SPOILER ALERT AND WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Westies Season 1, Episode 8. It also contains a mention of sexual assault.
The Westies‘ season finale is not quite a season finale. The MGM+ show does finish off several of its plotlines—but it’s also very clearly campaigning for a second season. The end result is that “The Irish Goodbye” isn’t really a goodbye. It’s satisfying to watch, yet there’s also no suspense about where it’s going.
If the series doesn’t get Season 2—and as of the time of writing there isn’t confirmation one way or the other—then the episode is a decent enough conclusion to the story. Jimmy Roarke and Eamon Sweeney finally have the showdown they could’ve had twice over by now, and The Westies brings its story full circle by setting that scene in the same warehouse where the show started. The interplay between Tom Brittney and J.K. Simmons is the best part of the whole episode, as everyone waits for Jimmy to shoot his mentor, but Jimmy chooses not to as proof that he’s not Sweeney. Some viewers might want a bigger moment, yet there’s no denying how well-acted the scene is.
That’s one example of how The Westies ends a story, but it doesn’t feel like it provides closure. The big plot points in the finale are all relatively easy to see. Of course Jimmy is going to topple Sweeney and end up as the new boss. Of course Sweeney will end up behind bars. Of course Bridget is going to get revenge. And of course Mickey is going to fly off the handle one last time. Viewers know what has to be done before the episode ends, and the script delivers all of these moments. But several of them feel incomplete, like there could be just a bit more—or that there’s more intentionally left on the table to feed a possible Season 2.
The final scene of Jimmy sitting behind Sweeney’s desk is easy to see coming from a mile away. And John Gotti’s declaration that he’s going to kill Jimmy and Mickey Flanagan is a very clear setup for another season. (It’s disappointing that there’s so little of Hamish Allan-Headley in the finale, but at least the audience gets Richard Schiff back.)
Elsewhere, there’s a lot of vagueness in Bridget’s storyline. Her interaction with Markham is a chilling sequence, as it turns out she walked into a trap, and he attempts to assault her. The Westies thankfully doesn’t show what happens next, except for a subsequent shot of Markham stabbed to death anyway. The audience is left to infer from Sarah Bolger’s performance, and a scene between Bridget and Jimmy is another highlight; it’s refreshing that the finale takes a beat to acknowledge Bridget’s pain and doesn’t gloss over it because there are other things going on. But Bridget’s last major moment is likewise open-ended; she confronts Brendan Cahill about Markham’s assertion that Cahill sold out her parents. What could’ve been an emotionally devastating scene never feels that intense, and it ends with Bridget simply allowing Brendan to walk away. What’s on screen is fine, but so much more could have been done. And that’s the general feeling in this last hour of The Westies.
Things like Sweeney’s arrest, Markham’s death and even the destruction of Ray’s bar provide viewers with the answers they’re looking for, and all of the actors take advantage of the heightened stakes that always come in a season finale. “The Irish Goodbye” certainly has more punch than some of the episodes that preceded it. Yet it could have hit even harder. Maybe Bridget and Brendan have a bigger confrontation, or she even shoots him. Maybe Keenan and his son Danny have a longer conversation since they’re essentially saying goodbye to one another (although at least that scene didn’t end with a shooting). One could even make the case for shooting Sweeney, as has been threatened twice already this season.
But if The Westies Season 2 happens, then the show obviously wants to retain J.K. Simmons for more episodes. Maybe there’s some reason to bring Allen Leech back in a second season that requires Cahill to be alive; after all, Bridget is too good a character to just be used as Jimmy’s girlfriend. It feels like this show gave just enough to not short-change fans, while also holding enough back to ask MGM+ for more episodes. The question is if MGM+ will do that. Chris Brancato was able to do multiple seasons of Godfather of Harlem, including a wrap-up on the way. On the other hand, he only got one season of Hotel Cocaine. Perhaps he has a bigger story in mind and doesn’t want The Westies to turn out like the latter. “The Irish Goodbye” certainly doesn’t feel like a complete goodbye; it feels like the end of one chapter.
The Westies is now streaming on MGM+. Photo Credit: Brooke Palmer/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.
