No, Eddie and Susie don’t need to kiss to make The Gentlemen ‘better’

The Gentlemen has had us all in a chokehold with its posh-boy-turned-drug-lord narrative where Eddie Horniman (Theo James) gets sucked into his family’s secret world of criminal activity after his father, the Duke of Halstead, dies. But Eddie’s initiation would never have been possible without the woman in charge of the cannabis empire— Susie Glass, played by Kaya Scodelario.

Determined, unbreakable and headstrong, Susie protects her father’s business while he’s in prison and helps Eddie survive the new criminal world he’s reluctantly found himself immersed in: “I didn’t create this problem. I’m trying to help you deal with,” she says.

Yet, despite being one of the most developed female characters Guy Ritchie has ever written, The Gentlemen fans had complaints when the series ended: “I was hoping you two [Eddie and Susie] could at least hook-up or at the very least, kiss at the end!” complained one viewer. “All that sexual tension and chemistry between Eddie and Susie Glass yet, they didn’t even sneak a kiss in there?” questioned another. “They really needed to seal that deal with a kiss!” claimed a third.

Credit: Netflix

In not being written into having a relationship with Eddie, Susie Glass’ character retains her independence. As we’re seen throughout the series with her own sub-plots and side-quests, she isn’t defined by her relationship to the show’s male protagonist— nor should she be.

In heist/gangster/action films and series, there have long been token women: One lonely female character who exists to distract the enemy with her good looks and, eventually, sleep with and/or fall in love with the male main character. James Bond, for example, has historically been an example of this – until Phoebe Waller Bridge got involved with the writing in 2019.

Credit: Netflix

“Susie and my character, Eddie, have a strange chemistry: a love-hate relationship where they become business partners and are secretly quite impressed with each other,” Theo explained to Town and Country. “But it never pushes into any kind of romantic territory. The relationship isn’t that. But there’s a frisson between them which plays throughout the show.”

He added to LA Times: “I think you lose the chemistry and you cheapen it [if you make them get together…I think at one point they were going to do some bonking. But luckily, we were like, ‘No, thank you’.”

“It’s also realistic,” Kaya elaborated. “They’re busy. There’s stuff going on all the time, and it’s really intense shit that they’re going through together,” explaining further to Tudum: “To assume that they would just sail off into the sunset and everything would be perfect would be unrealistic because they’ve both had a taste for it now. They’ve learned how the other one works, and they’ve felt betrayed by the other one. That’s going to fester below the surface for a long time.”

Credit: Netflix

So, as much as we might have been trained as viewers to do so, don’t mourn the absence of romance between Eddie and Susie. She’s a far more interesting character protecting, manipulating and hustling her way through the preservation of her drug syndicate than she ever would be as Eddie’s romantic interest.

He probs wouldn’t be able to handle her, anyway.

The Gentleman is available to watch on Netflix now. For more like this The Gentleman article and all the latest Netflix drops and memes like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook.

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Featured image credit via Netflix