Summary: Tommy prepares to betray Kimber but the plan is leaked by Grace who runs away. Kimber’s men show up and there is a standoff. Freddie is freed and brought back to Birmingham. Tommy kills Kimber. Danny dies in the chaos. Campbell resigns from his position.
The Good: There was some good drama throughout this episode and that makes it watchable. The Bad: Unfortunately every pay-off here was really weak and underwhelming. This episode proved to me that “Peaky Blinders” is an uninspired, emotionally empty and utterly underwhelming TV show. This episode was technically well done but the story was terrible. The whole season was spent with Tommy carefully working through gang conflicts to end up on top. And yet the pay-off for this season is that Tommy gets lucky enough to shoot Kimber in the head so that he wins. This was unbelievably anticlimactic as Tommy himself does nothing to earn this and he faces no consequences for not identifying that Grace was working against him. If there are no consequences, I have no reason to care. The climax was woefully empty emotionally too. Freddie’s return has no resonance because he isn’t even supposed to be on good terms with these people, Danny’s death is empty because I hardly know who he is, and Ada’s intervention has no impact because of how utterly stupid and illogical is. Furthermore, it makes no sense for Kimber to lead his own men and risk his life. Even sillier is how Kimber is shot and nobody does anything. Surely taking him out isn’t that easy! Anyone can do that! It’s also unbelievable that everybody did not start firing when the first shot was fired. The whole climax was just awfully written. Campbell’s story was really bad too. The character has become a real nothing of a villain who abuses women and is a manipulative bad guy who doesn’t have morals. This is a far cry from the morally complex man that I was hopeful we would get back in the first episode. The ending cliffhanger is laughably bad and gives me no incentive to keep watching. As a final note, the ending was very tonally confused, but there is more detail of that in my review of season 1 which will be linked below. The Unknown: Will Tommy go find Grace? Is Grace dead? I strongly doubt it. I wonder where the gunshot came from though. Best Moment: It’s tough to find a moment I fully enjoyed. I’ll go with Tommy’s time in the bar before Kimber’s men show up. Character of the Episode: Tommy. Conclusion: This episode failed. I may be a bit harsh on my score of this episode but it is indicative of how this episode killed my interest in this show. This pay-off was disappointing and poorly written, and it was abundantly clear that there is nothing in this show that I was ever emotionally invested in. I just didn’t care about what was happening. Season 1 was a big disappointment and I will not be watching more. For more thoughts on season 1, click here for my review of it. Score: 42
0 Comments
Summary: The Shelbys turn on Tommy. Tommy deals with Byrne from the IRA and enlists Grace and the police to help him with them. The plan goes awry and Grace ends up murdering the two IRA men. Grace discovers the location of the guns and leaks it to Campbell. Tommy and Grace hook up. Campbell discovers this. Tommy’s father returns to town. Arthur spends time with him and gives him money but he leaves with it. Arthur tries to kill himself but fails.
The Good: Arthur’s an idiot for falling for his father’s trick but the story is done well on paper. The dealings with the IRA are the best parts of the episode for sure and are the most tense and exciting that the show has ever been. The stand-off scene is great television with plenty of storylines converging. Seeing Tommy snap was shot very well and his horrific murder was difficult to watch. There was a really poignant moment of directing as Grace sang her song while every on-screen character was suffering. The Bad: Arthur’s story is hurt because we don’t know why he accepted his father’s return and why he was waiting for him. Not giving us context for this removed all emotion from that storyline. His suicide attempt was only there for shock value and had no emotional weight. Tommy is an idiot for not suspecting Grace by now. He has every reason to be suspicious of her yet he ignores it because he’s in love, a boring and uninspired cliche. The love triangle set up with Tommy, Grace and Campbell doesn’t interest me at all and I’m not excited for it. The Tommy/Grace relationship feels rushed and I don’t buy into their love at all. I had to roll my eyes at how quickly the Shelbys forgave Tommy. He comforted Arthur one time and suddenly nobody has any problems with him. That’s not how people think! I find it hard to believe that Tommy isn’t trying harder to find out how Campbell found the guns. The Unknown: Will Arthur be punished for his mistake? Will the Shelbys learn that he gave up the location of the guns? Will Tommy learn about Grace? How will he react? What does Campbell intend to do now that he knows about Tommy and Grace? Where is the one remaining machine gun? Best Moment: The tense standoff between Tommy and the IRA. Character of the Episode: Tommy. Conclusion: This episode had a great sequence with the IRA but overall I don’t think that it did much good for the direction of the show as a whole. With such little emotional investment, the climax of this season has been disappointing so far. Score: 56 Summary: During a Shelby meeting, the Lee family steals their money. Tommy makes peace with the Lees by allying with them against Billy Kimber. The alliance is sealed when Tommy marries John to one of the Lees. Tommy gives Stanley Chapman, Freddie’s superior, to Campbell. Freddie returns for the wedding but he is sold out and captured by Campbell.
