Peaky Blinders: The Loop (Series 5, Episode 4 Review)

“For now, love must defeat revenge”

After the declaration of all out war last week, it’s a tad disappointing to see the Billy Boys greeted immediately with a peace pact. However, it’s handled exquisitely. “You left me a landmine” Tommy laments. “For which I apologise” McCavern sarcastically responds. This being Peaky Blinders, any peace is fractious. “Nothing here is stolen Mr McCavern, Charlie simply finds things before they’re lost”. This agreement comes as a result of their mutual “friend” Oswald Mosley. The big showdown will not be televised, this week anyway, and that’s reflected in an episode that feels like the calm before the storm.

Calm in Small Heath is a dubious notion because there’s still lots happening, most worryingly of all is the fate of Mrs Connors’ songbirds but it’s ok because Arthur will replace them with birds that have the “same colours and.. feathers”. Tommy’s constituency is of course at the Garrison and his next visitor ups the ante. Brilliant Chang offers a brilliant plan involving opium for Tommy to transport and it gives the Shelbys an opportunity to recover money lost in the crash.

In truth, Tommy has more on his mind than money. Grace keeps revisiting at inconvenient times and she’s no longer a friendly ghost. “It wasn’t the blue stone Tommy, it was you”. The visions may be getting a bit overcooked now. It clearly serves the purpose of showing Tommy’s descent into madness but if people haven’t got that by now they haven’t been paying attention. One thing that is notable about the scene was the use of (Graces?) heavy breaths. That combined with his own coughing fits and breathiness serve as a reminder that Tommy feels more mortal than ever. His weakness shows on the outside now and he was clearly rattled by Mosley.

The set piece of ‘The Loop’ is saved for the very end. A grand ballet is the setting for much intrigue, or as Oswald puts it “an evening with a tribe of gypsies” (incidentally, that’s a show which never got past the ITV Commissioners). Tommy is late due to performing his own bed based ballet much to the chagrin of Mosley. Worse still, the moody guest had previous entaglements with Lizzie back in the day but turns out his own performance was cancelled early due to champagne. AWKS. It’s Come Dine With Me but with drugs, sexual intrigue and murder. Yes, murder but we’ll get to that bit.

While the dancers swan about to Arthur’s snoring, Aberama whisks Polly away and proposes. It’s kind of sweet. “Let’s fuck before the swan dies” she insists. You definitely don’t get that on Come Dine With Me. Meanwhile Linda turns up on the doorstep with a vengeance. We think she’s shot her ex. We think Arthur is dead.. again, but out of nowhere Polly appears (the lovin’ clearly didn’t last long) to put a bullet into Linda . It’s a device that has been used too often for Arthur now but the whole thing was beautifully shot. So was Linda, as it goes.

A LITTLE PEAK:

– The best line was with Ada insisting Tommy throw away the opium. “How much of it have you got left?” she asks. The reply? “Seven tonnes”

– “FUCKING BALLET?!” We’re with you on this one, Michael.

– He may be back in the gang but is Tommy setting Michael up for a fall? Will the Chinese really hang for things if they go wrong?

– No talk of the black cat this week which adds to the feeling that it’s someone in the background. Esme or Frances maybe?

– Finn didn’t piss himself at gunpoint. We’re so proud.

– Did Arthur actually replace those birds in the end? We need to know. Poor old Mrs Connors.

Peaky Blinders: Strategy (Series 5, Episode 3 Review)

“IT’S WAR YOU WANT, IT’S WAR YOU SHALL HAVE”

Never has walking into an orphanage looked so cool. After the guitar riffing and hot stepping, Tommy and Polly have a sort of “moral off” with some nuns and for once the Shelbys come off better due to the fact they don’t beat up children. It should probably go down as a pyrrhic victory. “There is God and there are the Peaky Blinders” he warns as they withdraw their funding. Polly is in threatening mode too: “You listen for my footsteps”. There’s little chance of missing them to be honest. It’s a surprising opening scene but perfectly shows the conflict at Tommy’s core. A man that has many bad habits.

