I didn't subscribe to Netflix until recently for Stranger Things. There has been another Netflix only series that has a lot of hype and that is Peaky Blinders.
This show. This show is a red, hot mess. But a very watchable mess. I must admit.
It is entirely too impressed with itself, treading in the wake of its more expensive and adept inspiration Boardwalk Empire. The Peaky Blinders are a small potatoes gang in Birmingham that specializes in horse betting. But one of the leaders is getting antsy and desires to be bigger deal. All this to contemporary rock music. Yes, this show is a music video with the heavy lifting acting being left on the shoulders of/ Sam Neill and Helen McCrory. Everyone else poses like models in a music video. Which, as I just mentioned, it is.
Its a shame because the set designer tries really hard to replicate 1919. However the costume designer didn't get the memo of the time period. So people are dressed in costumes that date any time from 1917 to 1925.
But the show is so ham fisted that it telegraphs its plot points through its silly, anachronistic costumes.
HEY LOOK AT ME! UNDERCOVER COP IN NEED OF SERIOUS HAIR PINS AND NETTING!
In regards to lady cop, I couldn't believe that the Peaky crowd didn't find anything off about this wee Irish lass suddenly turning up looking odd and suspicious. I saw COP written all over her from the first minute, that big reveal about her was no surprise. Maybe if they had, oh you know, put her hair up like the following advertisement, it would have been more exciting.
These women look rather modern. No one needs their hair down. They look like they can handle cop duties. Whatever.
Then there is the Peaky sister who thinks she is starring in Back to the Future.
You don't need money, don't take fame
Don't need no credit card to ride this train
This sister must have taken Marty and Biff's book of horse championships. Maybe that is why the family horse betting business is doing well. They got all their tidbits from 1926. I bet she is an H.G. Wells groupie.
The contemporary music is awful. It doesn't make the show cool. It just immediately points out how fakey fake everything is and everyone is playing dress up for a show. Now, Boardwalk Empire also used contemporary sounds and it annoyed me just as much. But at least it made up for the missteps by filling the episodes with lush, original recording 1920s period music. 1919 music isn't as arcane as everyone thinks. Many of the hits from that period were recycled in the 1920s, 30s, 40s and 50s. Believe me most viewers will know the tunes. We don't need to listen to bloody rock music.
Those are my complaints, now I don't think the show is altogether awful. Many elements are very good. It is just stupid mistakes like the ones I listed that bring it all down. But I don't think I will be binge watching all 3 seasons.
Labels: commentary, culture, drama, reviews, television
