16. Nov, 2017

Families, eh?

"Tis the season to be jolly, deck the halls with...what's that?  The Mafia are coming?  But...Christmas Day, my dear.  Christmas Day!" as Bob Cratchit might have admonished the hitmen.  In the land of Shelby though, between red right hands on the soundtrack and black hands on their Christmas cards, there's been a whole lot of finger painting going on and it all points to one thing, revenge attacks.

Leader Thomas (Tommy) Shelby, has his work cut out.  When you've got your family (most of whom are a few hinges short of a bracket to start with) to the hangman's noose due to a minor timing miscalculation, they're not that keen to trust you again.  The women have all turned to drink and the men, having got past that in the main in the previous two series, have had to dry out and take to cocaine (Michael), driving the old folk about (Arthur) and shooting birds (bloody birds, as John says in disgust, having been used to bigger targets).   In fact,

"Fuck him," and "Fuck you," was the somewhat unseasonal response to his appeals for unity and a family meet.

I didn't quite get the logic of this, as surely confining them all in one place will set them up for a getting them in one go hit, whereas at present they're all bonkersing around in their various mansions, where there are plenty of places to hide.  Still, I'm not a gangland leader, am I, so what do I know?

Tommy's next love interest has been signalled a mile away, before she even comes on screen.  There's a union woman about, apparently.   Feisty?  Unconventional?  Challenging the Shelby ego and staring him right in his bonny blue eyes?  Yes, she's definitely going to be one of Tommy's brief encounters.  He gets an almost serious one per series, in between hookers (they're there to show he's still flinty hearted after the death of Grace, the defunct missus). While Tommy's not one to move on, being cheerful central, he still puts it about a bit. Grace is  hanging around the ether in the form of a photo, but at present we're spared flashbacks.  I never liked her anyway.  

They're going back to Birmingham, which was mainly a welding spot back in the day, it seems, arcs of sparks galore.  John and Michael have already been shot down in what passes for their prime, so I expect that means Arthur gets his murder balls back in the next episode when he and Tommy find out.  What say Tommy says,

"I told you so."  That'll annoy them all, won't it?

'And do they know it's Christmas over there.......?'  There's plenty to eat in Tommy's kitchen slaughterhouse but it's fine, the gypsies are coming.  Surveying the death scene, the clean up gypsy remarks, as if to say, well what else would you expect,

"Tommy, I thought your gaming days were over."

He's clearly delighted for him that they're not.