Peaky Blinders Season 6 Review: Dark Ending Lacks In Entertainment

That’s the last we’ll hear of: “Property Of The Peaky Blinders,” charismatically articulated in a perfect Birmingham cockney voice, brought to you by Cillian Murphy. After nine years and six seasons, the beloved British crime drama, Peaky Blinders has ended.

Prior to the premiere of Peaky Blinders Season 6, we expected a bitter-sweet finale, one full of heartbreak and drama. Season 5 saw complicated protagonist Tommy Shelby hit a new low, alluding to his self-inflicted death in a cliff-hanger ending.

To add to the unfortunate suspense, actress Helen McCrory tragically passed away in 2021 after a private battle with cancer. She played fan-favorite Aunt Polly, the wise backbone of the Shelby family who manages to keep the gang together during the show’s first five seasons.

Ahead of the first episode, we wondered what direction the show would take since McCory died before filming began. The season takes a dark turn, missing the voice of reason and wisdom that Aunt Polly had in her control over the boys of Peaky Blinders.

There’s less balance without Aunt Polly, which results in Season 6 feeling more chaotic with Michael Grey and Tommy Shelby making rash decisions. The unit of a family seems to have dissolved, which adds a layer to the show, yet the family theme was a valuable part of the show’s plot, and it doesn’t stay as strong in Season 6.

The season focuses more on character deconstruction than the glamourized action in other seasons. Tommy Shelby, Lizzie Shelby, Michael Gray, and Arthur Shelby, to name a few, all seem to wallow in disturbing states. Tommy Shelby, in particular, gets deconstructed in the season, which really becomes the main focus.

It’s fascinating and enduring to see him cope with his struggles, yet the show should have developed his character better. He seems to just stink further into violence and his own self-pity in each season.

Peaky Blinders Season 6 Episode 1, “Black Day,” is a brutal start. Tommy fails to kill himself, yet the direction shifts to Aunt Polly’s funeral. Four years later, Tommy’s still in a painful state in Canada, where he’s sworn off alcohol and neglects his wife and sick daughter.

The primary storyline following Sir Oswald Mosley, played by Sam Claflin, continues the show’s masterful take on real-life political environments. With the looming world war, there’s dramatic irony between viewers and the characters surrounding the consequences and horrors of fascism, making Mosley and his cronies even scarier than the show’s average gangster antagonist.

Between the politics, family drama, and heartbreak, Tommy Shelby, the human, gets stripped down, and it’s painful to watch. Peaky Blinders Season 6 Episode 3, “Gold,” is harrowing with the death of his daughter Ruby which further pulls Tommy apart from his wife, Lizzie.

While the show’s always focused heavily on Tommy, I found that his struggles consumed too much of the plot during this final season, adding to the lack of family togetherness that always offered some light in the previous seasons.

As hard as it is to watch Tommy throughout the season, it’s harder to watch Lizzie. She finally gains the strength and agency to leave her difficult marriage behind.

Tommy’s dealt with too much heartbreak over the six seasons and his marriage to Lizzie was nearly a coping mechanism for dealing with his first wife Grace’s death. Even with that, Tommy can love and Lizzie loves him, making the falling apart of their relationship over the sickness and death of their daughter very difficult to stomach from our perspective.

The show could have given some of the characters a glimmer of happiness, but it dives a little too deep into despair during the final season.

In the very first scene of Peaky Blinders Season 1 Episode 1, Tommy Shelby rides onto the set on a black horse, reflecting his dark character and emotional struggles.

In a much lighter scene with a burning caravan behind him, he concludes the series by riding off on a majestic white horse. The color symbolism is all there; the future looks brighter for Tommy Shelby’s conscience. At least we can live with that, but there could have been better development of the plot line.

I don’t think this season of Peaky Blinders is the strongest, although I believe it does an excellent job concluding the series with an in-depth examination of Tommy Shelby. Aunt Polly is deeply missed; there’s the lack of charisma from Tommy and, frankly, the other characters too.

The series, Peaky Blinders shines because it’s complex, thoughtful to watch, and forces us to think about morals and the greyness between right and wrong. It’s hard to mindlessly watch the show, which is what makes it compelling. It’ll be missed.

We get this in Season 6, yet there’s less entertainment and also no lightness to help elevate the mood. Although deceitful, Anya Taylor-Joy’s Gina is a delight since she has an energy that really lacks in the rest of the Shelby family. The series could have examined her character more, along with her husband, Michael, who eventually concludes Polly’s prophecy, dying at the hands of his cousin Tommy.

Ada’s role in Season 6 is also fascinating. Of all the characters, she’s had the most growth, maturing so much from her naive personality in Season 1. On Peaky Blinders Season 6 Episode 6, “Lock and Key,” Tommy bids her goodbye by telling her that she should be the politician in the family.

It’s a nice gesture that could set Ada up for more freedom away from the gang, the freedom she’s always wanted.

The final season suffers a bit from the same problems that plague the show. The production value’s very high with great cinematography and acting, yet it always seems visually too dark. The color scheme has the potential to sometimes alter the sense of location and scenery in the show.

It’s a fact of the show that bothered me throughout the season, yet the intrigued anti-hero protagonist and complicated plot draw us in. I’ll miss Tommy Shelby and the gang (pun intended), and with a slightly open ending, maybe I’ll hold up hope we’ll see them again.

What did you think of this season of Peaky Blinders? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Stray Thoughts:

• There’s a certain “je ne sais quoi” about Tommy Shelby speaking French in a bar in Canada.
• As always, the show masterfully uses music during scenes of intense violence of suspense. On Peaky Blinders Season 6 Episode 2, “Black Shirt,” Puccini’s famous opera aria “Nessun Dorma,” which means “no one sleeps,” foreshadows a meeting with Alfie Solomans. It’s perfection.

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Peaky Blinders is now streaming on Netflix.

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