'The Gentlemen' Is Stylish and Fun
The great British wit Oscar Wilde once wrote, “In matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity, is the vital thing.” Of all today’s filmmakers, no one better embodies this wisdom than Guy Ritchie. Whether it’s a criminal caper, a revival of a beloved franchise, a spy movie, or even a live-action Disney Princess movie, it’s easy to recognize Ritchie’s imagination at work. The characters and settings are flamboyant and colorful, the pacing of the plot is energetic, and each scene is often filled with characteristically dry British humor.
As one might expect, Ritchie’s newest creation, the television series The Gentlemen, continues his signature storytelling style. In its first season, he brings together the aristocracy and criminal underworld of England. The series centers on a young duke, Edward (Eddie) Horniman, who discovers that his family’s wealth comes from marijuana production facilities operating under their land.
He immediately pairs up with Susie Glass, the daughter of drug kingpin Bobby Glass, after his ne’er-do-well older brother Freddy upsets the wrong people. Although Eddie’s hope is to ultimately extricate his family from the whole arrangement, he finds himself becoming increasingly mixed up with Susie and her criminal enterprise—and worse still, he is surprisingly good at it.
The episodes of the first half of the season tend to follow a formula: Eddie makes a move to kick out these tenants but is either thwarted by Freddy doing something dumb or Susie’s father asking him to complete some mission. It’s never a dull moment, as Eddie and Susie work together to keep the business going, fend off rivals, and not get killed.
Unfortunately, Guy Ritchie’s aesthetic sensibilities tend to get the best of him in these episodes. While they work on an individual level, the overarching plot of the series progresses slowly, and the characters are simply too cool and stylized to show much internal development. The loose ends that arise are always neatly tied up, and Eddie and Susie are superlatively calm, collected, and utterly unfazed by the mayhem going on around them. To keep the show interesting, colorful new characters are introduced, like the ridiculously opulent meth kingpin Stanley Johnston, a Bible-thumping cocaine-dealing patriarch named The Gospel, or a fouled-mouth family of gypsies who settle near the Horniman property.
Fortunately, in the second half of the season, the story and characters begin to take on more shape and depth. Eddie realizes that Susie and her father are leading him on, and the Glass family business is being undermined by mysterious setbacks. These plot lines allow Theo James and Kaya Scodelario (who both do phenomenal work playing Eddie and Susie respectively) to actually show some range of emotion and place their characters’ situation in a larger context. Mistakes are made, lessons learned, and certain roles and relational dynamics become manifest. In other words, the characters become more human.
What’s most important about this shift in focus and style is that it’s done smoothly and discreetly. For the most part, none of the show’s virtues are sacrificed: Eddie and Susie are still very cool and capable, the supporting cast is still fascinating and funny, and things move along briskly.
In this regard, the best episode has to be the penultimate one of the season, “Not Without Danger,” which puts together some of the themes that have been building up to that point. Circumstances require Eddie and Freddy to meet up with a fellow aristocrat, Lord Whitecroft, who has also leased his land to the Glass family business. Upon arrival, the two encounter a withered old man being effectively held hostage in his dilapidated castle by a gang of thugs. The scene reminds Eddie why he is trying so hard to separate from the Glasses and enlightens Freddy on why he was passed on inheriting his family’s estate—this is exactly what would have happened under his watch. It’s a moment of personal growth for both brothers and moves their relationship into new territory.
However, one of the show’s flaws is these moments are somewhat far and few between, and nearly all of them occur at the end. Too much time in the first half of the season is devoted to the quirks of all the characters and sticking to the formula. All too often, one wonders why Eddie feels obliged to put up with the trials he’s faced with, or why Freddy keeps messing things up, or why Susie goes out of her way to help any of them. The answer to these questions is always the same: because the plot needs them to do this.
Another flaw is the overly fanciful characterization of the criminals who commit crimes and carry on with their business. There is hardly any law enforcement or even a moral code to speak of in the show. At no point does Eddie have to worry about police officers coming to his manor, nor does Susie or her counterparts have to bother at all with covering their tracks or being careful. Bobby Glass is technically in prison, but he is apparently so powerful that prison is the equivalent of a luxury resort that lets him have a personal chef and host visitors whenever he wants.
Nor is the actual work of these illegal operations really given much thought. Presumably, the Glasses supervise dozens, if not hundreds, of workers who cultivate, pack, transport, and deal their product as well as manage the goons who provide security. However, only a handful of these characters ever appear on screen. True, older gangster films like Goodfellas and The Godfather will eschew some of these mundane concerns, but more recent gangster series like The Wire and Breaking Bad demonstrate the value of going into the weeds, so to speak. Audiences are more invested in criminals who do real work and show competence. This makes them and their conflicts more relatable and meaningful.
Altogether, these flaws have the effect of giving the series a lighter, almost whimsical tone, which is nice in moderation and indirectly sets aside any heavy-handed political agendas. If Ritchie and his team were to overcompensate in an effort to fix these flaws, the series could quickly lose its appeal. The changes would have to be subtle and judicious, reinforcing what is already excellent.
And for the most part, The Gentlemen really is excellent, even better than the film which itself was decent. The performances are stellar, the writing is tight, and the production is smooth and well done. Judging from the season finale, there are many more questions to answer and ideas to explore. Hopefully, the show can continue its momentum, freshness, and irresistible British charm in future seasons.
Auguste Meyrat is an English teacher in the Dallas area. He holds an MA in humanities and an MEd in educational leadership. He is the senior editor of The Everyman and has written essays for The Federalist, The American Conservative, and The Imaginative Conservative, as well as the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture. Follow him on Twitter.
