An Unsympathetic Gentleman – Episode 4 begins with a Tour Guide (Ross Hatt) explaining how the Dorset Hall came under and still resides in the Bassington Family. He says it is the 8th Lord Bassington Smythe (David Grant) that owns the estate today and it is only with his permission that they can tour. The tourists are soon chased out of the house by an old man in a mask wielding a submachine gun. After he removes his mask to reveal himself as Lord Bassington, he suffers a heart attack.

Freddy Horniman (Daniel Ings) spends the morning smoking, fishing, and complaining to Jimmy (Micahel Vu) about being left out of the family business. He mentions his and Jimmy’s leaving, but Jimmy claims he’s waiting for something special. Elsewhere at the estate’s stable, Susie Glass (Kaya Scodelario) unveils her plans for expansion to Eddie Horniman (Theo James). He immediately expresses his displeasure while reminding her that the plan was for her to move on.

Lady Sabrina (Joely Richardson) appears to share his opinion about the expansion when he later shares Susie’s plans. She reminds him how persuasive she can be and offers to get involved, but claims to have it under control, he just needs to find a way to make them more money with less fuss.

Eddie and Sabrina attend the previous Lord’s funeral on the estate grounds where she gives him background on the new Lord Max Bassington (Freddie Fox). She notes that if he looks familiar, it’s because he was recently in a popular shampoo commercial.

When the funeral procession proceeds indoors, Eddie uses his connection with Princess Rosanne Rosie (Gaia Weiss) to get an introduction to Max. From there, he uses Freddie and Max’s vanity to get a more private meeting. He lays out his plan for expansion and much to his surprise, Max agrees under one small condition. That small condition is assistance with a blackmailer.

Although Eddie does not want Lady Sabrina involved in his and Susie’s business, she takes matters into her own hands, with a visit to Geoff Saecombe (Vinnie Jones). His quick solution of using Mr. Rokes’s failing sheep farm alludes to him already giving the expansion some thought.

Jimmy and Gabrielle (Ruby Sear) share a moment on the estate grounds where he gushes on about his love for plants without revealing that he is talking about weed plants. She feigns an interest and mentions an interest in seeing his work one day. He admits he would love to show her, but security has been heightened due to the recent security breaches. Oddly enough, he is astute enough to note that the breaches happened on the same day he met her.

Eddie visits Susie at the boxing gym to lay out his plans for her expansion. Although she mocks him about simply approaching random outsiders at funerals with secretive business plans, she appears to warm to his plan. She does express a slight fear about the blackmailing becoming tricky, but he assures her he is capable of handling it without incident.

Eddie’s next stop is a local park where the blackmailer, Frank (John Thomson) proves a bit cleverer than he originally anticipated. Frank is smart enough to not show up with the documents, which leads them to the Wong Kei restaurant where Frank places an elaborate order with the waitress (Jane Lu). After Eddie expresses his impatience, Frank reveals that the elaborate order was to signal the cook, Sandy (Hon Ping Tang). The entire met goes sideways and ends in a fistfight when Eddie learns that Frank owes and has already promised the blackmail mail money away. After everyone is sufficiently winded from the fight and Frank has snuck off, Susie just happens to call, speaks with the cook, and sorts everything out. Apparently, he is familiar with the Glass Family.

Eddie meets Susie in what appears to be a suburb with a bag of Chinese takeout, compliments of Sandy. Although a young girl answers the door, it doesn’t take long to learn the flat belongs to Frank, who is upstairs in the process of packing. As it turns out, Frank was once a respected journalist. Frank gives them a single envelope with assurances there aren’t any copies. He chides Eddie for not looking inside and claims that is what’s wrong with the world today. Much to his surprise, he is dragged along with them as they leave.

Geoff escorts Sabrina to the cattle auction where he introduces her from afar. After pointing Mr. Rokes out amongst the crowd, he offers a face-to-face introduction as well but recommends she approach herself. She’s a bit hesitant, but taking note of her feminine wiles appears to give her the confidence she needs. Later, Geoff also dispenses some advice to Freddy when he spots him trying to smoke carp with pine wood.

Despite his earlier hesitation, Jimmy takes Gabrielle to the grow room where he rambles about how weed could make the world a better place. Although he’s already shown her the room, he refuses to tell her the total number of plants, claiming that he takes his work responsibilities very seriously. When she says that’s a trait they share, he inquires about her work. She refers to herself as a consultant of sorts. She initially turns down his offers to get high but encourages him to do so. After cleverly luring him into admitting that the grow room is merely a small one of 12, she takes a puff.

That night, Eddie and Susie escort Frank to a meeting with Max. After Max is sufficiently pleased that the evidence is destroyed and he won’t be hearing from Frank again, the truth about Frank blackmailing Max and not his father is revealed. After some resistance from both Eddie and Susie, Max leads them through a secret passage where he has a collection of Adolf Hitler’s personal work. He claims the man is a genius and would mentioned with the likes of Monet today, had it not been for the war. Eddie is unimpressed with the work and continues to be uninspired as Max rants on about Hitler’s genius. This eventually leads to Frank suggesting Max show them the “crown jewels,” which turns out to be Hitler’s actual right testicle. Although Eddie wants to cancel their deal, Susie has other plans. Frank appears to have plans of his own when he pulls a gun. Things only go downhill from there once Hilda (Camilla Rutherford) intervenes.

The next scene skips to Eddie, Susie, and Frank waiting at the estate’s front entrance. What transpired is shown in a flashback when Susie gives Keith (Mason Antonio Fardowe) orders for cleaning up.

Despite the early morning hour, Eddie retires to the study with a canter of whiskey when he finally returns to the estate. He can’t help but laugh at the irony when Sabrina lays out her plan to use Mr. Rokes’ 2000-acre farm for Susie’s expansion. It appears he’s on board because he later presents the proposal to Susie and Jack Glass (Harry Goodwins), who are both more than impressed.

 

The Gentlemen Review

If you are familiar with and enjoy Guy Ritchie’s works, this is certainly the series for you. As for my personal opinion, I can’t say it’s entirely horrible. There are things I like and plenty of things I simply can’t stand. I feel the length of the episodes will drive a lot of viewers away. The ones that don’t run from that will likely run from the “long in the tooth” dialogue. It’s typical Guy Ritchie. I’m no expert, but what little acting that’s required isn’t all that horrible.

I do enjoy some of the cleverly placed ironies and the quirky quips can be enjoyable at times. For me, I would have to say that the use of flashbacks is the most enjoyable part of the show. It doesn’t happen a whole lot, but I enjoy how it will jump to a beaten and battered character and then go back and reveal the cause in a conversation. The ending shootout would be the perfect example or Eddie’s fight with the chef. I’d give this episode a 5.1 out of 10.

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