Damien Di Paola

Defying Freddie’s direct orders, Michael and his old partner, Pete McGonagle, intimidate a local merchant into selling them her store for half its worth. When the merchant goes to Tommy to complain, Tommy passes her off to police detective Declan Giggs, who used to date Tommy’s sister in high school. Declan compromises himself when he makes the complaint go away. Tommy’s efforts to stop the new highway, including a deal with the mysterious power-broker Judd, lead him to bribe and blackmail two of his fellow representatives. The conflict between Eileen’s public demeanor and private pain are thrown into relief when she learns that her sister-in-law is having medical problems.

Based on a tip from Moe Riley, Treasury agents, looking for Michael’s counterfeit currency, raid Rose Caffee’s house during Sunday dinner, when the entire family is present. The agents don’t find the currency, but bad publicity generated by the raid causes the Speaker to kill an important real estate deal that Tommy desperately needs. To survive, Tommy is forced to pledge his fealty to the Speaker. For Tommy’s oldest daughter, Mary Rose, the raid initiates a growing fascination with her dangerous uncle, Michael. Michael, in revenge for the raid, frames Moe Riley for murder.

When Freddie Cork refuses to let Michael and Pete play on his softball team in a local bar tournament, Michael goes out and takes over his own bar. When the two teams meet, things get stormy. Rose discovers firsthand the destructive power of globalization; as a shop steward for her union, she loses a fight to stop layoffs within her factory and is herself fired. When the Speaker proposes a new waste disposal station in Tommy’s district, Tommy plays fast and loose to make sure his constituents are properly compensated; if along the way a few extra dollars end up in his own pocket, so be it.

Michael takes his old girlfriend Kath Perry (Episode 103) on a milk run to New Jersey to pick up some money for Freddie. When things get messy, Michael resorts to what he does best –- violence. Because Kath sticks by him, he realizes how much he cares for her. Sensing Michael drifting away from her, Rose goes overboard in planning a surprise birthday party for Michael, only to be angered when Michael shows up with Kath in tow. Determined to stay sober, Eileen fends off her demons as best she can. The stress proves too much and she falls off the wagon and is caught drinking by Pete. The Speaker of the House tumbles in a scandal, and Tommy plays on the insecurities of the new Speaker to get himself promoted to Majority Leader, the number two position in the House.

When the owner of Tommy and Michael’s childhood movie theater ends up in debt to Michael, Michael convinces Tommy to help save the theater from the wrecking ball. Tommy agrees, on the condition that Michael have nothing to do with the big benefit Tommy organizes. Michael sticks by the deal, but Freddie Cork steals the fundraiser proceeds and the theater is forced to close. Michael’s sidekick Pete falls off the wagon; Michael helps get him back into AA. In the throes of a deep depression, Eileen confesses all her sins to a startled Mary-Kate. Mary-Kate urges her to get psychiatric help. Meanwhile, Rose starts a new job in a big box store and realizes the powerlessness of the contemporary American non-union worker. Corrupt union boss Marty Trio (Episodes 101, 103) confesses to Declan that he has cancer. Declan tries to turn him as a witness. Marty refuses.