Lies

Lies is episode five of Season 1 of NBC's The Black Donnellys.

Synopsis
Joey Ice Cream meets his long-suffering prison counselor, Mr. Happy Harisson, who unlike his name suggests, is the world's biggest pessimist, getting more and more frustrated as Joey continues to tell lie after lie. When Tommy tries to cash out the rest of his tuition money, he is informed that someone has already canceled his tuition.

Plot
Joey’s prison therapist thinks he’s a pathological liar, and their session gets off to a rocky start. Joey insists he’s a truth teller, flashing back to the day Sean was released from the hospital. With his face still looking like hamburger meat, Sean isn’t quite ready to join the living, refusing a phone call from Kim. Mom insists that he go back to school, promising that she’ll make him do well.

The morning after their night together, Samson wakes up as Jenny tries to sneak out. Tommy is stunned to find Nicky skulking outside his mom’s apartment. Its payday and Nicky demands his first payment by midnight. Keeping Sean out of the action, Tommy tells Kevin not to let their mom out of his sight, and hits the streets to come up with a plan to get the cash. Tommy runs into Samson, who confesses to spending the night with Jenny. In church, Jenny confesses her adulteries to the Father, admitting that she slept with Samson to hurt Tommy. Jenny’s husband has been missing for a year now, and the Father tells her to be grateful - he was a louse. The Father advises Jenny to undo her problems one at a time, starting with an annulment.

Jimmy and Joey wake up hungover to the ringing of a cell phone, which they realize belonged to Louis Downtown. Over morning brew, they deduce that all the bets from Louie’s bookie business are recorded in the phone, and enlist Kevin’s help to figure out the system. Learning that today is payday, they start making calls to collect debts.

Kim catches up with Tommy at Washington Square Park and asks why Sean is ignoring her. He advises her to stand outside their apartment door until she gets an answer. Tommy proceeds to the registrar to drop out of art school, hoping to use his refunded tuition to pay Nicky. He’s not happy to learn that his scholarship, formerly paid by Huey’s union, has been cancelled. Jenny stops by the bar looking for Tommy, where Jimmy razzes her for sleeping with both Samson and Tommy. After she leaves, Jimmy vents his anger at Jenny to Joey, calling her a whore for hurting his brother. Tommy visits Dokey at the union office, hoping to reinstate his scholarship, but Dokey isn’t feeling charitable. Tommy confesses his problem with Nicky, and Dokey offers to make this problem disappear - if Tommy will steal a box from Huey’s basement office. Tommy doesn’t like the idea of robbing a widow, particularly Kate.

Returning home from shopping with his mom, Kevin finds the door ajar, and receives a threatening phone call from Nicky. Kevin wants to kill Nicky, but Tommy tells him to sit tight, and steals the steaming casserole his mother made for dinner. Presenting the casserole to Kate, Tommy gains entrée to her house, offering a sympathetic ear and help cleaning out Huey’s closets. Kim arrives at the Donnellys asking for Sean, but his mom scares her away. Meanwhile, Jimmy and Joey flub their first collection. The client, a big guy, refuses to pay up. When they close the blinds to beat the money out of him, the big guy jumps them first. Jimmy and Joey work hard to subdue the big guy, trashing his office, and limp off with the contents of his wallet.

Overwhelmed with grief, Kate composes herself in the bathroom, giving Tommy the opportunity to steal the box and deliver it to Dokey. The box is full of cash, and Dokey hands Tommy $2500 to pay off Nicky. Tommy accuses Dokey of welching on their deal - he was supposed to make the Nicky problem go away, not just make the first payment. Dokey tells Tommy he’s got a communication problem, and calling it anything else will result in the loss of toes. Tommy backs down, and asks for a favor - he needs an address.

Sean's mom reminds him that it’s not his face that makes him a Donnelly; it’s what’s inside his heart. Tommy gives Nicky the money on the street outside Nicky’s mother’s apartment, explaining that it’s his last payment, they’re even. He points out that the last thing Huey told him was that Sean was not to be hurt, and what would Sal’s boss Aloe think about that? Veiling a threat, Tommy tells Nicky to say hi to his mother for him. Watching Tommy walk away, Nicky asks his buddy who he’s betting on to take over the neighborhood, Dokey or Tommy.

Jenny finds Tommy at the bar and apologizes for last night. When she admits she slept with Samson, Tommy tells her she could have lied to him. Jenny explains that she needs a fresh start, no marriage and no Tommy. He doesn’t want to hear it and tells Jenny to do whatever she needs to do. The bar phone rings, and Kate asks Tommy to come over. Tommy fears discovery, but Kate doesn’t care about the stolen money. She thinks her bastard brother-in-law Dokey must still have keys to the house, and asks Tommy to change the locks that night. Their conversation is interrupted when Kate hears her son Matty crying. When she leaves the room, Matty tells Tommy that he saw what he did, but he won’t tell. Joey wraps it up, explaining that in terms of lies, it all comes down to what you can live with.

Main cast
=== Recurring Cast===
 * Jonathan Tucker as Thomas "Tommy" Donnelly
 * Tom Guiry as James "Jimmy" Donnelly
 * Billy Lush as Kevin Donnelly
 * Michael Stahl-David as Sean "Seanny" Donnelly
 * Olivia Wilde as Jenny Reilly
 * Keith Nobbs as Joey Ice Cream
 * Kirk Acevedo as Nicky Cottero
 * Kate Mulgrew as Helen Donnelly
 * Michael Rispoli as Al "Alo" Onatero
 * Chris Bauer as Hugh "Huey" Farrell
 * Peter Greene as Derek "Dokey" Farrell
 * Molly Schaffer as Kate Farrell
 * Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick as Matthew Farrell
 * Betsy Beutler as Joanie
 * Kevin Conway as Ian Reilly
 * James Badge Dale as Samson Dawlish
 * Kevin Corrigan as Whitey
 * Jamie Bonelli as Nadine
 * Chris Kipiniak as Sharkey
 * Peter Gerety as Bob the Mouth
 * Brian Tarantina as Vinnie
 * Patrick Brennan as Earl
 * Lauren Bittner as Mary Ann Maxwell

Trivia

 * Jonathon Tucker (Tommy Donnelly) played a protective older brother in the movie Hostage.

Quotes
Tommy Donnelly: We're gonna need some Scotch and a lot of it. But we're not gonna be able to pay for it just yet.

Liquor Store Owner: Get outta here.

Tommy Donnelly: I think you're gonna wanna give it to us.

Liquor Store Owner: Oh yeah? And why's that?

Tommy Donnelly: Because your daughter has a crush on Kevin. He's gonna date her if you don't.

Joey Ice Cream: [narrating voice over] Like I said, it all comes down to what you can live with.

Tommy Donnelly: [gesturing to the box in Nicky's hand] That pastry for your momma? Why don't you say hi for me. She lives upstairs right?

Kevin Donnelly: [Helen gives a whole bowl of salad to Sean] What about me?

Mrs. Donnelly: There's not enough for you. Have another piece of bread.

Kevin Donnelly: That's not fair.

Mrs. Donnelly: Should've thought about that when you let Tommy steal my casserole. Go out and eat. You haven't been out of my hair all day.

Kevin Donnelly: I don't wanna go out.

Mrs. Donnelly: Have some squash.

Kevin Donnelly: I don't like squash. I don't even like saying it.

Joey Ice Cream: [voiceover narration] See the thing about telling lies is if you're good at it people don't know they're being lied to. So then the question is... can you live with the lies you tell?