Peaky Blinders Season 6: The Big Twist

Well, it's rare indeed that a series on as high a level as Peaky Blinders surprises me at the end as much as the final, sixth season of Peaky Blinders did, but, yes, indeed it did, big time.  

[Spoilers ahead ... ]

What I'm talking about, of course, is Tommy not really dying of some kind of tubercular infection of his brain stem, as his doctor told him and even showed him on (by our standards, primitive) X-rays.   Turns out that doctor is a Nazi, and convinced Tommy he was dying as the key to a nefarious Nazi plan to get Tommy to take his own life.   Given Tommy's seeming invincibility to bullets fired by his enemies, the fascist plan of getting Tommy to die by a bullet fired by his own hand, as a way of ending his own existence, as a way of avoiding needing care that could only be given by those who loved him very much, was pretty ingenious.  But Tommy figured it out, just in time.

How did he manage to do that?  Not completely clear, but the likely explanation is Tommy wasn't feeling as sick as he should have, if he was really dying of natural causes.  And there's also this: maybe Tommy realized he was suffering from tremors and hallucinations before he picked up the lethal bacillus from his sweet little daughter Ruby, who did succumb to it.  One thing is clear: Tommy hasn't lost his mastery of strategy, including his capacity to recognize a brilliant piece of work by the Nazis that almost succeeded, which included doing everything they could to separate Tommy from his wife Lizzie, who might have at least been a little suspicious of the doctor who broke the bogus news to Tommy.

As always in Peaky Blinders, the surrounding characters were played perfectly.  The scene between Tommy and Arthur, when Tommy tells his older he's dying, was nonpareil.  Cillian Murphy and Paul Anderson were once again just perfect in the roles.  And so were the Naziss -- of the British and American variety -- played with subtle to conspicuous despicability.  At the end of the final episode, though their plan was foiled, they're still at large and riding high.  Good to see there'll be a a final Peaky Blinders movie coming up.  Stay tuned, at least a few years, for my review.

See also Peaky Blinders: Peak Television ... Peaky Blinders Season 3: Still Peak ... Peaky Blinders Season 4: Best So Far ... Peaky Blinders Season 5: New Window on Fascism

Peaky Blinders Season 4: Best So Far

The six episodes of Peaky Blinders season 4, which my wife and I just finished watching on Netflix, pack as much or more punch than any of the previous seasons.  I'd say Peaky Blinders now ranks right up there with the Godfather trilogy as creme-de-la-creme gangster family stories.  My wife agrees, and points out that Peaky Blinders is better than Boardwalk Empire.  Although I liked a lot of Boardwalk Empire, I've got to agree, especially with this powerful, unforgettable fourth season, full of twists and turns and surprises, well motivated in retrospect.

[Spoilers ahead ....]

I got at least two of them.  I knew Polly (perfectly played as always by Helen McCrory) could never betray Tommy, regardless of how legitimate her grievance against him for almost (nick of time almost) getting her and the rest of the Shelby's hung.  I also thought at first that Arthur wasn't dead - why else would the narrative make such a big deal when Tommy prevented the bad guy from putting a bullet in Arthur's head, and strangling Arthur - and therefore I wasn't totally shocked when Arthur later showed up alive and well.  But it was still great television seeing these two stories play out.

I very much liked the Tommy as MP ending.  The government played a subtle but important role throughout this season, starting with Tommy getting the Shelbys out of the noose and through to the police showing up and stopping the duel between Tommy and Luca (suitably vivid villain by Adrien Brody).  So it made sense that Tommy would see his next move as inside rather than outside the government.

Arthur had his best season, I thought.  He did his job and saved Tommy's life at that boxing match.  I was sorry to see Solomons go, but he got what he deserved, almost getting Tommy - i.e., killing him - after he distracted Tommy almost a second too long with his endless talking.  This was the way Solomons lived and succeeded (until now) in his life, talking his opponents if not literally to death, at least into some kind of submission.  Tommy's quick reflexes saved him from Solomons' surprise gun.  Peerless acting by Tom Hardy as Solomons, and, as always, top of the line from Cillian Murphy as Tommy and Paul Anderson as Arthur.

