Engaging, devastating and thoroughly entertaining, it’s clear that with its second season, “The Gentlemen” has upped the ante and fully hit its stride.

“The Gentlemen Season 2” is a rare bird, a sophomore season that improves upon a very good first one.

The Gentlemen continues to be a funny, fast-paced crime drama that has the best of what Ritchie can bring to a project and not a lot of the indulgences that make us roll our eyes.

It’s still too early to call the second season of this Theo James series about wealth and weed must viewing, but it’s getting closer by cutting deeper. I’m encouraged.

Here is series two, and it is precisely as irritating, beautifully shot, overlong, extravagantly stupid and fitfully funny as its predecessor.

The second series misses Freddy’s manic energy. Luckily, we still have the absurdity of Winstone living like a king in a jail that resembles a luxury spa, and an impressively low-key performance from Vinnie Jones as the Horniman family’s loyal gamekeeper.

The Gentlemen prioritises the easy gratification of vaguely witty dialogue over actual jokes, big twists over character development, and cheap thrills over earned tension. The result is a brash show that, not unlike the English aristocracy, isn’t working nearly hard enough.

Season 2 is absolutely fantastic — and, honestly, even better than Season 1. The way the stakes keep escalating, while the characters become more complex and unpredictable, is incredibly satisfying. The intensity just keeps building, and every episode feels like it raises the bar even higher. It’s rare for a second season to improve so much on an already great first season, but The Gentlemen absolutely pulls it off. I had an absolute blast watching it. Now I’m already impatiently waiting for what comes next. Bring on Season 3 !!

astonishing contents of melodrama. long segments of soap opera. more pretentious and obnoxious tirades and dialogues than usual with GR; so many references to other movies that, even if it's supposed to be “overt” (provided that the viewers, notably the young ones, have all seen those other movies or that anyone would remember them in details…) it becomes plagiarism. more annoying and boring characters than usual also; big «build-ups» ending up with a flash-in-the-pan; as for any series, the producer should just make one movie, or a 3-4 part series, (long episodes -2 hours max- , not season!), instead of stretching and stretching things endlessly, for nothing…some elements of the cast are or have become deplorable. Kala Scodelario’s is now using a wide and pushed up cleavage to become interesting – to no avail -, her character changes so much, so many times and so significantly, sometimes in the very same episode!, then all is left from her is her wonderful accent. Benedetta Porcaroli needs help with her weight (or rather, her absence of any weight), and in the interim, she is as attractive as a thin ironing board. Vinie Jones is becoming ridiculous - and a very lousy security dude for His Grace -, Theo James is now acting like a robot, doing the same head and face movements, with the same look in his eyes, over and over again, without getting anywhere. he should really do other movies. the only guy (the actor and his character) still holding his ground, is Ray Winstone.

Not bad, not great. The writing is actually much better this season with multiple character motivations coming to fruition and the duke developing a much more complex personality. A few gripes of mind are the random cameos from bad comedians, the constant reiteration of the plot, and a pace that's just all over the place. At the end of the day there's so much potential here but the writing is bottom tier GTA style crime. Nothing clever here, nothing to really think about or even hold much interest. One great scene between Ray Winstone and Theo James was really striking and so well performed.

If you were disappointed in season 1 and hoping for an improvement, Ritchie only doubles down on his juvenile power-fantasy in which the paper-think Marty Stu of a main character (a handsome, charming (?), aristocratic, ex-military, criminal entrepreneur) continues his over-privileged escapades. He's like Bruce Wayne or Tony Stark without any of the depth or charm and the fact that Ritchie made him so blandly uninteresting when it would have been almost easier to make a more compelling character, is baffling. The rest of the cast strut and pose as mock gangsters, cursing in the manner of over eager children rather than with the passion of the Sopranos or the elegance of Deadwood. Adam Sandler infamously makes some of his films just as an excuse for his buddies to have paid vacations, and maybe Ritchie is doing this just so his own circle of hangers-on can play dress up. It certainly couldn't be because he believes there's a novel or exciting story to be had. Organized crime is one of my favorite genres and Ritchie has shown he can do great work in it, but not lately.

More insufferable Guy Ritchie, limey slop. The clown just makes the same shows and movies.