Chrangetta and his men move in. Photo courtesy of the BBC.
The penultimate episode of this series of Peaky Blinders gets off to an explosive start as we pick up where we left off at the end of last episode – with Tommy being followed by a van full of Changretta and his men.
Tommy is still in danger. Photo courtesy of the BBC.
It seems Tommy knows they are following him, and is ready in Artillery Square with a machine gun. A gun battle ensues, which is eventually broken up by police after Tommy takes out three of Changretta’s men. Tommy is safe for now, but the mafia men are still at large and will certainly be back to take another run at Tommy.
The Shelbys all meet, and it is revealed that Tommy knew about the deal that Polly made to give him up to Luca Changretta in exchange for the safety of the rest of the family. It seems it was a ruse to draw Luca Changretta out into a one-on-one battle with Tommy.
Polly takes Michael to safety. Photo courtesy of the BBC.
Safety is Polly’s main concern, and as her son Michael comes out of hospital, she packs him off to stay with Aberama Gold and his gypsy family, her theory being that if he’s constantly on the move in a gypsy caravan, the Changrettas won’t be able to find him. She also hooks up with Aberama, despite his deeply unpleasant hairstyle.
Lizzie tells Tommy that she’s pregnant with his baby, and the reaction she gets is probably what she expected, but not what she wanted. Tommy seems to confirm that they have no future together as a couple.
Ada is in hot water over her Communist party connections, and she learns that Tommy is trying to use her and Jessie Eden to give information to the government about communists who are trying to disrupt the factories in Birmingham. He has dinner with Jessie and they kiss – I was right about those two!
Luca Changretta meets Alfi Solomons. Photo courtesy of the BBC.
The preparations for the big boxing match between Bonnie Gold and Alfie Solomons’ fighter are underway, with security tight in light of the ongoing feud with the Changrettas. In the run up to the match, we see Alfie Solomons and Luca Changretta finally come face to face.
Changretta wants to do a deal with Solomans – he’ll pay him and help him sell his rum in the USA, in exchange for his help to get to Tommy. Tom Hardy steals the show yet again as the hilariously eccentric Alfie Solomons, conducting half the meeting with his eyes closed which, he says, helps him better appreciate the plight of blind children he donates money to. Once he does open his eyes, he insists that the fee he’s going to charge Changretta to help him kill Tommy is going to increase because Luca is being a word I cannot write here.
The last shot of this episode is Alfie Solomons arriving at the boxing match. Is he there to support Tommy, or to help Luca Changretta get to him? Is he correct in saying that Changretta is going to kill them all? I think the one certainty is that the final episode is going to be bloody.
