Yahoo News Peaky Blinders s4, ep 2 review: War... it's fantastic!
It's a danger for Peaky Blinders that the Shelby clan, and Tommy (Cillian Murphy) in particular, can seem invincible: bulletproof, uber-stylish mobsters striding through the streets of Birmingham to the strains of Nick Cave.
But last week's series four opener saw the family take their most significant blow to date, as two of their number were felled in a hail of gunfire.
Their fates are revealed here in a a powerful, inventive sequence that cuts between the present and the past, set to a live version of Nick Cave's 'The Mercy Seat' – John (Joe Cole) is dead, while Michael (Finn Cole) is badly injured and bedridden for the foreseeable.
It may have been done partly out of necessity, but writing out John Shelby lends a pleasing vulnerability to the show's family of anti-heroes. Each responds to the loss in their own way: Arthur (Paul Anderson), as always, is an open wound, while a traumatised Polly (Helen McCrory) is whittled down to her very core, and it's pure steel.
Tommy, of course, puts up a cold and ruthless front, even using John's funeral to draw out the Mafia hoods targeting the family. But Murphy does a terrific job of showing us the toll it's really taking – the invisible weight, the pain behind the eyes – until his grief explodes in the episode's closing scene, in a touching exchange between Tommy and Arthur.
Though it lacks lacks some of the pace of the series opener, episode two of series four is even more rich in both emotion and atmosphere, as the Shelbys return to the smoky grime of Small Heath. Retreating to his old stomping grounds, Tommy is determined to "go on the offensive" and fight fire with fire, recruiting the services of Aberama Gold (Aiden Gillen), a Romani gypsy with a reputation for savagery.
It's an infamy well-deserved, as he bursts onto the scene with a bloody vengeance, launching a vicious knife attack in his first appearance. Gillen, his face fixed in a permanent smirk, is clearly relishing the gem of a role he's been given.
Tommy ends up striking a deal with Aberama in a sub-plot that plays like Guy Ritchie's Snatch transposed to 1920s Birmingham, as the crime boss agrees to use his power and influence to advance the rise of Gold's son, a bare-knuckle gypsy fighter who floors larger opponents with ease.
But this is no easy alliance – Tommy is forced to square off with his new partner in crime, and while he's able to subdue Aberama for now, one suspects he'll struggle in the coming weeks to keep him in check.
Yet this electrifying early face-off between Tommy and his new ally is only the episode's second most tense encounter. A surprise final twist sees Luca Changretta (Adrien Brody, doing his best Godfather-era Brando) arrive unannounced at the door of Tommy's factory.
He's come to get the size of the man who murdered his father, the man whose entire life and legacy he intends to upturn. And while Brody's performance isn't the most subtle, embracing all the Mafia mannerisms made famous by film and television mobsters of the past, it's an enormous amount of fun.
Tommy thought he'd resumed his role as master chess player, manipulating those around him, from young Bonnie Gold (Jack Rowan) to Jessie Eden (Charlie Murphy), and playing the game with a supreme confidence that he'd come out on top.
But with the Shelbys having taken such a brutal and terrifying hit, and with the cruel, calculating Luca always one step ahead, his dominance isn't as certain as once it was. Which, if anything, makes Peaky Blinders an even more engaging watch than before. Now, to quote Tommy, let's get on with the war!
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