Warning: spoilers for Peaky Blinders season 6.
Peaky Blinders season 6, episode 5, includes a new melancholic cover of “Red Right Hand” and the changes made from the original Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds song imply a dark conclusion to the gangster series. Many Peaky Blinders viewers have noticed the regular omission of “Red Right Hand” from the show’s final season. In the previous five seasons of the show, the song has been a mainstay, usually accompanying slow-motion images of Tommy Shelby walking through Birmingham. The Patti Smith version was recorded especially for the show and teases what audiences should expect in Peaky Blinders‘ final episode.
Peaky Blinders season 6 follows Tommy Shelby as he attempts to thwart the clandestine rise of fascism in England and settle some scores with his family and his enemies before he can put the life of crime behind him. Unfortunately for Tommy, it appears that he can never live the peaceful life he desires, as he is diagnosed with glaucoma – an incurable disease in his brain. Peaky Blinders‘ final episode will see Tommy Shelby trying to do good, whilst he also has to bring his conflict with Michael Gray to a close.
In the final scenes of season 6, episode 5, Tommy admits that he is the same as his enemies, and Michael agrees to kill Tommy in Canada in exchange for leaving prison. The final minutes and end credits play out to the tune of Patti Smith’s cover of “Red Right Hand.” The previously unheard cover is a significant change from the punchy nature of Nick Cave’s original track. Smith’s melancholic rendition suggests that “Red Right Hand” is no longer associated with Tommy Shelby’s sense of cool, or his unstoppable aura. Instead, it rings alarm bells to inform audiences that tragedy will be afoot in the final episode. Whilst the song’s return represents the show coming full circle, its biblical lyrics that promise doom and vengeance will be particularly poignant after the events of Peaky Blinders‘ finale unfold.
It is unusual how little “Red Right Hand” has been featured in Peaky Blinders season 6, considering that the show adopted it as its theme tune in the previous five seasons. Its omission this season is likely because its themes of violence reflect the part of Tommy that he has tried to change in season 6. Tommy attempts to be a “better man,” not the judge and executioner that “Red Right Hand” paints him as. However, the song’s sudden return marks Tommy’s return to his old ways. The needle-drop of Patti Smith’s cover begins when Tommy says to Oswald Mosley, Diana Mitford, and Jack Nelson, “for all I try to hide it, I’m just one of you. Could there be a sadder ending, eh?” Patti Smith’s cover swaps bravado for sobriety to signal Peaky Blinders’ dark conclusion. A conclusion rendered more tragic by Tommy’s failure to change, as he realizes he must emulate his enemies and use violence to fulfil his ambitions.
The lyrics of “Red Right Hand” consolidate the inevitability of violence in Peaky Blinders‘ season 6 finale. The phrase “Red Right Hand” is inspired by John Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost, where the hand represents divine vengeance. Throughout season 6, Tommy believes he is being punished for his previous sins. One of those sins is his strategies that led to Polly’s death, and Michael intends to kill Tommy and avenge his mother when Tommy meets Jack Nelson. Whether it is God or mortal men enacting punishment, characters will be acting as the red right hand of vengeance in Peaky Blinders‘ final episode.