| 1 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/peakyblinderscover.jpg]] |
| 2 | [[caption-width-right:350: May you be in heaven a full half-hour before the Devil knows you're dead.]] |
| 3 | |
| 4 | ->''"Take a little walk\ |
| 5 | to the edge of town\ |
| 6 | Go across the tracks\ |
| 7 | Where the viaduct looms\ |
| 8 | like a bird of doom\ |
| 9 | as it shifts and cracks\ |
| 10 | Where secrets lie in the border fires\ |
| 11 | in the humming wires\ |
| 12 | Hey man, you know you're never coming back\ |
| 13 | Past the square, past the bridge\ |
| 14 | past the mills, past the stacks\ |
| 15 | On a gathering storm comes a tall handsome man\ |
| 16 | in a dusty black coat with a red right hand"'' |
| 17 | -->-- "Red Right Hand" by Music/NickCave and the Bad Seeds, the show's theme |
| 18 | |
| 19 | ''Peaky Blinders'' is a [[Creator/TheBBC BBC]] {{Period|Piece}} CriminalProcedural series which began in 2013. Set in post-UsefulNotes/WorldWarI Birmingham, it centres around the [[UsefulNotes/IrishTravellers Irish Traveller]]-[[{{UsefulNotes/Romani}} Romani]] Shelby family, whose men have returned from the Great War and begun to build up their street gang into a criminal empire. The street gang is known as the Peaky Blinders, and their [[GangOfHats hats]]... are their [[WeaponizedHeadgear hats]]. ''Peaky Blinders'' stars Creator/CillianMurphy as new kingpin Tommy Shelby. The supporting cast includes Creator/HelenMcCrory as Shelby matriarch Aunt Polly, Creator/SamNeill as CI Campbell and Creator/TomHardy as Jewish gangster Alfie Solomons. |
| 20 | |
| 21 | The show has aired five seasons on both BBC and Creator/{{Netflix}}. WordOfGod from creator Stephen Knight is that he plans to take the Shelbys right up to the beginning of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. After the show temporarily went on hiatus due to the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic, it was announced in January 2021 that production had restarted on a sixth season and that it will be the last season of the show, though Knight also revealed in the same update that "the story will continue in another form". |
| 22 | |
| 23 | After the final season had been released in Februrary 2022, Knight revealed that in in lieu of a seventh season, the production team is instead working on a ''Peaky Blinders'' film, which is going to offer a more definite conclusion to the story of the Shelbys. Though there is no production date as of this writing, Knight have stated that the film is planned for a 2024 release. |
| 24 | |
| 25 | A {{Prequel}} puzzle-adventure videogame, ''Peaky Blinders Mastermind'', [[https://youtu.be/YS3IeOxzl1o was released]] on 20 Aug, 2020. |
| 26 | |
| 27 | Just Games released ''Peaky Blinders: Under New Management'' in 2019 and Steamforged Games released ''Peaky Blinders: Faster than Truth'' bluffing CardGame. |
| 28 | ---- |
| 29 | !!''Peaky Blinders'' provides examples of: |
| 30 | |
| 31 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 32 | |
| 33 | [[folder: A to D]] |
| 34 | * AbortedArc: Freddie Thorne's struggle between his labour union obligations and romantic interest in Ada. He marries Ada and sides with the Shelbys at the end of season one, but there is never any fallout because he [[spoiler:dies of [[UsefulNotes/TheSpanishFlu Spanish Flu]] between seasons one and two]]. Labour unions take a backseat for the next few seasons and pick back up again without Thorne. |
| 35 | * AbusiveParents: According to the creator, this and DomesticAbuse was TruthInTelevision in 1919 Birmingham, and they can't show half of the violence that would have gone on. |
| 36 | ** Arthur Senior. At best, he's a con-artist who abandoned his family ten years ago. At worst, it's very likely he beat his sons (considering the way Arthur Junior reacts toward him during the boxing scene, Senior goading him to "take it like a man" and Junior wanting his father's approval). Either way, his behaviour hurt the family so much that neither Tommy nor Polly will tolerate him in their house. |
| 37 | ** Ada initially starves herself and her baby out of spite toward her family. |
| 38 | ** Michael was told that he was put out for adoption because his birth mother Polly beat him and couldn't provide for him. In reality, he was taken because the family had a still to produce alcohol. |
| 39 | * ActionMom: What Ada Shelby turns into in 1.06 and Polly has been for years. Lizzie hits it in season five. |
| 40 | * AddledAddict: |
| 41 | ** Tommy (opium), Arthur (cocaine and later opium), Esme (cocaine), Linda (cocaine). Also, everyone drinks like a fish. |
| 42 | ** By 4.01, [[spoiler:Polly]] has become addicted to pills and [[spoiler:Michael]] has picked up a cocaine habit, both out of response to their near-deaths by hanging. |
| 43 | ** The one who seems to be careening toward an overdose is Finn, who constantly uses cocaine and alcohol at a rate surpassing even Arthur. |
| 44 | * AgonizingStomachWound: One of the Shelby brothers, when threatened with a gun, asks the assailant to please aim for his head, because he has seen what abdomen wounds do to people. |
| 45 | * AlasPoorVillain: Vicente Changretta is a weak old man who gets [[CurbStompBattle curb stomped]] by the Peaky Blinders. It really started when the Peaky Blinders started acting disrespectful towards the Italians for no good reason. After a failed assassination attempt resulting in [[spoiler: Grace's death]], he is kidnapped by the Shelby brothers while his wife pleads for them to spare him. When Tommy is about to torture him to death, he is [[MercyKill Mercy Killed]] by Arthur, and both John and Arthur seems to mourn him. His death also instigates the conflict of season 4 as his son Luca is out for revenge. |
| 46 | * AllOfTheOtherReindeer: Campbell receives continuous jabs because he didn't serve in WWI, from friend and foe alike. He insists that he served the country in his own way through his police work, but nobody buys it. |
| 47 | * AloofBigBrother: |
| 48 | ** Tommy to John and Ada, and to Arthur as well, despite being younger than Arthur. |
| 49 | ** Arthur to Finn. Tommy is more of a father-figure to him, John doesn't seem to be too aloof, but Arthur plays the trope pretty straight with Finn. |
| 50 | * AlwaysABiggerFish: [[spoiler:Big may well fuck small, as Alfie Solomons said to Tommy in reference to Tommy's feud with the Black Hand; however, Tommy simply had to find someone bigger than the Black Hand to fuck them, which he did — and those new friends of his grew bigger still when Luca's own men turned on him as a result.]] |
| 51 | ** In Season 5, there's an unknown fourth party, which foils [[spoiler:Mosley's assassination attempt. Turns out it's the IRA, who wish for Mosley to remain alive for their own purposes (which, being a HistoricalDomainCharacter and the IRA's own sordid relationship with fascism, is understandable).)]]. |
| 52 | * AmicableExes: |
| 53 | ** John Shelby and Lizzie Stark seem to be on pretty good terms by the end of season 2, considering that he called off their engagement in season 1 because she was still secretly working as a prostitute. |
| 54 | ** Tommy and May Carleton seem to have continued their business relationship throughout his marriage, [[spoiler:Grace's]] death, and two years of family in-fighting. |
| 55 | * AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: |
| 56 | ** In 1.05, [[spoiler:since Grace is no longer his subordinate, Campbell makes an extremely awkward proposal to her without even the slightest history of prior romance between them. When she turns him down, he becomes irate and demands to know whether Tommy is the reason she's turned him down]]. |
| 57 | ** Two of them in 2.06 — one from [[spoiler:Grace to Tommy, saying she's pregnant with his child and loves him, but Tommy's kind of busy with his assassination assignment, and his first reaction is to tell her to pass the child off as her husband's, since that's what they've wanted for so long]], and the other from [[spoiler:Campbell to Polly, basically trying to convince her that they have a sexual and emotional connection and that his heart belongs to her. She shoots him in the lower body region]]. |
| 58 | ** Polly gives a fairly successful one to [[spoiler:Reuben]] in 3.06, telling him she wishes [[spoiler:she could have an ordinary life with him and that they have a chance for a future together]]. |
| 59 | * AntiHero: Our protagonists are brutal gangsters, but they're typically set against people who are much worse (or at least, not much better), making them sympathetic. |
| 60 | * AndTheAdventureContinues: [[spoiler:The series ends with Tommy essentially tying up loose ends, squaring debts, and investing the Blinders' fortune to make sure what remains of the Shelby family have enough to live comfortably, before preparing to kill himself to keep from dying a slow, painful death at the hands of cancer. However, just before he pulls the trigger, he has an epiphany and realizes that his diagnosis was ''faked'' by his personal doctor (at the behest of Mosby), who he promptly tracks down and prepares to kill. Ultimately, however, he realizes that, after everything, he is finally at peace and spares the doctor, before [[WalkingTheEarth riding away to parts unknown]].]] |
| 61 | * AnyoneCanDie: [[spoiler:Billy Kimber, Freddie Thorne, Danny Owen, Chester Campbell, Grace Burgess, Father Hughes, John Shelby, Luca Changretta, Bonnie Gold, Colonel Ben Younger, Barney Thomason, Aberama Gold, Polly Gray, Ruby Shelby, Billy Grade, Laura [=McKee=] of the IRA, and Michael Gray]] have all kicked the bucket. |
| 62 | * ApronMatron: Aunt Polly. Nobody except Tommy mouths off to her. |
| 63 | * ArmourPiercingQuestion: |
| 64 | ** Grace to Tommy, in 1.03. |
| 65 | --->'''Grace:''' Why did you change your mind? |
| 66 | ** Tommy to Grace, in 1.05. |
| 67 | --->'''Tommy:''' Why did you shoot, Grace? |
| 68 | ** Polly to Tommy, in 2.01. |
| 69 | --->'''Polly:''' Maybe it's time you forgot about her? |
| 70 | * ArrangedMarriage: Tommy gets John hitched to Esme to end the war with the Lees. |
| 71 | * ArtisticLicenceGunSafety: Tommy fakes [[spoiler: Danny's]] execution by shooting him point-blank with a blank shell full of sheep brains, but even a blank cartridge at such close range would likely be fatal, as the real-life accidental death of Jon-Erik Hexum will attest. |
| 72 | * ArtisticLicenceHistory: |
| 73 | ** The Peaky Blinders were in reality a youth street gang that had petered out by the early 20th century, rather than a post-UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, family-run organized criminal empire. The show seems to present the idea that members of the street gang grew up and built a crime family while carrying on the spirit of the gang. |
| 74 | ** It's mentioned that Tommy and several other British officers served in the Battle of Verdun. Verdun was a battle between the French and the Germans. It would have been extremely unlikely for Tommy to have served there. |
| 75 | ** There was a real [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birmingham_Boys Billy Kimber]], but [[spoiler:he died peacefully in 1942, not — as depicted in the show — in a 1919 gunfight]]. He also had a long-running feud with the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Sabini Sabini Gang]] — which he lost — while in the show, the two organizations never interact. |
| 76 | ** In 1929, Tommy meets Oswald Mosley, who tries to recruit Tommy for his soon-to-be-created British Union of Fascists. At that time, Mosley was still a prominent Labour MP and did not support fascism. Mosley founded the New Party in March 1931 and started to openly embrace fascism after the October 1931 election. The BUF was founded in 1932. In the show Mosley tells Tommy about already having met Mussolini, but in real life Mosley first met Mussolini in 1931. |
| 77 | ** In Season 6, Episode 6, which takes place during 1934, Mosley and Diana invite Tommy to their wedding in Berlin. The wedding takes place off-camera and it is reported in a newspaper. In reality, Oswald and Diana Mosley were not married until 1936, and their marriage was kept secret for several years. |
| 78 | * ArtisticLicenceLinguistics: The creators have made a mess of Russian names in Season 3. "Petrovich" and "Petrovna" are not Russian last names. Neither are they first names. These are patronymics (meaning "son of Peter" and "daughter of Peter") and are not used on their own, only after a first name. ("Tatiana Petrovna" is correct but it's not her full name: the full name would be "Tatiana Petrovna Romanova".) What Tommy reads in a book about Russian aristocrats is utter nonsense: no way a Russian person can be named "Petrovich Romanov, Leon". The correct name order would be "Romanov, Leon Petrovich" or "Leon Petrovich Romanov". The situation is made more confusing by the fact that the three family members, Leon, Izabella and Tatiana, all share the same patronymic but are not siblings. Why would their fathers be all named Peter? |
| 79 | * ArtisticLicenceShips: Season 3, episode 3 features a [[http://i.imgur.com/qpzet2Y.jpg brief shot of a Cunard Line ship docked in Liverpool]]. Likely meant to be the [[http://www.ssmaritime.com/Mauretania-1-1906.jpg RMS Mauritania]], the CGI model appears to be the hull and superstructure of the [[http://www.maritimequest.com/liners/titanic/photos/titanic_marschall_3.jpg RMS Titanic]] with the vents, forecastle, and colours of the Mauritania added. The ship is also moored on the wrong bank of the Mersey. There were, and are, no facilities for ocean liners on that side of the river. |
| 80 | * AsYouKnow: Does Tommy really need reminding that a lot of the pubs in the area pay them protection money? |
| 81 | * AsianHookerStereotype: Chinatown has a brothel/laundry service providing Chinese prostitutes. Campbell makes use of it. |
| 82 | * AssassinOutclassin: |
| 83 | ** Subverted in season five when Tommy sends two of his best killers to kill his enemies at an event. Both assassins are killed by unknown masked assailants and Tommy is shocked to discover that the targets were completely unaware of what was going on. Some third party interfered and outclassed his assassins. It is played straight with Arthur, who was only a lookout, but was still attacked. Arthur is luckier and kills his assassin. |
| 84 | ** Zigzagged throughout season 4, when some characters ([[spoiler:Tommy and Arthur]]) are able to kill the men send to kill them, while others ([[spoiler:John and Michael, though the latter survives and spends the rest of the season in the hospital]]) aren't so lucky. |
| 85 | ** In season 6, Arthur and Thomas separately get the drop on assassins trying to kill them. |
| 86 | * AssholeVictim: |
| 87 | ** Field Marshal Russell, who turns out to be responsible for various unspecified atrocities in Cork and a sexual sadist. Tommy specifically mentions that even though he is being strong-armed into assassinating this man, he feels no remorse for him. |
| 88 | ** Anton Kaledin is not a very nice man, being a [[spoiler:Soviet turncoat and mole]]. |
| 89 | ** Watching [[spoiler:Father Hughes]] get viciously stabbed to death by [[spoiler:Michael]] is very satisfying, considering the former is a pedophile and torturer. |
| 90 | ** The Shelbys are contracted to kill a blackmailing pimp who specializes in providing children to pedophiles. Ada is upset that they are committing murder-for-hire, but everyone else considers it a community service. |
| 91 | ** Only in Peaky Blinders would a group of ''nuns'' be this, but they got off with only a light threatening from Polly and Tommy after trafficking in orphaned girls and beating the ones in their care. |
| 92 | * AsskickingLeadsToLeadership: Both the Peaky Blinders and the police force run on this. |
| 93 | * AttemptedRape: |
| 94 | ** Happens to poor Grace when Tommy auctions her off to Billy Kimber as part of their VillainTeamUp, originally thinking Kimber's harmless and she'll be able to knee him in the nuts and get away. Kimber's much more dangerous than Tommy thinks, and after a [[PetTheDog last minute attack of conscience]], Tommy gets her away from Kimber before either a rape or another shooting happens. |
| 95 | ** Nearly happens to [[spoiler:Ada, when Sabini's men attack her. It's unclear if anything actually does happen before Tommy's men show up to save her]]. |
| 96 | ** Lizzie experiences this when Tommy uses her as a HoneyTrap for Field Marshal Russell only to be delayed in getting there before things can go too far, finding Lizzie pinned down as Russell tries to rip her clothes off. |
| 97 | * AutobotsRockOut: While occasional bits of period music are used, the majority of the soundtrack is modern blues-rock. From the credits track of Music/NickCave's "Red Right Hand" to The White Stripes' cover of "St. James Infirmary", this is ''not'' your granddaddy's soundtrack. |
| 98 | * AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: |
| 99 | ** A familial example is Tommy and Ada. Ada may resent her brother, hate his vendetta against her husband, and want to cut off all contact with the Shelbys, but when it comes down to it, Ada forgives Tommy for the problems with Freddie and later allows him to frequently stay in her home in London. |
| 100 | ** Happens with Tommy and Polly in season four. While Polly refuses to forgive Tommy, at first, Michael convinces her that she and Tommy are the only thing keeping the family safe and together. Cemented in 4.05 when it's revealed that [[spoiler:Polly's betrayal of Tommy to Luca Changretta was planned by her and Tommy all along]]. |
| 101 | *** Subverted in Season 5, as Polly reveals that [[spoiler:if she has to choose between Tommy and Michael, she will always choose Michael, and leaves the Peaky Blinders]]. |
| 102 | * BadassCrew: The Peaky Blinders. |
| 103 | * BadassFamily: |
| 104 | ** The Shelbys, as well as the adjacent Peaky Blinders like father-and-son Jeremiah and Isaiah. |
| 105 | ** Father and son boxing duo Aberama and Bonnie Gold are introduced in season four. Aberama is TheDreaded, and Bonnie more than capable of holding his own. |
| 106 | * BadassLongcoat: Campbell's gets a great introduction in the pilot. Each of the Shelby brothers have one, too. Polly gets a high-fashion one in the third season. |
| 107 | * BadassInANiceSuit: |
| 108 | ** All of the Shelby brothers dress ''very'' nicely. However, they stick to their roots and continue wearing razor-bladed flat caps with their suits instead of more formal bowlers. A sign that Tommy's gone completely legit in season 4 is wearing a bowler, with no flat cap in sight. It's a further sign that he's going back to his razor-gang roots in season 5 when the flat cap comes back. |
| 109 | ** Luca Changretta prides himself on his nice Italian suits, and even brags about being better-dressed than Tommy. |
| 110 | ** Brilliant Chang's nice suits and big fur coats are based on those worn by [[HistoricalDomainCharacter the real guy]]. [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/chang.jpeg Compare.]] |
| 111 | * BadassPreacher: Jeremiah. A WWI veteran turned man of the cloth who fights alongside the Peaky Blinders. |
| 112 | * BadassBoast: |
| 113 | ** 1.01, John Shelby: |
| 114 | --->'''John:''' We're Peaky Blinders! We're not scared of coppers. If they come for us, we'll cut them a smile each. |
| 115 | ** Campbell gets a lengthy one, in the form of a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to the police. |
| 116 | ** Campbell again in 1.02: |
| 117 | --->'''Campbell:''' We will take them before last night's beer turns to piss and wakes the devils up. We will leave no stone unturned. Every gun, every bullet, brought to me for inspection. Now, take your positions! |
| 118 | ** Tommy gets one as well: |
| 119 | --->'''Tommy:''' There's God, and there are the Peaky Blinders. |
| 120 | * BadBoss: Alfie shows shades of this when he punches one of the new Black Country recruits unconscious because another recruit made a joke about there being no bread in Alfie's "bakery". |
| 121 | * BadGuyBar: |
| 122 | ** The Garrison Tavern, unofficial headquarters for the Peaky Blinders. |
| 123 | ** The Black Swan — and later, the Black Lion — are even more of an example, both the headquarters for the IRA in Birmingham. |
| 124 | * BaitAndSwitch: |
| 125 | ** The expectation in the opening scene of the pilot is that Tommy Shelby wants the Chinese girl as a prostitute. He actually wants her to use her eye-catching red dust to tell his prize horse's fortune and drum up bets for the horse's next race. |
| 126 | ** Tommy makes the Italian mob-types believe he [[spoiler:shot Danny for killing the Italian shop owner]]. He actually [[spoiler:faked Danny's death and is sending him as a mole into London]]. |
| 127 | ** The finale of season 3 has Tommy awarding his family their portions of the take from the Russian job, and then revealing [[spoiler:that he has sold Arthur, John, Polly, and Michael out to the police for their crimes]]. |
| 128 | ** In 4.06, [[spoiler:Tommy and Polly agree to use the Goliath vs. Gold match and the Italian assassin to fake Arthur's death in order to draw Luca Changretta out. Luca believes he's about to wipe the family out when Arthur and some reinforcements burst into the room]]. |
| 129 | ** In 5.06, Tommy counts to 1 from 10, as Barney readies his sniper [[spoiler:to kill Mosley, but soon he's shot dead, and Aberama is knifed by an assailant, totally foiling Tommy's plan.]] |
