hey don't let the media tell you this election is already decided. it's exactly what they said in 2016 and we all remember how THAT worked out. 2020 could be a knife's edge election, and 18-24 year olds could easily be the deciding voice. please register to vote. think about the people that might not survive another four years of this.
ngl it’s been a hot minute since i read the series so idk if i would agree with the accuracy of this after a reread but here’s what we have atm. feel free to add on or explain any changes you’d make
okay so i recently did a full rewatch of peaky blinders because it is such a great show and i can’t wait for the next season even though we won’t get it for a while because of the pandemic. the season 5 cliffhanger ending still makes me go feral though, so i would like to go over some theories to revive the discussion and hear your thoughts on who betrayed tommy, etc.
first i'll briefly outline a few points i’m personally speculating on:
1. gina. i do not trust her!!! feel like she’s definitely an enemy
◦ i don’t think gina's pregnant. i believe she wanted to get close to the shelby/gray family for a greater purpose. with michael in america, she got her chance. gina doesn’t actually love michael, she’s using him.
notice how abruptly they got married? gina probably lied about being pregnant so as not to lose michael the key for infiltrating the peaky blinders
gina is insistent on going to the doctor’s appointment alone, not with ada. probably because there is no baby.
when polly puts her hand on gina’s stomach, gina retracts. polly has senses that tell her about pregnancies; for example, she can tell when ada is pregnant and correctly predicts that lizzie will have a baby girl. when talking about gina’s baby, polly says something like “i wish i felt that heartbeat today” so polly knows she’s not pregnant/is suspicious of gina
◦ gina knows mosley. they may be working together
gina corrects michael on mosley’s title/position before meeting him = they probably already know each other, possibly because they’re working together
gina and mosley share a glance during the ballet
the girl mosley is having intercourse with before the speech has hair that looks like gina’s, and the girl’s face is never shown. could this be gina? based on all this, i feel like it is
◦ gina is manipulating/controlling/using michael
she is always whispering in his ear, influencing him
for one, she holds out the papers of the proposed plan to restructure the company
i think gina is definitely an enemy, but i don’t think michael is truly on the same level as her. there are certainly tensions between him and the rest of the family, but i don’t think he is actually a traitor. gina is the puppet master and michael’s her victim. bringing me to my next point
2. michael— he is not the traitor.
◦ michael doesn’t want to kill any of his family members
remember when michael found out polly made a deal with luca? it’s true that he ended up not telling tommy, choosing his mom over his cousin, but he told polly, “no, we don’t do that to our own” (pretty sure that’s the exact line. feel free to correct me on anything that’s wrong, i’m going off the top of my head). michael doesn’t have any desires to kill his family. he is ambitious and would like to expand on the family business, but killing them wouldn’t really be beneficial and doesn’t seem like his style
◦ he’s a red herring. perhaps the writers are using him as a distraction
the family was suspicious of him when he first returned; he was already monitored for a period of time and tommy looked into things like his calls, meetings, etc., and he was cleared
so it may seem like he is an obvious option for being the traitor, but i think michael is no traitor, though gina the motherfucking manipulator is
◦ he’s being controlled by gina. i already went over this but just wanted to list it again here to provide as possible evidence to back this up
3. finn & billy grade (football/singer)
◦ i love little finn but he definitely shouldn’t have said anything, even if he didn’t give exact details
◦ now once finn tells him about the shooting, billy is seen reaching towards the money finn places down for him, but ends up picking up the phone instead. there are two possibilities here:
billy called someone and informed them of the planned shooting— i initially believed this and still do. billy's demeanor, especially when he reaches for the phone, seemed somewhat sus. however, i have heard about a second option...
billy calls a girl to have intercourse with as finn suggested— i can understand this point, but i just don’t know if he really wasn’t passing on information or was. on one hand, finn was vague but tommy was foiled pretty well. on the other hand, he still could have played a part in the betrayal, as there could have been numerous people involved and providing inside information, not only billy
next i want to quickly bring up some theories i’ve seen but personally idk if i completely believe in them:
◦ churchill is behind it
he didn’t want mosley to become a martyr for the fascist movement so he had barney killed before he could take the shot ?
he said cutting a weed down doesn’t always work (mosley is a weed, and tommy can’t simply kill him as a solution) ?
◦ johnny dogs is the traitor
he was in the room when tommy explained the plan in detail
aberama said only johnny knew where he was, so how did the billy boys find him ?
johnny was reluctant to go to scotland. was tommy losing his control over johnny ?
johnny was the only one not attacked. aberama was killed and arthur was targeted but survived, though johnny was spared
okay now i just want to go over these theories i’ve heard about but personally don’t believe and i’ll explain why:
• alfie is a traitor
alfie is jewish, mosley is a fascist. i don’t see why alfie would want to keep mosley alive, and i can’t see mosley wanting to team up with alfie
when alfie was listening to mosley’s speech on the radio, he said something like “whenever you’re ready tom” so it really seems like alfie was in full support of having mosley killed
alfie has betrayed tommy three times already. i think that’s enough
• michael is the traitor
already explained that he was 1) being controlled by gina, and 2) would not betray tommy this way. he may be ambitious, but he would not do this. i mean, why would he want aberama dead, arthur dead, and mosley spared? he loves his mom and polly had just gotten engaged to aberama, so ? what benefit would arthur’s death or mosley being kept alive bring? michael wants to expand the business in america, not become a fascist. i don’t think he’s responsible. his wife on the other hand...
finally i would just like to bring up some other topics for discussion:
1. camera effect— when tommy was explaining the plan in detail, there was a moment with a camera effect that made it look like there were doubles or lines i’m so bad at describing it but you know what i’m talking about right it was like someone was looking in or something like that. what was that about do you think?
i’ve heard people say it was michael and gina but personally i don’t think it was michael as i’ve already expressed how i don’t think he is the traitor, and gina- idk. seems like these more high class people hire others to do this stuff like spying. i’m not sure what to make of this...
2. who really had younger killed?
3. who is the man that tommy can’t beat?
is it tommy himself? will he commit suicide at some point? there have been several instances and some foreshadowing it seems. charlie even said it ran in the family. idk
4. plan b— gina brings up plan b after michael is shut down
gina orchestrated plan b. perhaps plan b is separating from the family to do the business in america, but gina may be hiding more
is gina a fascist? this could be a part of why she would be working with mosley. a friend mentioned seeing this theory: is gina italian american, possibly related to al capone— because he was name dropped, he may play a part later on ?
feel free to add on! agree or disagree, i’d love to continue the discussion and hear more to ponder over :)
here’s a psa from ur local iranian-american, quit pronouncing “Iran” as “eye-ran”, it’s pronounced “ee-rahn”, and when one of us corrects you? fucking. change. start correcting yourself. I get the media sucks with pronouncing it right but at least make a goddamn effort, because it feels like no one really is. ive personally told ppl over 10 times and even then they didn’t get it right.
Pronouncing it like “eye-ran” leads to sososo many racist jokes, and they’re NOT harmless, they’re annoying and rude and overall really insensitive, and that can get to a person. please stop.
