#Lizzie shelby

[murphybabygirl]

I just want to clarify for myself I DO NOT hate Grace I simply think she was a bit cookie cutter but good for her and Tommy. I don't think his abuse neglect whatever you want to call it to Lizzie was okay. I also do get that she could have been so much more. At the end of the day Lizzie kinda was just a mistress.

Bye Beauties and Blinders

The lack of believability of the Tommy and Grace ship (Peaky Blinders)

Warning: Anti-TommyxGrace and anti-Grace

I really don’t understand the appeal of Tommy and Grace as a couple. I know that within the narrative Grace is sold to the audience as being the love of Tommy’s life and their relationship as the epic love story of the series but I don’t get why.

Their interactions in season 1 didn’t strike me as anything particularly special. There was an attraction between them, that much was clear, but in terms of Grace telling Tommy she loved him; it didn’t feel earned. What did they really know about each other and what had they shared? Sure, they killed a man together and the nature of sharing a traumatic and highly emotional thing like that can bring people together. But in terms of the two of them falling in love I never saw it. The two of them seemed to be from completely different worlds with nothing in common. Tommy said she could help him to deal with all the shit in his life but how? What did Grace really offer Tommy? How did she help him? She didn’t seem to understand him as a person or his lifestyle. She was drawn to Tommy for the same reason all of the other women around him are - because he’s intruiging, exciting, unpredictale and dangerous. Like May said, he knows how to make a woman feel alive. But that by itself is not love. 

When you factor in Grace’s absence from the majority of season 2, their love seems even more unbelievable. There were moments throughout season 2 where we’re told that Tommy was still missing her and pining for her, but it didn’t make sense. Tommy’s interactions with May in season 2 were equally as significant as his interactions with Grace in season 1 (in fact, I’d argue Tommy had more of a connection with May than he did with Grace), yet Grace was still the woman he loved. I know I keep repeating myself but why? When Grace returned in season 2 they had sex, she found out she was pregnant and we fast forwarded to their wedding. There was zero time spent on developing what was (and is) supposed to be the main love story of the show. Even in season 5 we were still being bashed around the head with the fact that Grace is the love of Tommy’s life and he will never be able to let go of her. But even when they were married I didn’t see anything significant enough to support that statement. 

A lot of my issue with this ship stems from the complete lack of development given to Grace’s character. She was a blank slate; a pretty young woman with no defining characteristics, personality or motivations that female viewers could project onto and experience through her what it was like to love and be loved by Tommy. The only real bit of information we ever learned about her was that her father was killed by the IRA, but even that was not fully developed. If someone asked me to explain or describe Grace’s character I wouldn’t be able to. The only defining trait she had was that she was Tommy’s love interest. This is a problem in a lot of shows where female characters are written with the sole purpose of being the main male lead’s love interest. The problem with Grace was that her only defining trait/relationship wasn’t even written or developed well. 

Tommy is such a well fleshed out character with a huge personality and in comparison, Grace was completely flat and one-dimensional. How can I buy into a relationship like that? I can’t wrap my head around somebody like Tommy being in love with someone like Grace; someone so uninteresting and stagnant.  If you take away her beauty there was nothing appealing about Grace, nothing to attract Tommy to her and cause him to fall in love with her. Tommy’s psyche is so complex and emotionally he finds it hard to connect to others and let people get close. He doesn’t just fall in love or attach himself to anyone, so for him to love someone the way that he loves Grace, she should be pretty someone damn special. Someone whose soul he connects to and who gets him and knows how to reach him and speak to him in a way no one else can. But I just don’t see his relationship with Grace as fulfilling these things. In fact, I’d argue that of all of his romantic relationships with women, Grace is the person that fulfils these functions in his life the least. 

I’m all too familiar with the “bad guy falls in love with a pure angel who silences the demons and makes him a better person” trope. It’s a cliched trope and overused in television, but I get it and sometimes it works very well. But with Tommy and Grace it never worked. Again, I know that’s what they were supposed to be, but I never believed it. Grace wasn’t “good” enough to make Tommy a better person and she was too passive to make a real difference to Tommy’s life. She never challenged or questioned him, she didn’t support him, she wasn’t his confidante or champion or moral compass, she was just there (and she wasn’t even there for large periods of time). 

