Editor's note: The below contains spoilers for the finale of The Gentlemen.

The Big Picture

• Eddie's transformation in The Gentlemen finale sets the stage for an exciting Season 2 with unexpected alliances and fierce competition.
• Bobby Glass's plans reveal a future partnership with Stanley Johnston, hinting at potential conflicts and challenges for Eddie and Susie.
• Unfinished business from Season 1, including Gospel John seeking revenge, promises more chaos and danger for Eddie and Susie in Season 2.

In Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen, Theo James’s Eddie Horniman undergoes a life-changing transformation – one which will determine his and his family’s fate. Following the story of an ex-military man who inherits a 15,000-acre family estate and the burden that comes with it, Netflix’s The Gentlemen follows an oft-told story of ambition forcing the hand of the willing to make irreversible choices in classic Guy Ritchie style. After discovering that his family estate is home to a criminal establishment run by Kaya Scodelario’s Susie Glass and her criminal mastermind father, Bobby Glass (Ray Winstone), Eddie takes extreme measures to ensure his family can be as far away from the influence of the Glass crime syndicate. However, by the time Season 1 of The Gentlemen wraps up its eight-episode-long run, Theo James’s character ends up making choices that hint that the adventure is far from over for the Duke and his family.

Theo James Makes Irreversible Choices in 'The Gentlemen's Finale

In Episode 8 “The Gospel According to Bobby Glass,” Eddie seems to be on the verge of achieving his goal of ending the long-standing association between his family and Bobby Glass. Although Eddie’s dreams suffer a hiccup when he realizes that Susie and his father never intended for Eddie to walk away, an opportunity appears to present itself one more time. In a masterful plan to get Eddie and Susie more involved in his business, Bobby Glass demands Eddie and Susie find buyers for his business as Bobby now wishes to retire after a successful career as a criminal overlord. Naturally gifted at what they do, Eddie and Susie easily manage to find a queue of bidders vying for a piece of Bobby’s empire. But as it turns out, by the time the entire bidding process culminates and Bobby’s plan emerges at the front, Eddie and Susie have been tactfully placed by Bobby to lead a new era of expansion in what could be an exciting Season 2 of The Gentlemen.

The note in which The Gentlemen Season 1 ends leaves the potential for many possibilities to be explored. Firstly, an emotionally charged conversation with his brother Freddy (Daniel Ings) inspires Eddie to acknowledge his abilities as a businessman who’d like to do more than any previous Duke of Halstead has. When Freddy helps kindle the spark already existing in Eddie’s heart, The Duke makes the choice of not running away from who he is anymore. The events of the finale also witness Eddie uniting once again with the ambitious and tenacious Susie Glass. But when Bobby Glass eventually ends up revealing that all he wanted was to wake up Eddie and Susie, Bobby may have ended up underestimating the limits of Eddie and Susie’s ambitions.

Eddie May Find More Trouble Coming From Allies

By choosing to kill Henry Collins (Max Beesley) himself in the final moments of Episode 8, Eddie has made the choice to embrace his new identity – one that’s closely connected to the likes of Bobby Glass. Henry is not the first man Eddie has killed in the show, but by opting to pull the trigger himself, Eddie has shown that he’s ready to do what it takes. Moreover, Eddie’s levels of ambition have multiplied drastically in a short span of time. As Susie confided to her bodyguard Blanket (Logan Dean), there are very few aristocrats who’d not flinch at the sight of cold-blooded murder, and Eddie was definitely a rare find in this aspect. It’s clear that Bobby’s decision to involve Eddie in his business is rooted in his strong belief in Eddie’s abilities and his willingness to take risks. But it wouldn’t be a surprise if Eddie becomes too much of a danger for Bobby as well, and at some point, may not be as willing to remain under Bobby’s control.

By the end of The Gentlemen Season 1, Eddie ends up setting aside his differences with Susie for a common goal. But the momentary peace between Eddie and Susie may not mean that the status quo will remain the same. So far, Susie always had the upper hand over Eddie considering Eddie did lack the resources that Susie possessed in plenty. However, Eddie’s formal enunciation into Bobby’s gang means that Eddie would now be a direct competitor for Susie in her race to yield the same power that her father holds. Interestingly, a romantic angle between Eddie and Susie is only briefly explored in Season 1. This limited exploration allows for Season 2 to sway the balance either in favor of enmity or in favor of affection, whichever provides the greater opportunity for some Guy Ritchie-style storytelling. Evidently, Susie and Bobby have plenty of evidence to gauge Eddie’s true potential – something he had already displayed with great vigor in the finale episode. In a potential Season 2, it’s very likely that Eddie may continue to face resistance from his current allies.

