Peaky Blinders review – 5×02 “Black Cats”

“Tommy gets paranoid as the Shelby’s face betrayal at every turn.”

Well that’s awkward. After confidently predicting last week that the Blinders would find themselves coming under attack from the mysterious Angels of Retribution, this episode instead decided to set up the Scottish Billy Boy’s as the big threat of the series. Oh well, you can’t get them all right, I suppose. 

Opening with Tommy swigging down bottles of what I think is morphine, the episode starts with some excellent visual storytelling as Tommy spots something across his massive estate and dashes into a field to find a scarecrow with a letter addressed to him pinned on it.  The field has been mined, and Tommy almost plunges his hand into the dirt to trigger one, when the sound of his son running towards the field breaks him out of his suicidal contemplation. After stopping his son, he returns to the field, setting off the mines with bursts from a machine gun.

This entire sequence is amongst the best work we’ve seen on Peaky Blinders. Calling to mind bleak Westerns, with its overcast sky and gritty soil, it’s a reminder than the cinematography work on Peaky Blinders is some of the best on British TV. 

Returning to his office to a phone call, Tommy gets a call from some friendly IRA men, who inform him that Michael, summoned home from America in the last episode, was trying to do a deal with some Scottish and Irish UVF representatives to sweep Tommy’s businesses out from under him. Michael insists they’re lying, but Tommy is unconvinced.

Speaking of Michael, there was some stand out work from actor Finn Cole in this episode. He played Michael just ambivalently enough that it’s hard to work out if he genuinely got caught up in events outside of his control, or whether he really is the traitor, the “Black Cat” of Tommy’s dream.  His revealing that he married his girlfriend Gina when he met Arthur and Polly, and his later revelation that she was pregnant smacked of manipulation, appealing to the Shelby’s firm sense of family to carry him though the confrontation outside the train station and at the garrison.

On the subject of traitors, there seems to be the potential for more than one in the Shelby empire, as someone reveals the location of Aberama Golds caravan to the Billy Boys’, who promptly march in, shoot Aberama and crucify his son, Bonnie (RIP). Along with the opening sequence, this part is the highlight of episode, as the Billy Boy’s show up whistling their jaunty little tune and make their violent intentions known. 

Brian Gleeson is fantastic as the psychotic “Mad Dog” Jimmy McCavern who snarled threats and demands for a share of Tommy’s gambling business came with a real air of legitimacy. I’m excited to see just how far he’s willing to go to unseat king Tommy. He’s not the only villain revealing his hand however, as Oswald Mosley asks Tommy to set up a dialogue with certain rogue elements in Ireland, namely the UVF. Given the Billy Boy’s association with them, it looks as though Tommy will be facing the two working together against him at some point.

The conversation with Mosley is enjoyable, as Sam Claflin wrings every last possible piece of oil out of his dialogue, ignoring Ada and talking down to Tommy in his plummy voice. At this moment in time, it’s still difficult to work out exactly what he wants, but it’s clearly not going to be good for the Blinders.

With all this going on- including a visit from the police asking questions about last week’s murdered journalist- it’s no surprise that Tommy is starting to feel the strain. This is the second time in two episodes that he’s contemplated suicide and as he reveals to Ada and Lizzie, he’s really starting to feel that people are after his throne. The possibility of exactly how much bigger Tommy can get is also raised, which something I’m glad about, every criminal career ends in failure, so it’s inevitable that Tommy’s time is coming. Exactly how he will fall, how far, and who he will take with him is something I’m excited to discover.

Lastly, it looks as though time is up on Arthur and Tommy’s marriages, as Linda and Lizzie both write letters to their respective husbands, who respectively both burn them after demanding a shag. 

Overall, the second episode of Peaky Blinders takes a few left turns after last week set up some interesting threads.  The Angels of Retribution are relegated to the shadows as the more immediate threat of the Billy Boys rears its head. In terms of plot, this episode keeps things close to its chest, much like Mosley, as information is gifted sparingly. On the one hand, it’s intriguing to see where this series is going to go next, on the hand there is a danger that it will become overstuffed with questions and threats. Either way, I’m still excited for next week.

RATING: 4/5

• Charlie Shelby continues to make me laugh, this week with his awful violin playing.
• Michaels wife, Gina, looks more and more like the brains in the marriage, successfully analysing Tommy’s need for Michael and defusing the tense meeting with a well-timed intervention.
• RIP Bonnie Gold, first casualty of the series and possibly not the last. The Billy Boys look like they have the ability to cause the Blinder’s some real damage, which I look forward to. Crime drama’s that avoid character deaths are no fun. 
• People desperately trying to throw themselves out of the way of the Blinders way when they see them coming is very fun and a great way to show their reputation.