Patrick returns to Dublin just in time to threaten everything the Guinness family has worked so hard to build.
Photo: Ben Blackall/Netflix
The final episode of House of Guinness’s first season opens with the ominous return of Patrick Cochrane, who’s come back to Dublin without the big, bushy beard he sported in New York and with revenge in his heart. With Arthur in the midst of a parliamentary election, Patrick finds the city surrounded by reminders of the family that sent him away. He may just be one man among many, but that doesn’t mean he’ll let this stand.
Otherwise, however, Arthur’s efforts seem to be going quite well. Byron has adopted the American-style tactic of using candidates’ likenesses on campaign posters. These include one in which Arthur sports a full beard, a puzzling image given that Arthur has only a mustache. After Byron recounts the story of Abraham Lincoln winning the presidency after growing a beard at the suggestion of a young admirer, Byron assures his boss that five weeks will give him plenty of time to grow “an electable beard.” Two ought to take care of it, really. Arthur’s not so sure, however. In fact, he’s not that comfortable with this spectacle-heavy approach, even if the wheels are already in motion.
Predictably, Patrick’s first stop is Ellen’s place, where he receives a less than ecstatic greeting from his sister, who asks, “What the fuck are you doing back in Ireland?” Patrick doesn’t waste time insulting Ellen about her relationship with Edward, never mind that, as Ellen points out, Edward’s the reason Patrick’s a free man. Still, he seems correct when he surmises Ellen’s heart has been broken, and he softens a bit as he warns her that the Fenian Brotherhood does not plan to let this election pass without violence. Despite Patrick chiding her for betraying the cause, Ellen doesn’t hesitate to send Edward a letter of warning. Edward, in turn, doesn’t hesitate to bring this warning to Arthur and Byron after sending Rafferty to investigate what’s going on.
Uncharacteristically, Rafferty’s having a bit of trouble getting solid intel. But he has his suspicions. If Patrick’s here, it’s for something big, like assassinating Arthur. And if the Fenian Brotherhood wants that, then they must really fear the Guinness family’s power now that it has supporters among both Catholic and liberal Irish citizens. “That is what your enemies fear the most,” Rafferty explains. “Kindness to make the status quo bearable.” After forbidding Rafferty from consulting Ellen, Edward sets off to do it himself.
The newly married Edward does not receive a particularly warm welcome. Instead, she brings him to help hang clothes on a clothesline, explaining that the night offers a better chance that they won’t be soiled by smoke from his family’s factory. If he’s there looking for Patrick, she can’t help him. Once a Fenian leader, she’s lost their trust, thanks to Edward. And, if this situation weren’t already confusing enough, Edward complicates it even further by telling her he still loves her.
Edward’s decision to meet with Ellen has immediate repercussions when he returns to the brewery and finds an annoyed Adelaide waiting for him. But Adelaide is also, as usual, more clear-eyed than might be expected. “It seems like no one in this family can be with the ones they truly love,” she tells Edward. And yet it also seems, they both admit, like they’re this close to loving each other the way man and wife ought to love one another. Maybe they’ll just have to live within this “imperfection.”
Edward also emphasizes that he was discreet when meeting with Ellen, a claim that Benjamin and Christine cannot make. Now very much back together, they’ve been staying in hotels under the name “Mr. and Mrs. Guinness” and spending a lot of money in the process. They’re called into Anne’s office for a dressing down, but Anne shares the family trait of understanding the importance of compromise. “We must all accept the limitations that our inflictions impose upon us,” she says as she drops some laudanum in a teacup. On behalf of herself, Aunt Agnes, and Adelaide, she offers Christine the chance to become “an official Guinness mistress.” (Do they have a club? Does she at least get a T-shirt for this?) But they have to be discreet. That means no more conspicuous consumption or the breaking of high-end hotels’ mounted stag heads.
In the woods outside Dublin, Patrick is practicing to be the city’s Travis Bickle by taking shots at, of course, empty Guinness bottles. But how secret is his plot? Not that secret, apparently. “There’s a plot and a man with a gun,” Potter tells Arthur. “Everyone knows. And everyone’s worried for you.” Arthur has hit upon his own solution for the problem: drinking a lot of whiskey. He has other worries, too. Olivia has gone to London and has an “appointment” related to her unwanted pregnancy. It’s a fretful situation for Arthur, whose words suggest he would have preferred she keep the baby, even if Rafferty was the father, not him.
After Olivia returns from London, Arthur tries to avoid the subject. Olivia won’t let him, however, telling Arthur how lonely and frightened she was. Apparently incapable of not making a bad situation worse, Arthur accuses Olivia of being lonely for Rafferty, not for him. He’s a bundle of complicated emotions, at once okay with the arrangement that leaves both him and Olivia free to pursue others and jealous at the same time. He’s also arranged for her to be able to spend time with Rafferty that evening, telling her, “You don’t have to love me because I love you.” Olivia, for once, is not sure how to reply.
