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Peaky Blinders S6 Ep 3: Gold
from Decider: https://decider.com/2022/06/12/peaky-blinders-season-6-episode-3-recap/
by Benjamin H. Smith
Jun 12, 2022 at 2:30pm
Peaky Blinders Season 6 is off to a rousing start with plenty of old friends and enemies making their return for the show’s final run. Last episode saw the return of aspiring British fascist Sir Oswald Mosely and London Jewish gangster Alfie Solomons. Episode 3, titled “Gold,” sees the big return of gang leader Tommy Shelby’s greatest nemesis; GYPSY CURSES!
If you recall, the Shelby family are Gypsies in the traditional sense, members of the Romani people who arrived in Europe from Western Asia in the late middle ages, and also Irish Travellers, an itinerant group found throughout the British Isles. This means they’re “all witches and sorcerers who speak freely with the dead,” as new antagonist Jack Nelson says later in the episode. It should be noted, these are basically negative ethnic stereotypes and the term “Gypsy” is considered a racial epithet by many Roma but I haven’t heard any big outcry about it yet, so maybe it’s no big deal.
The episode starts with Tommy and Lizzie’s daughter being diagnosed with tuberculosis. Tommy thinks it’s his fault and punishment for his various misdeeds because, of course, everything is about him. Rather than stay at the hospital with his wife and child, he embarks on one of his periodic Gypsy vision quests to find Esme Shelby-Lee, his brother John’s widow, who he hopes will have some supernatural miracle cure.
Speaking of brothers, I don’t like to gossip, but uncouth and often unhinged older Shelby brother Arthur (Paul Anderson) has been getting high on his own supply and is now battling an opium addiction. This makes him more uncouth and more unhinged than usual. He’s dispatched to Liverpool to deal with dock worker Hayden Stagg, played by British actor Stephen Graham, who’s been selling the Shelby’s dope out the back door of their warehouse.
Graham was first rumored to be joining the cast after Season 4 when it was revealed the Shelbys were selling bootleg gin to Chicago Mafia boss Al Capone. Having played Capone on HBO’s Boardwalk Empire, fans hoped Graham would reprise the role on Peaky Blinders, but instead he’s playing Stagg, who avoids a beatdown by getting inside Arthur’s head and talking about his own opiate addiction. It’s completely unbelievable but a good monologue and gives Graham an opportunity to flex his native Scouse accent.
While Tommy’s off searching for Gypsie caravans, his sister Ada Thorne (Sophie Rundle) is left in charge of the family business. Among her duties is overseeing the introduction of Jack Nelson, Irish-American gangster businessman, to Mosley. Before that happens, Ada faces off with Mosley’s new squeeze, Lady Diana Mitford, for light flirting and condescension.
Mitford, played by Amber Anderson, tosses off one-liners like “I don’t read novels. I read only pornography and politics,” and, “You know I like to f**k women as well as men?” She then tells Ada that when “the great cleansing” happens she’ll argue that Gypsies should be spared, which is like, the WORST pickup line ever.
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Nelson (James Frecheville) later shows up with his niece, Gina Gray, and delivers one of the creepiest smiles of all time before saying of Mitford, “It’s amazing what English upper class women can do with just skin, bone and arrogance.” OH SNAP! Gina is played by The Queen’s Gambit breakout star Anya Taylor-Joy but, sadly, there’s not a lot for her to sink her teeth into. Gina is a pawn caught between powerful men, rather than as a power broker herself, such as Ada or the much-missed Aunt Polly.
Meanwhile, Tommy is “up in the mountains with f**king horse thieves and sorcerers,” as Lizzie put its. When he finally reaches the Gypsy heartland it looks not unlike the rocky cra where Tim the Enchanter lived in Monty Python and The Holy Grail (was he a Gypsy too?). Tommy finds Esme, who now looks like the bassist in a ‘90s grunge band, takes him to a Gypsy graveyard to learn the source of the curse afflicting his daughter.
OK, bear with me. Back in Season 3, Episode 2, Tommy unknowingly gave his wife Grace a cursed sapphire which she wore on the night of her murder. Tommy then went on ANOTHER GYPSY VISION QUEST in the next episode, pawning off the gem on Gypsy wise woman Bethany Boswell.
According to Esme, Bethany gave the sapphire to her sister who gave it to her 7-year-old daughter who quickly developed a cough and died. “I’m guessing it’s the girl’s mother that laid the curse,” Esme says, which is messed up because Tommy TOTALLY TOLD EVERYONE the jewel was cursed. Also, their last name is now Baswell. Maybe they were just mad he got their name wrong. At this point, Tommy looks at the little girl’s grave and asks Esme, “Do you have whiskey?“ Bye bye sobriety.
