By Between all the set-up in the latest episode of Peaky Blinders ahead of next week's season finale, one line of dialogue was far, far more important than any other.
Tommy Shelby opened a door for a much-mourned character when he suggested an old pal might be able to help in the fight against Oswald Mosley: "I would suggest the most competent organiser of men in the south is Alfie Solomons."
The potential return of the Tom Hardy's Alfie Solomons has been a consistent theme of fan theories for a while now, but up until Sunday it felt more like wish fulfilment than a real possibility. Alfie was dead, wasn't he? Shot on the beach by Tommy after revealing that he had skin cancer, it certainly didn't look that good for him.
But a lot of fans were convinced that because we'd never been shown a body, the door was still open for Alfie to come hobbling back in. To be fair, everyone assumed Linda had copped it last week, only for us to find out that Aunt Polly only shot her in the arm in the next episode.
And look at what Paul Anderson, who plays Arthur Shelby, told Digital Spy about Alfie's exit: "We were unsure… there was a whole thing about whether or not Alfie would live or die, or get shot or not. It was up for debate and discussion. I know that Tom didn't want to go. So there was this whole thing."
Tom didn't want to go, eh? Then again, a lot of Peaky truthers are still demanding to see ECG reports and a dental exam before believing the permanent disappearance of Solomons.
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