| 130 | * TheBarnum: Arthur Senior, who shills his dreams of opening a casino in America to Arthur Junior. Junior falls for it, hook, line, and sinker, to the disappointment of his family. |
| 131 | * BandOfBrothers: It's toned down but everyone who served in WWI, regardless of which faction they're now a part of, shares a kinship and mutual understanding. They also share disdain for anyone who didn't serve. |
| 132 | * BashBrothers: |
| 133 | ** Arthur and John tend to be the best example of this. When Tommy's along, it's a Bash Trio. |
| 134 | ** Isaiah and Finn, or Isaiah and Michael can lean toward this as well. |
| 135 | * BatmanGambit: Many of Tommy's plots require his enemies to behave a certain way. |
| 136 | ** Tommy assumes that his alliances with Billy Kimber (through business) and the Lees (through marriage, plus a BaitAndSwitch) won't fall apart before he and his gang can carry out Black Star Day. [[spoiler: Grace]] nearly throws a spanner into the works, but the plan still comes off. |
| 137 | ** Tommy assumes before meeting Alfie Solomon that his second man will be forced to wait outside, that Alfie's assistant will allow him to tie his shoes out of sight, and that Alfie will heed his empty threats. |
| 138 | ** Tommy assumes at Epsom that [[spoiler:Lizzie will be willing and able to seduce the Field Marshal]]. He actually gets [[WhatTheHellHero chewed out on this one]]. |
| 139 | ** Tommy assumes that the Russians will allow Alfie into the cellar along with Tommy so that they can case the jewels, the layout, and the likely location of the vault. |
| 140 | ** Tommy assumes Luca Changretta will not suspect him of cutting deals with other American gangsters, and that Luca will want to gloat over his "victory" rather than wiping the Shelbys out immediately after they [[spoiler: sign the business over to the Changrettas]]. |
| 141 | ** Polly gets the chance to pull off one of these in season four. She assumes [[spoiler:Luca will be blinded by their prior relationship and not question her motivation in "selling out" Tommy. Her plan also assumes that Luca will accept her proposition for the time and place of the setup]]. |
| 142 | ** Tommy ''fails'' at one of these for the first time in season five. He assumes [[spoiler:that Oswald Mosley will trust him enough to attend the fascist rally, and that Alfie's men will provide enough chaos to cover the assassination. He also assumes that Aberama and Arthur will be able to provide cover for Barney. A third party takes out Barney and Aberama — Arthur barely escaping with his life — and Mosley remains alive.]] |
| 143 | ** In 6.06, [[spoiler: Tommy correctly assumes that the Boston gang will plant a bomb in his car. He has Johnny Dogs switch the bomb to their car, blowing them all up.]] [[spoiler: Also, he knows Billy Grade is the traitor, so has Billy set up with knowledge that Arthur will be at the garrison only with his wife. There is no wife, but there is Arthur, Charlie, Jeremiah and a second preacher to deal with Captain Swing and the IRA.]] |
| 144 | * BeenThereShapedHistory: It's implied that Tommy and Campbell's actions in season two [[spoiler:cause the Irish Civil War]]. |
| 145 | * BelievingTheirOwnLies: In 3.06, [[spoiler:Charles' kidnapping pushes Tommy over the edge into believing that it was Polly, Michael, Linda, or Esme who betrayed him. It was none of them, but he doubles-down at the end of the episode and has Arthur, Michael, John, and Polly arrested, convinced that the "deal" he's supposedly made with more powerful people than their enemies will save them.]] |
| 146 | * BeneathNotice: Features heavily in season 5. [[spoiler:Micky the Garrison barman hears everything the Peaky Blinders discuss in the Garrison, and passes it on to others — those others being closely connected to Oswald Mosley and Jimmy McCavern, if not the two themselves. This causes the deaths of Bonnie Gold and Ben Younger, and sets up an ambush by the Titanic.]] [[spoiler:However, they eventually figure out it's him and kill him for it.]] |
| 147 | * BerserkButton: |
| 148 | ** For Polly: Don't act foolish or ignore her advice. Do ''not'' lie to her or break your word to the family. |
| 149 | ** For Campbell: Questioning how he's dealing with the Peaky Blinders. |
| 150 | * BestServedCold: The events of Season 6 are the culmination of five years of Tommy positioning himself to get revenge for [[spoiler: Polly's death]] |
| 151 | * BetterToDieThanBeKilled: Subverted with [[spoiler:Alfie Solomons, who lets himself be shot by Tommy versus dying of cancer. Of course, he surives the shooting and is still alive in 1929 so who knows if he was serious about his diagnosis]]. |
| 152 | * BewareTheNiceOnes: Grace and Ada. |
| 153 | * BigBad: |
| 154 | ** Season One has [[StarterVillain Billy]] [[LondonGangster Kimber]], [[BigBadEnsemble along with]] [[KnightTemplar Inspector]] [[BadBoss Campbell]]. |
| 155 | ** Season Two has Inspector Campbell driving much of the plot, with Darby Sabini as a secondary antagonist. |
| 156 | ** Season Three has [[PedophilePriest Father John Hughes]]. |
| 157 | ** Season Four has the Italian-American Black Hand led by [[TheDon Luca]] [[RuthlessForeignGangsters Changretta]]. |
| 158 | ** Season Five has [[HistoricalDomainCharacter Oswald Mosley]]. |
| 159 | ** Season Six has Mosley and his Fascist allies (including the IRA) and [[spoiler:Michael Grey]]. |
| 160 | * BigBrotherInstinct: Tommy, for all of his siblings. Even Arthur, who's older than him. |
| 161 | * BigScrewedUpFamily: Oh, ''guess''. |
| 162 | * BilingualBonus: In 3.05, when the Russian ladies request Arthur and John having their bodies examined for tattoos (more like to screw around with them, frankly), Izabella, upon seeing the naked John, says something in Russian. Despite what the subtitles may tell you ('Remember, he is the most dangerous'), that's not what she says. What she actually says is: [[EatingTheEyeCandy 'And the second one's handsome']]. |
| 163 | * BingeMontage: In season two, Arthur meets cocaine, and it's love at first sight. He gets a number of ever-increasingly out-of-control coke scenes. |
| 164 | * BizarreAndImprobableBallistics: In 5.05, Arthur keeps his machine gun pointed slightly upwards. The impact sparks suggest a really, really short ballistics arc. Either he’s firing the world’s heaviest bullets, the weakest machine gun, or just rule of cool. |
| 165 | * BluffTheImpostor: |
| 166 | ** How Tommy figures out [[spoiler:Grace]] isn't who they appear to be — [[spoiler:any "good Catholic girl" would cross herself when she entered a church]]. |
| 167 | ** What the Shelbys do to [[spoiler:Kaledin]] when he proves to be a traitor. |
| 168 | * BodyHorror: Alfie Solomons' [[spoiler:cancer leaves him pretty scarred]]. Even before he explains what's going on, you can tell something is wrong. |
| 169 | * BoisterousBruiser: John, most of the time. Arthur gets like this in season two, and it's not a good thing at all. |
| 170 | * BoomHeadshot: |
| 171 | ** [[spoiler:Billy Kimber goes out this way.]] |
| 172 | ** [[spoiler:Field Marshal Russell, with his own revolver, no less.]] |
| 173 | ** One of Alfie's bodyguards gets shot in the side of the head by [[spoiler:Michael]]. |
| 174 | ** [[spoiler:Luca Changretta is finally dispatched by Arthur in this way.]] |
| 175 | ** [[spoiler:Alfie gets one at Tommmy's hand in the season 4 finale. He survives, though the wound has left him with a nasty facial scar and blind in one eye.]] |
| 176 | ** [[spoiler:Barney, Tommy's old war buddy and assassin tasked with killing Moseley, gets offed this way by a silenced pistol before he can inflict one of these on Moseley.]] |
| 177 | ** [[spoiler:Michael gets a rather brutal one to the eye in 6.06.]] |
| 178 | * BombThrowingAnarchist: Tommy claims that Ada's artist boarder is an anarchist and consequently has knowledge of explosives. |
| 179 | * BondOneLiner: Polly's got the best to date after [[spoiler:killing Campbell once and for all]]: |
| 180 | -->'''Polly:''' Don't fuck with the Peaky Blinders. |
| 181 | ** Arthur quotes his aunt after [[spoiler:shooting Luca Changretta]] in 4.06. |
| 182 | ** Gina subverts this in 5.06 [[spoiler:before Arthur basically tells her family to fuck off]]. |
| 183 | * BorrowedCatchphrase: The BondOneLiner above is significantly less imposing when Gina drawls it at Tommy after he turns down Michael's proposition in 5.06. |
| 184 | * BrandX: Tommy cigarette of choice is Sweet Afton, a discontinued Irish brand that launched the same year the first series is set. Sweet Afton also appears in ''Film/TheRoyalTenenbaums'', though it was still in production at the time. |
| 185 | * BreakInThreat: |
| 186 | ** The Lee family gets inside the Shelby house and betting shop, trashing the place and leaving behind a booby trap for Tommy to find. |
| 187 | ** In season 5, the Billy Boys sneak onto Tommy's estate, plant a scarecrow in a field by his house and surround the scarecrow with land mines. They could have easily killed Tommy but they instead demonstrate their power to get to him and the people he cares for anytime they want. |
| 188 | * BrokenAce: Arthur Shelby Jr. Favoured son, physically imposing and powerful, no trouble with the ladies, prestige due to his family name… and alcoholism, depression, suicidal ideation, a vicious case of PTSD from WWI, and in S2, [[spoiler:severe blackout rages]] combined with his frustration in always coming second-fiddle to his more ambitious and charming younger brother. |
| 189 | ** Tommy as well. Decorated war veteran, master strategist, skilled accountant, an extremely good people-person, [[spoiler: and later a cunning politician as well.]] Also alcoholic, depressive, prone to violent rages, suicidal ideation and traumatized from his experiences in the First World War. |
| 190 | ** Arguably, take ''any'' Shelby boy or Peakies member who served and you'll find that they're a badass in their own right--and equally scarred by the Great War. |
| 191 | * BrokenPedestal: Both Tommy and Campbell have it for Grace. Tommy gets over it. |
| 192 | * BrotherSisterIncest: Never actually happens, but in 5.06, [[spoiler:Uncle Charlie confesses to Tommy that he was in love with Tommy's mother, who — unless we're misunderstanding the family tree here — was his own sister]]. |
| 193 | * BullyingTheDragon: Mosley and the fascists keep on antagonizing Tommy, even though they need him for their political schemes. They seem hell-bent on testing how far they can take things before Tommy reverts to the street gangster he started out as. |
| 194 | * BungledSuicide: [[spoiler:Arthur]] attempts to hang himself after [[spoiler:being humiliated by his father and duped into giving him 500 pounds, which he stole from the family]]. The rope breaks. [[RefugeInAudacity Tommy tells him to use a gun next time.]] |
| 195 | * TheBusCameBack: |
| 196 | ** At the end of 2.04, [[spoiler:Tommy places a phone call to a hotel room in London. It's Grace and her American banker husband]]. |
| 197 | ** Alfie Solomons shows back up for the final two episodes of season three, after being absent from the first four. |
| 198 | ** May Carleton appears to be training horses for Tommy again, as of 4.02. |
| 199 | ** In 4.03, [[spoiler:Michael's adoptive mother pays him a visit in the hospital, to remind him of the boy he used to be]]. |
| 200 | * ButtMonkey: |
| 201 | ** Poor Finn Shelby, who just wants to be as cool as his big brothers. He constantly gets shoved around and told to "go stick [his] head in a bucket". He ultimately [[spoiler:turns on his family in the final season]]. |
| 202 | ** Johnny Dogs is getting pretty used to being used as Tommy's personal body-disposal force. In 3.01, he's ordered to burn the body of [[spoiler: Kaledin]] to hide the killing, and in 4.01, he's called all the way across the city by Tommy to clean up the kitchen killing of [[spoiler:Alberto]] and to send the Black Hand a message with the body. |
| 203 | * CainAndAbelAndSeth: The introduction of Michael Gray, Polly's son, complicates the already-fragile relationships among the Shelbys. In particular, John and Polly square off on whether or not allowing Michael to participate in the less-legal side of the business is a wise idea. |
| 204 | * CallBack: |
| 205 | ** In 1.03, Tommy stands in the Chinese laundry, examining the suits with Billy Kimber's name on the tags. In 1.06, Mr. Zhang examines a row of suits with the Shelby brothers' names on the tags. |
| 206 | ** In 1.04, Tommy tells Danny that every night, he can hear the German diggers tunneling through his wall, and unless he smokes opium, they tend to make it through (and trigger a full flashback to the battle) before the sun rises. In 1.05, after sleeping with Grace, Tommy says that the digging's stopped. |
| 207 | ** 1.01 had Grace in a green dress and ethereal music playing walking into Birmingham, just the back of her in frame. The shot is recreated in 2.01 with Polly in a red dress and ominous music playing walking out of Small Heath and to the medium's house. |
| 208 | ** Season one involves [[spoiler: Danny's fake]] grave being used to hide the stolen guns, the cause of much trouble and people trying to kill Tommy. Season two has Tommy about to meet a sticky end in an unmarked grave--[[spoiler: and then being saved by a double agent in the Red Right Hand]]. |
| 209 | ** In 3.02, Tommy reminds his family that the Changrettas are "those bastards who wanted Danny Whizz-bang dead". In 1.01, they were unnamed, and referred to only by their Italian nationality. |
| 210 | ** Tommy carves [[spoiler: "Hughes"]] on a bullet in 3.04 just like the Lees wrote "Tommy" and Tommy wrote "Kimber" on a bullet in 1.02 and 1.06. He does it again in 4.02, with [[spoiler: "Luca"]] on the bullet. |
| 211 | ** In 4.04, Polly marks a black star in Tommy's diary to tell him [[spoiler: the day when she's arranged for the Changrettas to ambush him]], alluding to the original Black Star Day of 1.06 when the Peakys planned to take out Kimber. Both times involve [[spoiler: a woman betraying Tommy, except Grace's betrayal was real and Polly's was arranged]]. |
| 212 | ** In 4.05, Tommy and Jessie Eden listen to the song "The Boy I Love", which was the very first song he ever heard Grace sing. |
| 213 | ** Many, many CallBacks in season five, including the reappearance of [[spoiler: Grace as Tommy's hallucinatory Angel of Death]], Winston Churchill discussing the threat of Mosley and hilariously misremembering Campbell, Arthur reiterating what Senior always said about dealing with Chinese razor gangs, and [[spoiler:Alfie Solomons turning up in an abandoned mansion in Margate]]. |
| 214 | ** Karl Thorne refers to his father Freddie as he tells off Ben Younger for attempting to replace Freddie. |
| 215 | * CallForward: |
| 216 | ** In 1.06, Tommy name-drops the "Sabinis" and the "Solomons" as the only two gang families in England that are bigger than the Shelbys. Both of those gangs become major presences in the next season. |
| 217 | ** In 1.02, Polly mentions the Marquis Pub as one of the pubs Campbell and his coppers knocked over and blamed on the Peaky Blinders. In 2.04, it's the Marquis that Michael and Isaiah go to and get into a barfight in, and which is torched by John and Arthur in retaliation. |
| 218 | ** Tommy's general absence of faith in Freddie Thorne's labour organization cause makes a lot more sense after the revelations about his own history with the movement in series 4. |
| 219 | ** In the very first episode, Tommy quotes the line "In the bleak midwinter" (the opening line of a poem of the same name by Christina Rossetti) with no particular explanation. The line comes up a few times throughout the show before we finally get the context on it in 4.02: [[spoiler: Tommy's old military unit used to recite the poem whenever one of their number died]]. |
| 220 | * CartwrightCurse: It is very dangerous to be in love with one of the Shelbys. Either you die like [[spoiler: Grace, Campbell, Freddie, Ben, and Aberama]], or your life is completely ruined like [[spoiler: Esme and Linda]]. |
| 221 | * CasualtyInTheRing: In 2.02, [[spoiler: Arthur loses his shit and beats a boy to death in the boxing ring]]. Tommy covers it up. |
| 222 | * CatapultNightmare: Tommy has one in 1.03. |
| 223 | * CatchPhrase: "By order of the Peaky Blinders." |
| 224 | * ChangelingFantasy: Deconstructed with Michael. He wants something more exciting than the pretty little village where he grew up, and the Shelbys are ''certainly'' that. But he's also visibly taken aback by the grimness of Birmingham. Still, he goes home, and then once he's 18, he chooses to come back. By the end of the fifth season, [[spoiler: he's actively trying to take over, and Tommy seems to wish he'd never contacted Michael in the first place.]] |
| 225 | * TheChanteuse: Grace is the "Irish pub singer" subset. It's this talent which gets her the job at the Garrison Tavern and brings her to Tommy's attention. |
| 226 | * ChekhovsGun: |
| 227 | ** A literal gun is the derringer that Campbell gives Grace in 1.02. She places it in her purse, and nearly uses it in 1.03 when Billy Kimber attempts to rape her. The gun comes back again in 1.06, when Grace pulls it on Polly in the Garrison. It finally goes off spectacularly in 2.01: [[spoiler: Grace shot Campbell that night at the train station, through her purse]]. |
| 228 | ** The need to [[spoiler: fake Danny's death to appease the Italian mob]] served more purposes than getting Tommy eyes and ears in London and avoiding the death of a mostly-innocent man. It turns out that the Peaky Blinders have used [[spoiler: Danny's grave]] to stash the stolen BSA guns. |
| 229 | ** Polly threatens to shoot [[spoiler: Tommy for not telling her where her son is]], but actually ''does'' shoot [[spoiler: Campbell after he rapes her and interrogates Michael]]. |
| 230 | ** The veritable slew of people who point guns at Thomas Shelby in season two--the IRA, Campbell, Sabini, Alfie, Polly, Ada, Lizzie… all culminating in 2.06, when [[spoiler: the Red Right Hand are about to shoot Tommy in a field and bury him in a pauper's grave, but a double-agent working with Churchill turns on the others and saves Tommy's life.]] |
| 231 | ** A huge one in the series finale, [[CallBack reappearing after 6 seasons]]: [[spoiler: as Tommy prepares to kill himself, he loads a bullet with his name engraved on it. It's implied that this is the same one sent by the Lee family all the way back in the second ever episode, at the beginning of his first big scheme. Ultimately, it's not fired]] |
| 232 | * TheChessmaster: |
| 233 | ** Tommy, who's playing the police, the Bolsheviks, the Lees, Billy Kimber, and his own family, all in pursuit of becoming a legitimate businessman. He adds the Italian and Jewish gangs of London, the IRA, and Churchill himself to the mix in season two, and in season three, takes a level in ambition by playing Russian aristocrats, Italian gangsters, and the Economic League (a group of wealthy, insanely powerful men--MP's, judges, and priests) as well. |
| 234 | ** Campbell ''thinks'' he's one. The one big gamble he manipulates--pulling the police back from Small Heath to let the Peaky Blinders and Kimber's men annihilate each other--he comes out on the wrong side of due to Ada and Tommy, each in their own way, keeping the bloodshed to a minimum, and mostly everyone surviving. He takes a level in chessmastery in season 2, by pitting the anti-treaty IRA, Tommy, and Churchill against each other. The two things he doesn't count on are [[spoiler: a double-agent in the Red Right Hand and Polly Shelby wanting vengeance]]. |
| 235 | ** Oswald Mosley turns out to be at or surpassing Tommy's level in season five. Every time Tommy seems to one-up Mosley, he's swatted right back down by Mosley being a bigger bastard with more allies. |
| 236 | * ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: The plot of the show is a long list of one gang doublecrossing another gang: |
| 237 | ** In Birmingham: The Shelbys and the Lees are loose allies until a brawl drives them into a gang war. This was done intentionally by Tommy so he could ally the Shelbys with Kimber against the Lees. Then the Shelbys reconcile with the Lees and double-cross Kimber. |
| 238 | ** In London: The Shelbys reach out to the Jews to ally against the Italians and get a foothold in London. Then the Jews and the Italians reconcile and unite against the Shelbys, but the Jews make a new deal with the Shelbys and double-cross the Italians. The Jews continue to support the Shelbys until [[spoiler: Alfie is bribed by the Economic League]] and then double-cross Tommy, and [[spoiler: again when Alfie is bribed by Luca Changretta to help with the attempted hit on Arthur. Finally, enough is enough, and Tommy kills Alfie himself. Except it turns out Alfie is NotQuiteDead and in the next season, they're friends again. For now.]] |
| 239 | * ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: After planning to go into business (and potentially a romantic relationship) with Tommy in season two, May Carleton is nowhere to be found in season 3, although she comes back in season 4. |
| 240 | ** Dear sweet Reuben was Polly's love interest throughout Series 3, but does not appear throughout Series 4 or 5. |
| 241 | * TheClan: The Shelbys and the Lees. |
