Warning: This article contains spoilers for Peaky Blinders season 6, episode 1.
The explosive first episode of Peaky Blinders season 6 explains what happened to Helen McCrory's Aunt Polly in a perfect, but heartbreaking twist. The episode - set four years after the end of Peaky Blinders season 5 - sees Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) dealing with the fallout of the failed assassination of Oswald Mosley, with new conflicts, new strategies, and a new endgame for the enduring antihero.
For all of the new and returning names on Peaky Blinders season 6's cast list, the question of how the show would deal with the death of main cast member and Harry Potter alumnus Helen McCrory was always a particularly pressing one. Polly leaving the show, even in retirement from the Shelby Company, was unthinkable by her own admission: only in season 5, she said "we all try to get away. But we never do." An almost chilling prediction from a character gifted with second sight. The option to send her away to Australia was obviously always there, but Polly was a founding stone of the company, of the family, and of Tommy Shelby himself, and a quiet exit never seemed appropriate to the character. Such was the big conflict, as the call for reverence in the wake of Helen McCrory's death was just as loud a concern.
As Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight teased ahead of release, Polly Gray is killed off in the opening episode, in a devastating but genius twist that actually honors Helen McCrory's legacy and pays off Polly's tragic story. Here's how it happens, why it's perfect and how the show handles the tribute to McCrory.
Peaky Blinders Season 6 Killed Aunt Polly
Peaky Blinders season 6 picks up Tommy Shelby's story directly from the end of season 5, with Tommy out in the fields, with a pistol to his head. The vision of Grace telling him to let go actually convinced him to kill himself, which is obviously a huge deal, but it’s revealed that Arthur removed the bullets. Sadly, Tommy then returns home to find the bodies of Barney and Aberama Gold, plus a mystery third body wrapped in white sheets and dropped off outside his front door. A phone call from IRA leader Captain Swing explains that they were responsible for thwarting Tommy’s assassination attempt on Oswald Mosley (Sam Claflin) and that as well as killing Barney and Aberama, they took the opportunity to “restructure” Tommy’s organization. Shockingly, it’s then revealed that they killed Aunt Polly off-screen while the rally was happening and Tommy’s attention was turned away. Tragically, of course, Polly had already resigned from The Shelby Company, but her importance to Tommy far surpassed her job description.
Peaky Blinders’ Helen McCrory Tribute Explained
As is the custom of the Shelby family and their gypsy bloodline, Polly’s body is burned ceremonially in a caravan, with some of her prized possessions alongside her. Helen McCrory did not return to film Polly’s death or funeral before her own untimely passing, so Polly’s face remains covered. It’s a stark moment that is made even more difficult to watch by the way each of her surviving friends and family is framed as she is cremated. Every character receives a solemn, solo shot staring just beyond the camera lens, almost all crying, and it’s impossible not to feel the palpable grief the Peaky Blinders family must have felt saying goodbye to McCrory. The episode also ends with a written tribute to Helen McCrory.
Why The IRA Killed Polly In Peaky Blinders
Narratively speaking, Polly was always important to Tommy because of what she stopped him doing as much as what she helped him achieve. Polly frequently talked about the influence of women on the Shelby company and on Small Heath as a community - particularly when the men were away at war. Women, and Polly as one of their flag bearers, were incredibly important for the shaping of the Shelby success and the healing of Birmingham’s war wounds. In season 5, Ada told Polly Tommy relied on her and the IRA rightly identify her as a crucial crutch to remove in order to make Tommy more malleable.
Whether Tommy responds to the IRA threats as you would expect - with a long-gestating strategy to take them down - or not, they’ve gripped him in a way he’s never been gotten to before. Polly was his most important ally, no matter what power plays he made and his crown only remained in place because of her influence on him and the protection she offered him from himself. Without Aunt Polly in play, Tommy is more volatile and more prone to dangerous behavior, particularly waging war, and it could be that the IRA recognizes that Tommy working inside the U.K. government in such a state benefits them as much as having Irish unionist sympathizer Oswald Mosley in power. On an even more simple level, Polly’s death is a reminder that Tommy is still a pawn in a game of even bigger, more terrifying power players.
Why Polly’s Death Is Perfect For Peaky Blinders Season 6
The question now is what Aunt Polly’s death will mean for Peaky Blinders' story in season 6. And the tragic answer is that Polly being killed is the right thing for Tommy’s story because it brings about the two internal wars that were always going to be a big part of the climax of the Shelby story. Without Polly, Tommy will be at war with himself, which was a major part of Peaky Blinders season 5 already, and without her guidance, there’s a very real threat of him losing that battle. Tommy’s fear of betrayal is amplified by the value he places on trust and family, and removing that crutch will destabilize him massively. That’s at least partly why it caused such a major change in his personality and his move away from self-medicating with drugs and alcohol.
Just as Polly will remain a very real presence throughout Peaky Blinders season 6, the wounds left by her death will too. And in Michael Gray’s vow of vengeance, the show is delivering on Tommy’s Shakespearean fear of being usurped or killed by jealous agents. It is fitting that it is - as Captain Swift told him so coldly - by Tommy’s hand that the wounds are inflicted. And as Michael stared down the camera lens vowing to take revenge, the season’s central conflict was established. This is bigger than another power player villain coming in - and the season already has that with the return of Claflin’s Mosley - and it’s something Tommy has never faced before. In other words, it might be the perfect way to end Peaky Blinders and Tommy Shelby’s story.
Why Polly’s Eyes Appear In The Sky Above Her Funeral
The end of the first episode of Peaky Blinders season 6 reveals that Tommy very much believes that Polly is still an influence on his life. There’s even some suggestion that he is appealing to her not to take his daughter Ruby, who is taken seriously ill, prompting Tommy’s early departure from Boston. And that very much calls back to the chilling but brilliant moment just after Polly’s funeral pyre fully takes alight when Helen McCrory’s eyes are visible in the sky above her last resting place. Polly may have moved on, but her unfinished business will define Peaky Blinders season 6, not least as Michael seeks revenge on Tommy for getting her killed but also as Tommy himself works against the IRA. And it’s a fitting final symbolic gesture of Polly’s enduring importance to Peaky Blinders that even in death, she will look out over her family, as a warning and a symbol of strength.
New episodes of Peaky Blinders air every Sunday in the UK, with a Netflix date for the US to follow.