—

Speaking of which, his sister doesn’t get much of an act bar being Gina’s taxi service. Ada feels very underused this series but this may be down to filming commitments elsewhere. Michael is indesposed by a meeting with “the devil himself”, Oswald Mosley. It’s as much to do with people politics than actual politics but we do learn that Mosley has connections to Jimmy McCavern and that he’s made the police investigation go away.

—

The Tommy versus Michael saga continues at an intriguing pace. Our main main literally treating him like the shit on his shoes but keeping him close all the same. Michael does face up to his nemesis again to say “By the time that baby draws its first breath we will be done”. Is it a friendship beyond repair?

—

With all this political manoeuvring it’s no surprise to see the return of Jessie Eden who is greeted by a tired, out of sorts Tommy. He’s literally a champagne socialist as he slurs his words and pops his cork. Jessie’s confused by his motives but then it’s not totally clear if Tommy knows what his own agenda is.

—

In all, episode three has a more sedate pace than the rest of the series so far. The grand scale and atmospherics are toned down. Perhaps the show needed it but initially it feels slightly flat compared to what’s gone before. That said, there are two outstanding scenes that close it out..

—

Arthur seeks out the refuge where Linda has been hiding and the man she’s had the audacity to talk to. In a cleverly shot contrast he punches the man repeatedly, beats him with a chair leg and knives him all while the camera stays still. It makes the violence even more uncomfortable. Arthur cries out “There is good in my heart but these hands belong to the Devil!” The second mention of the antichrist tonight. Make of that what you will.

—

Even better is Aberama Gold’s head to head with the Billy Boys. He’s after Jimmy McCavern for who he has a bullet. He shows up at Border Control and gives them a taste of their own medicine (a broken arm) but pouring boiling tar over his victim is adding insult to injury.

—

Never ones to make a quiet entrance, the Glaswegian gang are back for revenge of the revenge but they’re louder than Polly’s boots and Gold, with the help of Arthur, leaves them the present of a grenade. The glee on McCavern’s face at this declaration of war is glorious. It’s even better for us because we can watch it all unfold at home with a cup of tea and not be brutally maimed.

—

A LITTLE PEAK

– Tommy agrees to be Mosley’s deputy leader in his new ‘British Union Of Fascists’ party but we soon find out it’s as an informant. Or is it?

– “I’ve decided to balance my heart against my head” The moment Lizzie compromises her head and body for the sake of her lifestyle.

– Johnny Dogs is a dirty dog. Who knew?

Peaky Blinders: ‘The Company’ (Series 4, Episode 6 Review)

“Big fucks small”

So it turns out the ominous shadow of Alfie Solomons was not being followed by further shady characters. Not directly anyway. He just wants a chat and chats with Alfie are always a one sided affair, he regales Tommy of his plans to move to Margate and intentionally(?) offers some cryptic advice.

Meanwhile, back out in the boxing ring “gypsy boy” is taking a bit of a battering but it’s all for show. The ladies are getting merry and Arthur’s drug induced paranoia proves correct. In a dark corner of the venue he is jumped on, strangled and left for dead. Tommy arrives too late but fires shots in the ring out of fury. For what is essentially the second billing character to be killed off is a shocker and for the first time in a few episodes makes real the threat of the Mafia. Finn even comes of age in true Peaky fashion by taking the eyes out of a “wop”, glee covering his face as he does so. Welcome to the dark side, Finn. It’s exactly the sort of exhilarating set piece the show thrives off. Violence and intrigue matched perfectly.

“You can sign them on your knees”

Tommy has a new plan and it looks a lot like the white flag of surrender Changretta’s mother was just waving at him. In a move that gives an impression the series is going to end on a whimper, he agrees to sell over his businesses to Luca. The moment Tommy gets to his knees and starts reeling off a speech after minutes of silence is when you realise we’ve been deceived. Deception has played such a big role in series five, it really should have its own credit on IMDB. Heeding Alfie’s “advice”, they find someone bigger and turn the just thrown tables round onto Luca. The gunmen that have been trained on the Blinders now turn to their enemy.

