This post contains major spoilers from Peaky Blinders season 5.
When it comes to watching TV shows and movies I'm quite the slowpoke. However when I decide to finally watch a TV show I'll often binge it over the course of a week or weekend. This week it was finally time to start Peaky Blinders Season 5. This is one of my favorite modern shows. I was late to the show from the get go and only first got in when season 4 was released. The show had me hooked from the get go and I pretty much watched it all in one go.
When I heard season 5 had released sometime in 2019 I was super excited and sat down planning to watch it straight away. To my surprise I couldn't find it on any streaming service. I had watched all of it on Netflix and apparently Norway wasn't first in line to release the new season. So I had to put it off and in the process I simply forgot about it.
Fast forward about two years. I'm sat browsing Netflix just for something quick to watch while I'm eating and I stumble upon Peaky Blinders and see that the new season is out. I fired it up and into the binge we go...
Deadline
Boring politics but cool villain
In this season we see the Peaky Blinders, or Tommy at least, really get into politics. The small time backstreet razor blade gang from Birmingham is getting really powerful. Honestly I'm not a big fan. Anything related to politics and parliament in the first few episodes just had me zoning out. It really wasn't that interesting and I ended up looking at my phone for most of these segments. I sort of felt that they weren't going anywhere with it expect to show how far Tommy has come.
This did however lead up to the introduction of this seasons big bad, Oswald Mosley. I thought this was pretty cool seeing as Oswald Mosley was actually a real politician from the 1920/30s. We also get to see a, not so lifelike, depiction of Winston Churchill. Tommy and the Peaky Blinders are involved with both.
Tommy managed to get entangled with Oswald Mosley and this is where this storyline finally gets interesting. I'm really liking this character. He has that cockiness, charisma, confidence and power to challenge Tommy. They get locked up in a power play lasting throughout the season and this storyline is great. I'm really digging this villain.
Mirror
Criminal enterprise
The Peaky Blinders wouldn't be the Peaky Blinders without a little criminal enterprise. Between season 4 and 5 the family has been living the good life. Money is flowing, they've expanded to several countries including the United States and they've invested in the stock market. As we all should know, historically there was a huge stock market crash in 1929. The crash sees the gang loosing as much as 90% of their wealth.
They still have enough to live very comfortably but that doesn't mean the Peaky Blinders take this loss with a smile. With the income from the stock market gone they need to find other sources of income. This time they turn, among other things, to fixing football games. Bribing referees and goalkeepers is how they go about this, and that got me thinking. How much of this has actually happened throughout history?
I'm an avid football fan and follow the Premier League closely and I wonder if I've ever watched a fixed match. I like to believe that this isn't an issue in modern football. At least not in the big leagues. With some of the big refereeing decisions going for and against a lot of teams you can wonder though...
Express
Football fixing isn't the big one though. Through one of their assassination side jobs the gang manages to get entangled with some Chinese business. They are made a proposition to transport opium. It's really risky business but it also pays well. The gang likes money, they need money so they get involved. Everyone except Tommy is against this but he still manages to vote it through due to his strong manipulation. I just feel like this will turn into some kind of disaster one way or another in season 6.
The cliffhanger
I hate cliffhangers. Through the first four seasons there hasn't been any real cliffhangers. There has been some open endings that's left us wondering what will happen next but nothing like this.
The show culminates with the Oswald Mosley storyline. He splits off from his political party and turns to fascism and he takes Tommy with him. Tommy sees Oswald for the evil that he is and really only goes with him because he understands that the easiest way to fight him is from the inside. These last few episodes where this storyline unfolds are the best in the season in my opinion. I was on edge the whole time.
Tommy's master plan is to infiltrate, get close to Oswald and assassinate him on stage at one of their rallys. They place a sniper, everything is going according to plan until it no longer does. The sniper is assassinated himself and Tommy loses control. He doesn't know who could have known and who could have done this. For the first time in a long time Tommy isn't in control anymore. There's something he doesn't know and he doesn't handle that well. It consumes him and the last thing we see is Tommy wandering down a feel, screaming as he's about to pull the trigger of a gun pointed at his own head. To be continued.
CrimeReads
Now I have a lot of theories. Was it Oswald Mosley who uncovered the plot and averted his own killing? He sure makes it look like he knows nothing. And if he knew I would think he would have averted it earlier than at the very last second before the sniper is about to pull the trigger. Is it the Billy Boys? They don't seem like they would be capable of uncovering this plot but then again I feel like we haven't seen anywhere near the last of them and what they can do.
My bet is on Gina, Michaels wife from the states. I haven't likes her for a second after she was introduced. I liked Michael as a character and he just seems corrupted and changed by this woman. I'm sure she has some kind of connection either to the Chinese or the IRA, or some other rivaling faction to the Peaky Blinders. Maybe she's connected to Oswald? That reveal is going to be big.
With the huge cliffhanger maybe it was for the best that I waited to watch the season. At least now I don't have to wait for two years to know what happens next. They started filming in January this year so a late 2021 or 2022 is what's expected currently. Apparently it's meant to be the last season. I'm excited.