The Gentlemen season 2 is here: critics aren’t sold on its darker, Godfather-style turn

Netflix’s The Gentlemen is back for season 2, and the show has taken a darker turn, one that leans much closer to The Godfather than to the first season’s swagger. In reviews from English-language critics in both the U.K. and the U.S., Theo James’ Eddie Horniman is being read a lot like Michael Corleone: a man sliding deeper into power, compromise, and corruption.

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Season 1 moved on fast talk, crime-fueled chaos, action-comedy momentum, and that polished streaming speed. This time the mood is heavier. The story settles into a more somber drama about ambition, power, and moral rot, and Theo James has described Eddie’s path in those terms too, saying he has to “go into the mouth of the devil” and end up “fully corrupted.”

Eddie Horniman and Susie Glass are also trying to push their cannabis empire beyond England and onto an international stage, which puts them on a collision course with the Italian mafia. Some critics are into that bigger, riskier scale. Others think the plotting starts to knot itself up, loses some of the first season’s mischievous spark, and never quite earns the weight of all those The Godfather comparisons. Coverage outside that U.K.-U.S. critical lane hasn’t been nearly as hung up on the parallel.

If what you liked most about season 1 was its lighter touch, this larger swing may not feel like enough of a payoff to make it worth watching. Netflix, though, clearly has plenty invested in it. By the company’s own numbers, season 1 drew 12.2 million views in its first week in March 2024, hit the top of the U.S. streaming charts, and later got renewed for both seasons 2 and 3.

You can watch The Gentlemen on Netflix. The real bet is whether Eddie Horniman works for you more as a tragic kingpin than he did as a charming outsider.