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***Spoiler Alert***

Episode 13: “Easy is the Way”

“The gates of Hell are open night and day; smooth the descent and easy is the way.” – Virgil

Also known as the unintended series finale that will haunt you forever.

The time has come to talk about the final episode, the cliffhanger, the want and need for another season, another anything that we’ll never see. The show’s death quickened by NBC’s marketing neglect, still painful 13 years later.

Joey: “You don’t know anything.  You just look at what happened, not why or how it happened.”  My life motto.  Not just the what, but the why and how. 

Tommy beat Dokey in the street, but didn’t kill him. Which means Dokey is on the war path and Tommy needs to come up with a plan, fast. And that plan becomes to get the whole family out of the city.  Kevin is totally right that they should’ve just killed Dokey, the neighborhood locals would’ve helped to cover it up.  But, that’s not really Tommy’s problem, is it? It’s his conscious. And Kevin’s also right that they can’t hide in the Firecracker forever.

Tommy tasks Kevin to tell Sean to have Mrs. Donnelly go out to her sister Kitty, in Greenwood Lake, NJ.  PEOPLE, I GREW UP NEAR THERE. Who knew Aunt Kitty was so close?  

I love the flashbacks of the family trying to go on vacation to Greenwood Lake, Niagara Falls, and Bear Mountain (also near where I grew up!) and never getting to leave due to an accident, an argument, lost car keys turned a lesson on how to steal cars except the van doesn’t start.

Meanwhile, Samson the bread man returns to stalk Jenny in the most creepy manner, helping out Mr. Reilly.  Ick, I cringe with every Samson scene. Tommy goes to tell Jenny they’re getting out of town, sees Samson, and chickens out.  

Back at the bar, Kevin and Jimmy have come into possession of a rocket launcher and grenades. It’s war, and they both know it. Tommy’s idea to stop killing and leave town sounds great in theory, but this is Dokey Farrell we’re talking about, and a deal between the Donnellys and Nicky that would be broken.

Jimmy to Tommy: “You picked a hell of a time to find a conscious.”

Kevin: “I don’t have a conscious, doesn’t bother me.”

Tommy: “That might be the problem, Kevin.”

Jimmy: “While you’re out saving your soul, Tommy, I’m gonna go save the family.”

Joey goes for the assignment of a lifetime with Jimmy and his pocketful of grenades to kill Dokey. Kevin is assigned to the less fun task of finding Sean and Mrs. Donnelly, and telling them to pack up. 

Tommy takes one desperate attempt to ask Frankie for help, but with nothing solid on Dokey to turn over, Frankie tells Tommy to get his family and get out. 

Nicky and Vinnie head out to Alo’s house, and pull off a dangerous plan to poison Alo with methanol, by counting on the fact that he never offers them a drink. Except, this time he does, and Nicky has to drink the poison as well. Vinnie’s got a small window to get him to the hospital, and you assume he lives but its never confirmed. Thanks, NBC! 

Sean’s got his own decisions to make – things are moving forward with Nadine, who in no way should be involved in the family business, and bucks Tommy’s order to pack and leave town with everyone. He’s got the most chance for a straight life, but his last name means he’s on Dokey’s hit list, no matter what. So he says goodbye to Nadine, a real goodbye for him and a see you later for her. You wonder how she would factor in later on, had the show continued. 

Meanwhile, Mrs. Donnelly is packing the family albums and states that she’s “not leaving the East Coast”, which is me during the pandemic right now. Kevin’s commanded to repack his bags down to one, and Tommy goes off to sell Sean’s car for a van.  

Tommy makes a final stop at the diner to tell Jenny they are leaving, and asks her to come with them. Jenny wants to but she can’t leave her dad, and even when Tommy offers to have Mr. Reilly come, she says no. So Tommy tells her he loves her, and says he’ll call her once more before they leave. The heartbreak between the two of them is devastating.

Sean, Tommy, Mrs. Donnelly, and Kevin (with Mr. Donnelly’s map book for the totally innocent road trip), make a break for the van and pack up. Except Mrs. Donnelly refuses to leave without Jimmy.  So Tommy makes another stop at Joanie’s, knowing she’s the only bait Jimmy will take. Thrilled to be a part of the “fun”, Joanie packs up and joins the party, after making a pleading call to Jimmy, who still refuses. They head back to the Firecracker to hide, while Tommy goes after Jimmy.

