Peaky Blinders: I'm really trying to like it....

Exactly what the title says. I want to understand why it is that this is one of the more popular shows in existance right now and a lot of people are comparing it to the Sopranos or Boardwalk Empire.

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It is in many ways exactly like Boardwalk Empire in that it very loosely based on actual events although this time in Birmingham, England in the early 1900's and it based around the Shelby's who are a gangster family that actually existed and their exploits in semi-organized crime after Tommy Shelby (played by the always wonderful Cillian Murphy) returns home from war in France.

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The show's set design and costumes are second-to-none and the same could be said for the acting. It has a few big name stars and every now and then, i'll see a guy pop up on screen and I'll be like "wait a minute, I know that guy from somewhere" moments such as when Tommy's father comes back to "visit" the family and then rips them off.

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I spent a long time thinking about it, and eventually had to cheat... turns out I "know" him from Sons of Anarchy and his name IRL is Tommy Flanagan. Turns out there are a ton of Cameos in this thing from "kind of a big deal" actors. However, I have not seen most of them because I am still in season 1: This is where the point of this article happens.

I find the pacing of Peaky Blinders to be painfully slow. This is not a new feeling for me because if you look at my opines about just about any modern-day series you will see that this is a top complaint of mine.

I understand why they do it this way, because they want to keep the show going for a long time. Also, they once again stick to the 1 hour per episode time benchmark and for a series with as big a budget as this one, I suppose I can understand why.

I admire what they have done here. I would imagine it is immensely difficult to accurately recreate a time in the past and while I haven't really dug into it too much, when you look at an episode of Peaky Blinders you will feel as though they nailed it. However, I struggle to stay interested in this show because a whole lot of nothing happens in most episodes and it seems to have a "Walking Dead" episode formula of recap what you saw last episode for 20 minutes, do a whole lot of talking and arguing amongst the various groups, then cap it off with about 2 minutes of actual action and interesting storyline development right at the end to encourage us to see the next episode where exactly the same thing happens again.

I'm not gonna give up because there are already at least 3 seasons out there and I have heard they have been signed on for a 5th as well. I can't confirm that. I also know that Adrien Brody, an actor I really like but whose nose frightens me for some reason, appears in season 4. I don't want to miss that.