Is Peaky Blinders the Thomas Shelby Show?

Peaky Blinders is a historical fictional criminal drama series that premiered in 2013. The story is set in Birmingham, England, amid world wars. Peaky Blinders is popularly known for the character of Thomas Shelby. The series is progressively making its impact as it steadily gains viewer interest.

You’re about to read

• Is Peaky Blinders your must story?
• What makes Peaky Blinders stand out?
• Is Peaky Blinders the Thomas Shelby show?
• Is most criticism valid?

Average rating from different platforms.

 

Is Peaky Blinders your must story?

It’s a must-watch if you tend to get invested in a character rather than the story, which the majority of the audience does. It is geared towards a wide audience, not just a specific segment of people unless you’re under a certain age group or you don’t prefer male lead roles.

Spoiler alert, if you haven’t watched the show. The spoilers here are not story-related but reveal the overall structure, which is a spoiler nonetheless.

What makes Peaky Blinders stand out?

• Character Centric

Many stories are character-driven, with a single character as a driving force of the narration, but some are character-centric, where the whole story banks on a particular character and everything hinges on that role, usually the main character. This character has the ability to make or break the plot.
It’s a relatively easy way of storytelling where the biggest share of attention is on the main character regardless of the plot. However, the character needs to pull this off. The outstanding performance of Thomas Shelby overshadows plot-related flaws. And the role is designed in such a way that the role description can get quite oxymoronic or contradicting, making the protagonist enigmatic throughout the plot.

• Authentic Character Arc

The fascinating thing about this series is that there isn’t much of a character arc. It runs counter to the conventional character development found in many fictional works. The story takes place post-character development phase -in this case, after returning from the war.
This resulted in preserving the personalities of the characters making them authentic, which went along with the plot, as it was set during the World Wars when ambitious individuals craved power. And to top it off, people don’t want their characters to turn into something other than what they liked them for.

• Style

Peaky Blinders is acclaimed for its stylized gangsterism and for glorifying the characters. However, it’s the right call for the show, as the tone may easily drift toward historical biography. Stylization elevated the actions, making historical events more compelling and the protagonist a hero. It also fits really well with the idea of fictional characters in historical events.

• Inspiration

Thomas Shelby is not an ideal role model, but his character embodies values, ambitions, and triumphs. The character exhibits bad guy traits and an alpha male personality, which is quite appealing to the audience. And overcoming the odds with a “rags to riches” plot makes it quite inspiring.

Is Peaky Blinders a Thomas Shelby Show?

It’s evident that all these points, in some way or another, refer to the role of Thomas Shelby.
This is a clear indication that the series heavily relies on the character of Thomas Shelby, making it a Thomas Shelby show.

Criticism

Peaky Blinders is not a particularly criticized show, although there are a few criticisms from a minor section of the audience that is worth mentioning. First off, a few of the seasons have been critiqued, which is understandable. The series had its share of ups and downs. There were inconsistencies with some seasons concerning the story, especially the mid-seasons, which were aimed to elevate the protagonist rather than the storyline, which didn’t serve much other than just proving the stakes by killing some main characters.
Some disliked the style and glorification of characters, but as previously stated, it fairly benefits the series giving it an edge over the other shows with similar themes.
Finally, the criticism of making the protagonist invincible and over-smart is a slight stretch of a remark considering the overall plot. The reason why it’s questionable is that many times the tension that was built in those high-stakes situations didn’t match the unraveling of overcoming them and was unreasonable at times which is a fair criticism.