Likewise, I’m familiar with the “enemies to lovers” trope, which again, can work very well when it’s done right. Unfortunately, it wasn’t with Tommy and Grace. For one thing, it was so damn predictable it wasn’t even fun to watch. But there was also a complete lack of build-up and tension between them. None of their scenes were emotive (at least not for me, I appreciate this is down to perspective) and even though I could sense that there was supposed to be a certain level of angst, passion, tension and attraction in their scenes, I never felt it. The chemistry between Cillian and Annabelle just wasn’t at the level it should be for a ship that was pushed so hard as being an epic romance. 

So when I watch season 5 and Tommy is haunted by Grace’s ghost and has repeated visions of her I can’t help but ask myself why? Why is this woman apparently so special to Tommy that even in death he’s still in love with her and thinking of her? Particularly when I see Lizzie as being much more able to connect to Tommy and fulfil his needs than Grace ever was. The issue for me really comes down to the fact that as a ship Tommy and Grace are all tell and no show. We’re told repeatedly that Grace is the love of Tommy’s life, we’re told that he can’t get over her, we’re told he made her happier than anybody else, we’re told that he needed her. But I never saw it, I never felt it and I didn’t believe it. 

[borgialucrezia]

tommy & lizzie + 🚬 peaky blinders — 4x03 created by steven knight

[duahauuoplanh]

Thomas and his love for Lizzie

[dandelionfool]

lizzie in a suit. for important intellectual reasons.

[heeahheeya]

I found Lizzie hiding behind the whole people in the Tommy x Grace wedding photo. People of Tommy's side smile, or seem to be happy. Only Lizzie has dark face without smile.

[kittenonpluto]

Peaky Blinders Season Four Episode Three

[thegarrisonpub]

Peaky Blinders | 3x01

[hacked-wtsdz]

Forever obsessed with characters who can’t go back. Characters who want to return to their place in the carton cutouts of life but the shape just won’t fit anymore. Characters who dreamt so hard of getting back home to find out that wherever they are isn’t home anymore. Characters back from the dead or the border with death for whom life suddenly takes a new shape. What will you do with it now, now that it’s so different from what you knew it to be? How do you sit amongst people for whom it’s the old shape and size and smell and taste? Characters who believe that they should be dead but don’t want to die and yet thread a bit too close to the edge. Characters who are dead and walking this life. Forever obsessed.

[kaaaaamii]

Pictures of the downton abbey cast + thomas shelby and lizzie that i adore :)

[justrainandcoffee]

Us rn. All day.

[novashelby]

I'm Not Your Wife, I'm Your Daughter-Father!Tommy Shelby x Daughter!OC-Angst

Pairing: Father!Tommy Shelby x Daughter!OC-Evelyn (but honestly, Evie has a little bit of everyone. So, you are welcomed to be Evie...we are all Evie)

Warning: Death, swearing, violence, mentions of sex, very sad

Word Count: 2,761

Summary: Evelyn comforts Lizzie as Ruby gets sick in the hospital. When Tommy neglects his family, his daughter has some choice words for him

I am so proud of this. For the first time in a while, I feel really happy with something I wrote. So, please please please consider commenting and letting me know what you think. I know likes are easier, but I'd really appreciate some comments.

The childrens’ tuberculosis wing was a dark road. In fear of contraction, no one was allowed past a certain point. It reminded Evelyn of the road to hell, but she was older then. She knew better to speak the words in her head. So instead, she said nothing as Lizzie and her stared down the corridor that only seemed to get darker. A simple hand on the shoulder was good enough, whatever that was…good enough. They knew nothing was good. So, perhaps, it was just enough.

No longer able to bear looking down where they took her, Evelyn turned, letting out a large exhale. Out of everyone, she had to be the strong one, the present one, the mature one. There was no room to lose herself. Without looking at Lizzie, her hand searched behind her until she felt the ridges of her checkered coat. Her fingers hooked around the sleeve and tugged. But she was stubborn. If anything at all were to change from then until the end, Lizzie was determined to be there. 

“Go home,” she told Evelyn, not unkindly. More so lack of any emotion. But she’d be damned if she left. Evelyn looked at her step-mother, or mother, she was never really sure what any of them were. The woman was young-only eleven years older than she, but her eyes were sunken in and her cheeks lost all and any color. It would have been nice and too easy to blame it all on grief. Evelyn knew better. Her father sent everyone to an early grave. 

