Catching Up With 'The Black Donnellys'

I apologize that I'm a bit late reporting on this week's show. I've had a rather odd week myself, perhaps not like Tommy Donnelly's latest, but odd enough. Two friends died, one by murder, the other a natural death but still awaiting an autopsy for exactly why it happened.

Then, yesterday, getting off the train from my work commute, I stepped pretty much smack-dab into a murder scene. Future trains were held back, but all the cops were still arriving, emergency folks were trying to save a man shot several times in the chest... in broad daylight, in a busy downtown area I consider very safe at that hour of the day.

There was mass confusion on the scene and although I was five minutes from home, I got home over an hour later. No, I didn't see the shooters. It apparently happened just prior to when I arrived. I did see the victim from a distance. It brought back to me how precious life really is and unpredictable things really are. I had planned to write up my Black Donnellys report upon my return home from work yesterday, but it felt almost disrespectful to write about fictional mob stories after going through that.

Oh... and everyone I know seems to have caught the latest norovirus (stomach flu) that's going around. I've escaped so far, but live in fear. It would be a shame to waste paid sick days being ill, wouldn't it?

But life does go on. And, I definitely want to touch on Monday's episode of The Black Donnellys. Although the episode didn't have as much humorous interaction between the characters, it also didn't have a horrifying gory mob hit scene, either.

It seems that Tommy leads a bit of a charmed life. Think about it. He killed the leader of the Irish mob and then gets asked to host the wake in the bar owned by his brother. And, he carries it off? Even though the lead mobster's revengeful brother has an inkling that Tommy had something to do with the death, he carries it off!

But the price seems to be unrequited love as Jenny Riley just can't take having the goings-on in her life.

The Mob brother took Jenny down to the basement of the bar to get Tommy and his brothers (sans Sean in the hosptal still) down there for "questioning." Put in mobspeak, that would be busted kneecaps. (Why do these guys use an ax? I've never known mobsters to use axes on a regular basis. What are they, lumbermen?) Kevin freaked and ran, so it was up to junkie wild-card Jimmy and Tommy to face the mob dudes. Tommy's quick talking saved them. He told them how he was the last to see the murdered mobster because he asked for his help to save them from the Italian mobsters after murdering one in that very basement. Blood in the drain saved their butts.

As I mentioned before, I'm finding this show intriguing. Although this recent episode wasn't action-packed, didn't provide much dark humor either... it made me actually respect the character of Tommy Donnelly a bit more. It touched on his past and how the past has affected the present.

Did you watch the show? What did you think?