Abhiroop Das
Helmed by Tom Harper, ‘Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man‘ steps into the familiar world of the ‘Peaky Blinders’ series, except this time, nothing quite seems as it used to be. In the five years since Tommy Shelby handed the reins over to his son, Duke, things have gone from bad to worse. With World War II reaching its height, no corner of the nation is safe, and Tommy is left with no choice but to return to the life he swore to leave behind. As he navigates the half-destroyed streets of Birmingham and juggles personal losses, Tommy finds himself faced with his most challenging enemy yet. Between these two titans stands Duke, who is still unsure which side of the story is his true calling. At the end of this period crime drama movie, Tommy’s ever-so-gray legacy is put to the ultimate test, with the future of his endearing gang of thugs at risk. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Peaky Blinders The Immortal Man Plot Synopsis
‘Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man’ begins at a concentration camp in Germany, where prisoners are being forced to print hundreds of millions of pounds in fake currency. The plan is to flood the British economy with counterfeits, all to bring them down and secure a German victory in World War II, but that cannot happen without some insider help. John Beckett, a British politician, promises to get organized criminals to do his bidding, which is where the Peaky Blinders come in. It has been five years since Tommy Shelby left the business and became a recluse, with only Johnny Dogs staying by his side. We learn that Tommy has taken to writing, and though he tries to jot down every thought in his mind, he is constantly interrupted by dream-like visions of the dead, most recurrently his late daughter, Ruby.
Thus, when Ada makes a surprise visit to his estate and urges him to come back, Tommy is prompt to shut down her offer, fearing his own instability. Ada has very urgent reasons to bring Tommy back to Birmingham, as in his absence the Peaky Blinders appear to have reverted to, or rather surpassed, the decadence they displayed in the 1910s. Duke, their leader, hardly thinks twice before looting from national resources, and Ada fears that his current trajectory will almost certainly result in his death. What she doesn’t know, however, is that Duke has already made a deal with Beckett to ship 70 million pounds in fake currency. Elsewhere, Tommy is shocked by the arrival of a Gypsy woman named Kaulo, who claims to be Zelda’s twin sister and a bona fide psychic.
In the process of convincing him and opening his mind, Kaulo reveals some of his darkest secrets, including the fact that he killed Arthur and then framed it as a suicide, before leaving the Peaky Blinders for good. The incident left him broken beyond repair, but Kaulo convinces him to fulfill his duty and save his son from impending doom, and in return, she offers him genuine peace. While Tommy prepares to return to the life of crime, if only briefly, Ada decides to turn in Duke herself, with evidence of his latest robberies. Beckett commands Duke to murder his own aunt as a test of loyalty, and when he ultimately fails to pull the trigger, Beckett finishes the job himself.
All of this happens moments before Tommy can return to the city, and that alone crushes him. However, vowing to make things right, he confronts his son and then nearly kills Beckett in a shootout before the latter escapes. This sets the stage for a larger, definitive showdown, one that cannot happen without Duke’s participation in tricking Beckett to lower his guard. Meanwhile, Kaulo secretly tells Duke that he must kill his father after all of this is over, as it might be the only way of restoring the order of things. As the plan comes into effect, the Peaky Blinders storm Beckett’s warehouse with guns and explosives, all the while Tommy and Duke have to make the most important choices of their lives.
Peaky Blinders The Immortal Man Ending: Why Does Duke Kill Tommy?
‘Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man’ ends with Tommy dying at the hands of his own son, Duke, but only because he wishes for it. Having wrestled with his thanatos instinct for decades, Tommy realizes that this is the best, and perhaps the only chance he will ever get to meaningfully decide the endpoint of his own life. This is because, unlike many of his previous suicide attempts, this time he has a greater will to leave behind. Throughout the story and even at his lowest moments, Tommy is confronted by his own fear of death, and it isn’t until this movie that we get a clear handle on the “why” aspect. In Duke’s final, heated conversation with Ada, she reveals that if there is one difference between father and son, it is that the latter will never feel the warmth of family, even in his death. Although Ada believes that this idea doesn’t apply to Tommy, it is arguable whether he himself agrees with that assumption.
