House of Guinness is created by Steven Knight, the English screenwriter who previously created Peaky Blinders and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and wrote the scripts for Eastern Promises and Allied. (He’s doing the next James Bond movie, too.)
The opening montage of brewing beer with the words “Water, Malted Barley, Hops, Yeast” makes me think I’m in a Guinness commercial instead of the show, but then we’re taken to the floor of the Guinness brewery, and someone asks Sean Rafferty (James Norton) if there will be trouble. He says, “The name’s Guinness. There’s always f-----g trouble.”
It’s 1868, and Sir Benjamin Guinness is dead. A mortician uses some pins to fix a smile on the corpse’s face. On the streets of Dublin, the Christian temperance believers are busy burning an effigy of the dead man, as a preacher tells them that Sir Benjamin will burn in Hell for spreading the plague of alcoholism. He doesn’t see the irony in him taking some snuff to gear himself up as he mentions the Irish nationalists.
The Irish nationalists (or Fenians) are also celebrating because Sir Benjamin was a Protestant who supported British rule. Both groups are preparing to make trouble during Sir Benjamin’s funeral procession, and so Rafferty tells the brewery workers to stop work and use their work tools on anyone who tries to disturb the parade. I sympathize with the cop who says to himself, “It’s gonna be a long f----g day.” The word “donnybrook” comes from Ireland, and we’re about to have one.
Especially since the deceased is in a carriage with glass sides so that people can view the body. They don’t open the brewery gates until Rafferty nods at them, and the mounted police are already busy cracking heads. This gives way to a Game of Thrones-style map showing us Guinness’ business spreading throughout British holdings in Europe and Africa. The text tells us that Sir Benjamin’s four children now must lead the company.
Over at Iveagh House, which the text tells us is the Guinness family’s home in the city, we see two of those children adjusting their ties for the funeral service. The mopey mustachioed son on the left is the oldest, Arthur (Anthony Boyle), while the handsome son on the right is Edward (Louis Partridge, who portrays Viscount Tewkesbury in Netflix’s Enola Holmes movies). Edward is ribbing his older brother about losing his Irish accent because he has spent the last five years living in London. He keeps having to tie and untie his tie.
Their sister Anne (Emily Fairn) comes in and helps him get his tie right. Passed out on the sofa is the remaining Guinness sibling, Benjamin (Fionn O’Shea). The butler named Potter (Michael McElhatton) enters to inform them that the funeral procession is heading toward the cathedral. “But such is the vast extent of the crowd of well-wishers on the street, Mr. Rafferty thinks the cortège may be delayed.”
Anne is confident that Rafferty can quell the rioting. Arthur jokes that they can roll Benjamin down the aisle of the church, but Edward seriously tells everyone that the children must be united. Arthur responds by waking up Benjamin with a glass of water to his face. Benjamin wakes up mad and both knocks over furniture and headbutts Edward when he tries to restrain him, which Arthur finds very funny.
The funeral procession passes by the house just in time for the Fenians to catch up with them. Their leader, Patrick Cochrane (Seamus O’Hara), throws a beer bottle at the coffin and makes a finger-gun gesture at Rafferty. Watching from the upstairs window, Arthur and Benjamin argue with each other over the latter’s use of laudanum (an addictive opium derivative popular in the 19th century) and poitín (an alcoholic spirit akin to moonshine). Edward, and especially Anne, tells them to stop. She makes them all get in a prayer circle while she prays, then tells Edward and Benjamin to change their clothes, which got stained in the fight.
While the children make their trip to the church, we hear Fontaines D.C.’s “Starburster,” and I’m glad that this show is not confining the music to ceilidh instruments.
Some of the Fenians break through the cordon of cops, and Cochrane punches the driver of the hearse and shouts, “God save Ireland!” Rafferty signals to his guards, and they start cracking skulls to the sounds of Kneecap’s “Get Your Brits Out.” He’s cutting a swath through the Fenians, and Cochrane is giving as good to the Guinness workers. The carriage moves on.
It has reached the church, and the Protestant preacher is obliviously eulogizing Sir Benjamin as someone who brought Catholics and Protestants together. Of course, that preacher mentions that the departed paid for the renovation of the cathedral everybody is sitting in. Edward looks frankly disgusted by the ceremony. Benjamin is so out of it that he needs help standing up for the singing of the hymn.
A bruised and bloody Patrick goes back to his pub and vows retribution for the beatings the Fenians took. A strikingly pretty woman (Niamh McCormack) comes in, and Patrick helpfully tells us that she’s his sister Ellen. She heads the women’s arm of the Fenians, and they’re drafting a statement in response to the violence. Patrick has more than a statement planned. He’s planning to burn down the cooperage yard where Guinness keeps its empty barrels. Ellen tells him that he’s stupid, because that’s a capital offense, and burning the barrels will only make everyone in Dublin hate him because they won’t be able to get beer anymore.
She takes him into the street and tells him that violence has gotten nothing for the Irish republican cause. The way to hurt the Guinnesses is to dig up dirt on them, and she has an in with their maids. Patrick thinks blackmail is dishonorable, but he’s fine with arson. Ellen mentions Arthur, who is set to take his father’s seat in Parliament, and thinks she can leverage him with his secrets to act in the Fenians’ way. Patrick finds it laughable that she can solve seven centuries of British oppression this way. She cryptically mentions that all the Guinness offspring have secrets except one.
At a ball with an orchestra playing, only Arthur and Edward are accepting handshakes and condolences from well-wishers. Arthur’s wondering where the others are, and Edward says that Ben is in the study with Father’s portrait.
