Peaky Blinders Season 1 Episode 2 Recap

[00:01:00] Tommy drove out of the city using the family car. Arthur thought they were going to the fair, but Tommy told him that there was business to attend to. Tommy brought Arthur out of the city for a business deal with Johnny. Johnny was riding with the Lee family, much to Tommy’s disapproval. As Tommy checked Johnny’s horse, Johnny took a look at the family car. Arthur asked Johnny if he was going to trade the family car for a horse. Johnny responded that his idea would be absurd. Tommy told them they were going to play two-up for the horse and the car. Two-up is a game of coin toss. Johnny and Tommy tossed two coins and allowed them to land on the ground. After the game, Johnny handed the keys to the car to Tommy. Arthur thought Tommy had lost, but he quickly told him that he had won.

[00:03:30] Tommy agreed that Johnny could have a free ride in the car if he lost. The Lee family laughed at Arthur, which irritated Tommy. He charged at them, asking if they were laughing at Arthur. Johnny immediately placed himself between Tommy and the Lee family members in order to stop a fight from breaking out. Johnny told the Lee family that Tommy’s grandfather was a King. One of the Lee brothers told Tommy that his mother was a whore. The statement enraged Tommy. A fight broke out between them, and Johnny was unable to stop them. Meanwhile, Inspector Campbell and his men were starting to search for the weapons in Birmingham. They started the search by rounding up all the communists in the area. Freddie and Ada were enjoying themselves when someone knocked on Freddie’s door. He thought it was Ada’s brothers.

[00:06:30] The man outside told him that the police were rounding up communists. Ada and Freddie got dressed and went out the window. Freddie took Ada to Mrs. Donovan in order to secure her safety. Mrs. Donovan didn’t want to be involved with the Shelby’s, but Freddie insisted she just allow Ada inside her home until the police leave. The police ransacked Freddie’s room and found a prescription for Ada. Freddie told Ada that he was going to leave town for a few days. After rounding up the communists, Inspector Campbell went to church to speak with Aunt Pol. She told Inspector Campbell to show some respect in the church by removing his hat and putting out his pipe. Campbell shook his pipe beside one of the pews and approached Aunt Pol. He tried to scare Aunt Pol by pushing her up against the wall, but she just kissed Inspector Campbell.

[00:09:30] Campbell wiped his lips as Aunt Pol apologized for misunderstanding his intentions. Campbell opened a door near the altar to let his men inside. He ordered them to turn the place upside down in search of the weapons. Campbell told Aunt Pol that they were supposed to be helping him. She responded that they couldn’t help without knowing what he was looking for. Campbell knew his conversation with Aunt Pol was a dead end, so he requested to speak with Tommy. Campbell told Aunt Pol where he would like to meet Tommy and reiterated that he wanted to speak with Tommy and no one else. Tommy and Arthur arrived in Birmingham to a commotion of people in the streets. Aunt Pol brought them up to speed and told them to go out on the streets and show their support for the people who were harassed by the police.

[00:11:30] Aunt Pol talked to Tommy about Inspector Campbell. She informed Tommy about the meeting with Campbell. Tommy didn’t want to meet Campbell while they were on the backend of things. He wanted to strike back first before agreeing for Parley. The Peaky Blinders paid everyone for their picture of the King. Tommy asked a reporter to come to meet him as they lit the pictures in the middle of the street for everyone to see. Tommy told the reporter that they were burning the King’s pictures because they didn’t want him to see the atrocities being done to them by the police from Belfast. He wanted the reporter to write what happened to them on the paper.

[00:16:00] Inspector Campbell was at his office when a call came in around midnight. The officer informed him that the call was from Winston Churchill. Campbell answered the phone, and Winston told him about the report that came in from the Birmingham newspaper. Campbell knew about the bonfire, but he didn’t think it should concern Winston. Winston responded that it concerned him because people were burning pictures of the King. He didn’t want the King being involved and humiliated by the public. Winston informed Campbell that he needed to find the weapons as soon as possible. He added that the news report was requested by a war hero named Thomas Shelby. The next day, Aunt Pol saw Ada at the breakfast table. She immediately recognized something off about Ada and asked her how far back since her last menstruation.

