Warning: this article contains spoilers for Peaky Blinders season 6 episode 1.
The first episode of Peaky Blinders season 6 sees Tommy causing Michael to be imprisoned, and a small detail makes the spiteful setup even better. Tommy (Cillian Murphy) ventures to North America – four years after the botched assassination of Oswald Mosley (Sam Claflin) – and arranges a business meeting with Michael (Finn Cole) and his associates. The atmosphere is particularly frosty: Tommy offers them the opportunity to take part in his exportation of opium, but they seem more interested in establishing who would be leading any trade agreement.
To the dismay of Michael’s associates, Tommy notifies them that they have an informant among their ranks. Before bidding the group farewell, he gives Michael a briefcase containing five pounds of opium. Tommy soon informs the St. John’s Harbor police department that a man named Michael Gray, possessing a considerable amount of opium, will be arriving in their jurisdiction to board a ferry to Boston. Tommy later explains to Gina (Anya Taylor-Joy) that he intended to provide a dilemma to her uncle – and Michael’s boss – Jack Nelson, who would prove to be hamstrung by a desire to maintain his political reputation whilst under pressure to get Michael released from prison. While the move is acutely strategic, as is often the case with Tommy, a genius detail subtly illuminates his satisfaction in sending Michael to the clink.
While Tommy is on the phone with the police, the name he gives as identification is “Mr. Jones.” It is a name that will be vaguely familiar to many viewers of the show, as it is the name of the deceased person whom Michael suggested Tommy identify as, as part of a plan to restructure Shelby Company Ltd. Michael’s plan, that would have seen him become managing director and Tommy a non-executive chairman, was met with hostility in Peaky Blinders season 5, episode 6. The proposal acted as a realization of Tommy’s anxiety of being usurped, but four years later Tommy maintains his position – and even uses Michael’s outrageous suggestion of the “Mr. Jones” moniker as part of a process to set him up.
Despite the detail being currently unknown to Michael, and Tommy openly admitting the setup to Gina, it illuminates the lingering resentment even after four years. Quips as such are rather uncharacteristic of Tommy, but this remark represents his desire to belittle Michael. Rather than using Michael as a middleman for negotiation with Jack Nelson, Tommy is instead using Michael as a pawn in his dealings in North America. The exclusion of Michael indicates that Tommy sees him as unfit for his secretarial work, let alone the acquisition of his throne.
The first episode of Peaky Blinders season 6 establishes the resentment between Tommy and Michael as the primary dispute. Michael seeks vengeance for his mother Polly (the late Helen McCrory), who he believes died as a consequence of Tommy’s “ambitions and strategies.” Tommy looks set to have many more conflicts on the horizon, with Oswald Mosley, the IRA, and potentially Jack Nelson, likely to be more troublesome adversaries. His feud with Michael is set to be an important plot line, but it seems Tommy is currently many steps ahead of his cousin – and the “Mr. Jones” detail is proof of an enduring grudge over Michael’s attempt to usurp him.
New episodes of Peaky Blinders air every Sunday in the UK, with a Netflix date for the US to follow.