Written by: Kevin Berge
Tommy's back, and this time he's basically John Wick if Wick was a habitual drinker. (Image Courtesy of: digitalspy.com)
Quick Take: Peaky Blinders Season 4 starts with a bang by creating the most tangible threat so far and keeps a tighter focus than past seasons. While the story not quite deliver on its opening promise, it is nonetheless exciting, emotional, and the best season of the series to date.
Peaky Blinders Reviews: Season 1 | 2 | 3
***This is a detailed review of the fourth season of Peaky Blinders, exploring its story. There will be heavy spoilers for the season, so do not read ahead if you have not seen the season and plan to do so.***
After watching the first three seasons of Peaky Blinders more or less back-to-back, I realized I had burned myself out on the series. It is great television, better than most shows out there, but it is six intense hours per season that can feel a bit lesser when viewed from a distance than experienced as a whole.
This helped the beginning of season four blow me away all over again, proving just what this show does that few others can. This isn't just a morally ambiguous mafia show. It is a tale of family, life, and loss that uses its character's advancement less as proof that they are finding success but rather to push the story in new directions.
Season four shows that the weight of the Peaky Blinders' success has pushed them apart. Tommy managed to save the lives of his family members, but they still remember almost dying. Even if the group became more wealthy from season 3's events, they have lost their sense of family, making them more broken than ever.
This sets up the introduction of Luca Chagretta (Adrien Brody) perfectly as he comes for revenge for his father, executed in season three. As a part of the New York mafia, he has power and influence the Blinders cannot match even at their best, and they are far from their best.
It takes the death of John Shelby and injury to Michael Gray to bring everyone together again. They must return to the slums they first conquered in season 1 and work from places of power while anticipating every plot to survive Changretta.
Thanks to the powerful performance of Adrian Brody (The Pianist) that establishes his menace at every moment, it is easy to believe that everyone could die along the way. This is the most focused and intense story the series has ever told, and it fully reveals all the work the show has done to this point.
The previous seasons all felt like steps forward, but here there is no improvement. It is a step back at the perfect time. Everyone who has been hurt before shows the effects, and the business itself is almost a side component of this personal war that truly keeps the action at an all-time high.
***This is a detailed review of the fourth season of Peaky Blinders, exploring its story. There will be heavy spoilers for the season, so do not read ahead if you have not seen the season and plan to do so.***
After watching the first three seasons of Peaky Blinders more or less back-to-back, I realized I had burned myself out on the series. It is great television, better than most shows out there, but it is six intense hours per season that can feel a bit lesser when viewed from a distance than experienced as a whole.
This helped the beginning of season four blow me away all over again, proving just what this show does that few others can. This isn't just a morally ambiguous mafia show. It is a tale of family, life, and loss that uses its character's advancement less as proof that they are finding success but rather to push the story in new directions.
Season four shows that the weight of the Peaky Blinders' success has pushed them apart. Tommy managed to save the lives of his family members, but they still remember almost dying. Even if the group became more wealthy from season 3's events, they have lost their sense of family, making them more broken than ever.
This sets up the introduction of Luca Chagretta (Adrien Brody) perfectly as he comes for revenge for his father, executed in season three. As a part of the New York mafia, he has power and influence the Blinders cannot match even at their best, and they are far from their best.
It takes the death of John Shelby and injury to Michael Gray to bring everyone together again. They must return to the slums they first conquered in season 1 and work from places of power while anticipating every plot to survive Changretta.
Thanks to the powerful performance of Adrian Brody (The Pianist) that establishes his menace at every moment, it is easy to believe that everyone could die along the way. This is the most focused and intense story the series has ever told, and it fully reveals all the work the show has done to this point.
The previous seasons all felt like steps forward, but here there is no improvement. It is a step back at the perfect time. Everyone who has been hurt before shows the effects, and the business itself is almost a side component of this personal war that truly keeps the action at an all-time high.
Congratulations if you understood every word Adrien Brody said without subtitles. (Image Courtesy of: digitalspy.com)
Because of the heights this season reaches early, I was disappointed this was the weakest finale of the series. Changretta spent much of the season failing to take the revenge he promised with Arthur's last-minute death important because it solidified the effects of this season.
Instead, Arthur's death was proven to be a ruse, and John was the only Peaky to die in the entire season. Moreover, Changretta is dispatched quickly, leaving half the episode feeling like a messy attempt to clean up the less interesting stories of this season. Even the shooting of Tom Hardy's Alfie Solomons feels tacked on.
This is not enough to take too much away from the show, but it was shaping up early on to be the most intense and effective season to date. While it still ended up as the best, it was close just because the strong focused narrative did not reach the expected breathtaking conclusion.
One thing I appreciated about season four more than past seasons was less subplots. The show kept everyone in the same nervous space with only Aberama Gold (Aidan Gillen) and his son Bonnie's (Jack Rowan) boxing aspirations distant from the narrative.
There is another story arc that seeps through the narrative, but it honestly feels more like it only exists to fuel season five. Jessie Eden (Charlie Murphy) is a union convenor who seeks to bring down Tommy's business until he promises equal pay to his male and female workers, and she ultimately succeeds.
While she is a great foil to Tommy, she ultimately becomes a simple love interest who has fallen for Tommy's charms. I liked the idea that she could be a female rival to Tommy who challenges him and is out of his reach, but that was never the point. It all just is to give Tommy a new challenge, taking down the movement from inside next season.
I enjoyed this season because it was the tightest to date, showcased the powerful running narratives that have defined the show, and has some fantastic performances particularly from Brody and Cillian Murphy. However, it has the weakest conclusion which is the only fault in a season that could have Peaky Blinders' ideal peak.
Instead, Arthur's death was proven to be a ruse, and John was the only Peaky to die in the entire season. Moreover, Changretta is dispatched quickly, leaving half the episode feeling like a messy attempt to clean up the less interesting stories of this season. Even the shooting of Tom Hardy's Alfie Solomons feels tacked on.
This is not enough to take too much away from the show, but it was shaping up early on to be the most intense and effective season to date. While it still ended up as the best, it was close just because the strong focused narrative did not reach the expected breathtaking conclusion.
One thing I appreciated about season four more than past seasons was less subplots. The show kept everyone in the same nervous space with only Aberama Gold (Aidan Gillen) and his son Bonnie's (Jack Rowan) boxing aspirations distant from the narrative.
There is another story arc that seeps through the narrative, but it honestly feels more like it only exists to fuel season five. Jessie Eden (Charlie Murphy) is a union convenor who seeks to bring down Tommy's business until he promises equal pay to his male and female workers, and she ultimately succeeds.
While she is a great foil to Tommy, she ultimately becomes a simple love interest who has fallen for Tommy's charms. I liked the idea that she could be a female rival to Tommy who challenges him and is out of his reach, but that was never the point. It all just is to give Tommy a new challenge, taking down the movement from inside next season.
I enjoyed this season because it was the tightest to date, showcased the powerful running narratives that have defined the show, and has some fantastic performances particularly from Brody and Cillian Murphy. However, it has the weakest conclusion which is the only fault in a season that could have Peaky Blinders' ideal peak.
