The Westies Season 1 Episode 2 Review: Houdini

So where do things stand after Jimmy crossed Sweeney by killing Gotti’s underboss, Vinnie, instead of Mickey?

I’m not sure whether Sweeney ultimately didn’t care or recognized that his request was a step too far, but he was easily swayed by Jimmy’s response.

The Westies Season 1 Episode 2 opened with Jimmy easily persuading Sweeney that it’s as simple as playing “Houdini” and disappearing the body of one of Gambino’s made men.

That sounds familiar in history, doesn’t it? Jimmy Hoffa was “disappeared” so well that he’s still never been discovered. It can be done.

But did we really think it could be done as effectively in this case? The Irish are not the Italians. They are less serious, even if just as determined. And that matters.

Jimmy and Mickey made “Select Meats” the place to be when they dropped Vinnie on the butcher’s slab for instructions on how to make Vinnie disappear. Hey, it’s pretty useful information for those of you hoping to do the same thing.

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Those of us old enough to have taken home-ec classes in school know how “fun” it can be to debone a chicken, which is to say kind of uncomfortable. Imagine doing it with a human being. It made Mickey puke. Who could blame him?

It made me laugh when Jimmy offered an easier solution, taking the meat band saw to make the process more palatable. Even the butcher uses that for the big meat. I guess we got the deboning lesson just to test our queasy stomachs.

The second part of Jimmy’s big plan was to frame Vinnie for a crime spree. By making him responsible for actions after his death, they could give him a plausible reason for skipping town.

They shared their plan by dropping yet another body part on Sweeney’s desk. A tongue on The Westies Season 1 Episode 1, and now Vinnie’s hand was doing the work.

What could have been gross was comical instead, with the gang arguing over whether it was Cousin It or Thing from The Addams Family, represented by a single hand. For the record, it was Thing.

But I was surprised to learn that Mickey had already stopped taking his pills. He’s lucky Jimmy loves him so much. Mickey was just released from Bellevue and promised Jimmy that he’d been “healed” thanks to the pills. To stop taking them puts all of their lives in jeopardy.

So far, I love the kid, partly because of Stanley Morgan’s portrayal, but Jimmy is a stand-up leader and friend who deserves better than what Mickey is giving him so far. He can’t and shouldn’t fix Mickey’s mistakes if he continues making them.

Jimmy may be doing his best to keep Sweeney from taking out Mickey, but setting up Vinnie to knock over a jewelry store? That seems a little low on the list for a made man, doesn’t it?

Assault or murder would have made more sense. It would have been harder to do, especially if you have a conscience, but a few necklaces seemed pointless.

It’s even worse that the secret isn’t theirs alone to keep. Erin spotted Mickey taking Vinnie hostage from her window.

He was concerned for her when he saw her with Vinnie, and even took a bracelet from the jewelry heist for her. Would that connection come back to bite him in the ass?

That’s exactly what happened by the end of the episode. The trail between Jimmy and Gambino was shriveling right before our eyes.

As if Jimmy doesn’t have enough shit on his plate, Bridget was being bothered by Brendan. They dated before he was imprisoned, and he appeals to her conscience by appealing to her alliance with Ireland.

Maybe Jimmy sees him for what he is because of what he’s experiencing with Mickey, but Bridget wants to give Brendan the benefit of the doubt, not for him but for Ireland.

She has no idea what Jimmy is going through right now or how deep the shit he’s wading through is.

How will that weapon come into play? The various parts of this story are just begging to come together, and something tells me the weapon won’t make it to wherever its current destination is.

The “Houdini” and hidden weapons weren’t the only things testing a character’s resolve. Officer Glenn wasn’t too keen on taking down his own people, feds on his ass or not.

He’s stuck between three rocks and hard places: the feds, Sweeney, and Gotti. They all think he’s working on their behalf, but he’s only working for himself, trying to get the right outcome for him and his son.

I can’t even imagine the pressure. That’s why crime never appealed to me. I get anxious making a phone call. How the hell do people live with so many people breathing down their necks, worrying when the ax will fall?

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Sweeney pulled Glenn into the Vinnie Houdini, hoping that if he told the Gambino’s Vinnie was responsible for the robbery, they’d buy it.

The problem was that Glenn didn’t buy it. And since Sweeney doesn’t know that Glenn turned on him, it was just one more thread of an increasingly tangled web.

Gotti thought it was a bunch of bullshit, too. Knocking off a jewelry store was out of character for Vinnie, and he knew it. He also fingered the Irish, which meant Jimmy and his guys were on borrowed time.

It was even worse when they took Vinnie’s hand on the road to implicate him in other petty crimes like busting up an Irish bar.

Granted, it’s not like they can Google him to get a good history of his crimes, but they needed to be thinking like Italian made men, not the Irish mobsters they were. The two couldn’t be farther apart in tone.

But then they got pulled over by a cop, and that seemed like the ultimate way to get Vinnie’s hand dirty.

Is it wrong that it rubbed me the wrong way how easy it was for them to take him out? Yeah, the Westies are scrappy, and I can’t help but root for them, bad guys or not, but indiscriminately murdering doesn’t appeal to me.

I want my on-screen murders to happen with purpose. Otherwise, I begin losing my tolerance for the crimes, and that’s not good.

They were acting like this whole ordeal was a game, drinking and driving and not thinking about what could happen if they were caught with that hand.

It might seem like a boon for them to plant Vinnie’s prints at the scene, but if the whole thing comes tumbling down, they go with it. And, ultimately, the real Westies take a big tumble — eventually.

And let’s be real. They’re so in over their heads. Tossing Vinnie’s license on the ground next to the cop’s body? That’s grade-school thinking right there. Finally, Sweeney nailed it when he told Jimmy that the truth always comes out.

Considering he’s the one at the top of this food chain, not killing every one of them says a lot about him. Or maybe it just says that his guys, overall, are so inept that keeping the least inept of the inept is his only option.

As a total aside, I can’t close out without mentioning how some of the actors on this show remind me of other people.

In certain scenes, Hamish Allan-Headley, who plays John Gotti, reminds me so much of Bob Crane, who led Hogan’s Heroes back in the day. I could see him playing him in a movie.

And God help me, but if anyone is hoping to do a movie about recent Maine Senate hopeful Graham Platner, please put Dylan Taylor’s name on the list. I keep doing double takes.

That’s all I’ve got for now. What about you?

Who do you think will make it to the end of The Westies Season 1 alive? There’s no way the Westies are making all of these rookie mistakes, and someone won’t pay the ultimate price.

I think Jimmy, Mickey, and, of course, Sweeney are safe. Bridget too. But Pat, who just killed a cop? He’s on the list, as is Connor. Erin’s days might be numbered. They’re playing too fast and loose.

Drop your reactions and theories in the comments below!