Disloyalty is a Line You Can Never Uncross
“I had to do what I thought was right.”
After Sean (Rohan Mead) gets caught in a sting that lands him on the other side of the law in Episode 7, “A Boy Made of Trouble,” Sweeney (J.K. Simmons) has a conversation with John Gotti (Hamish Allan-Headley) that leads to a decision that fractures the relationship between Sweeney and Jimmy (Tom Brittney).
When Jimmy confronts Sweeney about the death of Sean in an intense standoff, conflict ensues that puts everyone and the entire crime organization at risk.
Meanwhile, Bridget (Sarah Bolger) makes her move against the man who murdered her family, Colonel Markham (Harry Haddon-Paton), embarking on a mission that leaves her permanently altered, whether she comes out of it dead or alive.
But in Episode 8, “The Irish Goodbye,” Bridget’s honey trap is foiled as Markham recognizes her true identity, playing into her fool’s mission until it’s time for him to strike. And in the midst of her plan unraveling by the second, she learns that Cahill (Allen Leech)—the one who helped her plan this attack—gave up her parents to Markham to spare his own life.
The reality of this information washes over her as Markham gains the upper hand, effectively dissolving her entire plot. But what Markham doesn’t see coming is Bridget’s cunning, wit, and vengeful determination.
Meanwhile, Sweeney opens up to Eddie (Vincent Walsh) about Jimmy’s response to killing Sean, and Eddie convinces him that any retaliation against Jimmy and his gang is self-defense, leading to a shootout that solidifies the divide between Jimmy and his once most trusted mentor.
But in all of the chaos is the quiet and calm inside the intimacy between Jimmy and Bridget—both dealing with their own demons yet finding resolve in one another, proving why their relationship is one of the most grounding emotional centers of the entire series.
As Jimmy and Bridget escape in a moment of peace with one another, neither has the luxury of remaining there.
Jimmy makes a bold move, reaching out to Sweeney to seek a way to repair the damage. But on both sides, no one trusts the olive branch, which was confirmed when Sweeney gives up Jimmy’s proposed location to Eddie to finish the war before more blood spills.
In this potential double-cross lies a cleverness in Jimmy that Sweeney overlooks, using Sweeney’s emotional connection against him to leverage the predictability in his decision-making.
And that blind spot costs Sweeney everything.
Those You Overlook Become Your Biggest Threat
One of the greatest things The Westies has done all season is keep audiences on the edges of their seats when it comes to morality, right and wrong, and the law.
As tensions rise between Sweeney and Jimmy, FBI Agent Birdie Polk (Jessica Frances Dukes) is none too happy when Gotti discovers the bugs the FBI planted in his home, putting even more pressure on Detective Keenan (Titus Welliver) to find a way inside to flip one of Sweeney’s loyal men.
But what Keenan doesn’t know is that his son, Danny (Aidan Wotjak-Hissong), is directly in the crosshairs of Sweeney.
And as Birdie makes a promise about his safety, Sweeney makes a move to recruit him to his team.
What is Sweeney’s proposal and first act of loyalty? To protect him from rats.
To protect him from his father.
“You know what we do to rats, right?”
Mickey (Stanley Morgan) is left to deal with Eddie while Jimmy pays off Ruby Stein (Richard Schiff) and makes him an offer he can’t refuse, one that comes with new management once Sweeney is taken care of.
This makes Sweeney’s statement of Jimmy being too pathetic to take his place less and less truthful as Jimmy’s intelligence and street smarts collide beautifully, making him one of the most dangerous men Sweeney never saw coming.
This doesn’t go unnoticed by Gotti, who wonders why Jimmy hasn’t re-upped on product, making him both antsy and suspicious about the quiet.
In the quiet, however, comes the fateful confrontation between Keenan and Danny, alone in a bar with nothing but their pain and silence between them. The fragments of a broken father-and-son relationship lay vulnerable, allowing Sweeney to step in and replace him.
But another father and son face a reckoning of their own.
In the climactic face-off between Sweeney and Jimmy, the emotional core thrums a steady beat as they finally come face to face, tensions boiling over as the student is now ready to challenge the master.
Sweeney expects bloodshed.
Jimmy pulls the trigger.
Yet, nothing happens.
And it’s as Jimmy wills it, making it clear that he wants Sweeney to know what it feels like to be powerless.
That moment becomes the greatest indication of Sweeney’s doubt and underestimation.
Jimmy never needed to kill him to defeat him.
He simply needed to prove that he was courageous enough to outsmart a god.
And as Keenan hauls Sweeney and Eddie off to the station, Jimmy takes his place in the boss’s chair, marking a change in the regime and bringing in a new era for The Westies.
All episodes of The Westies are available to stream now on MGM+.
Recommended Follow-Up Reads
HBO’s Lanterns Episode 1 Reveals the Tragic Cost of Being the Hero
Average Joe Season 2 Review: The Sins of the Father Come Home to Cape Town
Kivonshe—founder of So There’s That—is a film & TV critic who explores compelling storytelling, fandom relationships, character psychology, and the impact of entertainment media through film reviews, episodic recaps, and in-depth theme analysis.