That’s not all, though is it? From being redundant and then dead of all things, Arthur suddenly turns up to be the one who shoots Luca with his own bullet. We’ve been conned again but it’s all worth it for the shock value. Welcome back Arthur, though we didn’t get the chance to miss you.

“Alfie, stop talking!”

In a more gory and unromantic version of Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, Tommy meets Alfie on Margate beach. No ice creams, no seaside reminiscing, just penance for treachery. Even with death encroaching, Solomons still babbles on and only a bullet to the face stops him. Is he even dead? Even if the dog gave him mouth to mouth his chances aren’t looking good, frankly. Women might not fancy Tom Hardy so much with half a face.

“Distilled for the eradication of seemingly incuarable sadness”

Arthur’s words that the “war is over” don’t ring true though. The Mafia may be gone but the much bigger war still is playing on Tommy’s mind. On a self-imposed break he retreats back into the PTSD and no amount of gin is going to put a smile on his face. No matter how bad he felt, his strop at golf was perfectly justified. So, who do you call when you’ve got a really depressing montage to soundtrack? Radiohead, of course.

“Your cause is now my cause”

Tommy and Jessie reunite, get naked and fight for socialism together. Which sounds like a lot of fun, doesn’t it? In a political twist more surprising than Jeremy Corbyn’s first Labour leadership victory, our main man runs for office and soon becomes the representative for Birmingham South. How much is for personal gain and how much is actually for social justice is up for debate and will surely be explored in the next series. It’d be great to see more of Jessie (we saw quite a lot of her tonight to be fair, nudge nudge) with a more substantial storyline.

Did the set up six weeks ago live up to its own billing? Probably not. The threat was never quite as bad as was made out. However, Peaky Blinders always serves up unexpected twists and thrills through the lens of incredibly shot, brilliantly acted television. If series five is the last, let’s cherish every minute because we won’t see its like again. 9/10

 

 

Peaky Blinders: ‘The Duel’ (Series 4, Episode 5 Review)

“Me and you, Tommy”

We pick up exactly where last week left off, Tommy being followed in slow pursuit by the Mafia and with a knowing look into the rear view mirror we know that our anti-hero is in on Polly’s plan. What follows is an epic, noisy opening few minutes of, let’s face it, very badly aimed gunfire. There’s more shots here than in the last half hour of Hot Fuzz as Tommy and Luca rampage through a housing estate.

Riveting though it most definitely is, it does raise some questions. Why did Changretta and his gang not carry out the deed on a quiet road en route rather than wait for the final destination? Why did Tommy not seek back up from either the Blinders or the gypsies to help him take on the hit squad? Is his death wish so strong? Hey, who cares, it looks amazing. There’s a murder committed through a white bed sheet and everything. An unlikely advertisement deal with Ariel is but a phone call away (“Killed someone on your linen again? Try new Shelby All In One”). The duel doesn’t last very long because it is crudely interrupted by the police.

“I don’t drink whiskey or gin anymore”

Lizzie delivers the news of her pregnancy in typical matter of fact Lizzie fashion and Tommy takes to the news as if he’d just won a tenner. He has got the shakes though, bless. He did kill three people, not sure if he mentioned it.

While pregnancy is causing one person to tone down on their vices, the same can’t be said for Arthur who is getting carried away with the white powder and not the kind Tim Henman would happily promote. That combined with his drinking means he’s slipping down a very slippery slope and falling down a very still table. He calls for Linda to save him but frankly, the man may be beyond redemption. Full marks for Paul Anderson’s drunk acting, it was convincing enough to conjure up images of Delia Smith shouting on a football pitch.

“I know ways back that will take forever”

Much to Michael’s delight, Polly arranges a little holiday for him with the gypsies. The idea is that he’ll be off map and avoid detection. While the son is away the auntie will play as she soon starts locking lips with Aberama Gold. Inappropriate men indeed. They may be getting it on but Gold knows full well that if any harm comes to her child, then he won’t have the equipment to get it on much longer.

“You just made a deal without a negotiation, didn’t ya?”

There’s another face to face duel as Luca squares up to an Alfie who conveys much more menace than the man stood opposite, even with his eyes closed. The negotiations involve an indecent proposal of sorts. Alfie will hand Tommy over at the boxing match if Luca runs his alcohol into New York. We don’t get the outcome of this intriguing conversation, but where would the fun be in that?