Jimmy and Joey pull a crazy plot to blow up Dokey and all of his men. Would’ve been great, except, the grenades are duds. Joey’s explanation of why he needs to shoot the gun and not throw the grenade because he’s a lefty and they’ll be running right is the story of my life! Tommy rolls up in the van, just in time, to pick up Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. 

Samson the bread man makes a disgusting threat to Jenny, forcing her to sleep with him or he’ll kill Mr. Reilly. What a fucking creep, man. And it’s finally time for Jenny to take a bigger page out of the Donnelly and neighborhood book. She takes out Samson for good in front of his apartment door, missing the call from Tommy, but maybe realizing the struggle he’s been going through morally, ethically, emotionally. 

Joanie finally convinces Jimmy to leave the city and the Firecracker behind, cause “there’s bars all over America”. She wants to get clean and he gives in. Only took all damn day when they should’ve been hours out of town by this point. And that’s the biggest downfall of love – it gets in your way of making quick moves. 

Joey, still on guard outside the Firecracker, has his life made when Tommy asks if he’s coming, and he’s already called his grandma, so might as well join in. Not like he hasn’t been participating the entire time.

The van drives away from the Firecracker with Sean at the wheel, Jimmy in front; Tommy, Joey, and Kevin in the middle row; Mrs. Donnelly and Joanie in the back. They literally don’t get around the next corner when cars pull up left and right, Dokey’s army finally making it’s move. 

Tommy gets out to sacrifice himself, Jimmy knows it and gets out too. Tommy tells him its his job to get everyone else out, and Jimmy’s heart is breaking as he knows his brother is offering himself to Dokey.  Kevin hops out as well, and Tommy asks Dokey to either let Tommy work for him or kill him, but either way let his family go. Whatever it takes. Including admitting that Tommy killed Huey, and Dokey will let him go. So Tommy admits he killed Huey and Sal, because they were going to kill Jimmy.  Dokey lets him go, and I think for a split second, Dokey understands what Tommy did and why, but has to be an absolute ass and SHOOTS MRS. DONNELLY.  Because Dokey will never be a man of his word, and Tommy always will be.

The boys jump back in the van, Sean drives off, and Kevin and Jimmy take over shooting towards Dokey and his crew. One of them, looks like Kevin, hits Dokey and he goes down.  Sean’s plowing through the car blockade, Mrs. Donnelly is bleeding out, Tommy and Joanie are screaming, Jimmy’s rage is building, Kevin’s stopped shooting and is curled up on the floor of the van, Joey’s gripping his shotgun in the middle of all of it. The van gets to the end of the block, and cuts to back to Joey in prison.

Joey: “That was the Donnelly’s, could never make it more than a block out of the neighborhood.”

And that’s where the ride ends – Mrs. Donnelly and Dokey both shot and bleeding out, Nicky poisoned, Alo poisoned and presumably dead, Samson dead. The rest of the gang is still alive, but we’ll never really know what would’ve been had the show continued. 

First, let us applaud the absolute brilliance and heart of this show and of this season finale that was never intended to be the end. As a season finale, it’s fantastic. As the unintended series finale, it leaves you hating NBC. Do you see why I boycotted NBC for so long, and still to this day watch it as little as possible?  Who does this to people? You are in the business, supposedly, of great television. THEN MAKE GREAT TELEVISION. Don’t kill off a fantastic, admittedly under the radar, show that got totally fucked by the lack of network marketing and attention. 

Every role was cast so well, each of the brothers totally unique, Mrs. Donnelly impeccable, Jenny so on point, the Irish and the Italians both totally on brand. And Joey Ice Cream? Absolute perfection.

I often wonder what would’ve happened to the cast and their careers had this show been given a second season – even if it remained more of a cult hit, I think it would have drastically changed the the trajectory of at least a few careers. Jonathan Tucker and Olivia Wilde are the best known now of the younger crowd. Kate Mulgrew was already well established, Kirk Acevedo had wrapped “Oz” a few years earlier, Paul Greene has a long list of credits prior to the show. At the time, Olivia Wilde was coming off of a season 2 role in “The OC”, and Tom Guiry had been a child actor, known best for the role of “Smalls” in “The Sandlot”, with a role in “Mystic River” a few years earlier. Jonathan Tucker, another child actor, had put out a string of recent movies, including “Texas Chainsaw Massacre”, but probably best known for “The Virgin Suicides” and “Sleepers.” Billy Lush, Michael Stahl-David, and Keith Nobbs were early in their film careers, and probably would’ve benefitted the most long term.