| 242 | * ClickHello: Do ''not'' leave guns lying around Aunt Polly's home. She returns it to John like this, pistol-whipping him to emphasize how stupid an action it was. |
| 243 | * CliffHanger: Season 1 ends on a pretty big one. Season 2 ends on a fairly minor one. Episode 3.02 has another fairly large one. Season 3 ends on one of the biggest in history. 4.01 and 4.03 continue with more shockers. And so does 5.06. |
| 244 | * ClusterFBomb: Tommy, during his wedding day, reads the Peaky boys the riot act in regards to fighting with the cavalry officers. |
| 245 | * CoffinContraband: [[spoiler: Danny Owen's fake]] grave is where Tommy's stashed the guns from the BSA robbery. |
| 246 | * CoitusUninterruptus: |
| 247 | ** Tommy apparently doesn't believe in knocking and bursts in on John and Esme mid-sex. His excuse is that they should've locked the door, as [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments it could have been anyone]]. After he leaves, John and Esme start back up again. |
| 248 | ** Tommy walks in on Arthur fucking a prostitute in season 2. They even hold a conversation before Arthur--ahem--finishes up, and goes into the other room to talk business with Tommy. |
| 249 | * CollidingCriminalConspiracies: |
| 250 | ** The Peaky Blinders vs. Billy Kimber + the Lees vs. Campbell + the police. EnemyMine and VillainTeamUp occur, but each side is ultimately out for their own interests. |
| 251 | ** Again in season two between Sabini's Italian gang, Alfie's Jews and the Peaky Blinders. |
| 252 | ** In season three, tensions arise between the Peaky Blinders, the Changretta family, the Whites supporting the exiled Russian aristocrats, the Soviets, and the Economic League/Oddfellows working against the Soviets and the Whites on behalf of the Crown. |
| 253 | ** Season four has the Peaky Blinders versus the Changretta family and Alfie Solomons and his allies. |
| 254 | ** In season five, Tommy tries to outmanoeuvre Oswald Mosley and the fascists while the Chinese contract the Peaky Blinders to move seven tons of heroin across England. In the middle are the Billy Boys from Glasgow and their leader [=Jimmy McCavern=], who has ties to Mosley, but are plotting to wipe out the Peakys and steal the heroin. In the season finale, Tommy discovers that there seems to be a mysterious fourth faction that is thwarting his plans. |
| 255 | * ColdBloodedTorture: |
| 256 | ** Campbell puts Arthur through this in the pilot. |
| 257 | ** Arthur slices off a bit of a gangster's ear to send a message to the Lee family. |
| 258 | ** What happens to Stanley Chapman under Campbell's watch. |
| 259 | ** Very strongly implied to have happened to [[spoiler: Michael]] under Campbell's orders. |
| 260 | ** John puts out Angel Changretta's eye for daring to date Lizzie despite Tommy's orders. |
| 261 | ** Tommy nearly does this to Vincente Changretta for [[spoiler: hiring an assassin that killed Grace]], but Arthur puts a stop to it by [[spoiler: shooting Vincente before Tommy can start torturing the old man.]] |
| 262 | ** [[spoiler: Finn's first kill as a true Peaky]] is blinding a Changretta assassin. |
| 263 | * CollateralAngst: [[spoiler: Grace, in the final scene of 3.02, is shot by an assassin gunning for Tommy. Her death is used to give Tommy more pathos]]. |
| 264 | * ColourMotif: The show is mostly a grey-brown urban landscape with one dominant colour in each scene. It remains to be seen what they might mean. |
| 265 | ** Red: the dust the fortuneteller uses, the interior of Churchill's train, Grace's Cheltenham dress, Billy Kimber's pocket square and home, most of the Chinatown scenes, Polly's Garrison dress, the linings of Tommy's coats in seasons 2 and 4, May's Epsom dress, Polly's dress to meet [[spoiler: Luca Changretta]], the boxing ring for the Goliath vs. Gold fight. |
| 266 | ** Green: Grace's traveling suit, the interior of the Shelby home in Small Heath, Grace's bedroom, Polly's season five wardrobe. |
| 267 | ** Lilac/Purple: the art gallery where Campbell and [[spoiler: Grace]] meet, the tea room where Campbell and Tommy meet, [[spoiler: Grace's wedding dress]], May's season four wardrobe. |
| 268 | ** White: the smoke of Campbell's train, the dossiers Campbell looks through, the snow Grace walks through, Ada's dresses and furs, Freddie's union hall, the white horse, the door to the betting shop Tommy walks through at the end of episode five, Grace's furs at Epsom, Polly's fundraising and portrait gown. |
| 269 | ** Yellow: the interior of the Garrison, the boxing ring where [[spoiler: Arthur attempts suicide]], the candles in the church, the train station where [[spoiler: Grace shot Campbell]], the new Garrison interior, the cellar where Tommy interrogates Vincente Changretta, Polly's dress and the accents on Linda's dress for the ballet. |
| 270 | ** Blue: Polly's wardrobe, Freddie's basement flat, much of the Romani camp, May's home, Grace's ball gown, the "cursed" sapphire, the underground area of the arena for the Goliath vs. Gold fight. |
| 271 | * CombatHaircomb: Polly pulls out a very long, very sharp hairpin to threaten people. |
| 272 | * CombatMedic: Jeremiah, who hasn't picked up a rifle since the war, but will make wisecracks about God while he's digging a bullet out of you. |
| 273 | * ComplexityAddiction: To be fair, Tommy's plans usually involve XanatosSpeedChess out of necessity, but it doesn't change the fact that he enjoys playing with the lives of others. |
| 274 | * TheCon: In the GrandFinale, Tommy is informed by his longtime doctor Holford that he has a [[TerminallyIllCriminal brain tumor]] and only a year to live. After a RoaringRampageOfRevenge against the family enemies, Tommy clears up his affairs and heads to a cabin to kill himself. But a vision of his late daughter and a glimpse at a newspaper have Tommy confronting Holford on how he was not only best friends with Tommy's enemy Oswald, but also the doctor who gave the second opinion "confirming" Tommy's tumor. Tommy realizes he's perfectly fine and this whole thing was cooked up to trick him into killing himself and is ready to fight back. |
| 275 | |
| 276 | * TheConsigliere: |
| 277 | ** Aunt Polly for most of the family, but Tommy in particular. |
| 278 | ** Roberts is the cooler, wiser head that prevails upon Billy Kimber. |
| 279 | ** Tommy plots to turn Grace into another one, more along the lines of the traditional Mafia consigliere. He needs a "Roberts", like Billy Kimber has, someone with class, who will be accepted by society as the public face of his new company in non-criminal matters. |
| 280 | ** Tommy eventually gets his wish in his cousin Michael, who is the company accountant for all the legal doings, and kept scrupulously clean of the illegal side, which he begins to resent [[spoiler: before ultimately turning against Tommy in the fifth series]]. |
| 281 | * CoolHorse: Tommy tends to acquire them. |
| 282 | ** Monaghan Boy--the black horse that he performs the powder trick on in the pilot. |
| 283 | ** A gorgeous unnamed white horse he wins in a bet from the Lee family, but it ends badly. |
| 284 | ** [[spoiler:Grace's Secret]]--a racehorse he buys in season 2 in a bid to topple the Sabinis. |
| 285 | ** An apparently difficult black one which he visits in 3.02 with [[spoiler: Grace and his son Charlie]] and takes to Wales with him in 3.03. Johnny Dogs thinks this one's odd because it won't listen to him and has been "off" ever since [[spoiler: Grace died]]. |
| 286 | ** One he summons May back to Birmingham to train in season four. |
| 287 | * TheCoronerDothProtestTooMuch: Campbell would like to remind you that Stanley Chapman died of falling down stairs, not an extended torture session in the basement of the local jail. And to go ''find'' some stairs to actually throw him down, just in case the coroner does ask questions. |
| 288 | * CorruptionOfAMinor: The Peaky Blinders find nothing wrong with taking an ''11-year-old'' along on shakedown, letting him run around their betting shop, and sending him to steal things from the local pub. Continues when he's about 13, and he and his friend are full-fledged members of the gang, and reaches an apex in season four, when [[spoiler: Finn is pushed into both losing his virginity and making his first blinding]] by the family. He's a full Peaky in season five, party to all the criminal doings of the gang. |
| 289 | * CoverIdentityAnomaly: [[spoiler:Grace]] doesn't know that a Catholic would cross themselves when they enter a church, and anyone who really had experience working in pubs would know how to pull a pint properly. |
| 290 | * CouchGag: The title sequence is simply the opening scene of each episode, with the theme song and credits played over it, culminating in the title card. As such, it's different every time. |
| 291 | * CrucifiedHeroShot: Ironically enough, it's [[spoiler: Campbell]] who gets this--lying in a pool of his own blood after [[spoiler: being shot by Grace]]. |
| 292 | ** Happens to [[spoiler: Michael and John lying in pools of their own blood at the end of 4.01]]. |
| 293 | * CryForTheDevil: Subverted in-universe with Campbell -- in 2.06, he tries to [[spoiler: convince an extremely vengeful Polly not to shoot him after he's raped her, tortured her son, and tried multiple times to kill her nephew by playing to her romantically, saying they have a connection, his heart belongs to her, etc. Polly shoots him in cold blood without a second thought.]] |
| 294 | * CurbStompBattle: Tommy picks a fight with the Lee boys, but what sets all three Shelby brothers off is their mother being called a whore. They beat the holy hell out of the Lees, utilizing the razors sewn into their caps, but hey, at least they get great backing music while they do it (The Raconteurs' "Blue Veins")! |
| 295 | * DamnItFeelsGoodToBeAGangster: There are lots of montages and slow-motion sequences of the Shelbys partying or walking down the street while badass blues-rock blares on the soundtrack. |
| 296 | * DarkerAndEdgier: The series progressively becomes this with each season as more psychological thriller elements get thrown in revolving around Tommy and his mental state. |
| 297 | * DatingCatwoman: |
| 298 | ** Ada Shelby is seeing Freddie Thorne, resident Bolshevik unionizer. |
| 299 | ** Tommy and Grace. [[spoiler: They get married in season three.]] |
| 300 | ** Tommy has a romantic affair with [[spoiler:Duchess Tatiana, a ruthless and manipulative Russian fugitive who is embroiled in Tommy's shifting alliances]]. |
| 301 | ** Tommy's at it again in season four, seeing [[spoiler: unionizer Jessie Eden as part of a plot to ingratiate himself into the Bolsheviks in Birmingham]]. |
| 302 | ** [[spoiler: Diana cheats on Oswald with Tommy in season six.]] |
| 303 | * DeathFakedForYou: |
| 304 | ** In season one, it's [[spoiler: Danny, who actually believes Tommy's going to shoot him. He's sent off to London to be Tommy's eyes and ears instead.]] |
| 305 | ** In season four, it's [[spoiler: Arthur, wounded at the Goliath vs. Gold match and whose "death" is used as proof the Shelbys are desperate enough to accept Luca Changretta's victory. He comes back in the eleventh hour to solidify the Shelbys' victory.]] |
| 306 | ** Season five reveals that [[spoiler: Alfie Solomons is alive and living in a mansion in Margate. Tommy and the Jews seem to be the only ones aware of his continued existence.]] |
| 307 | * DeadpanSnarker: Runs in the Shelby family--Polly, Ada, and Tommy are the ones who employ it the most, for varying reasons. |
| 308 | * DecadentCourt: The exiled Russian nobles in season three. They hold drunken orgies, force Arthur and John to strip naked [[note]]ostensibly to check for criminal tattoos, but really for their own twisted amusement[[/note]], and their whole story arc is full of deceit and betrayal. Lampshaded when Tatiana shoots in cold blood the man who has just finished appraising her gem collection, then casually remarks that the jewels have seen much worse. |
| 309 | * DeliberateValuesDissonance: |
| 310 | ** Despite Polly's considerable influence, it's the men of the Shelby clan who have all the say. |
| 311 | ** In spite of being a wild man, Arthur finds the wild jazz music of London to be "racket" and hates it. |
| 312 | ** Veterans regularly tell Campbell to his face that he's less of a man because he did not serve in the Great War. |
| 313 | ** In multiple scenes, the 11-year-old Finn is shown drinking beer with his family. |
| 314 | ** Some bars will refuse service to a black man, and one bar patron refuses to drink in the same bar as a black man. |
| 315 | ** Pregnant women are shown drinking, smoking, and (in Esme's case) doing cocaine. |
| 316 | ** A gay reporter is blackmailed by multiple people in season five, and his murder ultimately is covered up. |
| 317 | ** The tensions between the various ethnic gangs often range into bigotry. The Shelbys are often the targets of antiziganist slurs, and one very funny scene has Alfie complaining about all the mean antisemitic comments that Sabini has made over the years - even though he himself unreservedly calls Sabini a "wop". |
| 318 | * DenyingTheDeadParentsSins: |
| 319 | ** Polly quite noticeably does ''not'' do this for her late husband. She tells Michael that his father was a drunk and an abuser and died a pointless death. |
| 320 | ** The Shelby boys don't do this for [[spoiler: Arthur Senior after he's shot in Boston. They share a stag hunt in his memory, but decide the name will die with him and they will forget all about him.]] |
| 321 | ** Tommy reminds Polly in 4.02 that his mother [[spoiler: used to be just like Polly's been acting, addicted to pills and whiskey, seeing ghosts and holding seances, neglecting her kids]]. |
| 322 | * DeusExMachina: In the Season 2 finale, [[spoiler: Thomas is abducted to the country side to be supposedly killed and burried. However, when all hope for Tom seems to be lost one of the kidnappers turns out to be a double agent working for Churchill and tells Thomas that he will have a job for him in the future.]] |
| 323 | * DiabolusExMachina: In the Season 3 finale, [[spoiler: Thomas is hosting a family meeting talking about the money they've just earned and almost everyone turns it down. Suddenly, Thomas tells them that almost all of them will be arrested for crimes they have previously committied while the police immediately comes to take them]]. |
| 324 | * DidntThinkThisThrough: Oswald Mosley antagonizes pretty much everyone, and is wholly dependent on the resources provided by other factions. Aside from his charisma, his power base is pretty weak. He should be an easy kill for Tommy ... except for a mysterious group that comes to his rescue at the fascist rally. |
| 325 | * DiedOnABus: [[spoiler: Arthur Senior, as we find out in 3.04.]] |
| 326 | * DiegeticSwitch: In season 6, we see Gina dancing confidently in her home, and the soundtrack plays loud, powerful jazz music. Then she falters as Tommy Shelby makes a surprise appearance, and the music changes to a much more humble and tinny version of the same song, now coming out of her diegetic 1930s radio. |
| 327 | * DirtyCop: |
| 328 | ** Campbell's first move in office is to clear out the extremely corrupt Birmingham PD and bring his own men in. He eventually falls into this himself, though, much to the horror of Sgt. Moss, who seems to mostly be a fairly principled guy. |
| 329 | ** Moss himself falls into being the Shelbys' go-to FriendOnTheForce and accomplice in season two and beyond. |
| 330 | * DisneyDeath: [[spoiler: Arthur is seemingly killed during the boxing match in 4.06 only to come back and kill Luca Changretta.]] |
| 331 | ** Another example is [[spoiler: Linda, seemingly shot by Polly at the end of 5.04, but shown to only have a bullet wound in her arm in 5.05.]] |
| 332 | ** [[spoiler: Alfie]] is apparently shot dead in 4.06, but returns [[spoiler: in series 5, having apparently survived - though he's lost an eye.]] |
| 333 | * DisproportionateRetribution: The Peaky Blinders run on this, for people who insult them ([[CurbStompBattle curb-stomping]] the Lees in 1.02, for example), but the crowner really has to be Arthur and John's torching of the Marquis pub in 2.04 in retaliation for the pub denizens disrespecting Michael and Isaiah - something the bartender actually tried to prevent. |
| 334 | * TheDon: Tommy is beginning to look and act the part in season two, though Darby Sabini is the real Godfather-type. Luca Changretta makes a case for being the crowner in season four. |
| 335 | * DontMakeMeTakeMyBeltOff: Polly's clearly not afraid to use corporal punishment on the boys, even though all of them but Finn are grown adults. She tells John that her boot's harder than any excuse he has for his childish behaviour, and Tommy says the only reason she ''doesn't'' hit him with the fireplace poker is because she knows he's right about Freddie and Ada. He also lets her get a few good smacks in when she first learns about the botched [=BSA=] robbery. |
| 336 | ** Arthur Jr. comments that Polly's close to giving Tommy "a good hiding" in the aftermath of the Freddie Thorne incident. |
| 337 | * DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale: Arthur and John's full-body inspection to "check for Russian gang tattoos" in 3.05 is mostly played for laughs. When Arthur objects, Tommy tells him to "let the ladies have their fun" for the sake of the job. |
| 338 | * DownerEnding: Season three ends with [[spoiler:Arthur, John, Michael and Polly being hauled off by the authorities to answer for various crimes because Tommy of all people sold them out, claiming that he was making a deal "with people more powerful than our enemies." The scene ends with a lonely, dejected Tommy watching as his family are hauled away and the remaining family treating him like a traitor.]] |
| 339 | ** Season five's ending is even more bleak: [[spoiler: Tommy rejects Michael's plan of expansion as he expels him from the Peaky Blinders, and Polly follows suit. Then, Tommy's assassination attempt on Oswald Mosley is foiled by a mysterious third party. Barney and Aberama are both dead and the British Union of Fascists is brought into being as planned. The episode ends with Tommy wandering into the fog outside his home and encountering a vision of Grace that beckons him to kill himself and he holds a pistol to his own head, screaming. Roll credits.]] |
| 340 | * DoWrongRight: Little Finn picks up a hammer to use during the Cheltenham raid. John takes it away from him… and gives him a ''cleaver''. |
| 341 | * DragonWithAnAgenda: In season two, John has become this to Tommy. He feels that Tommy's plans for expansion to London are foolish when they're already making so much money, and believes he should have more control over day-to-day operations. |
| 342 | ** In Season 5, [[spoiler: it's Michael.]] |
| 343 | * TheDreaded: |
| 344 | ** Tommy has overtones of this to the everyday citizens of the city. Most notably in the very first episode, before we even see him, the people of Chinatown are seen scattering in terror as news spreads that Thomas Shelby is riding down the street towards them. |
| 345 | ** The Shelby name in general will shut down anyone not part of a rival faction of roughly equal strength. ...not that stopping immediately upon hearing the name is enough to spare the offender. |
| 346 | ** Aberama Gold is this for the Shelbys--a very rich man from an old Romany family and known for being ''absolutely off his rocker''. |
| 347 | * DrivenToSuicide: Tommy and Arthur have contemplated suicide multiple times in the show. [[spoiler: Grace's hallucinations, born from his own depression, essentially advise him to do this]] in Season 5. |
| 348 | ** Turns out it runs in the family. [[spoiler: The Shelbys' mother and grandfather have committed suicide due to unknown reasons.]] |
| 349 | * DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler:After being a major part of season one, Freddie dies between seasons one and two of illness]]. |
| 350 | * DueToTheDead: |
| 351 | ** Played with in 3.04. The four Shelby boys go out to the woods to shoot, skin, and cook a stag in honor of [[spoiler: the one good memory they have of their father. After it's finished, Tommy declares that neither John nor Arthur will name their unborn children after Arthur Senior, and that the name will die along with all memories of him.]] |
| 352 | ** In 5.01 Tommy has to MercyKill his son's favourite horse. Afterwards he and the Lees give the horse a proper burial and Tommy makes a speech praising the horse as a fighter and free spirit. |
| 353 | |
| 354 | [[/folder]] |
| 355 | |
| 356 | [[folder: E to I]] |
| 357 | |
| 358 | |
| 359 | * EasilyForgiven: While a lot of it can be chalked up to the opportunistic nature of all of the involved factions, several characters seemingly have their previous murder attempts/power plays handwaved away at the slightest hint of advantage. [[spoiler: Particularly Inspector Campbell, who seemingly rotates between genuine understanding and erratic threats, and Alfie Solomons, who betrays the Peaky Blinders/Tommy no less than three times.]] |
| 360 | * EasyEvangelism: Arthur Senior, the Shelby patriarch, has apparently found Christianity while he's been away from Birmingham. Subverted, as he's lying. |
| 361 | * EleventhHourRanger: |
