By Kyle Mcleod
4 Stars
Spoilers ahead Peaky Blinders Season 6 Episode 4, Sapphire.
As we reach the second half of Peaky Blinders’ final season, the show picks up after last episode’s dramatic climax. After the death of Tommy’s daughter, we start by seeing the show’s main characters giving her a send-off.
Even with such a traumatic event, Tommy’s ice-cold demeanour allows him to give his daughter a send-off without shedding a tear.
Despite the character progression, signs of Tommy’s morality changing for the better, this death causes him to get straight to business, heading for the people he holds responsible for the ‘curse’ and gunning them down in cold blood. It’s only then we see him finally grieve.
While last episode focused on each of the Shelby siblings, Sapphire puts all the attention on Thomas, how he deals with his daughter’s death and how he moves forward.
Soon after saying goodbye to his daughter, Esme informs him he has another son he didn’t know about, demanding gold to allow him to get to know his own son.
With everything going on, our protagonist proceeds to charge on with his ‘mission to change the world’. Holding a meeting at his home, he sits down with Jack Nelson, Laura McKee, Oswald Mosley and Diana Mitford.
They discuss their plans to turn America, England and Ireland into fascist regimes, discussing business without much input from Tommy himself. When Jack Nelson challenges Tommy’s commitment to the cause, Oswald encourages to prove it with a physically. Tommy follows Oswald’s Nazi gesture.
The show follows this up with Ada revealing to her son that his father was Jewish, a reminder to the audience what consequences this could have. The audience know Tommy is trying to destroy this cause from within but if he fails, it seems the events of WW2 will take place inside the Peaky Blinders world.
A key scene going forward is when Tommy catches Oswald Mosley leaving his private apartment after having an affair with Gina Gray. Tommy confronts Gina, using this as blackmail to get inside information over meeting Mosley is set to have in Germany.
Gina seems to believe Tommy’s Gypsy routes may allow him to know things normal people could not, asking him what happens if she lies. “I’ll know” is all Tommy replies with. Both Tommy and Gina test each other, Tommy asking Michael’s true intentions with Gina lying. Tommy laughs this off and leaves, clearly catching Gina’s lie which she picks up on.
This is an important scene as it will likely prove to be pivotal in Tommy’s plan. Gina will likely tell Tommy the information he wants to know because if she doesn’t, Tommy will indeed know and inform her uncle about the affair.
The last episode dropped a bombshell to close, and Sapphire is no different. Tommy’s seizures, hallucinations and moments of weakness are all explained when his doctor visits him. We are told Tommy has a form of Tuberculosis, one that is noncontagious but also non treatable.
As his wife enters the room, Tommy claims his doctor is his accountant wanting to keep this to himself but proceeds to push his doctor on how long he has left, the answer a year to 18 months.With a time limit now set, Tommy will be looking to complete his mission and set up his family for a pleasant future. It certainly sets up an intense last two episodes, shades of Red Dead Redemption 2. We have two more hours to see if Tommy’s plan will be successful and if he’ll go out in a blaze of glory.
