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Exploring MGM+’s New Crime Drama: The Westies
If I’m going to watch yet another movie or TV show about a mafia-style gang in New York, why bother following The Godfather and The Sopranos, right? — I want to come out having learned something new.
MGM+’s new crime drama The Westies achieved this from conception, because I knew nothing about the real-life Irish-American crime family of the same name. In fact, I didn’t even know they existed. But of course, they were known for their racketeering, drug dealing, and murders in Hell’s Kitchen in the 1960s and 1980s.
I know what you’re thinking: Isn’t Hell’s Kitchen exactly where the Italian-American Mafia operated in New York. You’d be right to think that, and it’s one of the main sources of dramatic tension throughout the show’s eight episodes.
The FBI’s Pursuit in The Westies
Add to that the fact that an FBI team has been tasked with tracking down our fictional version, led by family patriarch Eamonn Sweeney (JK Simmons), and you’ve got yourself a real old-fashioned cat-and-mouse chase.
Interestingly, the biggest pros and cons of The Westies are almost the same thing. As you stream it, you’re absorbed – the storytelling itself is solid, reliable, and superficially amusing. But from the moment you turn it off, it will be completely erased from your mind.
Fans’ Expectations and the Reality
Fans Complained that The Westies Would Be Too Tame from the Trailer – and I Think They Were Right
After the above trailer for The Westies was released, I couldn’t help but notice that the overwhelming response from fans was to criticize the scenes as being “too tame” compared to what crowd behavior would have been like at the time.
Now that I’ve watched the entire season, I have to agree. Even if you don’t know the history of Westies, you watch a gangster crime show expecting a serious level of violence – or even just a general feeling of unpleasant brutality.
Sure, blood, guts, and gore don’t make a story objectively better, but come on…we’re trying to have fun here. On top of that, it’s hard to invest in something new if you feel like it’s holding back, especially if it’s aiming for a second season and beyond.
Yet the main narrative is both engaging and well-constructed. As Eamonn Sweeney’s friends take on the local Italian-Americans, you’re as absorbed in the inevitably fatal outcome as you are in the complicated family dynamics.
The Cast: A Highlight of The Westies
The Cast is Stronger than its Story
(Image credit: MGM+)
Bosch star Titus Welliver plays Glenn Keenan, our FBI leader, with an ’80s “pornstache” so commanding that he might as well have had his own acting credit. When you can get past facial accessories, you know you’re in good hands…once Harry Bosch, always Harry Bosch, if you know what I mean.
If anything, I wish we had more of Simmons himself on screen. Sweeney isn’t exactly the Don Corleone type, but it feels like Simmons was somehow a mob boss in a past life. If you’re selling it as number one on the call list, let’s see that translated in every episode, please.
In reality, I’m looking for holes when there aren’t any – or at least, I’m ripping tiny damaged spots in the fabric of the story into gaping tears. Because we’ve been so spoiled by shows like Peaky Blinders and MobLand in recent years, we have to hold everything that follows to an incredibly high standard.
Truth be told, The Westies simply doesn’t meet these criteria. Not because there is anything inherently wrong, but because the competition is very tough. It’s a bit like studying really hard for a test knowing that you’re going to get trounced by kids who are naturally better at the same subject. These are the breaks, so enjoy the ride while it lasts.
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