| 362 | ** Jeremiah, the street preacher shown in short bits throughout the series, turns out to have been TheMedic for the boys when they were in France. Tommy calls upon him to join them to battle Kimber--good thing, too, since [[spoiler: Tommy ends up shot in the shoulder by Kimber]]. |
| 363 | ** Also in 1.06, [[spoiler: Freddie, after the Peaky Blinders spring him from jail. He comes to help them fight Kimber bearing the single machine gun they managed to hide from Campbell.]] |
| 364 | ** In 3.05, Tommy calls on [[spoiler: Alfie Solomons]] to assist with the jewel heist on the Russians. He turns out to be [[spoiler: a SixthRangerTraitor, selling Tommy out to Hughes and allowing baby Charles to be kidnapped.]] |
| 365 | ** In 5.05, [[spoiler: Tommy contacts an old friend of his, Barney, as he plots to assassinate Mosley. Barney's soon killed by an unknown individual.]] |
| 366 | * EmotionalBruiser: The Shelby brothers, as opposed to the [[TheStoic stoic]] Inspector Campbell. Michael as well. |
| 367 | * EqualOpportunityEvil: |
| 368 | ** The Peaky Blinders fully accept the black Jeremiah and his son Isaiah as their own. |
| 369 | ** While Tommy makes disparaging comments about Polly and Ada running the business now that he and the men are back from World War I, this might be more because he thinks he personally should be in charge rather than he thinks men in general should be. When his own sovereignty is not being challenged, he's respectful of Polly and Ada's abilities, and speaks to them in exactly the way he does to male members of the family, also treating female employees similarly to male ones. |
| 370 | ** Tommy also appears to be well ahead of his time in his attitude to gay people; in Season 2, Ada offhandedly outs one of her housemates as gay to him while the man is standing right there, much to the man's dismay and fear (since homosexuality is a criminal offence at this time). Tommy politely introduces himself, says it's a pleasure to meet him, and shakes his hand. [[spoiler: Tommy's not as forgiving to the gay reporter in Season 5, as he uses the fact to {{Blackmail}} him, and he's soon murdered.]] |
| 371 | * EnemyMine: The IRA would not mind seeing Tommy dead but they change their mind when they discover that the Shelbys are being targeted by the Billy Boys, a Scottish gang with strong ties to the Protestant Ulster Volunteer Force, the IRA's main enemies in Northern Ireland. |
| 372 | * EroticAsphyxiation: In 3.05, [[spoiler: Tommy discovers he has a taste for this, when Tatiana uses his grief over Grace's death and desire to see her again to rope Tommy into drinking a lot of vodka and letting her choke him.]] |
| 373 | * EstablishingCharacterMoment: |
| 374 | ** Tommy Shelby, dressed in all black, riding a black horse down the middle of the deserted Chinatown street as people scatter in terror. He's theatrical, feared, in charge, and decidedly ''not'' a white-hat type. |
| 375 | ** Campbell reading the dossiers of the suspected leaders of the Peaky Blinders, establishing his doggedness, preparation, and thorough understanding of the gangsters he's been sent to root out. He gets a second one for season two, the [[HellIsThatNoise step-clank]] sound of his cane and complete ignoring of a screaming interrogation going on behind him. |
| 376 | ** Grace walking alone in the snow down the main street, ethereal music in the background. She's mysterious, and her green dress clues us into her Irish heritage. |
| 377 | ** Polly pulling a gun on John, shouting at him for leaving it around the shop for Finn to play with, and pistol-whipping him to remind him to be more careful. She's the authority in the family and will discipline the boys no matter how old they are. |
| 378 | ** Aberama Gold gets a pretty badass one in 4.02, [[spoiler: crashing John's funeral to wipe out two Changretta assassins]]. |
| 379 | * EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: The Lees call the Shelby brothers' mother a "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Didicoy didicoy]] whore". [[CurbStompBattle This is a bad idea.]] |
| 380 | * EvenEvilHasStandards: The Shelbys are well aware that they're far from saints, and that they've done many terrible things to a lot of people. But few things stir them to wrath more than the harming of children. |
| 381 | ** Tommy insists on collecting the full fee for wiping out a child-trafficking ring in Chinatown. But one gets a sense the Shelbys would have been done it for free had they learned of it on their own. The fee was sugar on top. |
| 382 | ** Tommy and Polly financially shut down a convent that had been abusing children under their care, and one where [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain the head nun tormented a black child]] to the point that the child was DrivenToSuicide. They also make a point of threatening and humiliating the nuns when announcing the decision. |
| 383 | * EverybodySmokes: And if they don't, they're about to start. |
| 384 | * EveryoneHasStandards: [[spoiler: Michael might want Tommy dead, but baulks at having to kill Arthur too (though eventually accepts that there's no way to kill Tommy without Arthur also dying). He also refuses to allow Duke's death.]] |
| 385 | * EvilMatriarch: |
| 386 | ** Aunt Polly seems to be the most level-headed of the Shelby clan, but she's still running a street gang. |
| 387 | ** Grand Duchess Izabella Petrovna is pulling the strings for the Russians. |
| 388 | ** Audrey Changretta becomes this in season 4. |
| 389 | * TheExtremistWasRight: Literally all of Season 4 could have been averted if John and Arthur had listened to Tommy in Season 3 and [[spoiler: killed Mrs. Changretta, their former teacher]] because she informs on them to the Sicilian Mafia. |
| 390 | * FailedASpotCheck: |
| 391 | ** The IRA hitmen sent to Birmingham in revenge for the killing of Ryan. They corner Tommy in the Garrison and are about to execute him--shame they didn't check the back room or pay more attention to pub employees. |
| 392 | -->'''Tommy''': To barmaids that don't count. |
| 393 | ** Tommy nearly falls victim to this in 2.03, when the Sabini assassin nearly shoots him. Luckily for him, Arthur and John are quicker on the draw and take care of the problem. |
| 394 | ** In 3.02, an Italian assassin somehow gets into the Shelby Foundation fundraising dinner, [[spoiler: shooting Grace instead of Tommy]]. |
| 395 | ** As Luca Changretta points out, the security around Tommy's office is laughably poor. A man being hunted by the Mafia just lets pretty much anyone with a plausible story walk into his place of business. Thankfully, Luca just wants to gloat rather than shoot Tommy where he stands. |
| 396 | ** Luca falls prey to this himself later on however - if you're going to ask a Jewish gangster to smuggle assassins into a boxing match as ringside seconds, it isn't enough that they be circumcised - they have to know how to look after the boxer in between rounds. [[spoiler: Arthur picks up on this, and his solo investigation of his suspicions sets up the final episode's plot.]] |
| 397 | * FamilyBusiness: Bookmaking, fixing races, and doling out beatdowns seem to be a Shelby tradition. Tommy wants to go legitimate, and does when Billy Kimber awards the Shelbys a legal betting pitch at one of his racetracks. Doesn't stop him from continuing on his path of crime. |
| 398 | * FauxAffablyEvil: Inspector Campbell. He'll smile at you, play up the harmless demeanour… and right until he sticks the knife in and tells you how disgusting he finds criminal scum. |
| 399 | ** Oswald Mosley. Urbane, convivial, charming, beautiful manners - until he drops the act and starts talking about racial purity and blackmail. |
| 400 | * FidelityTest: Tommy gives one to Lizzie to see if she's really changed. He gives her 8 pounds for "one last time"--propositioning her to continue as a whore--and she takes him up on it. It means she's lying to John about not being a hooker anymore. |
| 401 | * FinancialAbuse: In the words of Polly, Arthur Senior is a "thieving whore-groping con artist", and it seems that his duping money out of the family is an old habit. |
| 402 | * {{Fingore}}: Campbell breaks most of Arthur's fingers in the pilot. |
| 403 | ### TagalongKid: Still Finn, 15 and doing what his brothers tell him to do. |
| 404 | * FiveSecondForeshadowing: |
| 405 | ** In 5.06, [[spoiler: Tommy has to go to Margate, after the family meeting where he kills Micky the treacherous barman of the Garrison. The only reference to Margate is the last known location of Alfie Solomons - who, as it turns out, is alive. The book with the Hebrew script on it adds further foreshadowing before Alfie's voice is actually heard.]] |
| 406 | ** In 6.03, Ada mentions Gypsy tribes such as the Lees and the Barwells. [[spoiler: The Barwells have never been mentioned before. Sure enough, it turns out that the Barwells have cursed Tommy's daughter Ruby for allegedly causing the death of one of their children, through a cursed sapphire that he told them not to take. And by the end of the episode, Ruby dies.]] [[spoiler: Lizzie sitting in the hospital lobby - instead of by her daughter's bedside - also gives away what is about to happen.]] |
| 407 | ** In 6.04, [[spoiler: Tommy is giving his daughter, Ruby, a gypsy funeral with a burning carriage. He mentions that the carriage would have been gold, but he had learned that gold doesn't work. Shortly after, he solves a problem with lead instead - shooting the Barwells, who cursed his daughter.]] |
| 408 | * {{Foil}}: |
| 409 | ** Tommy and Campbell, slick British gangster prince versus cunning Irish copper--but since Tommy is partly of Irish descent and Campbell is a British Loyalist and a Protestant with a thick Ulster accent, each of them is from the other's country. Both men commit horrible acts of violence they justify with their own moral code, both are feared leaders you wouldn't want to cross, and both put [[spoiler:Grace]] on a pedestal and are betrayed. |
| 410 | --->'''Campbell''': One thing I have learned is that you and I are opposites, but also just the same. Like an image in a mirror. We hate people, and they in turn hate us. More than, they fear us. |
| 411 | ** Polly and Grace, who have a bit of LightFeminineDarkFeminine going on. Both of them operate in unique roles in male-dominated worlds--Polly as the sole woman in the Peaky Blinders, Grace as a [[spoiler: mole working with the police]]. The dynamic strikes up again in season three, playing them off of each other as the two most important women in Tommy's life; the question being, does his [[spoiler: marriage and child]] with Grace trump the years and years of trust, loyalty, and family bond between him and Polly? |
| 412 | ** Grace and Ada, though that's mostly due to the way Tommy sees them. He believes them both to be young girls who made mistakes with men, and that having children ruined their lives. Except having a baby doesn't make Ada ''any'' less badass--it actually makes her more so--and that harmless persona is only a cover for Grace. |
| 413 | ** 2.06 gives us a very explicit comparison in Grace versus May. Grace is dressed in all pinks and whites, emphasizing her seeming innocence and [[spoiler: her pregnancy]], but is going about things in a very manipulative way. May is all in red and has some very FemmeFatale vibes going on, but she's straightforward and honest with Grace about her relationship with Tommy and her financial connections for the future. |
| 414 | * {{Foreshadowing}}: |
| 415 | ** Freddie tells Tommy in the pilot "maybe you should put a bullet in Danny Whizzbang's head, like they do with mad horses. Maybe you'll have to put a bullet in mine someday." As of the 1.03, Tommy's two for two with bullets, [[spoiler: faking Danny's death, but shooting him in the head nonetheless, and having to put down the white horse he bought from the Lees]]. Seasons two and five have further Tommy + horse + shooting metaphors. |
| 416 | ** Before singing for Tommy in the Garrison, Grace tells him flirtatiously ''"I'll break your heart."''. Tommy proclaims it's already broken, but by 1.06, [[spoiler: Grace really does break his heart with her betrayal]]. |
| 417 | ** Tommy tells Campbell in 2.02 that he imagines "being shot by a woman hurts the same as being shot by a man". He's referring to [[spoiler: Grace]], but by 2.06, Campbell [[spoiler: will be fatally shot, this time by Polly]]. |
| 418 | ** [[spoiler: When Tommy goes to meet Alfie Solomons - not dead after all - in 5.06, and reveals he is going to have Oswald Mosley shot, Alfie hopes he does a better job on Mosley than he did on Alfie himself. Tommy does not.]] |
| 419 | ** In 6.06, [[spoiler:Tommy starts speaking in Romani about "those who know the truth," and Billy and Finn are both noted to have never picked up the lingo. It's later revealed that Finn is in league with Billy against his family, and Tommy knew about it]]. |
| 420 | * FootFocus: Multiple close-ups of Tommy's boots. |
| 421 | * ForegoneConclusion: The show stays mostly true to historic events in that Tommy's scheme to assassinate Oswald Mosley cannot succeed. In the same vein, Mosley will never become Prime Minister. |
| 422 | * FourIsDeath: 'There is an item four', says Tommy in 5.06. [[spoiler: It's the killing of Micky, bartender at the Garrison, for betraying the Peaky Blinders.]] |
| 423 | * FriendOnTheForce: |
| 424 | ** Both Arthur and Tommy initially ''think'' they can turn Campbell into one for the Shelby family. [[KnightTemplar They are very, very wrong.]] |
| 425 | ** They play it straightforwardly with Sergeant Moss, though. |
| 426 | * FreudianTrio: The Shelby brothers |
| 427 | -->'''Tommy:''' I ''think'', Arthur. That's what I do. I ''think''. So that you don't have to. |
| 428 | ## Id: Arthur -- very emotional and hot-headed. |
| 429 | ## Ego: Tommy -- TheStoic, who plans everything. |
| 430 | ## Superego: John -- The middle ground, who treats both his brothers better than either treats the other. |
| 431 | * FromCamouflageToCriminal: The gang boss is Tommy Shelby, a former sergeant-major and the majority of the gang members are disaffected veterans. Their military organisation makes them extremely dangerous. |
| 432 | * FunctionalAddict: |
| 433 | ** [[spoiler:Tommy]] is an opium addict, which may or may not have an effect on his decisions. Also, as we discover in episode four, [[spoiler:John]] does it for the same reasons. |
| 434 | ** Arthur's lapsed into full-blown alcoholism and cocaine use as of season two. |
| 435 | ** Finn and Isaiah both use cocaine from season two onwards, though it isn't shown to have any negative effects. |
| 436 | * GainingTheWillToKill: |
| 437 | ** Michael feels guilty for being groomed as the "legitimate" boss, his hands kept clean while John and Arthur do the dirty work. In 3.05, we find out that [[spoiler:Father Hughes molested him as a child, and Tommy has given him permission to kill the priest in retribution]]. In 3.06, [[spoiler:Michael commits his first two murders, shooting one of Alfie's goons in the head to protect Tommy, and later, walking into Hughes's church and slitting his throat to bring Charles home.]] |
| 438 | ** Part of [[spoiler: Finn's induction into being a true Peaky Blinder, as Tommy and Arthur force him into blinding one of the Changretta assassins]]. |
| 439 | ** Subverted with [[spoiler: Duke, who has already bloodied his hands long before Tommy knew Duke was his son. A man who turned away his mother from a hospital died the same night she did.]] |
| 440 | * GangOfHats: The Peaky Blinders--and their hat literally is hats with razor blades sewn into the brims. |
| 441 | * GenericEthnicCrimeGang: The Shelbys and many other members of the Peaky Blinders are Didicoys (people of mixed Romanichal ancestry). They generally downplay their heritage, unlike the Lee gang who are full Romanichals and still live in traditional caravans. |
| 442 | * GlasgowGrin: Invoked in one of John's lines (see BadassBoast), and also very apparent on Arthur Sr.'s face. He's played by Creator/TommyFlanagan, who is a RealLife example of this trope. |
| 443 | * GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: Averted multiple times. |
| 444 | ** In season one, [[spoiler:Ada wants to keep her child because she loves Freddie, not because she thinks abortion is wrong. Polly tells her to get the abortion, because it's more shameful to live as a "whore", with a "bastard child", and that when Ada's older, she'll thank her. Ada decides to go through with it, but at the train station, they meet a returning Freddie, who proposes to Ada and declares they're staying in Birmingham.]] |
| 445 | ** It's revealed in 1.02 that [[spoiler:when Polly was sixteen, she got pregnant and made the mistake of keeping her child too long, too frightened to tell anyone. Eventually she performed an abortion on herself, nearly dying in the process.]] |
| 446 | ** In season three, [[spoiler: Michael gets Charlotte, his fling from the night of Tommy's wedding, pregnant. Since she's already engaged to another man, a British cavalry officer, she asks him to find her someone to "take care of it". Arthur and John provide Michael with a woman who's performed abortions for them in the past, and Michael callously leaves a frightened Charlotte with the woman.]] |
| 447 | ** In season five, [[spoiler: Ada is pregnant again, and Polly reminds her of the conversation they had in 1.02. She offers once again to procure Ada the abortion, but Ada decides she doesn't care what they call her and continues with the pregnancy.]] |
| 448 | * GoodScarsEvilScars: Arthur Senior's GlasgowGrin. Three guesses which side he falls on. |
| 449 | * GoodSmokingEvilSmoking: Subverts the usual expectations--the ''mostly'' good guys smoke cigarettes, hash, and opium; Campbell smokes a pipe. But then again, EverybodySmokes. |
| 450 | * GoSeduceMyArchnemesis: |
| 451 | ** What Campbell sends [[spoiler:Grace]] to do to Tommy. [[GreenEyedMonster He's not happy about it]]. |
| 452 | ** Grand Duchess Izabella sends her niece Tatiana to do this to Tommy. |
| 453 | * GratuitousForeignLanguage: |
| 454 | ** Johnny Dogs, the Lees and the Romani matriarch speak Romani. |
| 455 | ** The Italian spoken by Darby Sabini and his consigliere Mario is pretty good, as well as between the Changrettas. |
| 456 | * GratuitousUseOfTheTallit: While Alfie Solomons ''does'' wear it correctly (with only the fringe visible), he wears it at times that are incorrect (the Passover seder in 2.05 amongst them). |
| 457 | * GreyAndGreyMorality: The Peaky Blinders are NeighborhoodFriendlyGangsters, while Campbell is a brutal KnightTemplar law enforcement officer with serious sexual problems. Neither is totally right or totally wrong. |
| 458 | ** Averted in season 2, when Campbell becomes a much worse person. |
| 459 | ** Downplayed with Darby Sabini. While certainly an unpleasant and frankly creepy character, he's not ''that'' much worse than Tommy. |
| 460 | ** Pretty much the entire feud with the Changrettas is consistently the Shelbys' fault. In season 1, the Changrettas want to kill Danny Whizzbang because he, in a PTSD-induced frenzy, kills a shopkeeper under their protection, and Tommy is only able to appease them by faking Danny's death. Then in season 3, they pick a fight with Angel Changretta, mostly because Tommy and John are both jealous of his involvement with Lizzie, and it results in Angel's death, leading to a long chain of revenge killings between the two families. Even at the height of the vendetta, and at a moment when he holds the upper hand, Luca Changretta pledges not to target any of the Shelby children. Notably, it's Tommy who breaks the terms set by involving the police, while Luca, though undeniably pretty ruthless, honours the terms. |
| 461 | * GunStruggle: |
| 462 | ** Happens multiple times in 1.03; first with Grace and the IRA sympathizer in the alley behind the Black Swan, second with Grace and Billy Kimber. |
| 463 | ** Happens between Tommy, Lizzie, and Field Marshall Russell in 2.06. |
| 464 | ** Another example is the fight between Arthur and Kaledin in 3.01. |
| 465 | * HandicappedBadass: [[spoiler:Campbell]], as of season two. |
| 466 | * TheHandler: Campbell has numerous operatives in Birmingham, most notably [[spoiler:Grace]]. |
| 467 | * HandshakeRefusal: A rare mutual refusal when Campbell meets Tommy and they come to an agreement about the stolen guns. |
| 468 | --> '''Campbell''': I'd prefer if we don't shake hands on it. |
| 469 | --> '''Tommy''': ''[Sticks hands in pockets]'' Now why would I shake the hand of a man who didn't even fight for his country? |
| 470 | * HarbingerOfAsskicking: When the caps come off, blood will flow. |
| 471 | * TheHeart: For all her gloriously bitchy, IronLady exterior, Polly is this for the Shelby family. It's Polly who mediates the disputes in the family, Polly who reminds Tommy of what he was like before France, and Polly who realizes Grace and Tommy love each other, despite [[spoiler:Grace's betrayal]]. |
| 472 | -->'''Tommy''': Polly tells me you fell in love for real, and Polly is never wrong about matters of the heart. |
| 473 | * HeartbrokenBadass: Tommy, briefly in 1.06 but significantly so after 3.02. |
| 474 | * HeadsOrTails: Invoked very dramatically by Tommy in the season one finale. |
| 475 | -->'''Tommy:''' Before the war, when I had an important decision to make, I used to flip a coin. Perhaps that is what I will do again. |
