City on a Hill 2.3: Seismic Shift

I'm watching but not reviewing every episode of City on a Hill these days -- too much other writing to be done -- but episode 2.3 was impossible not to review, because [Spoilers follow ... ]

Well, the episode blurb on Showtime's page concludes with "Jimmy Ryan, meanwhile, faces problems far worse than a guilty conscience."  Yes, he does.  Problems from Cathy Ryan.  She has every reason to hold Jimmy responsible for what happened to Jimmy's brother, her husband Frankie.  And, now she has a monetary reason to shoot Jimmy to death.  Which she does.

And this signals a bigger shift in this series than just the killing of one man.  It signals something which was already beginning to happen last season, something which has been implicit in this narrative all along: women climbing right up there to the top of the hill with the men in this town.   Women claiming power.

Now, I'm no expert on the power allocations in Boston in the 1990s.  But I suspect that the ascendance of women in this narrative may be more fictional than truly historic.   Someone correct me if I'm wrong.  But would the real-life equivalent of Cathy Ryan have done what she did last night?

Meanwhile, it was good to see Jackie last night begin to tell at least a little of his family history to his daughter.  That brought home an important point, too.  As corrupt as Jackie is, he's still much better than his father and his grandfather and who knows how far back.  He's working, still working.  And maybe even doing some good, even if accidentally,

And, to conclude on a happy note, it's good to see DeCourcy's (great name) wife pregnant.  Will this make DeCourcy a little more willing to constructively compromise on important issues?  Certainly with his wife.  But I'm guessing in his professional relentlessness too.

See also City on a Hill 2.1: Big Dig

See also City on a Hill: Possibilities ... City on a Hill 1.2: Politics in a Cracked Mirror ... City on a Hill 1.3: One Upping The Sopranos ... City on a Hill 1.4: Enjoyable Derivative ... City on a Hill 1.6: Tony's Mother, Mayhem, and Family ... City on a Hill 1.7: The Bodies ... City on a Hill 1.8: Personal Business and Its Accompaniment ... City on a Hill 1.9: Changes ... City on a Hill season finale: "You Ain't the Good, and I Ain't that Bad"