#1 luca gurino enjoyer

god, where do i begin.

some of the important context here is that i think henry was not well liked when he first joined the clemente family. given that his dad was a powerful mafioso back in sicily and a friend of the don, there’s a perception of special treatment, that henry’s gotten a good job based on connections and not on doing anything to really earn it, and also that henry thinks he’s better than everyone else. and i think henry doesn’t really do much to help his own case; he’s a cocky shit, he hates taking responsibility, he’s passive-aggressive and judgmental. so he falls in with luca, who also isn’t well-liked because he’s 1) a huge asshole and 2) short-tempered and prone to violence. it’a a rocky start; they fight a lot when they’re young, verbally and physically, but henry starts to earn luca’s respect when luca realizes he’s tougher than he looks.

if you asked either of them point blank if they liked the other, they’d both probably say no. and in a way, they still kind of hate each other. but they hang out all the time anyway, and they’ve known each other for twenty years. they’ve hurt people together, and that binds them. they’re the same kind of man, no matter how little henry wants to admit it.

they know each other better than anyone. little things, like how the other takes his steak or what kind of cigarettes he smokes or what a certain look in his eyes means. luca knows henry has a mean streak a mile wide, no matter how well he hides it from other people. henry knows luca craves clemente’s approval, that he’s thought over and over about killing him but could never bring himself to go through with it (it bothers henry, sometimes, the way clemente treats the poor bastard). they both know the other is lonely as hell. they don’t talk about it. they’re two guys who put up these huge facades, who try to act all cool and sophisticated, but they see through each other. they’re two guys who can’t be around normal people.

henry is luca’s go-to fix-it guy for when a situation really gets screwed up. henry is just about the only one who can mouth off to luca and get away with it (though even that has its limits). henry is the one who holds the end of luca’s chain, who keeps him from going totally over the edge. sometimes he doesn’t hold it tight enough. luca hates all henry’s new recruits, especially when henry seems to like them. maybe it’s jealousy, maybe it’s sadism, maybe it’s both.