Thomas “Tommy” Shelby always has a plan. One is usually infallible, complicated, and well built. And illegal. He is a greedy, violent, and almost always cruel guy. On the other side, he is the same man who felt a deep and loyal love for Grace and who loves her family. This fascinating anti-hero is a fundamental pillar of the spirit of Peaky Blinders. It is his face and the most obvious reason for his success. The character, who concludes a long elaboration of perceptions and conceptions about morality in a time of gray, permeates his personality to the program.

But something curious happens: the Tommy Shelby who began as a gangster manipulated by power, gradually became more complex. As much as to show how the evolution and maturity of Peaky Blinders showed a country divided and in crisis. Throughout five seasons, Tommy went through various layers of evil. He was a criminal, infiltrator, and politician. All while the world around him changed and the conditions of the illegal became different. From the man who worked under the hand of Churchill himself, to the one who tried to infiltrate the fascist party. Tommy Shelby embodies and gives a face to a deep journey through the series ‘ links to corruption and decadence.

That transformation holds an element of mystery. From the first season in which he was shown as Tommy was more than a street criminal, to the last one on the verge of suicide. Peaky Blinders has shown its characters walking paths into darkness in terrifying detail. A feature that expands around the series, but also that global view of what we consider dangerous. Is Tommy Shelby the symbol of evil in an ambiguous age or is he an ambiguous hero in a hypocritical age?

All roads lead to crime

That is the question that Peaky Blinders has tried to answer for five seasons without finishing the idea. Probably, it is because Tommy Shelby undergoes such radical and profound changes that it is impossible to define him in only one way. And much more, as the perspective on evil transforms as well. After all, Tommy Shelby fell in love with the woman who had betrayed him. And he also dared to infiltrate in the middle of a political situation of considerable threat.

Why does Tommy Shelby bring substance to a time when evil was outside the usual spaces?

Why does Tommy Shelby bring substance to a time when evil was outside the commons? For starters, it could be the fact that he is a war veteran. One who saw the horrors of the battlefield and drew conclusions about the futility and uncertainty of life in a confusing time. Also because he’s a businessman — from the criminal world — but he’s smart enough to avoid getting caught most of the time.

And when it does happen, you often reap immediate and much larger than expected benefits. Tommy Shelby managed to defeat a formidable figure of power, also those who disputed his territory. And he did it, moreover, through an elegant and precise vision of finding an opportunity in every conflict. Tommy Shelby embodies a type of television anti-hero who takes a fresh and creative approach to violent or brutal issues. In the end, he ends up triumphing thanks to his ability to break through terrain that would have confused or crushed others.

As if all of the above wasn’t enough, Tommy Shelby knows he can die at every step he takes. And he risks his life through single-minded conviction to keep his family safe. The most fascinating thing about a character whose greed, ambition, and cruelty make him unclassifiable, is his vulnerable points. His stoic understanding of risk and the way he reconstructs emergency and dangerous situations with great skill trumps. Tommy Shelby undoubtedly always has a plan. And he is often useful, effective, and beneficial because his survival instinct is more about surviving than just succeeding.

The corrosive evil of Tommy Shelby and the rush for change

During the last five years, pop culture has been filled with antiheroes. Some are tragic and moving like Tom Hiddleston’s Loki. Others are crazy and with a sensitive core like John Cena’s Pacemaker. In the movies, characters with infinite gradations of gray are everywhere. A very young Batman (Robert Pattinson) still hasn’t decided if he wants revenge or justice. On the other side, Anthony Mackie’s Captain America wonders about Zemo (Daniel Brühl), a villain with tough moral questions.

But Tommy Shelby, removed from the world of superheroes and benign versions of splintered evil is a little more complex. Harder, more brutal and so close to the shadows that at times it is difficult to understand the few bright spots in him. An accurate journey through what we believe to be correct, what is essentially not, and what ends up being slippery ground. The specialty of Peaky Blinders in its amazing six seasons.