Peaky Blinders Season 6 Review And Discussion

[Herbert Playz]

The Peaky Blinders season 6 has its ups and downs. At one point halfway through season 6 I decided that I didn't want to keep on watching. The plot just felt so dark, so sad, and then this past weekend I finally decided to go ahead and finish and boy am I glad I did.

To me all the dark, sad, and ridiculous stuff actually paid off. I'm one of the people that really, really enjoyed that ending. I think they could have shot it a little better but I think overall it was a very nice surprise ending. And one I never even really considered.

The pay off for all of Tommy's struggles was really good. Arthur and Tommy had a moment in his office which was just not possible to have before this season. That alone was worth the price of the dark cloud hanging over this season. There is just something magic about shows that emphasizes the bond between families. As dark and as brutal as the Shelby's can be and have been they're still a family and they all care about each other even when they're are enemies or are working against one another.

This brings me to Michael. Although I initially somewhat enjoyed the thought of Michael going his own way, the fact is he never evolved into anything more than a petulant boy that never had any real agency. When Michael was introduced into the storyline as Polly's son and he wanted to come into the family, it felt right. He gave me shades of Michael from the Godfather. But as the story progressed, he just stayed as that young pup. He never moved beyond, into a master plotter. There was never any real big moment for me to say okay, Michael has arrived, he's his own man now.

So when Michael first seemingly set his sights on Tommy he just seemed out of his depths. He's not physically imposing, he's not overly wealthy, he has few reliable connections and he has not shown cunning anywhere near the same stratosphere as Tommy. 

In season 5 Oswald Mosley was set up as a more than worth adversary for Tommy but in season 6 he takes a back seat, and nowhere near intimidating as he was previously which is really disappointing. Now they do bring the American gangster Jack Nelson into the fold but where Mosley brought a charismatic  cruelty, Jack gives a hardened well connected gangster. Jack just does not feel like the worthy adversary that Mosley was set up to be. He feels more gangster than big. Its hard to describe Mosley leaves a larger footprint where Jack is just a gangster.

In my humble opinion no antagonist has been better than Adrien Brody's Luca Changretta. Changretta was cool, powerful, calculating and sinister. Every bit the worthy adversary to Tommy Shelby. He was also bound by vendetta to go after Tommy Shelby for the murder of his father which added another layer to the story. Whereas so far Jack Nelson is mostly just cruel and seems to lack the chess moves to compete with Tommy.

Last but not least, it's always amazing to see Alfie(played by Tom Hardy )appear out of nowhere to  drop a few unforgettable lines to Tommy. They have the most absurd love hate relationship on Netflix.

So if you're struggling to get through season 6 stay in there, keep on going for me the payoffs were worth it. I'm looking forward to the movie to wrap everything up.