With his ultraviolent, profanity-laden, testosterone-infused bro-fests, Guy Ritchie has largely built a successful career directing reliably smart and funny projects that usually center around groups of guys (wise and not) involved in criminal enterprises of one sort or another. Forget about Swept Away, the godforsaken Sherlock Holmes misfires, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and, the needless and charm-free Aladdin. Instead, acquaint (or reacquaint) yourself with Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch, Revolver, RocknRolla and 2019's The Gentlemen, a direct movie precursor to the new Netflix series, The Gentlemen. 

Set in the same universe as the movie, The Gentlemen loosely follows that film's trajectory while introducing an entirely new set of characters to spread chaos and mayhem throughout the not-so-staid countryside. Theo James is well-cast as British peer and former soldier, Eddie Horniman, who, unexpectedly, inherits both a title and a considerable amount of land upon the death of his father. Hard-living and debt-ridden older brother, Freddie (Daniel Ings), however, is less than thrilled with the terms of the will, having taken for granted that he would be the old man's beneficiary and the newly anointed 10th Duke of Halstead. Needless to say, Freddie, a spoiled posh boy and a bit of a wanker, throws a fit and almost immediately continues digging his own grave by becoming further indebted to individuals with, shall we say, edgy dispositions--all to the tune of 4 million pounds. 

After Eddie proposes to sell his properties in order to get Freddie out of debt (and mortal danger), a fateful encounter with a young woman reveals that he has inherited more than a title and a grand estate: there's also an underground cannabis factory on the estate belonging to drug-dealing kingpin, Bobby Glass (Ray Winstone), with whom Eddie's father had a longstanding business arrangement. As it turns out, the young woman is the daughter of Bobby Glass, who is distinctly not having his thriving enterprise interrupted by an estate sale. So, with Plan A no longer on the table, Eddie goes to Plan B and makes a deal with the devil: in this case, Bobby, and the ever-loyal Susie (Kaya Scodelario). Susie agrees to negotiate a discounted payment with Freddie's felonious creditors but there will be a price to be paid for her arbitration, the terms of which will be dictated by her father. Unfortunately, despite Susie's best efforts, things don't go exactly as planned when Freddie, clad in a chicken suit, blows the head off his chief (but by no means only) tormentor. And that is how the 10th Duke of Halstead, his exasperating older brother, and the rest of their quirky household wind up embroiled in the nefarious affairs of Bobby Glass and other bloody-minded denizens of the local underworld. 

Throughout its 8 episodes, the events in The Gentlemen become increasingly unlikely although the show is so exciting and fun to watch that scrutinizing it too closely seems a mite trivial, if not ungenerous. In addition to those already mentioned, the large (and fantastic) cast also includes Joely Richardson as the not-so-clueless matriarch of the manor house, Vinnie Jones as her steadfast gamekeeper, Giancarlo Esposito as an American wheeler-dealer, Michael Vu as the Glass Family's sweet-natured and perpetually stoned weed-cultivator, and, finally, a scarily convincing Martha Millan as a machete-wielding cocaine queen who doesn't flinch at hacking up her competition. And what would a Guy Ritchie project be without boxers, travelers and murderous holy men? They're also all here and they are all b-a-a-a-ad. 

I loved this show, but that being said, I'm not sure there needs to be a second season, which, allegedly, is under consideration. There are any number of directions a second season could go but I can't see them being anything other than redundant. But, then again, I'm not a scriptwriter or film director, so what do I know?