This installment of Netflix’s The Gentlemen is practically all momentum: a tightly wound burst of late-night danger, siege-movie suspense and escalating violence that eventually spills into outright bloodshed. So, of course, the best place to begin is with one of the episode’s quieter, more revealing character beats.
Before the mysterious attackers — agents of… whoever, exactly — turn the Horniman estate into a deadly playground, Lady Sabrina’s son-in-law, Nanny, has an unexpectedly chilly exchange with Geoffrey. In a moment that feels pointedly class-conscious, and more than a little snobbish, he effectively sends Geoff back to his cottage so the actual family can have the house to themselves. Whether Nanny fails to grasp how deeply Geoffrey is woven into the Horniman household, or simply chooses to ignore it, the dismissal lands harshly. It is also strikingly out of character for a man otherwise defined by flawless manners and a genuinely warm heart.
(Nanny’s race does not seem to be a subject The Gentlemen intends to explore, which is likely wise. The Netflix series has been at its strongest when its ambitions stay comfortably within its control, rather than overreaching.)
Later, though, the scene takes on a different shape. During the assault on the estate, when Nanny is left alongside the gamekeeper — and proves, as Eddie’s old army friend, that he is more than capable in a gunfight — he reveals that he knows Geoffrey is his child’s biological grandfather. What he cannot understand is why Geoff never admitted it, despite being given repeated chances. The episode never spells it out, but the implication is clear enough: Nanny pushed Geoffrey away because he believed Geoffrey had been keeping him at arm’s length first.
It is a sharp, unexpected piece of character writing between two supporting figures who seemed unlikely to share such a meaningful moment, dropped right into the middle of a 40-minute action showcase. That is exactly the kind of detail that makes The Gentlemen work.
The bulk of the episode takes place after a team of highly trained mercenaries infiltrates the grounds, on what we eventually learn is a mission to abduct Tarquin. This is the kind of episode you put Vinnie Jones in your show for; few actors bring his stone-faced gravitas to gun battle. Meanwhile, his chemistry with Joely Richardson as Sabrina is off the charts: Before everything goes wrong, she proposes moving to a house near his where it’s clear they used to fuck, implying heavily they’ll now be free to do so at will. Despite all the guns blazing, it’s the hottest moment of the episode.
In the end, everyone survives, including the poor butler Mister Lawrence (Stephane Fichet), who winds up wounded like Nanny. For his part, Nanny gets one of the coldest kills in the show, dropping a kidnapper at close range like Dirty Harry. George (Richard McCabe), the neighboring gamekeeper, plays a pivotal role as well despite looking about as dangerous as a housecat. Even Charly and Sabrina get in on the act, running over one of the attackers not once, not twice, but three times, just to be sure.
RELATED: Debutantes Dazzle at Glamorous Queen Charlotte’s Ball
It all looks great, too. It’s not any kind of natural lighting by any stretch of the imagination, but the blue-grey light in which everything is bathed feels airy, crisp, and three-dimensional, rather than slapped on like a dull coat of paint. A freeze-frame on Geoffrey after his final kill that fades into a view of the branches of the trees the next morning is old-school pop-art stuff. It took my breath away.
Only a few hours later, Eddie fends off a similarly well-equipped attempt on his life by obvious pros. The coordination of the three attacks — the plane bombing, the raid on Halstead Manor, the follow-up hit on Eddie — suggests a level of sophistication and resources that only a few players in the Gentlemen-verse possess.
Eddie naturally suspects Bobby Glass, but when Susie delivers news of the raid to her incarcerated dad, his surprise seems genuine. On the other hand, at the urging of the Bannik, he’s about to tell her something he doesn’t think she’ll want to hear when the credits roll, so who knows? Yet he doesn’t feel like the big bad of the piece to me.
For what it’s worth, my money is on Marco Moretti; sacrificing your beloved goddaughter to take out your business partner and assume control of his assets is just the kind of grand act of bastardry the season feels like it’s been building towards.
Whoever dunit, the stage is set for a pretty spectacular showdown in the finale. On one side, the mystery villain. On the other, a fully armed and operational Eddie, back from the wildnerness Bobby banished him to and out to avenge the love of his life. Maybe that’s romantic, in a twisted sense. Or maybe this is just a guy looking for an excuse to go wild, and has been all along.
Sean T. Collins (@seantcollins.com on Bluesky and theseantcollins on Patreon) has written about television for The New York Times, Vulture, Rolling Stone, and elsewhere. He is the author of Pain Don’t Hurt: Meditations on Road House. He lives with his family on Long Island.