Warning: Contains spoilers for Peaky Blinders season 6, episode 2.
In Peaky Blinders season 6, Alfie Solomons returns to the TV show, and the song that is playing when he and Tommy meet teases how Tommy’s story will end. Alfie Solomons has been a long-standing member of the Peaky Blinders cast, first appearing in season 2. While it appeared that Tommy Shelby had killed Alfie at the end of season 4, he made a surprise return in Peaky Blinders season 5, having retired to Margate.
Peaky Blinders season 6, episode 2, “Black Shirt,” sees Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) return to England after having set deals up in America. Tommy goes to see Alfie Solomons (Tom Hardy) to request his help selling his opium to the Jewish gangs in Boston. When Tommy gets off the elevator in Alfie’s new warehouse home, the song Nessun Dorma can be heard playing and it is revealed that Alfie is listening to the song on a record. Alfie goes on to explain that he has taken to trying to write an opera but is struggling to find his final act.
Peaky Blinders season 6 use of this song is a big hint towards the ending because of the context and meaning of the song’s origin. Nessun Dorma is an aria that appears early in Act 3 of Puccini’s opera Turandot. In the opera, the beautiful princess Turandot has said that she will only marry the man who can solve her three riddles, and if a man attempts and fails then he will be executed. Despite being warned away by everyone on his path, a young prince, Calaf, undertakes the riddles and succeeds. The princess is upset as the riddles were intended to be unsolvable so she would not have to marry anyone and share her rule, so Calaf makes his own bargain: if Turandot tell him his name before sunrise then he will accept death instead of marrying her. In response Turandot has all of her subjects stay up trying to guess his name, saying that she will kill them all if they fail. Ultimately, the prince tells Turandot his name after they share a kiss, and she chooses to marry him anyway, declaring that his name is love. Nessun Dorma is a song of presumed success as Calaf is certain that no one can guess his name and he has outsmarted them. His eventual survival and marriage to the princess despite being warned away for fear of his life mirrors Tommy’s Peaky Blinders narrative. Nessun Dorma’s inclusion here suggests that Tommy will finally succeed in his ambition and be able to be free with Lizzie.
However, despite the triumphant tone of the song, it is one tinged with sadness. The stakes for many involved are death, and Liù, who knows Calaf’s name, sacrifices herself to prevent the name being drawn from her. While Tommy might eventually succeed, there will be death along the way, of someone who cares about him deeply. This is reflected itself in the fact that when Lizzie asks Tommy if he has slept, he says that he hasn’t and won’t rest until everything is finished. This plays into the name of the song: Nessun Dorma translates as “Let No One Sleep.”
The scene between Alfie Solomons and Tommy Shelby in Peaky Blinders season 6, episode 2, is full of potential foreshadowing. Not only does the presence of Nessun Dorma tease the ending to Tommy’s story, but their conversation also hints how Alfie Solomons’ Peaky Blinders narrative will end. Alfie has retired and Tommy mocks his lack of power but tells him that he might have written the final act for his opera before informing him of the scheme. Alfie Solomons getting embroiled in the crime world once again offers to give him one last hurrah, but will likely lead to his death in Peaky Blinders season 6 or the movie, but he will get to die fighting.
Peaky Blinders releases new episodes Sunday on BBC.