| 476 | * HeelRealization: Polly seems to have had hers sometime between [[spoiler: killing Campbell]] in 2.06 and confessing to it in 3.04. In a twist on the trope, she isn't heartbroken that she's committed an evil deed, because "only the ''unjust'' taking of life is a mortal sin" and calls [[spoiler: Campbell]] a "bad man" who "hurt her". She's driven to tears because she feels no remorse, and because she's found out that the next life that must be taken is [[spoiler: Father Hughes, a "holy man"]]. |
| 477 | * HeroicBSOD: If you can call any of the characters "heroic": |
| 478 | ** Grace, who gets drunk and then sick with guilt after she [[spoiler:kills the IRA member outside the Black Swan.]] An interesting case because she appears not to care when [[spoiler:speaking to Campbell later, even implying it was standard operating procedure when they were in Belfast]]. |
| 479 | ** Tommy, upon finding out that it was [[spoiler:Grace]] who told the police (and by extension, Kimber) exactly when the Peaky Blinders were planning on attacking Kimber. All he can do is stare unseeing while Polly tells him she'll take care of [[spoiler:Grace]], because if he does, he might kill [[spoiler:her]]. |
| 480 | ** Polly undergoes a lengthy one in 2.01 and 2.02, becoming ever more guilt-ridden and desperate to find her children. The reveal from a Romani woman that [[spoiler:her daughter is likely dead]] sends her into a screaming, grief-stricken BSOD. She goes into another, less angry and more completely shocked version when Tommy buys her a house of her own and promises to find her children. Hits a third in 3.06, after she learns that [[spoiler: Tommy thinks Reuben sold them out by plying her with wine, and that Michael's very likely about to commit his first murder. She slashes up Reuben's painting with a knife, screaming and crying.]] |
| 481 | ** Tommy has his biggest to date in 3.06, when [[spoiler: Hughes and the Economic League kidnap his son Charles from a fundraiser and hold him hostage to ensure that Tommy will blow up the Russian train and steal the white Russians' money as planned.]] |
| 482 | *** Scratch that, his biggest BSOD comes in 5.06, [[spoiler: after the assassination attempt fails spectacularly, as his friends Barney and Aberama are killed, Tommy is faced with the prospect of the man who he finally can't beat, and the hallucination of Grace urges him to leave everything behind and commit suicide. The last shot of Season 5 is Tommy screaming with a creepy face when he's about to blow his trigger]]. |
| 483 | * HeWhoFightsMonsters: Campbell goes from fighting the Peaky Blinders on good basis to [[spoiler: a villain worse than the worst of the gang.]] |
| 484 | * HideYourChildren: John supposedly has ''six'' kids, with a seventh on the way. We've only seen them a handful of times, usually at big family gatherings. The rest of the time, they're nowhere to be seen. |
| 485 | ** This wasn't the case with Ada's son Karl in seasons 2 and 3, but as of season 4, he's nowhere to be found. Possibly she left him in Boston? |
| 486 | ** Season four has only two scenes with Tommy's son Charles in it, after him being in many parts of the third season. |
| 487 | ** Season five brings back Karl Thorne and Charles Shelby, as well as introducing Tommy and Lizzie's daughter Ruby. This is only for a few scenes, though, and Arthur and Linda's son Billy is nowhere to be found. |
| 488 | * HistoricalDomainCharacter: |
| 489 | ** Winston Churchill, in his Secretary of State days, is the one behind Campbell's investigation into the BSA robbery and the Peaky Blinders. |
| 490 | ** Billy Kimber was also a real person who effectively controlled a large number of British racecourses until the early 1930s. At the height of his power the historical Kimber was able to exert influence as far north as Scarborough, on the Yorkshire coast. |
| 491 | ** 2.01 introduces the extremely ruthless London gangster Darby Sabini. Michael Collins shows up in the scene where Tommy goes to the Black Lion. |
| 492 | ** 2.02 introduces Sabini's counterpart, Jewish gang boss Alfie Solomons, also a real London gangster of the time period. |
| 493 | ** 2.05 features a brief appearance by Charlie Chaplin. |
| 494 | ** Season 4 features Arthur Bigge, Lord Stamfordham, Private Secretary to King George V, and Jessie Eden, a real Birmingham Trade Union leader of the 1920s and a key player in the General Strike in Birmingham. |
| 495 | ** In season 5 Tommy is approached by Oswald Mosley, who, a few years later, will be the leader of the British Union of Fascists. Brilliant Chang, a Chinese opium baron who appears in a few episodes, was also a real guy. |
| 496 | * HistoricalVillainUpgrade: |
| 497 | ** UsefulNotes/WinstonChurchill is a more controversial figure than he once was, but the CorruptPolitician of the show who orchestrates the murder of Field Marshal Russell as a [[PretextForWar pretext for the Irish Civil War]] and plots with the Economic League is an invention of the screenwriters. |
| 498 | ** Campbell appears to be a fictionalisation of Charles Rafter, the Irish chief constable of Birmingham who was brought in to deal with the gang problem and crushed the original Peaky Blinders. While not much is known about Rafter's personal life, it seems unlikely that he was a sadistic rapist who beat prisoners to death and participated in political assassinations. Rafter was also much more effective against gang crime than Campbell, and seems to have been less of a HolierThanThou {{Jerkass}} than his fictional counterpart. |
| 499 | ** Similarly, Field Marshal Russell in season two appears to be a fictionalised version of Henry Hughes Wilson, the British Field Marshal whose murder by the Anti-Treaty [=IRA=] kicked off the Irish Civil War, and is a war criminal and rapist. This is only half true; Wilson really was accused of brutality towards civilians during the Anglo-Irish War, but there is no evidence that he ever raped or tried to rape anybody as Russell is shown doing to Lizzie. |
| 500 | ** The show's version of the Economic League has them as a GovernmentConspiracy which plots terrorist attacks on British soil in order to frame the communists. The RealLife Economic League didn't go up anywhere near as high as the one depicted here and never did anything worse than giving alleged communist sympathizer's names to their employers. |
| 501 | * HoistByHisOwnPetard: In 6.06, [[spoiler: Michael and the Boston mob decide to kill Tommy by putting a timebomb in the boot of his car. Michael makes an excuse to leave Tommy alone in the car, goes back into the bar where they met, and there is an explosion outside - but of the car with Uncle Jack and the Boston mob in, with Tommy's car relatively unscathed. Tommy had Johnny Dogs switch the bomb from one car to the other while they were busy.]] |
| 502 | * HolierThanThou: Campbell. He's really not, as we come to find out. |
| 503 | * HoneyTrap: What [[spoiler:Grace]] and Tatiana are assigned to be for Tommy. Both succeed. |
| 504 | * HonkingArrivingCar: {{Inverted|Trope}} in the Series 4 episode "Dangerous." Shown from the car occupants' point of view, Alfie Solomons arrives outside Tommy's residence and instructs Ishmael to "hit the call of prayer," which cues him to sound the car horn, but he doesn't do it aggressive enough for Alfie's liking so Alfie lays on the horn for an extended period of time, not even letting up when Tommy steps out of his house and continuing to let it blare out until Tommy walks straight up to him. |
| 505 | * HookerWithAHeartOfGold: Lizzie Stark, who's taking a typing class and has a sweet relationship with Tommy in season two, despite the previous issues with and regarding John. [[spoiler: She later ends up marrying Tommy.]] |
| 506 | * HookersAndBlow: 2.04 has Arthur taking a bath after taking over Sabini's club with two prostitutes, and he snorts lines of cocaine off the rim of the tub. |
| 507 | * HypercompetentSidekick: Billy Kimber would be useless without Roberts. |
| 508 | * {{Hypocrite}}: Campbell lecturing [[spoiler:Grace]] on not trusting a man who "cuts out tongues and kills without discrimination," when he could just as easily be talking about himself. |
| 509 | * HypocrisyNod: Arthur hangs a lampshade on the irony of Tommy calling their father a selfish bastard. |
| 510 | --->'''Arthur''': "You're calling someone a selfish bastard? It's a bit rich, Tommy, [[TheChessmaster coming from you]]. I mean, thanks to you, we're already down a bloody sister." |
| 511 | * IAmNotMyFather: Tommy and John don't want to be like their father, but they do have designs on the family business and Finn looks to be following in their footsteps. Ada, though, wants no part of being a Shelby, to the point where in season two, we find out she's moved to London and hasn't spoken to any of them in two years. |
| 512 | * IcyBlueEyes: Campbell has them. All of the Shelby boys also have them, but Tommy's get the most attention (belonging to, you know, Creator/CillianMurphy). Michael also has them, specifically marking him as a Shelby. |
| 513 | * IdiotBall: |
| 514 | ** Both John and Tommy carry it in 3.02: John [[spoiler: antagonizes the Changrettas, slicing up Angel Changretta for dating Lizzie, when he knows the Italians are a threat, and he's been warned by both Arthur and Polly to either apologize or compromise]], and Tommy [[spoiler: ignores Hughes' death threat under Charles' pillow and has very little security at the opening gala, allowing an assassin the opportunity to slip in, attempt to kill him, miss, and kill Grace]]. Without those two actions, [[spoiler: Grace wouldn't have died]]. |
| 515 | ** In 3.06. Tommy's failure [[spoiler: to immediately recognize Alfie as the traitor truly beggars belief. After Charlie is kidnapped by the Economic League, Father Hughes demands the entire take from the vault robbery and the Russians' valuable Fabergé egg as ransom. Tommy then viciously blames his family for the betrayal, claiming that he hadn't told anyone else about the Fabergé egg, creating a rift between them and setting up the events of the end of the episode. However, Tommy brought Alfie Solomons into the vault, where Alfie clearly saw the Fabergé egg and coveted the treasure in general. Tommy failing to immediately recognize Alfie as the turncoat is fairly ridiculous - Alfie is notoriously volatile, essentially told Arthur outright in an earlier episode that he'd do absolutely anything for business, and, oh yeah, he'd betrayed the Shelbys before in a way that could have lead to them all being killed or imprisoned. Realistically, Alfie should have been his first and only suspect.]] |
| 516 | * IfYouEverDoAnythingToHurtHer: Polly to Freddie on the subject of Ada. |
| 517 | -->'''Polly''': You lay a hand on our Ada, and I'll put you in a wooden box myself. |
| 518 | * IGaveMyWord: |
| 519 | ** Sergeant Moss is ''appalled'' that Campbell would go back on his word to Tommy about leaving Freddie alone. Campbell corrects him, his word only applies to people who are not scumbag criminals and Peaky Blinders. |
| 520 | ** Polly loses her shit on Tommy when she thinks he's broken his word that [[spoiler:Freddie and Ada will be safe the night of John's wedding]]. He hasn't, but he didn't count on [[spoiler:Grace telling Campbell that Freddie and Ada were at the Shelby house.]] |
| 521 | ** Tommy breaks it when he fails to protect Lizzie in 2.06. |
| 522 | * InLoveWithTheMark: Grace falls for Tommy, which doesn't go down well with Campbell. |
| 523 | * InitiationCeremony: Tommy makes Finn blind the man who [[spoiler: 'killed' Arthur. While the blinding was a part of a ruse, it still shows that Finn is now a full blown Peaky Blinder.]] |
| 524 | * InsecureLoveInterest: Polly, in an interesting gender-flip on the trope, is Reuben's. She doesn't think a normal and well-adjusted aristocrat like him would ever truly be interested in her beyond an affair. Compounding this is Tommy's constant insinuations that Reuben knows she can't hold her alcohol and is using her to sell the Shelbys out to their enemies, but Reuben actually ''is'' on the level and does love Polly. |
| 525 | * InsistentTerminology: Campbell has to keep reminding Moss that he employs "operatives," not "spies." |
| 526 | ** 2.01 First introduces Alfie Solomons, who runs a ''bakery'', where they bake ''bread''. |
| 527 | ** In 2.02 Tommy supplies him with 100 men, led by Billy Kitchen, who firmly states his occupation as ''head'' baker. |
| 528 | * IntrafamilialClassConflict: Much of the first season revolves around Tommy trying to convince Ada to rejoin the rest of the family in their family enterprise, while Ada wants nothing to do with the Shelbys' illegal operations and would much rather live a working class life with her a union organizer husband. |
| 529 | * InsultToRocks: In 6.06, when [[spoiler: Arthur is taking the IRA out of the pub to shoot them, captain swing asks if they are to be shot like dogs. Arthur replies that he doesn't shoot dogs, he shoots fascists.]] |
| 530 | * InterruptedIntimacy: |
| 531 | ** Ada and Freddie are having sex when Campbell's men start rousting the Bolsheviks from Garrison Court. |
| 532 | ** John and Esme are still consummating their recent marriage when John is called away on family business. |
| 533 | * IrishPriest: Father John Hughes. |
| 534 | * IronLady: Polly, for the Peaky Blinders. Mary Lee is also this. |
| 535 | * ItsPersonal: |
| 536 | ** Campbell admits to Moss that his mission in Birmingham has become this. Specifically, when Campbell discovers that Grace [[spoiler:has fallen in love with Tommy]] he's pissed. When he realizes that [[spoiler:Tommy is spending the night at Grace's house and presumably sleeping with her]] he goes from pursuing Tommy as a criminal to pursuing him as a [[spoiler:romantic rival]]. |
| 537 | ** The real kicker is that Tommy ''knows'' it, too. 2.05 sees Tommy taking [[spoiler:Grace to meet Charlie Chaplin as a kind of seduction or attempt to mend the rift between them]], distracting [[spoiler:her]] long enough for him to ring up [[spoiler:Campbell]] and tell him that he'll be returning home with [[spoiler:a beautiful woman]] and who on Earth does he think it could be? |
| 538 | ** Tommy's desire to kill [[spoiler: Father Hughes]] is understandable: the man's a pedophile who threatens Tommy's wife and child and is responsible for [[spoiler: torturing him extensively]]. Michael's desire to kill him is even more understandable: [[spoiler: Michael was one of Hughes's victims]]. |
| 539 | * ItRunsInTheFamily: |
| 540 | ** Extra-legal activities, gambling, and violence seem to be common in the Shelby family. |
| 541 | -->'''Tommy''': I think you're the first Shelby in history to have a legal licence for anything. What would our granddad say, eh? He'd turning in his grave--"Honest bloody money? Eh? In this house? Here?" |
| 542 | ** Explored further with Michael in season two--does the Shelby blood win out when you've been raised by a very different kind of family? In this case, yes. It really does. |
| 543 | ** In season four, Polly and Tommy come to the conclusion that the Shelbys are cursed with mental illness at times of peace. |
| 544 | -->'''Polly''': It's in us, in the gypsy blood. We don't rest. We shake hands with devils and we walk past them. |
| 545 | ** Polly’s son grew up in an apparently pristine rural community, completely sheltered from the violence that the Shelbys deal in. His promise to suicide bomb the town’s windmill affirms Tommy’s certainty that the kid is just like his mom. |
| 546 | ** Season five reveals that suicide runs in the Shelby family. Their grandfather killed himself, and Charlie Strong finally comes clean to (an also-suicidal) Tommy about his mother, who [[spoiler: threw herself into the canal, after a long period of depression]]. |
| 547 | * ItWorksBetterWithBullets: |
| 548 | ** In 6.01, [[spoiler: Arthur took the precaution of removing all the bullets from Tommy's gun when they were on the way back from the failed attempt to kill Oswald Mosley. Sure enough, Tommy tries to kill himself and just gets a click for his trouble. Lizzie then appears, shows him the bullets and says that had he been the soldier he was in his younger days, he'd have checked the gun first.]] |
| 549 | ** In 6.06, [[spoiler: Charlie told Duke to leave the first two chambers of a gun empty that he handed to Finn. Sure enough, Finn tries to shoot Isaiah at Tommy's mansion, fails and drops the gun. Duke then picks it up, shoots Billy Grade and tells Finn he is expelled from the Peaky Blinders.]] |
| 550 | |
| 551 | [[/folder]] |
| 552 | |
| 553 | [[folder: J to P]] |
| 554 | |
| 555 | * JackBauerInterrogationTechnique: |
| 556 | ** Campbell certainly isn't above getting his hands dirty, as he brutally beats Arthur Shelby mostly as a message to the rest of the Peaky Blinders not to underestimate him. |
| 557 | ** He does it again to Tommy in 2.02, getting creative with Tommy's extensive injuries from the Sabini beating to blackmail him into working with him. |
| 558 | ** Tommy ''nearly'' commits this in 3.03 on Vincente Changretta, the man who [[spoiler: ordered the botched hit on Tommy's life that killed Grace. Arthur shoots Changretta in the head before Tommy gets the chance to torture him.]] |
| 559 | * JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: One thing Tommy's never done is torture a man purely for the revenge and satisfaction, marking him as a higher class of criminal than Campbell or Sabini. That nearly goes out the window in 3.03, when [[spoiler: an increasingly deranged Tommy seeks recompense from Vincente Changretta for ordering the botched hit that killed Grace. He threatens to cut out Changretta's tongue, his balls, his ears, and decides to go for the eyes first when Arthur shoots the man rather than watch Tommy torture him.]] |
| 560 | * KilledOffscreen: [[spoiler:Due to Helen [=McCrory's=] untimely death, Polly is murdered offscreen by the IRA when they thwart Mosley's assassination. Her body is delivered to Tommy along with those of Aberama Gold and Barney Thomason]] |
| 561 | * KnightTemplar: CI Campbell. |
| 562 | * KnightTemplarBigBrother: All of the Shelby boys are like this for each other, as well as for Ada and Finn. |
| 563 | * KosherNostra: The Solomons of London are a Jewish gang that control Camden Town, run by Alfie Solomons. They even hold a seder in 2.05, during which the Jewish gangsters are wearing traditional prayer robes beneath their other attire. Alfie Solomons is an atypical example in that he's by far the most blue-collar criminal kingpin in the series (distinguishing himself from, say, Tommy Shelby's studious adherence to the bourgeois appearance of a middle-class entrepreneur, or Sabini's image of the chic, suave Italian club owner). |
| 564 | * LadyInRed: Whenever a lady on this show is wearing red, she's about to become threatening to Tommy. |
| 565 | ** Grace, at Cheltenham. Tommy specifies that the dress she buys should be red. |
| 566 | ** Polly's dress for the Garrison re-opening in 2.02 is a very eye-catching red. She wears another striking red dress to meet [[spoiler: Luca Changretta and cut a deal for giving up Tommy in exchange for removing Michael from the vendetta]]. |
| 567 | ** May wears a beautiful red dress for the Epsom Derby. |
| 568 | ** Tatiana wears a very sheer, very red dress for [[spoiler: the orgy]] and seduces Tommy. |
| 569 | * LandMineGoesClick: |
| 570 | ** The Lees leave a grenade wired to the car door of Tommy's car. Finn sets it off while playing, but luckily, Tommy's there to grab the grenade, throw it into an alley, and scoop Finn up. |
| 571 | ** The Billy Boys lure out Tommy to a field where they have buried mines. Tommy narrowly avoids stepping on one and has to carefully retrace his steps to get out of the field. He also barely prevents his son from entering the field. He then clears the minefield by triggering the mines with fire from a submachine gun. |
| 572 | * LastWords: Part of the backstory from WWI. While pinned down by the Prussians, Tommy, Arthur, John, Freddie, Danny, and Jeremiah made a pact to sing "In the Bleak Midwinter", so that they would have one good memory. Whenever one of them is close to death, they repeat the words, or one of the others speaks the phrase. |
| 573 | * LawOfInverseFertility: |
| 574 | ** [[spoiler:Ada really, really shouldn't be sleeping with Freddie Thorne]], nor should she become pregnant from this liaison. Naturally, she does. |
| 575 | ** [[spoiler:Grace and her husband have been trying for a baby. She can't get pregnant because he's infertile.]] |
| 576 | ** [[spoiler:Lizzie's pregnancy is accidental.]] |
| 577 | * LeaningOnTheFourthWall: In one scene of episode 5.06, Anna Calvi's song Wish - released in 2018 - is the background music. [[spoiler:Alfie Solomons]] gets up and turns the grammophone in his room off, and the music stops. |
| 578 | * LikeADuckTakesToWater: Michael, despite having been taken away as a child and raised in a small village, eagerly joins the Peaky Blinders and quickly climbs the ranks, although he's kept on the legitimate side of the business. Mostly.). |
| 579 | * LikeASonToMe: Grace, for [[spoiler: Campbell]]. Her actual father was assassinated by the IRA in Belfast. [[spoiler: Ultimately subverted when it becomes increasingly clear that he's in love with her.]] |
| 580 | * LikeFatherLikeSon: Arthur Senior has this to an extent with all four of his sons, but mostly with Arthur Junior. They're both dreamers who resent Tommy for having so much success in business. |
