Peaky Blinders Season 3 - Spoilers

[Pliskin]

It's Arthur's greatest season. He's way more interesting than before. Well, it helps that it's also the best season so far (if that's even possible), but it's particularly true for Arthur who just shines.

[Zorral]

18 hours ago, Lord Sidious said:

She isn't she's just Russian :P.

Also I love how they knew how to throw a decent party in the 1920s, and here was me thinking sex and cocaine was an 80s thing.

It's embedded and described all through Cab Calloway's and other 1920's - 30's jazz.  Also included in the great HBO Boardwalk Empire series.  Shoot, Freud thought coke was a great way to get off his heroin addiction -- or was it the other way around -- in the 1890's.

And morphine too -- particularly due to WWI.  We see this also in the first season of Peaky Blinders.

 

[Zorral]

13 hours ago, GrimTuesday said:

I don't know, I think that the change in Arthur made for a more interesting character. Obviously you only saw the first two episodes, but I would say that Arthur is one of the most interesting characters in this season.

The lengths spouses and family members will go to save the soul of their loved ones isn't something that has changed.  Call it manipulation, but in their hearts and minds it's about keeping the persons they love from the everlasting fires of hell.  They really believe this.  Which is why, whether one agrees or not, this kind of thing makes for really good character creation.  It's complicated and complex in all kinds of ways for both the object of salvation, who is complete with his own childhood conditioning about heaven, hell, sin and salvation, and his / her appointed savior.

This is in great contrast with the lazy writing of priest = pedophile = eviLe antagonist.  And again, in any case it was entirely erroneous to have a Roman priest scheming with the czarist Russians instead of a Greek Orthodox priest of their own form of religion. That made NO sense at all.

However, one of my favorite bits was the czarists attempting to spook the Shelbys with their Russian gypsy curses -- when the Shelbys are Romani, Irish Romani, filled to the brim with sensibilities of Irish, Irish Catholic and Romani practice as either sincere or con, of curses and other 'superstition.'  That is great writing.

I also agree that Peaky Blinders could do well with another two - three episodes per season, whereas, Bloodline's second season would have done very well being reduced to six episodes instead of the eight episodes it dragged through to get to the final two episodes in which things actually happen.

[Jen'ari]

1 hour ago, Zorral said:

It's embedded and described all through Cab Calloway's and other 1920's - 30's jazz.  Also included in the great HBO Boardwalk Empire series.  Shoot, Freud thought coke was a great way to get off his heroin addiction -- or was it the other way around -- in the 1890's.

And morphine too -- particularly due to WWI.  We see this also in the first season of Peaky Blinders.

 

Yeah, I knew it was popular back then, was a bit of a tongue in cheek post, it's probably one of the most enduring recreational drugs- as popular if not more so 100 Years after Peaky Blinders was set.

[Lord Freddy Blackfyre]

Can we say Tom Hardy is pure perfection in episode 5?

[Astromech]

14 hours ago, GrimTuesday said:

I don't know, I think that the change in Arthur made for a more interesting character. Obviously you only saw the first two episodes, but I would say that Arthur is one of the most interesting characters in this season.

What I missed from season 2 was him being a completely loose cannon. I found him extremely entertaining. I've seen glimpses of that former Arthur come out, but it's clear he has something to lose now and is growing as a character. After watching the third episode last night, I like where his arc is heading. Tommy's reaction to his announcement really spoke volumes to Tommy's character and mentality. And Cillian did it all with a look.

[Jen'ari]

1 hour ago, Lord Freddy Blackfyre said:

Can we say Tom Hardy is pure perfection in episode 5?

Yes, he was awesome!!.

[HexMachina]

2 hours ago, Lord Freddy Blackfyre said:

Can we say Tom Hardy is pure perfection in episode 5?

Utterly glorious. Without Spoiling anything else in the episode, can someone let me know if he is in the finale?

[GrimTuesday]

1 hour ago, HelenaExMachina said:

Utterly glorious. Without Spoiling anything else in the episode, can someone let me know if he is in the finale?

Yes, I do believe so. I watched the last few all at once so they have all blended together, but I'm pretty sure yeah.

[Astromech]

Woah, that damn ending to the season. WTF?

[HexMachina]

You are all killing me here. It's so tempting to look up spoilers...

[Castel]

I didn't really like this season. It jumped off the street to what is almost a spy/political thriller, and didn't keep me interested at all. The finale was especially a task of duty for me.

[Jen'ari]

What episode is the finale?, I thought there was 6?.

[Pliskin]

Yeah, did episode 6 come out in advance somewhere?

[Astromech]

The entire season 3 is available on Netflix for U.S. viewers.

