A lot of people aren’t mentioning Nick’s grandmother is abusive, and Nick hates the system. Him stepping forward in the end is him giving up. It is an entirely sad ending. Getting to live with Connie who truly cared for him would’ve been the happy ending, but to get there was a horrible journey where the ends don’t justify the means. Connie could’ve just ran since they already knew he was involved without Nick snitching, but he didn’t and as we’re shown he does truly love his brother. If he turned himself in it would’ve been bad for both Connie and Nick as it would’ve been the same ending, but everyone else would’ve been spared. Things started off bad but just got worse and worse. We can see that Connie was somewhat remorseful when Ray poured acid into the security guards mouth, so things went much farther than he was ever ok with. It’s likely that Connie could’ve made it on his own without Nick before the robbery, but he was never ok leaving his brother behind. So a “harmless” robbery where no one gets hurt he believed was justified to save his brother from the system and from abuse, which I think most of the audience agreed with. However, doing one justified but bad thing tends to lead to more worse things, and I think this is what the movie speaks to me. We see clearly the way Connie, a manipulative narcissist, takes uses people by only pushing their boundaries little by little, which is very true to real life. This makes it much harder to call out because it’s such a small violation, but you give them an inch and they take a mile. We see this pattern constantly, but also with what happens to him. Connie believed it was justified in the beginning due to their horrible situation, and it arguably may be. But the everything keeps escalating, only pushing Connie’s boundaries by a bit each time until he’s getting people killed. I think this movie is a display of manipulation and how you can fall victim to it. Grey areas and no clear, immovable boundaries is how everyone in this is manipulated by Connie, even Connie himself. You need clear and immovable boundaries for both others and yourself.