I liked Gold (another memorable performance by Game of Throne's Aidan Gillen) and his son, and hope they have a role in the next season.  And it was good to see another baby - Tommy and Lizzie's - in the family.

The cinematography was outstanding - crystal clear, colorful, and wide - as it was from the very first episode of the very first season.  Peaky Blinders now, in my view, is the undisputed best original series yet to appear on Netflix, where the competition is merciless.

See also Peaky Blinders: Peak Television ... Peaky Blinders Season 3: Still Peak

Peaky Blinders Season 3: Still Peak

Finally had a chance to see the third season of Peaky Blinders on Netflix - available for a few months now - and happy to report that it's superb, as good or better than the first two seasons.

I'll try not to give you too much away - there are lots of surprises, well worth waiting for.

First and foremost comes at the very end, when Thomas comes up with a unique way to keep his family and business together.   Totally unforeseen, and astonishing.

We also have a shocking death, early in the season, which changes, well, not everything, but a lot.  As much as I regretted this happening, it gives the story a jolt, to say the least.

Arthur and John are in fine form - including in one scene in which tattoos are searched for - and Michael and Polly have an important roles, too.   Tom Hardy is memorable, again, as Alfie, and in fact all the acting is outstanding, with Cillian Murphy and Paul Anderson in the lead.

As always, Tommy has his hands full, fighting old and new enemies, and keeping his family in line and resistant to inner and outer demons.   After three seasons, I would say that Peaky Blinders has equalled or exceeded Boardwalk Empire, and may be on its way to giving the Godfather saga a run for its money.

England in the 1920s is a great locale for this story, mixing cars and horses, Soviets and locally corrupt authorities of all stripes.   The third season, like the first two, is just six episodes, leaving plenty more to tell in the story.  So you here next year!

See also Peaky Blinders: Peak Television

 
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Peaky Blinders: Peak Television

Thought I'd check in with a review of Peaky Blinders, two seasons in with a BBC production, available in the United States on Netflix, and telling the story of a gang in Birmingham, England, same name as the show, a few years after World War I.

Like most historical dramas, Peaky Blinders on television takes a few liberties with real history, in this case, the main time of the real Peaky Blinders heyday, which was late 19th century and early 20th century.  Also, the sewing of razor blades into caps, so the caps when taken off the head could be used as weapons, may well be apocryphal - at very least, as the source of the Peaky Blinders' name.

But the series is so good, who cares  about perfect history?   From the moment the first scene opens, you're struck by a cinematography that's often breathtaking.  And the characters, story lines, and acting fit right into this high and clearly defined frame.

Cillian Murphy is superb as Tommy Shelby, the Peaky Blinders' leader, even though he's younger than his brother Arthur, deeply flawed and also powerfully played by Paul Anderson.   A young Winston Churchill is also a character, veteran Sam Neill of Jurassic Park plays the head cop bent on taming the gang.   Helen McCrory (Harry Potter) plays Tommy's aunt, who in her own way is at least partially in charge of the Peaky Blinders, and Annabelle Wallis (The Tudors) plays Grace, a major player and love interest of more than one character.

As is the case with many mobster television series, Tommy has his hands full fighting both the law and rival gangs, and enforcing loyalty in his own ranks.   But he does this with a patented mix of intelligence and violence, more or less carefully applied, and given this dancing on the edge, and the less than completely blind fidelity to history, you never know what's going to happen - well, you know that Winston Churchill won't be killed, but that's about it.

Peaky Blinders is reminiscent, in some ways, of Boardwalk Empire on the one hand, because they both take place in the 1920s, and The Black Donnellys on the other, which told the story of an Irish gang family in contemporary Hell's Kitchen in New York City.  But Peaky Blinders has a story and feel and compelling ethnic and proletariate depictions all its own, and I highly recommend it.

 
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