[Martini Sigil]

Great season.... the finale was awesome.... there's nothing like an Arthur freak-out.....lol

Great performances all around.... Helen McRory never misses... Cillian Murphy... Alexander Siddig.... Paddy Considine ...Tom Hardy.... in particular

[HexMachina]

Wow, that season finale 

Definitely my favourite season to date, the stakes were higher, the suspense was greater, and the characters both old and new we're at their best. I agree with others that Arthur was at his most interesting this season, with the conflict between his devotion to Tommy and the Shelbys, and his wife and child-to-be. Rubén and Polly was brilliant with outstanding acting from both Siddig and McCrory (especially McCrory, she is onderful in this show). It was great seeing Polly let her vulnerabilities show for a change. Also pleased that they didn't just gloss over what happened last season, with her panicking when Rubén touched her neck. 

The Russians were over the top crazy but I loved every minute of it. Tatiana double crossing her Aunt was a nice surprise actually. 

As I said before, the evil pedophile priest was the only part that really bothered me (for being lazy writing). But overall very strong season

[GallowKnight]

That was a damn tense episode and a good finish to a season that didn't quite live up to the previous two.

It's a real shame that they wasted Paddy Considine on such a shit role though.

[DireWolfSpirit]

Other than them both being crime families so to speak, I really dont see that much in similarities with this and the Godfather saga. Quite different styles and stories to me.

This season was excellent once again and at only 6 episodes, short episodes at that, it really left me wanting much more. I agree with the earlier poster over finding Arthurs wife a real buzzzzkilll !. 

Murphy and McCorry are a treat in every scene, so professional. The younger sister who is a revolutionary is intrigueing as hell, forgot her name sorry. Am looking forward to seeing her storyline/arc develop.

And lastly that finale was pretty bombshell, no way did I see the ending (we got) coming. Cant wait for another season!

[Veltigar]

I binged five episodes today. I saw the first one when it came out on BBC 2, but it didn't really grip me, so I decided not to follow on a week-to-week basis. Of course, I know regret that decision completely. This was by far the best season of Peaky Blinders to date and I simply adore the way they managed to build up to such a dazzling crescendo. Those last two episodes in particular left me gobsmacked. I can't imagine a scene ever making beter use of Bowie's Blackstar than that phenomenal opening of the episode five.

The cast was outstanding. You can just see Cillian Murphy flexing his acting muscles in every scene. He's a marvel. And those eyes of his are just haunting. I want him and Travis Fimmel to work together on something, just for a battle of those incredible blue eyes.  Paul Anderson also deserves to be buried under heaps and heaps of praise. Both he and Cillian Murphy need a lot more gigs, because we just deserve more quality performances from this cast. McCrory was excellent as well, eventhough I find her character infuryiating at times (unpopular opinion I know). I was also very impressed by Joe Cole. Usually John is not someone I really pay attention to, but that changed this season. He's a really good foil for the other Shelby's to work off.

Finn Cole was pretty good and I love the fact that - at least for this season - they haven't turned him into the stereotypical traiterous plant most people expected him to be. The people portraying the Russian castmembers were also excellent. I also loved Paddy Constantine. Sure, the pedo angle is tired and was probably the weakest element of this season, but I'm willing to let that one slide. It spared us from the even more obvious traitor-Michael storyline and Paddy was also genuinely frightening. As far as the cliched pedo priest goes, his take on that particalur role was a lot more menacing than usual, which I found very fitting. 

I'm also glad that we got rid of Grace, eventhough I usually find fridging a terribly lazy plotdevice. Her character was probably the weakest main castmember, so it was a good thing to cull her. My absolute favourite actor this time around though, barely beating out Cillian Murphy, was Tom Hardy. Talk about a scene stealer, because his Alfie Solomons is the living embodiment of that concept. I'd pay good money to see a spin-off series or origin story starring this self-proclaimed wandering Jew. Every scene he was in was like manna raining down from the heavens. I mean, just rewatch this scene, it's a veritable masterclass of acting. Such a tour-de-force Hardy pulls off here, I hope he returns for season four. I love the way his character fits into that world. 

For the rest I really liked the way it was shot. The aformentioned scene in episode four when the girls head down to their strike, Tommy in the tunnels, Alfie goading Arthur into attacking him, the fight between Michael and Father Hughes, the fires in the first episode, etc. I can go on and on really. They made bold choices and I liked it. I was also more into the score this time around. In general I'm not convinced that it was a good idea to use the type of score they use. I tend to think that it would probably have been a lot better if they had taken the same route as 'The Knick', with it's beautiful Cliff Martinez score. Still, this was probably the best Peaky Blinders score yet, with a special shout-out to their use of Blackstar. 

The weakest element imo is the writing. Or more specifically the setting up of the actual plot. The dialogue is excellent, but the show has a tendency to turn characters into blistering idiots at convenient times (e.g. Father Hughes not having a permanent bodyguard). Still, since the endresult is so cool I can't say I'm that bothered about it. Definitely a great series and I'm superstoked to see where Peaky Blinders will take us next.