The Gentlemen season 1

I had mixed feelings with Guy Ritchie's 2019 flick The Gentlemen so when news came that he had a TV series of the same name on Netflix, I wasn't all that compelled to see what it was about. However, being locked in at a decent monthly subscription and wanting to get some value out of it, I thought I might give season one of The Gentlemen a spin with the first episode and, a few weeks later, I finished it just as season two approaches. 

The story takes a lot of familiar beats from the film with the aristocracy melting in with working class criminals to do some dodgy deals but seems to be its own thing entirely, or at least for this season. Theo James' UN officer is called back home after the death of his wealthy father and is put in charge of the estate as the older brother isn't deemed fit to keep things afloat. It's here that James' Edward Horniman (nicknamed The Duke) learns that his father was involved with growing drugs right beneath their grounds and he plans to untangle the family from the entire operation but things get very complicated.

With Ritchie in the directing seat for the first few episodes, I had a lot of fun with this and enjoyed the frenetic energy that he along with the talented cast brought to the screen. Fans of the director will certainly get a kick out of this as he goes back to his roots and there might just be enough to entice newcomers  over the eight episodes. 

I did find though that the series is a lot of fun for the first six episodes but the latter two suffered from the uncertainty of whether a second season would follow so a lot of time is then spent tying up any loose ends while setting up a few new potential storylines if the show were to continue. But everything until that moment is fast and frenetic with a nice mix of action and humour. 

So the second season will be getting my attention and I can happily recommend the first season of The Gentlemen. It's weakish conclusion didn't diminish the fun I had at the start and I look forward to seeing where Ritchie goes next with Netflix's budget behind them.