| 581 | * LondonGangster: Billy Kimber. |
| 582 | * LonelyAtTheTop: Tommy displays some shades of this. |
| 583 | * LongGame: Season 6 is the culmination of five years of Tommy trying to outmaneuver Mosby and his allies. In turn they maneuver to take down Tommy and neutralize his political and criminal influence. [[spoiler: Tommy is able to kill Mosby's Irish and American allies, secure the continuation of his criminal and business empires and fulfill his political agenda. Mosby comes close to killing Tommy and Arthur but is outgambited by Tommy. However, Mosby is able to position one of his allies to become Tommy's trusted personal doctor and convince Tommy that he is dying of a brain tumor. Tommy is moments from killing himself when he discovers how badly he has been played]]. |
| 584 | * LongLostRelative: Michael Gray, Polly's son that was taken from her when he was six. |
| 585 | * LooseLips: Tommy and Arthur are not happy when they discover that they and other members of the family have been talking too openly in front of [[spoiler: their favourite bartender Mickey. The guy has been listening very closely and selling the info to anyone who would pay.]]. A decade before then, they both casually gave up far too much information to Grace when she worked at The Garrison. |
| 586 | * MadBomber: The Lees trash the Shelbys' betting shop, leaving behind a pair of wire cutters. What for? To try and defuse the grenade they've wired into the Shelbys' car. |
| 587 | * MadeOfIron: Thomas Shelby has been, in order, shot through the chest, brutally tortured and numerous teeth yanked out, beaten half to death, and sustained internal bleeding, multiple broken ribs, and a fractured skull. He has survived ''all'' of it, able to heal himself and come back at fighting strength. |
| 588 | * TheMafia: Sabini and most of his gang are Italians, though it isn't mentioned if they are technically part of the Mafia. Mafiosi from America later appear in the show. |
| 589 | * MafiaPrincess: Ada. Lampshaded by Freddie. |
| 590 | ** Gina Grey, niece of Irish American mob boss Jack Nelson. |
| 591 | * MamaBear: Polly has this mostly for Ada. She even goes after Tommy first for burning Ada's letter to Freddie and then actually attacks him when she thinks he broke his word and gave Freddie up to the police. In season two and beyond, she has it for her son, Michael. |
| 592 | -->'''Polly''': ''(to Freddie)'' [[IfYouEverDoAnythingToHurtHer You lay a hand on our Ada, and I'll put you in a wooden box myself.]] |
| 593 | * TheManBehindTheMan: Arthur and Polly serve as certain public faces of the family; Campbell twigs early on that if he wants to talk to the boss, he should be speaking with Tommy. |
| 594 | * MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: |
| 595 | ** It's possible the Lees put a curse on the white horse, or it's equally possible the horse was nearly lame when they sold it to Tommy. |
| 596 | ** Whatever Tommy did to heal himself of that beating from the Sabinis, it involved a boat, gunpowder, alcohol, and possible Romani magic. |
| 597 | ** Tatiana claims that the sapphire Tommy gave [[spoiler: Grace]] has a Romani curse on it. [[spoiler: Grace]] does get shot immediately after, but the assassin was gunning for Tommy. Tommy brings the jewel to a Romani woman, who realizes that Tommy wants her to say that it's cursed to relieve him of some responsibility for what happened. She says that it is cursed, which Tommy clearly doesn't actually believe. |
| 598 | ** Polly's "second sight" is likely the result of [[spoiler: her near-death experience and the pills she became addicted to in prison]], but both she and Tommy swear parts of it are real. She's certainly able to intuit things about people - [[spoiler: Aberama Gold's true intentions and Lizzie's pregnancy]]. |
| 599 | * MercyKill: Arthur shoots Changretta in the head to spare him from being tortured all night by Tommy. |
| 600 | * MetroSpecificUnderworld: Romani mobsters rarely appear in fiction, but here the Peaky Blinders are a prominent gang in Birmingham. Historically Birmingham had a sizeable population of Romanichals and Travellers, and many of the real life Peaky Blinders were from those groups. |
| 601 | * TheMole: |
| 602 | ** [[spoiler:Grace]], who's really an undercover operative for Campbell. |
| 603 | ** [[spoiler: Father Hughes for the Communist Russians.]] Later revealed as a [[spoiler:DoubleAgent.]] |
| 604 | ** Tommy becomes one [[spoiler: among the Communists by bedding Jessie Eden and becoming MP]]. [[spoiler:He later attempts to do the same with the British Union of Fascists by aligning himself with Oswald Mosley.]] |
| 605 | ** [[spoiler:Billy Grade.]] He's the one that [[spoiler:rats out the location of the opium to the rival Titanic Boys,]] as well as [[spoiler:the plot to assassinate Mosley]]. Later in Series 6 [[spoiler:he becomes a mole for Jack Nelson]] |
| 606 | * MoodWhiplash: The series does this often for humorous effect. In one case, Ada is rescued from an attempted kidnapping and likely rape. When her rescuer, while asking if she’s okay, refers to her last name as Shelby, she promptly kicks him in the groin, shouting “I'm not a Shelby!” |
| 607 | * MoreDeadlyThanTheMale: Most of the women on this show are ones to watch out for: |
| 608 | ** Ada Shelby is just as cunning and dangerous as the rest of her family, and ''much'' more so than her husband, Freddie. |
| 609 | ** Polly Gray laughs in the face of police inspectors, orders around killers twice her size, and hasn't regretted killing a man in her life. |
| 610 | ** Grace Burgess shoots IRA operatives and is about to throw down with Polly before being talked out of it. |
| 611 | ** Linda Shelby is the brains of her marriage, out-negotiating even Tommy with a sugar-sweet smile on her face. |
| 612 | ** Tatiana Petronova and Izabella Petronova hold all the cards in their family, and Tatiana even [[spoiler: out-gambits her grandmother by helping Tommy steal the jewels]]. |
| 613 | ** Jessie Eden has the charisma and ability to call a citywide general strike. |
| 614 | ** Gina Grey has a backbone that matches Polly's and an ambitious streak that makes Tommy look weak. |
| 615 | * MotherRussiaMakesYouStrong: This is pretty much the go-to statement in place of any emotional reaction, when a Russian character witnesses or causes something violent. |
| 616 | * MurdertheHypotenuse: Grace's husband apparently [[KilledOffscreen killed himself]] some time before Season 3, avoiding onscreen conflict regarding Charles' parenthood. |
| 617 | * MyGirlIsNotASlut: Employed in different ways in regards to Ada and Grace. When it comes to Ada sleeping around, her brothers don't quite mind, so long as she [[MandatoryMotherhood doesn't get pregnant]] and word doesn't get around. But if she were to get pregnant and the man didn't marry her, they'd [[{{Understatement}} go ballistic]]. Grace, in contrast, is seen as innocent and virginal by just about everyone in her life, but she's the one who experiences less squeamishness when [[spoiler:Campbell asks her to employ feminine wiles to seduce information out of Tommy. She's also the one to initiate sex with him, without hesitation]]. |
| 618 | * MyLocal: The Garrison Tavern. |
| 619 | * MySisterIsOffLimits: Tommy thinks he can declare Ada off limits to Freddie. Ada marries Freddie and has his child ''anyway''. |
| 620 | * NaiveNewcomer: Grace pretends to be this. She's definitely not. Michael is this at times in season two, but he's less truly naive and more interested in the new world of Birmingham. |
| 621 | * NastyParty: In the second series, [[spoiler: a ''seder'' hosted by Alfie Solomons turns out to be a setup for betrayal and murder.]] |
| 622 | * NecessarilyEvil: Tommy embraces this aspect of himself in season three, when it becomes clear that he and the family are in over their heads with enemies of a much higher caliber than they are. Ironically enough, Polly, who once praised Tommy for having aspects of this in season one, now finds herself disgusted to the depths which he's sunk. |
| 623 | -->'''Polly''': Tommy knows, he knows you have to be as bad as they are in order to survive. |
| 624 | * NewEraSpeech: |
| 625 | ** Campbell gets a rather spectacular one in the pilot, given to the Birmingham police when he brings in a load of new cops from Ireland to swell the ranks and bring about order. |
| 626 | ** Tommy gives one to the family in 2.01 when he proposes the London expansion, which boils down to "we're expanding and if you don't like it, there's the door". |
| 627 | ** A more straightforwardly villainous one from Mosely in the fifth series, outlining his dream of a Fascist Britain. |
| 628 | * NewParentNomenclatureProblem: In 2.03, for the first few days of knowing her, Michael has a problem calling Polly "Mum", as he's been raised by another woman and thinks of her as his mother. In a twist, he uses it to manipulate Polly into letting him go to the horse auction with his cousins by telling her, "it'll be all right, Mum". It comes back again in 4.03, when his adoptive mother pays him a visit and reminds him of his old life. |
| 629 | * NiceJobBreakingItHero: |
| 630 | ** Uh, Arthur, maybe you might not have wanted to promise "help" to the new policeman from Special Branch when he introduces himself to you by kidnapping and torture? It gets the entire Courts threatened and some people rounded up by Campbell, and they think you're responsible. |
| 631 | ** Polly, maybe you might have considered that giving up the Bolshevik leader to Campbell in exchange for Freddie and Ada's safety wouldn't do any good if the Bolshevik can't actually give the police any information? You've just condemned a mostly innocent man to death. |
| 632 | ** Great, Tommy, tell the mole in your organization precisely where you hid the BSA guns, what you do with all the contraband you import, where the Bolshevik renegade is hiding, and when you're going to attack Kimber's organization. Granted, Arthur doesn't precisely help either, but it's really Tommy's fault for [[spoiler: being so smitten by Grace he tells her everything]]. |
| 633 | ** Polly, we realize that you're feeling incredible guilt over your criminal lifestyle, but you've just [[spoiler: confessed to murdering a policeman, as well as to planning the murder of a priest, to an ally of one of the most dangerous conspiracies that is headed by the same priest you're about to kill]]. To be fair, Polly has no idea how far the Economic League's reach is, and as a Catholic, she believes the confessional is a sacred, inviolate space. [[spoiler: Tommy getting [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown his skull cracked]]]] was the direct result of Polly's drunken, guilt-ridden confession. |
| 634 | ** Excellent, Finn, let slip to the [[spoiler: man you and your family have forced to help you fix football matches and torn away from his singing career that you're planning to assassinate a famous politician.]] |
| 635 | * NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: In season 2, Field Marshal Russell is an expy of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Henry_Wilson,_1st_Baronet Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson]]. |
| 636 | * NotIfTheyEnjoyedItRationalization: [[spoiler:Campbell]] seems to believe this after he rapes [[spoiler:Polly]]. It's it that or a PostRapeTaunt--it's hard to be sure. |
| 637 | * NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: |
| 638 | ** Lampshaded by Tommy after he tries to deal with Mosley and the fascists by gathering evidence and informing the proper authorities. All it accomplishes is that a good man is murdered and a young boy is killed as collateral. Tommy resolves to finish the matter through good old-fashioned violence and assassination. |
| 639 | ** Arthur and John go against Tommy's orders by letting Mrs. Changretta flee to America rather than killing her; furthermore, Arthur shoots Vicente Changretta in the head to save him from being tortured to death by Tommy. None of this saves Arthur or John from being included in Luca Changretta's vendetta. |
| 640 | * NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: |
| 641 | ** Tommy gives one to Byrne when Byrne attempts to strangle him in the Garrison. After fighting his way back to his feet, Tommy headbutts Byrne and begins smashing a spittoon into his head, over and over. |
| 642 | ** Arthur Senior gives two to Arthur Junior over the course of 1.05. The second is significantly more humiliating than the first. |
| 643 | ** Tommy gets one from Darby Sabini and his goons due to his London expansion. The Sabini gang beats him bloody, rips out one of his teeth, and cuts his cheek. |
| 644 | ** Arthur can't stop from doling them out when something sets him off. |
| 645 | ** John beats the crap out of Changretta Junior for trying to date Lizzie. |
| 646 | ** John and Arthur go into a frenzy on an assassin who [[spoiler:fatally shot Grace while aiming for Tommy]]. |
| 647 | ** Tommy gets one from some ex-soldiers during a botched assassination attempt on Father Hughes. [[spoiler:They crack his skull, hospitalizing him for months]]. |
| 648 | * NoIndoorVoice: Billy Kimber tends to shout when he talks, showing him to be a rather uncivilized thug in spite of his money and success. |
| 649 | * NoMrBondIExpectYouToDine: |
| 650 | ** Campbell's emotionally-charged, long-awaited first meeting with Tommy? Takes place in a ''tea house'', presumably to ensure that they'll each be on their best behaviour. Possibly an {{homage}} to a similar scene at a coffee shop in the classic '90s crime drama ''{{Film/Heat}}'' |
| 651 | ** Tommy's dinner with the Russians, Father Hughes, and Patrick Jarvis MP in 3.03. However, Tommy announces that he cannot "swallow food" in the presence of Father Hughes and leaves after his business is concluded. |
| 652 | * NonviolentInitialConfrontation: |
| 653 | ** For Campbell and Tommy. Not so with Campbell and Arthur. |
| 654 | ** Tommy and Alfie Solomons, in Alfie's "bakery," in order to negotiate an alliance. |
| 655 | ** Continuing the trend, Luca Changretta paying Tommy a polite visit at his office. |
| 656 | * NoPeriodsPeriod: [[spoiler: Ada's]] five weeks late. Seven, if you count weekends. |
| 657 | * NotSoDifferentRemark: |
| 658 | ** Campbell tells Tommy that they're the same, both hated and feared for the power they wield, [[spoiler: both betrayed by the same woman]]. |
| 659 | ** Alfie Solomons gives Tommy a dose of this, mixed with a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech, when Tommy accuses him of crossing a line by selling information that resulted in Tommy's son being kidnapped. Alfie [[VillainHasAPoint correctly points out]] that Tommy's reaction is hypocritical, considering that Tommy has never had a problem threatening or harming the families of others. |
| 660 | -->'''Alfie''': "I want him to acknowledge that his anger is un-fucking-justified! I want him to acknowledge that he who fights by the sword, he fucking dies by it!.... How many fathers, right, how many sons have you cut, killed, murdered, fucking butchered, innocent and guilty, to send straight to fucking hell ain't ya, just like me! Fucking stand there, you, judging me, stand there and talk to me about crossing some fucking line! If you pull that trigger, right, you pull that trigger as an honorable man, for an honorable reason! Not like some fucking civilian that does not understand the wicked way of ''our'' world." |
| 661 | ** As a compliment to Tommy, Churchill tells him that despite their vastly different backgrounds and histories, they are very similar men. They are both patriots who will do the difficult things necessary to make Britain's future safe. Churchill does it in the light while Tommy does it underground in the dark. |
| 662 | * NouveauRiche: What the Shelbys become in series two. Tension occurs when Ada finds the new flaunting of wealth distasteful, and also with the various ways Tommy has to invest the illegal funds (buying property and a racehorse). By season three, they've got 2 country estates, 3 townhouses, the expanded betting shop, a charitable foundation, and an orphanage. |
| 663 | * NumberTwo: Polly explicitly becomes this to Tommy in season two, taking over when Tommy is beaten by the Sabinis. |
| 664 | * OddFriendship: Arthur and Grace strike one up when they begin running the Garrison. Arthur speaks to her like more of an equal than a simple barmaid or secretary would be, and Grace teases him about his terrible head for numbers. |
| 665 | * OneLastSmoke: When [[spoiler: Tommy]]'s about to be killed, he asks for a last smoke. The request is granted. |
| 666 | * OneSteveLimit: Played straight with Elizabeth "Polly" Gray Shelby and Elizabeth "Lizzie" Stark Shelby, but averted with gangster Billy Kimber, the mobster; Billy Shelby, Arthur and Linda's son; Billy Kitchen, Arthur' and Tommy's brother-in-arms; Billy Mills, the boxer and worker in Tommy's factory; and football match-fixer Billy Grade in season five. |
| 667 | * OnlySaneMan: Polly, much of the time. Tommy likes to ''think'' he's this. |
| 668 | * OohMeAccentsSlipping: The Brummie accents of the series vary in quality, with Ada's and Freddie's as the worst. They both often sound more Liverpudlian or Cockney than Brummie. |
| 669 | ** Also Polly, whose accent is normally okay, noticeably pronounces 'France' in the non-Brummie way with a long 'a'. |
| 670 | * OrderedApology: After Tommy accuses Hughes of treachery, Hughes forces him to admit he was wrong and give a [[TheGrovel humiliating public apology]] so the Russians will continue to co-operate. He actually makes Tommy repeat the Catholic Act of Contrition with Hughes' own name where [[AGodAmI God's]] should be. |
| 671 | ** Alfie Solomons' apology to Arthur for getting him wrongfully imprisoned was almost certainly insisted upon by Tommy, as one of the conditions for the Peaky Blinders working with him again. The way Alfie looks at Tommy for approval after he's apologised pretty much confirms it. |
| 672 | * OrphanageOfFear: Tommy and Polly learn that an orphanage they sponsor has become this with the orphan girls receiving savage beatings from the nuns running the place. They go to visit and inform the nuns that if there is any more abuse, Tommy will have them all killed. |
| 673 | * OutlawCouple: Tommy and Grace play with the trope, especially in 1.03, but ultimately it's averted due to [[spoiler: Grace working for Campbell]]. |
| 674 | * PantsPositiveSafety: Arthur should stop shoving guns into the waistband of his trousers. John and Tommy do the sensible thing and use holsters. Arthur seems to learn better in season two, wearing a holster like the rest. |
| 675 | * PapaWolf: Tommy, especially about Finn. Threatening Arthur and John doesn't worry him, but the moment that Finn is put in threatened or actual danger, Tommy loses it. By season three, Tommy is [[spoiler: an actual father, and when Hughes and the Economic League threaten Charlie, Tommy goes off the rails in fear.]] |
| 676 | * ParentalAbandonment: |
| 677 | ** Arthur Senior disappeared around ten years ago, just after Finn's birth, but shows back up in Birmingham a self-professed "changed man". He sticks around just long enough to dupe Arthur out of 500 pounds, then disappear again. |
| 678 | ** Mama Shelby seems to have died quite a few years ago. We find out in 4.02 that she had some sort of illness, and that close to the end, she was seeing spirits and holding seances, barely speaking to her living children. Season five reveals that she [[spoiler: was also suicidal for months before she eventually threw herself into the canal.]] |
| 679 | * ParentalSubstitute: Charlie Strong sees himself as one for Tommy, though the opposite doesn't seem to be true. Tommy seems very resentful of Charlie and only begrudgingly calls him "Uncle". It's ambiguous whether or not Tommy naming his own son Charles is a subtle way of acknowledging his uncle or not. |
| 680 | * PastExperienceNightmare: Tommy's opium-fuelled flashbacks to the war, usually triggering a CatapultNightmare. |
| 681 | * PedophilePriest: [[spoiler: Father Hughes]]. First hinted at in 3.01, when [[spoiler: Hughes hints he'd like to "visit" the orphaned children in the new orphanage the Shelbys are building]]. Confirmed in 3.05, when [[spoiler: Michael confesses that Hughes did something to him when he was first taken from Polly. Michael was ''six'' at the time.]] |
| 682 | * PervyPatdown: Taken to extremes by the Petronovas, as Tatiana feels up a naked Arthur and John to check if they're Russian spies in disguise. It's initially funny, but Tatiana's overtures to a very freaked-out Arthur tip it from funny to uncomfortable. |
| 683 | * PetTheDog: |
| 684 | ** Tommy hushing the spooked horse. Grace sees how gently he treats the horse, and it improves her opinion of him. |
| 685 | ** Some of Tommy's most touching scenes in season three are with his young son Charles. No matter how dark and driven he gets, he treats Charles as the light of his life. |
| 686 | * PhonyVeteran: Arthur Senior apparently served "all over" during UsefulNotes/WorldWarI. No one's buying it. |
| 687 | * PostRapeTaunt: Done indirectly by [[spoiler: the wardens at the prison who taunt Michael by telling him ''exactly'' how Polly got him released]] and directly by [[spoiler: Campbell, but not to our "hero" Tommy, but to his victim, Polly. He tries to invoke NotIfTheyEnjoyedItRationalization. Polly shoots him in the heart.]] |
