By: Singyi Lo

If there is anything I am a sucker for, it’s for any show that deals with a great dynasty house. From “House of the Dragon” on HBO to another Netflix show, “The Fall of the House of Usher”, if there is an entangled mess of family drama, I am watching it. When I saw “Peaky Blinders” (another series I’m a big fan of!) showrunner, Steven Knight, developed a new series that ticked all my boxes of intrigue, stories about rich-people problems, and scandalous affairs, I was all in.

For those unfamiliar with “House of Guinness”, it loosely follows the story of the four remaining children of Benjamin Guinness after he passes away. Throughout its first season, Arthur, Edward, Anne and Benjamin must learn how to grow and maintain the ever-growing family business in the fraught political climate of 1800s Ireland.

For its first season, the actions of the series rely heavily on building the foundation for potential future seasons. In leaving some plotlines empty and loose, it leaves the possibility of getting answers for certain relationships and schemes. Throughout the episodes, we are given some Steven Knight classics such as slow-motion fight scenes between James Norton’s Sean Rafferty, the littering of modern-day Irish music to place emphasis on fight scenes, and the gray camera filter. It’s nostalgic and scratches that itch for “Peaky Blinders” fans in which it reminds them of something familiar.

However, for a show that is made by the same creator of the great “Peaky Blinders”, there were many plot points that fell flat. A story that was meant to be about the Guinness siblings, the only ones predominantly shown are Arthur and Edward. The two are tasked with being the figureheads of the Guinness business and are forced by their deceased father to work hand in hand. However, Anne and Benjamin are hardly ever seen. Their actions are only shown in an individual episode belonging to their own people. If there was anything significant that would happen with Anne and Benjamin, their actions occurred offscreen and would be summarized by other surrounding characters.

There is great growth for this drama, and it is a shame that Netflix only allowed Knight eight episodes to tell this fictionalized version of history involving the Guinness family. I can only hope that we are able to see more of Anne and Benjamin Guinness and gain more answers for what happened in the first season.