I sat down to watch the fifth season of the British television series Peaky Blinders right as the fire alarm in Thurston went off and the building was forced to evacuate because of a reported fire in the vents. I sat down 30 minutes again to start the season without interruption and finished it within a day.
That’s how good this season of Peaky was. Straight (Thurston) fire.
I’ve been watching the show since I was a freshman in High School when I found it while browsing Netflix. I was sold the minute Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) appears on a horse in the first shot of the first episode of the first season with the gravitas of what could only be an emperor or maybe a god. It was apparent to me very quickly that everything about this show was well done: from writing to cinematography and everything in between. Since then, I’ve eagerly awaited each season and binged the entirety of the six episode seasons within a couple days. Sometimes I have to remind myself to slow down and pace the episodes a little better because I want it to last as long as possible.
The show follows the Shelby family, particularly the patriarch of the family, Tommy, in their meteoric rise from rags to riches in Birmingham at the start of the ‘20’s. The show starts with the Shelbys as a back alley razor gang that make their cash at the horse races to a proper incredibly powerful organized crime family over the course of a few seasons. All the while, they infight, partake in gang wars, collude with some Russians, get involved with some IRA spies, get elected to parliament, and much more.
Though, I couldn’t help but notice that in recent seasons what I loved about the show the minute I began watching it years ago was starting to fade. Plot lines were becoming convoluted with melodrama and unnecessary twists and turns. In order to keep this drama as dramatic as possible they seemed to be throwing in needless suffering and pointless story lines. So much so that it was not meticulously crafted as it used to be, but instead, felt a bit soap opera-y. This season was a real change from that unfortunate pattern.
Last season ended on a (very) unusual high note with Tommy elected to parliament, cementing himself not only as a crime boss, but an extremely powerful politician. The episode ended with Tommy walking through the halls of parliament with his family around him. It was surprising in its lightness. There are rarely moments of lightness in Peaky Blinders. This season, almost in mockery of the happy note the fourth season ended on, the darkness was firmly back in place.
This season takes Tommy to a darker and for more personal place than in previous seasons. He struggles with thoughts of suicide and his obsession with power and his desperation to hold onto it is put on full display.This season, though still jam-packed with violent gang action and the rough and tumble energy that comes with the peaky boys, shifts towards the deeper side of Tommy. We see further inside the very sad mind of Tommy Shelby. He has always been a nuanced anti-hero, but in recent seasons, they’ve fallen back on the trope of such an anti-hero and almost phoned it in. Not this season. In this season, we see the inner-workings of an ambiguous and often cold character come unwound. It’s hard to watch sometimes, but it makes for incredible television.
The broader arching storyline of the season deals with the rise of fascism under the specter of the stock market crash of ‘29. It’s an interesting position to put the often a-political Shelbys in. Family members struggle with questions of evil, doing the right thing, and the allure of power and fame.
This season’s finale dark cliffhanger has me excited for next year. I’m left ready for more and excited to see what they do with these incredible characters. Season five is a must-watch. Just don’t get so excited Thurston catches on fire again.