User Reviews

This was a stunning episode,.and I really feel like Season 4 is one of the more badass seasons of the show. The music is great, and the shoot-out that started this episode was fantastic and a visual treat. The twist that Polly and Tommy had been working together when it came to the deal was satisfying, and the ending of this episode has me very excited for the season finale. Alfie is always fun, but I can't wrap my head around why Tommy hasn't exactly killed him, but I'm not exactly complaining. Ada grows on me throughout each season, and she's a fantastic character. The Golds are really fun additions to the show, and I wouldn't mind them becoming mainstays, especially with Polly's romance with Aberama. Luca Changretta is a really good villain in my opinion, and I feel like he only gets more intimidating as this season goes on. Jessie Eden was a good addition for the season, and I'm intrigued by Ben Younger. But... I'm conflicted on Lizzie as a love interest, especially now that she's pregnant... I'm not the biggest fan of her character, but maybe I'll enjoy her more. Overall, an exciting and tense episode, and now I'm highly excited for the finale.

Alfie is always in it for himself, but the suggestion is that he and the other bosses in London spoke with Tommy, to try to sway them to help fight the Italians by suggestion that they wouldn't leave once the Blinders are dead. So he intentionally makes his price ridiculous to force Luca to argue against it, knowing that if he didn't, its because the Italians don't ever plan to pay him, because they plan on killing off all the London bosses. (Most specifically the Blinders, and whatever his name is, the main antagonist from season 3) So what is left up in the air is whether or not Alfie will use the Italians to off the Shelby's 1st, or dance with the Devil he already knows, and inform Tommy about Luca's plan.

As I have said in reviews of previous episodes in this series, I loved the previous seasons of Peaky Blinders (perhaps with the exception of the ending of Season 3). (I feel I should acknowledge this in each review I do).

However, I have found this season disappointing. The apparently dreaded New York Mafia are a joke of an adversary who squander opportunities and come across as complete amateurs.

In this episode they forge ahead with a plan hatched with Poly (who is seemingly betraying Tommy). With Luca having gone to so much effort to tell Tommy face to face he'll kill his family first (a squandered opportunity to easily kill Tommy), he suddenly has decided to spare the rest of the family if handed Tommy (you know, the one he could have easily killed earlier).

It seems the Mafia don't even contemplate the possibility they are being setup by Poly and allow themselves to be led into a trap. Once again it seems only part of the Mafia group have turned up for duty (rest of the team on a rostered day off) and they have brought with them the sub machine guns with the bent barrels. Tommy takes a few of them out one by one (Tommy has guns with straight barrels), including one guy who is strolling along the road daydreaming seemingly having forgotten what he was even there for.

Eventually Luca and a colleague virtually have Tommy trapped. The Mafia guys have sub machine guns and Tommy has a hand gun. Luca has a brief opportunity to shoot Tommy before Tommy dives behind a barrel for cover, so Luca decides it's time to hold the sub machine gun with one hand and spray his bullets all over the place, except in the direction of Tommy. Luca continues to fire all over the place with one hand until he is completely out of bullets (of course).

Luca's colleague steps in to take over the shooting at Tommy but Luca stops him. Apparently Luca now wants to have some hand gun duel of course. Because that's what gangsters would do if they had an adversary who'd just killed a couple of their colleagues trapped and out gunned - they'd challenge them to a duel (eye roll). Of course it gets interrupted by the police and doesn't actually happen.

If it had turned out Luca was in on a deal with Tommy to betray and kill as many of his (Luca's) colleagues as possible that would have made a lot more sense.

The rest of the episode is Luca and co trying to be scary and doing a deal with Alfie (who, surprise surprise, double crosses Tommy again - how many times has that happened now Tommy??). As well as Tommy going about other business as if there is no Mafia after him

Good to see a program set outside London. I liked the Brummie accents and could distinguish Black Country accents nicely done - the goofs mount up. The men smoke tipped cigarettes. They wear their caps inside. The bereaved mother encompassing Arthur's death professes to be Christian. Luca C makes a pay phone call from a box in the middle of a lettuce field. The Rolls Royce is raked with fire and not a hole in it. If Arthur were garotted properly then his fingers would have gone. The men dont wear evening dress for dinner. The bands never wear white tie to perform. There is no general election for Tommy to win in 1926 or 7. Rosettes are not allowed in the polling station as that would be canvassing. Fun to watch and pick needlessly at the detail.

This episode starts out with a terrific and a very cinematic shootout between Tommy and Changretta's men. Tommy takes out several of Changretta's guys but the duel between the two is interrupted by the police.

Luca Changretta seeks out Alfie Solomons to do a deal with in order to take out Tommy during a boxing match.

Meanwhile Tommy needs to charm the union agitator Jessie Eden as well as giving help to a colonel in the British army. His reward are some lucrative army contracts.

It was a shame that the tension and excitement of the opening scenes could not continue throughout the episode.

One huge thing that bothered me the whole season:

Changretta has the chance to kill Tommy, being alone in the room with him unarmed. But instead of killing him now he declares that he wants to kill him last, so that he can see all his family die. Pretty stupid if you ask me but whatever. After that Changretta proceeds to have a deal with Polly: she will betray Tommy and in exchange Changretta has to spare everyone else's life. Changretta of course agrees. Like what the hell??? This doesn't make any sense.

This whole season I had the feeling they had no ideas anymore for the show and are just trying to milk it somehow. The result is a veeeery bad plot.

This episode is a slap in the face to Walter Tull by showing that his accomplishment of becoming the first black, British officer was nothing special. The writers arrogantly decided to alter history and show that officers with non-european ancestry were common pre 1940.

"The Duel" perfectly captures the worst aspects of "Peaky Blinders" & doesn't even seem to realise it.

Firstly, Thomas Shelby continues to inexplicably withstand continuous attempts upon his life, depriving the narrative of dramatic tension or any noticeable stakes; by this point, he's been shot in the chest (S1 finale), recovers from a brutal beating which should've killed him (S2 opener), survives an inescapable assassination attempt through a conveniently timed plot twist (S2 finale), miraculously recovers from having his skull fractured, a brain haemorrhage, internal bleeding & concussion (S3, episode 4) - without any disabilities or long-term consequences & now he somehow evades being caught by relentless sprays of machine gun fire - aimed by what are apparently supposed to be professional assassins (more like Star Wars' Storm Troopers) - proving (beyond any reasonable doubt) that his plot armour continues to be utterly impenetrable. Frankly, it's become obvious that he's so impervious to damage, you could drop a nuclear bomb on him or push him in to the lava lake of an erupting volcano & he'd still manage to walk away, unscathed.

Secondly, creator Steven Knight persists in having Thomas, a protagonist who is also painfully dull, uninspiring, lacking in any charm or charisma & generally boring & monotonous - seduce women who are way out of his league because... What, exactly? His personality vacuum is so goddamn irresistible? It's just patronising & ridiculous. A genuine insult to women, to have them portrayed as so weak & feeble minded - that they somehow can't resist his advances after one meal alone with him? Give me a break. Seriously though, in this installment, you have a strong, communist suffragette - vehemently committed to the cause of equal rights for all - (who doesn't need any man to validate her existence) suddenly start swooning because Cillian Murphy batted his eyelids at her? It's a misogynistic depiction of women & propagates the misconception that those who are single (by their own volition) & interested in politics are only like that because "they haven't found the right man yet." What a self-centered, narcissistic, cynical piece of writing this therefore is - by a man, unsurprisingly. Awful representation.