It turns out the most dangerous thing that could have happened to Eddie Horniman (Theo James) was discovering that he was actually rather good at being a criminal. The Gentlemen Season 2 takes that revelation and runs with it, delivering another slick, violent and ridiculously entertaining trip into Guy Ritchie’s criminal underworld. Aristocrats, gangsters, sprawling country estates and an enormous cannabis operation somehow made perfect sense together, helped enormously by Theo James and Kaya Scodelario at the centre of it all. Season 2 wastes very little time reminding us why the first was so much fun.

A year has passed since Eddie and Susie joined forces within Bobby Glass’s (Ray Winstone) criminal empire, and things have inevitably become bigger and considerably more complicated. But while the scale may have expanded, The Gentlemen thankfully hasn’t lost the strange combination of comedy, mystery and sudden violence that made its first season so ridiculously entertaining. What has changed considerably is Eddie. Season 1 introduced him as a reluctant participant in a world he had never asked to enter. There was always a suggestion, however, that he was perhaps a little too good at it. By Season 2, that reluctance has faded considerably. Eddie has had a taste of power, and there is a far more cunning, ambitious side to him emerging as a result.

Theo James has a lot of fun with that evolution. There is still something incredibly controlled about Eddie, but James allows small cracks in that composure to appear as his ambition grows. The desire to protect his family and estate remains, yet it becomes increasingly difficult to determine where necessity ends and greed begins. That ambiguity makes him far more interesting.

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Yet the greatest strength of The Gentlemen continues to be Eddie and Susie together. James and Scodelario have fantastic chemistry, and Season 2 knows it. Whether they’re arguing, scheming or simply exchanging looks across a room, there is an ease to their scenes that makes them endlessly watchable. The series is also smart enough not to define its dynamic too neatly. Their relationship has always existed somewhere between business partnership, friendship, rivalry and something considerably more complicated, and that uncertainty remains part of the fun. Scodelario is particularly good at maintaining Susie’s cool confidence while allowing brief moments of vulnerability to slip through.

Winstone also remains perfectly cast as Bobby Glass. Season 2 increasingly tests the balance of power within this unlikely partnership, particularly now that Eddie is becoming more confident in his own ability to navigate the criminal world. It creates an underlying tension that runs through even some of the season’s funniest moments. And there are plenty of those.

The show remains completely comfortable with its own absurdity. Conversations can turn threatening in seconds, seemingly straightforward situations spiral into chaos, and the violence remains as sudden and excessive as you would expect. There are also some genuinely great visual choices throughout, with the slick editing, framing and playful stylistic flourishes giving The Gentlemen an identity that feels unmistakably Ritchie.

If anything, there are moments where the season becomes slightly too busy for its own good. With so many moving pieces, criminal schemes and eccentric personalities competing for attention, not every storyline is equally compelling. The constant escalation can occasionally make individual developments feel less significant than they perhaps should. But it rarely stops being entertaining.

The new season understands that there was little reason to completely reinvent a formula that already worked. Instead, it takes the characters we know and asks what happens when their circumstances change. Most interestingly, what happens when someone who once wanted nothing to do with this world begins to realise just how much he enjoys having power within it?

Stylish, funny and frequently brutal, The Gentlemen remains enormously easy to binge. But it is the increasingly complicated Eddie Horniman, alongside James and Scodelario’s excellent chemistry, that gives its sophomore effort its most interesting edge. The jungle clearly suits the Duke after all.

★★★★

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Streaming on Netflix from September 3rd / Theo James, Kaya Scodelario, Daniel Ings, Ray Winstone, Vinnie Jones, Giancarlo Esposito / Created by Guy Ritchie / Netflix