Yahoo News Peaky Blinders season 5 premiere *spoiler-free* review: cinematic with big, punchy shocks
Peaky Blinders' season 5 premiere is easily the most cinematic episode in the show's history but thankfully it still punches hard, offering big payoffs and even bigger revelations.
Creator Steven Knight called the upcoming episodes the "best so far" during the show's London premiere at the BFI and while it's too soon to tell based solely on this first outing, it's certainly the most atmospheric to date.
We return to meet the Shelby clan two years after their battles with Luca Changretta's (Adrien Brody) mafia goons. It's October 29, 1929 and everyone is living it up.
Related: Peaky Blinders creator reveals his long-term goal for Tommy Shelby
Well, everyone except Tommy himself (Cillian Murphy), who's balancing parenting responsibilities with his new job in Westminster.
The rest of the Shelby clan are entangled with gambling, gold, guns, girls and, of course, gear as they indulge their luxurious lifestyles across the globe. The bliss, however, soon comes to a sobering halt as the Wall Street Crash decimates the Shelbys' stocks and other ill-gotten gains.
The premiere indulges viewers with the most slow-motion shots in recent memory – the famous "Peaky Walk" as the cast call it – an incredibly harrowing early scene involving Tommy (you'll know it when you see it) and a super-intense conclusion to the episode.
Despite the gloom of the financial crash and new enemies looming ahead, Steven Knight has woven a huge portion of disarmingly hilarious comedy into the episode.
The transformative change in Arthur Shelby (Paul Anderson) continues, moving on from his previous life as a bloodthirsty enforcer to God-fearing husband and now tackling life as a clueless businessman, he easily secures some of the biggest laughs.
In fact, for all of Tommy Shelby's deep thought, lingering stares into the abyss and mental scars from hard decisions, Arthur provides a much more compelling watch.
His broken portrayal of an obsolete man in a rapidly changing world and his battles to place himself within the shifting dynamics of the Shelby clan, his own marriage and of course, living in the shadow of Tommy Shelby make for the most riveting watch.
Sadly some jokes from some of the younger members of the cast, which poke fun at Tommy Shelby tropes, don't land quite as well, but they're still undeniably very cute.
Tommy Shelby was elected MP for Birmingham South at the close of season 4 and while moving from bloodthirsty gangsters to be with… bloodthirsty politicians could have become a dry, period version of Prime Minister's questions, the show manages to keep to bite-sized politics that keep the plot moving.
The people of Birmingham love Tommy but, as we know, the gang's past always comes back to haunt them. This opener manages compelling payoffs to older storylines while picking up others in very surprising ways – which we won't spoil.
Meanwhile Peaky Blinders drops viewers back into the show's ongoing moral battle between the gang's crimes vs the selfish deeds of the men running the country. Who are the real crooks? The answer is less clear than ever.
Amazingly, the episode manages to cram all this into a modest runtime with a new relationship on the horizon, a new mysterious enemy threatening Tommy's home turf and the ominous introduction of real-life politician Oswald Mosley (Sam Claflin) who became the leader of the British Union of Fascists.
Speaking about the role at the Peaky Blinders London launch, Sam told press including Digital Spy: "Oswald Mosley is still very young and inexperienced in many respects. But at the same time, a lot more experienced than Tommy.
"So I think the two of them enjoy the challenge of trying to outwit one another and using each other. But I think for Tommy this series, especially, it's very different and it's a very different approach, it's much more of Tommy battling Tommy. Tommy is his own worst enemy."
Digital Spy's Editor, Laurence Mozafari, will be hosting the official podcast for the show, called Obsessed With… Peaky Blinders which will be available soon on BBC Sounds.
Peaky Blinders will return to BBC One at 9pm on Sunday, August 25.
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