Peaky Blinders makes its final season a punishment

Ada Thorne, née Shelby, arrives late to a family meeting. There was an explosion, blocking off a road, but surely a coincidence, obviously nothing to do with her crime-laden family or any of their myriad associates … right? Her brothers look away, and Ada sighs, “It would be nice if just One thing could happen in Birmingham that wasn’t our fault.”

This is how the Peaky Blinders are feeling. Peaky Blinders. Steven Knight’s BBC/Netflix series about a Birmingham gang turned reluctant high society ended this Friday with a bombastic six-episode run to conclude its sixth and supposedly final season. Knight has teased not only a follow-up film as the show’s “seventh season,” but also at least one or two spinoff series based on adventures of minor members of the Shelby family. It’s over. Only as over as it ever is for the Shelby family, which is to say that if Knight decides they have one last job, they’ll have one last job.

As such, the show’s sixth season feels both conclusive and not, like a program hedging its bets from episode to episode. At its helm still stands the long-suffering Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy), the leader of the family, hellbent on one last grasp to solidify the family’s power in both Birmingham and London (and Europe, for that matter, with the Second World War creeping closer and closer). He’s flanked as ever by his wayward older brother, Arthur (Paul Anderson — a different one) and baby sister, the aforementioned Ada (Sophie Rundle), his ever-beleaguered wife, Lizzie (Natasha O’Keeffe), and Aunt Polly (the gone-too-soon Helen McCrory). His bratty cousin Michael (Finn Cole), Polly’s son, hovers on the horizon, eager to grab whatever power he can.

Image courtesy of Netflix

Of course, that’s leaving out a whole host of regulars, from Johnny Dogs (Packy Lee) to Charlie Strong (Ned Dennehy); from Esme (Aimee-Ffion Edwards) to Linda (Kate Phillips) to Gina (Anya Taylor-Joy); the all-star cast of villains, from Maj. Campbell (Sam Neill) to Darby Sabini (Noah Taylor) to Father John Hughes (Paddy Considine) to Luca Changretta (Adrien Brody) to Oswald Mosley (Sam Claflin). And obviously don’t neglect Aberama Gold (Aidan Gillen) or Alfie Solomons (Tom Hardy). There were both magic and curses. It was not uncommon for men to escape from slow-motion explosions. This was a show where Tom Hardy could show up at any second, playing a Jewish mobster (sure), and say the wildest shit you’ve ever heard (in the show’s fourth season, he opens a scene with the sentence, “My little cousin was born blind and now I donate a considerable sum of money to a charity that gives dogs with eyes to blind Jews.” For sure!).

Here’s the thing Peaky Blinders is that describing it often sounds like you’re having a stroke. Everyone has a ridiculous name and there are way too many famous people on it, but the type of famous person known as “British character actor.” Every season, Tommy Shelby promised the family this was as far and as awful as they’d have to go to get what they need, and the next season they’d do it all over again. My name is Tommy Shelby. Peaky Blinders right after the second season aired, and I blew through the show’s first 12 episodes (ah, the sweet relief of a six-episode season) in a matter of days. One of the first pleasures was easy and animalistic. I loved watching my friends get mad at each others on television. The other thing was that I generally like Knight’s work, ranging from the romantic and sublime (Eastern PromisesTo the absurd and obscene (Serenity — not the Firefly movie, the one where Jeremy Strong plays a guy called “The Rules”). I stuck with it over the years. Peaky BlindersIt was enjoyed with a smug smile and a lot of enthusiasm. It was certainly not a great show in its third season. Then it went insane in fourth season. Season 5 saw an increase in the quality of episodes. It didn’t matter what villain, politics or stakes were, there was always the Peaky. fookin’The blinders of Netflix. You couldn’t kill them. They are stronger than any extermination effort.

Peaky BlindersIt was dark and cruel. But it wasn’t always funny. Everyone suffered so much — and for what? A lot of bootlegging and gun sales were done to save a family pub, which was destroyed every episode. A 2019 academic paper claimed that the show promoted toxic masculinity, violence, and nationalism. However, a spokesperson for The Simpsons argued that Peaky BlindersThe exact opposite happened. It’s a difficult show to watch and say, “This all seems like a good idea,” but the show has become a totem for “sigma male” memes featuring Tommy Shelby. This culture ignored the show’s wryness and irony, that none of this seems all that appealing. A life in grey old Birmingham where dead bodies can be found among piles of coal is the best that male sigma sigmas could hope for. You’re best to them.