“Tommy Shelby is going to stop the revolution with his cock”

The pesky C word pops up again – communism. Ada is taken in for questions by the military who have a keen interest in her political past. As with most things, Tommy is responsible. His wheeling and dealing  climbs two further levels. Firstly, the military have offered him a lucrative contract and secondly, he reveals his plans to deceive and corrupt Jessie Eden for his own gain. Profit over principles. The very opposite of the socialist he once was.

They settle down for a dinner that wouldn’t have made the edit of First Dates. The tone is completely serious and worse still, Curly is the DJ. You can see Jessie’s guard falling by the wayside as Tommy works his charm once more but fair play, she doesn’t put out. Physically, at least anyway. In the end she does comes to an agreement she’ll soon regret.

“Take your bets”

And so to the ring and there’s nothing Peaky Blinders loves more than high octane drama around a boxing match. Out of the shadows Alfie appears in a blaze of mystery. Is he alone or did he strike a deal with Luca? The imagery of Tommy walking into the light suggests it’s actually a trap for the boys from New York. While the Mafia haven’t lived up to their early threat, next week’s finale still looks set to be an explosive, gory and satisfactory ending to the series and hopefully Changretta’s bloody toothpicks too. 8/10

Peaky Blinders: ‘Dangerous’ (Series 4. Episode 4 Review)

“If you’re here in one hour, I swear to God I will cover you in tar and fucking feathers”

One of the many great strengths of Peaky Blinders is the unpredictability of its narrative. It never adheres to a set formula and that is shown off with great dexterity tonight. The first half plays out like a series finale. Teapots are shaking and guns are blazing as a woman from the past comes back to haunt Arthur. The second half takes the foot off the pedal and even the loud reintroduction of Alfie Solomons can’t shift the gloom encompassing Small Heath.

Mrs Ross, the mother of a boy killed in the ring at the hands of the moustachioed one, offers Arthur round for a nice cuppa and a big slice of decoy cake, which tastes even worse than last week’s dry scone. It’s all a trap so Mr Changretta can sneak into the hospital unchallenged and he’s not turned up with grapes. Turns out, this is just more gameplay too. He pushes an unloaded gun into Michael’s sweaty forehead and pulls the trigger. It’s all about the drama and that was a truly dramatic way to open the show.

As Luca saunters away, turbo charged on his own raging gangster pheromones, things soon come to a standstill at a road block. This time it’s Luca who has been lured into a trap. One of Aberama Gold’s making. Gypsies assemble (now that’s an idea for Marvel) en masse and shoot to kill. Changretta gets away. Of course he does, but the driver isn’t so lucky. It establishes just how dangerous the two sides are and shows that Tommy being between the two parties means he is the very epicentre of the storm.

“Sometimes he sees something glamorous and expensive.. he just can’t resist it. He’s so weak”

Lady Carleton is back on the scene and even though she’s smelling of paraffin it won’t put Tommy off. They talk about horses and drink gin but it’s quite obvious the chemistry between them is as explosive as the factory when he walks through it. The train strike that never happened was another trap. but this one didn’t catch its intended target. They kiss but the lady isn’t for turning. She has his horse but he doesn’t have her heart.

Speaking of long faces, this brings out Lizzie’s exquisite bitchiness (“fuck Tommy and his cock and his gin”). Her seething jealousy is not in the slightest bit hidden, yet Tommy remains oblivious. He might have to take notice soon if Lizzie is pregnant, as is hinted here.

 

“Morning Alfie”

It is a typically grand introduction for Tom Hardy, clearly still loving the role of Alfie and making his potty mouth sound so ridiculously poetic. Which side is he on? What kind of world is this for kids to live in? Answers on a postcard. He squares up to Aberama Gold with great comic pathos. This is a verbal wrestle but they set up a proper one and Gold’s boy is, as ever, up for the fight. Quite where this storyline  is heading is a mystery but it’ll certainly be an entertaining spectacle.

