarm her during Jack’s unfair boxing match, but Susie rejected the offer, which landed Jack in a comatose condition in a hospital. Seeing her brother in such a state, Susie goes on a killing spree targeting Collins’ men. Her murderous spree grabs the attention of her father; he calls her to the prison and discourages her from taking things into her own hands, assuring her that he would sort out the matter himself.
Eddie approaches Stanley Johnston for help in dealing with the Glass family, and he proposes that he would only be able to help if Eddie provided him with a list of the names of all the lords who leased their lands to the Glasses. Eddie complies and finds the list of names through Tibsy, a former baron who lost his lease to the Glasses after a spat with Bobby. He ends up giving the list of names to Johnston in exchange for the safety of his family. Meanwhile, Susie realizes that her home address is not a secret anymore, leading her to suspect the presence of a mole, leading Eddie and Susie to find Gabrielle, Jimmy’s girlfriend. Upon interrogation, she reveals that Johnston was threatening her into spying on them, and Johnston was responsible for all the problems they had to go through during the events of the The Gentlemen series. Later, Collins attacks the hospital where Jack is admitted but is ambushed by Susie, revealing Eddie’s involvement with Johnston. In retaliation, Susie calls the Gospel and reveals the real cause of his brother’s disappearance.
How Does the Horniman Family Deal With the Gospel?
On a stroll through the estate forest, Geoff spots a group of suspicious armed men and calls Eddie regarding this. When Eddie arrives, he immediately identifies them as The Gospel and his henchmen. Realizing that the madman has figured out that Freddy is responsible for his brother’s death, Eddie and Geoff rush to the manor and prepare to defend themselves. Meanwhile, Susie is attending to her brother, who has finally awakened from his coma. On a call with her father, Susie reveals that she sold Eddie out to the Gospel, but her father urges her to solve the problem as he wants Eddie to be safe. She immediately calls her men to arrive at the Horniman Manor with ammunition.
The Gospel and his men gather outside the manor, calling out for the brothers to show themselves and threatening to open fire. In the midst of the chaos, Freddy, realizing that it’s his fault this is happening, decides to offer himself to the gospel in a peaceful resolution. However, Eddie stops him, exclaiming that he needs his brother at this moment and for what he has planned. Soon enough, Susie’s men arrive at the manor. Arming themselves with the firearms, they step out of the door, only to realize that The Gospel and his men have already left. As it turns out, to ensure Eddie’s safety, Bobby Glass had already called the Scouse cartel and reached a settlement with them.
What Does Bobby Glass Reveal to Susie and Eddie?
In the aftermath of the Scouse Cartel incident, Bobby Glass summons both Susie and Eddie to the prison to speak with them about certain developments. Following his son’s condition, Bobby had an epiphany that it was probably time for him to sell his business and be done with this kind of life. In short, the old man now wanted to retire peacefully. When Eddie objects that he doesn’t want his estate to turn into a meth factory on a marijuana farm, Bobby clarifies that he will keep his end of the bargain and let Eddie have his exit. In exchange, Eddie must work with Susie one last time to facilitate a smooth process while selling the business. Bobby intends to sell the business to the highest bidder, with the floor set at $150 million, and for that, Eddie and Susie must make sure they are targeting the right prospects. He expects the price quote by the end of the week, handing them messenger pigeons for the prospects.
Who are the new prospects for selling the business?
Quite naturally, the search for prospects leads Susie and Eddie to Stanley Johnston. Johnston had been upfront about wanting to acquire Bobby’s business since the very beginning, and he was glad that he finally had that opportunity. Before they can reach a price quote, however, Johnston reveals that since he has information on the addresses of the 12 other farms, he would be negotiating from a position of strength and can consider quoting his own price. However, in a moment of surprise, Eddie reveals that the list Johnston was given was indeed fake. Even the verification was done by his family pretending to be the people on the list. Eddie confesses that he saw the moment and seized it, thus deceiving Johnston.
The second prospect is Mercy Morena. Mercy runs an illegal automobile business and is a known associate of the La Llinas Cartel from South America. She would find acquiring the business really beneficial as well. The third prospect is Peter Spencer-Forbes, a rich aristocrat who runs an underground fighting ring where Freddy used to gamble. He is known for his contacts with the Russians as well. Susie and Eddie explain the benefits of acquiring the organization to their chosen prospects and hand them the pigeons, explaining to them that they must tie their quote to the feet of the pigeon and let it go by the end of the week.
Why does Eddie decide to acquire the organization as well?
