Tom Hardy Won Peaky Blinders Season 4

[SPOILERS for Peaky Blinders season 4 ahead.]

Tom Hardy is an actor gifted with the ability to turn even a small role into a very big part just look at how memorable his turns in Inception and Dunkirk both are. He is leading man material, evidenced by his roles in films like Mad Max: Fury Road, FX's Taboo, and the upcoming Venom. But as is so often the case with Hardy, there is an unconventional nature to these parts that is often just as interesting, if not more so, than the characters he's playing. Fury Road, for instance, was really Charlize Theron's movie, while Taboo is and will likely continue to be a sometimes-bewildering passion project from Hardy and his father Chips that seemed as much to do with the chance for the actor to wear a top hat and appear in a loincloth as anything else. And in a surprising move -- though probably not too surprising when you think about it -- the actor has signed on to play Eddie Brock in Sony's upcoming Spider-man-less Venom movie opposite the Michelle Williams and Riz Ahmed.

In other words: Hardy has put the predictability of the typical leading man in check with the surprising choices he's made in his career. He zigs where others might normally zag, and the inability to pin his future choices down makes the actor all the more appealing as a result. One of his recent smaller roles made big is that of Alfie Solomons in Steven Knight's violent period drama Peaky Blinders. The role was inevitable from the start, as Knight, a prolific screenwriter and filmmaker, has teamed with Hardy on a number of occasions. It is a collaboration one might liken to Martin Scorsese's partnership Robert De Niro or, more recently, Leonardo DiCaprio, as Knight is the head writer on Taboo, and also worked with the actor on Locke, a feature film set almost entirely in a car being driven by Hardy.

While Locke was a showcase for the actor's talents that didn't also rely on his physicality, the role of Solomons, however, does, but, naturally, not in the way you might expect. Like nearly everyone in Peaky Blinders, Alfie makes his living on the wrong side of the law and Hardy strikes an imposing figure as the Jewish gang leader, which makes his unpredictable and sometimes-violent outbursts all the more disquieting.

The character has been around since season 2 and is often the source of some very memorable scenes. He's always had a contentious relationship with Cillian Murphy's Thomas Shelby, but in season 4, Alfie Solomons ascends to a place near the top of the Shelby family's adversaries, only to meet his maker in a deadly standoff in the season finale. As usual, Hardy captures the season with what amounts to just a few minutes of screen time, and in doing so earns himself the honor of Peaky Blinders season 4 MVP. Here's why:

He Gets All the Good Lines

Alfie looking curiously in Peaky Blinders

Alfie gets all the best dialogue, most of which comes out in a flurry of half-mumbled phrases the cadence of which remains distinctly Hardy-ian. For example, there was this choice bit of dialogue in season 2, that he delivered to Tommy: "I once carried out my own personal form of stigmata on an Italian. I pushed his face up against a trench and shoved a six-inch nail up his f***ing nose and I hammered it home with a duckboard. It was f***ing biblical, mate."

And in season 4, it's no surprise that the gangster delivers a number of memorable monologues in what turns out to be his swan song. Some of the exchanges are to Murphy, who makes the best verbal sparring partner for the kingpin. Knight, Hardy, and Murphy demonstrate as much in 'Dangerous', when Alfie says to Thomas, "The truth is, Tommy, you're going to be dead soon, and then your starlings, they will peck out your blue eyes, your jackdaws will steal your gold and your medals, and pretty soon it will be as though you never even f***ing happened."

But Knight isn't interested in only pitting Alfie against Tommy; the character also delivers a one-sided verbal barrage toward Aidan Gillen's Aberama Gold (a strong contender for the MVP spot himself) and one to Adrien Brody's Big Bad Mafioso, Luca Changretta. Hardy takes full charge of both scenes, delivering furious bursts of dialogue filled with the sort of profanity that could make Quentin Tarantino blush and that need to be seen performed rather than simply read. In both scenes, Alfie insults dangerous men to their face and yet, by virtue of their need for him and the inherent threat posed by the character (thanks in large part to the daunting figure Hardy cuts) Mr. Solomons walks away no worse for the wear.

No One Ever Seems to Know Which Side He's On

Peaky Blinders has an intimate relationship with controlled chaos, but Alfie Solomons is an agent of chaos par excellence. His ability to stir the pot is second only to his wonderful way with words and the two of which usually go hand in hand quite nicely. But while an appearance by Alfie is sure to produce a quote worth remembering, his intentions at any given moment are less certain. That's because Mr. Solomons' allegiances appear to change with the wind. No sooner is he's done asking for Tommy's help against Darby Sabini than he's double crossing the Peaky Blinders in a deal with the very same man. The role of occasional collaborator and sometimes adversary makes Solomons a man unto himself and often creates a situation in which it's never clear what side he's actually on, at least not until it's far too late to do anything about it.

Fittingly, then, season 4 has perhaps the greatest Alfie Solomons double cross the character has ever pulled; the true objective of which remains obscured until the final moments of the finale.

With two scenery chewing stars like Hardy and Brody on hand, it was inevitable they would cross paths at some point because not doing so would be an unforgivable sin. Thankfully, Peaky Blinders delivers in full, with a scene that sets up an assassination attempt by Luca Changretta's men at the boxing match between Aberama Gold's son and Solomons' towering pugilist. The treachery doesn't come as much of a surprise, as Alfie is keen to unload some of his rum to help the efforts of bootleggers and illegal distributors in the U.S., which is currently under the thumb of Prohibition. But his manner with Luca goes beyond being a canny businessman; it's almost like he's pushing the Mafioso's buttons with another purpose in mind.

The exchange between Alfie and Luca will likely go down as one of the best (and certainly most offensive) in Peaky Blinders' run, but beneath its surface-level vulgarity certain truths are revealed; namely, that Luca is so blinded by his need for vengeance he's hardly bothers to negotiate at all (something he gets called out for), and that Alfie isn't just pushing buttons for the sake of pushing buttons. It's a sleight of hand moment by Knight that ultimately sets up the demise of both men.

He Goes Out With a Bang

Tom Hardy as Alfie Solomons in Peaky Blinders Season 4

Look, as we've already established, Tom Hardy is a busy guy. He's currently mo-capping his way into a symbiotic relationship with an alien and has Taboo season 2 on the way. As much fun as it is to have Alfie Solomons make trouble for the Peaky Blinders, it was time to send the character off to the great beyond, where dermal cream is plentiful and there's always someone to look after your dog.

As it turns out, Alfie Solomons, who survived World War I and countless encounters with trigger-happy underworld types, was ultimately brought low by cancer. And if you choose to read his final moments on the beach with Tommy Shelby as something of a confession, his intention all along was to force another's hand to kill him before the disease could. That goes a long way in explaining his actions in season 4, and it even lends the character a degree of sympathy his being a cutthroat businessman/mercenary never could.

Did he only hand Tommy a flesh wound on purpose? Well, that can be debated, but it was clear Alfie showed up knowing (and likely wanting) the cold day near the surf to be his last. If ever there was a character on Peaky Blinders who would script his own ending with a double-crossing long-con narrative, it was going to be Alfie Solomons. And so his end is pitch perfect for the character and for Tom Hardy as well, as the distinguished dog enthusiast got to have a pooch on hand for his final moment on screen.

So there you have it. From dialogue to dogs, long cons to short fuses, Tom Hardy stole the show as Alfie Solomons, and without a doubt earned his prize as Peaky Blinders' season 4 MVP.

Next: Peaky Blinders Season 4 Premiere Review: Vengeance Comes For the Shelbys

Peaky Blinders season 4 is available in its entirety on Netflix.