Season 2 and Beyond: Theories

There’s a great ATX Festival panel with Bobby Moresco, Amanda Moresco, Jonathan Tucker, and Billy Lush from 2017, highly recommend watching. I fully admit it makes me cry.

They discuss the demise of the show, and where the creators and writers saw it going, which was fairly vague. As with many TV shows, the plot details, new characters, character deaths, etc., all can evolve over time as the show plays out, with influence from the actors’ personal lives, like children or wanting to leave to pursue other opportunities. It’s not often that a TV show has a very clear outline from start to finish, or if it does, that outline is often changed to accommodate other influences.

If we look at the evidence and future plot lines given in the first season, we know a few things: Joey’s in jail, there are more murders (presumably), and at some point, the Donnellys put out a contract on Joey (if you don’t know, that’s a contract hit on his life). So how do we get from the season finale, the van careening around the corner, to Joey in jail?

I think any way you look at it, Mrs. Donnelly dies. It’s the only trigger big enough, besides one of the brothers dying, to set off a war of such magnitude. Whether it happens in the van or at a hospital, I think she passes and Tommy gives up on escaping and gives in to the darkness. I see Dokey living, barely, and Jimmy taking him out quietly in a hospital bed. But even with Dokey dead, there are still the Italians, and maybe the deal with Nicky turns bad or someone else steps into Alo’s place, forcing Nicky’s hand with the Irish, who are now run by the Donnellys.

As for Joey? I see it two ways. Tommy pulls off a plan to get Joey into prison for both his own protection and to confuse the hell out of every single person the defense and the prosecution throw at him. Remember, he’s an unreliable narrator, both in his role on the show, but also within his own storytelling of his own actions. It’s a perfect way to play a cat and mouse game with the law.  

Second option? The brothers fracture at some point, with Tommy and Kevin running the Irish, and Jimmy making his own rules and pulling quick money schemes. I can see both Sean and Joey being caught between the two sides. Maybe Joey helps Jimmy one too many times, and Tommy’s had enough.  

Either way, and the first theory seems more realistic within the Donnelly universe, in future seasons Tommy rises to power with Kevin as the muscle, Jimmy as a reluctant second hand man with Joanie by his side, Sean running the bar and trying to have a real relationship with Nadine while keeping her safe, and Joey all hands on deck. Tommy’s deal with Nicky becomes more involved, with a unanimous goal of taking down Longdale Properties and the development deals within Hell’s Kitchen. Which means fighting against Jack Trevor and City Hall.  

And Jenny? After she kills Samson, she realizes sometimes things must be done to protect your own.  She hears about the shoot out, Mrs. Donnelly, Dokey, and finds Tommy. There’s a new understanding between them, and maybe we finally see them together for real. But will Tommy’s rise in power come between them Probably.

Final Thoughts:

There’s something about an unfinished story that works its way into your brain and stays with you forever. I watched The Black Donnellys from the very moment the pilot aired on NBC to the finale online, and watch the series at least once a year in the 13 years since. It remains timeless, classic, a version of New York that I found my 21 year old self living in on the city streets of 2007. Walking from Penn Station down 7th Ave to the Village, cutting over to West Broadway, down through Soho to Church Street. Anticipating the show, thinking about the episodes, making a brief midtown sidetrack later in the spring to Rockefeller Center to pour out my NBC rage with an NBC News exec.  

The brothers (and Joey) became like old friends that live in the back of my mind. I often think about what would Tommy do in a certain situation, Kevin’s non-sarcasm sarcasm, Jimmy’s pain, Sean’s innocence, Joey’s so authentically New York humor. Tommy and Jenny are finally together, Kevin works at a casino, Jimmy and Joanie own a bar, Joey bartends, and Sean is a local actor, using their dark past (and probably present) for inspiration.

Donnellys.  Forever.

“The Black Donnellys” is available for purchase on iTunes, Amazon, and DVD.  Also available to stream, with extremely annoying and poorly placed commercial breaks, on the NBC app or NBC.com

At the time of posting, the episodes are still out of order on the NBC app and website, so Episode 4 = Episode 2, Episode 2 = Episode 3, Episode 3 = Episode 4. The title of each episode should reference the quote slide within the first 5 minutes of the episode.

Episode Notes: “The Black Donnellys” Episode 12

Sleepers: “The Black Donnellys”