The Gentlemen Recap Season 2 Episode 1 ‘The Road to Kingdom’
- 13 hours ago
- 8 min read
Updated: 2 hours ago
The second season of Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen opened with a bloodied Duke of Halstead on a field somewhere, crawling with effort toward a piece of paper under a rock marked with ‘Follow the X’. It segued to three months earlier, when Eddie told Geoff that 400 years ago, his family estate spread as far as the eye could see. The generations slowly chipped away at the family wealth and land, until Eddie took over. He wanted it all back, he told Geoff. Did the season open with the result of that ambition?
Through the first season, there was this underlying commentary on the origins and maintenance of extreme wealth. Acquiring that much wealth was simply not possible using entirely legal and moral means. There was always a cost to the soul. Eddie’s mother Sabrina warned him of the cost that his father bore. But Eddie, with Sabrina’s support, since this enterprise was made possible in part with her 10 million pound contribution, had his eye fixed on his goal. He was full throated in his work in expanding the Glass empire. It was his idea to mirror the arrangement in England in Italy, where aristocrat-owned palazzos were used as cover for weed growing. And now, with multiple plates spinning, Eddie was hosting a shooting at his estate to bring together his new associates.
The Italian connection was Francesco ‘Cico’ Maldini, who sold himself as a fixer but whose power seemed to have been derived from his girlfriend Countess Isabella Soranza de Parme (‘Bella’) a blue blood who was also the goddaughter of mafia don Marco Moretti. They arrived in a small plane piloted by Bella, and though Eddie seemed charmed by the beautiful and competent countess, no one liked Cico, for good reason as it later turned out.
We should start with this, because when I opened my Twitter account a few hours after the second season dropped, my timeline was full of strong reactions about the Eddie and Bella of it all. The introduction of a very obvious love interest for Eddie was a bit heavy handed. I could understand why fans would struggle with it, especially after having seen the first season, and the organic chemistry that developed through eight episodes between Eddie and Susie. Some pairings have this mysterious it; you know it when you see it. Eddie and Susie were not necessarily written as a romantic pairing in the first season; what they had was a business association. Still, all they had to do was appear on screen together and there was it. From a viewer’s perspective, there was a difference between a pairing that just felt right, and a pairing made out of plot necessity. Eddie and Bella was the latter.
That being said, I am willing to let this go and see where the season takes us. In any case, posh people tend to date fellow posh people; that Eddie’s eyes fell on the beautiful Countess made sense. Do I think Susie and Eddie will eventually fall into each other’s arms? Let me put it this way – When you have two actors and characters with electric chemistry, it doesn’t really make sense not to take advantage of that. And, even though this episode made clear that both Eddie and Susie were getting new romances this season, the episode still squeezed their chemistry beautifully.
Eddie was very uneasy over this partnership with Cico; Susie did not like him as well, but she tried to calm Eddie and keep him on track. At the shoot, Cico asked for Gabrielle to be his loader; Geoff had to have a quiet word with him about his language, as there were ladies about. Cico could not shoot at all, and as Bella later pointed out, Eddie brought out his insecurities. Cico was unhappy about being bested in the shoot, and annoyed when he saw Bella looking at Eddie.
The business that he wanted to discuss with Susie and Eddie was Marco Moretti. According to Cico, Moretti found out about the weed growing under Bella’s palazzo, and wanted a piece of it. The price Cico named, 40 million euros, was too high for Susie and Eddie. Cico proposed an alternative solution – gift Moretti with a Botticelli painting that would soon be up for auction, with an estimated sale price of six million. Cico’s behaviour only got worse at dinner; Susie said they needed to talk to her father.
Bobby Glass, who was serving his sixth year in prison, now had a lakeside retreat with a sauna. Was Bobby starting to lose it, or was he playacting the way he did when he pretended to want to sell the business last season? Susie thought her father was just having a bit of fun, whilst Eddie was concerned.
Bobby spoke of the myth of the Bannik, a shapeshifting spirit that he claimed could see into the future. They could not talk, they could only touch. If a question was asked, and it was a good omen, the Bannik would pat you on the back. If it was a bad omen, he would scratch your back with his sharp little claws. Bobby asked the Bannik if he ought to buy the Boticelli, and the Bannik responded with a back rub. He insisted that Eddie and Susie work with Cico.
At the auction, Susie and Eddie ran into Joe Green, who happened to be Susie’s ex. As with Bella, the introduction of Joe as Susie’s new love interest also felt a bit heavy handed. Why would Eddie go on and on about a guy he literally just met? Still, his teasing of Susie was giving someone who doth protest too much. We also got a nice callback to season one – ‘Well, that was, uh, emotional.’ – an echo of Susie’s line when she thought her business with Eddie was done.
Bidding for the Botticelli got aggressive and way above the six million Eddie and Susie expected, driven in large part by an unknown man who had his ear to a phone. When the bidding reached 13 million, Susie called her father, who told her the Bannik had spoken, she must buy the painting. Susie eventually got it for 16 million, with Eddie advising her the whole time not to take the bait.
Eddie called Cico and told him they had the painting, and demanded that he and Susie give it to Moretti personally. Cico was making excuses, but Eddie’s attention was diverted by the arrival of men in motorcycles. One of them grabbed the painting and took off. They gave chase, with Jack being particularly useful in his motorcycle. One of the thieves gave up the name Robert Brooks, the art dealer who was aggressively bidding against Susie at the auction.
