Fantastical Musings

That episode though! Now THAT was a season finale. Wow! Just wow! If that's not a cliffhanger, I don't know what is. All I can say is Grace better not be dead. I get that maybe she and Thomas can't be together (and I don't think anyone wants to see them run off to New York together), but her death would just destroy him, and that would be painful to watch. If she is dead, I don't think they would introduce another love interest for Tommy. I think she'll be like the only woman he ever loved, like Jax and Tara in Sons of Anarchy (which apparently is my favorite show to compare this show to). Alternatively, I suppose it could be Campbell who is dead, which would be extremely satisfying. I think I've said it before, but I HATE that character, even more so now that we've seen him abuse a prostitute. I mean, we already had to lose Danny in this episode, the least the writers could do is kill Campbell. Speaking of Danny, I am HEARTBROKEN that he died...

Oh my goodness, this episode KILLED me! My heart MELTED while I was watching this. It is now a puddle of goo on the floor. There were just too many emotions! My cardiovascular system couldn't handle it all. When Tommy and Grace are in bed together, and he asks her if she'll help him, I died. Like, give that man an Emmy right now. That was such a good acting moment, I can't even describe it. When he's asking her to be part of his life, you really feel his relief at finding someone he can open up to and his anguish about all of the burdens he's carrying. It's a really powerful moment. I mean, if Grace wasn't in love with him then (although I think she was), she would have been after that! In fact, I don't know how any human being with emotions could have said no to him in that moment. Plus, that scene was just designed to make your heart flutter with the dancing and the violin music. And who didn't enjoy seeing Cillian Murphy shirtless? He's drea...

So, this episode was interesting because we finally got to learn more about John. Out of the brothers, I feel like he's the most neglected in terms of screen time and exposition (except for Finn, and it took me a while to realize that he was actually their brother, so that's saying something). Anyway. In this episode, John decides he wants to marry a prostitute named Lizzie Stark (who also happens to be the prostitute Tommy has been seeing since he got back from the war. Awkward, huh?). They really seem to have genuine feelings for each other (or, at least, John has feelings for Lizzie; it's a bit harder to tell how she really feels), so it kind of sucks that Tommy decided to bust up that relationship. Basically, Tommy reveals to John that Lizzie has continued to work after becoming engaged to him. I feel like it's a bit harsh for John to dump her over that. Like, let's keep it real, she needs to support herself. How is she supposed to earn money if she can...

I love that Thomas' expression of affection for Grace is telling Kimber that she has the clap. It was so over the top it was almost funny; although, in a good way. In all seriousness though, I enjoyed this episode to PIECES. It was great. (Except for the part when Arthur cut off that guy's ear; that was a bit much for me). I feel like we're really getting into the meat of the plot in this episode. There are a lot of machinations going on between the PBs, the IRA, the police, etc, etc. We get to see Tommy execute his plot to get in Billy Kimber's good graces by protecting his bookies from the Lee family, which seems like a pretty smart strategy to me. I'm not super interested in the plots, alliances, and betrayals aspect of the show. To me, the interesting part of the show is the interpersonal relationships and the way the characters are developed. Speaking of character development, we learn a lot about Tommy's experiences in the war in this episode (and,...

Well, I guess we know why they call them Peaky Blinders now. I can't lie, when I first saw the hats with razor blades in episode one, I didn't think it was particularly menacing, maybe because it looks a bit funny. However, after watching them cut up the Lee family at the beginning of this episode, I am appropriately menaced by the Peaky Blinders. Seriously though, this was such 👏 a 👏good 👏episode! I LOVED it. If you need a recap, we basically just learned more about the Shelby family in this episode and continued some of the plot lines we started in episode one. The PBs get into a fight with the Lee family after Tommy stops by the fair to get a horse. When they return, they find that the police have raided the communists and smashed up the bars they protect, all in search of the guns that the PBs stole. Thomas retaliates by burning photos of the king, telling a reporter that the residents of Small Heath didn't want the king to see the things the police are doing t...

So, I have to admit that people have been telling me to watch Peaky Blinders for years, but, somehow, I never got around to it, which is strange because, on the surface,  Peaky Blinders  is everything I like in television. It's a period drama, set in England, with a dark, brooding, leading man; I should love it, right? Well, I'm not sure why I resisted watching it for so long because this show is FAN-TASTIC. I mean, I've only seen the first episode at this point, but I can already tell that it is really and truly wonderful. First of all, where has Cillian Murphy been all my life? How is he like the best actor ever, and I've never heard of him? Maybe he's big in the UK and not so much in the US? Or maybe I've been living under a rock? I don't know. (After I saw him in this show, I did look up his filmography, and I realized that I must have seen him in Girl with a Pearl Earring, In the Heart of the Sea,  and Cold Mountain , but I haven't seen any of ...