Your Honor – Season 2 Episode 4 Recap & Review

Part Fourteen

Michael and Jimmy are brought back from seeing their grandson as episode 4 of Your Honor season 2 begins. It is an awkward ride. Frankie is driving and Jimmy makes matters complicated by not revealing how he knew Jimmy was staying with Elizabeth when he is dropped.

Jimmy invites him to his fiftieth and asks Michael to bring Charlie. Rosie watches from afar and rejoices: “and we’re in”. She meets Michael at the house. She inquired about Jimmy and asks Michael to bring Charlie to the party. She assures him charlie will be okay if Michael keeps doing everything she asks

Eugene keeps the money under his bed. Trey calls Sheila for help from jail. But she refuses. Little Mo calls Eugene and asks him to guard the bag until he is back from New Orleans. Roderick shows up at the house the next morning asking for Trey. Sheila doesn’t know a thing and is kept in the dark. He forces himself in and checks Eugene’s backpack. Rosie suits up Michael at her tailor’s and asks him to be her eyes at the party. Jimmy is over-leveraged and might be looking for a way out. Sheila gets a call from Monique.

10 years of silence and now she calls. She asks for Sheila’s help to reach Little Mo. But Sheila is done helping her with money and drugs. Michael invites Charlie to the birthday party. The colour goes off Charlie’s face when Michael mentions Jimmy Baxter. Michael mentions the grandchild and Charlie agrees to think about coming. Jimmy invites Fia to the party. Sheila meets the boys in jail. She reprimands Little Mo for bringing trouble to her house. He beeches her to bail him out and he’ll handle the rest. Roderick has been following Sheila since the morning.

Carlo asks the concierge to Jimmy’s party. He shows off his gift of the gab and flirts with her. Gina steals him away and asks him not to “slum”, i.e., not settle for an ordinary girl. She asks him to get the security tight as she is nervous about the party. She asks Carlo to love and remain close to Jimmy, even if he might feel neglected. Fia goes to Michael’s house and asks him to stay away from the Baxter family. She says she trusts Michael and cares for her. Michael asks her to cut her hair after realising he does look like Saddam Hussein like Rosie’s tailor mentioned earlier.

Monique asks one of the cops on her payroll to bail Little Mo out but he is reluctant. Michael arrives at the party and Jimmy and Fia greet him. He messages Charlie. Gina is perturbed by Michael’s presence. She confronts him and asks her to stay away from her family when Carlo mentions Michael was visiting Fia. He calls Rosie and discovers that he has been bugged. Carlo takes it out and Rosie annoyingly lets out a grunt.

Charlie shows up and wants to see the baby, just as it’s time for Jimmy to cut the cake. He makes a speech to all the guests and thanks them for their presence. He says how time gives joy and pain, loss and renewal; how he has been both blessed and cursed at different times. He makes a shocking announcement by formally welcoming Michael to the family.

Jimmy declares Rocco’s birth and parades Michael to the guests. Charlie is not too far away and he too is brought into the limelight. He asks him to become Rocco’s godfather and Charlie can only nod in agreement. He introduces the duo to Carmine Conti, his father-in-law. That’s why they were brought to the party. Jimmy needs a financial lever and Carmine is the man.

Little Mo is released and picked up by Monique’s men. He calls Eugene and asks him to get out of the house. Gina expresses her concerns over where her family is heading. Carmine calms her down and says he is there. Michael is in shock as Carmine was reported dead. Charlie explains that Carmine has been living on some island around Italy and hasn’t come back to New Orleans since the ’90s. Fia apologizes to Michael and Charlie for Jimmy’s announcement. Charlie leaves and Michael and Fia are left alone to talk. He says he does not want to get in the middle of family affairs and Fia emotionally calls him family.

Jimmy gets envious when he sees Michael and Fia hug. Little Mo reaches the house and sees Sheila crying and all of the things scattered over. The money is gone. Russell calls Monique and she reveals Eugene is standing in front of her with the money. It seems he has finally chosen his fate by staying Eugene; his old troublesome identity. Frankie takes Michael to an isolated place and frisks him. But he doesn’t find the bug meaning Michael was smart enough to take it out. Frankie lands a blow on him and Jimmy walks into the frame. He admonishes Michael for his closeness to Fia. He asks if Michael is trying to take away another child of his.

Michael seems unsurprised by the gun and asks Jimmy to do what he wants to. Jimmy is confused and angry that Michael pops up around his family all the time. Michael explains that he wanted to kill himself and that’s why they released him early from prison. He begs Jimmy to shoot him. But Jimmy doesn’t do it.

The Episode Review

Those moments in the dying seconds are so shattering. It truly gives us a measure of how beaten Michael is in his life. He has no control, emotion, or anything compelling to stay alive for. Fia and Rocco might seem to be his lifelines. But will Jimmy ever let it happen? Given how he reacted in the end, it seems unlikely. Stuhlbarg has been brilliant as the gangster this season. We are seeing subtle shades of his transformation from the previous season.

He seems more assured and confident of where he is taking Jimmy’s arch. Hope Davis too seems set to play an impactful role in season 2. She was on full fire in episode 4. There is a little Breaking Bad reunion in the episode as well. Mark Margolis appeared as Carmine Conti, Gina’s father. It was surreal to see both men together in the same frame. He seems a fiery character and perhaps, the road ahead is not so easy.

One can leave with pain from episode 4, given Michael’s condition. We all want him back on his feet but chances are low. Eugene too has chosen his fate and everything that will now happen to him will be his own doing. He must own up to that. Let’s see how the story progresses.