The Road to Hell
Tommy arrives in Chinatown and sells opium to his brother. The owner is in big trouble, so Tommy arrives with a bomb, counting down from 4 minutes. ..
Tommy forces the couple to stop selling opium. If they disobey him, things are going to go badly. He drops a bag of opium in the water outside, which explodes, sending a wave up onto the shop windows.
This grenade incident compares strikingly to the one with Alfie Solomons in season 2. You can really feel how unhinged Tommy has become and that much is especially apparent here.
Tommy gathers the family together and presents the newest member of the family, Erasmus. Or Duke, as we’ve come to know him. I say know, there’s been 2 or 3 scenes involving him. Anyway, this episode we do learn a bit more about him, including what his dreams are as Tommy preps him for the next generation.
Linda is not ready to forgive Arthur yet. She does, however, admit that God may be ready to forgive him. In order to speed this along, Tommy offers her a cheque for £10,000 in exchange for looking after Arthur and “helping him on the road to redemption.” She agrees, but vehemently refuses to sleep with him.
Tommy returns to Liverpool docks and sees Mr. Stagg following what happened with Arthur. He’s still due a beating but for now, he’s to oversee a shipment of Thompson machine guns from Boston. Tommy suggests switching over the supply lines to Liverpool too, making Mr. Stagg a rich man. For now, Tommy hands over an engraved bullet with his name on it.
That night, Lizzie and Tommy slept together. The thing is, the event was unfulfilling; unloved. Tommy had a book of regrets and Lizzie’s name was at the very top. He’d never let her in, not really, and as Tommy mentioned how he regretted putting her through all of this, Lizzie called him out for “checking boxes” and not telling him everything. ..
Tommy has always had a plan, but he hasn’t told her he’s going to die. “It’s like the clock’s stopped ticking and I’m waiting for the bomb to explode,” She says, which is a metaphorically metaphorical way of framing the bomb from the beginning of the episode.
Billy is at Shelby HQ when a referee for a big match with Birmingham is not swayed by Arthur. So he forces Billy to kill him. Billy is shell-shocked though, despite being the mole in the ranks. After the deed though, he hugs his knees in the bathroom. Until Jack Nelson suddenly shows up.
Jack Nelson, an American agent working undercover in enemy territory, grabs a local informant by the crotch and forces him to submit. If the informant doesn’t cooperate, Nelson is likely to castrate him. Pleading with the informant, Billy eventually surrenders. Nelson has plans for Tommy - his associates are eager to strike - but Billy’s job is to serve as Arthur’s handler. ..
Tommy tells Duke about his plans for his sons. He wants one in the light and the other in the dark. It’s clear Duke is being set up for the dark, potentially to take over the family business after him but we shall see.
Tommy meets with Jack Nelson again, who nonchalantly points out that the currency here is blood not money. Oswald and Diana arrive too, intending to say “one last goodbye.”
Tommy slept with Diana earlier in the night on a barge and in front of everyone, she called out Lizzie for “having each day what she’s sampled once.” Hearing this, Lizzie up and leaves, but this seems to be the plan from those at the table on purpose. A “necessary bit of housekeeping.” As Oswald claims. Lizzie doesn’t belong at the table of course, but Tommy realizes in that moment that he is just like them, “there could be no sadder ending, eh?” ..
Michael dreams of Polly and her promise of blood being spilled and a war coming for the family. One among them will die and as Michael awakens, one of Nelson’s associates show to help get him out. But only if he kills Tommy Shelby. Michael agrees to the terms.
The Episode Review
This is a haunting rendition of Red Right Hand and it may be fitting given its significance when it comes to this rather subdued but gripping episode. I do think the show has not hit as hard as those earlier seasons, but there’s enough here to sink your teeth into nonetheless.
Tommy Shelby has been conspicuously absent from the family life for a while now, and after losing John and Polly, the whole family seems to be waiting for him to make his move. Characters like Finn have gone completely unaccounted for this year while everything actually looks to be building up toward an inconclusive ending in preparation for the coming feature film that’s due to drop in the near future.
There are some good elements to this show, but it’s clear that the final season has been uneven. Jack Nelson’s intense scene in the bathhouse is a standout example, but it’s been rare to see this level of violence in the final season. ..
The war is coming though and it looks like the final episode is going to be an explosive one. Roll on next week! ..
