Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man

Plot Summary

• The Peaky Blinders were a real urban street gang based in Birmingham, England, active from the 1880s to the 1920s. Comprised largely of young, working-class men, they were known for violence, robbery, and racketeering, and were distinct for their tailored outfits, including flat caps and silk scarves, rather than just the razor blades often associated with them.In the middle of The Birmingham Blitz in November 1940, Nazi Germany initiates a plot to economically subdue the United Kingdom by introducing copious amounts of counterfeit British currency - manufactured by the inmates of the regime's concentration camps - into the British economy with the assistance of pro-Nazi agents, with the goal of triggering hyperinflation. Concurrently, a Luftwaffe night raid in Birmingham destroys a BSA munitions factory, killing the factory's female workforce.Elsewhere, Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) lives in isolation, having retreated from public life after the death of his elder brother Arthur, who supposedly died by suicide in December 1938. His only company is his loyal assistant Johnny Dogs (Packy Lee). Tommy is working on his autobiography but is haunted by visions of his deceased daughter, Ruby.Ada Shelby (Sophie Rundle), Tommy's sister, who has succeeded Tommy as the MP for Birmingham South, visits him to inform him of the acts committed by the Peaky Blinders, now led by his son Erasmus "Duke" Shelby (Barry Keoghan). Ada says that Duke is worse than Tommy and Arthur when they used to run the gang. Concurrently, the gang raids the destroyed factory and steals its munitions, which were meant for the front-line soldiers. Duke started a fight with the locals who resisted them. Ada worries that Duke would be hanged by law or lynched by the people if he continues on this path.In private, Duke has joined forces with Nazi agent John Beckett (Tim Roth), who intends to have the Peaky Blinders distribute 350 million pounds of counterfeit currency inside Britain through the gang's networks. Peaky Blinders get a 20% cut.Ada meets Duke and finds that he has been hoarding all kinds of supplies, including food, livestock, medicines (Morphine) and ammunition. Ada wanted to report Duke, but Duke knew she was bluffing. Ada goes to Tommy's old loyalist named Charlie and asks for help in getting testimony from the people who saw the robbery at the munitions factory. Charlie says that only Tommy can stop Duke.Meanwhile, Tommy is approached by Kaulo Chiriklo (Rebecca Ferguson), the twin sister of Zelda Chiriklo (Rebecca Ferguson) - with whom Tommy had conceived Duke in 1914. Calling Tommy the Rom Baro, or the Gypsy King, Kaulo claims to have spoken to Arthur from beyond the grave. Kaulo has sex with Tommy and goads Tommy into divulging that he had accidentally killed Arthur, who had acted erratically under the influence of opium. She nevertheless interprets Tommy's act as kindness and convinces him to return to Birmingham to save Duke, whom she deduces is in trouble.Elsewhere, Beckett discovers that Ada had collected testimony of Duke's raid at the factory and that she intends to submit it to the military police, which could derail the plot. He orders Duke to kill Ada, but Duke emotionally fumbles at the last minute. Beckett, who had anticipated this, kills Ada himself.Tommy decides to end his isolation and travels to the city to meet Duke.Tommy learns of Ada's death and confronts Duke, admonishing him for his ill-disciplined ways. He learns of the plot, and plans to kill Beckett at the mortuary where Ada's body is, deducing that Beckett would be there to kill him as well. At the mortuary, Tommy confesses to his deceased sister the true nature of Arthur's death: he had killed Arthur after becoming exasperated by his volatility. Beckett appears and tries to kill Tommy, but escapes after an exchange of gunfire. Meanwhile, Kaulo privately visits Duke and instructs him to ally with his father, but hands him a bullet inscribed with Tommy's name, ordering him to kill him after achieving their common goal.Tommy, who has now assumed his leadership of the Peaky Blinders, plans to use the arrival of the counterfeit money to defeat Beckett, with the assistance of his old allies Charlie Strong (Ned Dennehy), Curly (Ian Peck) and dockyard boss Hayden Stagg (Stephen Graham) - who has traced Beckett's car to a warehouse at the Liverpool docks.However, Duke reconnects with Beckett and promises to ensure the safe passage of the counterfeit money, as was previously agreed. Tommy plans to have the Blinders travel by narrow-boat to Liverpool to confront Beckett's Nazi mercenaries, while he travels through a disused tunnel to surprise Beckett personally. Both teams are to strike simultaneously at midnight.Before leaving, Tommy has a private audience with Kaulo and reveals he is aware of her intentions but does not explicitly oppose them. Kaulo warns Tommy that by the end of the night, either he will Duke or Duke will kill him.Beckett, who has been personally warned by Duke of the plan, has his forces intercept the narrow boats, not knowing that they are rigged with explosives. The resulting detonation kills the mercenaries. Duke reveals to a surprised Beckett that he had chosen to support his father all along, before escaping. The Blinders arrive and kill Beckett's remaining mercenaries.Tommy, who has arrived as well, uses a landmine to successfully incinerate the counterfeit money, thus suppressing the plot. Beckett tries to escape in his car, and exchanges gunfire with Tommy. Tommy is injured but kills Beckett and attempts to die by standing in front of Beckett's speeding car, but Duke saves him.Mortally wounded, Tommy encourages Duke to kill him with the bullet Kaulo gave him. Duke resists, but eventually obeys, and Tommy dies reciting the first line of the poem "In the Bleak Midwinter", having finally attained peace. Duke, now the new Rom Baro, leads the Peaky Blinders in conducting a Gypsy funeral for their fallen leader. Kaulo recovers Tommy's manuscript, The Immortal Man, in which Tommy reminisces that despite his wealth and power, he had his family by his side, and now in death is now reunited with them, wherever they may be.

Storyline

• Tommy Shelby rots in a gilded cage of memory; a shell of a man haunted by the literal ghosts of his kin. He is a ghost himself until a siren call from the past pulls him back to the soot of Small Heath. There, the empire he built is a distorted reflection; led by a son whose ambition is fueled by a jagged cocktail of resentment and abandonment. Duke brokers a deal with a fascist devil, trading national stability for the hollow promise of a father figure. Tommy must weaponize his own ruthless cunning to dismantle the treasonous machine his absence created. The price of his legendary survival is a final, bloody collision with his own flesh. — Quill & Camera