There’s no resting in this life for Tommy Shelby. Right after losing his daughter to tuberculosis, Tommy finds out that he himself is infected with the same disease.
Given a timeline of a year to 18 months till death comes knocking, he will continue to suffer from headaches, seizures and deterioration in brain functions.
With two more episodes to go, does this mean Tommy will die in Peaky Blinders S6?
Tommy Shelby is unlikely to die specifically of tuberculoma in S6. Not only is he set to appear in a Peaky Blinders movie, but he also faces other threats that are equally viable to be the cause of his demise.
Let’s get this straight first, Tommy doesn’t have tuberculosis, he has tuberculoma which is a non-cancerous tumor that is caused by the same bacteria as tuberculosis.
In most cases, operating to physically remove the tumor would drastically better one’s health and survival chances.
But Peaky Blinders is still in the 1930s where medicine has not made its advances yet. Plus, Tommy’s tumor is located in his brain stem which is quite hard to operate on. So it’s almost like his faith is sealed.
S6 Episode 4 also makes it seem like Tommy’s past is coming to bite him in the back.
Besides learning about a son he fathered before going to war, we’re also reminded of the romance Tommy had with an Italian girl named Greta who also died of tuberculosis.
While it was implied that Ruby’s ailment infected Tommy, the modern understanding is that tuberculosis can stay dormant for years on end.
This leads to the tragic speculation that Tommy was already infected when he was tending to Greta for three months and years later, passed the infection onto Ruby.
In any case, this does not confirm Tommy’s death to tuberculoma. He is more than capable of getting himself in other situations that are equally fatal.
So it could be the tumor, or it could be suicide, a Peaky Blinders encounter, or an addiction that takes his life. With Thomas Shelby, there’s no telling.
One thing’s for sure—Tommy will survive S6. Not only does he still have a year to 18 months to live, his appearance in the Peaky Blinders movie is all but confirmed. In the meantime, we will witness his slow descent into deteriorating health.
PS: There’s one real-life successful case of doctors removing tuberculoma from the brain in 1933, with the patient making a full recovery. Could the show adapt that for Tommy?
About Peaky Blinders
Peaky Blinders is a British period crime drama television series created by Steven Knight. Set in Birmingham, England, the series follows the exploits of the Shelby crime family and their leader Thomas Shelby (Cillian Murphy) in the direct aftermath of the First World War.
The fictional family is loosely based on a real urban youth gang of the same name, active in the city from the 1890s to the early 20th century. It stars Cillian Murphy, Sam Claflin, Aidan Gillen, Helen McCrory, Paul Anderson, Finn Cole, and Tom Hardy
Peaky Blinders season 6, which is also its last, will premiere on February 27 on BBC One.
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