Organized crime has never looked so sexy. 1920s Birmingham gangsters run the city with razor blades sewn into the peaks of their caps and are not to be messed with. Peaky Blinders explores the lust for power faced by the Shelby family, commandeered by Cillian Murphy’s ice cold, war-torn Thomas Shelby, who steals your heart in the first episode. The strength of the show lies in the tight-knit family and those they hold dear, keeping the power flowing through them and out into the post-WWI world around them. We watch as Tommy Shelby tries to climb his way to the top, murdering and racketeering all the way from Birmingham to London with his brothers, Arthur and John, close behind. While central conflicts surround the fraudulent business dealings, other dilemmas revolve around sex, war, love, PTSD, communism and deaths that hit way too close to home. The show reels you in with its dedication to aesthetic, costumes, haircuts, accents and intense plot and character dynamics. The strength and persistence of the female characters of the show allow it to reach incredible heights, which is highlighted by the magnificent matriarch that is Aunt Polly, played by the fascinating Helen McCrory. After watching one episode, once you’ve recovered emotionally from the heart-wrenching damage Steven Knight’s writing has set forth within you, you’ll be begging for the next episode. Luckily you can catch the series, which just released Season 4 last December, on Netflix!