She shook her head. “No way home at this time.” 

Lizzie softened a bit, giving a short head nod. “Very well-”

“Can I get you anything?” she asked. There was nothing left to get. Lizzie needed no more coffee. The two women shared a look of understanding. Lizzie stepped forward and hugged Evelyn; her arms squeezed around her, head tangled in her hair. Stiff at first, Evelyn was taken aback. Her own arms slowly wrapped around, hands hovering for a moment over the woman’s back. While neither were ever affectionate as mother and daughter, Evelyn was bonded to Lizzie by one mutual understanding. One was birthed by a whore and one was a whore. “It’s not going to be okay,” Evelyn said, resting her hands against her back. “It’s going to be horrible.” She could tell the woman was crying from how her shoulders twitched and chest heaved.

“I know,” she said, furiously nodding. “I know, I-I know….” Lizzie did her best sniffing, and wiping the wetness from her face, but Evelyn grabbed her hands. It was okay to cry. Everyone did it. Especially when life handed you a reason with no explanation. “I’m, I’m fine-”

“Let’s sit.” Evelyn walked Lizzie to an empty waiting area that was just as gloomy as the corridor. They were quiet for a while, studying everything there was to study; paint chipped wall, door frame, the chairs, and a lopsided painting of the Dover cliffs. But when Evelyn turned her head, eerily sat next to her was a teddy bear. It was a faded brown with a worn out face. Dried tears left specks of crusty, hard fur. It and her stared at one another for far too long until she turned and found something else to get lost in. “He’ll come-”

“He loves you,” she commented, slowly looking at her. “Out of everything in the world, he loves you more than anything-”

“No.” Perhaps it was true, but Evelyn couldn’t afford Lizzie going down that direction. “No, he loves everything the same, Lizzie. If it was me in that room, he would have been just as conveniently occupied-”

“He’s affectionate with you-”

“My father’s affections are spread thin.” Evelyn looked at Lizzie, forcing a small, thin smile…lips pressed and face tight. She shook her head. “We all fight for what isn’t there. You, me, Charlie. If I was older and wiser, I would have told you none of it was worth it. Him, it, us…none of it.”

Lizzie for the first time allowed herself to laugh. It was awkwardly placed among the hospital grounds, but nonetheless, it was a laugh of sorts. “I would have been just as stupid-”

“Well, if you look at it this way,” Evelyn snorted. “Married John and you still would be without a husband.” As the words came out of her mouth, she regretted it, but Lizzie laughed trying to soak up any humor she could in distraction. Shortly after, they went back to sitting in silence, soaking up their thoughts. Perhaps trying to numb themselves in the midst of it. Evelyn felt so much she was numb. 

Sometime around midnight, Ruby had been moved to a different room. One where the family can see her under precautions. Lucky for Evelyn, she had received the vaccine as a child unlike Ruby. They had come out just in 1921 and just a short year later, made their rounds. Lizzie had fallen asleep, slumped in the waiting room chair. She almost woke her up, but decided against it, wanting to slip into the little girl’s room herself for a short moment.

And it was a short moment because Evelyn couldn’t bear to look at such a small life withering away. She slid in the room. It was the first time she saw Ruby for a few days and even then, she’d been thinner looking. Her feet stopped under the threshold, feeling her heart sink down to her stomach. “Ruby,” she whispered, not knowing what she could expect back. The last time the two sisters chatted freely, it’d been about fairies. 

First, it was a sneeze and Evelyn helped her blow her nose. Then it was a cough and Evelyn went into her little room with some water. Finally, it was the fever and after the fever, the infection spread over her little body. Both were too busy. Evelyn would never tell a grieving mother, you were also too busy. Her father was too busy neglecting family for work and Lizzie was too busy caring for a man who neglected her. When the fever got too high, she called the doctor. Funny enough, they were home. Both of them in their own world. Own repeating cycle. Tommy had asked why didn’t you tell us? Who could between all the drinking and yelling? But that was then when they were naive of it all.