The Good: Campbell’s threat was a superb scene. It did a great job of illustrating how desperate Tommy’s current position is and sets up his motives for the rest of the episode. Even though his family doesn’t know, we know that Tommy is doing what’s best for the family. The family meeting at the start of the episode was fun and helped show us the dynamic between these characters. We need more scenes like this. The Bad: Again, this episode had little heart to it. John’s storyline gives us no real insight into the character and simply provides another scenario for Tommy to resolve. Tommy himself isn’t given any depth by the show either. All we get to see is how smart he is and that’s not enough to make me care. The Freddie story is the centerpiece of the episode but there’s not much to it. I’m not invested in the character so I really don’t care what happens to him. The Unknown: How will the show follow up on Tommy kissing Grace? Is there a romance starting there? What is Grace and Campbell’s history? Did Tommy actually give up Freddie? I imagine it was probably Grace who did it. Best Moment: Campbell threatening Tommy’s family. Character of the Episode: Tommy. Conclusion: This might have been a better episode had the characters been better defined throughout the show. But the characters are weak, therefore the story ends up falling flat. Score: 55 Summary: Grace kills a man from the IRA. Freddie refuses to leave with Ada and comes into conflict with Tommy. Tommy takes Grace to the races and the Peaky Blinders route the Lee family. Tommy makes another deal with Kimber. Kimber tries to have Grace but Tommy stops him.
The Good: This show still has a really strong core. The scenes are well written and well produced, the plot is fun to watch and the dealings that Tommy has with various other groups are always enjoyable. The scenes with Kimber are very well written and engaging, and I like how they are used to shed more light on the relationship between Tommy and Grace. The Freddie story is heating up nicely and I’m interested to see where it goes. I really like how the show handles PTSD, and the scenes with Tommy and Arthur suffering from PTSD were really well done. The Bad: The show is flat emotionally. The plot is moving rapidly with lots of interesting situations popping up, and I think that it will go somewhere exciting. But at the moment it feels like a lot of set-up without enough of an emotional core to be anything more. I don’t really have any specific scenes to comment on because nothing really stands out as good or bad. Every scene is just another solid scene that pushes forward the plot. The show is lacking depth. The Unknown: What will Tommy do with Freddie? Best Moment: Tommy’s war dream. Character of the Episode: Tommy. Conclusion: This was more of the same. Another technically impressive episode that doesn’t have much heart. Score: 58 Summary: Tommy fights the Lee family after getting a horse from them but it gets sick after the races and Tommy puts it down. Billy Kimber goes to Tommy after he fixed a race, but they make a deal to fight the Lee family. Tommy makes a deal with Campbell to return the guns if Campbell helps him and lets him do his business. Ada is pregnant and Freddie offers to marry her against Tommy’s wishes.
The Good: This is a very well written show. The plot developments here are sensible, and it’s immensely satisfying how the multiple storylines play into each other. For example, the Lee family story ends up being the way that Tommy diffuses the situation with Billy Kimber (which was also brought up as a problem last episode). The plot has been written very consistently so far with several dramatic twists and turns. I like that a lot. The side characters came off better in this episode. Pol, Ada and Freddie were given more to do in this episode. The Bad: This was another very plot-heavy episode without a whole lot of heart to it. I enjoyed what was on-screen but I’m not invested in the story or characters just yet. Most of this episode’s thrills felt very two-dimensional. The Unknown: What’s Tommy’s plan for working with Kimber? I imagine that being his ally isn’t enough for Tommy. How will Tommy deal with Freddie choosing to stay? Will Campbell still honour the deal with Tommy once he discovers that Freddie is still around? Best Moment: Tommy making the deal with Campbell is a lot of fun. Scenes like these help us appreciate Tommy’s intelligence. Character of the Episode: Tommy. Conclusion: This episode had more fun plot developments and continued to slowly get me invested in the characters. However, the show is still lacking heart. Score: 60 Summary: Tommy is leader of the Peaky Blinders in 1919 Birmingham. His men accidentally steal a crate full of guns and Tommy plans to use this to his advantage. An inspector, Campbell, is sent to Birmingham to find the guns and he plants Grace in the Peaky Blinders’ bar. Tommy fakes the death of Danny, a friend from the war.