Nonetheless, she goes to Rafferty, who’s specifically asked to see her. And here, at last, the truth comes to light. “So they took our baby,” he says. But she won’t let him continue. She wants to sleep in his arms, she tells him, shortly before they confess that they truly love one another. It’s a sweet moment, but also an ominous one. Arthur’s fine with Olivia having sexual adventures, but true love is another story.
Later, Arthur summons Olivia for a heart-to-heart, reminding her their deal was that she could fuck and forget whoever she wanted. “And I fucked but neglected to forget. Is that it?” she replies. Arthur makes an offer: Olivia and Rafferty can leave, but he’ll be unemployable and she’ll be penniless. Or, alternately, he can alter the conditions of their contracts. She and Rafferty can stay where they are as long as they no longer see one another on an “intimate” basis. With reluctance, Olivia accepts and promises she’ll never forget to forget whoever else she sleeps with.
With Potter’s help, Olivia gets five final minutes with Rafferty to break the news to him. Except she opts instead to say, in Irish, “Fuck that and fuck them all.” She has a cousin with a property far enough away that she can claim she’s seeing the male equivalent of a Guinness mistress. Rafferty agrees to the plan, for now, but tells her, “One day we will be together.” Just not yet.
Maybe all this drama contributes to Arthur seeming almost resigned to die at an assassin’s hand, despite Byron’s promise to do the utmost to find Patrick before he can pull the trigger. This effort involves a lot of Rafferty doing what he does best (apart from sleeping with the women of the Guinness family): roughing up a room full of tough guys ahead of a big rally. This does not yield the hoped-for results, however, and Patrick still remains at large on the day of the rally.
As the family prepares for the big event, the season starts to wind down with a scene reminiscent of how it began. The Guinness boys, all three of them, attempt to tie their ties, joined by Anne. The echo of the past isn’t lost on Arthur, who attempts to talk about how all four have grown and changed for the better since the day of their father’s funeral. Benjamin is “less drunk.” Anne, though weakened physically, has made the Guinness name synonymous with kindness. Edward has helped turn Guinness into an “international Leviathan.” And Arthur has come to appreciate what it means to be a Guinness like never before.
When they arrive, the Guinnesses are greeted with a mix of cheers, applause, and a smattering of boos. (Not everything has changed since their father’s funeral nearly started a riot.) Inside, Potter assures Arthur that Rafferty and his men will keep him safe. With Byron acting as hype man, Arthur takes the stage and begins delivering a speech that promises to bridge the divide between Dublin’s citizens. Already on high alert, Rafferty is alarmed to see Ellen in the crowd, then relieved when he realizes that she, too, is looking for her brother in an attempt to spare him from the gallows. She even gives Rafferty a whistle to blow if he sees Patrick. But Patrick has plans of his own. As other Fenians create a distraction, he sneaks in and retrieves a hidden gun, takes aim, and pulls the trigger as Ellen blows the whistle.
And with that, this season of House of Guinness comes to an end. History provides a spoiler: The real Arthur Guinness was not assassinated. Presumably, the same will be true of this series’ Arthur Guinness, but who knows? House of Guinness has played pretty fast and loose with the facts throughout these eight episodes. Still, the breathlessly paced season kept its version of history lively and hot-blooded up to a finale that makes it easy to wish season two was just around the corner instead of more than a few pints away. And, most intriguing of all, it leaves its characters in a different place than it found them, but not necessarily in a better place. Anne is thriving in some ways but deteriorating in others. Edward and Arthur are living in marriages defined by compromise. Benjamin is, as described, less drunk but still pretty drunk. What happens next could land them in even more perilous spots.
• The real Arthur lived until 1915, but that doesn’t mean the Guinness family was not touched by assassination in other ways. Walter Guinness, the son of the real-life Edward and Adelaide and an ally of Winston Churchill, was killed in 1944 by Lehi, a Zionist paramilitary group called the Stern Gang by some. The reasons are too complicated to get into here but would certainly provide plenty of fodder for a future season of House of Guiness, should Stephen Knight turn it into a multigenerational story that wades into Middle East politics.
• As usual, the season finale was filled with songs from many corners of the Irish-music world. These include the blistering “For Everything,” a recent song from the post-punk band the Murder Capital. Also from the post-punk world is Dublin’s Gilla Band and their song “Lawman.” The Irish folk duo Ye Vagabonds joins the non-Irish trio boygenius for “The Parting Glass,” a traditional song recorded as a tribute to the late Sinéad O’Connor in 2023. You can sort of hear the Chieftains’ version of the traditional “O’ Sullivan’s March” in distorted form when Rafferty roughs up the Fenian bar. And what better way to end the season than a song about beer? Over the credits, you’ll hear “Beer, Beer, Beer,” a vintage track by the Clancy Brothers.
VULTURE NEWSLETTER
Keep up with all the drama of your favorite shows!
Vox Media, LLC Terms and Privacy Notice