Tommy’s fear of loneliness and the finality of death slowly takes the shape of a self-fulfilling curse, as he manages to outlive just about everyone he loves. Even more twisted is the fact that he is often not the figure of warmth and familiarity that they need in their time of death, and we see that firsthand in the case of Ada and Arthur. While Tommy’s hesitation plays a part in the former’s passing, he is quite explicitly Arthur’s murderer, and this snaps all notions of family and self-confidence that he has developed thus far. However, it is only in the end, when he reconciles with Duke and seeks a younger, rougher version of himself, that Tommy realizes that life, in all of its cyclicality, is way bigger than the demons he is battling inside his mind. For things to truly advance, he has to return and conclude things the right way, and this is why he chooses to die by his son’s bullet, one shot, not out of malice, but empathy.
While Tommy’s death brings his arc to a fitting conclusion, it is not before he finishes what he started with Beckett and his gang. As per the plan, Tommy’s team storms the warehouse and easily cuts through Beckett’s forces, but the final battle is specifically between Beckett and Tommy. While their first encounter was also a gunfight, it went nowhere because both managed to take cover and dodge each other’s shots. As such, this time around, both the characters realize that the only way to win is to face their fears headfirst, without resorting to insulating themselves from danger. It is also a battle between fathers who seem to care more about themselves than their own children, and while Beckett is never able to grow out of this toxicity and dies, Tommy comes out of the fight fatally injured, but spiritually metamorphosed.
What Do Tommy’s Last Words Mean?
Tommy’s last words in the movie, “In the bleak midwinter,” are not just reflective of his journey thus far, but essentially bind the larger story of ‘Peaky Blinders’ together. In season 4, we learn that Tommy and his comrades once sang the song during World War I, expecting certain death at the hands of the Prussian cavalry. While that fate never came to be, the song never quite left their minds, and looms throughout the show, guiding its causal currents. The fact that Tommy recalls these words in the end means that he embraces his death as he would have all those decades ago. The fact that the song lingers in the Shelbys’ minds throughout also suggests that they never quite moved past that war-torn state of mind. Specifically for Tommy, life since that wintery day exists in a sort of phantom state; it is only in reconciliation with his son that he realizes that he has had his fill and that it is time to go.
The movie provides plenty of foreshadowing for this being Tommy’s swan song, but perhaps none as potent as when he asks Kaulo for a Gypsy wagon. It isn’t until the end of the movie that we learn that he wished for the wagon to be his casket for his Gypsy funeral. It is something he himself prepared not long ago for Ada’s funeral, which brings things full circle, albeit in a tragic fashion. The wagon in this scene can be interpreted in numerous ways, both as the end of one’s journey or the beginning of a new one, far away from the mortal realm. The latter reading also ties back to Tommy’s final words, as the original poem, ‘In the Bleak Midwinter,’ is actually about the birth of Jesus Christ. While Tommy’s death serves as the definitive conclusion of his arc, it also liberates him from the grips of the larger narrative, allowing the man behind the mask to rest at last.
Does Duke Become the Leader Again? What is Next For the Peaky Blinders?
With Tommy gone, Duke naturally resumes his position as the leader of the Peaky Blinders, but it is clear that nothing will remain as it used to be. In the five years since Duke became the new head, the Peaky Blinders took on an excessively indulgent character, especially when it came to their rampant robberies. While that is immediately halted when Tommy returns to the scene, it isn’t until his confrontation with Duke that the wheels begin to spin once again. Ada’s death forces Duke to realize that he truly loves his family, and that his tough exterior has been a coping mechanism all along. To pay his respects and tribute to Ada, as such, is to take a step down from his extreme criminal ventures and restore the Peaky Blinders to the state of balance that Tommy once left it in. Duke, in his father’s absence, now has to prove that he is a leader who can keep up with the times and bring the Peaky Blinders into the future.
