Pilot (The Black Donnellys)
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| “Pilot” | |
|---|---|
| The Black Donnellys episode | |
 The four brothers. |
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| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 1 |
| Guest stars | Dylan Hartigan as Little Joey Mark Margolis as Sal Minetta Chris Bauer as Huey Farrell Joe D'Onofrio as Louie "Downtown" Lenny Venito as Benny Cool Richard Petrocelli as Frankie Ned Eisenberg as Detective Frankie Stein Paul Calderon as Detective |
| Written by | Paul Haggis & Robert Moresco |
| Directed by | Paul Haggis |
| Original airdate | February 25, 2007 |
| Episode chronology | |
| ← Previous | Next → |
| – | "A Stone of the Heart" |
| List of The Black Donnellys episodes | |
"Pilot" is the first episode of the NBC drama series The Black Donnellys. It was directed by Paul Haggis and written by Paul Haggis & Robert Moresco.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Two investigators question prison inmate Joey “Ice Cream” about missing bodies. Joey recounts an important incident from his childhood past. As a child, his lifelong friend Jimmy was run over by an anonymous driver, shattering his leg and his life. Next, Joey recalls a wake at the Firecracker lounge, a second home to the Irish Donnelly brothers: Jimmy, Kevin, Tommy and Sean the baby. There, Tommy learns that Kevin, a hopeless gambler, is three thousand dollars in debt. In voiceover, Joey tells the investigators about Jenny, a pretty waitress married to a corrupt schoolteacher who robs drug dealers to pay for his student loans. Jenny tells Tommy that Kevin tried to borrow four thousand dollars from her earlier that day. A local cop, Frankie, questions Tommy about his brother Jimmy’s involvement with a stolen truck. Tommy questions Jimmy about the stolen truck but Jimmy denies any involvement. A bar brawl ensues that’s taken out into the streets. All the Donnelly brothers jump in the truck and Jimmy, clad in an expensive T-shirt, tells Tommy he has thousands more in the back to sell. Tommy orders them out of the truck but changes his tune when a cop car cruises by. When they arrive at the buyers’ place, they discover the truck is empty. Kevin tells Louis “Downtown,” the bookie he owes money to, that he needs more time to pay him back. Louis runs the books for Sal and his right hand man, Nikki. Kevin’s brothers, Sean and Jimmy, kidnap Louis and drive off. In voiceover, Joey recounts some neighborhood background: When he was a child, Jimmy’s father was killed by some disgruntled neighborhood Italians, sparking a longtime feud between the Italians and the Black Irish. While romancing a pretty girl, Tommy is interrupted by Huey, the vigilant Black Irish neighborhood “top dog.” He tells Tommy that Louis “Downtown” has been snatched and suggests that the criminals are Tommy's brothers. He tells Tommy that Sal, a powerful Italian leader, is Louis’s uncle. Fearing a bloody aftermath, Tommy catches a ride to the bar looking for Kevin. He discovers Kevin in the basement harboring a gagged and bound Louis. Tommy tries to free Louis but Kevin warns him of Jimmy’s impending anger. “He’s not your Italian,” Jimmy tells Tommy, “He’s our Italian!” Kevin arrives and reveals that the kidnapped Italian has escaped. Tommy chases Louis through the city and catches him. Louis begs Tommy to let him free, promising he’ll forfeit the five thousand dollars Kevin owes him. At his office, Sal promises Nikki thirty thousand dollars to find his missing nephew. Meanwhile, Kevin gambles with the kidnapped Louis in the basement of the bar. He offers to play him out of the ransom money but loses. At a diner, Tommy is confronted by Frankie, the cop, who warns him to get help for his dangerous brother, Jimmy. Tommy sketches the waitress, Jenny, but acts shy around her. Tommy discovers Jimmy passed out in the bar. He tries to talk to his brother but Jimmy goes to the bathroom to shoot up. When Tommy breaks in, the brothers fight and Kevin breaks them up. Tommy tells Jimmy he’d be better off dead the way he is and the two brothers part in anger. An anonymous car pulls up and drops off a plastic bag. Joey, the narrator, picks up the bag and passes it along to Jimmy. Walking home with his girlfriend, Sean is beaten by Sal’s guys. Jimmy, high on drugs, watches his brother being beaten and leaves the scene without helping. He returns to the bar to get his gun and shoots Louis dead. Following Sean’s beating, Huey tells Tommy that he’ll talk to Sal. At the hospital, Jimmy confides to Tommy that he killed Louis and gives Tommy the gun. Huey goes to Sal and negotiates a retribution deal that involves the killing of Jimmy only. Huey takes the news to Tommy and tells him that Sal wants the money back and that Jimmy must apologize in person and expect a beating. Tommy realizes the true implication: that Jimmy is as good as dead. Meanwhile, Jenny arrives at the hospital and confesses to Tommy that she’s in love with him. At the neighborhood deli, Jimmy spots the cashier wearing one of the stolen shirts but blows it off. On the street, Frankie arrests him for stealing the shirts. Tommy watches the scene from the hospital window and tells Kevin that Frankie is going to get his wayward brother into rehab. As the two brothers leave to meet Sal, Jenny, fearing for their lives, tries to stop them. As Tommy and Kevin walk to Sal’s, we flash back to the day that changed Jimmy’s life. As young Jimmy lies wounded on the street, the driver of the car is revealed as Tommy. We cut back to Sal’s bar and in a flurry of bullets Tommy saves his brother by killing Sal, his cronies and Huey. Tommy has just taken over the neighborhood.
[edit] Songs featured
- "Celtic New Year" by Van Morrison is played during the wake at the bar.
- "Beautiful Things" by Andain appears.
- "How Could I Forget?" by The Faint.
- "The Moment I Said It" by Imogen Heap is played when Tommy is talking to Huey in the hospital.
- "Sleepy Maggie" by The Mad Maggies underscores the bar room scene.
- "Open Your Eyes" by Snow Patrol appears during the climactic end scene. It replaced Arcade Fire's "Rebellion" which was in the prematurely leaked version of the pilot episode.
- In promos leading up to the show's premiere, the Mudmen song "Lost" was featured. It did not make an appearance in the pilot itself, however.
[edit] Trivia
The knife Tommy uses on the guard at the end of the episode appears to be some variety of Microtech out the front automatic knife, retailing at least $300 and illegal to all but active duty military and police officers.
[edit] External links
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| Donnelly Brothers | Kevin Donnelly | Tommy Donnelly | Jimmy Donnelly | Sean Donnelly |
| Other Characters | Jenny Reilly | Joey Ice Cream | Nicky Cottero |
| Further Resources | Episode list | Hell's Kitchen |
