Peaker Blinders (Season 5)

By

⭐ 8.5/10

The show is in a familiar rhythm, and that's fine. This season the new big bad guy is a fascist, and I kind of like that Tommy has moved all the way up to politics. We are getting to the end and it is reminding me of all mob stuff, like the Sopranos, in that the main character is trying to figure out what all of this has meant. Tommy is going through it, and while he does that every season death is really becoming a preoccupation of his (like Tony). Again, nothing new here, but I think the execution is very good. I was impressed by Sam Claflin, really goes toe to toe with Cillian, especially having to follow up Adrian Brody as the bad guy.

I thought the women get a chance to shine here too, all going through the same cycles as the men. Again, lots of Carmilla Soprano in all of them, but we are far enough along now that they have all mostly accepted that they are the bad guys too. Happy to see Anya Taylor Joy now, and I wish she had more to do, but I have faith season 6 will give her more.

Something I have never really mentioned is that Tom Hardy is in this show! He is used sparingly, always delivering a monologue near the end of the season in a goofy accent that's hard to understand, but honestly I always think he's pretty good, and the monologues always poignant. He dies at the end of Season 4, and I don't feel bad spoiling it because surprise, he's back to end this season too! This is a total Chewbacca thing at this point, the show cannot bring itself to kill anyone of substance that is not the immediate bad guy, and they are cowards for it. He literally is shot in the face, and now he just has some scars to show for it. The show would be so much better, but instead Arthur is going through another round of being a good guy, then going full animal back to his old ways. They are chickens, and I think the show really suffers from the plot armour the main cast is wrapped in. I have started season 6, and they kill Polly, but only because the actor died in real life! That's the only time they can kill their darlings, and then they get to have a whole funeral to send off the character and actor. It's kind of nice, but there were 5 other times they probably should have killed her off, and now her arc is cut short without a fulfilling ending.

The lack of risks this show takes make it somewhat comfortable viewing, and it will never be more than that to me. Cillian is undeniable, and he has one more season to flex this specific muscle. I bet they kill him, it could not be more clear that that's what is coming, I'm just not convinced it will really make me feel anything. He gets to be smooth and stoic, but I am not sure he's really grown or changed in a couple seasons.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Philosopher in the Valley & My Reflections on Leaving Palantir

By
Image
This book was perfectly timed to my paternity leave, a time where I was not actively working and could reflect on my job. The post will be a short review of the book, followed by a much longer section where I will attempt to verbalize all my thoughts on Palantir. Thoughts on my time there, what I did and didn't like, and why I am leaving. I am not writing this as some manifesto. I have been explaining to a bunch of people in my life why I have been considering leaving, and my thoughts never feel coherent, the reasons change day to day. This is for myself to reflect, and I might even continue to edit it as I remember things. I thought this book was excellent, a biography of Alex Karp, but also a tale of Palantir's history. The author was around Karp for an extended period of time, providing a lot of details that even I did not know. It lays out all the Palantir milestones over the years, many of which I remember quite clearly, but hearing about it with a bit more distance is co...
Read more

My Favourite Books of 2025

By
Image
    I read a lot of books this year as usual, and spanning a ton of different genres and categories. That's pretty evident in my favourites as well, as I have a book or two from most of the genres I read, and I loved them all for different reasons.     Most of these will be repeats from some of my monthly favourites, but these are the ones that really stood the test of time! Here they are, in no particular order.      This fantasy book from an underrated author is about Maeve, whose hands were badly burnt as a child, and so she has lost the use of them. She has spent the last ten years with her aunt and uncle, who were healers, but now she's finally returning home to the family she barely knows anymore. She feels misplaced as they're still adjusting to how she needs to do things now, but she finds solace in her youngest brother and the stray dogs she adopts. When they all disappear into the forest one day, she goes after them, and adventures begin....
Read more

November Reading Favourites

By
Image
This book blew me away, and that was after I already loved The Six Deaths of the Saint, the short story she wrote that inspired her to turn it into a full novel. Owen is a scholar of Dominion who studies the mythology of Saint Una Everlasting. He suddenly gets sent into the past to meet her and record her story, so he journeys with her to find the grail, knowing that in the end she will be betrayed. The central relationship in this book is gorgeous, filled with yearning and devotion. All of the characters and relationships are so rich, with fascinating character arcs. But I was equally entranced by what it was saying about mythology, nationalism, and empire. In my opinion, Harrow is just getting better and better.   This is what to read if you want a book about a magical school with dragons that is actually good and cares about its world-building. In an alternate version of our world, Anequs is a young Indigenous woman living happily on her island when a dragon lays an egg and the ...
Read more