The Gentlemen Season 2 Ending Explained: Who Killed Bella?

Netflix’s ‘The Gentlemen‘ returns with a bigger and better second season, raising the stakes as well as the danger for the criminal empire that Edward “Eddie” Horniman has found himself at the helm of. The previous season ended with Eddie giving in to his role as the leader he was meant to be, but it turned out to be a test. Bobby Glass retains the ownership of the business, and Eddie and Susie are still working for him. While the collaboration works well for all parties involved, there are still differences of opinion about how Eddie and Bobby want to run their business. While this pits them against each other, the real enemy turns out to be much closer to home. SPOILERS AHEAD.

The Gentlemen Season 2 Recap

It has been a year since Eddie decided to go all in with the weed business operating out of his land. His ambition has grown over time, and the business has now expanded beyond the UK. There are aristocrats all over Europe, after all, and they have found a way to rope in several of them in Italy. Since the Italian mafia has its own inner workings, they hire a mediator named Cico to smooth things over. But then he tries to rip them off, so they go over his head, shake hands with his boss, Marco Moretti, and get him out of the picture. One good thing that comes out of their association with Cico is that Eddie is introduced to Countess Isabella Soranza de Parme, aka Bella, with whom he forms a romantic connection.

Meanwhile, the bill regarding the legalization of marijuana is due to be brought up soon. Bobby wants the bill to fall through so they can continue with their criminal undertakings. Eddie, however, thinks the legalization would be better for them and wishes the bill to pass. In any case, he needs to be on the inside when the voting happens, which brings about the question of the peerage. To get that, he befriends Lord Richard Hawthrone, who becomes an important figure until the vote happens. While Eddie manages to get Susie on his side, Bobby begins to question whether the Duke can be trusted. This doubt leads to a massive clash between them halfway through the season, which forces Eddie to reconsider his position in the organization.

The fallout also affects Susie, who decides to start working on her own thing outside her father’s purview. Her relationship with Eddie also suffers, but it stands well enough for him to invite her to his wedding to Bella. After a while, it seems like things are starting to settle down. But then, a drastic attack is undertaken in which Eddie loses his wife the day after their wedding, while his family home is attacked, with his nephew almost getting kidnapped. This throws him over the edge, and he is out for blood. The question is, whose blood will he have on his hands when everything is said and done?

Bella’s Tragic Fate Transforms Eddie Into a Worse Version of Himself

When Eddie decides to marry Bella, a lot of people, including Bella herself, think that this is his move into the Italian mafia. With the marriage, he will become family to Marco Moretti, who runs the Italian criminal underworld, and will be placed in an unprecedented position. Susie worries that he could use his newfound power to make a move against her father as revenge for what Bobby did to him, not long ago. While this is undoubtedly a part of Eddie’s agenda, he also assures Bella that he is marrying her because he loves her. Even Susie concedes that Eddie wouldn’t have gone forth with the wedding if he weren’t completely romantically and emotionally invested in Bella. It’s one thing to do for business and entirely different for love.

The wedding goes without a hitch, and the next day, Eddie and Bella prepare to leave for their honeymoon. They were supposed to fly together on her plane, but the plan changed at the last minute when they decided to race with Eddie in his car and Bella on the plane. Soon after she takes off, the plane explodes mid-air and comes crashing down right in front of Eddie’s eyes. There is no doubt in his mind that this attack was meant for him. Sure enough, when he survives, more assassins are sent to finish the job, and he kills them off by one. At the same time, Halstead Manor is attacked by a group of hired soldiers, and their objective turns out to be the abduction of Charly’s newborn baby, Tarquin. They would have succeeded at it if it hadn’t been for Geoff’s quick thinking.

The timing of the attacks is too convenient for them to be a coincidence. It becomes clear that both things have been orchestrated by the same person. Initially, Eddie thinks that Bobby is behind this. In his blind rage, he cannot think of anyone else who would move so strongly and swiftly against him. He is so sure, in fact, that he sends an assassin to kill Bobby in prison. But Susie clears up things just in time to save her father and prevent Eddie from doing something so catastrophic that it would have upended everything for both of them. Still, the attacker’s identity remains a mystery, and no matter how Eddie thinks about it, he cannot imagine who did it. And then, his mom tells him that Freddy called to check in on them.

Who Killed Bella? Who Attacked Halstead Manor? Why Did They Want to Kidnap Tarquin?

