There is panic at the hospital as Thomas (Cillian Murphy) and Lizzie (Natasha O’Keeffe) learn that Ruby has consumption. The doctor (Gary Bates) explains it is a very infectious disease so there are certain procedures that have to be followed. Once they take Ruby away, Lizzie tells Thomas that they’ll have to X-ray her and them too to see if they have it. He begins shouting about the curse and that they wouldn’t let him pass. Once Lizzie calms him, she apologizes to the staff while explaining he is recovering from addiction. He apologizes too and asks what he needs to do. Tommy is taken in for an x-ray a few seconds later. He begins saying God knows what is inside and God help her. Lizzie joins him outside to say Ruby has a tubercular infection in her left lung.

She says they’ll do more tests and some pulmonary thing where they collapse the lung and let it rest in hopes it’ll heal itself. If that doesn’t work, they’ll use gold salts. The doctor will explain the process to Tommy when he cuts the ribbon to open the institution. The gold salts contain 37% gold. Although it will help, Ruby is likely going to get sicker at first. Since Ruby is small and TB is big and fast, Ruby’s chances are not good. Later, Tommy sits beside Ruby’s bed when he apologizes and says he will deal with it. He claims he will make it go away by striking a bargain. Lizzie enters and reminds him he should be wearing a mask, but he says he is. As he walks out of the room, he says she can try gold while he tries something else.

Tommy goes back home where he calls Ada (Sophie Rundle) and tells her he needs her to be him for five days in London. Diana Mitford (Amber Anderson) watches as Ada arrives outside. She tells her servant to greet her, take her coat, and take note of the label because she dresses well. Diana wonders where Tommy was. Thomas drives his car and stops. He finds a sign of sorts on the side of the road pointing him in the right direction. Ada tells Diana that she is a widow while asking about Diana being a member of the Guinness family. Although Ada believes they do a lot of good work for the poor, Diana says they’re only poor because they spend so much of their income on Guinness. Ada suggests the causes of poverty are more complex than that before Diana argues it is genetics.

Ada talks about the Egyptian vase on the table as she admits she is an antique collector. Diana finds it odd that one Shelby became a gangster and politician while another became an antique collector. Diana knows they researched one another and suspects Ada would’ve come with a revolver and Molotov cocktail in 1919. Ada learns that the American will be there later while Oswald Mosley (Sam Claflin) is sulking because Tommy isn’t coming. Diana learns about Ruby being sick and Thomas putting his daughter’s welfare before business. She tells Ada that her brother has altered her life because the men here just bounce up and down in their saddles in a rising trot, but Tommy is the man on the vase. Ada says recent interpretations suggest the black rider on the 18th Dynasty vases is meant to signify death so it might match Tommy.

Diana asks why Tommy is emotionally mutilated. Ada says he is like one of those men from the novels Diana likes to read, but Diana says she only reads pornography and politics. Moments later, Diana surprises Ada by saying she likes to sleep with women as much as men. Ada responds by saying Tommy was right about everything being a circle. Diana gets her a drink before saying she will personally argue that the Jews must be dealt with and the Gypsies should be spared when the great cleansing begins. Tommy arrives at the camp where he begins asking for Esme Shelby-Lee (Aimee-Ffion Edwards). He tells them that Esme is his brother’s widow. The man knows her husband was a Peaky Blinder so Tommy says he is the elder and even worse. Esme comes out and takes his money before asking him to put his gun away since children are around.

She insists he only found her because she let him find her. Thomas asks her to tell her man he doesn’t want any trouble. Esme says she doesn’t have a man and she’ll be the one to give him trouble if anyone does. After the others leave, they sit down and Tommy begins telling Esme about Ruby. He knows from talking to her and looking at her that he has wasted his time and petrol. Esme realizes Tommy has been running around trying to deal with a gypsy curse. He tells her about Polly’s death although she still speaks to him in his dreams. Once she learns about Polly, Esme admits she is glad she isn’t in Tommy’s camp anymore. He apologizes for troubling her and begins leaving since he knows the curse wasn’t her doing.

