Peaky Blinders Season 6 has just wrapped up on the BBC here in the UK, and I have some
thoughts on the overall season.
It's one that in my opinion, started off in not the greatest
of ways it could, but then by the end it did redeem itself with some great performances,
cinematography and storytelling.
It also get's us questioning what could happen come the
Peaky Blinders film, which creator Stephen Knight had previously announced and hopes
to begin production on in the coming years.
In this spoiler review, I'm going to be discussing what I thought about the final season of Peaky
Blinders alongside how the ending of the show sets up the movie.
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But without further a do, lets dive into my review for Peaky Blinders
Season 6.
So the Peaky Blinders season 6 finale gave us our last time with the Shelbys on television.
With Cillian Murphy's Tommy Shelby showing us his big plan, just about every big character
from the shows final season made an appearance, whether it be Tom Hardy's Alife Solomons,
Oswald Mosley and the other Shelby family members in Arthur, Ada and Lizzie.
We also got more of the new characters such as Tommy's long-lost
son Duke Shelby, who after this season, seems to be being pushed for the Peaky Blinders
film.
But the central narrative beat other then the focus and examination of Tommy and his
looming death, was the central duel between Tommy and Michael Gray over the death of Polly.
By the final episode we saw multiple deaths, whether it be Arthur avenging Polly's death
or Tommy shooting Michael, showing that he truly has no limitations.
We also discovered that are main Blinder isn't ill with a tuberculoma
and that his doctor was secretly working for Oswald Mosley, spotting a photograph of him
attending Oswald's wedding to Dianna, which was also attended by Hitler.
So in the end, Tommy has essentially escaped it all, whether it
be the fascists he didn't want to work with, his fake diagnosis of Tuberculoma or his family.
He rode out of the show on a white horse, symbolically reflective of the series opening
on a black horse.
Season 6 was essentially a form of purgatory for Tommy, reckoning with his sins and really
finding a way to leave it all behind.
But that's where I become very intrigued.
Because while this season had it's ups and downs, one thing I really did like was the
ending, and if this was a perfect send off for
Tommy, which I thought it was, how will that play into the future.
He's apparently now free.
Free, that is, until the Peaky Blinders feature film comes out.
I will be getting into this towards the end, but from a narrative point
of view, I hope they can pull it off after this ending.
It does seem more like the perfect ending for the Tommy's time on TV, with the film
potentially being more directed at giving us the whole family a proper send off.
Moving on, many viewers have shared their frustration with the slower pace of this final
series and while I do give it the benefit of the doubt for having to work around both
the pandemic and the tragic death of Helen McCrory,
I do think the final three episodes were able to give this iconic show a thrilling send
off.
Sure, it wasn't perfect and multiple characters were under utilised at times such
as Arthur, Alfie or Ada.
And there was also no Churchill and Stephen Graham’s role was reduced to just a few
scenes.
But I don't think this season did all the wrong things by focussing
much more on Tommy Shelby, his state of mind and really capturing what the end of his journey
means.
We were given what was essentially a mini-movie to end it off, which acted as a
sendoff to the show's time on television, yet one which also set up the upcoming feature
that will truly be the final ride.
This final season was almost like a western epic, with it's
slower episodes truly building on the tension that the end should bring.
And Tommy ended where he began, alone on horseback, having gone from
the streets to complete power.
That's until he realises the doom that this power can bring, and this season truly get's
into that through Tommy's mindframe.
He's on what appears to be the brink of death, and I really liked that
approach towards him, especially in the final 3 episodes.
It's definitely a season that you have to stick with and recalibrate to in certain
ways, and I think the ending was quite the perfect one to really resurrect my thoughts
on this final season.
The first 3 episodes had moments of greatness like the opening bar scene with
Tommy, but it really felt like the writer was struggling to work around the death of
Polly.
While they did a good job of showing her impact and setting up the events to come, for a final
season, I found it way too slow to start off with.
But once the narrative had more developments surrounding Tommy and the potential war with
Michael, the drama in the family if you will, it became much more effective.
In particular, the ending with his daughter Ruby and there being no incurable tuberculoma
was the final straw that needed to happen after a season of Tommy's grief, yet increasing
dive back into the bloodshed and control that he
claimed at the start he had moved past.
He really needed a moment to reckon with his sins and make the audience truly believe he
had found freedom.