As for Anne, she’s in a back alley delivering £70 in cash to Rafferty to distribute among his men for protecting Father’s coffin. That’s higher than the rate that the old man paid, but the real news here is the revelation that Anne was sleeping with Rafferty a few days before. He goes into a tavern to pay the men.
The dancing continues at the ball, and it’s all very The Age of Innocence. Ilan Eshkeri’s waltz music for the show even sounds like the music Elmer Bernstein wrote for the Scorsese film. Anyway, Anne returns and greets her husband, who is an Anglican archbishop.
Arthur and Edward note her reappearance, but it’s Edward who tells Arthur that she has her wild side just like her male siblings. Aunt Agnes (Dervla Kirwan) comes by to pay her respects, but really to find out when Sir Benjamin’s will is being read and whether she’s getting anything. Edward tries to brush her off, but she compares the siblings to Ogma and The Dagda. It’s up to Edward to fill Arthur in on the Irish mythological figures that she’s referring to.
During a break in the handshake line, Edward notes that he’s been working in all aspects of the brewery while Arthur has been away in London, but Arthur says that he’ll probably inherit everything as the eldest son. Because Arthur expresses some doubts about that, Edward offers to take the brewery off his hands. Edward will run the brewery and give Arthur 30% of all profits in exchange for representing Guinness’ interests in London. Arthur seems offended that Edward wants to act against Father’s wishes, but he agrees when the figure gets up to 35%. Arthur says that they don’t need lawyers or accountants, because family takes care of its own. Every previous TV show about a family business is screaming, “No!” Mr. Potter tells them that their cousin Rev. Henry Grattan Guinness wants a private conversation with them.
In the study, Ben has been waiting for Christine (Jessica Reynolds), a woman we saw at the funeral service. She has brought him a gun at his request, but the gun is empty. The gun is for Bonnie Champion (David Wilmot) who works for the Guinnesses but also has his own gambling and prostitution businesses by the docks. Ben owes Bonnie £170 and can’t pay off his debt because the family is smartly keeping money away from Ben. Christine has money of her own, so she proposes marriage to Ben. She can pay off his debt, but only on condition that “the madness stops.” Ben says he won’t let her throw herself away on him and tells her, “I am the madness.”
Rev. Henry (Michael Colgan) scolds Arthur and Edward for serving alcohol and playing music at a funeral reception. Boy, this clergyman seems like a barrel of monkeys. The reverend says he sends missionaries all over the world, and Edward responds that he intends to open up for business in America, as he should. He says that Americans make their beer from cacti.
The reverend scolds them some more for making jokes at a funeral, but he can’t go too far because his missions are financially dependent on the brewers. He’s called this meeting to find out whether the beneficiaries of the will plan to keep funding God’s missions. Anne rescues them and tells the reverend she intends to use her influence to keep the money flowing. She quotes Psalm 144:12. She seems to think she might have a chance at getting part of the business.
Ellen finds Bonnie in a dark alley by the docks and cites him for not wearing black in honor of Sir Benjamin’s death, but Bonnie tells her that he’s far below the man. He pegs her as a Fenian because of the way she’s looking at him: “Every Fenian I’ve ever met looks down on me from a great height, like I’m a necessary evil.” Ellen’s reputation has preceded her. He’s right, because he pays 10% of his profits as protection to the Fenians, but she’s offering him a one-year tax holiday to tell her what she knows about the Guinnesses.
At the cooperage yard, the workers have let in Patrick and his guys, and they set fire to the barrels.
By the docks, Bonnie tells Ellen that Ben is not just a gambler but also hears voices in his head. Bonnie would have killed him over his debt, but he doesn’t dare touch anyone named Guinness, saying that Rafferty would throw his body in the same harbor where Bonnie has thrown other people. Ellen says she’s not interested in Ben’s secrets, but in Arthur’s. She says Arthur uses Bonnie’s businesses that are not related to gambling, and I think I know what she means. They’re interrupted by a dockworker yelling that the cooperage is on fire. It’s Bonnie’s job to help put it out. Ellen can’t believe Patrick went through with his plan.
Rafferty is telling the firefighters to roll the barrels that aren’t burning into the sea, since they’ll float and be recoverable. He angrily asks Bonnie if he’s seen any Fenians, but Bonnie says he’s only seen a secretary. Unfortunately, Ellen is unwise enough to come see the fire close up, and Rafferty gets a good look at her (and probably knows who she is). The men continue to fight the fire and roll the barrels to the tune of Flogging Molly’s “Devil’s Dance Floor.” I like these musical selections.
As Christine helps Ben into a carriage, Arthur thinks she’s a gold-digger, but Edward defends her: “She actually loves him. Or what he used to be. Or what’s left of him.”
Arthur doesn’t believe in love after his experiences in London, and Edward says he sounds Irish again. Arthur says, “When I’m sad.” He says he’s sad because the will reading tomorrow will make his responsibilities concrete. Edward tells him that he should take Sir Benjamin’s seat in Parliament while Edward runs the brewery, and they’ll all be above politics as long as everyone’s drinking their beer. Edward’s also serious about America, with its population, riches, and Irish people on the East Coast. Arthur says he’s half consumed by Hell’s flames, and again, I think I know what he means.
Anne enters and notes the thing between Ben and Christine. Arthur predicts that the company will be paying their family’s expenses every year. Edward tells her that Arthur is scared of being in charge of the company’s fate.
Rafferty tells the firefighters to stop working, since the rain that is now pouring down will put out the fire. Kneecap’s “H.O.O.D.” plays us out.