The Good: The show conveys the historical period really well and I was very impressed by the production of the show. The sets look accurate, the costumes are brilliant and the atmosphere captures the early 1900s feel. I also really liked the dialogue, and I appreciate that the showrunners didn’t shy away from using heavy British accents in the show to accurately convey the time period. Tommy is proving to be an intelligent main character, which is always a good hook. I’m interested to see more from him. I’m also very intrigued by the competition between Tommy and Campbell since they both seem to be in an intense chess match with each other. I didn’t see the Grace twist coming and I’m excited to see where the show goes with this plot thread. The Bad: Otherwise, this was a bit of a flat pilot. The first half hour was really dull because the show started to have major plot moments before we even got acquainted with the characters and the world. These moments had minimal impact on me because I didn’t know the characters or the world well enough for these reveals to have any meaning. I wish that the plot had started to develop after we were appropriately introduced to the characters, the rules, and the gang organization in this world. I don’t even think that the show explained who the Peaky Blinders are, which is a misstep for viewers who don’t already have an idea of what the show is about. Pilots are meant to hook the audience and unfortunately this one didn’t do a very good job. The episode also drags on a bit with its hour-long runtime. The Unknown: I’m not sure how to feel about these side characters yet. What’s going on with Ada and Freddie? Is this fling important? What’s wrong with Danny? What happened to him during the war? What are Campbell’s plans for Grace? What are Tommy’s plans for the guns? Best Moment: Campbell’s speech upon meeting the Birmingham police force. It wasn’t a terrific moment by any means but it gave us a great idea of what this character is about while allowing Sam Neill a good performance to connect to the audience. Character of the Episode: Campbell. Conclusion: The concept of this show intrigues me and I want to see more, but I think that this pilot could have done much better to hook the viewer. Score: 61 Summary: The Peaky Blinders are a gang operating in early 1900s Birmingham after the war. Tommy is the leader and he starts making deals to rise up in the ranks after his men accidentally steal a crate full of Lewis machine guns. Inspector Campbell comes to Birmingham to retrieve the guns. He has a spy, Grace, infiltrate the Peaky Blinders. Grace and Tommy grow close. Tommy makes deals with Campbell and reveals he has the guns. He also allies with Billy Kimber to fight the Lee family. However he marries his brother John to the Lees and plans to betray Kimber. Tommy ends up in conflict with the IRA and Grace kills their men. Tommy and Grace fall in love and Campbell finds out. Grace leaks Tommy's plan to Billy Kimber and leaves. The Shelbys fight Kimber's men and Tommy kills him. The Peaky Blinders end up legally owning a betting ring. Grace leaves Birmingham but Campbell confronts her with a gun and a gunshot is heard.
The Good: This is another political show that came out at a time when political shows were at the height of popularity. I'm a big fan of the historical political genre so the concept of this show was right up my alley. The highlight of the show for me was watching Tommy manage the Peaky Blinders with the intention of rising up the ranks. His constant dealings with other gangs and the many betrayals and twists were always engaging to watch and the plot and dialogue was written very well. This show had a good grip on politics. Tommy himself wasn't a great character by any means but he was enjoyable to watch and he worked overall as a viewpoint for the story. The production of this show was also very good. The costumes and sets were perfectly done to encapsulate the feel of post WW1 England. I was also pleased that the show committed to the entire cast having hard English accents, making the time period feel more authentic. The technical aspects of the show were also really well done. The directing was good, the soundtrack was good, the acting was good (if unspectacular), the dialogue was good, the editing was good, etcetera. The team making the show did a very good job and that should be commended. The early parts of the show were the most fascinating to watch. In these episodes the show was still finding its feet and establishing its identity, so the issues the show would have with characters and emotional investment were not a worry yet. As such, it was easy to invest in the storylines with the hope that things would come together to make you care by the end of the season. With that optimism in mind, I found it very exciting to learn more about the factions in this world that would become key players as the season goes on. The Bad: As fun as the politics are, they have been overdone lately. With other shows like "Boardwalk Empire", "House of Cards" and "Game of Thrones" flourishing, it was always going to be difficult for yet another political thriller to shine. And "Peaky Blinders" fails to differentiate itself from these other shows in any meaningful ways. Outside of the setting, there is nothing unique about this show and there is nothing that makes it stand out. While watching these six episodes I always felt like I was watching a show devoid of heart and emotion. This show seemed to exist purely