A Thousand Blows Finally Dropped on Hulu: Is It a Must-See for Peaky Blinders Fans?
From the creator of Peaky Blinders and Taboo, the show impresses with its well-thought-out setting but disappoints with its drama.
A Thousand Blows is a new project from writer and showrunner Steven Knight, the author of Peaky Blinders and Taboo. Even before its premiere, the drama was renewed for a second season.
Knight likes to use historical settings. While Peaky Blinders explored gangs and working-class life in Birmingham at the turn of the 20th century, A Thousand Blows shows everyday life in a poor area of London at the end of the Victorian era.
This is a world of great change, but also of terrible social inequality – all innovations reach the gentlemen and ladies much faster than the poor.
What Is A Thousand Blows About?
In 1880, two men from Jamaica arrive in the industrial and not-so-prosperous East End of London: Hezekiah, who dreams of becoming a lion tamer, and Alec, who is undecided about his career.
The two penniless strangers begin participating in underground boxing matches, without gloves on their hands and often until they bleed or lose consciousness. Hezekiah achieves great success, and Alec becomes his friend's manager.
But a cruel bar owner and the aging longtime champion of the East End ring, Sugar, will not go down without a fight.
A Thousand Blows Has a Detailed, Well Thought-Out Historical Setting
The gritty, realistic aesthetic of A Thousand Blows should be familiar to fans of Peaky Blinders and Taboo. Without looking too closely, the new project could easily be mistaken for a spinoff of either.
The cars drive through puddles and old cobblestones, the interiors are sparsely decorated. When the characters find themselves in the homes of the rich, the contrast is striking, as if we were in another world, with servants, antiques, leather sofas and palaces.
Most of the story, however, takes place in dark corners. Gate murders, robberies and drunken brawls are the norm for the inhabitants of the East End.
Knight presents London in all its diversity. Fans of the late Victorian era will definitely find something to look at. The creator shows the underground and the suffering of the poor.
A Thousand Blows' Dramatic Structure Is Not So Impressive
The writers use a single location to connect multiple storylines. The narrative spreads out in different directions, and there are no charismatic central characters like Cillian Murphy and Tom Hardy from Knight's other projects.
The showrunner repeats the familiar crime drama formula, but with a minimum of spectacular episodes. Perhaps the most intriguing plot twists are left for the second season.
Individual interesting strands do not coalesce into a single whole and the dramatic structure resembles a patchwork quilt.