Guy Ritchie has never been one to play it safe, and his Netflix series The Gentlemen is proof. The show, which returned for a second season, takes the classic Godfather narrative and gives it a distinctly British, high-octane twist. But the most significant change isn't in the plot—it's in the women. Ritchie has essentially scrapped the Kay Adams Corleone archetype and replaced her with someone far more formidable: Susie Glass, played with fierce charisma by Kaya Scodelario.
For those unfamiliar, The Gentlemen follows Eddie Horniman (Theo James), a British aristocrat who inherits his family's estate and discovers it's entangled with a cannabis empire run by the Glass family. Over the course of the first season, Eddie transforms from a reluctant outsider into a ruthless player, mirroring Michael Corleone's arc in The Godfather. Season 2 deepens this parallel, showing Eddie fully embracing his role as a crime lord, even literally becoming a godfather.
But where The Godfather gave us Kay Adams—the naive schoolteacher who remains an outsider to the Corleone world—The Gentlemen gives us Susie Glass. She's not a passive observer; she's the heir apparent to her father's criminal empire. While Eddie was initially the one with moral qualms, Susie has always been the one to lead with violence and strategy. She's the one who fosters Eddie's involvement, not the other way around.
This role reversal is a deliberate choice by Ritchie, who has often been criticized for underdeveloped female characters. By making Susie the real power behind the throne, he's not just updating the story—he's fixing a glaring flaw in the original. Kay Adams was a character defined by her ignorance and eventual disillusionment; Susie is defined by her agency and ambition.
Scodelario's performance has been praised for bringing depth to a character who could easily be a one-note femme fatale. In interviews, she's spoken about the organic chemistry between Susie and Eddie, a tension that's been building since the first season. "I think they don't know yet, and that's what's been kind of beautiful about the journey with them," she told Collider. "We've allowed that space to grow organically."
The show's second season also introduces new complications, including Eddie's marriage to Bella, a member of an Italian crime family, which ends in tragedy—a direct nod to Michael's first wife, Apollonia. But even in this, Susie remains a constant, a counterpoint to the doomed romantic entanglements that plague Eddie.
Ritchie's reimagining isn't just a gender swap; it's a commentary on the role of women in crime narratives. By giving Susie the power and the brains, he's created a character who is more interesting than any of the men around her. And in doing so, he's made The Gentlemen a more compelling and modern take on the genre.
As the series continues to dominate Netflix's charts, it's clear that audiences are responding to this fresh approach. The show's popularity proves that there's an appetite for crime dramas that don't just recycle the same old tropes. And with Ritchie's recent streaming success, it seems he's found a winning formula.
In the end, The Gentlemen Season 2 isn't just a great TV show—it's a corrective to one of cinema's most iconic but flawed narratives. By giving us a female character who is truly in charge, Ritchie has created something that feels both familiar and refreshingly new.
