‘Peaky Blinders’ Recap, Season 4 Finale: Find Out Who Doesn’t Make It Out Of The Finale Alive

A fine time’s been had by everybody but all good things must come to an end, and so to must Peaky Blinders’ fourth season. The Shelbys have been battling American Mafioso Luca Changretta and so far they’ve lost their brother John and been forced to return to the squalor of their Small Heath ghetto. Now, as the finale gets underway they’re preparing for a boxing match between Bonnie Gold – son of Gypsy gangster and Shelby ally Aberama Gold – and the nephew of Jewish London gangster Alfie Solomons, the Shelbys frenemy who has once again betrayed them and snuck in a couple Mafia assassins.

Before the fight starts Tommy and Solomons face off with Alfie dropping one of his usual pearls of wisdom – and he’s got as many of them as he has patches of psoriasis on his face – saying, “Big fucks small, always.” He could be talking about the boxing match, which pits his hulking nephew against the diminutive Bonnie Gold, or he could be talking about the American Mafia takeover waiting in the wings. While the assembled Shelbys snort copies amounts of cocaine —was there really that much coke around England in 1925? It’s like Studio 54 in here!— Bonnie seems to be getting his ass kicked and Arthur senses something’s wrong. When two ringmen go missing, he investigates and ends up getting garroted. It looks like he’s a goner, but luckily Tommy is close behind, but nope, too late, he’s a goner. WOOOOOW, the just killed off Arthur Shelby. Tommy kills the hitman and when they catch his partner he has Finn make his bones by taking out his eyes with the razors in the brim of his cap, reaffirming the Peaky Blinders’ gang name and bringing another Shelby brother under their bloody fold. But on the upside, Bonnie wins the fight in the end.

If Tommy Shelby was dour before, with Arthur gone, he’s Nick Cave level grim. With no fight left in him, he agrees to hand over all Shelby interests to Changretta in exchange for him ending the vendetta against his family. Changretta also makes his move on the other British crime organizations, as Alfie said, big fucks small. Michael, meanwhile, is banished to America to mysteriously secure the Shelby’s future. When asked what he’s going to do about Changretta’s power grab, Tommy says, “We’re going to let him have it.” Keep in mind, that’s a phrase that can be taken two different ways.

Changretta comes to Birmingham to gloat over his victory and make Tommy sign over all his property while on his hands and knees. But Tommy explains he’s made a side deal with Changretta’s New York rivals and one Alphonse G. Capone and the Mafia gunmen he arrived with are standing down on their orders. OH SNAP!!! IN YOUR FACE CHANGRETTA!!!!!! Speaking of faces, Tommy then uses Changretta’s face as a bottle opener and lo and behold, who should walk in the door but ARTHUR FREAKING SHELBY WHO’S STILL ALIVE!!! Turns out he was just injured but quick thinking Tommy used it as a ruse to trick the arrogant American into submitting terms for peace. I must admit, it’s a twist I did not see coming, and I’m usually pretty good at second guessing those things. As he pledged to do, Arthur avenges John, kills Changretta, and tells the remaining Mafia gunmen to let their bosses know, “You don’t fuck with the Peaky Blinders.” Yeah, it’s kind of corny but also immensely satisfying.

With Changretta dead, Tommy then goes on vacation, and what’s Tommy Shelby’s idea of vacation? A trip to the beach to kill Alfie Solomons. It’s about time considering how many times he’s fucked the Shelbys over, Tommy saying, “I once told you, Alfie, that for business reasons or in bad blood, I would kill you.” Alfie kind of ruins it though by saying, “Whatevs dude, I’ve got cancer, take care of my dog.” This of course doesn’t stop him from taking a parting shot at Tommy, but the Peaky Blinders’ aim is true and now we won’t have Tom Hardy around anymore to bring a little color into the grey English skies, which, you know, is kind of sad.

That’s where the episode should have ended but instead we cut to “Three months later” and whether from guilt or exhaustion or the mournful chords of Radiohead’s “The Pyramid Song” playing in the background, Tommy suffers a nervous breakdown. Polly then comes around to say it’s just part of their “Gypsy blood,” living between life and death, “we shake hands with devils and move past them.” I’m not sure what the Hell that means but apparently it does the trick as he’s soon back at work, scheming behind the scenes, bedding down commie union babe Jessie Edens and becoming with “Labour Member of Parliament for the constituency of Birmingham South.” A Peaky Blinder in Parliament, who woulda thunk? With famous gangster business partners in America and political connections in the U.K., I can’t wait to see what happens next season on Peaky Blinders.

Benjamin H. Smith is a New York based writer, producer and musician. Follow him on Twitter:@BHSmithNYC.

Watch Peaky Blinders Season 4 Episode 6 ("The Company") on Netflix