While we know that the real-life Peaky Blinders ended their era of dominance around the 1920s, it is clear that the show’s rendition of the gang still has a lot left in the tank. With a renewed Duke at the helm, the gang is likely to cut down on their reckless nature and probably assume a more serious role in the emerging sociopolitics of Birmingham. It is important to note that Kaulo pits herself as someone who will rule the streets right alongside Duke, and while that can be a good thing in isolation, we still don’t know whether she genuinely has his best interests in mind. The fact that she almost certainly cons Tommy by pretending to read his mind shows that she doesn’t shy away from twisted methods, but whether that is for the greater good of the Shelbys or just herself can turn the tide on the future of the Peaky Blinders.
Why Does Duke Burn All of Beckett’s Money?
As Beckett dies at the end of the movie, Germany’s most serious attempt at destabilizing Great Britain goes up in flames, quite literally. At first, it is Tommy who slides an explosive straight into the middle of the pile of cash, letting it all burn away. The rest of the money is used to fill up Tommy’s wagon-casket and to make him a nice bed. As his body is set on fire, the rest of the money burns with him, bringing an ironic end to Beckett’s legacy. Notably, this marks a complete reversal in Duke’s intention with all that cash, as he was initially driven by the idea of doing something his father never could. By the end, Tommy not only manages to one-up Beckett but also saves his country in a way that might never see the light of day. Ever since his traumatic time as a World War I soldier, Tommy is increasingly disillusioned by the ideas of governments, armies, or nations at war. However, in what seems to be a fated turn of events, it is he who saves the day and essentially wins Great Britain the war in the long run.
Duke himself has the chance to alter the war’s trajectory beyond anyone’s prediction, but chooses not to. In essence, this ties the father-son dynamic to the larger global conflict, where Duke has to choose between letting fascism take over, as a government and as a symbol of his psychological corruption, or letting his inner voice of reason pull him in the right direction. Interestingly, even fate seems to be hell-bent on pulling Duke to the path of darkness, based on the results of the coin toss. In the end, however, Duke rejects such a fate and instead chooses to carve out his own legacy. The way to do that is by severing all connections with malicious figures such as Beckett, and instead, giving his all to the people he can truly trust: his family. Ultimately, he learns from Ada’s words of wisdom and brings together a support system that will likely follow him to his dying breath, just as it did his father.
What Happens to Tommy’s Book? Is it Published?
While we are never exactly told what becomes of Tommy’s unfinished novel, in the end, Kaulo manages to get a hold of it and hands it over to Duke. The fact that the book is named ‘The Immortal Man’ preserves the self-referential way of the narrative. If the entire movie is to be interpreted as an epilogue to the ‘Peaky Blinders’ series, its story serves the same purpose as the book: Tommy’s attempts to empty the last of his mind’s contents via a medium of expression. Whether it is his confession to the murder of his brother, or his reunion with his son, all the things that might have made for a plot-beat in his novel finds itself manifested in his final hours, showing how art is as informed by life, as life is by art itself.
The meaning of the title is also bound in Tommy’s dedication to his dead daughter, Ruby, and his sons, Charles and Duke. With Duke in possession of his father’s final work, the movie calls back to an earlier moment, when he considered Tommy’s turn to writing to be a sign of insanity. However, with his now changed mindset, Duke is likely to learn from Tommy’s words and mistakes, and perhaps become a better leader of the Peaky Blinders. Just as Tommy considers the rejection of his visions to be an act of cowardice, it is unlikely that Duke will ever look away from his father’s life, both in its good parts and bad. If the entirety of ‘Peaky Blinders’ can be interpreted as an extension of Tommy’s self-reflection, what begins now is Duke’s own story, one built on the foundations of manuscripts that might remain unpublished forever.
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