Poor old Arthur, back on the Tokyo and falling apart at the seams. Polly, herself increasingly untethered to society, recognised that (and astutely played on Aberama’s belief in ghosts and witches), but what is the true price of their fragile alliance? I can’t help wondering if when the blood and dust settles next week we may find out that this alliance is the real betrayal and she has “freed” herself from Tommy to join forces with her “very unsuitable man”.
He’s the most uneasy and unpredictable of allies because, unlike Alfie, he is not driven by the desire to make a profit. I expect that the finale will see the united firm of Shelby and Solomons make their bid for Prohibition glory – the question remains, is Luca aware of that or has his “natural Italian fucking arrogance” blinded him to Alfie’s “Jewish air of absolute certainty”?Īnd what role will Aberama Gold play in all this mayhem? I continue to have bad feelings about him (and not simply because he’s played by Aidan Gillen, a man who has built a career out of playing untrustworthy characters). Alfie has always had a head for business and there was a reason Tommy showed him the gin distillery. Tommy recognised it and Alfie astutely confirmed it, which is why I don’t believe for one moment that Solomons has set the Peaky Blinders up, rum deal or no rum deal.
Here the true extent of Luca’s ambition was revealed: his visit to Birmingham was power grab as much as vendetta. I just want you to tell me out loud so I can check how ridiculous it is.”) Any doubts were settled the moment he delivered the line: “I already know what you want. Their meeting was a delicate dance for power peppered with great comebacks, which settled once and for all who would win the much-anticipated Ham-Off (Tom Hardy, of course.
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In an evening stuffed full of confrontations, the night’s most enjoyable head-to-head was between an apparently chastened Changretta and the ever-bombastic Solomons.
Photograph: Robert Viglasky/BBC/Caryn Mandabach The bad guys
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As to whether it will be Tommy or Jessie who ends the series victorious having converted the other to their cause – I’d say a stalemate appears the most likely outcome while noting that the truest words Tommy spoke all evening were “Let’s call her dangerous … she’s no fool.” In both cases we saw two people probing each other for intention and power and in both cases there was a considerable amount of acting going on behind the charm and fine words. That said, if I were Tommy I’d tread carefully where Jessie is concerned: their date was in its own way as menacing as the earlier confrontation between Luca Changretta and Alfie Solomons. Meanwhile, Jessie was treated to a candlelit dinner complete with dancing and a quick kiss. Poor Lizzie was promised a nice house and financial support, when what she craves is emotional connection (oh Lizzie, cut your losses and find a man who appreciates that kind heart and sharp brain). Tommy wouldn’t be Tommy if he didn’t also have a couple of romantic entanglements to sort out amid all the bloodshed and dodgy deals. No, I don’t know exactly how he intends it all to shake down but, as with most of Tommy’s schemes, this will be multi-layered. Still, among Tommy’s many excellent qualities is the ability to think a few steps ahead, and I’m pretty sure that he intends to somehow use the arrival of the military into Birmingham and the looming General Strike as a way of neutralising all his enemies once and for all. Unfortunately for the ever-busy Shelby he failed to eliminate his main target – even if he did make him dispense with his matchstick in fury – which means next week seems certain to be a bloodbath. It’s an established law of Peaky Blinders that when the going gets tough, Tommy Shelby truly gets going, and thus it proved this week as our hero made swift work of Luca’s ambush thanks to his superior knowledge of the terrain and a tip-off from Polly (as correctly called by most people below the line, well done).