Oswald joins Diana as he tells her the American is coming and Ada’s coat is Chanel. He admits he is deeply annoyed that Tommy isn’t there with them. Ada explains Tommy wanted someone from the Shelby family to be there to introduce Nelson to Mosley and give them an invitation. She reminds them that the Shelby family holds the power because they have the information and incentives to make Nelson do what they want him to do. Ada encourages them to keep their mouths closed when she talks because she is good at this although reluctant. As Jack Nelson (James Frecheville) arrives with Gina Gray (Anya Taylor-Joy), Jack says Gina told him the Shelby family are all witches and sorcerers who speak freely with the dead. Jack did some research so he knows Ada was once a Communist, but she is diamonds and lipstick now.

She calls herself a Socialist as Mosley describes her as Tommy’s political adviser. When Jack asks Ada if she has a man, she jokes he died although they still speak often. Gina and Diana agree that Jack isn’t careful with his words. He claims he says it first before cleaning up the broken glass with his bare hands. Nelson asks about Tommy and questions whether he has a wife when he learns about his daughter being unwell. Gina calls Ada the smart one. Ada knows about the brother and sister Nelson lost to consumption when he was young. She explains that the illness has entered their family and Tommy doesn’t have faith in modern medical practices so he is searching for alternative approaches. Jack doesn’t seem to care for modern medicine either and would do the same thing.

He confesses Tommy intrigues him. Diana tells them about Mosley’s influence as Jack admits it is amazing what English women can do with skin, bone, and arrogance. Then, Ada gives them invitations to Tommy’s house where they can talk business and meet like minds from Ireland to discuss the future of Europe. Although Gina tells Jack a lot of things, he’d like to hear what Shelby Company Limited does from Ada. Thomas gets back in his car, but it won’t start because one of Esme’s guys has taken the spark plug. She gets into the car with him and says he used to have eyes in the back of his head. She wonders how he can have changed so much without changing at all. She goes to Shelby’s headquarters and asks for all the keys. Ada tells them she is in charge until Tommy comes down from the mountain.

She goes through Tommy’s desk and finds a notebook. Inside, it has a black star above the name Haydn Stagg. She approaches Isiah Jesus (Daryl McCormack) who says they locked Arthur in the cash safe to stop him from slipping down to Chinatown. Once he sits down as she requests, Isiah complements her perfume. Ada lets him know that Tommy likes him although she isn’t sure about him. Isiah was going to be an accountant, but everyone said he’d be wasted counting money instead of stealing it. He asks about the perfume since he wants to buy some for his girlfriend’s birthday. Ada wants him to go to Liverpool where they have opium in storage at the Salthouse docks. They’re stealing the opium before it is sold by a union convenor named Haydn Stagg.

Isiah receives an envelope with the information he needs to find and deal with Stagg. There is no black star since Ada decided not to do that. She wants him to take a beating and for Isiah to take Arthur with him. She thinks Arthur’s reputation will be helpful since nobody would mess with Arthur Shelby. If he deals with Stagg and keeps Arthur clean, Ada won’t tell Tommy that Isiah is laying private bets on races they’ve fixed. He claims he is just trying to make a few extra pennies to buy a birthday gift for his girlfriend. Ada goes to the pub and Lizzie meets up with her a few seconds later. Ada tries to comfort her, but Lizzie doesn’t want to cry. Lizzie reveals they think it is in both lungs since it is moving quickly.

Collapsing the lung didn’t help so they’ll start the gold salts tomorrow. Lizzie asks whether she knows someone who died from the gold salts since more people do. Ada says the person she knew was old, but Lizzie doesn’t think there is a difference. Lizzie claims she hasn’t given up. She confesses it is nice that Tommy is elsewhere because he only wants to fight people and blame himself. She is ashamed of him and needs a normal man. Ada says she doesn’t know when he is returning and can’t get a message to him. When Lizzie mentions Tommy was looking for a number for Esme, Ada says she is a Lee and the Lees and Barwells are wild tribes. Since they’re gypsies, they live wherever they want.

Lizzie complains about Tommy not being a normal man. Isiah tells Arthur (Paul Anderson) he is going to look after him and Ada said it’d be okay if he recruited his cousins. Meanwhile, Tommy stops the car when he sees two horses in front of him. Esme asks if he still rides bareback before he gets out and pulls his knife. He cuts the rope and gets onto one of the horses. When Esme joins him, he threatens to use the rope to hang her if she has been wasting his time. Arthur gives the boys a pep talk before they enter the warehouse to confront Haydn. Isiah and the others harass a group of guys at a table until Haydn (Stephen Graham) finally enters. Arthur tells him they’re there on black star business.