Bobby Glass Will Hold the Key to Eddie and Susie's Future in Season 2

For most of Season 1, Winstone’s Bobby Glass has been the one in control while Eddie and Susie have only been trying to contain the chaos. In the end, Bobby does manage to achieve what he intended through his master plan. He succeeds in preventing Eddie from exiting their arrangement and manages to get his daughter more passionately involved in his business. Bobby also potentially realizes that his son Jack (Harry Goodwin) lacks the grit that comes naturally to his daughter. Near the end of Episode 8, Bobby Glass clearly establishes that he’s far from retiring any time soon, rather he’s planning to expand to new frontiers with Eddie and Susie being his two commanders. However, the final moments set up the most interesting story thread for Season 2.

Before the curtain falls on The Gentlemen, Bobby Glass appears once more, and this time, a face familiar to the audience but one not seen alongside Bobby previously, appears. Three months after the day Henry Collins was killed by Eddie, Stanley Johnston (Giancarlo Esposito) is seen enjoying the pleasure of Bobby’s gentility. The meeting between Stanley and Bobby definitely turned out to be surprising given that throughout the season, Stanley had actively tried to take over Bobby’s empire, even creating disruptions repeatedly. In fact, Stanley did emerge as the highest bidder before Eddie’s plans led to his arrest for tax evasion.

Giancarlo Esposito's Stanley Johnston Will Remain Relevant

Given this pretext, Bobby’s invitation to Stanley seems to be an offer for friendship, and more than that, it could be a precursor to a future business partnership. It’s also possible that the situation outside the prison may have developed in such a manner that Bobby has been forced to seek Stanley’s alliance, although it’s tough to gauge what could be these circumstances considering the devilish calm on the faces of the two gentlemen.

Visibly, Stanley’s ambitions to dig his foot on English soil remain strong despite the unexpected blow in Episode 8. Further, being the strongest opponent of Eddie in the race for Glass' empire, Stanley may have a score to settle with the Duke of Halstead. Considering everything that transpired in Season 1, it’s fair to say that Bobby and Stanley’s meeting may bear ominous signs for Eddie. Possibly, the ground for the previously mentioned conflict between Bobby and Eddie may have already been set during the time leap that Season 1 takes in the last few minutes.

Season 1 Characters Could Return to Settle Unfinished Business in Season 2

Season 1 also leaves some more unfinished business that could pave the way for more chaos in the following season. When it seems that Eddie may have met his match in Gospel John who arrives at his doorstep to exact revenge for his brother’s death, Bobby Glass steps in to save the day and offers something that makes Gospel John return to his God-loving ways without any carnage. However, for a man who believes in sin and punishment, it’s unlikely that Gospel John will not return to finish the job. Moreover, from the perspective of Season 2, it would be interesting to know what Bobby Glass could offer to a man seeking revenge for his brother’s death.

Apart from the danger posed by Gospel John, there could be a few other problems that may come Eddie and Susie’s way. Notably, Eddie and Susie had managed to remove their competitors in the race for Bobby Glass’s business with relative ease. But Mercy Moreno (Marth Millan) and Peter Spencer-Forbes (Joshua McGuire) were only pawns for bigger powers. Mercy served as the front for the Columbian Cartel and Spencer represented the Russian mafia. It would be natural for the consequences of Eddie and Susie’s drastic measures to follow them in Season 2.

Ritchie’s second venture for television clearly has ample twists and turns to keep the audience interested till the end. Quite skillfully, The Gentlemen leaves the story at a crescendo from where there’s plenty of opportunity to take the story deeper. The show's characters have been fully developed, storylines have been set up, and enough foreshadowing has been laid out for Ritchie and his team to build upon the success of The Gentlemen’s Season 1 and deliver another flavorful season.

All episodes of The Gentlemen are available to stream on Netflix.

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