Evelyn pressed by the threshold and quietly sat down on the edge of the bed. The young girl slept still, head lifted. She’d never seen a child so drained of life; pale and almost tinted blue. Her breaths were spread out and wheezing. Sometimes they’d be like little gasps for air, trying to cling onto whatever was left. Affectionately, Evelyn rubbed the girl's legs to get some circulation moving and propped her up better. She was still fashioning the braids from a few days ago. “You look so pretty, Ruby,” she whispered, sliding to the floor to kneel at the bedside. “I wish I brought a blue bow…I’ll put one in your hair for you’ll always be wearing a blue bow.” 

Evelyn thought back to the time she took her shopping in Birmingham. Ruby had just turned five. Look, they have a pink one for your hair. She would have looked so cute with pink. Ruby had taken one look at the pink satin ribbon and turned, pointing to the blue one, I want the blue one. “I’ll always get you the blue one,” Evelyn said when the memory ended and she was left staring at the still girl. Tears leaned heavy on her eyes waiting to fall down her cheeks. It would be the first time Evelyn would have allowed herself to cry, but not for long. She placed a lingering kiss on the girl’s cheek before leaving. When she opened the door, Lizzie had just reached for the door knob. But they only shared a quick glance before Evelyn went back to the seating area.

The bear had seemed to been moved, so when she walked back in, it’d been staring at her like the devil. “Fuckin’ ‘ell,” she groaned, swiping it off the chair before sitting down. 

Sometime between then and whenever Tommy came, she fell asleep. He peeked in before sliding into the waiting area, kneeling by her sleeping side. Despite being twenty-four years old, Evelyn was still short and able to make a makeshift bed out of chairs, curling up. He was his girl. His baby still. After everything, Tommy still looked at her as he did when she was eight. His calloused, shaking hand rested against her cheek for a moment, his thumb making circles. “Love,” he whispered, placing kisses on her forehead. 

Evelyn jumped awake a bit, propping herself up with her elbow. In a tired voice, she said, “you should have been here-”

“I know-”

“No, dad.” Dad. Tommy felt that knife go through him. It had always been daddy, but never dad. “You should have been here!” The words came out like hisses through clenched teeth. She sat up, ignoring the cushion imprint on her cheek. Tommy couldn’t argue with that. He knew. Tommy looked down, swallowing, nodding.

“I had work-”

“Work,” she scoffed. “Ruby is in the hospital…she’s-.” Evelyn stopped talking, noticing the red puffiness around her father’s eyes. She knew then. “Why are you here with me? You should be with your wife-”

“You should go home-”

“You’re deflecting-”

“You should go home,” he repeated, tone a bit more serious. “I’ve called Isaiah to pick you. If you want to have a fight, we’ll have a row when I come home later. Alright?”

Evelyn shook her head. “No.” She was incredibly tired of his shit. “No, dad, nothing is alright.” She slid from the chair and draped her coat around her shoulders, wiping the sleep from her eyes.

Tommy looked over at her. “Remember when you were eight, and you told me something.” Evelyn paused at the door, rolling her eyes to herself before tiredly turning to her father. He was still kneeling at the chair. “You said…you said to me, do you remember? We were laying in the field and it was the first time I had taken you on the caravan-”

“What are you getting at? Huh?” she rushed him, fixing her bag on her shoulder. “I know, we went up north…it was the edge of the season and the mist…we got really wet laying in the grass. But I don’t understand what any of it has to do with you not being here!”

He got up, striding over to her, pointing, “you said…daddy, it’s me and you-”

“Because at that point, you were all I had,” she snipped back. “But guess what, I’m older now and my circle is bigger. I have other people, and in fact, out of everyone…it seems I have you less.”

Tommy cocked a brow. “No, no…you said, in some shape and form with your little girl words…daddy, it’s me and you, and no matter what you do, I will always be by your side.”

“I didn’t say that!”

“You did,” he said, pointing. “You said that…it was misty and in September of 1918…In fact, I had adopted you just a month later. Shortly before that, I had came home from France-”

“I was eight,” she sighed. “You can’t hold something against me from when I was eight-”

His hand reached up and massaged her cheek. “I’ve held people for less-”

“Well, you fucking know what, dad.” She swatted his hand away. “That promise wears off when you start to neglect the only people who still love you. And quite frankly, loving you, it’s hard…it’s fucking tiring. Exhausting. You never know the meaning of accountability. You know what you do?” Tommy swallowed, his hand instinctively gripping her wrist. Perhaps deep down he was afraid she was going to leave. Go somewhere further than home. Somewhere he could no longer grab her. 

