Lilian talks about how she ended up in Chicago.
Tommy now wants to work with Liliana after he discovers the drugs hidden in her place. She says that after working for Tommy and Ghost, it was Julio who gave her what she needed to leave New York alive. Apparently, she got her latest stash of drugs from a man who was trying to kill her and she’s the only one who walked away alive that day. Tommy questions if the man’s crew has been looking for her, and she says they haven’t as of yet. And she doesn’t suspect they will. Tommy doesn’t believe this. He doesn’t think Liliana learned enough while working with him and Ghost.
Regardless, Liliana says she can handle herself. She’s learned how to survive since leaving New York.
Tommy gives Liliana two options. They can keep trying to kill each other or work together. She agrees to work with Tommy. They remove the drugs from her house and decide to stash it all at Tommy’s house.
Is the Jimenez Cartel still around?
Vic goes to the precinct to get some of his associates out of prison. The men complain that they couldn’t believe they were being arrested considering that they have been able to pay the police to stand down. Vic later has a conversation with an officer named Seamus Bennigan. He’s been paying Bennigan lots of money to keep his men out of trouble but Bennigan tells Vic that he has an “alderman issue” he needs to deal with.
Before Liliana starts the process of teaching Tommy how to prep the c*caine and increase the product, Tommy notices the card on her drugs. The symbol looks eerily similar to the Jimenez Cartel. Tommy chooses to not talk to her about this yet and quietly pockets the card.
She asks him if Ghost will be joining him. Tommy tells her Ghost is dead. And even though he didn’t do it, he couldn’t stop it either.
Liliana demands a 50/50 profit split. Tommy reluctantly agrees to this since she is bringing more to the table this time.
JP needs a lot of help.
Tommy brings some pizzas to JP. He says that their grandmother had enough money to have a trust set up. And JP and his father Herman were never contacted about her going to a nursing home. In fact, they weren’t a part of her life for a long time because he never knew Kate. When they came back around, their grandmother Miriam was already in a nursing home. Regardless, JP now wants to do some work on Miriam’s house.
JP tells Tommy he appreciates the cash he gave him but he can’t take it because he’s not sure the money is legal. Tommy lies and says he got the money from selling the businesses he had with Ghost. When JP asks where Ghost is, Tommy says he went south. And he wants to know how much money JP really needs to be okay. JP he says the amount is $196,223.
JP agrees to hold on to the cash Tommy gave him and Tommy says he will see what he can do to get more.
Jenard wants Diamond’s respect.
Liliana talks to Tommy about potential territories. He’s not concerned about CBI or the Flynn family. Liliana has cut product for CBI but Jenard tried to sleep with her. He also owes her $8,000. Tommy plans to get her money back.
Diamond and Jenard go to a nearby baseball park to play and talk business. Jenard thinks Diamond has changed and softened up too much because he would have killed Tommy a long time ago. Diamond says he has changed. He points out that Tommy was instrumental in saving Jenard’s life a couple of times. Regardless, Jenard says things have changed. Although Diamond gave him a seat at the table, it’s Jenard who made CBI relevant. So he demands Diamond’s respect. From a distance, Bennigan is watching them and taking photos.
Vic updates Claudia and Walter about their alderman issue. Walter tells Claudia to look s*xy and have a necessary conversation with Alderman Maguire to stop the shakedowns. And it needs to be a very nice dinner at a very nice restaurant.
Vic wants Gloria to give him more time.
Gloria goes to visit her mother’s grave. She sees that a new tombstone has been purchased. Vic shows up and takes credit for the tombstone. He tells Gloria he saw her with Tommy. All he wants her to do is agree to wait on him to get things straight with his father. But Gloria can’t promise that she will wait on Vic to exit the family business to be with her.
Tommy and Liliana meet with Walter and his right-hand man Paulie. Walter has been satisfied with the Flynn family only selling pills. However, Tommy tells him he could make more money working with him and selling coke. Walter acts like he is listening since Claudia recently told him that profits are down 12 percent from a few months ago.
A messy encounter brings on a change of plans.
