Peaky Blinders was disappointing as a standalone season

I am a huge fan of Peaky Blinders so I was excited when it returned for its fifth season a few weeks ago. However, I feel a bit deflated about the whole season now it’s over.

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

It just basically served as a tease for the next season. There was a lot of filler and it felt like chapter one of a two-chapter series. A season of TV is generally supposed to conclude the events that developed during it and lay the groundwork for the next one, but this offered no resolution and purely did the groundwork.

I have no doubt that the next season will be explosive. It’s certainly heading that way, with Oswald Mosley (Sam Claflin) still pushing his fascist agenda, Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) losing it and killing everyone in his way, his nephew Michael Gray (Finn Cole) plotting to take over the company, and Polly Gray (Helen McCrory) handing in her resignation. We also need to find out who killed Aberama Gold (Aidan Gillen) and thwarted their plot to assassinate Mosley. There is certainly a lot going on, but it’s all to serve the next season – which we probably have to wait ages for.

And to be honest, this series, in general, hasn’t been as exciting or dramatic as some of the previous ones. With the exception of the final two episodes – which featured a hilarious yet ridiculous return from Alfie Solomons (Tom Hardy) – the season has been fairly slow. I struggled to get into it and I didn’t feel gripped until the penultimate episode. I was excited for the finale because it felt like it was building towards an epic climax but I was left feeling underwhelmed, despite the last-minute shockers.

So as much as I love Peaky Blinders, I was disappointed with the fifth season from a standalone perspective. The sixth season better make up for it!