The ending also makes the death of his daughter much more impactful in the long run and it
rightly connects everything to the other plotlines that felt weaker earlier on.
It was quite satisfying to see that his so called
doctors disregard for gypsies, instructing to burn the wagon at the end, had turned out
to be the thing that set Tommy Shelby free.
It was an episode dedicated to the Shelby family,
underlining that they are bad people, but bad people we have followed and become attached
to, who have no limitations when it comes to even
worser people.
The performances really helped to echo these kinds of messages, and quite honestly some
of my favourite moments of this season came in the scenes between Anderson's Arthur
and Cillian's Tommy.
And also Natasha O Keefe's Lizzie deserves a mention, because her dramatic scenes with
Tommy also elevated our care towards these flawed individuals.
For the final 6 episodes, we followed Tommy Shelby in his
final move towards death, but in a brilliant piece of writing, the character is given a
new sense of life and is moved in a direction we never
thought he'd go in.
And that could have come off cheesy, but the performance of Cillian Murphy really makes
us believe that this is the final stone for him.
And alongside the brilliant acting and moments between characters, this
is coupled with some of the most beautifully designed and visually spectacular cinematography
on TV.
Especially when you add the uses of operatic music to accompany iy, which superbly
exagerrates the big personas on screen.
The ending was one that had all of this and the shot of Tommy riding away on a white horse
from the burning carraige with pictures of his
family inside, is quite the iconic image that sticks with you regarding his character.
While that ending was also quite the emotional and satisfying one if you consider the legacy
of this show on TV, it also primarily gets us thinking, what will happen next.
And this is only stimulated by creator Steven Knight who
previously confirmed last year that there would be an upcoming film to conclude the
Shelby story.
Cillian Murphy said in an interview that Steven Knight has always had an ending in
mind.
He admitted that Covid hurt that a bit, but now, he's got a lot of plans with a feature
film.
He said "I don't think this is the end of the story.
I think it's probably just the end of the story in this form.
But Steve is always bringing up ideas.
And they're always good.
So I'll just wait and see what he has to say".
So that pretty much confirms that this ending was the big sendoff for the Peaky Blinders
time on TV and that the real narrative ending is going to be in the film.
There is no release date for that as of yet, but it has been reported
in recent months that production on it will begin at the start of 2023.
It has also been confirmed that both Cillian Murphy's Tommy
Shelby and Paul Anderson's Arthur will be reprising their roles in the spin-off movie.
Knight also told the outlet Digital Spy that "so many great actors" are in conversation.
And as for the plot of the film, not much has been
given away other than it will be will set during the World War 2.
He said "I know what's going to happen in those stories and it's about a
sort of untold story that happened in the Second World War, which the Peakys are going
to be involved in."
So it seems the film is going to be really digging into what weve expected for
a while and that's that this story is really coming to an end in the second world war.
Especially when the last two seasons have really pushed the uprising of the Nazi party,
it makes complete sense for this story to be linked
to the Blinders.
I honestly have no idea how they'll do it, especially after the perfect ending with Tommy's
freedom in the show, but I guess for now we can only trust the creator.
I really did like the ending so I trust he'll do something appropriate and meaningful during
a very important time period in our history.
But that was my spoiler review for Peaky Blinders Season 6.
It is going to be interesting to see what they do in the upcoming film, but I do think
overall, that this final season was satisfying when it comes to how they dealt
with Tommy Shelby.
It was hard for them after the many restrictions during Covid and the death of Helen McCrory,
but I do think they've salvaged quite a compelling ending to the
Blinders run on television.
This season was much slower than previous ones, but it really built up to the more explosive
moments quite effectively.
But like I said, I think the standouts of this season lie in the performances of Cillian
Murphy's Tommy, Paul Anderson's Arthur, Natasha O Keefe's Lizzie and the many
important uses of Polly throughout the episodes.
You really get into the head of these characters and what they truly feel come the end of their
story, and if anything it just makes me wonder how they'll tackle the film following
the ending they went with.
Yes I do think it could have been better but these roles really did help make me care more
about the direction the show went in.
I'm giving Season 6 of Peaky Blinders a rating of 8 out of 10.
But to those who have already seen the final season, what were your thoughts on the Peaky
Blinders ending and what direction do you think they
could go in with the upcoming film.
Let me know down below in the comments section.
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