Peaky Blinders season 4 episode 4 review: Tom Hardy's Alfie Solomons returns and Tommy Shelby is a craft gin distiller now

'The man who does not exist'

(BBC)

After last week’s low key, semi-sensual episode, I quite expected Peaky Blinders to be all vein-bursting high tension tonight, but the season 1-esque atmosphere continued as the Shelbys stayed trapped in Birmingham.

This is not counting the first quarter of an hour though, which was concerned with an ambush within an ambush within an ambush, as Tommy and the gang believed they had sussed out Luca Changretta’s plot to lure and assassinate Arthur Shelby, only to be outwitted (again) and have their counter-strike counter-struck, as it were.

This all strained credulity a bit, the don putting his life on the line just to pull a cool intimidation stunt on Michael (the ol’ pull the trigger but no bullet in the barrel), and it’s increasingly hard to accept Tommy as a mastermind when he’s being outsmarted in quite straightforward fashion on a weekly basis.

With the Shelbys having barely made a dent in the mafia it’s insane the amount they have left to do in the last two episodes of season 4, and yet what was Tommy doing? Distilling gin!

A craft distiller ahead of his time, it emerged he’s been collaborating with a Camden Town friend on a batch made from juniper and potatoes, which I can only assume he’s going to sell at some kind of farmer’s market before the season’s out. His move into booze failed to impress the returning May Carleton however, who hoped to find Tommy on a redemption arc but instead discovered that this a “man who doesn’t exist” (v. Game of Thrones). Tommy’s quest to find a respectable lady who is cool with him doing murders on the regular continues.

Elsewhere, Lizzie pined after Tommy, apparently expecting more after their archway tryst last week, Aiden Gillan’s gypsy mercenary picked off a couple of Italians, Ada took down unionist Jessie Eden a peg or two and Alfie Solomons returned to Small Heath. A boxing bet afforded the opportunity for the comeback, but frankly I’d accept any reasoning as Tom Hardy is such good value in the show, having created one of its most authentic-feeling characters despite barely being in it.

The episode ended with Tommy driving off to meet his doom as Changretta follows with machine guns and Polly looks on. I’m still convincedTom and Pol are in cahoots though, and that Tommy didn’t call Michael out for lying to him as he understands his needs to protect his mother.

I guess we’ll find out next week because jeez, there’s only two hours left to wrap all this up!

Peaky Blinders airs Wednesday nights at 9pm on BBC Two.