December talking meme: Peaky Blinders
Feb. 6th, 2015 03:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ariadnes_stringWay back in December, d_generate_girl asked me to talk about Peaky Blinders. Now, in February, I’m finally able to do that (though this got a little long and academic, sorry!).
This is primarily about S2, which I thought was probably better than the first season, less uneven, with less emphasis on a ridiculous star-crossed-lovers plotline, and more interesting stuff.
Here are some of the things that make the love this show.
I suppose it’s fair to say that the show is really held up by the gorgeous scaffolding of Cillian Murphy’s cheekbones. He’s extraordinary in the second season, more beat-up, more dead-eyed, more commanding. He also trots out his special seduction technique several times. This consists of telling a lady he know they’re going to fuck (his word), so just leave the door unlocked for him later. No flirting, no banter, no eyelash fluttering. It works every time.
That said, though, the second season made much better use of its secondary characters, especially Helen McCrory’s Polly. Also, in the (near) absence of the soggy Grace, Tommy’s relationship to Sam Neill’s Chester Campbell was satisfyingly stripped down to the dick-wagging duel it always was. Some of the new characters and storylines worked really well—especially the return of Polly’s lost son Michael, but I also really enjoyed May Carleton; some worked less well—Tom Hardy as Alfie Solomons was wonderful, but his plot arc never went much of anywhere.
Peaky Blinders is a testosterone-fest, but the women are amazing. They usually get the raw end of the deal, it’s true, but they never go down without a fight (and in some cases, firing their guns). Ada didn’t have much to do this season, but she still had some great scenes, as did even very minor female characters like Esme and Lizzie. Even the soundtrack was dominated by female voices this year—the season was practically a tribute to PJ Harvey, who must have featured in almost every episode.
And speaking of that soundtrack! As you probably know, I’m a sucker for shows with flashy soundtracks, case in point, True Detective. But whereas shows like TD use their soundtracks to build a deeper sense of place and context, Peaky Blinders uses glaringly anachronistic music to construct emotional parallels between the present and the past (yes, like a fanvid). I think one either loves this or hates this; I often hate it (Baz Luhrmann, blech) but in this case, I love it. It’s a blunt instrument at times, like the moment in the finale when you realize the show’s been waiting two whole seasons to juxtapose the show’s theme song, Nick Cave’s “Red Right Hand” to the Red Hand of the Ulster Volunteer Force—but damn if creator Stephen Knight doesn’t earn it.
My other favorite thing about Peaky Blinders, especially S2, is its interest in ethnic strife—as opposed to class tension, though that’s there, too. The Shelbys themselves, of course, are, to some always unspecified degree, gypsies/tinkers/Romani, and the first season had a lot of scenes set in Birmingham’s Chinese community. The second season, though, pushed this further, with the main plotline having to do with Tommy’s attempt to set an Italian gang and a Jewish gang against each other to make his own stake in London. The Irish, of many different regional and political stripes, are always present. The show has little interest in the cultural practices of these groups (unless you count Solomons' parodic seder); instead, it’s interested their strategic coherence and tactical interplay. It all makes a nice change from the upstairs-downstairs but culturally (religiously, racially) homogenous view one usually gets of the British past on TV.
Moreover, while your typical British show coughDowntonAbbeycough is interested in stratification and insularity, Peaky Blinders is interested in mixture and mobility. The gypsy/tinker thing highlights this—a people in permanent exile, without a permanent homeland (when I was in England last year, people were talking about the nearly hysterical anxiety “travelers” still provoke). And if the gypsies weren't mobile enough, S2 also had a lot to say about the canals that link English cities, and the transatlantic shipping that might make the Shelby fortune. S2 also beautifully foregrounded the race course as a scene of heterogeneity and mixture, lingering over Epsom in the finale as a place of gorgeous, troubling, violent, thrilling mingling (rich/poor, black/white/Asian, male/female, criminal/law-abiding, & etc.). This is Tommy Shelby’s world; this is where he thrives.
