"Gold" is the third episode of the sixth series of Peaky Blinders and the thirty-third episode overall. It aired on March 13, 2022.
Synopsis[]
Faced with devastating news, Tommy goes on a quest to discover who it was that placed a curse on his family. In Birmingham, Ada takes charge, and Arthur takes on some new recruits.
Plot[]
Ruby is raced to the hospital. Tommy is urged to hand over his daughter, who undergoes some tests to find out what’s wrong. It turns out Ruby has a tubercular infection in her left lung. Thankfully, the doctors have caught it early and will do more tests to try and help cure Ruby. However, she may have to undergo a gold salts treatment and the catch here is that she’ll have to become more ill first before there’s even a hope for her to recover. It’s a horrible disease and something that threatens to completely tip Tommy over the edge. He’s still clinging to the notion that this is the gypsy curse, and decides to try and strike a bargain with Esme to save Ruby’s life.
Tommy rides out to meet the Lee family, meeting with Esme. Apparently she knew he’d be coming, having heard rumblings of him asking about. She got curious, and in private Tommy says that Polly was the one who told her to find Esme, at least in his dreams anyway. Esme is shocked to hear she’s passed, eventually admitting that there are a lot of people who hate Tommy. In order to figure out what’s happening, Tommy puts his trust in Esme, who leads him off to a “wild old place.”
In Tommy’s absence, he tasks Ada with stepping up to the plate for the next five days. That’s tough going because the first course of action comes from a game of verbal chess with Diana, Oswald’s mistress. The pair trade scathing assessments of each other, with Ada more than holding her own. When Oswald arrives, he’s not exactly thrilled at Tommy’s absence but does perk up when he learns that Tommy has arranged an invitation for him and Jack Nelson, who is also present in the room, along with Gina. Ada eventually reveals where Tommy is, going on to admit that she’s done some research on Nelson’s past too, including how his siblings actually succumbed to consumption in the past. With the conversation swinging in her favour, at least for now, the invitation is given, which happens to be an extension to Tommy’s place for a more formal meeting.
Ada arrives at Shelby Limited next, immediately throwing her weight around, making some changes. Arthur has locked himself in the safe while Ada has her reservations about Isiah, deciding to test him. That comes from sending him out to Liverpool to deal with a particularly bad leak. Some of the opium in storage at the Salthouse docks is being stolen, organized to be taken by the bucketful by a union convenor by the name of Hayden Stagg.
Ada has instructions on where to find him – and when. Isiah is to take Arthur with him, who’s only ten days sober. Wandering into a warehouse full of opium isn’t exactly going to be easy for Arthur. Then again, Arthur’s name is well-known in these parts and reputation alone should be enough to shake things up. In return, Ada won't tell Tommy that Isiah has been laying private bets on races that they've fixed.
Isiah invites his cousins from Alum Rock along for the ride, promising to look after Arthur as they show up to ruffle some feathers. Arthur is still unhinged, but he remains focused on finding Hayden Stagg, and find him they do. However, Arthur is compromised by Hayden, who brings up his addiction and how word of this has traveled up the canal. Hayden has been in Arthur's shoes and offers him some words of wisdom: “Don't build mountains. Walk like it's a flat plane.” Arthur takes his words to heart and decides not to physically beat the man after all. He orders a frustrated Isiah to leave with him and spare Stagg any punishment for his actions.
Out in the mountains, Tommy is taken on his wild goose chase to a graveyard, and to the grave of a young girl called Connie Barwell, who died when she was seven from the cursed sapphire that Tommy gave her aunt and was later given to Connie. Esme believes it’s her mother, Evadne Barwell, who has cursed Tommy, waiting until Ruby turned the age of her deceased daughter to inflict maximum punishment so Tommy would “know how it feels.” Tommy flies completely off the handle, desperate to bargain for Ruby’s life by offering £10k Evadne and to build a monument for her daughter. He also offers payment to Esme in order to find the mother. Esme wants gold though, given that money is uncertain and can lose value at any moment. And of course, Tommy knows exactly where to find it.
When Tommy shows up at the hospital, Lizzie is there waiting for him. She’s furious, pointing out that Tommy wasn’t there… when Ruby died, at 5:17 PM.
Cast[]
Main Cast[]
- Cillian Murphy as Thomas Shelby
- Natasha O'Keeffe as Lizzie Stark
- Paul Anderson as Arthur Shelby
- Sophie Rundle as Ada Thorne
- Anya Taylor-Joy as Gina Gray
Recurring Cast[]
- Aimee-Ffion Edwards as Esme Shelby
- Amber Anderson as Diana Mitford
- James Frecheville as Jack Nelson
- Stephen Graham as Hayden Stagg
- Sam Claflin as Oswald Mosley
- Daryl McCormack as Isiah Jesus
- Gemma Page as Edna the Secretary
- Jack Parr as Dougie Bill
- Stefan Healy as Gilly Ray
- Ciaran Clancy as Joe Ray
- Daniel Boyarsky as Gypsy in Esme's Camp
- Elexi Walker as Mrs. Dorothy Cox
- Gary Bates as Ruby's Doctor
- Christopher Wright as Eaton Sq. Butler
- Winston Branche as Docker
- Orla McDonagh as Ruby Shelby
Uncredited Cast[]
- Kevin Jay-Greenwood as Ruby's Priest
- Liam Scholes as Messenger
Trivia[]
- When Ada is having a drink at the Garrison, in one shot many bottles are shown, and one of them has a peculiar cork: a Red Right Hand. This is a nod to the theme song of the series.
- Diana tells Ada that "If this was 1919, you would have come through my front door carrying a revolver and a Molotov cocktail and would happily have blown off my head." This series is set in 1933-1934, a good 5-7 years before the phrase "Molotov cocktail" was coined.
Soundtrack[]
- 5.17 by Thomas Yorke
- Kill Them With Kindness by Idles
Quotes[]
TBA
Gallery[]
TBA