| 688 | * PlotArmour: Arthur seems to have one. Not less than ''five'' different assassination attempts have failed to dent Arthur up, and he always kills his would-be assassin in the nick of time. |
| 689 | * PreacherMan: Jeremiah, the Jamaican street preacher who ends up being one of Tommy's lookouts and the former medic for the Shelbys' unit in France. |
| 690 | * PrecisionFStrike: |
| 691 | ** The entire cast is prone to this--except Campbell, who normally doesn't swear at all--but one of the best comes from Ada, yelling at the projector operator at the cinema Tommy's just emptied out to scream at her in: "Oi! I'm a Shelby too, you know! Turn my fucking film back on!" And then he does. |
| 692 | ** The only time Campbell swears in the show: ''"Mr. Chapman, you're fucked."'' |
| 693 | ** Polly's final line of season two is a combination of this, BondOneLiner, and BadassBoast: ''"Don't fuck with the Peaky Blinders."'' |
| 694 | ** Arthur's incredibly succinct response to finding out [[spoiler: Tommy sold them out to the police]]: "FUCK YOU!" |
| 695 | ** Michael asks if Polly has something to say to Tommy that he can relay. Her response? "Fuck off!" |
| 696 | * PrisonRape: Discussed. Campbell threatens Tommy with throwing his then 11 year old brother Finn into adult prison, specifically a section where men have certain...proclivities. Also implied to have happened to Michael, and confirmed by his actor. |
| 697 | * PromotionToParent: Polly seems to have raised most, if not all, of the Shelby children. In addition, Tommy acts as the father of the house, the stern disciplinarian to Polly's more compassionate mother figure. |
| 698 | * PsychoticSmirk: Arthur and John have them. Tommy tends toward coldness when he's being a bastard. Campbell has one too. |
| 699 | * PutOnABus: |
| 700 | ** Grace leaves for America in the season one finale. She returns toward the end of season two. |
| 701 | ** May disappears after 2.06, and turns back up in 4.02 with little explanation. |
| 702 | ** [[spoiler: Esme]] in series 4. [[spoiler:After John's death, she takes all her children and step-children off traveling with the Lees.]] |
| 703 | |
| 704 | [[/folder]] |
| 705 | |
| 706 | [[folder: R to Y]] |
| 707 | |
| 708 | * RageBreakingPoint: |
| 709 | ** Ada has two of these with Tommy. At John's wedding, a drunken Ada lays into Tommy for his manipulations of the family (arranging John's marriage, refusing to accept her own marriage, causing her and Freddie to go into hiding). The last straw for Ada with Tommy is Freddie's arrest on the night of John's wedding. She believes Tommy is responsible, and is refusing to see or speak with anyone else from the family as well. |
| 710 | ** Polly hits a combination of this and a DespairEventHorizon in 2.02 when Tommy [[spoiler: reveals the double-whammy that her stolen daughter is dead, but that her son is alive and although Tommy knows where to find him, he won't tell her. Tommy thinks he's protecting Polly by not telling her where Michael is, but all Polly can see is Tommy keeping her from the son who was taken away from her when he was six. She pulls a gun on him, presses it to his head, and demands he tell her, but Tommy reminds her if she shoots him, she'll never know.]] |
| 711 | ** John hits his in 3.03, after Tommy's secretive, vengeful orders to [[spoiler: shoot Mrs. Changretta and bring him Vincente Changretta to torture in retaliation for Grace's shooting]]. John is sick of being treated like a "tin soldier", told to "do this, John, do that, John, [[spoiler: shoot your fucking teacher]], John", and gets into a screaming match with Tommy over it. |
| 712 | * RapeAsDrama: |
| 713 | ** [[spoiler: Field Marshal Russell rapes Lizzie shortly before Tommy kills him. In this case it's partly Tommy's fault, as he arranged for Lizzie to act as bait to isolate the Field Marshal on the express promise that he would turn up before anything happened. He's late.]] |
| 714 | ** Campbell performs rape by coercion, forcing Polly to have sex with him in exchange for releasing Michael from prison. It's also implied that Michael was raped in prison. |
| 715 | ** Father Hughes molested Michael when he was a child. |
| 716 | * RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: |
| 717 | ** We knew Campbell was a sick fuck when it comes to taking women by force (as evidenced by his brutal treatment of the prostitute in 1.06), but he takes a special level in awful in 2.05 when he [[spoiler: rapes Polly very specifically to not only humiliate her and make her beg for her son's release, but to get back at Tommy for "taking" Grace from him]]. |
| 718 | ** SinisterMinister Father Hughes is a child molester--and therefore set up as probably the most evil enemy the Shelbys have yet faced (with the possible exception of Moseley a few seasons later), in contrast with mere gangsters like Kimber or the Changrettas. |
| 719 | %%* RatedMForManly: Not that the women are excluded in any way. |
| 720 | * RealLifeWritesThePlot: Helen [=McRory=], who plays Polly, died between the fifth and sixth series. [[spoiler: This resulted in the IRA killing Polly as well as Aberama and Barney, with them claiming it was to 'kick away [Tommy's] crutch' as he was allegedly getting too ahead of himself. Hasn't hurt the bad blood between Tommy and Michael, either]]. |
| 721 | * ARealManIsAKiller: |
| 722 | ** Pretty much every character has disparaged Campbell for not serving in UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, making him very defensive about it. One reason the Shelby brothers are so highly regarded is because all three eldest brothers are decorated war veterans. |
| 723 | ** Michael is feeling the effects of this in season three. As the "legitimate" bookkeeper, but still a trusted member of the family, he knows about all the illegal goings-on, but is barred from participating and protected from any fallout. John and Arthur resent the way their younger cousin, who has never fired a gun in his life, is being groomed to be the new boss, and Michael hates being treated like a child. [[spoiler: Not an issue after 3.06, when Michael kills Father John Hughes.]] |
| 724 | * TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: |
| 725 | ** Campbell gives one to the new Birmingham police recruits in the pilot. |
| 726 | ** Aunt Polly to Tommy, when she finds out about the guns. She gives him another one in the next episode when they're fighting over [[spoiler: Ada and Freddie]]. She gives a third speech to Grace, fairly spectacularly, in 1.06. |
| 727 | ** Polly's back at it in 2.01, telling Tommy off for talking a good game about women being equal partners in the business, but "not listening to a word we say". |
| 728 | ** Tommy gives two in 3.06. The first is directed to Polly, Ada, Linda and Arthur, and John and Esme, as he is convinced [[spoiler: one of them has betrayed him and gotten Charles taken by the Economic League]]. He's wrong, but he viciously tears each one of them apart, twisting their actions into possible motives. Polly gets the brunt of it, as he nearly convinces her that [[spoiler: Reuben's been using her, getting her drunk and flattering her in order to hurt the Shelbys, because after all, what could a rich, normal man like Reuben ever see in someone like Polly?]] The second speech is to the entire gathered Shelby family, as Tommy reveals that [[IDidWhatIHadToDo he did what he had to do]]. |
| 729 | * RecycledSoundtrack: A lot of season 1 material is lifted from ''Film/TheProposition'', co-written by Nick Cave, who also supplies the theme song. |
| 730 | * RedOniBlueOni: Tommy with the cold demeanour and blue eyes. Arthur with explosive emotions, frequently doused in red. They’re brothers, and according to Tommy, the same person. |
| 731 | * RejectedMarriageProposal: Inspector Campbell proposes to Grace after she hands in her resignation, meaning he is no longer her superior officer. She gently declines, saying he "deserves better", though it's actually because she's fallen in love with Thomas Shelby; well, that and Campbell is decades older and is more of a [[ParentalSubstitute father figure]] to her. Unfortunately, Campbell immediately deduces this and ''[[NotGoodWithRejection really]]'' [[NotGoodWithRejection doesn't take Grace's rejection well]]. After he sees her and Thomas dancing together, Campbell writes her a letter basically telling her she's a whore and that her late father would be ashamed of her. He later [[spoiler: follows Grace to the train station and [[IfICantHaveYou attempts to shoot her]] partly from jealousy, though she manages to shoot him first and escapes]]. |
| 732 | * RelativeButton: Campbell presses Tommy's in 1.04. He starts by listing off the way he'll kill Tommy and the elder Shelby brothers, then Ada and her unborn child. Finally, he says the only one he'd spare would be Finn--[[MoralEventHorizon but only so that he could send eleven year old Finn to prison with child molesters and killers]]. Tommy snaps, raises his gun to shoot Campbell, but can't quite pull the trigger. |
| 733 | * RemarryingForYourKids: John cites his children as the main reason he needs a wife. |
| 734 | -->''"Aunt Polly, you know what it's been like since Martha died… Truth is, my kids have been running bloody rings around me. Running barefoot with the dogs until all hours… What the kids need is a mother. So that's why I'm getting married."'' |
| 735 | * TheResenter: |
| 736 | ** Ada, to Tommy--and by extension, the rest of the family. She's furious that Tommy can treat anyone like dirt and get away with it. |
| 737 | ** Also Arthur, who resents Tommy's gradual takeover of the family, and whose inferiority complex [[spoiler: causes him to attempt suicide.]] |
| 738 | ** John and Arthur, for Michael. They're incensed that their cousin is trusted to be a "boss" while they're expected to be good soldiers and do what Tommy and Polly say. |
| 739 | ** Esme, who is feeling stifled in a marriage she didn't want in the first place, ordered to stay cooped-up and pregnant while John can do whatever he likes. |
| 740 | * TheRoaringTwenties: Season two is set in 1922 and the scenes set in the Eden Club in London really play the trope straight, with flappers, cocaine, and Bugatti cars. |
| 741 | * RoguishRomani: A major plot point is that the Shelby family, who run the titular gang, are half Romani; their paternal grandfather was supposedly a king among the Romani in Birmingham; their mother is referred to as didicoy (half-blooded Romani); and some of the family (particularly Tommy and Aunt Polly, who are in touch with their roots, and John, whose wife Esme is much more traditionally Romani) speak Romani, although only when they have to. The Shelbys alternately exploit and shun their connection to the Romani, in contrast with the Lee family, who live in caravans and can all speak Romani and do so among themselves. On the other hand, all the other characters consistently refer to the Shelbys as "Gypsies," even though they are at least as Irish as they are Romani, and sometimes even by slurs more often associated with UsefulNotes/IrishTravellers. And of course, both the Shelbys and the Lees are crime families. |
| 742 | * RousingSpeech: |
| 743 | ** Arthur, of all people, turns out to be really good at these, with John as his NumberTwo. They whip the Peaky Blinders up to go and attack the Lees at Cheltenham as part of Tommy's plan to impress Billy Kimber. |
| 744 | ** Tommy gets an excellent one that he gives to the Peaky Blinders outside the Garrison, as Kimber's men are arriving to kill them. |
| 745 | ** Tommy starts giving them in the House of Commons in season five. They're effective enough to bring him to the attention of both budding-fascist Oswald Mosley and Winston Churchill. |
| 746 | * RuleOfThree: Appears when Tommy is seeking opinions on his gin recipe in season 4. In the first episode, May (a gin drinker) deems it "too sweet" whilst Alfie (a distiller) opines that "Americans want it sweeter". In the next episode, Jessie Eden states that she doesn't really drink gin, but "It's okay". |
| 747 | * SacrificialLion: [[spoiler: Danny, twice]] in season one. [[spoiler: Campbell]] in season two. [[spoiler: Grace]] in season three. [[spoiler: John]] in season four. [[spoiler: Ben and Aberama]] in season five. |
| 748 | * SavedByCanon: [[spoiler:Tommy's plot to assassinate Oswald Mosley is doomed to fail, as the historical Mosley lived until 1980]]. |
| 749 | * ScarpiaUltimatum: Campbell is responsible for a truly disturbing example in 2.05. Particularly ironic and apropos due to ''Tosca'' itself being a big presence in 1.02, where the Campbell/Scarpia parallels begin. |
| 750 | * ScreamingBirth: The trope is played with by [[spoiler: Ada Shelby]] in 1.04. The lady in question does not deliver mere seconds after her water breaks, but does (very understandably) spend a while screaming and crying because her child is in danger of being born breach. |
| 751 | * ScrewThisImOuttaHere: [[spoiler: Esme]] contemplates this throughout season 3, and finally leaves following [[spoiler: John's death]] in season 4. |
| 752 | * SecretTestOfCharacter: In the final episode [[spoiler:Finn is subjected to one, when he's ordered to kill Billy Grade but turns the gun on Duke and Isiah. When he opens fire, it turns out the first two chambers were empty, per Uncle Charlie's instructions. As a result, he's banished from the family.]] |
| 753 | * SeriesContinuityError: |
| 754 | ** In 1.06, Polly tells Ada about her children and refers to her daughter as Sally. In season 2, she's referred to as Anna. |
| 755 | ** In 1.06, the letterhead Tommy uses gives his middle initial as "J", but in 3.01, his middle name is given as "Michael." |
| 756 | * SexAsRiteOfPassage: On his cousin Michael's 18th birthday, Arthur suggests--not very seriously--that they get him a prostitute. Polly shuts down the idea right away. |
| 757 | -->'''Arthur:''' Eighteen years old. You're a man today! Give him a drink, John boy. And after that, we'll go find you a lady of the night.\ |
| 758 | '''Polly:''' No!! |
| 759 | ** However, when sixteen-year-old Finn is discovered to be a virgin, it's the Shelby ''women'' (including Polly) who get him a prostitute. Of course, Polly isn't ''Finn's'' mother. |
| 760 | * ShamefulStrip: Ada is furious after being subjected to this when she's arrested for her communist activism by the Special Branch. |
| 761 | * ShamingTheMob: Ada's attempts to prevent a shootout in the finale. Applies to both definitions of the word 'mob'. |
| 762 | * ShedTheFamilyName: 2.01 plays this straight with Ada Shelby, who wants to escape the family, and plays around with it in regards to Polly, who is a Shelby by birth (her married name is Grey), and is now trading on the social capital of the name. |
| 763 | * ShellShockedVeteran: Applies to most of the boys who served in UsefulNotes/WorldWarI. |
| 764 | ** Danny's is TearJerker: PTSD and he keeps flashing back to France and [[spoiler: accidentally kills a man during a blackout]]. |
| 765 | ** Tommy smokes opium to keep away his PTSD dreams of the war. John smokes opium to cope as well. |
| 766 | ** Arthur has a vicious case of PTSD from WWI, and severe blackout rages. |
| 767 | ** Barney Thomsen, a former sniper with Tommy's unit who has been locked in an asylum since the war. Tommy springs him for OneLastJob. |
| 768 | * ShirtlessScene: |
| 769 | ** Freddie Thorne, frequently. |
| 770 | ** Cillian Murphy only gets one in the first season, but multiple in seasons two and three. Fandom is appreciative. |
| 771 | ** Arthur gets one in 2.01, showing off his new boxing-honed physique. |
| 772 | ** Isaiah gets them frequently, due to his boxing and fighting prowess. |
| 773 | ** Michael gets a very lingering one in 5.01. |
| 774 | * ShooOutTheClowns: The events of the Season 3 finale were bleak, but in the in Season 4 the killing of [[spoiler: John, usually the first to make a joke and least openly addled from France,]] took things up notch, and little light-heartedness appeared afterwards. |
| 775 | * ShootTheDog: [[spoiler: Shoot the horse, really, which is what Tommy has to do to the white horse he won off the Lees. It's implied they sold it to him knowing it had a rotted hoof and would be lame soon anyway.]] |
| 776 | ** In the very first episode, the "death" of Danny Whizzbang, although this is faked. |
| 777 | * ShoutOut: |
| 778 | ** In the scene where Tommy [[spoiler: fakes Danny's death]], he quotes the Christina Rossetti poem "In the Bleak Midwinter". He quotes it again when facing (what he thinks is) his own death in the second series finale. It returns as one of the hymns at Tommy's wedding in 3.01. |
| 779 | ** The opera that Campbell meets [[spoiler:Grace]] at is ''Tosca''. |
| 780 | ** The first meeting between Campbell and Tommy taking place at a quiet tea shop is likely an homage to a similiar scene in ''Film/{{Heat}}'', where Robert de Niro's thief character and Al Pacino's cop character memorably meet for coffee in one scene. It's the only moment in the movie when they're both onscreen. |
| 781 | ** In 2.06 Campbell employs a group of Ulster Volunteers known as the "Red Right Hand" in a nod to the theme song. Also counts as FridgeBrilliance when you realise that the heraldic symbol of Ulster (and the badge of the Ulster Volunteers) is a red right hand. |
| 782 | ** Many to ''Film/TheGodfather''. The Shelby siblings are nearly direct parallels to the Corleone siblings (hotheaded eldest brothers, doomed younger brothers, a second/third son in charge, a MafiaPrincess sister), with Tommy Shelby and Michael Corleone sharing a military past and icy demeanour. There are also smaller shoutouts like Tommy's ex-fiance's name being "Geraci" and her untimely death serving as his StartOfDarkness, the need for an authoritative [[TheConsigliere consigliere]] (Polly and Tom Hagen), and long-lost sons of the family returning to cause trouble (Michael Grey and Vincent Corleone). Furthermore, Luca Changretta (played by Adrien Brody) speaks distractingly like Don Vito Corleone (played by Marlon Brando). |
| 783 | * ShutUpHannibal: Grace gives one to Polly in 1.06, quite succinctly, in regards to why Polly is so violently protective of Tommy. |
| 784 | -->'''Grace''': Maybe what really upsets you is that someday, you might lose him. |
| 785 | * SiblingsInCrime: The Peaky Blinders wouldn't be as successful without all three Shelby brothers' talents. |
| 786 | * SilkHidingSteel: |
| 787 | ** Grace and May. |
| 788 | ** Polly evolves from HotBlooded in the first two seasons to this in season three, where her new financial and social status requires a different sort of approach. |
| 789 | * SinisterMinister: Father John Hughes, and ''how''--many hints indeed are dropped throughout season 3 [[spoiler:that he molests children, culminating in Michael offering to shoot Hughes because of (heavily implied) abuse by him after being taken into care]]. |
| 790 | * SirSwearsALot: Arthur. Darby Sabini. Alfie Solomons as well, to a lesser degree. |
| 791 | * SkywardScream / SuddenlyShouting: Near the end of 2.06, Tommy is permitted one last smoke by the Red Right Hand prior to being shot and dumped in a ready-made grave in a remote field. He takes this moment to lament how close he came to realising his plans for the expansion of the Peaky Blinders’ activities and his intended elopement with Grace after their reunion |
| 792 | --> '''Tommy:''' So fuckin’ close. So fuckin’ close. Oh... And there's a woman. Yeah. A woman... who I love... and I got close. Nearly got ''FUCKIN’ EVERYTHING!!!'' |
| 793 | * SlaveToPR: This is Campbell's main weakness in season one. The government covered up the theft of the guns and Campbell has to recover them without the public finding out about it. When Tommy figures this out, he stages a public protest against the police's actions and brings a reporter to cover it. The government suppresses the article and Campbell is chastised for not being discreet enough. From then on, Campbell cannot act directly against the Peaky Blinders since he knows that Tommy will make the entire affair public in retaliation. |
| 794 | * SlobsVsSnobs: This is a common dynamic between the Shelby family and their antagonists, who mock them for being lower-class and unrefined. Oswald especially relishes it, although he, like most of the snobs, is presented as cruel, sadistic, and hostile. Gina is also this, disapproving highly of the Peaky Blinders. |
| 795 | * SlutShaming: |
| 796 | ** Tommy, Arthur, and Polly ridicule Lizzie for being a hooker. Mostly, though, the real source of outrage is that she lied to John. |
| 797 | ** Moss's only comment for Grace, when it's revealed she's [[spoiler: Campbell's mole]] and also has been sleeping with Tommy? "Whore." Furthermore, in his letter, Campbell calls what she's done "disgusting beyond all measure" and says her father would be ashamed of her. Made all the more ironic because the reason why Campbell can't make the delivery himself is [[{{Hypocrite}} because he's visiting a brothel in Chinatown.]] |
| 798 | ** Invoked by Polly to a pregnant-but-unmarried Ada: |
| 799 | -->"You know the words. You're a whore. Your baby's a bastard. But [[DoubleStandard there's no word for the man who leaves]]." |
| 800 | ** Campbell's landlady is Series 2 does a bit of hooking on the side. He is very uncool about it. |