Good Lord, that was a great hour of television! There was so much to love, from the standoff between Tommy and Alfie, to Tommy and Campbell’s verbal smackdown with “God Save the Queen” playing in the background, to Polly shooting Campbell, to May’s dress.
My favorite thing about the episode, though, was the clear line it drew between Tommy digging his way out of that collapsed tunnel in France (now identified as Schwaben Hohe) and climbing out of the grave the UVF have dug for him at the end of the episode. The parallels are explicit, I think: not only does he have that moment with the UVF man comparing what part of the Somme they survived, but the field where they intend to kill him is as flat and muddy as any Belgium battlefield. It makes so much sense to think of Tommy as someone who is, as he says to Alfie, already dead, or is “between two deaths.” The break in Tommy’s hitherto glacial composure as he realizes he’s survived a second time, with that stripped down version of "All My Tears" playing over it was devastating. It was a flawless scene, I thought, easily the best of the series.
I’m looking forward to another season, though I’m worried it’s going to involve more Grace, and smaltzy love shenanigans. Maybe it’ll be more like Godfather II, though.
And a rec, if you like the kind of musical juxtaposition Peaky Blinders provides: this extraordinary Lawrence of Arabia vid from festivids
d_generate_girl asked me to talk about Peaky Blinders. Now, in February, I’m finally able to do that (though this got a little long and academic, sorry!).This is primarily about S2, which I thought was probably better than the first season, less uneven, with less emphasis on a ridiculous star-crossed-lovers plotline, and more interesting stuff.
Here are some of the things that make the love this show.
I suppose it’s fair to say that the show is really held up by the gorgeous scaffolding of Cillian Murphy’s cheekbones. He’s extraordinary in the second season, more beat-up, more dead-eyed, more commanding. He also trots out his special seduction technique several times. This consists of telling a lady he know they’re going to fuck (his word), so just leave the door unlocked for him later. No flirting, no banter, no eyelash fluttering. It works every time.
That said, though, the second season made much better use of its secondary characters, especially Helen McCrory’s Polly. Also, in the (near) absence of the soggy Grace, Tommy’s relationship to Sam Neill’s Chester Campbell was satisfyingly stripped down to the dick-wagging duel it always was. Some of the new characters and storylines worked really well—especially the return of Polly’s lost son Michael, but I also really enjoyed May Carleton; some worked less well—Tom Hardy as Alfie Solomons was wonderful, but his plot arc never went much of anywhere.
Peaky Blinders is a testosterone-fest, but the women are amazing. They usually get the raw end of the deal, it’s true, but they never go down without a fight (and in some cases, firing their guns). Ada didn’t have much to do this season, but she still had some great scenes, as did even very minor female characters like Esme and Lizzie. Even the soundtrack was dominated by female voices this year—the season was practically a tribute to PJ Harvey, who must have featured in almost every episode.
And speaking of that soundtrack! As you probably know, I’m a sucker for shows with flashy soundtracks, case in point, True Detective. But whereas shows like TD use their soundtracks to build a deeper sense of place and context, Peaky Blinders uses glaringly anachronistic music to construct emotional parallels between the present and the past (yes, like a fanvid). I think one either loves this or hates this; I often hate it (Baz Luhrmann, blech) but in this case, I love it. It’s a blunt instrument at times, like the moment in the finale when you realize the show’s been waiting two whole seasons to juxtapose the show’s theme song, Nick Cave’s “Red Right Hand” to the Red Hand of the Ulster Volunteer Force—but damn if creator Stephen Knight doesn’t earn it.
My other favorite thing about Peaky Blinders, especially S2, is its interest in ethnic strife—as opposed to class tension, though that’s there, too. The Shelbys themselves, of course, are, to some always unspecified degree, gypsies/tinkers/Romani, and the first season had a lot of scenes set in Birmingham’s Chinese community. The second season, though, pushed this further, with the main plotline having to do with Tommy’s attempt to set an Italian gang and a Jewish gang against each other to make his own stake in London. The Irish, of many different regional and political stripes, are always present. The show has little interest in the cultural practices of these groups (unless you count Solomons' parodic seder); instead, it’s interested their strategic coherence and tactical interplay. It all makes a nice change from the upstairs-downstairs but culturally (religiously, racially) homogenous view one usually gets of the British past on TV.