[00:19:00] Ada tried to lie by telling Aunt Pol that it had only been one week; however, she eventually gave in and told the truth. It had been five weeks since Ada’s last menstruation. Ada defended herself, saying it was just due to a lack of iron. Ada had prescription pills for iron, but they didn’t work. Aunt Pol took Ada to see someone and find out if she was pregnant. They were able to confirm that Ada was pregnant, but she didn’t want to reveal who the father was. Ada was worried that the Peaky Blinders would cut Freddie up once they found out. Aunt Pol told Ada that the boys wouldn’t harm her man as long as he was going to marry her. Ada didn’t know where Freddie was; she told Aunt Pol that Freddie promised he was going to come back. Aunt Pol knew the man wasn’t going to come back.

[00:21:00] Tommy brought his new horse to Curly for a saddle. Charlie was there, and he showed Tommy a bullet with his name on it. The bullet came from the Lee family; it served as their declaration of war. The whole Lee clan would rain hell down upon them. Charlie was worried that Tommy was getting in over his head with the guns and now with the Lee clan. Tommy told Charlie that the guns weren’t to be mentioned. Tommy took his horse and rode off. The horse was startled by the bar; Grace saw Tommy trying to calm his horse down. Grace knew she needed to get closer to Tommy, so she devised a plan to speak with him. Grace requested to allow singing at least once a week. Harry was too afraid to ask Tommy, so she asked him herself.

[00:23:00] Tommy didn’t answer Grace’s request; instead, he told Grace to dig out her best dress because he was going to take her to the races. Tommy went back to the betting shop where Aunt Pol was waiting for him. She told him about Ada’s pregnancy. Tommy raced out of the shop to find Ada. She was at the theater watching a movie. Tommy entered the theater and sat beside her. He immediately asked her who the father of her unborn child was. Ada responded that it was Rudolph Valentino. Tommy left his seat and requested to stop the movie. He told everyone inside the theater to leave. Tommy confronted Ada, who told her the truth. Ada told Tommy that it was Freddie Thorne. Tommy left the theater as Ada requested that the film be turned back on.

[00:28:00] Tommy went back to the betting shop. The horse finally lost in the third race. Aunt Pol arrived to talk about Ada. She found Tommy at the betting shop, where she scolded him for fixing races without asking Billy Kimber. The two of them argued about Freddie and Ada. Ada wanted to give Freddie a letter to let him know about their baby. Aunt Pol wanted to give Freddie a chance to make things right, but Tommy disagreed. He didn’t want Ada to marry a communist, let alone Freddie Thorne. Tommy told Aunt Pol that Freddie was just using Ada to get an army behind him. Tommy threw the letter into a furnace despite Aunt Pol trying to hit him with an iron poker.

[00:30:30] Ada didn’t want to have an abortion. She knew Freddie would come back for her, but Aunt Polly told her otherwise. She told Ada that, back in the day, a man also left her, and that man didn’t come back. Aunt Polly added that there are no words for men who leave women, but there will always be words for women who bear children without a husband. The words “Whore” and “Slut” will always ring out. The two of them planned to take a train to where the abortionist lives. Meanwhile, Tommy finally decided to meet Inspector Campbell. Campbell wanted to make sure that they were on the same side. Tommy just wants his business to succeed, while Campbell wants a peaceful city. Tommy agreed that a peaceful city would allow his business to thrive.