| 801 | * TheSociopath: Tommy was flirting with the line in the first two seasons, but by the end of season three, he's firmly hit this status. |
| 802 | * SpiritAdvisor: In 6.06, [[spoiler: Tommy is about to kill himself when he sees Ruby telling him not to. Whether it's actually Ruby or his subconscious pointing things out, she directs him to the fire and says relight it. But on getting to the fire, he sees that a newspaper is there showing Oswald Moseley's wedding - with both Dr. Holford, who told him he was going to die of Tuberculoma, and Dr. Helen Rutherford, whom Holford recommended for a second opinion, attending. From this he works out that the Tuberculoma diagnosis is fake, he is not going to die and thus has no need to kill himself.]] |
| 803 | * SpitShake: Tommy and Aunt Polly seal a deal with one in 2.04. |
| 804 | * SpookySeance: Subverted in 2.01. The expectation is that the seance Polly attends will be unnerving, with the Romani woman channeling [[spoiler: Polly's daughter]]. We never actually see the seance--the scene is more focused on Polly revealing that she's dreaming of [[spoiler: her daughter]] and then running out of the house in tears after an unknown reveal. |
| 805 | * TheStarscream: Esme Lee Shelby, who hates being cooped up, playing wife and mother while John runs around with his brothers. So far, all of her attempts to sow dissent have failed, but she seems to be on a slow burn toward this. She was PutOnABus in season 4, putting an end to this behaviour, for now. |
| 806 | * TheStoic: Campbell. Goes NotSoStoic when it comes to [[spoiler:Grace telling him she can't marry him]]. |
| 807 | * StraightEdgeEvil: Campbell starts out as this, so self-righteous he doesn't even swear. By 1.04, he's drinking on the job, dropping F-bombs and sliding down the slippery slope faster than a kid on a slip-n-slide. |
| 808 | * TheStrategist: Polly, ironically enough, the only one in the family who didn't go to war, is this. She's got a good head for business, and her plans are sound, except unlike [[TheChessmaster Tommy]], she can't turn a situation around that isn't going her way. |
| 809 | * SurprisePregnancy: [[spoiler: Ada]] |
| 810 | * TeamPowerWalk: We get at least one of these an episode from various members of the Peaky Blinders, usually walking down a street in slow motion while blues rock blares on the soundtrack. Episode 3.04 even has an all-female version. |
| 811 | * TheTeetotaler: |
| 812 | ** Byrne, the IRA representative in 1.05. |
| 813 | ** People find it extremely odd that Thomas drinks only water through most of season 6. |
| 814 | * ThatManIsDead: In 2.02, Ada screams at her rescuers "My name is NOT Shelby!" |
| 815 | * ThickerThanWater: Family is everything, and you don't break your word to your family. In 1.05, the Shelbys believe Tommy lied about [[spoiler: giving Freddie safe passage to see his son born]] when it was really [[spoiler: Grace who told Campbell]], and they turn against him. Then, in 1.06, Tommy and Polly realize that [[spoiler: Grace snitched on them to the police, who tipped off Kimber]], and Polly only spares [[spoiler: Grace because she honestly fell in love with Tommy]]. |
| 816 | * ThoseWackyNazis: Played way straight with Oswald Mosley and Diana Mitford, who seek to carry out a "cleansing" (re: the Holocaust) in Great Britain. |
| 817 | * AThreesomeIsManly: There are a couple of background implied threesome scenes (Arthur and Tommy with unknown women). |
| 818 | * ThrowingTheFight: The Peaky Blinders make a lot of money from fixing horse races. In season 5 they expand into football match fixing by approaching a down-on-his-luck ex-footballer and asking him to point out which goalies might be willing to let a few goals through in exchange for a few hundred pounds. |
| 819 | * TimeShiftedActor: Due to a two-year time skip between seasons, Alfie Evans-Meese plays 11 year old Finn Shelby in season one and Harry Kirton plays 13 year old Finn Shelby from season two onwards. |
| 820 | * TimeSkip: After wrapping up the Season 5 cliffhanger, the Season 6 premiere jumps four years ahead. |
| 821 | * TooDumbToLive: A Lord contracts Tommy to kill a pimp who has incriminating photos of the Lord having sex with childeren. Tommy has the pimp killed and the Lord immediately tries to cheat Tommy on payment. Tommy promptly informs the Lord what he really thinks of him and that Tommy still has a copy of the pictures to release to the public if he does not get the full payment. |
| 822 | ** In the pilot episode Danny collapses into a chair in front of a restaurant sobbing and talking to himself. The restaurant owner decides it would be a good idea to pull a knife on Danny, who is clearly in better physical shape and is clearly mentally unwell. It goes about as well for the restauranteur as can be expected, as Danny freaks out and stabs the man with his own knife. |
| 823 | * TookALevelInBadass: |
| 824 | ** After spending two episodes mostly as the ButtMonkey of the family, Arthur takes a rather large level in 1.03 when he leads the raid on the Lees, and cuts part of one of the Lees' ears off as a threat. |
| 825 | ** Harry, the barman at the Garrison, in 1.05, when he stands up to Campbell and the police raid. Harry comes across as mild-mannered, likeable, most of the time, but when Campbell orders him to give up Tommy, Harry lies bold facedly to Campbell and says he doesn't know where Tommy is. He does give Tommy up when Campbell puts a gun to his head, but the initial gesture of defiance was pretty cool. In the 1.06, he also shows a lot of courage in standing up to Tommy. |
| 826 | ** Ada Shelby and her baby carriage in 1.06, who march right into [[spoiler: the middle of an all-out gun battle between the Peaky Blinders and Kimber's men]] and give them a ''very'' stern talking-to, daring them to hurt her. |
| 827 | ** Arthur seems to have combined this and TookALevelInJerkass in season 2. He's in fighting shape, apparently becoming a more vicious and skilled boxer than he was before, but if he's not either medicated or kept occupied, he tends to beat anyone in his way to within an inch of their lives. |
| 828 | ** Polly takes one in the season two finale when she does what not only her nephews, but Grace, failed to do--[[spoiler: kill Campbell once and for all]]. |
| 829 | * TookALevelInJerkass: Campbell wasn't exactly a nice person in season one but he still had gentle moments, mostly with Grace, and mostly seemed like an honest, if brutal, KnightTemplar. By the second season, he's barely concealing his vicious and ruthless nature. |
| 830 | ** Michael keeps taking one per season. In season two, he starts off as a curious and slightly naive kid new to the world of organized crime. In season three, he's a green, but competent [[TheConsigliere consigliere]] to Tommy, but he's becoming more impulsive and angry, eventually [[RapeAndRevenge killing Father Hughes]] for his crimes. In season four, he's an AddledAddict, haunted by his near-death experiences and lashing out at everyone. In season five, he's become TheStarscream to Tommy, actively plotting a hostile takeover of the business. In season six, he has officially broken with the Shelby family and joined Jack Nelson's pro-Fascist outfit. |
| 831 | * ATragedyOfImpulsiveness: John's BerserkButton over Lizzie Stark and his desire to beef up the Peaky Blinders' image with the Italians sets off a chain of events that leads to [[spoiler: Grace being shot and killed]], and later, [[spoiler: his own death.]] |
| 832 | * TroublingUnchildlikeBehaviour: |
| 833 | ** Finn Shelby in season one, as an 11-year-old participating in gang warfare, racketeering, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and underage drinking]]. He's no longer a child in season two, but having a thirteen year old [[spoiler: snorting cocaine and giving it to his older brother as well]] is quite unsettling. |
| 834 | ** There's something off about Michael Gray, from his unsettling monologue about wanting to blow up the wishing well in his village, to having ''no'' reaction when Sabini's assassins make an attempt on Tommy's life, to showing surprisingly deadly skill at bar-fighting. |
| 835 | * UncertainDoom: |
| 836 | ** It's left purposefully unclear at the end of the first season finale [[spoiler: if Grace was shot by Campbell, Grace shoots Campbell, someone else shoots one or both of them, or what Tommy decided, to stay with his family or run away with Grace to New York]]. All we know is that there was a gunshot. This was all wrapped up in season 2, however. |
| 837 | ** Season Five has a pretty significant one in [[spoiler: Tommy hallucinating Grace's ghost, who lures him into suicide. We see him stick a gun to his head and hear a gunshot, but the screen goes to black. Season Six in turn quickly reveals that he survived unharmed, a wary Arthur having discretely unloaded the gun beforehand.]] |
| 838 | * UnintentionallyNotoriousCrime: The BSA robbery. Tommy didn't actually ''mean'' to steal the weapons the British government was shipping to Libya; he was trying to steal motorcycles from the same warehouse, and kept the guns when he found out what he'd actually stolen. |
| 839 | * UnspokenPlanGuarantee: This show ''masterfully'' uses this while baiting the viewers on a different situation and strategy altogether, as Tommy and the Peaky Blinders have successfully overturned things against them each season finale, with us not being wise on the plan (except perhaps Season 2, where some of the initial plan was given, and even that doesn't completely go right). So, it's a matter of fact that in Season 5,[[spoiler: the assassination attempt on Oswald Mosley was discussed in-depth by the Peaky Blinders, and it GoesHorriblyWrong.]] |
| 840 | * VictoryIsBoring: Whenever Tommy outsmarts his enemies, he relapses into alcohol, which results in traumatic episodes for him. Season 4 finale shows it all in details. |
| 841 | * VillainousRescue: |
| 842 | ** In 2.01, Tommy is about to be executed by the Sabini gang, but before they can finish him off, the police raid the warehouse and Campbell comes swaggering back to Birmingham. |
| 843 | ** In 2.06 [[spoiler: Tommy is saved from execution by Campbell's Ulster Red Right Hands (a Loyalist militia group) by one of them who is loyal to Churchill over Campbell]]. |
| 844 | ** In the Series 5 finale a group stops [[spoiler:the assassination attempt on Oswald Mosley.]] In the Series 6 premiere [[spoiler:it is revealed it was the IRA.]] |
| 845 | * VillainTeamUp: Tommy pulls this on three separate occasions in the first series. First he cuts a deal with Campbell--he and the Peaky Blinders will find the guns from the BSA robbery, quell the unionizing and run Freddie Thorne out of Birmingham, if Campbell turns a blind eye to Tommy's gambling operations. Second, he proposes, much more politely than he did to Campbell, to Billy Kimber that he and the Peaky Blinders be allowed to fix races and run security on Kimber's behalf, taking over from the Lee family. And ''then'' he arranges a marriage between his brother and a Lee girl, forging an alliance with the Lees to take down Kimber. |
| 846 | ** Later seasons make a habit of this. Tommy is constantly, and sometimes literally, in bed with people who will end up being his enemies. |
| 847 | * VillainousValor: Field Marshall Russell is a war criminal and an attempted rapist [[spoiler: but despite being surprised and with his pants down he gives Thomas a stronger fight than anyone else in the series]]. |
| 848 | ** Luca Changretta personally leads an assassination attempt on Thomas, and is a very capable and courageous fighter. |
| 849 | * WarIsHell: And UsefulNotes/WorldWarI was more hellish than most. |
| 850 | * WeaponizedHeadgear: |
| 851 | ** The Peaky Blinders get their name from the razor blades they sew into the brims of their caps. |
| 852 | ** Aunt Polly pulls a very long, very sharp [[CombatHaircomb hairpin]] to threaten Grace. |
| 853 | * WeUsedToBeFriends: |
| 854 | ** Tommy Shelby and Freddie Thorne. |
| 855 | ** Apparently Alfie and Sabini were childhood friends (or at least acquaintances) as well. |
| 856 | * UsefulNotes/TheWestMidlands: Set primarily in Birmingham. |
| 857 | * WhamEpisode: |
| 858 | ** From 1.04, [[spoiler: Grace informs on Freddie Thorne, and Polly wrongly suspects Tommy.]] |
| 859 | ** From 1.06, [[spoiler: Tommy learns about Grace's betrayal, he manages to ally himself with the Lees and finish off Billy Kimber, and Campbell has Grace on gunpoint]]. |
| 860 | ** From 2.06, [[spoiler: Polly successfully assassinates Campbell near his own office, and Campbell's posthumous attempts to kill Tommy is foiled by Churchill's moles]]. |
| 861 | ** From 3.02, [[spoiler: an Italian assassin infliltrates Tommy's party, and Grace dies TakingTheBullet for Tommy.]] |
| 862 | ** From 3.06, [[spoiler: Michael kills Father Hughes as Alfie's revealed to be the snitch, Charles is rescued from him, and Tommy sells out most of his family on multiple charges to protect them all from the Economic League]]. |
| 863 | ** From 4.01, [[spoiler: the Shelby family receives a Black Hand letter, and John and Michael are shot by the Italian Mafia, after which John dies]]. |
| 864 | ** From 4.02, [[spoiler: Luca Changretta himself comes with a gun pointed to Tommy's office.]] |
| 865 | ** From 4.06, [[spoiler: Arthur is seriously injured by the Italians, Luca Changretta comes to finish off the family, Tommy is revealed to have made deals with Al Capone, as Arthur arrives and kills Luca. Later on, Tommy seemingly kills Alfie for letting his men in the ring. After a brief skip, Lizzie is revealed to be married to Tommy with a daughter, and Tommy is now the MP.]] |
| 866 | ** From 5.02, [[spoiler: Tommy grounds Michael suspecting him to be the traitor, the mysterious phone call turns out to be Oswald Mosley, and Bonnie is killed by the fascists]]. |
| 867 | ** From 5.06, [[spoiler: Michael is revealed to have done his own dealings with the American gangs, wanting to lead the Peaky Blinders as Tommy is relegated to a safe position, Tommy becomes furious and expels Michael, the Garrison bartender Mickey is revealed to be the traitor in the ranks, Alfie is revealed to be alive. Polly leaves Shelby Company Ltd, and someone botches up the assassination attempt on Mosley, leading to the deaths of Barney and Aberama.]] |
| 868 | * WhamLine: |
| 869 | ** From the pilot: "I'm in position, sir." |
| 870 | ** From 1.05: "My name is Arthur Shelby! Any man here think he can take me?" "…Dad?" |
| 871 | ** Polly, in 1.06: "Who else did you tell [about Black Star Day]?" |
| 872 | ** The WhamLine to ''end'' all Wham Lines has to be Tommy, in 3.06: "You can go, Arthur, but you won't get far. [[spoiler:I spoke to Moss last night, he told me that the Chief Constable of Birmingham has issued a warrant for your arrest. Murder, sedition, conspiracy to cause explosion. John, they're coming for you as well. Murder, conspiracy to cause explosion. Michael, for the murder of Hughes. Polly, the murder of Chief Inspector Campbell.]]" |
| 873 | ** Tommy in 4.06: "A friend of mine once said... [[spoiler: Big fucks small. So I had to find someone bigger than you. Now, you may know there are two families in Brooklyn, who want take over your monopoly on the import of liquor into New York. But if they move against you in New York, they'll start a war between the families. But if you were to die in a vendetta with some fucking bookmaker in Birmingham, they could take over your business without a war. We also contacted a businessman in Chicago. He's also interested in moving into the liquor business in New York. His name is [[UsefulNotes/AlCapone Alphonse Capone]].[...]You see, all the blood relatives you brought with you from New York, they're all dead, Mr Changretta. And these men here, they work for money, for the highest bidder. [[CavalryBetrayal They now have new orders]].]]" |
| 874 | ** Tommy in 5.05: [[spoiler: We have Alfie Solomons to the South.]] |
| 875 | * WhatMeasureIsAMook: Lampshaded by Alfie Solomons when Tommy says that his enemies "crossed a line" by kidnapping his son. Alfie correctly points out that every person that Tommy has killed was ''somebody's'' son/father/etc. |
| 876 | --> '''Alfie:''' How many fathers, right, how many sons have you cut, killed, murdered, fucking butchered, innocent and guilty, to send straight to fucking hell ain't ya, just like me! Fucking stand there, you, judging me, stand there and talk to me about crossing some fucking line! |
| 877 | * WhatTheHellHero: |
| 878 | ** [[spoiler: Tommy Shelby in 2.06, where he arranges for ''ex-''prostitute Lizzie to help him isolate Field Marshal Russell at the Epsom Derby, with the clear implication that she is supposed to seduce him in order to do so--despite the fact she has no desire to return to her former trade, and the fact Tommy has explicitly asked her not to in the past; she is not impressed by his promise that this is "the last time". Despite his assurances that he will show up before anything happens, Tommy is delayed, the Field Marshal [[NearRapeExperience tries to force himself on Lizzie]] and while Tommy does eventually turn up and kill him, Lizzie is left extremely traumatised by the experience and clearly regards the whole episode as a betrayal, her only words to him after he rescues her being "Fuck off".]] |
| 879 | ** Tommy clearly took topping his asshole behaviour at Epsom as a challenge--the scene in 3.06 where he [[spoiler: pays off his family, lectures them on how disgusting and how fruitless their social-climbing is, and caps it off by informing Arthur, John, Michael, and Polly of their arrests]] is an even bigger WTHH moment. Ultimately it takes the entire fourth season for him to win back their trust and forgiveness. |
| 880 | * WildCard: Michael Gray seems to be the answer to many of the Shelbys' problems: Polly gets her son back, Tommy gets a bookkeeping whiz who remains unaware of the illegal side of the business… but considering Michael's unfazed reaction to the Sabini assassination attempt, and his prowess at bar-fighting, just how innocent and unaware is he? |
| 881 | * WomenAreWiser: |
| 882 | ** Polly is frequently put in the position of arguing for the men in the gang to behave more cautiously or to give up on crime altogether. |
| 883 | ** Both Polly and Ada urge Freddie to see sense and leave England before Tommy comes after him. |
| 884 | ** Esme seems to be taking up the mantle in season two, warning both Tommy and John how dangerous and unpredictable the London gangs are. |
| 885 | * WordSaladTitle: ''Peaky Blinders'' can sound like one without full context. The gang members blind people using razor blades concealed in their peaked caps. |
| 886 | * TheWorfEffect: Arthur, the BoisterousBruiser of the gang, is the most common recipient of various thugs' wrath. |
| 887 | * WouldHurtAChild: |
| 888 | ** The Lees' booby-trap nearly kills Finn, but not actually intentionally, since their trap was meant for Tommy. |
| 889 | ** Inspector Campbell might not bash Finn's head in himself, but he would throw Finn in adult prison with child molesters with very little remorse. |
| 890 | ** Father Hughes is a straight-up child molester. |
| 891 | * WouldntHurtAChild: |
| 892 | ** An exploited trope by Ada, who steers her baby carriage between two gangs on the brink of a shootout. Even when [[spoiler:Kimber personally shoots Tommy and Danny, the rest of the gangs hold their fire]]. |
| 893 | ** When Tommy reveals that the Oddfellows have taken his son, Alfie states that he knew and doesn't care, but Tommy recognizes his shock at the information in spite of his denial. |
| 894 | ** At Tommy's first meeting with Luca, the latter promises that despite his blood feud with the Shelbys, he will not target any of their children. |
| 895 | * WretchedHive: |
| 896 | ** Campbell portrays Birmingham this way when he first arrives, and he's not far off. |
| 897 | ** London is portrayed as the Big League of crime in comparison to Birmingham. |
| 898 | * XanatosSpeedChess: What Tommy's playing in season three. Each time Hughes, the Economic League, or the Russians throw a wrench into his plans for the heist, he switches course. In the end, [[spoiler: he comes out on top, but he's forced his cousin to become a killer, forced John and Arthur into blowing up a train with innocent people on it, and sold his entire family out to his friends in government who will help him defeat the Economic League conspiracy]]. This series sees Tommy at his lowest point so far. |
| 899 | * YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Campbell's first scene in season 2 is him letting a man he hired to kill an Irish activist be hanged for murder. It's clear that he had this planned for Tommy after he completed his assignment for him. |
| 900 | * YouKilledMyFather: Luca, to Tommy - although technically it was Arthur who pulled the trigger. |
| 901 | * YouNeedToGetLaid: Arthur and John think it's been too long since Tommy's had a woman. |
| 902 | * YourMom: Anyone stupid enough to do this to any of the Shelby brothers usually ends up on [[WeaponizedHeadgear the wrong end of the boys' caps]]. |
| 903 | |
| 904 | [[/folder]] |
| 905 | |
| 906 | ---- |
| 907 | ->''You're one microscopic cog in his catastrophic plan, designed and directed by his red right hand...'' |
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