Moreover, while your typical British show coughDowntonAbbeycough is interested in stratification and insularity, Peaky Blinders is interested in mixture and mobility. The gypsy/tinker thing highlights this—a people in permanent exile, without a permanent homeland (when I was in England last year, people were talking about the nearly hysterical anxiety “travelers” still provoke). And if the gypsies weren't mobile enough, S2 also had a lot to say about the canals that link English cities, and the transatlantic shipping that might make the Shelby fortune. S2 also beautifully foregrounded the race course as a scene of heterogeneity and mixture, lingering over Epsom in the finale as a place of gorgeous, troubling, violent, thrilling mingling (rich/poor, black/white/Asian, male/female, criminal/law-abiding, & etc.). This is Tommy Shelby’s world; this is where he thrives.
Good Lord, that was a great hour of television! There was so much to love, from the standoff between Tommy and Alfie, to Tommy and Campbell’s verbal smackdown with “God Save the Queen” playing in the background, to Polly shooting Campbell, to May’s dress.
My favorite thing about the episode, though, was the clear line it drew between Tommy digging his way out of that collapsed tunnel in France (now identified as Schwaben Hohe) and climbing out of the grave the UVF have dug for him at the end of the episode. The parallels are explicit, I think: not only does he have that moment with the UVF man comparing what part of the Somme they survived, but the field where they intend to kill him is as flat and muddy as any Belgium battlefield. It makes so much sense to think of Tommy as someone who is, as he says to Alfie, already dead, or is “between two deaths.” The break in Tommy’s hitherto glacial composure as he realizes he’s survived a second time, with that stripped down version of "All My Tears" playing over it was devastating. It was a flawless scene, I thought, easily the best of the series.
I’m looking forward to another season, though I’m worried it’s going to involve more Grace, and smaltzy love shenanigans. Maybe it’ll be more like Godfather II, though.
And a rec, if you like the kind of musical juxtaposition Peaky Blinders provides: this extraordinary Lawrence of Arabia vid from festivids
no subject
Date: 2015-02-07 01:31 am (UTC)I suppose it’s fair to say that the show is really held up by the gorgeous scaffolding of Cillian Murphy’s cheekbones. He’s extraordinary in the second season, more beat-up, more dead-eyed, more commanding.
I know! I didn't think it was possible, because two of the things that sold me on the show from the pilot was how dead-eyed and hollow Tommy looks in the opium scenes, and how commanding he is in the final scene ("I *think*, Arthur. That's what I do. I think . . . so you don't have to." is still one of the most perfect moments in the show). One of the UK papers made much of his "squalid beauty", which is pretty apt - Tommy can look filthy or polished, mostly depending on the lighting, and it works so well for the character.
Ada didn’t have much to do this season, but she still had some great scenes, as did even very minor female characters like Esme and Lizzie.
I was really disappointed my how little Ada had to do this season, especially considering how important she was in S1. Although I did love the neat little bookends of Tommy having his penultimate episode stolen out from under him by a woman - Ada with S1, Polly in S2 - and how it highlights the extreme precariousness of Tommy's Batman Gambits.
Even the soundtrack was dominated by female voices this year—the season was practically a tribute to PJ Harvey
Fun fact! PJ Harvey actually helped score this season, which was why so many of her songs were used. Cillian Murphy is a big fan of hers, and she agreed to help curate the music. Also how they got the rights to the Johnny Cash, Laura Marling, and Arctic Monkeys songs.
Peaky Blinders uses glaringly anachronistic music to construct emotional parallels between the present and the past (yes, like a fanvid)
You are very, very correct about this.
The show has little interest in the cultural practices of these groups (unless you count Solomons' parodic seder); instead, it’s interested their strategic coherence and tactical interplay.
