The key aim for the penultimate episode of a good drama series is to set things up for the finale, and leave the viewer wanting more. After the shaky fourth episode, this fifth instalment of Peaky Blinders achieves that strongly, and has left things looking promising for Thursday’s final episode. The looming shadow of the war played its part in the scene that will stick with me – the brawl between Tommy and Byrne. Struck by a flashback of the war mid-fight, Tommy unleashes his fury on Byrne, effectively mashing his face in to the floor of the pub. It was brutally violent and difficult to watch, but never felt gratuitous. It was not subtle, granted, but it will live long in the memory. Also living long in the memory is Arthur’s suicide attempt. Having his own struggles following the war, naive Arthur is manipulated by his wicked father to give him thousands of pounds to help set up a casino. Driven by daddy issues and the desire to prove himself, Arthur stumbles into the trap, before realising his father wants nothing to do with him. At an all-time low, Arthur’s unsuccessful suicide attempt – and the reconciliation with Tommy afterwards – was incredibly moving. Paul Anderson has been excellent as Arthur so far, and it was good to see him given a chance to steal the show. Campbell makes his unsettling intentions with Grace clear with an unsuccessful marriage proposal. Sam Neill is brilliant throughout. He veers from a controlled schemer to unbridled jealous rage effortlessly. I can not wait to see what he has in store for the Shelbys in the finale. Neill even elicits sympathy following the rejected proposal. For such a cold-hearted bastard, that is the sign of a great performance. With so much going on in this episode, the Ada and Freddy storyline was neglected. That story thread has been the least interesting so far, so I was actually quite glad it was put on the back burner to let the other events play out in more detail. I am sure there will be some resolution to Freddy’s imprisonment and Ada’s self-imposed isolation in the finale. Read Tom’s review of the previous episode, here. Peaky Blinders is available to order on DVD from the BBC Shop here, and Blu-ray here. Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.
