Peaky Blinders recap: series two, episode one – style, swagger and a violent trip to London
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Version 0 of 1. I know it’s not to everyone’s taste, but I unashamedly love this show – and not just because it’s about a gang of Irish gypsies who make their money from the track, which pretty much sounds like my extended family. Yes, it’s completely over the top, highly stylised and stuffed to its razor-sewn brim with wandering accents, but it’s also more enjoyable than any other drama on UK television right now. The world is full of grindingly accurate, incredibly depressing period dramas (and Downton Abbey, which is depressing in entirely different ways). By contrast, Peaky Blinders looks across the Atlantic and asks: why should we let the Yanks have all the fun? Why don’t we make an action-packed crime drama in which the heroes have a surfeit of style and swagger, the lines teeter permanently on the verge of camp and the cast are clearly having a ball, then shoot the whole thing with so much pizzazz that you can’t help but go with the flow? I also love the more jarring elements of this show, especially the modern soundtrack. Creator Stephen Knight is not aiming for straight drama, but rather retelling the mythology that ruled his childhood. In a recent BBC interview, he said: “I visualised the story through the eyes of a young boy growing up in that environment, so there is a sense of heightened reality.” You can see that in the outlaw swagger of Tommy Shelby and his gang. Peaky Blinders isn’t meant to be an accurate depiction of life in Small Heath in the early 1920s, it is Stagger Lee come to life, which is another reason why Nick Cave sounds so right in the background. Our heroes We kicked off the new series, all six episodes of which are written by Knight and directed by Colm McCarthy of Sherlock and Ripper Street fame, at a slightly slower pace than usual. Freddie Thorne is dead (alas poor Freddie, you fought for the common man and were carried off by the common cold, as your obituary writer probably wouldn’t say); Ada remains estranged from her family; and the Shelby business is doing so well that Tommy has turned his eyes towards London’s glittering prizes. To be honest, the first 30 minutes of this episode did feel a little bit like business as usual: Tommy glowered impassively, his dead-eyed stare hiding the furious machinations of his brain; Aunt Pol continued to be the voice of reason and also not a woman you’d bet against in a fight; Arthur hit things; and John fine-tuned his continuing audition to be the Fredo Corleone of Small Heath. Thankfully, things swiftly moved up a level after Tommy’s run-in with the mysterious Irish insurgents (particularly with the reveal that they weren’t Irish insurgents at all, but agents of the British state working for now-Major Campbell) and the boys’ “holiday” to London. I don’t know about you, but I prefer my holidays to progress at a more sedate pace, although at least the no-longer-opiated Arthur seemed happy. The bad guys We were also given the answer to last season’s cliffhanger, as it turned out that Grace, AKA our lady of the endless Irish ditties, had got her bag up in time to deflect the bullet into Campbell’s knee. I initially found this something of a cop out – what, neither of them died? – but in retrospect, I quite liked it. If Grace had died then Campbell wouldn’t have got away with it, and I’m a fan of his brew of hellfire and brimstone marinated in cold, cold hate. His convalescence hasn’t led to a notable mellowing of temperament, but I am interested in his (actually pretty clever) plot to ensnare Tommy, and he got off one of the night’s best lines when he remarked: “The end of the rope has been this man’s destiny since the night he was born.” Also proving good with a one-liner was the other notable villain, the London-Italian mobster Sabini, who introduced himself to Tommy by delivering a thorough kicking before remaking: “Take his name out of my mouth,” and ordering the sort of tooth extraction last seen in Marathon Man. Eagle-eyed viewers will have spotted that Sabini was played by Noah Taylor, who recently cut off a Lannister hand as the evil Locke in Game of Thrones, and his newfound association with the removal of people’s body parts is beginning to make me view Flirting in an entirely different way. Additional notes • Ah, those pesky Irish and their bomb-and-green-confetti prams. I’m not sure the opening scene will be winning any awards for realism, but it was classic Peaky Blinders. Welcome back, boys. • That said, I could have done without the threat to Ada – even though it was horribly plausible, given Tommy’s lack of concern for those who get caught in his plotting has been threatening to bring harm since the beginning. But oh, how I wish so many shows didn’t use the threat of rape as their go-to plotline. Yes, Tommy did also receive a savage beating, but I’m not entirely convinced that’s mitigation. • Nice shot of Michael Collins in the Black Lion. It convinced me that the mysterious Irish business concerned the assassination of Campbell rather than, as it transpired, Campbell bumping off Republicans. I also liked Tommy’s insouciant: ‘That’s funny, don’t you think? A war about peace.” It’s the way you tell them, Tommy, although the fact he lost his cool on leaving was perhaps more revealing. • Poor Polly and her long-lost children. This is clearly a storyline that’s going to end badly, although having missed out on Medea, I support anything that allows the magnificent Helen McCrory to emote. • I vastly prefer Lizzy and her dreams of secretarial success to the winsome and thankfully absent Grace; unfortunately, Tommy doesn’t appear to feel the same. • Talking of Grace, just when I thought her absence meant I would watch an entire episode of Peaky Blinders without hearing a childhood lullaby, Danny Boy kicked in and all was right with the world. • Anachronistic yet strangely right song of the Week – PJ Harvey’s To Bring You My Love. Just when this show couldn’t win any more of my heart, they kick off proceedings with one of my favourite songs from my absolutely favourite singer. Quote of the week “London’s just trouble and smoke” – oh Esme, as a lifelong resident of Shepherd’s Bush, I can only nod my head in mournful agreement. So what did you think? Were you glad to see the Shelby boys back? Has Tommy bitten off more than even he can manage? And, having met Noah Taylor, who is excited to see Tom Hardy as Alfie Solomons next week? As always, all comments are welcome below … |