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Critic Reviews
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It is a masterpiece. A gleeful, radical shake-up of period drama that repositions history, sexuality and class with the wink of an eye and poke of a cane.
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The scenes between Gentleman Jack's two leading women are where the show continues to be its most compelling, as well as what gives the season its biggest emotional weight.
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It’s like we the viewers are Anne Walker to Gentleman Jack’s Anne Lister—it knows we are prone to anxiety and melancholy, and therefore handles us lovingly and carefully, only providing what we can take on. And like Walker, it’s hard—even when faced with faults—not to fall in love.
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The great news is that it remains as compelling as season 1, with Suranne Jones continuing to be a force of nature as Anne Lister in 1830s England.
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The show has lost none of its brilliance, nor has Wainwright dislodged its heart and soul – she has only added to it. Gentleman Jack remains a bold and transgressive figure not just for a period drama, but mainstream TV in general, and season 2 another emotional ride.
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Gentleman Jack seemed intent on boring [viewers] to death. I like this show but, for the love of God, if I have to hear another word about railway shares or double canal locks or the Navigation Acts I will slip into a coma. How Suranne Jones remembers all these tedious lines and delivers them perfectly is a miracle. She could, though, do with dialling down the redoubtable marching, the gurning and the brusque checking of her pocket watch, because Anne Lister is in danger of caricature.