‘Peaky Blinders’ Recap, Season 5, Episode 5: The Shelbys Get Ready To Battle British Fascists

Peaky Blinders Season 5 is racing to the finish line with all the speed of a BSA motorcycle and the way it’s going, my PREDICTION #3 is that many of the storylines from this season will be carried over into the next one. Series creator Steven Knight recently confirmed a Season 6 is in the works, describing it as “a tragedy,” but aren’t they all?

Last episode ended with a bang, as Linda Shelby pulled a gun on husband Arthur in retaliation for him disfiguring the man she was seeing. Instead, Polly put a bullet in her arm. Though the Shelbys tend her wound and fill her full of whiskey and opium, she’s in no mood for reconciliation. The next morning she tells Arthur killing him, “would have been a kindness” – echoing a line Tommy and Arthur used in the season premiere – and hits the road.

While the Shelbys were busy with Linda, Mosley took the stage following the performance of Swan Lake to rail against Jewish bankers, foreign laborers and tell the other party guests about his new political party, “The British Union Of Fascists.” Again, Mosley and the BUF are real historical figures, and without giving away too much, trust me when I tell you they won’t be going away soon. Peaky Blinders has repeatedly built plot lines around actual people and events, but none have felt as grave or as current as this one. 

Afterwards, Tommy and Mosley meet to discuss the future, which involves the Shelbys firing their Jewish lawyer and handing over their racetracks to the Billy Boys. Perhaps most egregiously, he tells Tommy, “Drink less.” The Billy Boys will provide BUF security in the north of England, the Peaky Blinders will do the same in the Midlands, with London’s boss as yet to be determined. In return, Tommy gets power, a safe place for his money in Switzerland and “access to every dirty-minded swan in England.” I mean, who could say no?  

Tommy plays along before passing on the information and proof of Mosley’s criminal ties to Ben Younger, his handsome British Intelligence handler and father to sister Ada Shelby’s unborn baby. Younger says he’s getting resistance from up the chain of command from members of Section D, who, if you recall were the villains of Season 3. Younger and Ada also think Tommy’s beginning to develop a moral conscience, a very dangerous thing for gangster and politician alike. Then Younger gets in his car and gets blown to smithereens.

Meanwhile, Arthur goes to pick up the opium shipment in London and finds Chinese drug smuggler Brilliant Chang bloodied and beaten by Irish gangsters Arthur identifies as the “Titanic boys,” another real life gang from the period. As shots ring out, Arthur picks up a giant mounted machine gun and goes full Tony Montana, blasting away at the enemy until their guns go silent. “To any of you still alive, you do not fuck with the Peaky fucking Blinders,” he says, because, of course he does. 

In the meantime, Tommy visits an old war buddy named Barney Thompson who’s locked up in an insane asylum. After having a few laughs about giving each other gonorrhea, Tommy offers to bust him out of the looney bin. “I have a job for you,” Tommy says. Turns out Barney was the best sniper in Tommy’s old army unit and there’s a certain snidely fascist he wants taken out.

The episode ends with Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs,” which is actually the second coolest synch this episode, just behind Joy Division’s “Atmosphere.” (Before anyone rabid Sabbath fans take issue with me, the best synch so far this season has been Sabbath’s “The Wizard” in Episode 1.) Like the Peaky Blinders themselves, Ozzy and the boys hail from Birmingham, while Joy Division were from just up the M6 motorway in Manchester, and hopefully there’s more to come from the area’s rich musical history. 

Back to the action, Tommy meets up with Billy Boys’ top jerkface Jimmy McCavern to hand over the opium shipment and discuss who should handle London security for Mosley. Tommy says the best organizer of men down south is Alfie Solomons. McCavern says that’s a problem since; 

1. He’s Jewish, and Mosley’s an anti-Semite, and…
2. He’s dead, which we know because we saw Tommy kill him in the season 4 finale. The fact that his name comes up, though, has to make you wonder if Tom Hardy, who portrayed Solomons, isn’t secretly waiting in the wings to revive his role as one of the show’s greatest characters. It would be kinda cool, since Hardy was awesome as Solomons, but also kinda weird since last time we saw him he was “riddled” with cancer and caught a bullet in the face.

Arthur and the opium arrive and after he and McCavern glower at each other Tommy reveals to his big brother his big plan, because Tommy Shelby always has a big plan:

• Barney the sniper is going to assasinate Oswald Mosley on stage at an upcoming political rally.
• Tommy’s then going to take over the British Union of Fascists and I guess make them…less fascisty?
• Arthur and Aberama Gold are going to kill McCavern and deal with the Billy Boys.

But you all know that’s not going to happen, right? As I’ve said before, whether by accident, sabotage or self-sabotage, something always messes up Tommy Shelby’s big plan. See you next episode for the season finale.

Benjamin H. Smith is a New York based writer, producer and musician. Follow him on Twitter:@BHSmithNYC.

Stream Peaky Blinders Season 5 Episode 5 ("The Shock") on Netflix