Season 2 of Guy Ritchie and Matthew Read’s wildly entertaining British gangster thriller The Gentlemen does not go out quietly. It ends in blood, vengeance, and a chainsaw, as Lord Edward Horniman (Theo James), the 13th Duke of Halstead, finally takes brutal revenge on the people behind the murder of his new wife, Bella (Benedetta Porcaroli), and the violent attack on his family seat, Halstead Manor.
The closing moments, though, raise as many questions as they answer. If Edward’s older brother Freddy (Daniel Ings) helped set those events in motion, why is he still breathing — and why is he standing there with a chainsaw and the severed head of his fanatically religious drug-lord mentor, John “The Gospel” Dixon (Pearce Quigley)? And what should we make of Edward’s increasingly complicated alliance with the stylish Susie Glass (Kaya Scodelario) and her East End crime boss father, Bobby Glass (Ray Winstone)? With power players from America, Italy, Peru, Liverpool, and London all circling Eddie’s future, the web of grudges and loyalties gets tangled fast.
So who makes it out alive, who meets a grisly end, and who was really behind the chaos? Pour a brandy, light up if that’s your thing, and let’s break down the finale. WARNING: Major spoilers ahead.
The Gentlemen Season 2 Ending Explained: Who killed Eddie’s wife Bella? Who attacked Eddie’s family?
Let’s begin with the suspects who can be crossed off the list. Marco Moretti (Sergio Castelitto), Italy’s “boss of all bosses” and Bella’s godfather, was not responsible. His warmth toward the newlyweds — and his faith in Eddie’s future — appears to have been genuine.
Nor was Stanley Johnston (Giancarlo Esposito), the American billionaire and meth kingpin who has spent the season shifting between adversary and benefactor. Yes, Eddie owed him a staggering £100 million, and Johnston sold that debt to Bobby Glass without warning on Eddie and Bella’s wedding day. Still, Johnston has been busy framing Eddie’s ascent through the language of art, faith, and destiny, treating him less like an enemy than a man with near-messianic potential to rule England’s criminal underworld. Sabotaging him now would run against everything Johnston has been cultivating.
It wasn’t Bobby Glass or his daughter Susie. As mentioned above, Bobby is now the proud owner of a hundred million-pound debt from Eddie. He may have had the Duke beaten within an inch of his life as payback for trying to get weed decriminalized behind his back in Parliament, but he too believes in Eddie’s potential. He’d never kill someone before recouping that cost at any rate.
It also wasn’t the Bannik (Jimmy Vee), the diminutive spirit that lives in Bobby’s prison sauna and gives him advice from time to time. I don’t know, just go with it.
Okay, so who was it, then?
It was the unlikely duo of Freddy Horniman, Eddie’s disgruntled older brother, and John “The Gospel” Dixon, the Liverpudlian drug baron who uses the proceeds of his operation to spread the word of the Lord, or his twisted version of it anyway.
Freddy remains bitter that his father wrote him out of his will, making second son Eddie the heir to everything instead. Gospel John blames Eddie for the murder of his own brother Tommy (Peter Serafinowicz) at the start of the first season. (Freddy actually pulled the trigger, but let’s not split hairs here.) Using a religious rehab center as a front, the Gospel sinks his hooks deep into Freddy, whom he convinces has been robbed of his birthright like Jacob robbed Esau in the Bible. (If you don’t know your Old Testament, let me help: This is an inaccurate comparison.)
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Using info Eddie himself revealed about his wedding and honeymoon plans, Freddy and John rigged Bella’s beloved airplane to explode at altitude, believing Eddie would be on board as well but succeeding in killing only her.
The next phase of their plan is to assault Halstead Manor using mercenaries. Their aim is to kidnap the adorable baby son of Freddy and Eddie’s kid sister Charlotte (Jasmine Blackborow) and her husband Nanny (Benjamin Clementine), giving him away to a couple of John’s followers so he can’t be a rival to Freddy’s claim. Meanwhile, other assassins track down and attack Eddie in an attempt to finish the job. If other family members die…shrug! Everyone survives, and baby Tarquin is retrieved, thanks in large part to Geoffrey (Vinnie Jones), Eddie’s gamekeeper and right-hand man.
How does Eddie get his revenge?
Once he learns from Susie that Bobby has a huge investment in his continued survival, Eddie has no idea who to suspect. Torturing a captured mercenary (Peter Ferdinando) yields no useful information. (Torture generally doesn’t!) The vengeful Eddie is out of leads…until his mother Sabrina (Joely Richardson) reveals the strange phone call she received from Freddy that day, asking if everyone was alright. Eddie realizes this was an attempt to see if his plan to kidnap Tarquin had been successful.
Eddie and Susie spring a trap. They set up a bogus meeting between John the Gospel and Carlos Vargas (Cosimo Fusco), a Peruvian narco who owes them a favor for exposing a traitor in his organization earlier in the season. Eddie and his ex-army sniper buddy Andy (Cassidy Little) take out John’s men, leaving the leader alone and defiant.
Eddie then travels to Freddy’s rehab center, where he confronts him about what he’s done and beats the living daylights out of him. But while “someone’s got to die,” as Eddie puts it, it won’t be Freddie. A van pulls up, revealing that Gospel John is now Eddie’s prisoner…and that his and Susie’s men are going to force Freddy to execute the Scouse gangster using a chainsaw. A horrible minute of muffled cries and buzz-sawing later, Freddy steps out of the van, holding the head of his erstwhile “brother” and screaming his head off.
Why does Eddie let Freddy live?
When Eddie learns that Freddy has betrayed the family, their mother Sabrina begs him not to kill his own brother. Eddie honors his mother’s wishes…but there are some fates worse than death. Back in Season 1, Freddy said that Eddie was the right man to run the family’s drug empire, since he possesses a killer instinct honed in the army that Freddy himself lacks. This guy was simply not cut out to dismember a beloved friend with a chainsaw. You can practically see his mind snap in real time.
It all comes back to Mr. Johnston’s repeated references to the orb and the scepter wielded by kings, representing forgiveness and judgement. Eddie has figured out how to balance the two, at least in the very twisted way that both kings and gangsters wield their power — and the whole point of The Gentlemen is that aristocrats and criminals are one and the same. Long live the king.
Will there be a The Gentlemen Season 3?
Yes! Netflix renewed The Gentlemen for a third season two weeks before Season 2 even premiered. So if you’re worried about that two-season Netflix curse, don’t be: Eddie, Freddy, Susie, Bobby, and the rest of the whole mad circus will be back. (Sadly, Meghan Markle doesn’t look like she’ll be joining them.)