Peaky Blinders season 6, sadly bids farewell to Polly Gray. However, one prop pays perfect tribute, and demonstrates that the character will live on.
Warning: Contains spoilers for Peaky Blinders season 6, episode 1.
In Peaky Blinders season 6, the opening included a clever retcon related to the painting of Polly Gray which served as a perfect tribute to Polly, her story, and to Helen McCrory. Helen McCrory sadly passed after a battle with cancer in 2021. A large part of Peaky Blinders season 6, episode 1, serves as a tribute to her character and the end credits dedicate the episode to Helen McCrory.
At the start of Peaky Blinders season 6, Tommy Shelby learns of the deaths of Aberama Gold (Aidan Gillen), Barney Thompson (Cosmo Jarvis), and Polly Gray at the hands of the IRA. The family hold a traditional funeral for Polly in which her body and possessions are placed inside a caravan and set ablaze as a funeral pyre. Among the possessions included in a shrine inside the caravan are shown several pictures, a handgun, and a portrait of Polly Gray that was painted in Peaky Blinders season 3 but Ruben Oliver.
The inclusion of the painting here is a Peaky Blinders retcon as the portrait of Polly Gray was destroyed in the season 3 finale by Polly herself. Bringing the portrait back as part of the send of for Polly Gray and the tribute to Helen McCrory is perfect and poetic as it helps to symbolize a continuation after death and the hardiness of Polly as a character. The use of the painting also ties into the appearance of a pair of eyes in the sky in the aftermath of the funeral that suggests that Polly Gray will not truly die in Peaky Blinders but will live on as a central part of the narrative and the characters’ motivations.
Polly destroyed it because she said that it was wrong and that the woman in the painting was “too sure of herself” and that she wasn’t that woman. Because of this, bringing it back as a tribute might seem like it goes against Polly’s wishes. However, the exact circumstances that defined the destruction are more a reflection of Tommy’s power over Polly in Peaky Blinders as he persuades her that Ruben had betrayed and that she wasn’t worthy of his love. Broken down by this, she slashes the painting, but after that point the character goes on a journey. She learns that Ruben did not betray them, is brought low by the events of season 4, but by her final appearance in Peaky Blinders season 5, Polly Gray is fully self-confident again. Polly is prepared to leave Tommy behind because he is dancing with fascism as part of the scheme, and once again fully embodies the painting’s title: “F*ck Them All.”
While the painting in Peaky Blinders season 6 is very similar, showing the same clothes and expression, it is actually different from the original. While it might be thought that Ruben repainted the original after its destruction, this is unlikely as at the time that Polly was still with Ruben she requested a painting in a cheaper dress instead. Rather, it appears to have been replaced in Peaky Blinders by movie magic. The new painting was created by Rebecca Foster for Peaky Blinders season 6 and serves to honor Helen McCrory, Polly Gray, and the original painting.
Peaky Blinders releases new episodes Sunday on BBC.