This is true, and I wish we did get a little more depth of the class struggles. It does very well in the "show, don't tell" department, particularly in the nods to the Shelbys Romani background (I'm thinking specifically of how Polly clearly has enough numeracy to keep the books, and enough literacy to peruse a newspaper, but not enough literacy to be able to read her childrens' files; how she still keeps a switchblade in her garter and has the startle reflex of an alleycat; how Tommy can steer the boat on the canals), but I would love more scenes dealing with the various issues that would come up.
(is this the first time they’ve directly identified it as the famous battle for Hill 179 at Passchendaele?)
Yes, I believe so. Season 1 gave us the flashbacks, but never said exactly where they were in France when the attack happened. I wasn't sure if it was the Passchendaele battle or the Battle for Vimy Ridge (because Tommy references Schwabenhohe and Arras to Alfie).
It was a flawless scene, I thought, easily the best of the series.
It was up there. Polly is my sun-and-stars, so I kind of have to give that nod to her first monologue to Ada in S1 ("the longer you leave it, the worse it gets... believe me, I know"), but I loved the symbolism in it.
no subject
Date: 2015-02-07 02:18 pm (UTC)*"Squalid beauty"--that's perfect! It works SO well for the character. You always forget how light-colored his eyes are, too, then when he's filmed with the light on them (cutting through them), it's shocking.
*I was disappointed that Ada didn't have more to do, too. Though I would love some fic about her living in her new house with her gay anarchist tenant! Excellent point about her and Polly stealing those episodes. Tommy needs them (and I think he know it). I was fascinated that Polly had discussed her rape with Tommy (after not telling Ada), and they'd decided she'd take down Campbell.
*I LOVE that about PJ Harvey--how cool! I loved the music this season--better than the first, I think, or maybe I just loved hearing her stuff.
*I wish we got a bit more Romani cultural practice (and language--or was Tommy speaking Romani to his horse in the finale?), too. But I guess part of the plot is how they're trying to distance themselves from that, even as they keep needing to go back to the Lees, etc, for help. That's a really interesting point about Polly's literacy/numeracy!
*Okay: I think I was wrong/mishearing what Tommy said to Alfie. When he says "I blew up Schwaben Hohe," he must mean this:
It's at the Somme (so Tommy must be saying "The Somme, La Boiselle" to the UVF guy later). It's the largest man-made crater on the Western Front, which is kind of an apt symbol for Tommy Shelby himself. I can't figure out whether Alfie is right to say that everyone died blowing it up.
They definitely mention Vimy Ridge (I think May does, when she looks up Tommy's war record?). So I think I was misremembering whatever hill it is at Passchendaele. It's the Royal Engineers Tunneling Company 179. Still, that's a lot of battles to survive!
(though: Tommy and Freddie and Eddie Whizz-Bang were with the tunnelers and the rest of the Shelbys were in the Smallheath Rifles, is that how it works?)
*Yeah, I'll give you that scene of Polly's--that was amazing!
no subject
Date: 2015-02-07 11:45 pm (UTC)I would read ALL the fic about Miss Ada's Boardinghouse for Queer Anarchists. She really does need people around that aren't her family.
I was fascinated that Polly had discussed her rape with Tommy (after not telling Ada), and they'd decided she'd take down Campbell.
I don't think she really *needed* to tell Ada. In that little scene of Polly in the bathtub and Ada walking in, you can see Ada first start to be upset that Polly's apparently been drinking, but believes she's upset about Michael. But then Polly tells her they'll let him out in the morning, and to "take advantage of your nights" (meaning, let the maid care for Karl, so Ada can do what she likes). I think Ada has a very good idea what could have happened.
Tommy, though. Well, I have my Tommy/Polly glasses on throughout the show, so I was very pleasantly surprised that they planned out Epsom together. But there's hints to him being bothered by *something* just after Polly's rape/Michael's release happens, he goes down to Charlie's yard to muck out stalls in a very self-flagellating way that I can't chalk up to anything but anger that he couldn't do anything about what happened to Polly. I do really, really appreciate that he left Campbell for Polly to kill, didn't go the usual "I MUST HAVE VENGEANCE" route and off Campbell himself.