Perhaps this is why the show’s sixth and apparently final season feels so outrageously grim and miserable, and at times, even shockingly violent: to make sure that once and for all, the show’s fans have the right idea about the type of man Tommy Shelby is. He acts with rampant cruelty and chaotic politicking, hobnobbing with the sneering fascists from the show’s fifth season. Watch the entire series. Spencer, a film written by Knight, I wondered if the show’s last season would angle towards historical revisionism, if maybe Tommy Shelby would kill Hitler before he came to rise. To overthrow the fascists, however, he will have to first join hands with them in an assortment of actions that are almost unbearable to watch. “Tommy, you have been on a journey. From the back streets to the corridors of power,” a character tells him as Shelby points a gun at his head.

Image courtesy of Netflix

Image courtesy of Netflix

It’s not hard to believe that we do know. The Peaky Blinders used to be a street gang, but now Shelby is an MP. Peaky BlindersIts themes, wants and goals have always been announced. Peaky Blinders exist to make the Peaky Blinders happy. That I thought the show might build toward something more holistic, something where the Peaky Blinders provide a public good, makes me just as susceptible to Peaky propaganda (Peaky-ganda) as the fans who worship Tommy as a sort of men’s rights icon. It isn’t the journey of England or Japan. Peaky Blinders audience, and it’s not even a journey at all. It’s a wheel, turning in the same direction over and over again. Peaky Blinders went there and back for themselves, and only themselves. I can’t blame them for not taking me along.

It feels as if the last season will be a final punishment or even a reward for those who are most committed to its cause. Sixth season feels stifled by destruction and death, with new characters constantly appearing and disappearing without any sense of purpose or place. Stephen Graham is doing what? Or Oswald Mosley’s bisexual mistress Lady Diana (Amber Anderson)? I don’t know. Maybe we’ll find out in the yet-to-be-confirmed movie, but until then, this new entry feels like it’s biding its time, forcing us to care about an in-family rivalry that never held much weight to begin with. The show is desperately missing the presence of the Blinders’ Aunt Polly, played by Helen McCrory, who passed away in real life before the sixth season was set to film. Polly’s absence in the show is handled tactfully and thoughtfully, but the space she leaves behind is used to fuel a halfhearted feud between Tommy and Michael. Multiple musical interludes play over scenes of suffering. A subplot concerning a mole within the company is hard to follow. It is easy to forget the pain and suffering of Tommy. No wonder these characters don’t feel human anymore; we don’t even see them. They only exist archetypically.

Scene after scene reminds you that this is bad and the Peaky Blinders are bad ad nauseam until you’re left hating all of them and everything they’ve ever done. It’s certainly a way to go out, and it’s a firm hand for Knight to play in light of what the show’s reputation is outside of itself. “You,” Alfie Solomons grumbles to Tommy Shelby, “who, on judgment day, is probably Fucked when the other shoe drops” — but is that ever really true? Each season, the Peaky Blinders get sucked by the other shoe dropping. Every time they pull it out.

Image courtesy of Netflix

Image courtesy of Netflix

It will still be a shame, film or not. Peaky BlindersAs we all know. The best of it. Peaky BlindersIt was operated in a machismo camp not dissimilar to other machismo camps. Sons of AnarchyThere, every little bit of misbehavior was justified. The women behaved like men, even the ones who were there. Reckless drinking, relentless drug use — all in the name of having a good time. Stealing? Gambling? It doesn’t matter what it takes to provide food for the family. And murder, well, that’s just what’s asked to protect the family. It’s all soldiers’ work, and Peaky BlindersHe was always quick reminding you that these were First World War soldiers. That’s why they’re bad, the trauma, of course. Don’t you see? The show was unpredictable, often funny and sometimes silly. A character might be shot in their head and then appear in the premiere season of another season. This soap opera had a high-stakes, absurd twist on a traditional opera.

Was there anything? Learn moreOut of Peaky Blinders? This was my question as I watched. Television doesn’t have to have a purpose, but what was the reason I gave my time to this show about heightened and maligned male trauma and not a dozen other shows about heightened and maligned male trauma? My guess is that the answer lies in the women on the show, the sisters, aunts, and wives. The show featured very few women, and even fewer, than those who were related to men. However, these women were strong voices for reason and good politics. In the show’s first season, little sister Ada Shelby makes waves going off with her communist boyfriend, the gone-too-soon Freddie Thorne. Ada was a bit sloppy in her first seasons due to her politics and poor judgment. Perhaps it’s because Ada has a strong moral character which feels like an obstacle in the Blindersverse as no one else has that level of fortitude. As the show progressed, I felt certain they’d write Ada off; she’s too good, she’s too uninvolved. Ada persevered through the episode. In a rare moment, Tommy informs Ada that maybe she’s the true politician and has genuine human interest. So perhaps Peaky BlindersIt is demon-filled, but there are still pillars that can bring hope and change. It just can’t be found in the Blinders themselves.

Peaky BlindersSeason 6 of Netflix’s The Walking Dead is available now.