Not only does Esme not have whiskey, she doesn’t think there’s anything to do to lift the curse. She’s right. Tommy rushes back to the hospital only to learn that Ruby has just died. If history has taught us anything about the Shelbys, there’s going to be Hell to pay…
Peaky Blinders Season 6 is off to a rousing start with plenty of old friends and enemies making their return for the show’s final run. Last episode saw the return of aspiring British fascist Sir Oswald Mosely and London Jewish gangster Alfie Solomons. Episode 3, titled “Gold,” sees the big return of gang leader Tommy Shelby’s greatest nemesis; GYPSY CURSES!
If you recall, the Shelby family are Gypsies in the traditional sense, members of the Romani people who arrived in Europe from Western Asia in the late middle ages, and also Irish Travellers, an itinerant group found throughout the British Isles. This means they’re “all witches and sorcerers who speak freely with the dead,” as new antagonist Jack Nelson says later in the episode. It should be noted, these are basically negative ethnic stereotypes and the term “Gypsy” is considered a racial epithet by many Roma but I haven’t heard any big outcry about it yet, so maybe it’s no big deal.
The episode starts with Tommy and Lizzie’s daughter being diagnosed with tuberculosis. Tommy thinks it’s his fault and punishment for his various misdeeds because, of course, everything is about him. Rather than stay at the hospital with his wife and child, he embarks on one of his periodic Gypsy vision quests to find Esme Shelby-Lee, his brother John’s widow, who he hopes will have some supernatural miracle cure.
Speaking of brothers, I don’t like to gossip, but uncouth and often unhinged older Shelby brother Arthur (Paul Anderson) has been getting high on his own supply and is now battling an opium addiction. This makes him more uncouth and more unhinged than usual. He’s dispatched to Liverpool to deal with dock worker Hayden Stagg, played by British actor Stephen Graham, who’s been selling the Shelby’s dope out the back door of their warehouse.
Graham was first rumored to be joining the cast after Season 4 when it was revealed the Shelbys were selling bootleg gin to Chicago Mafia boss Al Capone. Having played Capone on HBO’s Boardwalk Empire, fans hoped Graham would reprise the role on Peaky Blinders, but instead he’s playing Stagg, who avoids a beatdown by getting inside Arthur’s head and talking about his own opiate addiction. It’s completely unbelievable but a good monologue and gives Graham an opportunity to flex his native Scouse accent.
While Tommy’s off searching for Gypsie caravans, his sister Ada Thorne (Sophie Rundle) is left in charge of the family business. Among her duties is overseeing the introduction of Jack Nelson, Irish-American gangster businessman, to Mosley. Before that happens, Ada faces off with Mosley’s new squeeze, Lady Diana Mitford, for light flirting and condescension.
Mitford, played by Amber Anderson, tosses off one-liners like “I don’t read novels. I read only pornography and politics,” and, “You know I like to f**k women as well as men?” She then tells Ada that when “the great cleansing” happens she’ll argue that Gypsies should be spared, which is like, the WORST pickup line ever.
Nelson (James Frecheville) later shows up with his niece, Gina Gray, and delivers one of the creepiest smiles of all time before saying of Mitford, “It’s amazing what English upper class women can do with just skin, bone and arrogance.” OH SNAP! Gina is played by The Queen’s Gambit breakout star Anya Taylor-Joy but, sadly, there’s not a lot for her to sink her teeth into. Gina is a pawn caught between powerful men, rather than as a power broker herself, such as Ada or the much-missed Aunt Polly.
Meanwhile, Tommy is “up in the mountains with f**king horse thieves and sorcerers,” as Lizzie put its. When he finally reaches the Gypsy heartland it looks not unlike the rocky cra where Tim the Enchanter lived in Monty Python and The Holy Grail (was he a Gypsy too?). Tommy finds Esme, who now looks like the bassist in a ‘90s grunge band, takes him to a Gypsy graveyard to learn the source of the curse afflicting his daughter.
OK, bear with me. Back in Season 3, Episode 2, Tommy unknowingly gave his wife Grace a cursed sapphire which she wore on the night of her murder. Tommy then went on ANOTHER GYPSY VISION QUEST in the next episode, pawning off the gem on Gypsy wise woman Bethany Boswell.
According to Esme, Bethany gave the sapphire to her sister who gave it to her 7-year-old daughter who quickly developed a cough and died. “I’m guessing it’s the girl’s mother that laid the curse,” Esme says, which is messed up because Tommy TOTALLY TOLD EVERYONE the jewel was cursed. Also, their last name is now Baswell. Maybe they were just mad he got their name wrong. At this point, Tommy looks at the little girl’s grave and asks Esme, “Do you have whiskey?“ Bye bye sobriety.
Not only does Esme not have whiskey, she doesn’t think there’s anything to do to lift the curse. She’s right. Tommy rushes back to the hospital only to learn that Ruby has just died. If history has taught us anything about the Shelbys, there’s going to be Hell to pay…
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