Why Bobby bought Eddie’s debt in The Gentlemen finale as Ray Winstone teases his real motive

As we found out in The Gentlemen season two finale, Bobby couldn’t have been the one who ordered the attack on Halstead Manor as he bought Eddie’s £100 million debt. Although it’s not explicitly explained why, there are some big clues – including from Ray Winstone himself.

Earlier on in the Netflix series, Eddie (Theo James) experiences a devastating loss when his new wife Bella (Benedetta Porcaroli) is killed before his very eyes. Then, a team of mercenaries attack Halstead Manor and attempt to kidnap his nephew Tarquin.

Eddie interrogates one of the surviving attackers, who appears to confirm his suspicions: Bobby (Winstone) was behind it all. Eddie orders a hit on Bobby in prison, only for Susie (Kaya Scodelario) to deliver the truth.

“Even I thought it could have been my father,” she says, to which Eddie insists it was. But Susie points out, “He bought your contract. The 100 million you owe to Uncle Stan, the morning of your wedding. He owns your debt.

“Now, I don’t like that. It means he has more faith in you than he does in me. But my father is not interested in killing you, and he’s not interested in losing £100 million.”

Eddie wants to know why he’d do that, but Susie has no idea either. “But whatever history there might be between you and my father, there are a hundred million reasons why he needs to keep you alive right now,” she says.

They’re able to confirm it wasn’t Bobby through some more torture, followed by a quick call to Uncle Stan (Giancarlo Esposito). Eddie then races to put a stop on the assissation. Not that Bobby needs help – he kills the hitman with a shiv.

Gospel John (Pearce Quigley) is ultimately revealed as the man behind the attacks, with Eddie’s own brother Freddy (Daniel Ings) involved in his wider plan. But that still doesn’t explain the deal with the debt and Bobby’s bigger picture.

Why did Bobby buy Eddie’s £100 million debt?

Well, the short answer is that Bobby appears to see Eddie as an investment – and one he thinks could become incredibly valuable to his wider criminal empire.

After Eddie helps to save Bobby from the assassination attempt, he makes one thing very clear before walking away, saying, “Just to be clear, you don’t own me.” Bobby simply laughs, which is pretty interesting given he has quite literally just bought Eddie’s huge debt.

But we get an even bigger clue moments later, when Susie confronts her dad about exactly why he’s spent such a huge amount of money on Eddie.

“What are you like, eh?” she asks him. “Shivving fellow inmates, bribing prison officials, sinking a small fortune into a man who just hired someone to try and kill you.”

Bobby insists Eddie has “got principles” and admits he might have underestimated him. When Susie points out that Eddie is a pretty “unstable stock” to invest in, Bobby responds, “No, I’m buying low, babe.”

He then explains that Eddie is “evolving as a human being” and that he feels he’s “got something”. Susie questions whether he might actually be evolving into something much more volatile, but Bobby doesn’t seem particularly concerned.

“We need him,” he tells her. “And he f**king needs us.”

So, while Bobby never explicitly says exactly what he hopes to get out of buying Eddie’s debt, he clearly sees the Duke as an investment.

Eddie has spent The Gentlemen season two becoming increasingly powerful and ruthless, and Bobby seems convinced that whatever he’s turning into is something he wants on his side.

And there could be another reason Bobby wants to keep Eddie so close.

Ray Winstone’s comments tease Bobby’s real motive

In a conversation with Lifejacket, Winstone explained that despite all the complicated power plays going on around him, Bobby’s own motivations are actually pretty simple: he wants to make money and build his empire.

The actor compared Bobby to the gentry, in terms of the “skullduggary” that must have taken place for them to have obtained their wealth all those years ago.

“By running his company the way he’s doing, he can’t have the emotion of love. His honour is the pound note really and building this incredible empire,” Winstone explained. “And whoever gets in the way, whether it’s his daughter, whether it’s family… I think personally anyone who gets in his way is out.”

As for the Duke, Winstone said, “I think there’s something about Eddie he likes. They’re monsters he’s created… His daughter, he’s created his own monster. He’s Dr. Frankenstein. But he sees something in Eddie that he likes, but it’s also dangerous.”

That lines up pretty perfectly with what we see in the finale. Bobby clearly believes Eddie has the potential to become an incredibly valuable part of his empire, but he’s also well aware that the Duke is becoming powerful enough to pose a threat of his own.

So, buying his £100 million debt could also be a way of keeping Eddie close and maintaining some power over him as he becomes increasingly difficult to control. Eddie’s “you don’t own me” certainly suggests the question of who ultimately has the power isn’t going away anytime soon.

And then there’s the small matter of Bobby’s mysterious “big picture”. Earlier in season two, Bobby makes reference to a bigger plan he’ll reveal when the time is right, but by the end of the finale we’re still none the wiser about exactly what that involves.

There’s nothing to explicitly confirm that buying Eddie’s debt is part of this plan, but considering Bobby has just invested £100 million in him and is determined to keep expanding his criminal empire, it certainly feels like Eddie could have a pretty important role to play in whatever comes next.

Thankfully, we should eventually get some answers. The Gentlemen has already been renewed for season three, and the power struggle between Eddie and Bobby looks far from over.

After all, Bobby might think he’s just bought low on a very promising investment. But if Eddie keeps evolving at this rate, he may have just spent £100 million helping to create his biggest competition.

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Featured image credit: Netflix