Of Tokyo and Foster Parents

Sadly I wasn't quite as thrilled with the second outing for the Peaky Blinders as I was with the action-packed return of the series.

Don't get me wrong - I am interested in Arthur's growing psychopathy and the fate of Polly's adopted children but I would have liked to see further developments in the Irish and London expansion elements of the plot. One growly meeting with Tom Hardy in a London distillery was pretty much all we got this time around (though kudos to the producers for featuring a Jewish gang that look like real 20th century immigrants rather than being exclusively Haredi with side curls).

Still this caveat is more personal taste than anything and I'm definitely looking froward to the next episode and (hopefully) a restored focus on Campbell's intrigue and brawling with Italian crime bosses.

Explosive start to the second series of Peaky Blinders

(Spoilers ahead - be warned)

Absolutely fucking fantastic first episode! The twist before the credits rolled dragged you in nice and fast and the promise of a simultaneous expansion into the vicious gang politics of 1920s London and the politics of the Irish civil war should ensure that the series remains fresh.

Admittedly it seemed a bit cheesy that both Grace and Campbell survived the shooting incident at the end of the first series. We hadn't previously been given any evidence that Grace was the sort of double agent that would fail to finish off a dangerous and ruthless opponent. However, when it means that we get another series of three great central characters facing off against each other you can hardly bemoan the methods.

All in all I'm not sure that this episode could have been bettered. Let's hope the series shapes up well after this early promise!

Peaky Blinders - Razors and Racketeering in Birmingham

So despite having a name that fails to roll off the tongue this one has wowed me.

Post-WW1 Birmingham makes a fantastic setting for a crime series and brings in a cluster of historical themes that don't get nearly enough airing - from the mental and financial struggles of veterans to the paranoia of the British government about strikes, communists and Fenians.

Cillian Murphy is impressive as usual and is ably supported by the rest of the cast. Like many British crime flicks I especially like the focus on the smaller bit characters and the underdogs. While American action heroes may be able to scythe their way through legions of enemies with little care for appearances or treating others as human beings, it is a stalwart of British drama that anybody who underestimates the underdogs tends to end up being buried by them.

Anyway two episodes in and I hope it can live up to a promising start!