Jamie Learns Crime Doesn't Grieve in ‘This City Is Ours’
"Can’t bury my dad and sell his gear at the same time." Life's hard, Jamie. Life's hard.
Deceased Liverpool drug dealer Ronnie Phelan is going home, as This City Is Ours opens this week, escorted by his loyal (or otherwise) entourage, stuffed into a freezer in a van on the ferry. Jamie, Ronnie’s son and heir apparent, gazes at the sea after an attempt to kill his rival, Michael Kavanagh, has failed. Michael, sick and groggy, finally wakes and meets with the others in the vehicle bay, as Jamie tries to spin it as if Michael were drunk. (No go. Michael remembers what really happened.)
Banksey and Jamie take the car, while Michael drives the van with Elaine in the passenger seat. She becomes nervous as customs activity seems heightened, with sniffer dogs in attendance, and the van is selected for search. When Michael asks what the dog is looking for, he’s told it’s “criminality,” but after a brief search, they’re on their way again. It’s yet another annoying detail that signifies nothing and raises the tension as Jamie’s minions, Bonehead and Blink, leave the ferry. Michael managed to grab Blink’s passport and now knows his real name. (It’s Stephen; we shall always think of him fondly as Blink).
Elaine, dragged down by grief and shock, asks Michael if he’ll speak at the funeral, and worries about Ronnie looking his best. Michael drops her off at home and takes Ronnie to the undertaker’s, part of the gang’s support system of small shops and businesses used to skirting the law. The undertaker, Frankie (Rob Jarvis), assures Michael he’ll “make sure he [Ronnie] looks the part.”
