This episode of Netflix’s The Gentlemen is wall-to-wall action — a crescendo of dead-of-night tension and suspense that ends in a river of blood. Naturally, I’m going to start by talking about an intimate character moment.
Early on in the episode, before the agents of…whoever engage the mostly civilian members of the Horniman family and household in a deadly game of cat and mouse, Lady Sabrina’s son-in-law Nanny appears to pull rank on Geoffrey in a rather snobbish way. Either not detecting how close Geoff is to the family or not particularly caring, he shoos him out of the house back to his own cottage so that the real family members can relax on their own. It’s an uncharacteristically ugly moment from Nanny, whose primary characteristic besides his impeccable manners is being a big sweetheart.
(Nanny’s race does not appear to be something the show is going to bring up, and that’s probably for the best. The Gentlemen has been so good about its grasp always exceeding its reach, not the other way around.)
But later on, I think we find out the real reason why he gave Geoff the high hat. Left alone with the gamekeeper during the siege — Nanny, an old army buddy of Eddie’s, can more than hold his own in a firefight as it turns out — Nanny tells Geoff he knows he’s his baby’s real grandfather. His only question is why he never told him, when he kept giving him opportunities to do so. No one ever says as much, but it seems Nanny excluded Geoff because he felt excluded by Geoff.
A deft bit of character work between two supporting players I never expected to have much of a moment together, in the middle of 40 minutes of action. That’s how it’s done.
I reviewed episode 7 of The Gentlemen Season 2 for Decider.
Tags: decider, the gentlemen, TV, TV reviews