Peaky Blinders Season 5 Episode 3 Recap – Strategy

[00:01:00] Four nuns gathered around a table for breakfast. They were saying grace while Tommy and Polly headed their way. Tommy and Polly arrived at St. Hilda’s orphanage and made their way to the four nuns. They entered the dining hall just as the sisters finished saying grace. Tommy and Polly went to see the sisters in charge of the orphanage as the orphans had approached the Peaky Blinders regarding their mistreatment of children. The sister in charge tried to defend herself and her actions by telling them that the children in the orphanage were the worst of the worst. Polly acknowledged that she shared the same temper as the sisters; however, she didn’t vent it out on smaller victims. They had heard stories of the abuse, including a half-black child who they had washed using a different soap and a black child who had hanged herself in fear of their temper.

[00:03:30] The sister in charge pissed Tommy off by telling him that she didn’t see. Tommy broke her glasses and told her to put them on. Tommy threatened to kill her, so she didn’t have a choice but to put the broken glasses on. Polly told her that she could now see the broken world like how the children saw it. The sister looked at Tommy as he told her that they would withdraw the funding. Polly told them that they would take all the children to Shelby Company institutions. The sister in charge responded that she didn’t have the right to take the children, but Polly threatened to kill the sister in charge. Polly told her that if she ever decided to come for her, she would be wearing her high heels so that the sister would hear her footsteps approaching and have time to repent.

[00:05:00] Tommy and Polly arrived at Charlie’s scrapyard. He invited Arthur and Michael to come with him to London. Michael declined because he needed to bring Gina to the hospital. Tommy told everyone to cancel their appointments because Bonnie Gold had died, and they needed to do everything to avenge his death. He ordered Polly to visit Aberama in the hospital to offer the family’s condolences and inform him of the strategy to avenge his son’s death. Polly asked Tommy why she needed to visit Aberama. Tommy told everyone that he was in love with her, and the smell of her perfume might ease his pain. Polly turned 45 that day, so Tommy made a toast to her. In Tommy’s words, “45 and still breaking hearts.” Everyone raised their glasses for Polly. Tommy instructed Michael to turn his car around and drive them to London.

[00:07:00] Michael didn’t like how he was being treated, but as long as they doubted his loyalty, he was going to have to get used to it. Polly told him to just start the car and drive. As the three of them arrived in London, Michael asked Tommy what their strategy would be. Tommy told Michael to smile and told Arthur not to smile. He told them what Oswald’s positions were in the government. Tommy knew they had met bad men before, but he treated Oswald as the devil. Tommy received a call from his secretary and told him to send Oswald in. Oswald entered the room and immediately saw Arthur as well as Michael. He told Tommy that he’d never met with him without his family. Tommy went straight to business and asked Oswald about Jimmy McCavern. Oswald took a cigarette from Tommy’s table and asked Tommy who Jimmy was.

[00:10:00] Tommy asked Oswald what his plans were because Jimmy had killed Bonnie, and he wanted to avenge his death. Oswald strayed from the conversation and asked Tommy if Arthur was his brother. Tommy confirmed that the man standing behind him was Arthur. Oswald knew who Michael was and what he had done in America. He knew everything about him, including how he had lost all their money. Oswald attacked Arthur as well. He knew that Linda had left him and how she had been seen with other men. Arthur was a ticking time bomb that Tommy needed to address. He broke the chair’s back with just his grip. Tommy spoke gypsy and told Arthur that Oswald’s time would come. Oswald took out an envelope and handed it to Tommy. He had just been invited to be the deputy leader of a new political party.

[00:13:00] Arthur let his anger out on some of Tommy’s office furniture. Tommy told him not to let them get inside his head. Meanwhile, Linda visited Lizzie and told her about the meeting with a solicitor. They had accommodated her but threw her out the moment they realized she was a Shelby. Lizzie told Linda that they needed to approach a solicitor in London in order to divorce a Shelby man. Lizzie had found someone who was willing to represent her; however, she had chosen not to get a divorce. She told Linda that she had chosen this life and not the other way around. Linda had found another man, but Lizzie didn’t want her to make a final decision. The man had a daughter, and she would lose her father if Tommy or Arthur got wind of their relationship. Linda told Lizzie that nothing had happened between them, but no one would believe that story.

[00:15:00] Lizzie was grateful for Tommy; she used to be a whore, and now she was living a good life. Linda couldn’t bear what she had become with Arthur. She used to be so holy, but she had been tainted with all the evilness that ran through the Shelby family. Meanwhile, Polly finally visited Aberama in the hospital while Ada convinced Gina to come with her for a checkup. Gina didn’t want to come with Ada, but Ada gave her enough reasons to finally agree. Ada left Karl with Ben as they played chess at home. Ben couldn’t believe that Karl was so good at chess. He boasted about being a chess champion at school. With school being the topic, Karl opened up about racism as he told Ben that black people and Jews were the worst kinds of people.

[00:19:00] One of Karl’s teachers had called one of his classmates “the little Jew boy.” Ben told Karl that there were some stupid people that told other people some very stupid things. Ben asked Karl what he thought about the topic. Karl surprised Ben with his answer; he told Ben that he didn’t want him to be his father because his father was white and in heaven. Karl ended the game with a checkmate and left after knocking down the black King. Polly broke Aberama out of the hospital and brought him to a gypsy camp. She told Aberama to let Tommy avenge his son’s death. Aberama took a rose and gave it to Polly as his birthday gift. He told Polly that he had one more killing left to do before he called it quits. Aberama exited Polly’s car into the arms of his sister.