It was during the interrogation of Robert Brooks at the boxing gym that Susie became mildly uncomfortable with a dark turn made by Eddie. Jack arrived with Organ John, whom Susie described as a terminal solution to a temporary problem. When Susie asked Jack why he brought Organ John in, Jack pointed out that it was Eddie who asked for him. Susie did not shy away from violence when she felt it was necessary, but she clearly thought they were not there yet. The threat of Organ John was enough, and Robert Brooks named a Gino de Bambi, who was actually Cico, as the man behind the scheme.
Susie and Eddie headed to Bella’s palazzo in Lake Maggiore, along with Geoff and Blanket. Cico was late, and as they waited, Susie teased Eddie about imagining the morning after a night of passion with the Countess. Eddie played along and even described his particular palate, which I thought was important information so here you are: ‘La Perla. Black. Peignoir. Classical silk. Diaphanous in presentation.’ Eddie’s line about being a captain and being used to giving orders was totally a seduction, and though the conversation may have been technically about Bella, Susie’s response seemed to point to her own self.
Cico had to arrive and ruin the vibe that was getting sexier by the second, and declared that Mr. Moretti was not going to make it. Susie and Eddie came clean and told Cico they knew the painting was his. It was he who artificially inflated the price, then hired some kids to try and steal it. Cico tried to play the mafia tough guy, but Susie and Eddie were ahead of him. They had already reached out to Moretti directly, and he had arrived.
Moretti had Cico locked in a cage with the tiger he bought for Bella as a birthday gift, with only a tiny gate separating them, whilst he negotiated with Susie and Eddie. They agreed to 10 million a month in exchange for protection and support. I took note of when they shook hands, and Moretti’s finger went to Eddie’s wrist, because I watched Sherlock (the Benedict Cumberbatch version) and remembered how Sherlock beat Irene Adler by taking her pulse. Let’s tuck this away in case it becomes important later on. Their deal done, Moretti gave the order to unleash the tiger on Cico.
Back at home, Bobby decided to ask the Bannik if the Duke could be trusted. He came out of his sauna with deep scratches on his back. Would Bobby’s association with Eddie survive whatever was happening with his head right now? Bobby went through a lot of trouble to get Eddie to become more integrated into his business. Eddie’s foray into parliament was Bobby’s idea.
Let’s return to the shoot, which included Lord Hawthorne as one of the guests. Jack was tasked as Lord Hawthorne’s loader, and Eddie instructed Geoff to make sure he had a memorable experience. With the death of one Lord Bramlingham, there was a spot open for a hereditary peer. Bobby wanted Eddie to get that position so he could influence legislation from within the parliament.
Specifically, Bobby wanted to stop the legalisation of marijuana. Lord Hawthorne knew he was being worked over, he even seemed to have gotten word of Eddie’s side business, and he named an astonishingly low number of fifty thousand pounds. This was in keeping with Tibsy’s revelation in the first season, that the lords had less than half the number that Eddie’s father Archie later negotiated for them with the Glass family. Most of the aristocrats, outside of the Hornimans, were not great with business. Susie thought of offering two million. Eddie guessed the figure to be one hundred thousand. When Lord Hawthorne said fifty, Eddie actually negotiated the figure down to thirty. This was for endorsing Eddie to become a hereditary peer along with the support of Lord Hawthorne’s friends. Lord Hawthorne agreed to the rather low number with a caveat; he wanted a night in town with Jack.
The final guests to the shoot were Aisha, a friend of Susie’s who moved to the Middle East and managed to get herself on the royal table, and His Excellency, Prince Amir bin Abdullah al-Hadidi, second in line to the throne. Eddie and Susie were looking to expand into the Middle East, though how they planned to use the Prince, it was not yet revealed.
With the expansion of the business came the expansion of the characters, and the first episode of the second season was packed. Outside of the new love interests, however, which felt rather rushed in, the episode was reasonably well paced. Susie and Eddie could be counted on to keep the banter breezy and more than a little sexy. Darkness especially on Eddie was heavily hinted, however, so let’s see where the season takes us.
Rating: B+
Strays
🏚️Eddie bought an airfield and built a weed farm under the hangar. That meant easier distribution, and the air shows, the restaurant, and the gift shop were good ways to clean the money.
🏚️Susie had two Spitfires hmm.
🏚️The Prince gifted Eddie with a double magnum Petrus ‘09, which, if the price I saw online is correct, costs almost one hundred fifty thousand dollars. Eddie later gifted this wine to Lord Hawthorne.
🏚️Aisha to Susie: ‘You never said about your Duke looking like a movie star.’ I am choosing to read Susie’s slightly annoyed tone when he heard Eddie speak Arabic as her finding him terribly attractive at that moment. Apparently, Eddie learned the language whilst studying Theology at Oxford.
🏚️The Prince asked, ‘Your wife?’, referring to Susie, and Eddie did not say anything for a notable second. It was Susie who replied, ‘Business wife’.
🏚️The father of Charlotte’s baby was Nanny Asante, who was commissioned together with Eddie, was awarded a military cross for extraordinary bravery in combat, and who now worked as the King’s Equerry.
🏚️Freddy was away ‘recuperating’, which possibly meant rehab.
🏚️Marco Moretti: ‘In my experience, kindness is always mistaken for weakness.’
Episode Title: The Road to Kingdom
Episode Writers: Guy Ritchie and Matthew Read
Episode Director: Guy Ritchie
Original Release Date: September 3, 2026