to capitalize on current trends to make money, and the characters and story were phoned in. There was no heart or message or point to this TV show, and I fail to see any reason for it to even exist. The characters were truly god awful. Tommy was the best character and yet he's nothing special. He's just yet another smart and badass character with a heart of gold and a traumatic past. I've seen this so many times before. And every side character is terrible. John is defined solely by the fact that he's a drunk that has kids, there is literally nothing else to him. And he's one of the main side characters! Arthur is just the dumb, aggressive archetype and it's every bit as boring as it sounds. Freddie is an empty character with no real traits or emotional connection, and his relationship with Ada is completely hollow. Ada herself is just the badass girl archetype who, again, completely lacks depth. And then there's Polly who is played by a decent actress but her role in the story is just perplexing to me. I don't know what motivates her or what her moral compass is, and she adds nothing to the show or its plot. She's the most wasted character on the show because she's hardly developed and nothing is done with her. The most significant characters other that Tommy are Grace and Campbell, and unfortunately they are the weakest links in this already weak cast of characters. Grace ended up being a boring trope through and through, and I was disappointed to get no depth to her whatsoever. She started off as an intriguing spy with a dark past, and she ended up becoming a generic love interest for Tommy, sparking a really bad love triangle story that bored me to tears. Campbell was a spectacular disappointment. Sam Neill gave what was the best performance on the show, and yet he was wasted with such a bad character. Campbell had potential with his introduction. He seemed smart, moral, and determined, and I was excited to see him go up against Tommy. I hoped for something similar to the Light vs L rivalry from "Death Note" which was always gripping to watch. Instead what we got was pathetic. Their conflict isn't focused on very much until the last few episodes in which Campbell devolves into a generic bad guy who is mean to women, despicable, and has no sense of morality. The show massacres the character in its final 3 episodes and turns a potentially interesting villain into a complete flop of a character. I was incredibly disappointed by this decision, and it single-handedly convinced me to drop the show, especially seeing how bland everything else was. The blandness of the story is evidenced perfectly in the climax. Nothing that happened was set up adequately, there was no depth to the storytelling whatsoever, the writing was abysmal, and I never once got emotionally invested into the storylines that were being explored. It amazes me how poorly the final act of this season was executed, and I found the decision to fixate on the love triangle rather than the gang politics to be perplexing. Furthermore, I have to scratch my head at how the show built up to this climax. It relied so heavily on us caring about the Shelby family as a whole, but nothing about this entire season ever suggested that the show was trying to make us care about them. I couldn't even remember the names of half of the characters fighting beside Tommy! The climax came and the show unfairly wanted us to invest emotionally despite putting in none of the leg work. The most blatant example of this is how the main emotional beat of the season finale was the death of Danny. I hardly even knew who Danny was and I did not care one bit that he died. How on Earth can that be the emotional core of season finale when the show puts in no effort to make us care about Danny or his relationship with other characters? I'll never be able to understand the decision-making that went on backstage. Best Episodes: E01 Episode 1: The first episode was where the show peaked and it wasn't anythign special. I was intrigued after watching it and the show hadn't disappointed me yet. Worst Episodes: E04 Episode 4: This episode had a story to tell with Freddie and Ada, but where it failed is that I never even came close to caring about what happened. E05 Episode 5: This episode had the best sequence of the show with the IRA standoff, but it's problematic because it took the show in a bad direction that led to me dropping it. E06 Episode 6: The season finale was a mess of an episode that failed to satisfy me in any way. Character of the Season: Tommy. Conclusion: I had originally planned to write more about this show but I honestly could not bring myself to do it. This ended up being a disappointingly empty show that was devoid of any meaning or reason for existence, and that’s why I don’t have the passion to write any more about it. The characters were awful, the writing gradually got worse, and I hated the direction that the story went. I got absolutely nothing out of the six hours I invested into this, and there is no way that I'll be investing any more time into this show. Is it a well produced show? Yeah. Is there a good premise? Yeah. But the story is the most important part and this story was s***. If you don't mind turning your brain off while watching television then you will probably enjoy this a lot more than I did. But if you're somebody who cares about watching a compelling story, then stay far away from "Peaky Blinders". |
Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
March 2024
Categories
All
|