PEAKY BLINDERS Season 5: Tommy Climbs Too High

When I first sat down to watch Peaky Blinders a few years ago, I turned it off about fifteen minutes into the first episode. I didn’t know anything about the show, but from the aura I’d gotten from the trailers, and I think through some miscommunication from the internet, I’d thought that it was going to be a fantasy. I’d heard people mention it in the same breath as Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead, two shows with sci fi/fantasy roots. So when I sat through those fifteen minutes only to hear Cillian Murphy mutter to his brothers about guns, I was disappointed, and stared at myself in the black reflection of the television I’d just turned off.

What’s the hook to this show? I remember thinking. I was supposed to just care about some British gangster period piece? Time passed, and then a friend of mine (Hi Michael!) told me to give it another shot because it was, in his words, “cool”. I liked cool, and I still do.

I wanted to start with that because I love being wrong about TV shows and films. Peaky Blinders is one of my favorite shows ever, and my relationship with it started with disdain and disappointment. And, luckily for me, this show just keeps getting better and better.

Recap: What Are The Shelbys Up To?

Season five finds the Shelbys assembling to discuss the Wall Street Crash of 1929. Tommy and the gang are shaken by the news, and eagerly await the return of Michael, who was overseas in America when it happened. Tensions grow as Michael announces his marriage to his new wife Gina (Anya Taylor-Joy), and and Tommy suspects that Michael wants to usurp his throne. Tommy is also dealing with our new baddie this season, Oswald Mosley, a fellow politician who wants Tommy to join his new fascist party. Tommy agrees so that he can spy on Mosley and take him down from the inside.

Arthur continues his rocky relationship with his disapproving wife, Linda, Ada finds she’s pregnant, though she spends her time trying to convince Tommy that he should take care of himself, and Polly continues to be the matriarch that they all need, and marries Abarama Gold in the meantime. Congrats Pol!

Troubled Minds

Peaky Blinders is nearly inseparable from its theme of PTSD. Tommy and Arthur find the effects of their time in WWI manifesting themselves in different ways each season. Whether its Tommy’s nightmares, Arthurs blind furies, or their addiction to drugs and alcohol, these are men who have been affected by horrors that others could scarcely imagine. They spent their time overseas in the trenches, living in the hot stink under the earth, tunneling the way for the soldiers that would follow.

Now, Tommy has begun to see visions of his late wife, Grace, who represents his mind at war with himself. Is he flying to close to the sun? Does he believe what he’s fighting for? And can he really trust anyone? Peaky Blinders thrives on these contemplative looks at their characters. Tommy’s ambition seems to grow with each season, and it only makes sense for it to wear on his mental health. It’s no wonder the final shot of the season is what it is. With each season, the shell of Tommy’s mind seems to crack more and more, and one of these episodes, the yolk is going to begin to run. And with that final shot of the season, the show wants us to wonder how he’ll be able to cope.

Arthur Shelby

Like his brother, Arthur also has his demons that he’s been contending with since episode one. This is where I have to make my statement. My official decree: GIVE. PAUL. ANDERSON. AN. EMMY. Arthur is the most complex and beautiful character to come from this show. He’s a voracious fighter and somehow the most fragile member of the family. He’s unpredictable in his actions, but sympathetic in his worst states. Addiction, PTSD, and an inability to follow his gut rule his life, and we suffer along with him in his turmoil. Arthur’s story wouldn’t be enough to sustain the show as the main character, but working on the sidelines helps to give the show a heavy emotional weight, one that Tommy must worry about on-top of everything else that he’s dealing with.

Paul Anderson channels Arthur’s problems like an adolescent child. He seems to foam at the mouth (literally, check for scenes when he’s angry, Anderson seems to spit with each word he speaks) when he doesn’t get his way. And within the anger in his eyes, Anderson is able to convey a sadness that even Tommy with his dead wife never shows. You might look at the scene in which he beats a man to death this season. The man, unconscious below him, doesn’t hear Arthur scream about how he’s a good man. About how he’s got a good heart, but the devil’s hands. The man he’s beaten doesn’t hear him, but we do.

Arthur represents one of the most emotional aspects of mental illness; wanting to feel good again. Arthur just wants to feel like everyone else, but the voices in his head won’t let him. He’s trapped in his mind and fears he may never break free. And Paul Anderson conveys this in a somehow gargantuan and yet delicate way. He conveys it with the complexity and nuance that the character deserves.

How Far Will Tommy Go?

As I’ve mentioned, Tommy is reminded countless times this season that if he keeps climbing the ladder of success, the fall from the top might be enough to kill him. Tommy’s ambition has always been an integral part of his character. It’s the driving force behind the show that keeps us guessing. This main character, the hero of our story, will never give up. It’s like a lurking monster that floats just under the boat. We never know when the monster might attack, and we never know where Tommy’s ambition might take him.

Peaky Blinders is a show that stays in touch with its character. It’s writing, plot and cinematography show their need to climb higher in the same way Tommy does. The show brings a surrealist edge this season with Tommy’s strange dreams of Grace, and his random encounters with her in his waking life. Long unbroken of Arthur pulverizing a man he believes to be sleeping with his wife make us want to look away, but we find we can’t. The long shot is like our fixed stare, unable to turn from the brutal violence in front of us.

But the things we love about the shows remain. Scenes that seem to be lit by nothing more than a crackling fireplace or a hanging lantern that cast a quasi-noir pall over the show, so that every scene feels like a conspiracy. Every single frame of this show is a beautiful reminder that no one is to be trusted. They demonstrate that in the despicably of its characters, but almost more so in the visual language that the camera’s are able to capture. Darkness, fire and smoke frame the edges of Thomas Shelby’s world.

Now What?

Unlike previous seasons of Peaky Blinders that leave us in excited interest for the next to come, season 5 ends in such away where maybe we don’t want to see what’s happens next. Tommy’s plan to takeout Mosley doesn’t go the way we thought it would, and the mists of betrayal are still curling around the family, because it’s clear that someone tipped off Mosley’s crew to the assassination.

The wonderful cliffhanger of season 3, which depicted each of the Shelby’s being arrested while Tommy watched, seems like child’s play compared to the disarray that we were given in this season’s final episode. Tommy does not stand with his hands behind his back, watching things unfurl with a look of pensive resignation. He’s just as shaken as the rest of them. And if Tommy isn’t in control of the Peaky Blinders, who is?

Season 5 of Peaky Blinders brings as many twists and turns as the previous seasons, and introduces some new players to the chess board, any of whom could rise from pawn to king. The show continues to take its viewers on journeys of intrigue, sex and violence, all with roots in the politics of England. We don’t know what will happen in season 6, and we’re not sure if we want to know, but we’ll definitely be tuning in, because Tommy Shelby never leaves us bored.

What did you think of Season 5? Is Tommy going to find his way out of this one? And what about that final shot??? Let me know in the comments below! I’ll see you all for season 6!

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