SPOILER ALERT: The following contains spoilers for The Westies Season 1, Episode 4.
The Westies is already halfway over, so it’s no surprise that Episode 4 of the MGM Plus show steps on the gas. However, “Favors and Funerals” misses a trick. Series creators Chris Brancato and Michael Panes don’t skip on drama yet could push the envelope even further—and maybe they eventually will.
The latter half of the title refers to Pat Murphy’s funeral, as much of the hour has to do with almost everyone reeling from Pat’s death. While Jimmy Roarke and the crew want vengeance, Jimmy’s boss Eamon Sweeney and crooked cop Glenn Keenan are trying to keep the fact that they handled Pat under wraps. The giant quantity of cocaine being floated around is actually the least interesting thing about this episode.
If actor Titus Welliver took center stage in Episode 3, the fourth episode is a showcase for award winner J.K. Simmons. Sweeney’s duality is showcased fantastically here between his conspiring with Keenan, his moving the cocaine Jimmy stole from the Starship nightclub, and his accepting a community award complete with magnanimous speech. It’s no shocker to say that Simmons makes every shift of character seem effortless. At the core of The Westies is still the psuedo-paternal dynamic between Sweeney and Jimmy, on which this whole episode turns.
When Jimmy learns that Sweeney sold the cocaine after explicitly telling him not to—and sent the money that Jimmy wanted to use to help Pat’s family to the group giving him an award—it’s a watershed moment for the whole show. Brancato and Panes have everyone converging on the award banquet, since John Gotti now wants Sweeney dead for profiting off of his cocaine. This could have been an explosive ending for The Westies, killing off its highest-profile character (and actor) in another alley by one hand or another. However, the writers swerve as Jimmy not only saves Sweeney from Gotti’s henchman but goes to have a beer with him afterward.
It’s anticlimactic, especially the beer part; Jimmy can’t bring himself to doubt the man who’s shaped his whole life. That’s frustrating to viewers who know Jimmy has plenty of reason (and presumably will be even more frustrating to Jimmy’s best friend Mickey Flanagan when Mickey finds out). But on the other hand, it’s understandable because Sweeney is the figurehead of the series and Simmons is the actor at the head of the table. To write him out would be a huge loss plot and talent-wise. And it doesn’t mean that there won’t be a reckoning between Jimmy and Sweeney at a future point. Yet it is so tempting to think of how else those final few minutes could have gone.
Elsewhere, the Bridget and Brendan plot goes to its expected next level, but how that happens is unexpected. Bridget has to tell Brendan that his rocket launcher is missing—but he responds by revealing his target: the man who murdered her parents. This makes her decide to officially join his crew and complete their mission. How that’s going to circle back to the main plot isn’t clear yet, but Brancato and Panes pulled the two stories together nicely before with the use of said rocket launcher, so anything is possible. This is more noteworthy for how actor Sarah Bolger’s role continues to expand and audiences get to be reminded again that Bridget is not just Jimmy’s girlfriend. She has her own journey to go on.
“Favors and Funerals” reinforces that The Westies believes in the intelligence of its characters. Its plot develops organically; it’s not smart people doing stupid things in order to preserve an upcoming twist. Gotti does get a huge assist from a guy working for Sweeney’s drug contact Leon, but that’s the only scene that feels at all convenient. Even Glenn Keenan having his son arrested—in order to get him out of Hell’s Kitchen before Sweeney has him killed—makes complete sense. Keenan will play any side as long as it saves his family, and the speech he gives Danny when he attempts to apologize explains why. Again, Welliver is brilliant as a man just trying to get himself together and being kind of terrible at it.
With The Westies Season 1 only being eight episodes, Chris Brancato and Michael Panes have to move the show at a steady clip. Characters have to be killed off or shifted along because the narrative’s already half over. But even so, “Favors and Funerals” gives the audience plenty to sink their teeth into plot-wise. What’s interesting is that the characters’ emotional arcs are often more compelling than the action. The most memorable scenes in the episode are beats like Mickey appealing to Jimmy, or Keenan espousing to Danny, or Sweeney with Keenan. The Westies isn’t losing sight of its people, even as it turns the heat up considerably. But will it now start being bolder with its plot choices as the finish line is in sight?
The Westies airs Sundays at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on MGM+. Photo Credit: Courtesy of MGM.
Article content is (c)2020-2026 Brittany Frederick and may not be excerpted or reproduced without express written permission by the author. Follow me on Twitter at @BFTVTwtr and on Instagram at @BFTVGram. For story pitches, contact me at tvbrittanyf@yahoo.com.