It's the largest man-made crater on the Western Front, which is kind of an apt symbol for Tommy Shelby himself.
Yes, I think you've nailed it being La Boiselle he's talking about when he references Schwaben Hohe. Somehow I'm not surprised - Shelbys go big or go home.
(though: Tommy and Freddie and Eddie Whizz-Bang were with the tunnelers and the rest of the Shelbys were in the Smallheath Rifles, is that how it works?)
Yes. Tommy was a Sergeant Major of the 179th, which (if I have my British army history correct), would have given him command of around 1000 men, divided into a few infantry divisions and a corps of engineers. It's likely Arthur was his infantry lieutenant, or at least one of them, and Freddie was his engineering lieutenant (or potentially machine-gun specialist, considering the Thompson Gun in 1.06). Danny was definitely a private, doesn't seem to have risen any higher in rank. Em and I were discussing what we'd pieced together here.
no subject
Date: 2015-02-08 10:02 pm (UTC)That's a good point--I didn't make the connection!
The post you linked me to is flocked, so forgive me if I'm repeating stuff you've already talked about:
Unless the British army is very different than the US, Sergeant Major is the highest rank you can attain as an NCO. That's why Tommy is slightly worried when Whathisname Lee promotes him to "Captain" in the finale, and asks them not to shoot him: being a captain would make him a commissioned officer, part of a different class (that's part of the joke--he's sleeping with an officer's widow now), and the potential object of proletarian wrath (like the guy he assassinates).
So Freddie and Arthur wouldn't have been lieutenants, because that's a (commissioned) officer rank, and they're the wrong class (and if they were, they would've outranked Tommy as a Sergeant Major). They might have been sergeants, though.
I also don't think the Engineering Corps had infantry divisions--though maybe? In any case, the 179 is a real company, and the Smallheath Rifles are (as far as I can tell) made up. People who knew each other were allowed to enlist together as a recruitment ploy in the last years of the war, so it's interesting that Freddie, Danny and Tommy ended up in a different division than the other Shelbys/Garrison men. Did they have different skills?
no subject
Date: 2015-02-09 12:52 am (UTC)Based off of this Wikipedia page, Tommy, Danny, and Freddie seem to be one of the 179th's main 3-man teams. I can't find the link, but I recall reading that most tunnelling companies had attached infantry, or at least had access to infantry troops during large-scale engagements. That's not to say that Arthur and John and the rest of the infantry were always with the 179th - Arthur (and his dossier) mention being at Gallipoli, and I'm fairly sure Tommy couldn't have been.
no subject
Date: 2015-02-10 12:40 am (UTC)Though I'm wondering--and I've clearly thought too much about this!--whether Tommy, Freddie and Danny were in a different company because they enlisted earlier than the others--especially John, who must've been so young...
Poor Arthur, being at Gallipoli--no wonder he's a mess! I missed that!
no subject
Date: 2015-02-13 03:15 am (UTC)(So glad I found this, I needed it for Psychic Wolves reasons.)
I think you could be right - that maybe Tommy, Freddie, and Danny enlisted before John. Arthur actually may have enlisted before *everyone* and thus been at Gallipoli, and after that, Tommy would have had the pull to get him reassigned (as the La Boisselle Project site notes that the engineers needed to work with men they trusted and had leeway because of it).
Arthur tells Grace that the stolen cigarettes in their warehouse "smell like Gallipoli", and I only know this because it's one of Em's favorite lines that she pointed out.
no subject
Date: 2015-02-13 06:21 pm (UTC)I think you must be right about the order of enlistment. What an amazing line from Arthur!
(did you get the fic draft? no hurry with it, just making sure it didn't go astray)
no subject
Date: 2015-02-13 08:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-02-14 03:38 pm (UTC)