Vic and Tommy try to make a deal with the new product with a man named Colin. When they make it to his place, a woman is crawling on the ground asking what was in the drugs he gave her. Colin’s associate Fat Tony is there to have his back. And Colin pulls out a gun on Tommy and Vic. He then proceeds to talk trash about Walter and Vic. Realizing that Colin is far too gone, Fat Tony offers to take the woman with him so Vic can kill Colin. When they make it back to the Flynn house, they tell Walter the deal went bad. And Vic feels they need to take the drugs to Lake County.
Walter prefers to get Diamond on the line.
Diamond is back in charge.
Tommy heads to the boxing gym to meet with Diamond and Jenard. He tells them about the possible deal with the Flynn family but both men say that the family has never worked with any black crews. So they don’t understand why it’s different now. Regardless, Diamond is interested. However, Jenard says he’s in charge and if Diamond wants to be number one in CBI again, he’ll have to beat Jenard in a boxing match. Diamond agrees to this and comes out victorious. He tells Tommy to set the meeting up.
Claudia meets with Alderman Liam Maguire at a fancy restaurant. He taunts her at first, saying they have a lot in common, like their lust for women. Maguire also wants to sleep with Claudia. He feels he has all the power and he can change the amount of money the Flynn family must pay him anytime he wants. Well, Claudia disagrees. She tells him that she knows what school his daughter attends. And if he wants her to remain safe, he’ll stop changing the ward’s price and stop harassing the Flynn family. Maguire tells her that the price will stay the same.
Liliana wants to run the drugs on her own and not deal with the Flynn family. However, Tommy tells her he’s keeping the drugs and she better have told him all she knows about who she stole them from.
Walter pulls a fast one.
Tommy, Vic, Walter, Paulie, and Diamond talk business at Gloria’s restaurant. For Tommy, he thinks things won’t be able to move the way he wants them to unless the Flynn family can learn how to work with a black crew. The Flynn family’s territory is north. CBI’s territory is south. But Tommy wants CBI to start moving powder up north. Then the Flynn family can sell their pills down south below Garfield Ave. Tommy wants the kickback to be 10% both ways. Meanwhile, Tommy wants 5% on every deal.
Things go left after Walter asks how he’s supposed to be sure he can trust that Diamond won’t stab him in the back. He says 20 years ago, Diamond ran up on Paulie and his wife. Paulie’s wife needed a lot of stitches after she got so much glass in her face. Diamond says that wasn’t him or CBI. But Paulie and Walter don’t believe this. Walter brags about how he took out some of Diamond’s men in retaliation. And Diamond says that’s because Walter thinks all black men look alike.
Walter goes on to call Diamond a “black parasite.” And before Diamond leaves, he points out that he never retaliated after Walter came for CBI because he’s about keeping his men safe. Walter cockily says Diamond could do nothing because even more of his men would have died if he did.
Vic and Tommy are frustrated.
Diamond storms out of the meeting. Tommy calls out Walter and says he missed out on doing something that would have changed everything in a good way. Vic agrees. He says that they need to move on from the old ways of thought or their family business will not survive. However, Walter isn’t hearing this. And he says that the Italians, Greeks, and Polish will make them outcasts if they work with CBI.
Tommy walks out to smooth things over with Diamond and apologize. He didn’t know Walter would do what he did. However, Diamond said he expected it. But it’s not on Tommy, it’s on the city.
After a quick conversation with Gloria, Tommy begins to make his exit. Meanwhile, two individuals who may be detectives are taking photos of him. They believe Tommy is the new guy the Flynn family is working with.
Tommy is interested in Claudia’s new product.
Claudia ends up rolling up on Tommy. She tells him he will have a short life sticking around in Chicago. But she has a new product that will blow away what he has. When he asks if she’s interested in working together, Claudia slyly tells him that “chaos creates opportunities.” Tommy smiles.
Jenard and fellow CBI member Elijah talk about the boxing match that made Diamond the leader of CBI, again. Apparently, Jenard intended to lose. He has a long-term plan that will result in every CBI member leaving Diamond and going with him.
Claudia and her girl toy are talking about the bright future they will have with their new drug that was accidentally discovered from a failed diet pill that scientists felt was too similar to c*caine. Claudia has no plans to involve anyone else from the family in their new drug.
What are your thoughts on the episode?
