Episode 2.1

Episode 2.1
Information
Season 2, Episode 2
Air date	October 2, 2014
Written by	Steven Knight
Directed by	Colm McCarthy
Episode guide
Previous	Episode 1.6
Next	Episode 2.2

"Episode 2.1" is the first episode of the second series of Peaky Blinders and the seventh episode overall. It aired on October 2nd, 2014.

Synopsis

Peaky Blinders picks up two years later, in 1921. Thomas reveals to his family that he plans to expand their successful business to London. Polly tries to find out what happened to her children, while Thomas, Arthur and John visit a jazz club run by Darby Sabini.

Summary

Thomas and Ada, at Freddie Thorne's funeral

Thomas and Polly

The cliffhanger from the previous episode is satisfied by Grace Shelby shooting Inspector Campbell.

The episode then jumps two years forward in time, putting the series in Small Heath, Birmingham, 1922.

Two women wearing black veils and pushing strollers walk through the streets of Small Heath and leave their strollers in front of the pub. As they depart from the pub, it explodes behind them.

At Freddie Thorne's funeral, Thomas Shelby speaks a few words. After the burial, Thomas asks Ada if she'll stick around now that Freddie's gone. She just wants to go home to London.

Polly and Thomas go to their ruined pub and find confetti all over the place.

In an effort to find out who blew up his pub, Thomas heads over to the Black Lion. There, he’s led away by a young boy to another building, patted down, then taken into a back room where he’s threatened into murdering an Irishman by two members of the IRA, a woman named Irene O’Donnell and another man.

Thomas gets a tip that an "old friend" of theirs is passing through the city, and he's been made head of a secret department—the Irish desk.

Inspector Campbell, now Major Campbell, struggles down stone steps, leaning on his cane. He speaks to a man about the prisoner who is to be hanged in a matter of minutes. The prisoner swears that he's working for Campbell, but Campbell refuses to acknowledge that he knows him.

Later, Thomas calls a family meeting, and tells them that he plans to expand his bookies' business to London. Esme, John's wife, warns of the dangers given the existing racial turf wars, which goes unheeded.

Thomas discusses his plans for the London expansion and Newmarket Day the next day with Polly. He says that all the London bosses will be at the races and it's a good opportunity to show their hand. The Italian gangs and the Jewish gangs in London have been at war for six months, with the Jewish gangs having the worst of it. Thomas wants to ally with them so that they can have a foothold in the south of London.

Thomas goes to Lizzie Stark for sex and, after he's paid, she tells him that she wishes he wouldn't pay her one time so that it would feel like they were just normal people.

Polly goes to a Romani medium seeking news of the children who were taken from her by the Parish in infancy. The medium tells her that her daughter has died.

Thomas kills a blacksmith before picking up his brothers, Arthur and John to go to London.

Esme asks Polly if she's against all of this too. Esme tells her that she heard that she went to see a medium and that the woman is a charlatan who tells people what they already believe. Polly holds a knife to her throat and swears that if she tells anyone in the family that she'll cut her.

The boys bury the blacksmith after they stop to take a piss break in the countryside.

The Eden Club

In London, Thomas, Arthur and John go to the Eden Club, a jazz club run by Darby Sabini, who controls half of the southern race courses, where they are anything but welcome.

Campbell visits Churchill and asks for permission to proceed preparing Thomas for the 'bigger task.' He plans to see him hanged after they're done with him.

Thomas visits Lizzie and tells her cover her eyes, then instructs her to type a line on the typewriter. He then offers her a job as a secretary for him, and that way she can stop being a prostitute.

Their raid gains the attention of the other faction in London, the Jews, who invite him to a sit down. However, Thomas is set upon by Sabini and his thugs, who slice the inside of Thomas’s mouth with the sharp end of a razor, while his sister Ada is also accosted. Thomas is only saved by the reappearance of Chester Campbell.

Trivia

• The episode reveals that Freddie Thorne has died of pestilence during the two year time jump between 1919/1920 — 1922.
• John says that Shelby Limited earns about £150 per day which is the equivalent of about £6,748.48 the twenty-first century.

Quotes

Thomas Shelby (to Irene O’Donnell): "I am chosen. Can the chosen one smoke?"

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Thomas Shelby (to the Peaky Blinders): "This company is a modern enterprise and believes in equal rights for women."

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Polly Shelby (to Thomas Shelby): "Your mother said, 'It's his cleverness that'll kill him.'"

Polly Shelby (to Thomas Shelby): "Do you know it was a fine speech you made in there, about this company believing in equal rights for women. But when it comes to it, you don't listen to a word we say. Maybe you don't trust us. She was one woman, Thomas. Maybe it's time you forgot about her."

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Polly Shelby: "You tell a soul in this family and I swear I will cut you."

Esme Shelby: "I don't need a knife to stop me telling secrets given in confidence. It is a matter of honor."

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Arthur Shelby: "I think I lost a tooth. I'll have none left at this rate. Some holiday this is!"

Soundtrack

"To Bring You My Love" – PJ Harvey
"Rocking Horse" – The Dead Weather
"Danny Boy" – Johnny Cash