“Just tell us where and when. We’ll do the rest”

Of course, Michael is now wise to Polly’s deal with the devil and we have to wait most of the episode to know what he does with the information. As it turns out, he simply wishes his boss a good weekend. Which is nice, isn’t it? If you disregard the fact he’s letting Tommy leave that building knowing he could be dead by Monday morning. Still, Australia is nice this time of year..

As Tommy sets of, his car is followed by Luca and his gun toting team while a pensive Polly looks on. Is Peaky Blinders brave / mad enough to kill Tommy Shelby? Answers on a postcard to:

Alfie Solomons

1 Smells of pig road

Shithole

England.

8/10

 

 

 

 

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Peaky Blinders: ‘Blackbird’ (Series 4. Episode 3 Review)

“In this sinful place there will be temptations..”

Women using their feminine charm is a through line in tonight’s proceedings. Firstly, it is Arthur who is caught in the sexy trap. Due to an “extraordinary” meeting (matter of opinion, that one) he is delayed by a lingerie clad Linda who insists it’s the job of a good wife to keep her man’s “balls empty and his belly full”. You can probably guess which one occurred in the office. He was literally “fucking busy” but not for that long, truth be told. Typical man. Despite Linda using her assets as a decoy, the real reason for missing the meeting was rogue staff “chucking paint around in the paint shop”. Unfortunate wording giving the scene in question.

Euphemisms aside, newly reborn Polly is on the lookout for some rude man action, preferably with someone “unsuitable” and lectures from Ada go down as badly as she wants someone to go down on her. Well, most euphemisms aside. Things get queasy when she teams up with Luca Changretta himself. More of that later…

“Spotted Dick. What is that?”

Speaking of Mr Mafia, we get more insight into Luca when he belittles his staff by shouting at them and shoving a scone in one of their mouths. No wonder they don’t like British food if they’re not consuming it properly. No jam? No cream? That’s barbaric. It’s a scene that feel slightly out of kilter from everything else. While it may have been reaching for Goodfellas, the reality was much closer to Dick Tracy. Of the non spotted variety.  Let’s hope Changretta is more of a background menace rather than one that’s too uncomfortably super imposed into this world.

“Fuck you and your revolution!”

Angry Arthur is back and the red paint from naughty workers is the least of his worries as two men enter through his open back door. It’s an innuendo laden sort of episode. Those two men are from the mafia and due to their incredibly bad aim (stop it) Arthur manages to defeat them. And burn them in a fire. Bet you couldn’t do that these days with all this heath and safety about, eh? Which is a good thing.

Still alive but still not happy, Arthur feels deceived by both wife and family and feels out of contract as the decision that it doesn’t have to be his gun that kills Changretta was made in his absence. With convincing from his god bothering wife he shoots his last bullet into thin air, which in an episode highlighting men’s weakness at the hands of powerful women, could be seen as an ultimate metaphor. “The modern way” of killing is to contract it out, let Aberama Gold do it. It’s like a primitive form of checkout staff losing jobs to self-service machines – just a lot more gory.  This is Arthur though, and even without the sense of lost manhood he currently feels, his devil will always win out..

“Blackbird, Blackbird, singing the blues all day”

Tommy’s not given too much to work with this week but he’s clearly finding it hard to trust anyone. Suspicion now falls on his own staff and he also has Jessie Eden in his sights. He pops by her house and their research into each other is impressive given there is no Google. The mind games between the pair ratchet up further as they reel of considerable knowledge of past loves and communist pasts. There seems to be more to Jessie at play than simple trade union business. She clearly got under Tommy’s skin and hurt his heart. His good side coming out as he sets out plans to set up institutes for children. Why? Because he promised someone way back when that he’d change the world.

With reference to the song she was listening to, in symbolism, Blackbirds actually represent knowledge. They are known to be carriers of intelligence and quick wit. The powers of a Blackbird are apparently “sacred messenger” and “feminine energy”.  Something to ponder. In an hour filled with subtle gender politics it could be telling.

