Peaky Blinders’ Paul Anderson Pulled A Subtle Move In Season 3 That Even The Director Missed

The moral shock of the orgy itself is hardly the focal point of the episode, as the emotions evoked at the periphery of the event are what propels our characters toward their destined trajectories. Arthur’s case is never simple, as his behavior feels both ridiculously pitiable and truly heartbreaking, considering how easy it was for him to give in to temptation and the self-loathing that came along with it. Anderson channeled these complicated emotions by balancing flagrant audacity with quiet, telling character moments that help deepen the cracks and crevices in Arthur’s psyche. Speaking to Den of Geek in 2017, Anderson explained how the subtle wedding ring moment during the orgy initially went unnoticed by Mielants:

“Tim [Mielants], the director just wasn’t holding back that day. […] I just remember sitting there watching all this thinking, sort of white-knuckling it really. Arthur’s thinking ‘I don’t want to get involved,’ so I’m sat looking at this wedding ring on my finger. I don’t know if Tim really caught that?”

Arthur takes his ring off after he decides to give in, and although Mielants did not immediately “pick up on that,” this moment becomes crucial in underlining Arthur’s dwindling self-control in the face of temptation, especially as a born-again Christian:

“I was looking at the wedding ring, looking at the debauchery, looking at the ring, looking at the drugs, thinking, ‘What do I want?’ After about half an hour in the room, he [Arthur] just couldn’t hold out any longer.”

This glimmer of emotional conscience that fades away when Arthur twists off the ring is one of many aspects that make him so compelling in a series filled to the brim with densely-layered characters who are eventually undone by their hamartia.