The grand wedding of Arthur Guinness and Lady Olivia was meant to be a day of celebration for the powerful Dublin family. Instead, it became a battlefield where secrets were weaponized and a reckless political scheme threatened to destroy the family’s ambitions. The fourth episode of Netflix’s House of Guinness sees the siblings’ plans for their brewery empire clashing violently with their personal desires and hidden betrayals.
A Wedding Day Full of Schemes
The episode opens with the lavish wedding of Arthur Guinness and Lady Olivia Hedges. While the ballroom is filled with Dublin’s high society, the event is less a celebration and more a strategic playing field. Every guest seems to have an agenda. Anne and Aunt Agnes are busy narrowing down a list of potential brides for Edward, finally settling on their third cousin, Adelaide Guinness. The task of breaking the ice falls to the sober but socially awkward Benjamin. His attempt to introduce Edward to Adelaide backfires spectacularly when she reveals she knows about the list of brides and wants no part of it. She tells Benjamin she is not looking for a husband and doesn’t even like the taste of Guinness.
Meanwhile, Arthur and Olivia observe the drama while enjoying their own hedonistic party. Their bliss is interrupted when Arthur discovers two uninvited guests: the Fenian siblings, Ellen and Patrick Cochrane. Arthur’s rage is immediate and public. He confronts them with ugly accusations, nearly causing a violent scene until his brother Edward steps in. Edward and Ellen manage to calm the situation and propose a new deal: the Fenians will stop their blackmail in exchange for Arthur’s gradual political support for their cause in Parliament. Edward argues this is the only practical way to secure the family’s future, leaving Arthur outmaneuvered and furious.
Byron’s Dangerous Adventure in New York
While the family navigates the wedding in Dublin, Byron Hedges arrives in New York with a mission to expand the Guinness business in America. His journey takes a dangerous turn almost immediately. After asking for directions from the wrong group, he is identified as an Irish Catholic and chased through the streets by the notorious Bowery Boys gang. He is rescued by armed Irish expats who bring him to his cousin, William Randall Roberts, a leader of the Fenian Brotherhood in New York.
Byron pitches his plan to make Guinness popular in America, where the beer is largely unknown or dismissed as “old lady’s medicine.” He persuades William to support the Guinness expansion, arguing that the Protestant Guinness family “walks a tightrope” between different factions. William tastes the beer and, impressed, agrees to the plan. Byron successfully secures the partnership, fulfilling the promise he made to Edward and setting the stage for the brewery’s massive transatlantic growth.
A Political Crisis Revealed
The episode jumps forward two months. The Guinness brewery is booming thanks to American demand, but a new crisis emerges. Anne visits Edward late at night with troubling news. She reveals that Arthur’s campaign for Parliament is using a reckless and illegal scheme to buy votes. The campaign is handing out old train tickets as tokens, promising voters five pounds each in exchange for their support.
Edward is enraged. He had carefully planned Arthur’s political pathway, and this scam threatens to destroy everything. He tracks down Arthur, who is hiding in a cheap apartment. Edward confronts his brother, but Arthur dismisses his concerns, insisting that “everyone does it” and that men “in the know” in politics advised him to do it. During the confrontation, Arthur’s lover, Lord Arthur “Arty” Clinton, the godson of the Liberal Party leader, steps out from a back room, revealing another layer of Arthur’s secret life.
A Brother’s Final Warning
Frustrated, Edward drags Arthur back to the home he shares with Olivia. There, Edward finds no support. Instead, Olivia mocks him, saying that Arthur was born to rule while Edward was born to work. Pushed to his breaking point by their arrogance, Edward drops a sly parting shot. He mentions the train ticket scam, a secret Arthur had kept from his new wife. The barb lands perfectly. As Edward leaves, Olivia turns her anger on Arthur, demanding to know what other secrets he is hiding. The couple’s marriage, built on an arrangement of honesty about their open relationship, shows its first major crack as the episode ends.
Edward tells Arthur and Olivia: “I’m glad the two of you have found an arrangement that works. But you should know, Arthur’s new friends are buying up old train tickets to hand out to voters. Five pounds a head.”
The political scandal and the unraveling personal relationships set a dangerous stage for the Guinness family. With the election approaching and secrets spilling into the open, the future of their empire hangs in the balance.
Also Read: Real Guinness Family Divided Over New Netflix Drama About Their History in House of Guinness
