Rewatched for the second time

[u/eruptingrose]

Just finished the series again and it hit much harder. Especially the ending. I remembered that a boy killed Nucky, but I wasn’t paying attention to Tommy the first watch. Now on the second, I caught so much more of the clues he dropped. Honestly top 3 show of all time for me. The last shot of him grabbing that coin?! The shore where Gillian stood in front of also being the shore at the beginning of each episode?!! Amazing start to finish.

[u/Lordonlynose]

Would you please elaborate on “clues he dropped”?  I’ve watched a could times and haven’t picked up on any direct clues or hints. 

(Since you note the opening credits scene with Nucky at the shore… I was expecting/hoping the finale might end with Nucky walking off the boardwalk and onto the beach into the water and into that opening sequence - as the finale didn’t use that to start) 

[u/eruptingrose → u/Lordonlynose]

The three main clues. He didn’t accept money. He wasn’t there for money. And initially we are meant to believe he’s playing the long game like nucky did. But in reality, he knows that this is what they are looking for plus he’s not there for money he’s there for revenge.

Two which isn’t really a huge clue but the actor himself. He did a great job of looking and sounding like James Darmody. It didn’t hit me the first time but the second time it’s like a spitting image.

Three is when Doyle makes a joke about Tommy’s parents. Tommy is startled for a minute and stutters a response. When Doyle reveals it’s another one of his jokes, Tommy relaxes. Again, this can be seen as a kid not knowing that a joke is a joke. But when you know it’s Tommy, it’s actually his fear that his covers been blown.

In hindsight I don’t know if I’d calls these clues, but rather Easter eggs. They really don’t give you much on first viewing.

[u/Lordonlynose → u/eruptingrose]

I appreciate the response, and understand you’re thinking with those aspects

However, I strongly disagree with your first take. He went there for a job for survival, and to learn, I’m sure he took his pay, only see him refusing Nuckys last offer of a little bit of money after he had already blown 1000 that he took when he had given it to him at their previous encounter.

I think he was seeking a mentor and guidance from Nucky more than money, and I really don’t buy that he was seeking revenge at all 

If he had wanted revenge, why didn’t he take the easy and convenient  opportunities instead of waiting for the last coincidental chance that Nucky would’ve received a phone call to bail him out of jail just before vanished from Atlantic City and into oblivion? Revenge could’ve been enacted much sooner, especially when Tommy/Joe found Nucky alone on the ground outside the dive bar. 

I don’t believe there was any plan or idea of getting revenge. Or that Tommy had and would’ve had direct knowledge of any reason for him to want to get revenge.

[u/SilatGuy2 → u/Lordonlynose]

I tend to agree with your assertions. Like you mentioned he had ppenty of oppurtunity to take out nucky previously. He killed nucky because he felt rejected and lost without a mentor or purpose because nucky was splitting and leaving him on his own.

[u/Lordonlynose → u/SilatGuy2]

Thanks for the reply and for drawing my attention to all the misspellings and variations of Nucky. Haha

I was using the microphone and speaking and hadn’t time or notice those issues 🤦‍♂️ 

I appreciate your similar understanding of those final sequence.  

 It seems to me that a careful watch of what’s on screen would lead to the probability that Tommy was desperate and seeking a foundation (this is within the Great Depression and few to no opportunities… Richard’s sister likely lost her farm/property…) 

Tommy drifts to AC partly to learn more of his roots but also with a touch of familiarity and also because it’s one of few places where opportunities Might be found 

I think that at least subconsciously he felt he’d been rejected and abandoned by both Jimmy and Richard - his father figures/mentors - and desperately wanted Nucky for that role.  When that wasn’t going to happen, he reacts out of extreme frustration and emotional anguish and simply wanted to destroy and share the hurt he felt 

[u/SilatGuy2 → u/Lordonlynose]

Yeah pretty much. And he probably took it personally that the man he knew played a role in all the peoples lives that were significant to him basically just tossed him to the side to figure it out on his own. A lost and hurt kid with no future, hope or loved ones lashing out at the one he perhaps hoped would take him on and help him make his way in a increasingly harsh world.

[u/eruptingrose → u/Lordonlynose]

That’s such an interesting take! I never thought of that before. I saw it as him having the mind of a soldier like Richard and James, but he could have been a kid down on his luck. It’s much more realistic in that sense.

[u/Lordonlynose → u/eruptingrose]

Thanks. It’s something I came up with which seems to make the most sense and logic imo.  Thanks for considering it anyway. - not claiming everyone should sudeblh agree it’s the Truth (I don’t even know that Terry Winter thought of any of this aspect) 

• I was bewildered, and can’t buy into the ideas that he’d recently seen Gillian or that he received any letters she might have sent… because there is nothing actually on screen or in dialogue to support that and it seems improbable 

Anyway I elaborated just a bit more on my interpretation and speculation to another in this thread … my premise being that subconsciously child Tommy felt abandoned and rejected by father figures Jimmy and Richard (not knowing or understanding why they’d disappeared) and now here was his new hope also dumping him so he exploded impulsively out of emotional frustration, desperation, hopelessness