WARNING! Contains SPOILERS for Peaky Blinders season 6, episode 5.
Peaky Blinders season 6 saw Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) try to make amends for all the bad he's done, but episode 5 proves his redemption is impossible. The show's sixth and final season has Tommy struggle to put his affairs in order and "change the world" with a terminal illness looming in the background (reminding viewers all too well of Breaking Bad). Tommy also tries to atone for his sins by helping others, but his methods are - as always, if not increasingly - questionable.
In Peaky Blinders season 6 episode 3, Tommy tells Esme (Aimee-Ffion Edwards), "I've done bad things" and "I would like to make amends." Esme tells him it'll be hard work to lift every curse put on him, and Tommy knows this, but the news of his inoperable brain tuberculoma sends him on a quest to score some good karma points fast. In season 6 episode 5 "Road To Hell," Tommy meets with Diana Mitford (Amber Anderson) to strike a deal involving financing the building of canal-side houses for the poor (with the help of Diana's ex-husband). Diana agrees but tells Tommy that Oswald Mosley (Sam Claflin) slept with Lizzie (Natasha O'Keeffe) and convinces him to sleep with her as this is "the English aristocracy's way of shaking hands."
Tommy is trying to build houses for the poor as a way to make up for all his bad deeds. But sleeping with Diana (and making business with the fascists in general) is just another "bad thing." In this case, the end doesn't justify the means: if Tommy keeps using morally corrupt methods to do good, he will be in a vicious circle forever, as he will have to keep doing good to make up for the bad. Hence, it is impossible for Tommy to achieve redemption. Furthermore, in season 6 he entered the worst circle yet, engaging in a twisted relationship with the likes of Mosley, Mitford, and Jack Nelson. This is typified when Jack Nelson (James Frecheville) mentions blood as England's real currency and Mosley tries to humiliate Lizzie out of her marriage with Tommy. Given "blood's" association with breeding as well as violence, it's clear Tommy has reached a very dark point indeed – making his redemption seem further away than ever.
In the same episode, Tommy bullied the Chinese opium den into submission via a ticking bomb, stopping a five-pound opium business while moving five tons of it himself. Again, he was seeking to do a good deed, helping his brother Arthur (Paul Anderson) quit his debilitating addiction. But the big picture is not an optimistic one: Tommy is helping his family but is causing harm to many others and earning blood money in the process.
In Peaky Blinders season 6, Tommy is attempting to "change the world" by curbing the rise of fascism in the UK. It's a tremendously complicated and dangerous deal (with President Roosevelt and Winston Churchill involved, and Nelson promising to assassinate Tommy and Arthur). However, if Tommy succeeds, this will help him along the path to redemption. With only a feature-length episode left to air (followed by a film sometime after season 6), it remains to be seen if Tommy will earn a way out. Nevertheless, considering his last actions in season 6, his redemption seems impossible.
The Peaky Blinders season 6 finale will air at 9 PM GMT on BBC One.