The battle begins… And ends. But will there be another series?

© BBC/Tiger Aspect/Robert Viglasky

As usual, all good things must come to an end. The finale of Peaky Blinders is, as predicted: Amazing! With the news of Billy Kimber coming for the Peaky Blinders, Thomas Shelby and his men prepare for a war against Kimber and his men. Meanwhile, Grace prepares herself for a very important decision whilst Inspector Campbell struggles with heartbreak and anger due to Grace refusal of his proposal.

As the episode opens with the catchy theme tune, Shelby gets his men ready to go to the Worchester horse race to finally get rid of Billy Kimber and to name himself the kingpin. Meanwhile, Inspector Campbell visits the local Chinese brothel to have sex with one of the prostitutes. However the owner tells Shelby that he is in the back room getting ready to leave. Tommy being Tommy, goes and visits him and mocks him with his own words by saying “You come here to get rid of filth, but yet you end up sleeping with a whore.”

Inspector Campbell, knowing the secret about Grace, decides to play mind-games with him and tells Shelby that by the end of the day his heart will be broken! As Aunt Polly is taking care of Ada and the baby, she tells Ada the truth about what happened to her own children – how they were taken away from her by the police and haven’t been seen since – to reinforce to Ada that Tommy won’t let that happen with her and the baby and that she must believe him, that it wasn’t him who grassed up Freddy. So as the Shelby clan comes together, Tommy promises them that they will be successful and they will become big and even more powerful. Whilst Aunt Polly has a surprise of he own and brings in Ada and her new born baby, much to Tommy’s delight.

Meanwhile, with the help of two police officers and Danny (who is supposed to be dead) using one and only last missing gun, Freddy Thorne escapes and returns go to help the Shelby family. As they all have a drink in the pub to get ready for the battle with the Billy Kimber, Grace tries to tell Tommy the truth, however they are interrupted – someone has grassed them up to Billy Kimber and him and his men are on their way down to kill the Peaky Blinders. So Tommy being the protective brother and nephew, he orders Aunt Polly and Ada to get out of the area as soon as possible because of war that could happen. With Aunt Polly being smart, she finally works out who Grace really is which leaves Tommy heartbroken and angry!

As they get ready for the gun battle, Aunt Polly pays a visit to Grace (which for me, is the one of the best scenes in the series) and tells Grace that Tommy could forgive her, but she never will. Grace will be nothing to their family and she will not be welcomed in with open arms. Later on, the gun battle opens up (like something from a western) and as they begin to fight, Ada who is wearing all black, pushes her pram into the middle of “No man’s land” and tells the two groups that there is no need for battle because of their love ones. Their love one’s will be the one’s suffering because of their loss. However, Billy Kimber, being the dirty slime ball that he is, ends up shooting Tommy who’d wounded but alive. With anger in him he pulls his weapon out and shoots Billy in the head with the perfect shot and makes it clear to the other men that this was his and Billy’s war. And now it is over!

As they celebrate their win, Tommy goes and visits Grace and tells her that he doesn’t believe that she does love him. She gives him an address in London where she will be staying, he takes it and leaves. Making her think that it could be the last time they both will see each other. As the programme and series comes to an end, we see Tommy writing a letter to Grace as she waits for the train to London to come. As she is sadly waiting, Inspector Campbell comes up to her and place a gun into her face and waits to pulls the trigger, as this is happening at the same time, Tommy flips a coin to make his decision what he should do. As the train passes both Campbell and Grace, the screen goes black and all we hear is a gunshot. Who dies?

For me, this is the best gangster programme that I’ve watched in a long while! A series that shows that hardcore gangsters can be human with a big heart aswell. What I loved about this episode is the fact that we see Aunt Polly in a different light. She cries and comes across more caring and loving, which we haven’t seen before. With a bombshell of an ending, there must be a second series of Peaky Blinders?! There’s more to the story of all the characters! Who are Aunt Polly’s children? How will things work out for Freddy and the Shelbys now? Will Tommy see Grace in London or be visiting her at her grave? Did Campbell shoot her or himself?

The ending has been left wide open which I completely love, due to the excitement of knowing. The most annoying thing about it for me was the character of Billy Kimber. However, I seriously hope that Steven Knight brings it back for a second series. Peaky Blinders I’m sure will be collecting many awards!