Warning: Contains spoilers for Peaky Blinders season 6, episode 3.
Tommy Shelby's curse is not what it seems. Peaky Blinders season 6 episode 3 "Gold" saw Esme Shelby-Lee (Aimee-Ffion Edwards) reveal to Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) the story behind the gypsy curse brought on him and his daughter Ruby (Orla McDonagh), but she is not telling the truth. The BBC show's sixth and final season focuses on Tommy Shelby as he is planning his biggest scheme yet and promises to leave the Peaky Blinders afterward. But he has just lost his daughter to tuberculosis, and his health is rapidly declining as well. Although she denies it, Esme has a fairly big role to play in this.
In Peaky Blinders' "Gold," Tommy tracks Esme down in an isolated mountain community as he is desperate to lift the gypsy curse on Ruby. Initially reluctant, Esme takes Tommy to a graveyard, where she explains that the curse on Ruby was caused by the same sapphire that killed Grace (Annabelle Wallis). Tommy gave the sapphire to Bethany Barwell, who took it to her sister Evadne, who in turn put it around her daughter's neck. 7-year-old Connie died the next day, and according to Esme, it was Evadne that put the curse on Tommy to lose his daughter when she turns seven. Tommy proceeds to make a plan to pay Esme and Evadne to lift the curse. But when he gets back to Lizzie (Natasha O'Keeffe), he receives the devastating news: Ruby is gone.
However, in Peaky Blinders season 6, John Shelby's wife Esme isn't telling Tommy the whole truth: even if Tommy forgot, the audience remembers the heartbreaking scene of Esme finding John (Joe Cole) dead at the morgue and confronting Tommy and Arthur (Paul Anderson) about it. As she enters the room, she shouts: "You're cursed, and I curse you again!" Then, she demands she is left alone with her late husband, and as the brothers leave, she tells them, "No peace for either of you, ever." Esme was right, there hasn't been any peace for Tommy or Arthur since John's death. Every attempt to "get out" or go legit has failed dramatically, he has continued to lose his loved ones (Polly and Ruby included), and most concerningly, Tommy's visions are back, along with a mysterious illness. Esme was simply lying when she told Tommy she had no blame for Ruby's death in season 6 episode 3.
The revelation of Connie's death and the sapphire, in this case, is no more than another strand of Esme's curse in Peaky Blinders. According to her, Evadne can't be found and the sapphire is lost forever in a river. Tommy will be haunted by the impossible solution: for a man of action who uses money or intimidation to get things done, the curse is simply not something Tommy can get rid of. Ever since his suicide attempt in season 6 episode 1, Tommy has become increasingly aware that a curse is not letting him get out. While his political power increases, his mental and physical health decreases: Tommy might die before he is able to escape his curse.
In Peaky Blinders season 6 episode 3, Esme even confirms her curse, as she mocks Tommy for trying to make amends this late: "My own curse is in there somewhere," she says, among many other curses. Tommy seems to have fully embraced mysticism in a way that frustrates Lizzie in particular: he thinks that because he's given up alcohol, "I can hear the spirits clearly and they're saying Ruby will be well if I make amends." The news of Ruby's death might come as an incentive for Tommy to snap out of these thoughts, or it might trigger his alcohol abuse problems, sending him down an even darker and more chaotic path in Peaky Blinders' season 6. One thing is certain: escaping Esme's curse will not be an easy job for Tommy Shelby.
Peaky Blinders releases new episodes every Sunday on BBC.