[00:22:00] As soon as Polly left, Aberama gave the order to find their allies so that he could hunt down the Billy Boys. Arthur, Tommy, and Michael went to Ada’s house to find Ben. They went over to talk business while Ada was away. Ben requested to talk privately with Tommy, so he ordered Michael out of the room. Arthur stayed. Ben wanted him to leave as well; however, Tommy told him that Arthur would stay. Tommy gave him the letter from Oswald and wanted him to hand it over to his superiors. Ben refused at first but gave in eventually. Tommy returned home to find Johnny Dogs busy with one of his maids.

[00:28:00] The maid apologized to Tommy thinking that she would be fired, but Tommy told her that the only way to get fired from his household was burning toast or talking to the police. He told his maid to go to bed while he talked to Johnny Dogs. On her way out, Tommy told her that whatever Johnny Dogs had told her was a lie. Johnny told Tommy that Aberama had left Birmingham to hunt down the Billy Boys. Aberama had left the hospital in Polly’s Bentley, which didn’t surprise Tommy. He was angry at Aberama’s decision, so he sent Johnny Dogs with Arthur to find Aberama despite Johnny’s disapproval.

[00:30:00] Gina visited Polly at Michael’s request. She gave her a small gift, a figurine of Lady Liberty. Gina wanted to leave Birmingham with Michael and the baby, but she needed Polly’s help. Michael wanted Polly to leave Birmingham and join them in New York. Gina wanted the baby to be born in New York like her. Meanwhile, Tommy met with Jessie at the Garrison pub. They talked politics, and she invited Tommy to be their guest speaker at one of the rallies she was organizing. Jessie wanted Tommy to speak against fascism, but Tommy was drunk, and he couldn’t speak clearly. He ended up spilling champagne all over the table, which prompted Jessie to leave and have the talk some other time.

[00:35:00] Tommy arrived at home, where Lizzie was waiting for him in bed. Frances told Tommy that Linda had come over to visit Lizzie. Lizzie was amazed at how loyal Frances was to Tommy. Tommy explained that people were loyal to those who paid their wages. Tommy knew about Lizzie’s call to a solicitor, but he still asked her about it. Lizzie confessed that she had called a solicitor, but she put the phone down even before there were talks about divorce. Lizzie told Tommy that she had decided to stay with him. She undressed before Tommy’s eyes. He reminisced about the times that he had used to pay her for sex. Tommy laughed and asked Lizzie when the last time was that she had had to worry about her pay. Lizzie pointed out that she was loyal to him because he paid her wages.

[00:37:00] Lizzie asked Tommy not to sleep with anyone in their house nor to sleep with anyone before or after holding Ruby. Tommy made a counteroffer by telling Lizzie that she was his property. After sex, Tommy called Arthur regarding Linda’s location. He wanted Arthur to bring Aberama home before they set out to find Linda, but Arthur refused. He wanted to find Linda first, and he wouldn’t stop bugging Tommy until he told him what he knew. Tommy regretted calling Arthur, but he gave him the information anyways. Arthur promised Tommy that he was going to speak to Linda’s friend before going north to find Aberama. Arthur ended the call before Tommy could tell him off. Lizzie entered the office to ask who was on the phone. Tommy told her that it was Arthur and that he had told him about Linda’s friend.

[00:41:00] Tommy left Lizzie, telling her that if someone married a Shelby, they stayed married. The next day, Arthur went over to the man who was supposedly hiding Linda. He told Arthur that Linda didn’t want to see him. His response pissed Arthur, and he proceeded to beat the man up. He broke a chair’s leg and used it as a weapon against the defenseless man. He asked the man again for Linda’s location, but the man wouldn’t tell him. Arthur took his cap off and sliced him. Arthur implied that he was a good man. He added that his own hands belonged to the devil. He immediately left the scene before anyone saw what he had done.

[00:45:00] Arthur went to Charlie’s scrapyard to get supplies for their trip up north. Charlie kept on asking Arthur why they were going north to Scotland, but Arthur didn’t tell him anything. Curly arrived, and Charlie sarcastically told him that Arthur was going up north and needed hand grenades. Curly didn’t understand the sarcasm and asked Arthur how many grenades he needed. Charlie advised Arthur to find a way to get Linda back because he was dead without her. Meanwhile, Aberama and his men posed as road workers to intercept the Billy Boys. The Billy Boys wanted to take over their operation, but Aberama wasn’t going to surrender their equipment easily. The leader of the group approached him, and Aberama immediately slashed his face. A fight broke out, and the Billy Boys lost.

[00:47:00] Aberama asked the remaining men to give Jimmy McCavern a message. He told them that he had a bullet with Jimmy’s name on it, and he intended to use it against him. Aberama poured boiling tar on one of the Billy Boys to finalize his message. Meanwhile, Tommy joined Oswell to kill a few pheasants. They discussed business and finalized their talk with a cigar. The next day, Tommy went back to the House of Commons to call Ben Younger. He told Ben about his agreement with Oswald. Tommy asked for assurance that he could continue being an informant. Tommy ended his call with Ben after the confirmation. The Billy Boys were marching on Aberama’s doorstep when Arthur woke him up. He told Aberama that the Billy Boys were coming after him. He wondered how Arthur or the Billy Boys had found his camp.

[00:54:00] Arthur told Aberama that he had given his position away in order to leave him without any choice. Arthur left the engine running so that they could leave and return to Birmingham as soon as possible. Jimmy and the Billy Boys arrived at an empty camp. They searched the place for Aberama. One of the men opened the wagon, and a grenade dropped in front of him. Jimmy told everyone to take cover as the grenade exploded, taking the wagon with it. Jimmy enjoyed the sight of a burning wagon. He accepted the invitation of war from the Peaky Blinders.