10 Reasons Why You Should Watch Peaky Blinders

One of my most anticipated TVShows has finally over. Although the first plan was to write one episode per week…but doing that makes me difficult to write it, I always hit one spoiler after another. It’s different with Sherlock because each episode is another story, While Peaky Blinders is a series where one episode continue to another one. Now that it’s over…I can write my review without worrying 🙂

However…I am not going to write a review here, inspired by Flixchatter’s guest post called 10 reasons why BBC’s crime drama BROADCHURCH is a must-watch TV series, I decided to write 10 Reason Why You Should Watch Peaky Blinders.

1. The Characters

I always like stories with well built characters and Peaky Blinders totally have this element. Everyone in the story all well built. We can see clearly how they changed or developed throughout the entire series. You will never feel bored when the story shifts to another character because everyone is interesting to watch. Even the character who showed up only in one episode (the Shelby’s father) is interesting.

Copyright : bbc.co.uk

2. The Story

I have never seen a gangster movie from this time before, it was right after WW1 where every soldier had to deal with their own pain, including the main character Thomas Shelby.  Peaky Blinders has a wide range of story, from love to hate, from family love to family quarrel, from cruel gangster to heart warm gangster, from loyalty to betrayal…simple said in just 6 episodes we got to see everything. Those who like unconditional love story can look at Aida and Freddie’s love, those who like family and friendship story can enjoy how strong the bond between the Shelby’s brothers, those who like cop and criminal’s intrigue can enjoy the interaction between Tommy and Campbell. And many more that I can’t spill all in one post.

3. Thomas Shelby

Thomas Shelby is a very interesting character, the most interesting of all. He is a broken soul but somehow manage to keep himself together for the sake of his family. He is very smart, we can easily notice that the brain of Peaky Blinders is Tommy. He keeps his dark secret to himself. He always try to do the best for the family even though at some point they all seem to hate him. Thomas Shelby is an interesting case of pain, loyalty, anger, genius, dissident and love. No matter how scary Tommy can be but you can never fully hate him.

4. Strong Female Characters

I always feel annoyed when seeing a movie or series with weak female characters…the ones that always needed men to help them out of their trouble. You will not find such female characters in Peaky Blinders. Everyone is strong at certain point. Aunt Polly is the strongest of all, she is the one who controls Peaky Blinders and the family. Aunt Polly runs the family with heart but still shows high level of strictness. Ada is madly in love with Freddie but that doesn’t turn her into a damsel in distress, her character grows stronger each episode. I really like the last episode where she shows her power to stop a war. Grace the spy is the bravest one, she steps into criminal world where being a whore is safer than being a nice woman. The gipsy woman, even though only shows up for few minutes, is another strong woman figure.

5. The Music

I can’t stop saying that the music for this series is brilliant!! They chose perfect songs for every scene. I like the fact that the songs they used for the series are not specially made for the series. They are all songs that have been recorded years before the series but somehow they all fit perfectly to the series. I give four thumbs up to whoever chose the songs…I can easily claim that Peaky Blinders has one of the best background music I have ever heard.

From BBC.co.uk, I found out that most of the music are by Nick Cave and The White Stripes; and few by The Sapphire Band, The Raconteurs, Giacomo Puccini, Tom Waits, Dan Auerbach and Jack White. I love to buy the soundtrack CD of Peaky blinders.

6. The Setting and the cinematography

The set really takes us to another time. I am not sure how authentic the set is because it’s another country with different time…but for someone who doesn’t live in England like me, the set feels so real.  The cinematography is also great, for me it doesn’t feel like a tvseries at all, it feels more like watching a featured movie. I remember when watching Broadchurch, the cinematography was also great but it’s more to the stunning scenery of the place they were using for the set…in Peaky Blinders, it’s more than a stunning scenery. I am not really good in explaining this thing…you just have to see it for yourself.

7. The Cast

I don’t think I have to say much about this 😉 Just look at the cast!! Cillian Murphy, Sam Neill and Helen McCrory … they are brilliant! But not only them, almost everyone here plays brilliantly.

Cillian Murphy  as Thomas Shelby, Sam Neill as Insp Chester Campbell, Helen McCrory as Aunt Polly, Paul Anderson as Arthur Shelby, Annabelle Wallis as Grace Burgess, Iddo Goldberg as Freddie Thorne, Sophie Rundle as Ada Shelby, Joe Cole as John Shelby, Ned Dennehy as Charlie Strong, Benjamin Zephaniah as Jeremiah Jesus, Lobo Chan as Mr Zhang, Alfie Evans-Meese as Finn Shelby, Neil Bell as Harry Fenton, Samuel Edward-Cook as Danny Whizz-Bang, Ian Peck as Curly, Tony Pitts as Sergeant Moss and Andy Nyman as Winston Churchill

8. Based on True Story

The title might sound so cheesy but Peaky Blinders was a real life gangster. That fact alone already made the show intriguing.

Copyright: bbc.co.uk

9. Less Violence

I am not saying that Peaky Blinders is free from violence…it is after all a gangster story…but I think it’s the least number of visual violence I have ever seen in gangster movie. And in my opinion, the violence is not something that can make you turn your head or close your eyes…it’s quite bearable. I honestly think this snapshot is the only one that might make you flinch.

10 Cillian Murphy

Last but definitely not least…the Cillian Murphy factor!! It has been an amazing 6 weeks to see this extremely gorgeous man performed brilliantly each episode. I have to admit that Cillian was often inconsistent with his accent but that doesn’t make his acting skill lessen any bit. He is as brilliant as always.

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The trailer:

Writer: Steven Knight
Producer: Katie Swinden
Director: Otto Bathurst

Now…go find the series and watch it 😉