Peaky Blinders Rewatch 🙏
S2 E4
"Not to win the derby, Curly."
Throughout all of Peaky, Tommy speaks to Curly in such a gentle way (Arthur does, too). It's not belittling way or like a child, but definitely with a softness. Even when he's surrounded by others like Charlie (who's little harsher with Curly) and May in this episode, he still has a gentle approach to Curly. It's lovely, it's kind, and a sign of his 'true' character, perhaps. But I want to understand why he is unabashed in displaying that gentleness even around people that he's displayed the harder side of himself to in other ways.
Is it a human nature kind of thing - that he's only 'ugly' in times when he feels ugliness is warranted? In 'The Ballad of Tommy Shelby', we learn that he's aggressive when it's deserved, that he'd stand up for those who needed it (a horse in the ballad). So, he has a sense of justice, a sense of moral objection providing him with reason for his actions.
Does he see himself as having a deep moral need, even when he could be seen as weak to reveal his softer nature, to show that those who are of lesser intellect and kinder in nature/disabled/low IQ still deserve a level of respect and affection that other around him in his line of work mightn't offer? Or is it just because it's Curly?
Of course, it's also in this episode that he walks in on Arthur dogging the girl in the pub, and his tone is pretty much the same - so....