Susie and Eddie part ways, dissolving their partnership after they finalize things with the buyers. Heading back to the farm to return the extra pigeon, he finds Freddy talking to the bird. Freddy is reluctant to hand the bird back to Eddie, as he has other plans. Freddy explains that since they were kids, Eddie had been a calm-headed boy who was not afraid to make tough decisions. For the past few weeks, Freddy has been observing his brother and how naturally he dealt with the problems at hand. Before handing him the bird, he suggests Eddie make one last consideration. The encouragement from his brother makes Eddie consider the prospect of making the purchase for real. After a moment of contemplation, he decides that he will go for it. However, he doesn’t have the money to raise an amount that meets Bobby’s expectations. To raise an amount of $200 million, he comes up with an ingenious idea.
How Does Eddie Plan to Raise the Money to Acquire the Business?
Eddie knows that he cannot come up with such a handsome amount by himself. As a result, Eddie has a rather elaborate plan to do so. Most of it he raises by creating a council consisting of the 12 lords, each pitching in 10% of the share, Another chunk of the share he brings comes from the Wards, who have generated a sizable fund from their import and export business. To get a seat at the table of this new business, however, Eddie must contribute the greatest portion. With a loan of $10 million from his mother and using his own assets, he raises $35 million, which is still short of the intended amount
Meanwhile, Eddie’s mother, a persistent and persuasive woman, visits Jack’s hospital to meet with Susie. She gives a bit of thoughtful advice to Susie as a woman in the family of aristocrats, which resonates with Susie a lot. She realizes that she actually liked running the business, prompting her to join Eddie’s business proposal as well. The remaining amount is raised through Eddie’s cunning involvement with Henry Collins, who is still alive. Collins had to pay $15 million to Susie and another $15 million to Jack as reparations and because he fears that he still isn’t in the clear yet. Eddie offers him the opportunity and tells him that he will be owning a part of the share as well. Initially, Susie is reluctant to dive into a business arrangement with Collins, but after Eddie’s persuasion, she agrees as well.
Who Acquires the Organization in the End?
After all the buyers send in their quotes to Bobby Glass, Eddie gradually reveals to his family who bought the organization in the end. It is quite obvious that Eddie wanted to acquire the company at all costs. Therefore, he hatches another plan to eliminate his competition. He goes to Stanley Johnston to tell him that he has won the bidding war and the company will be transferred to him once he makes the transfer; however, by this time, Eddie uses Henry Collins’ help. Henry’s accountant, who is aware of Johnston’s tax records, files a complaint at the tax office, leading to his arrest and the freezing of all his accounts for tax evasion, preventing him from making the transaction. Following Johnston’s exit, he focuses on getting rid of Mercy and Peter.
Eddie tells Mercy that Peter had the winning bid and was going to acquire the company. Mercy is furious, explaining that her associates from Bogota Cartel are on their way to oversee the acquisition of the new business, and they wouldn’t like to take no for an answer. This news makes Mercy brutally murder Peter, and in turn, She is shot dead by Henry. Eddie had used Henry’s desperation to clear their competition, and when he did what was expected of him, Eddie got rid of him as well.
At the end of The Gentlemen, Eddie and Susie’s partnership is left as the sole buyer of the organization. It is when Bobby Glass reveals that his intention was never to sell the organization in the first place but to wake Eddie from his slumber. Bobby had all of this planned from the very beginning. He saw Eddie as a man who leads, in a sense, calling him a ‘General’ of sorts. Eddie had all the qualities that made him an appropriate business partner. Hence, Bobby proposes that they should indeed have a partnership of 235 million pounds; in this way, everyone will have equal skin in the game and thus equal responsibilities to share as well.
What to Expect From Season 2?
With The Duke now one of the owners of the enterprise started by Bobby Glass, there are a lot of things at stake. The Duke initially wanted out of this vicious and very much illegal business, but now he was willing to take the risks that come with running an illegal organization like this. As history suggests, any illegal business, despite its secrecy, is surrounded by vultures waiting to take a dig at it.
In The Gentlemen‘s ending scene, Eddie is seen shooting Henry Collins, but he is never seen drawing his last breath. It might be possible that Henry might still be alive, and being the desperate vulture that he is, he may return to cause more trouble for Eddie and Susie. Moreover, the 12 lords too now have a stake in the game; British aristocrats are quite known for their greed, and at least one of the lords might become an antagonist in the next season. I’m not expecting any romance between the two, nor am I expecting to see any romance in The Gentlemen series itself, but the tension between Susie and Eddie can be cut with a butter knife at this point. However, they are business partners now, which would only complicate their dynamics.