Tommy closed his eyes and sighed. “You don’t understand…no one hates me more than-”

“No one hates you, daddy,” she said. “We're just tired. Everything we have was not worth the cost of what it took. Everyone else is gone.” In one way or another, everyone else was gone. She slipped from his wrist and started to leave.

That is when he said, “I’m glad it wasn’t you-”

“That's an awful thing to say right now,” she whispered. “That was my sister-”

“I loved her…love…and my heart hurts so much right now,” he explained. “But if it was you, I’d be better off dead-”

“And that’s why I mean.” Evelyn had to choke down the tears. It was years of stress and trauma coming forth. Discreetly, she held onto the door frame. “You don’t understand…it’s too much! Daddy, it’s too much…I’m your fucking daughter! But after Grace died, I became everything! I became Charlie’s mother, your wife, your sister, your fucking mother! I became your nurse, your caretaker, your therapist, your fucking everything. It’s been ten fucking years, daddy, and I’m tired…I’m so fucking exhausted!” She walked over to, her hands gripping his arms. “I’ve lived through every stage of life for everyone, but myself…”

Tommy was hardly impressed. He knew what she was saying, but couldn’t accept it. Because he was selfish. “Have I not given you everything you’ve ever wanted? That is your problem, Evelyn, I raised you spoiled…and I will continue to fuckin’ spoil you because it’s too fuckin’ late. So what? I asked you when my wife died to help with your brother? Huh? Is that it?” He pinched her chin. “Do you not remember how you’d sneak out all the time? Get in trouble? Party and drink? I’d have to come pick you up from some random fucking house at three o’clock in the morning! So, don’t give me that bullshit, Evelyn…you lived your youth just fine. You know what I did with mine? Worked and then I went to fuckin’ war…So, I’m sorry, out of all your fun times, I asked you to hold a tad bit of responsibility. Go home-”

“Aunty Polly was always right about you,” she scoffed in disbelief. “You lack all sense of accountability. I had to sneak out because that was only time I was free-”

“And I never once punished you for it,” he interjected. “Never striked you, grounded you, hardly ever yelled at you…Out of everyone in my life, you are the only fucking person I’ve forgiven without consequence.”

Evelyn pushed away. “That’s because everything else has been a punishment. My friends from school are married…I was supposed to go to university, but you needed me home. All the men who wanted to marry have found other wives. Daddy, I am left behind because I’ve devoted my whole life to being your emotional lap dog, and what's sad is, you don’t even understand!” She paused to swallow, taking deep breaths. Tears had dripped down her cheeks, falling to the ground. “Daddy, you only have three people left…me, Uncle Arthur, and Aunty Ada…and some of us already have one foot out the door.” 

Tommy nodded, rolling his eyes slightly. He dug into his pocket for a cigarette. “Maybe my curse is my ambition.”

“And mine is that I love you too much,” she replied. “I love you so much that I’ve never left and I probably never will. So I will suffer until you die…I will watch you kill yourself little by little, drink and smoke, and sleep with women you can never afford to love. I will stand by and watch you wear people down until they die, and then have to put you back together because you realize your guilt. It’s a fuckin’ cycle.” Evelyn took a deep breath, fixing her coat before turning away. “Daddy, I love you, but I promised you that when you were making illegal bets on horse races. Not neglecting us for politicians.”

“What do you want me to say, Evelyn?” he asked. 

“Nothing. I want you to say nothing,” she said. “But I fucking swear to God, if you bring that blonde headed bitch back to our home and fuck her like you did the night Ruby went into the hospital, you’ll see a side of me you’ve never seen-”

“Daughters don’t get in their father’s-”

She looked at him once more. “I’ll fucking cut her head and stick it on the pillars of the bridge in London like 1600. And with her blood, I will write your fucking name….”

[samcoving]

[borgialucrezia]

peaky blinders — 5x03 created by steven knight

[duahauuoplanh]

the deal is… you belong to me.

[dandelionfool]

lizzie and ruby <3

[tommygrace]

It's funny how Tommy treats his two wives. He gently takes one to bed with kisses and apologizes for having his mind busy. He calls the other his property, she has to beg him in bed and he wants to be with her like when she was a prostitute. He said NO to Tatiana, and he said YES to Diana.