{"id":603584,"date":"2026-09-02T11:10:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T11:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/603584\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T11:10:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T11:10:09","slug":"the-opposite-of-damsels-in-distress-how-tv-fell-in-love-with-female-gangsters-television","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/603584\/","title":{"rendered":"The opposite of \u2018damsels in distress\u2019: how TV fell in love with female gangsters | Television"},"content":{"rendered":"

Television loves a gangster story \u2013 and apparently<\/a> so does the Duchess of Sussex. This week, Netflix\u2019s The Gentlemen<\/a> \u2013 Guy Ritchie<\/a>\u2019s latest addition to the gangster canon, which stars Theo James as a distractingly handsome aristocrat who becomes embroiled in the world of organized crime \u2013 returns for its second season. And in August, the show hit the headlines after rumors<\/a> that Meghan was reportedly in early talks to join its third season when she and Prince Harry made their highly unexpected return<\/a> to the UK.<\/p>\n

At first, Meghan\u2019s potential role seemed like a random pivot for the former Suits star, who now seems far more at home holding a jar<\/a> of her Montecito-made jam than brandishing a gun. But really, these casting rumours<\/a> are indicative of a wider shift in the traditionally machismo-fueled gangster genre, where it\u2019s now more common to see women stealing the spotlight \u2013 and calling the shots.<\/p>\n

When The Gentlemen premiered in 2024, it marked a departure from Ritchie\u2019s previous work. Alongside James and Vinnie Jones, the show stars Kaya Scodelario<\/a>, who is best known for portraying Effie in Skins, the seminal British teen drama. Scodelario plays Susie Glass, a sharp, impeccably dressed, ruthless head of an underground cannabis empire, who introduces Eddie (James) to her world following the death of his father. She isn\u2019t the first female character in Ritchie\u2019s crime shows, but she is the first woman who has parity with her male peers. She\u2019s the polar opposite of a \u201cdamsel in distress\u201d \u2013 in fact, wherever she leads, Eddie follows. \u201cWhat I liked about her was that this isn\u2019t a story about her learning how to be a criminal \u2026 She\u2019s already at the top of the ladder,\u201d said Scodelario when I interviewed<\/a> her in 2024. She told me that people initially assumed Susie would be \u201cthe girlfriend or the wife or the sidekick\u201d, when really the opposite was the case.<\/p>\n

Susie is part of a new wave of female characters in gangster shows who are intrinsic to the genre increasing its depth and scope. As a society, there\u2019s a tacit acceptance that men will be involved in all kinds of criminal activity and violence, but female gangsters force us to take a much closer look at the characters\u2019 motivations. These women create space for scenes that sometimes feel even more shocking and subversive, precisely because of their proximity to femininity.<\/p>\n

On Netflix\u2019s assassin series Black Doves<\/a>, the professional killers are handled by the grudge-holding Lenny Lines (Kathryn Hunter), whose tiny stature only makes her more scary. The show\u2019s most powerful organized crime boss is Alex Clark, played by Tracey Ullman<\/a>, who runs a massive criminal enterprise that has connections reaching into the highest level of the British government.<\/p>\n

Similarly, in the Paramount+ series MobLand<\/a>, which also returns for its second season in September, the most hair-raising character isn\u2019t crime boss Conrad Harrigan (Pierce Brosnan) or even his rough-around-the-edges \u201cfixer\u201d, Harry Da Souza (Tom Hardy). No, it\u2019s Maeve Harrigan (Helen Mirren) \u2013 the mob family\u2019s Irish matriarch, who is as bloodthirsty as she is protective.<\/p>\n

Helen Mirren, center, with the cast of MobLand. Photograph: Jason Bell\/Paramount+<\/p>\n

Traditionally, women in gangster shows have tended to be either shallowly written objects of male desire, or cunning matriarchs like Maeve, who command respect and use family ties to control people. The latter category often operate quietly behind the scenes, holding the real financial or political power while the men in their families are front and centre. Think Polly Gray (Helen McCrory), the treasurer of the Shelby family in Peaky Blinders, or Youn Yuh-jung<\/a>\u2019s portrayal of a deliciously evil and corrupt country club owner in season two of Netflix\u2019s Beef<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This year, we\u2019re starting to see the archetype gradually evolve. In HBO\u2019s Euphoria<\/a>, drug queenpin Laurie, played by a chillingly deadpan Martha Kelly, is very much not a matriarch or a sexualized figure. (With the exception of doting on her beloved pet parrot, Paladin). And rather than fade into the background, she didn\u2019t hesitate to go up against fellow drug lord Alamo Brown in a murderous turf war. In fact, right up until the grisly finale<\/a>, there is nobody above Laurie, and her destiny is entirely in her own hands.<\/p>\n

Kaya Scodelario and Theo James in The Gentlemen. Photograph: Netflix<\/p>\n

And in The Gentlemen, Scodelario\u2019s character is the classic millennial girlboss \u2013 a fitting role for an actor who had her breakthrough on a show that defined<\/a> 2000s youth culture. Susie loves red lipstick and an Instagram-ready outfit, making her simultaneously an object of desire and aspiration. She\u2019s a gangster who doesn\u2019t look like a gangster, but at the same time, her visual femininity isn\u2019t her defining characteristic \u2013 it\u2019s her ability to strategise and get things done.<\/p>\n

In a show where the men are often held back by their status and the firmly set roles that they occupy \u2013 father, heir, fixer \u2013 Susie is a hyper-capable shapeshifter who can cut their egos down to size. In the heart-pumping season two premiere alone, we see her tweed-clad at grouse shooting, suited up at an art auction (to spend a cool \u00a316m on a Botticelli painting), covertly hatching plans in a steamy lakeside sauna (of all places), pursuing masked thieves on bikes in a classic high-speed chase, negotiating with a (terrifying) Italian mafia boss, and continuing her flirtationship (or is it?) with Eddie.<\/p>\n

Really, it\u2019s not surprising that The Gentlemen supposedly piqued Meghan\u2019s interest, because its second season is a high-budget, twist-heavy affair. The series now boasts a prestige production value that feels more aligned with Netflix past mega-hits including The Crown<\/a> and House of Cards<\/a>. And crucially, it\u2019s also a show where women take up more space than ever in the Guy Ritchie cinematic universe. In Susie\u2019s world, aristocrats might be the original organized criminals, they are by no means the best \u2013 as long as she\u2019s around.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Television loves a gangster story \u2013 and apparently so does the Duchess of Sussex. This week, Netflix\u2019s The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":603585,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[146,85,46],"class_list":["post-603584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=603584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603584\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/603585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=603584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=603584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=603584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}