Freddy remained largely absent from Season 2 because he was sent to rehab after he almost lost sight in his one eye following a cocaine fuelled trip. While Eddie expanded the business in Italy, Freddy was working on himself, and at one point, he looked like he had succeeded. His mom and sister visit him, and while they are happy to see him cleaned up, they are also a bit weirded out by the place. What they don’t know is that the place is run by Gospel John, whose brother died last season at Freddy’s hands. Now, the criminal-priest has gotten his fangs inside Freddy, feeding into his delusion that Eddie stole his rightful inheritance. Freddy had previously expressed this disgruntlement with his brother, but it isn’t until he gets in cahoots with Gospel John that he actually does something about it.

During Freddy’s time in rehab, he never once called home. It is his mom and sister who had maintained contact with him and were the only ones who drove out to see him. Eddie didn’t see him until he was engaged to Bella and wanted Freddy to be the best man at his wedding. But Freddy refused his offer, claiming he was still working on himself. He had asked where the wedding and, later, the honeymoon would be, and Eddie had mentioned in passing that his wife would be flying them to their next destination after the wedding. The conversation had ended on a bitter note when Freddy started talking about the tale of Jacob and Esau, and how Eddie, like Jacob, had stolen his elder brother’s rightful inheritance.

At the time, Eddie paid little heed to his brother. They’d had this conversation before, and Eddie didn’t want to get caught up in the same thing, not when he had a wedding to plan. It isn’t until his mother brings up Freddy that he starts thinking about how his brother had the most to win by killing him. Sabrina reveals that Freddy called to check up on them, claiming he had a bad dream about his family, particularly Tarquin. The fact that he asked about the baby is confirmation for Eddie that his brother has finally made the move he had been dreaming of all this time. But he also knows that Freddy doesn’t have the brains or brawn to pull it off by himself.

Last season, when Freddy had the thought of getting everything following Eddie’s death, the idea was promptly shut down by Susie, who told him to think twice about the fact that he was talking about his own brother. This time, however, the devil on his shoulder has no reservations about how one should treat their family. All the talk about biblical figures and the place’s religious undertones, combined with the criminal resources at the enemy’s disposal, leads Eddie to conclude that the only person who fits this bill is Gospel John. His suspicions are confirmed when he shares them with Susie, and together, they come up with a plan. Since Gospel John is in the cocaine business, he has a connection to Vargas, with whom Susie has formed a new working relationship.

Is Gospel John Dead? Does Eddie Kill Freddie?

With Vargas’ help, Eddie and Susie are able to bring Gospel John out in the open. They kill his men, and it looks like Eddie will kill him and have his revenge. But the point remains that Gospel John is not the only one to blame for this. Freddy is equally responsible, and so, he must pay a price as well. But the problem is that Freddy is Eddie’s brother, and Sabrina pleads with Eddie to spare him. And yet, he plotted to kill Eddie and kidnap Tarquin, fearing that he would be the next in line. Gospel John revealed that they would have placed baby Tarquin with a couple who had recently lost their child and raised Tarquin as their own. The whole point was to remove any challenge to Freddy’s claim to inheritance.

The scale of Freddy’s betrayal demands a price, and so, Eddie has him brought home from rehab. Freddy feigns ignorance about the whole thing, and it isn’t until Eddie starts to beat him with his bare hands and pours out the anger over the death of his wife that Freddy’s true feelings come out. He tells Eddie he hates him, but at the same time, he begs for forgiveness, knowing he has crossed the line by a few miles and that his angry brother wants blood. Fortunately, for Freddy, it is not his blood that Eddie wants, yet. Freddy plotted to have his own brother killed. He had trained soldiers to break into his family home, and they would have killed anyone who got in their way. He had planned to have his own nephew orphaned and sent to live with some obscure family.

And yet, in all of this, he never got his hands dirty. So, when it comes to making him repent, Eddie forces him to kill Gospel John. It is in a way to show Freddy that his actions have consequences, and he must, for once, learn what it’s like to clean up one’s own mess. He throws Freddy into the back of a van and hands him a chainsaw. Either he kills Gospel John, or he dies. Freddy does what is required of him, so when the van’s door opens, he is drenched in blood and has Gospel John’s head in his hands. With that, justice has been served, but that doesn’t mean Eddie is done with Freddy just yet. The betrayal has been too significant to be forgiven and forgotten so easily.

All the events of Season 2 have also hardened Eddie to the extent that he seems to have fallen further into the darkness that he skirted but was not entirely entertained by so far. So while he may have Gospel John’s head, there is no going back from all that has transpired, certainly not in terms of his relationship with his brother. The same holds true for Freddy as well. Whatever progress he may have made in rehab has been undone and worsened. Beheading Gospel John is likely the event that pushes Freddy into the spiral of unhinged insanity that he had been keeping himself from. The last thread of his sanity will likely snap now, if it hasn’t already, and that could pose a bigger problem for Eddie as well as his business associates.

Read More: The Gentlemen Season 2: Who Killed Lord Hawthorne?