Michael's death in Peaky Blinders proves that Tommy Shelby knows exactly when to eliminate a threat

Cillian Murphy's Tommy Shelby from the BBC's crime drama series Peaky Blinders is not a man to mess with. Being the leader of a violent gang in 1920s Birmingham, Tommy had a reputation for success, which often proved to be fatal against his enemies.

However, the ruthless gangster did everything for his family, especially for Aunt Polly and his siblings, who had a soft spot in his heart. Michael Gray, Polly's once estranged son, was added to this list of family, but he ultimately met his end at Tommy's hands.

While Tommy was completely off-guard with Michael and treated him like family initially, his eventual betrayals and distrust of the Shelbies proved fatal for him. After Tommy realises that Michael is plotting his death, he eliminates him first, proving even family cannot cloud his instinct and better judgment.

More on Tommy and Michael's showdown in the Peaky Blinders Season 6 finale in our story.

Tommy Shelby once welcomed Michael into his family and business in Peaky Blinders Season 2

Considering Tommy's respect and love for Aunt Polly in Peaky Blinders, he finds her biological son, Michael, in Season 2 and brings him to Birmingham. While his profession made him skeptical of others, Tommy did not think twice before introducing the young boy into his family and business, unbeknownst that he would turn against him one day.

While Michael started as a meek boy, unaware of the horrors of the Shelbys' lives and business, he eventually settled into the family business as an accountant. Tommy even started trusting him blindly and agreed that he was more competent than his own brother, Arthur, and Michael helped the Shelby company expand to other countries.

Tommy's distrust of Michael first forms in Peaky Blinders Season 4 when Polly and Tommy hatch a plan to trap the Italian mob boss, Luca Changretta. Polly pretends to give up Tommy for Michael to Luca, but it was a setup. Since Michael was unaware of Tommy-Polly's plan, he thought Polly was going to give Tommy up, and still did not warn his cousin about this.

Tommy grows suspicious of Michael after this incident, and their gap starts to widen until their eventual showdown in the series finale.

Polly had a premonition about Tommy and Michael's war in Peaky Blinders

Following his marriage to Gina, Michael starts to oppose Tommy and the Shelbies in Season 5. He even tries to persuade Tommy to hand over their family business, which the gangster is against. Fueled by Gina, Michael goes all out and wants full control of the Shelby business, something even Polly does not approve of.

In the Peaky Blinders Season 5 finale, Polly finally hands her resignation to Tommy, saying she had a premonition about Tommy and Michael's war, which would end badly for one (but she did not see who).

After Polly died in the Season 6 premiere, Michael became hellbent on avenging his mother's death at Tommy. But Tommy was always one step ahead of him, and even while he once trusted his cousin, he knew now was the time to eliminate this threat.

As a last resort, Michael planned to kill Tommy by exploding his car with a bomb, which Tommy had Johnny Dogs replace. Tommy was always careful about his enemies, even if they were his family, and escaped his cousin's plan to kill him.

In the Season 6 finale, realising Aunt Polly's premonition, he pulls a gun against Michael, to which he replies:

"No one close to you makes a choice without your opinion, Tom. Not Arthur, not me, not Ada. We can’t escape you. Your lethal hand is always on our shoulders."

Tommy finally takes a fatal shot and kills Michael by shooting him in the eye. His taking out Michael partly proves his cousin's last words, that nobody can escape the gangster. But Michael saw it coming when he turned away from his family and decided to betray the Shelbies.

Also Read: 5 Peaky Blinders characters that deserved a better ending

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Edited by Zainab Shaikh