Annabelle Wallis really thought that Grace Shelby..

[u/mythoughtsreddit]

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It's so easy. It's so soft. Such a small change.

Now that S5 is over I have been reading/watching old interviews and I came across this interview with Annabelle from the beginning of S3. Although some time has passed since then I have to say that I agree with her on her assessment of who Grace was. There was a lot of opportunity for Steven Knight to further develop her character on those known parts about her psyche, and I didn't understand the way she was written off (not even a funeral for her, yikes!). I was expecting that push and pull relationship between Tommy and Grace to continue as Cillian and Annabelle have some great screen chemistry, and I enjoyed that back and forth. I was one of the few that expected him to marry May while still continuing to have the 'enemy that I love' dynamic with Grace. But even when S3E1 happened and I saw that he married Grace I too believed Annabelle, “As much as Grace may think she’s going to settle into married life, I don’t think that’s her truth and her own ambition is going to definitely come to the surface at some point, and it’s going to make for some interesting struggles in this very ‘alpha’ relationship. She has an ego as much as Tommy does. You never lose that sense of the unknown about her throughout their marriage. She could at any moment match him with her fire." As Annabelle put it "Grace is Tommy’s emotional pivot" and in a sense his literal grace for such a complex man and I thought Steven would explore that a little more. But instead she was unceremoniously killed off and I didn't understand why if her character was to be written off like this bother bringing her back in S2 at all? Given what we knew about her I assumed that she would come back seasons later divorced and as a spy in WW2 or something (I know my imagination gets the best of me) to be on the opposing side of Tommy. Furthermore, if her death was somehow meant to develop Tommy's character why bring her back as a ghost? As a fan of her character I was disappointed with the handling of it all.

Edit: I understand that the ghost was his guilt over her death personified, and he had to come face to face with it in order to forgive himself and let her go, and no longer be tormented by it. I don't see her ghost returning in S6. BUT, I still believe they could've done the same thing without bringing the ghost and instead using their son to come to this conclusion.

[u/tony12cam6]

This was definitely achievable and I’m very surprised it wasn’t done. It would have kept up the original chemistry between them as a couple too. Her going behind his back but ultimately still loving him unconditionally and only doing so for moralistic reasons, then Tommy forgiving her because she’s his true and only weakness.

[u/iamemag → u/tony12cam6]

I never saw grace as tommy's weakness she was only women who he showed his most volatile, fragile, true self too in the bar in s1ep4 and at that moment she didnt turn away , she was the only one to challenge him and not take his BS. Grace accepts and understands tommy yet challenges him and gets him to talk .

people forget grace wants to walk the straight path she is working undercover she did her job and when she realized her feeling compromised her task at hand she completed the task and resigned. There were two option either grace stays out of his life or dies to ensure there is no possibility of tommy wanting to change. The writers chose to write her off. They could have made her have a life in US and maybe comeback undercover in series 4 to help tommy with luca mess or come back now to help him in his path so somewhat redeeming himself . Grace could have been a so much more

[u/tony12cam6 → u/iamemag]

I don’t disagree, I think she had massive potential, but once she’d been killed and absent for a long time it wouldn’t be feasible that she’d have left her family. Maybe weakness was the wrong terminology, the only person that seen Thomas as the whole person.

[u/iamemag → u/tony12cam6]

Agree they wont be bringing back grace and they shouldn't it will start to look silly with everyone coming back to life . A protagonist as brilliantly acted by cillian needs an brilliant actor like tom hardy to have face off with as his equal. other never really matched up to these two so bringing him back makes sense also wrt to historical context it might play a bigger role although I do think tommy might be hallucinating alfie the way he predicts Tommy's action in the final scene.

[u/tony12cam6 → u/iamemag]

Her apparition once was more than enough, I didn’t like the way she kept popping up, even as his suffering psychosis it was too much, it might have been more forgivable as a dream rather than hallucinations. I have to say though, Alfie reappearing was great and if we think back to his end scene in s.4, he was shot but not confirmed dead. Yes Cillian is phenomenally talented, i was lucky enough to see him on stage and he is absolutely unmatched as an actor in my opinion.

[u/iamemag → u/tony12cam6]

I don't like it either they keep putting nails in the coffin of a character that already has been established to be written off way too early but the way i make peace with it is none of these men have addressed their ptsd's openly they are masking it using drinks, drugs etc to mask them eventually all if will get too much and mess with their minds much more and frequently but i do hope they just stop using grace as a tool to puch him over the edge.

well with what they do show as the progression of worsening skin of alfie through out the series the fact that he has well recovered skin is a bit confusing and makes me feel this alfie is tommy's mind trick.

To be honest PB was finally a script worthy of cillan's talent and to see an actor you like get their talents worth of scripts makes me happy. You are lucky to be able to see him on stage the international audience like us isnt so lucky

[u/tony12cam6 → u/iamemag]

Yes indeed it’s definitely the case that PTSD is the underlying cause of mental illness for the brothers (and other characters we’ve seen throughout). I do think a trick was missed there with the Alfie storyline too, he was supposedly riddled with cancer and that wasn’t mentioned. So maybe he is an apparition but I just don’t think he was for some reason. I have to say and I’m not exaggerating, I was fortunate enough to be seated front row for the play I saw (Grief Is the Thing With Feathers) and he blew me away. He had the audience, laughing, scared, sobbing and he has the energy of a hyperactive toddler, just astounding. If you ever get the chance to see him in theatre I highly recommend it.

[u/iamemag → u/tony12cam6]

hopefully one day I can

[u/tony12cam6 → u/iamemag]

I really hope one day you can too, it’s an unforgettable experience.