The Westies Premiere Review: A Bloody Beginning Sets the Stage for an Irish Mob Implosion

Critic’s Rating: 4.5 / 5.0

4.5

There’s something oddly refreshing about a mob drama that doesn’t take itself too seriously.

That’s not to say The Westies isn’t brutal. It opened with one of its own holding a Gambino underboss at gunpoint and ended with the same guy on the warehouse floor.

The bloodshed is real, the stakes are high, and nobody seems particularly interested in talking things out over a plate of pasta and a glass of Chianti.

But it also has a chaotic streak that keeps The Westies from feeling like every other organized crime story.

One minute, Mickey Flanagan was leaving Bellevue after electroshock therapy, joking that doctors promised him “just a wee lobotomy.” Next, someone dropped a severed tongue on a desk like it was just another day at the office.

Before the hour was over, Bridget had gone from speaking passionately about Ireland to agreeing to stash a rocket launcher in the name of the cause.

It’s a lot. Yet, somehow, it all works.

The music deserves a lot of the credit. Rather than wrapping everything in the slow, heavy atmosphere we’ve come to expect from prestige mob dramas, The Westies barrels ahead with an energy that’s rough around the edges.

It seems less interested in romanticizing organized crime than in throwing us into a neighborhood where everyone seems one bad decision away from blowing up their own lives.

For years, entertainment has treated the Irish mob like the supporting act. The Italians got the sprawling family sagas while the Irish usually came in long enough to start a fight before disappearing into someone else’s story.

Here, they’re finally center stage, and judging by the premiere, they’re already on borrowed time.

The Javits Center project promises more money than the Westies have ever seen, and Sweeney has decided that keeping the peace with the Gambinos is worth sacrificing one of his own.

Jimmy watched that happen, but he didn’t speak up. He stayed in line, swallowing every objection as Sweeney explained why his actions were the cost of doing business. Jimmy nodded along because he understood the math.

He still doesn’t like the answer, but there are new rules now, and he’s following them.

That makes Jimmy an incredibly effective anchor for the premiere. He isn’t the loudest man in the room or the craziest, and definitely not the most powerful.

He’s just caught between every competing loyalty the series introduces. He’s loyal to Sweeney, Mickey, Bridget, his neighborhood, and the Irish homeland.

Before we even got to know him, we knew Jimmy was really struggling with the way things were going. Then Mickey came home.

Mickey could have easily become the show’s cartoon loose cannon. Instead, Stanley Morgan gives him an unpredictability that’s difficult to pin down.

He’s funny one moment, heartbreaking the next, and genuinely frightening the moment after that. Whether he’s joking around or wondering if everyone has started stealing Jimmy’s thoughts, Mickey is much more than comic relief.

He’s the only person who wouldn’t quietly accept that the rules have changed. He was ignorant of important facts for most of the premiere. But being on the outside only makes his confrontation with Vinnie more inevitable.

By the time Mickey learned what really happened to Davey, the audience already knew there was no going back.

I think Jimmy knew it, too, even if he wasn’t quite ready to express it. Mickey’s return gave him the nudge he needed to listen to his heart.

Their final confrontation in the warehouse after Mickey took Vinnie hostage for a second time didn’t just pit Jimmy against Sweeney. It forced Jimmy to decide which version of the Westies he still believed in — the one built on loyalty or the one built on opportunity.

The end left a body on the floor and an alliance hanging by a thread, but we still don’t know which way the wind will blow. Jimmy is loyal to his crew, but they were once loyal to Sweeney, too. Alliances change, even when you think you’re fully committed.

It felt like a pendulum was swinging.

While it had been gently swaying in Mickey’s absence, when he was released, one side was lifted high, and everything coming after will be a series of decisions that will change things forever.

There is a real story behind this. You don’t know much about The Westies these days, so you can guess which gang will be left standing.

Still, The Westies seems less interested in mythologizing organized crime than in capturing the beautiful mess left behind when loyalty, politics, family, and greed all collide in the same few city blocks.

There are still plenty of questions.

How much of this story will closely follow history? Can Sweeney hold onto power now that Jimmy has openly defied him? What exactly is Brendan planning with that rocket launcher? And can Mickey survive in a world that’s already moved on without him?

But those answers can wait. The Westies Season 1 Episode 1 succeeds because it gives us something more valuable than explanations. It delivers characters and relationships we already care about.

By the end of the hour, nearly all of them have been damaged, which is a pretty solid start to a tragedy that could play on for a while.

The Westies has enough juice to keep it running several seasons, and in the wake of Godfather of Harlem’s conclusion, it keeps a type of urban crime on MGM+‘s schedule.

And the Irish? As the premiere title tells you, “The Troubles” follow them.

Their loyalties to home and countrymen are potent. As a gang, the Westies understand what it takes to survive. Their broken homeland is always on their mind, and that connection has meaning.

They’re already anxious, and betrayals and shifting loyalties will ignite them in ways even Eamon Sweeney can’t imagine.Add in the federal investigation and Sweeney’s unsound judgment in dealing with Officer Glenn Keenan, and we’ve got a powder keg on our hands.

I know I didn’t touch much on the incredible cast or the individual plot moments. Believe me, there is also plenty more time to explore those performances, stories, and relationships. And believe me, we will go there.

But for now, what about you? Did you fall in love with this crowd already? Did the violence, the music, and the large personalities have you on the edge of your seat?

On a personal note, I apologize for this late review. I’ve broken one of my solemn vows to always have a review up immediately after air, especially if I have a screener.

The last week was a whirlwind of international travel for me, and I have some great interviews coming your way. So, forgive me.

This week, I’ll also be posting an interview with Stanley Morgan that sheds more light on Mickey Flanagan, so keep an eye out for it!

Now, drop down to the comments below and tell me what you think about The Westies!