Peaky Blinders: Mr Jones (Series 5, Episode 6 Review)

“THE GREEN SHOOTS OF ANOTHER WAR”

Tommy has been on his own personal mission to overthrow facism throughout series five but in a grand finale that chucks the rulebook onto the fire, conventions are also vanquished. He does not emerge victorious, more enemies surround him than ever before and, worse still for most viewers, there is no conclusion to the story by the time the credits roll. It had previously been stated by Steven Knight that series six will continue the story but most people won’t know this information and will undoubtedly feel perplexed, cheated even. The fact that this was different is a positive thing. The impending doom for next time is stronger, the threat more real. We knew Tommy would defeat Lucas Changretta last time out, now he’s defeating himself. It’s a bold move and one that pays off in sixty five minutes of television that should go down in razor gang based TV folklore. Hardly a crowded field admittedly.

‘Mr Jones’ is more in keeping with where the first two episodes seemed to be heading. It is by no means perfect but the end just about justifies the means. While the third, fourth and fifth episodes were rivetting they lacked a certain edge. Virtually every minute here though is engrossing as the tension slowly builds. From Tommy’s first face to face meeting with Winston Churchill (who looks suspiciously like Neil Maskell with Play-Doh as make up) to a tense four stage meeting in the Garrison which was literally extraordinary.

Michael and Gina issue their plans to take over the company only to be on the recieving end of Tommy’s glacial stare. These are the moments Peaky Blinders shines most. The tension is palpable and made worse by a rogue Barney making a rude interuption. Then the plan is revealed to a disbelieving audience. The tiredness and strain etched on Tommy’s face is clear to see. All the awards should go to Cillian Murphy who has inhabited Tommy for ten post war years and gets better with age. The serrated edges of his character have grown even sharper than his cheekbones. This is akin to watching an immersive play. You’re right there in the room with him. Just be glad you’re not or he’ll shoot you in the face like he did with poor Mickey the barman. A grass for sure but certainly not the dreaded black cat.

What follows is a moment fans have been waiting two years. When Tommy mumbles “I have to go to Margate” we all knew instantly didn’t we? Sure enough, a few seconds later the dulcet tones of Alfie Solomons call out and in mere minutes he makes his presence felt. “How soon did you know that I was not dead?” he asks. “You wrote me a letter, Alfie” Tommy sighs. He’s daan saaf to ask a favour of his old friend / nemesis which is odd because Alfie has continuously stabbed Tommy in the front which is why he got shot in the bleedin’ face. Was it precient that their shoot-out was off kilter? He cant be back from the dead it wasnt confirmed he had departed. Was his return just for the fans or integral to the plot? The truth is we won’t know until 2021.

As for Mosley, he’s been a bit quiet up until now but that peace is shattered at his rally by a double dose of Idles. In a perverse television mash up, Love Island gets mentioned at a fascist convention but things are set to get more mad as everything goes so spectacularly tits up it’s best described with Ron Burgundy’s “well, that escalated quickly” meme. As Alfie’s boys start rioting, Barney is shot dead, Aberama is knived 284 times and Arhur is nearly killed. Again. The scope and ambition is remarkable. The direction, music and performances unite to create visual and aural poetry.

Alas, the disappointments show through right at the end as unresolved arcs slap us in the face. Most should be continued in the next run but for a second time the war with the Billy Boys is reduced to nothing. They offer no threat here and when things kick off Jimmy McCavern just watches on. The biggest bugbear throughout the run has been the apparitions of Grace showing up left right and centre, willing him to suicide. We get it, we don’t need reminding. Don’t overkill the dead. We’re left with Alfie’s dream coming true. Tommy in a field with a horse nearby and a gun to his head, Grace being the metaphorical trigger. Was it real? A dream? A drug induced fantasy? Guess what? We won’t find out until 2021.

Peaky Blinders mark five has challenged itself to evolve and has done so with great success for the most part. If the plan is to take the Shelbys up to the second world war then it seems the seven series timeline is well behind schedule as we’ve only just been to 1929. Fuel your own film rumours if you wish. Whatever happens, now is the time to keep faith in Steven Knight and Tommy Shelby.

A LITTLE PEAK:

– Polly has lost Aberama on the eve of their wedding. Her vengeance on Tommy will be lethal.

– “I got shot in the face by some c**t” Alfie always has a way with words.

– Billy Grade’s sketchiness has a different perspective now.

– On that note: Finn! You had one job!

– Did Alfie betray Tommy again? Is he responsible for the killings at the rally? Common sense would say no as you’d think he’d want Mosley dead too.

– Arthur’s time always feels up. Will he get out alive and leave the gang?