“You need to be a fucking man”

As a treat, Finn is treated to a prostitute by his caring family (what happened to socks as a gift?) but comes back from the experience almost horrified, as if he’d seen a naked ghost. The fact that he apologised to her causes Tommy much bemusement. Fresh from two scenes where he’s clearly bottling up very raw emotions he tells Finn to man up. Men are men and women are women. It’s that black and white to him and Arthur who, ironically are two men who could do with giving Marley & Me a watch and having a proper good cry. Yes, women in the show are disrespected to an extent but the excellent writing shows male motives up for what they are and the fact it has such brilliantly written, multilayered women means they can get away with showing this old school mentality so blatantly.

“You take Tommy, spare the rest”

So, back to Polly then. Her motives are revealed and its quite a shock to the system. Supping a drink with Luca sat by her side they negotiate in the form of flirting. She offers Tommy as the lamb to his slaughter in offer for the freedom of the rest of the family. Is it a double bluff? Unlikely, as her main motive is to escape to Australia with Michael and that can’t be done with them both dead. Luca doesn’t specifically agree and if if he had, he’s clearly not to be trusted with promises. Or scones. ‘Blackbird’ put the stabilisers on the action but while the pace was more considered, it was an intriguing and strong mid series spectacle. 8/10

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Peaky Blinders: Series 4, Episode 2 Review

“We’re all cursed”

Never has a bare backside been involved in such an intense montage before but what with all the tears , blood and bodies, the opening stages are so bleak that at least some will get cheer from the view of Cillian Murphy’s arse. To be fair, it’s not all doom and gloom. John is deader than Arthur’s social skills but at least Michael survived the shooting.

“An eye for an eye. It’s called a vandetta”

Bar a deserting Esme, the gang is back together around the Small Heath table. Finn is now able to take his place there while Polly grimaces fiercely at Tommy again. They take a vote, and we all know how votes go in this country. Five vote for peace and two for opt for a truce and that equals the reformation of an uneasy alliance. John’s funeral is immediately its first test.

The location is so public they’re “sitting ducks” and Tommy is in the line of fire before the intervention of a Aberama Gold, a gypsy with little or no moral compass. He may be protecting the Small Heath clan for now but at what cost? Naturally, using a family member’s burning body as a trap doesn’t go down too well with Aunt Pol. There was no vote either, but we’ve had enough of referendums so there. Despite the openness of the scene it’s expertly claustrophobic. The uneasy feeling that things are about to go tits up at any moment is a hallmark of the show but the threat feels so much greater now.

“When you’re dead already – you’re free”

In an episode full of compromises, John promises to go to Australia with Polly once all this has blown over (they may even grab a pint at The Winchester en route if time allows). From the hospital bed he offers advice which works like a tin of spinach does to Popeye. It’s good to have the mean aunt back on form and frankly the Blinders are going to need her more than ever.

It might all sound horrid but there are also strong elements of comedy, not just in the form of Johnny Dogs trying to cook but in plenty of droll one liners. It’s walking the fine line between dark and light perfectly. It’s a serious business but maybe the writers have the confidence to not take it so seriously and it’s benefitting the show greatly. Peaky Blinders still has its set notable traits that it falls back on but the only time it veers towards self parody is whenever Tommy saunters through the factory as flames blaze around him.

“Do you have a whistle? If so, blow it”

While the family have drawn a friendship circle, Tommy would not be Tommy if he wasn’t making fresh adversaries. He takes on Mr Gold’s boy as a boxer but it merely looks like a case of keeping his enemies closer. Then there is Jessie Eden, who makes real of her threat to start a walkout and the factory is soon empty, bar two well dressed gentlemen that is..

“None of you will survive”

No opponent will be a match for the mafia who are “an organisation of a different dimension”. For the second week in a row, Tommy’s security is sidestepped with ease and a showdown with the man himself, Luca Changretta ensues. In a not so subtle metaphor, the big hatted evil one names individual bullets after each of the Shelbys, like a children’s game gone rogue. He flicks “John” down and informs Tommy that he will be the very last target, so he has to watch and suffer the loss of his entire family. It’s brutal but engrossing. Tommy is now the underdog so what better incentive is there to stay tuned? Will the dog be put down or will his bite be bigger than his bark? 9/10