[00:34:00] With everything being said, Campbell asked Tommy if he was sleeping with communists like his sister, Ada. Campbell showed Tommy Ada’s tablet prescription. Tommy responded that he had already taken care of Ada. Tommy told Campbell about all of his demands. Campbell didn’t take him seriously until Tommy told him about the guns. Campbell tried to deny the guns, but Tommy didn’t want to play games with him. Tommy described all the guns and ammunition to Campbell. He told Campbell that if anything happened to him, the guns would find their way back to the communists in Ireland. In the end, Campbell agreed with Tommy’s demands. Tommy took Campbell’s word as his assurance and left.

[00:38:00] Inspector Campbell met with Grace inside the opera. He told Grace that Tommy was now her top priority. Campbell wanted Grace to do everything she could to get close to Tommy and locate the weapons. Grace agreed as Campbell formally included her in his operation. While Campbell enjoyed the opera, Tommy was still having trouble sleeping. Curly came running to his house and banged on his door. Tommy looked out the window and saw Curly, asking him to come with him. Tommy got up and went with Curly. They arrived at his yard, where they kept his new horse. Curly told him that the Lee’s placed a curse on the horse, and he’s going to die tomorrow. Charlie told Tommy that it’s bad to have enemies, especially gypsies.

[00:43:00] Tommy told Curly to leave as he shot the horse and killed it. Tommy walked back home and passed by the bar. He was looking for Harry, but all he got for company was Grace. She asked Tommy about his horse, so he told her that he had killed the horse. Tommy told Grace that he killed the horse because it looked at him in a bad way. The two of them discussed their date on racing day. Tommy told Grace that the King would be at the races. She thought of King George, but Tommy corrected her as it would be King Billy Kimber. Since Grace knew about King Billy, she wanted to raise her payment to three pounds. She also wanted to sing every Saturday, like how they did in Dublin. Tommy told Grace that she had never worked in Dublin.

[00:46:30] Tommy asked around for her, and no one knew her. Grace thought she blew her cover, but Tommy had another speculation about her real identity. He thought Grace was like Ada; she got pregnant and raised a child on her own. He wanted to prove his point that a woman cannot raise a child alone in the world. After their talk, Tommy requested a song from Grace. She stood up from the chair and started to sing a sad song. Grace warned Tommy that her song would break his heart. After the song, Tommy just sat there without saying a word. The next day, Aunt Pol and Ada were getting ready to board a train when they bumped into Freddie. Aunt Pol told him that Tommy would kill him. Freddie responded that Tommy was the one who tipped him off.

[00:51:00] Freddie told Ada that Tommy wanted him to take her and leave town. He asked Ada to marry him, and she accepted. Ada and Aunt Pol hugged each other excitedly. Aunt Pol told Ada and Freddie to get on the train, but he didn’t want to. Freddie told Aunt Pol that he wasn’t afraid of Tommy. He wanted to stay in Birmingham. Back at the bar, the people were having a good time as they sang songs. The Peaky Blinders were playing cards in their own private parlor when two armed men came in. Another man entered the bar and asked everyone for a man named Shelby. No one answered him, so he shot the ceiling using his pistol. The Peaky Blinders came out of the parlor while telling everyone to leave.

[00:54:00] Billy Kimber went over to talk with them because they fixed a race without his knowledge. Billy Kimber wanted them dead, but Tommy threw Billy the bullet with his name on it. He told Billy that it came from the Lee clan. Tommy wanted an alliance with Billy to take on the Lee clan as he knew that Billy was waging a war with them. Billy’s accountant told him that they should listen to Tommy’s proposal. Tommy told Billy that it would be an honor to work with him. Billy responded that no one works with him; everyone works for him. Billy threw a coin at Tommy’s feet and asked him to pick it up. Tommy hesitated, but he knew he needed to pick up the coin. He picked it up while telling his brothers to remain seated.

[00:57:30] Billy told Tommy that the coin was payment for the damages to their roof. Billy’s accountant told them where they would meet to talk. Tommy agreed, and they left. Arthur realized that Tommy wanted to have a war with the Lee clan in order to gain Billy’s trust. He still wasn’t convinced that they could take down Billy.