The Westies premiered today on MGM+. Pete and Mike discuss the first two episodes.

The Westies dropped their first two episodes of the first season today, and the show starts very strongly. The Westies is an MGM+ crime drama television series set in New York in the 1980s, centered on the Westies criminal gang.

The show stars J.K. Simmons as Eamon Sweeney, a boss in the Irish Mob. Titus Welliver as Glenn Keenan, a not-so-honorable but highly decorated police officer. Tom Brittney as James “Jimmy” Roarke, one of Sweeney’s top gangsters. Jessica Frances Dukes as Birdie Polk, an Agent tasked with looking into the Gambino Crime Family. Stanley Morgan as Mickey Flanagan, a recently released Bellvue patient. Sarah Bolger as Bridget Walsh, Jimmy’s girlfriend. Allen Leech as Brendan Cahill, a former associate and lover of Bridget. Hamish Allan-Headly as John Gotti, c’mon, if I have to explain who John Gotti is, I should smack you upside the head. Vincent Walsh as Eddie Breen, one of Sweeney’s top crew members.

Episode 1:

The deal between the Irish and Italian Mobs:

The first episode opens and closes with one of John Gotti’s crew members, Zaccaro, tied to a chair. Zaccaro was being held for ransom by one of Sweeney’s crew members, but Sweeney came in and took out the man holding him. That pretty much set the tone for this series. Sweeney tells Jimmy Roarke that it had to be done, that there was a deal in place between the Irish and Italian mobs for the Javits Center project. There is a lot of money on the table for both groups during the construction project, and everyone has to keep cool heads for this to work.

Introduction to Glenn Keenan:

Glenn Keenan (Welliver) is first shown taking bets on NFL games with other officers in the precinct. His boss tells him he has a meeting downtown, but at first he says, “Let’s go shit-bird,” which is one of the favorite lines from Bosch among So Many Shows’ crew members. Keenan meets with Birdie Polk about joining her team to get a closer eye on Sweeney’s crew. Of course, Keenan is on the take from Sweeney, so how will this play out during the season? Keenan tells Sweeney what Polk wants, and Sweeney tells him to do it to gain information about the Feds. The one thing Keenan asks is to let his son walk away from the gang; however, Sweeney says that Keenan’s son can make up his own mind. So Kennan’s only play is to take Polk up on her offer, but when Sweeney goes down, his son gets a pass.

Episode 2:

Jimmy and Mickey’s Plan:

Mickey was released from Bellevue Hospital in the first episode and hooked back up with Sweeney’s crew. He has some issues going on in his head and has to take medication to help. Jimmy saves his life at the end of the first episode by taking out Zaccaro instead of killing Mickey. Going against Sweeney’s instructions, now they have to dispose of Zaccaro’s body, but Jimmy has a plan instead. Stage robberies and make it look like Zaccaro went on a bender. Not a good plan, because it backfires during this episode. John Gotti grew up with Zaccaro and knew things did not sit right with what was being spread around about Zaccaro. John confronts Sweeney, who denies seeing Zaccaro, but Gotti confronts the last person to see Zaccaro alive and gets some information from her. At the end of the second episode, we see a couple of Italian guys grab Mickey.

Will Mickey get saved again from Jimmy? Or is that the last we see from Mickey?

A deeper plot:

During these two episodes, we see Jimmy’s girlfriend, Bridget, meet up with a former partner, Brendan Cahill. He had served some jail time and was looking to get back into fighting for his home country of Ireland. He asks her to keep a package safe at the port, which turned out to be a rocket launcher. Towards the end of the second episode, when she asks where the weapon will be shipped, Brendan says it will be used right there in New York. What has she gotten herself into? Will she report the item in storage?

A great start to this show. There are so many characters, and with the city’s gritty undertones, it will be interesting to see what viewers think. Pete and I are hooked on this show after just seeing these first two episodes, and look forward to covering the series this season.

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