The Gentlemen: Refined Aggression

March 18, 2024 5:15 AM - Season 1, Episode 1

When the Duke of Halstead dies, his second son inherits everything, including the title, house and grounds — plus a whole heap of trouble. Co-written and directed by Guy Ritchie.

Now streaming on Netflix.

posted by 1970s Antihero (12 comments total)

I'm really enjoying this. Sort of Weeds meets Breaking Bad meets Succession. Kaya Scodelario is wonderful as Susie Glass. At first I kept mistaking her for Felicity Jones, maybe because the clothing and makeup makes her appear a bit older.

It also took me a while to realize how improbable and even surreal a lot of it was going to be. Like anyone's really going to put that Jimmy character in charge of that much stuff? But I sort of relaxed into it and really if the whole thing is going to be about weed, you should have some fun with it.
posted by BibiRose at 5:37 AM on March 18 [1 favorite]

Very good eye candy in this series. Loved some of the rooms, especially the green room at Stanley Johnston with a T's house. I didn't realize there was a movie with the same name by the same director until I looked on Fanfare to see if there was any discussion of this show.
posted by MadMadam at 12:39 PM on March 18

I didn't realize there was a movie with the same name by the same director until I looked on Fanfare to see if there was any discussion of this show.

This actually confused me at first because I didn't realize there was a show by the same name and when I saw it on Netflix was like "Wait...was Giancarlo Esposito in that movie?" Then I realized it was a show with the same name by the same director. Since I like Guy Ritchie's work, I gave it a shot and enjoyed the first ep.
posted by miss-lapin at 1:24 PM on March 18 [1 favorite]

I didn't realize there was a movie with the same name by the same director

Landed (and vanished with little trace) during the pandemic. Has some entertaining performances (though wasting other actors), but also a lot of moldy 90s-style "antihero" racism which I'm guessing was scraped off for the TV series and one really unforgivable segment that, well, you'll know it when you see it. (Also, holy smokes, Guy Ritchie, we get it, you're anxious about being middle-aged!)
posted by praemunire at 2:00 PM on March 18 [1 favorite]

A thoroughly enjoyable, better-than-average-even, bit of fluffiness.

It stomps around, makes big swipes, but none of it is very very serious, and it's surprisingly well written and very good-looking. I'm totally sold. Not as brainy as some other shows, but super well-made and, really, Jimmy is fucking hilarious but again, really well written - he has great lines.

The movie stank - this is 'all' the good parts and 'none' of the really egregious parts.
posted by From Bklyn at 3:08 AM on March 19

I’m always up for some Guy Ritchie and, so far, this hasn’t disappointed. This first episode checks all the GR boxes without veering too far down the gruesome alley.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:03 AM on March 19

Nothing spectacular, but this is exactly the sort of thing that I sign up for streaming services to watch. Why aren’t there more shows like this? Why does Netflix do such a piss-poor job of promoting their shows?
posted by 1970s Antihero at 5:16 AM on March 19

I think Netflix just lets the algorithm do the “promoting.” This probably landed on top of my feed because I watched the previous Guy Ritchie series they did (which also involved underground weed farms, oddly enough.)
posted by Thorzdad at 1:21 PM on March 19 [1 favorite]

Ritchie does like to recycle. Hugh Grant's character in in the film version of The Gentlemen was virtually identical to his character in Operation Fortune in terms of dress, mannerisms, etc. You could easily think they were the same from the trailer for the latter.
posted by biffa at 4:23 PM on April 1

Does the pace pick up in further episodes? The cinematography is gorgeous, Theo & Kaya seem to have some chemistry and Giancarlo is doing what Giancarlo does best but that first episode felt shaggy and laconic.
posted by mmascolino at 1:18 PM on April 15 [1 favorite]

So I finished it. I'd say the individual episodes picked up in pace but the overall arch of the first season was padded out.
posted by mmascolino at 5:07 PM on May 5 [1 favorite]

It's a nice series to look at, but ultimately forgettable. Has some laughs. Maybe a bit too violent for my tastes. But, it scratched the itch of "mobster", "sexy British aristocrat", and "excellent set design and fashion". I'm in for season two.
posted by sacrifix at 8:44 PM on November 26