After Stagg asks if that is a pub, Arthur says it is the last one you’ll drink in. Isiah warns him that the Peaky Blinders take you to the black star and you’re done. Arthur accuses Stagg of selling their opium in a pub called The Dolphin. After an outburst, Stagg tells his boys to sit down. Stagg explains the rules say the king puts his head on the block and the game is up. Arthur threatens him with a visit to the black star pub for stealing from the Peaky Blinders. He says the sentence has been commuted thanks to the lord and Ada. He’ll get a beating inside. Before he takes the beating, Stagg tells Arthur the truth lies beneath his sleeves and the marks on his arms. He has heard the stories about Arthur that come up the canal. When he used to talk fine alone, he now needs a stick.

Stagg confesses it was the morphine they gave him in France. He got a taste of it and it was 1924 before he realized the war was over. There is a warehouse full of it across the yard where the boys play football. Stagg knows he will get a beating, but he is the one who feels sorry for Arthur because he takes his beating every hour of every day. He alleges Arthur’s own blood betrays him since it demands dilution. He asks them to go ahead and do it after telling Arthur he was there once too. Stagg tells Arthur to look at him as a man he can be. Jesus, his wife, and his kids can’t help him. Only Arthur will be able to help himself. Isiah gets tired of hearing it so he punches Stagg and asks Arthur for the word to do it. Haydn tells Arthur to use his stick and give him the order as Isiah asks for the order too.

Arthur tells Isiah to stand down before urging everyone to go. Esme takes Thomas to a gypsy graveyard. As they get off the horses to walk, she tells Tommy he’ll have to wait to see whose grave it is. She asks if he ever goes to John’s grave. Thomas confesses he has done very bad things and would like to make amends. He also knows he should’ve done more to protect John. Esme believes Tommy thinks he can make a deal with death. He’d be in the right place to do it since the town is gone and the church fell down. Esme reminds him he gave a sapphire to a woman named Bethany Barwell.

Although he warned her about it, she took it and gave it to her sister Evadne Barwell who put it around the neck of her little daughter. The 7-year-old started coughing straight away before passing away that night. Esme is convinced the girl’s mother laid the curse since only women can do that. The girl’s mother might’ve waited until Ruby was seven so he’d know how it feels. Tommy asks her if she has whisky. She says no before he continues onward. Esme suggests the science will cure his daughter since science is winning everything these days. She offers to leave him alone since his horse will know the way back, but she’d like a reward for what she showed him. Tom is adamant he is going to find Evadne Barwell and give her money for taking back the curse, but Esme doesn’t think he can find her.

Tommy pulls up the girl’s cross while telling Esme she can put out a message that he’ll give the mother 10,000 pounds and build a monument to the little girl. He throws the cross and insists he will undo his many wrongs since he can hear the spirits clearly now that he doesn’t think whisky. Esme agrees to help him, but she wants gold. He believes he can find this woman and make her spare his daughter. When Tommy arrives back at the hospital, Lizzie breaks the news at Ruby just died at 5:17. Lizzie reveals they’ve already moved her to the room with the dead people. Ruby was asking for Tommy just before she went. Lizzie told her he loved her and gave her a kiss goodbye for him.

 

Peaky Blinders Review

This episode of Peaky Blinders tried to do something different by creating emotional scenes for Thomas and Arthur Shelby. Arthur was forced to confront his drug addiction when pushed by Haydn Stagg who he was supposed to beat to a pulp for stealing their opium. As for Thomas, he tried to find a way to remove a curse on him to save his daughter from consumption, but that failed in the end.

There wasn’t much in the way of pushing the story forward besides eliminating the Ruby storyline so there should be time for other things next. At the very least, this is my hope because the main storyline has been pretty much nonexistent. I haven’t been blown away by the new characters such as Gina or Nelson, but we’ve barely seen them too.

I question the decision to put an Australian in the role of an American gangster and my opinion of Anya Taylor-Joy hasn’t changed. I care very little about Diana and Mosley considering that storyline was given a whole season already. Ultimately, this was the weakest episode of the season although I still expect the season to get better. I am worried the series is being too ambitious by trying to do too much when it should just focus on the showdown between Thomas and Michael.

We’ll have to see how things play out in the end. It may be an excellent season overall despite having a weaker episode here and there. This episode scores a 6.5 out of 10. Catch up with previous recaps of Peaky Blinders here. Learn how to support Reel Mockery by following this link.