– A big shout out for the editing of music in tonight’s show including when the maid turns the radio on and Idles kick in and the juxtaposition of ‘Land Of Hope And Glory” over the montage of everyone with opposing views. How very 2019.

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

 

 

Doctor Foster (Series 2, Episode 5 Review)

One near attempt at murder, two attempts at suicide (one of those assisted), a kidnap and a child running away. That’s an impressive CV of a finale which will likely disappoint many for the sole reason that everybody gets out alive. As far as we know. Those gearing up for a fatal battle royale between Gemma and Simon were ignoring the heart of what made series two tick. Tom was the epicentre of the storm and by running off, the adverse weather has moved direction.

Simon wasn’t run over which is just as well because Gemma’s, let’s say, pyrrhic victory would have been for nothing. If there is a next series it’d be based in the courtroom and no one wants that. With incredibly fast feet Simon dons Gemma’s stalking capabilities from three episodes back by showing up at the hotel, the house and then a restaurant where his estranged wife and son are eating.  The language is violent and contradictory. There is talk of stabbings and choking one moment and reconciliation the next. Simon’s grovelling is desperate and Bertie Carvel uses it to perfection. You never quite know how much of it is genuine regret or how much is still the mind games of a man who can’t stop lying.

As for the mind, it can do funny things. We get lots of flashbacks to supposed happier times between the Fosters though it’s not stated if this was while he was seeing Kate. The purpose of this is not quite clear. Is it to set up a potential reunion in a severe case of better the devil you know? Is it better to live with the lies than be without them?

In a masterfully shot scene, Simon plays with the traffic but as mother, father and son stand by the road it’s a lottery as to who will get out alive. Gemma wrestles with him by the road and for one moment it looks like Tom wants to run in front of a car to stop all the nonsense. You wouldn’t blame the kid. An agreement is reached, which is potentially the first time that can be said about these two. Gemma agrees to leave drugs in the hotel room for her nemesis to end his life. More impending dread of courtroom scenes flash before us as Gemma’s fingerprints would have been all over the offending stuff AND she left a note of instructions. Talk about leaving a trace.

While trying to kill off her ex-husband there’s a fantastically awkward breakfast where Tom, never one to mince his words says “we’re all just sitting here feeling like shit”. The poor waitress perseveres and at the very least deserved a tip for her troubles. Tears over bacon aside, Simon’s split personality is still in action as truths come out. We get the big reveal of what exactly he told Tom to turn him against his mother. In fact, it’s not a big reveal at all. After all the hype it’s simply mentioned in passing and is an example of how the show balances the epic and the mundane well.

It subverts how you expect everything to play out. The different levels are part of what makes Doctor Foster tick. One moment Gemma is saving Simon from the traffic, next she’s assisting in his suicide and then ultimately talking him out of the suicide she agreed to lend a hand in. It’s bluff after bluff and this shit just got real. The running agenda in this series has been the consequences of actions and the fallout is finally upon us. As a lesson learnt it’s the ultimate act of cruelty writer Mike Bartlett has dished out.

There is a truce of sorts but the great tragedy is that it comes literally minutes too late. As Mr and Mrs Foster leave things on fairly amicable terms (both alive and not swearing at each other) Tom is roaming free having done a runner from the car park. Again, there’s the dread he’s thrown himself onto the road as if taking inspiration from his dad but it’s another false alarm. He leaves a phone message about living his own life: “You’ll never see me again” he promises, “I hate myself”. Words uttered not long before by Simon. Like father like son. Narrating the closing seconds, Gemma states “whatever fight you thought was important now looks so naive” as weeks and months go by without any trace of her son. She even breaks the fourth wall and talks directly to the camera which is disconcerting at the least and takes the viewer out of what is a deeply emotional moment. You don’t need to worry about Suranne Jones seeing you eat Pot Noodle while sat in your pants.

It is both a satisfactory end to Doctor Foster and a hint to what’s next. Should there be another series there would need to be a good twist on the standard missing child programmes we’ve had so much of lately. If any show is capable of breathing fresh and somewhat bizarre life into old topics then it’s this one. 9/10

Doctor’s notes:

• At no stage must the two of them get back together romantically. If there is a future for Doctor Foster then there can’t be a future with them as a couple. An uneasy alliance would work though.
• Sian wasn’t a bad sort in the end though it’s always difficult to trust overly smiley people.
• James. Poor James. The glutton for punishment got dumped and should probably count his blessings
• Is Tom at Anna’s new home? Or at least in touch with Anna?
• Will Tom come back to Parminster in two years time with a wife and kid and set about on a vengeful mission to oust his mother from town? If so, does that mean Parminster is stuck in a never ending time loop of insanity? It would explain a lot.