Peaky Blinders fans may well feel like they’ve been turned inside out after watching episode 4 – here’s our review of one of the saddest episodes yet.
Of course, nothing could have been more devastating that Polly Gray’s death and funeral in episode 1.
But Ruby’s came a close second.
The series continues to feel relentlessly bleak as it hurtles towards its last ever episode on Sunday April 3 2022.
So will Tommy die? And who is his son?
Here are the burning questions we have after watching episode 4 of season 6.
***Warning: spoilers from episode 4 of Peaky Blinders season 6 ahead***
Read more: Is Peaky Blinders real and what does the name actually mean?
Peaky Blinders episode 4 review – who is Tommy’s son?
Episode 4 of Peaky Blinders season 6 started with Ruby’s funeral.
It was as devastating as TV gets.
No one should have to bury their seven-year-old daughter.
Tommy swore revenge, telling his dead daughter: “The devils who did this will pay, Ruby.”
He then found the gypsy Evadne Boswell, who he blamed for cursing his daughter, and shot her dead – as well as three men in her community.
But Tommy’s former sister-in-law Esme Lee Shelby wasn’t finished with him yet…
She told him he had an illegitimate son he knew nothing about.
Esme said: “The spirits just took away your child.
“Now they want to give you a different child, Tommy.
“A daughter lost; a son found.
“Before you went to France a long time ago… You slept with a girl, whose name was Zelda.
“When she fell pregnant, her father threatened to kill you, but you’d already joined the army and gone away to France.”
Pointing to a young man in the woods, she said: “He’s yours.
“The boy born with the hazel eyes.
“The calls himself Duke.”
She then explained that his mother had since died, and that the boy had taken to thieving.
Conrad Khan, star of Baptiste and award-winning film County Lines, joins the cast of Peaky Blinders as Duke in episode five and six.
Read more: Peaky Blinders season 6: Who is Uncle Jack Nelson and was he a real person?
Will Tommy die?
Tragically for Tommy Shelby fans, the anti-hero discovered that he’s dying in Peaky Blinders season 6 episode 4.
Viewers saw him suffering from seizures in earlier episodes, and now we know why.
Dr Holford – played by guest star Aneurin Barnard – diagnosed Tommy with Tuberculoma – a tubercula growth caused by the same bacteria as TB which killed Tommy’s daughter Ruby.
Tragically, Tommy may have caught the illness from his late daughter (so probably nothing to do with curses, after all).
Tommy was told that, although doctors had found no TB in his lung, he has a shadow at the base of his skull.
Although the ‘shadow’ isn’t cancerous or infectious, the growth is large and inoperable.
Dr Holford told Tommy: “From the size of the tumour, expansion must have been rapid.
“The condition can cause seizures, bouts of weakness, and hallucinations.
“Any attempt to remove it would result in trauma and brain haemorrhage.”
When Tommy asked the inevitable question of ‘how bad will it get’, he’s told: “As the tumour grows, the rate of physical and mental deterioration will increase.
“Eventually you’ll need people around you constantly.”
In tense scenes, Tommy learnt he has no more than 18 months before he is incapacitated.
Well, we always knew Tommy wasn’t going to die peacefully in his sleep after living to a ripe, old age…
And if he knows he’s dying anyway, he has nothing left to lose!
Peaky Blinders episode 4 review: Will Tommy redeem himself before he dies?
After learning of his devastating health diagnosis, Tommy seemed resigned to his fate.
He spoke aloud to the spirit of Aunt Polly saying: “Just give me enough time to do what I have to do.”
Tommy knows he doesn’t have a lot of time left.
In earlier scenes, Tommy said: “I have to change; I will change. For good.”
But will he be able to right his wrongs in time?
Creator Stephen Knight and star Cillian Murphy have talked in the past about the arc of the show leading towards Tommy’s redemption.
Cillian says: “I think that’s what Steve was aiming for, with loads of wrong turns along the way.
“But I don’t know.
“I’ll leave that to the court of public opinion.
“I don’t know if he’s been redeemed.”
Peaky Blinders series 6 episode 4: Can Tommy trust Gina?
In a punch the air moment – one of the few Tommy victories in the episode – he finally got one over on Gina.
Snooty Gina has had it coming for months, let’s be honest.
When Tommy’s spies informed him that Gina and Oswald Mosley were sleeping with each other behind the backs of their spouses, Tommy jumped at the chance to turn it to his advantage.
He blackmailed her into spying on Mosley for him.
Gina agreed, knowing that her husband Michael wouldn’t be too happy about the affair…
But then nor would her darling Uncle Jack.
Can Tommy trust slippery Gina, though, or will she find a way to double cross him?
Peaky Blinders continues on Sundays at 9pm on BBC One.
What do you think of series 6 of Peaky Blinders so far? Leave us a comment on our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFix.