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I would have liked to have seen a spinoff of Janice's life in Seattle working at the fast food place in the brief period between murdering Richie and coming back to NJ again
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May 11, 2020 20:57
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I made an attempt you motherfuckers.
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May 11, 2020 21:30
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Pope Corky the IX posted:I made an attempt you motherfuckers. whoever did this
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May 11, 2020 21:33
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I think what I feel most strongly about is that David Chase should have either said nothing or just explained it. Trying to have it both ways where he gives interviews and doles out hints here and there before clarifying that actually he wasn't saying what he said (or what the reporter implied he said), and the answer is irrelevant anyway, is pretty annoying. Tbf he's owned up to the ending being frustrating for a lot of people, so maybe he's working out his own reactions to people not liking it, idk. I'm not trying to tell him how to live his life obviously--he can say whatever he wants to say. I just think it cheapens the whole thing to play games with it.
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May 11, 2020 21:35
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Sinteres posted:I think what I feel most strongly about is that David Chase should have either said nothing or just explained it. Trying to have it both ways where he gives interviews and doles out hints here and there before clarifying that actually he wasn't saying what he said (or what the reporter implied he said), and the answer is irrelevant anyway, is pretty annoying. I mean it's obviously meant to be ambiguous to the viewer at some level why does he need to say more than that.
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May 11, 2020 21:36
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Ishamael posted:Jesus it has started already. Let's at least finish the finale before the thread comes unglued over the last scene. Who's coming unglued?  It's really hard to have an in depth thread about a show with one of the most infamous and divisive finales in television history and expect the subject not to come up. A few people are posting reasonable opinions about the controversial conclusion and a few others are all "GOD drat shut the gently caress up about the ending already!" for some reason. I posted a ton of poo poo about The Blue Comet and several other episodes. Maybe my posts suck but I'm trying to contribute. I mean, OK, sure. Let's not discuss the ending to the TV show we're all posting about in a 100 page thread I guess Let's go over to the the 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Shining or No Country for Old Men threads and just ignore their endings because people like to talk about their ambiguity.Anything that juices the thread is a net positive in my book.
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May 11, 2020 21:42
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Sinteres posted:I think what I feel most strongly about is that David Chase should have either said nothing or just explained it. Trying to have it both ways where he gives interviews and doles out hints here and there before clarifying that actually he wasn't saying what he said (or what the reporter implied he said), and the answer is irrelevant anyway, is pretty annoying. Tbf he's owned up to the ending being frustrating for a lot of people, so maybe he's working out his own reactions to people not liking it, idk. I'm not trying to tell him how to live his life obviously--he can say whatever he wants to say. I just think it cheapens the whole thing to play games with it. eh, i think he's earned a little indulgence. He put stuff up on the screen, you can decide what it means. I liked the 'permanent hell' interpretation, though him dying makes the most sense, but either way: the show's over. Go home.
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May 11, 2020 23:12
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Some people just wanted to see Tony's head lying on a plate of onion rings and AJ screaming and covered in brains, imo.
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May 12, 2020 00:16
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crispix posted:Some people just wanted to see Tony's head lying on a plate of onion rings and AJ screaming and covered in brains, imo. David Chase definitely talked a lot about how that's what he thought people wanted, which may specifically be why he didn't do it, but I think most people wanted Tony to live. What about any fandom suggests that people don't like protagonists who are awful people? Look at the way people have romanticized Scarface. Dr Kool-AIDS fucked around with this message at 00:22 on May 12, 2020 |
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May 12, 2020 00:18
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I for one wanted an epilogue season of Tony rehabbing from a life changing catastrophic brain injury. The graphic depiction of his colostomy bag changing a few times an episode by a resentful Meadow would have been catnip to the critics. Then maybe Chase could finally excise his giant hate (the hoi polloi audience for wanting violence in his mobster show) boner.
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May 12, 2020 00:38
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I think the breaking bad ending, which went to great lengths to give audiences what they wanted, was significantly worse (even though it was full of good scenes).
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May 12, 2020 00:44
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Oz would be a fun show to recap. It was one of the first HBO shows where they let a network showrunner do whatever they wanted so in between the actual good dramatic moments and great acting you have someone making GBS threads in Nazi JK Simmon's face and Cyril taking magic drugs that turned him into an old man. Plus it has an insanely talented cast. Rita Moreno! Edited Falco! Christopher Meloni! BD Wong!
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May 12, 2020 01:15
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Your Gay Uncle posted:Oz would be a fun show to recap. It was one of the first HBO shows where they let a network showrunner do whatever they wanted so in between the actual good dramatic moments and great acting you have someone making GBS threads in Nazi JK Simmon's face and Cyril taking magic drugs that turned him into an old man. Oz was such a bizarre show. I remember someone telling me to watch it as if it was a shakespeare play taking place in prison, and I could more easily enjoy it when those oddball moments always rolled around.
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May 12, 2020 01:18
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Oz hasn't held up very well imo, and always had a misery porn element to it that was pretty uncomfortable, but it was legitimately trailblazing in a pre-Sopranos world and had an insane cast.
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May 12, 2020 01:40
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Yeah, I remember hearing I should watch Oz if I liked The Sopranos but Oz did not hold up.
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May 12, 2020 01:42
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There's a lot of clues that Tony did die. The boat conversation with Bobby makes a lot of sense when you consider how the show ends. Tony's comment in the final scene about the onion rings being "the best in the city", which is a callback to the scene in the Godfather where Michael murdered Solozzo and the corrupt cop. The likely murderer going to the bathroom and then coming back to kill Tony is also a Godfather reference. I'm sure there's a mountain of other clues I'm not remembering off the top of my head and I'm sure Jersualem will cover those in time. The real question to me is whether it even matters if Tony died or not. He's either dead at the end of the show or completely bereft of allies and pretty ruined as a person and even if he does survive he's possibly going to jail. Maybe the way Tony ends up is less important than what lessons we can take about him as a person.
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May 12, 2020 03:32
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Ginette Reno posted:There's a lot of clues that Tony did die. The boat conversation with Bobby makes a lot of sense when you consider how the show ends. Tony's comment in the final scene about the onion rings being "the best in the city", which is a callback to the scene in the Godfather where Michael murdered Solozzo and the corrupt cop. The likely murderer going to the bathroom and then coming back to kill Tony is also a Godfather reference. I'm sure there's a mountain of other clues I'm not remembering off the top of my head and I'm sure Jersualem will cover those in time. David Chase's position is that it doesn't matter and we're all crazy for worrying so much about it, yeah (though he's not just putting down the audience when he says that, because he also says it falls on him if people didn't feel satisfied with the ending as it was shown). The ending we got led to far more discussion and (I think I can honestly say) anxiety, because people are really, really uncomfortable with ambiguity, but we'd all be happier if we accepted it for what it is and made our peace with whatever interpretation we give it. That isn't to say it can't be examined and our perspective can't change, but the show's just as over if he survived as if he's dead, so it's all kind of a philosophical point. Dr Kool-AIDS fucked around with this message at 03:43 on May 12, 2020 |
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May 12, 2020 03:40
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whether Tony died at the end is the least interesting topic of the series and yet it soaks up the most ink
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May 12, 2020 04:09
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Tater Love 
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Get it out of the way now because I'm writing Made in America right now and I would really, really, really like the discussion to be about everything BUT the ending after it's done 
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May 12, 2020 04:23
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Jerusalem posted:Get it out of the way now because I'm writing Made in America right now and I would really, really, really like the discussion to be about everything BUT the ending after it's done I'm really looking forward to this Made in America (p1) post. It's really interesting which storylines got a wrap up scene and I thought some of them landed better than others.
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May 12, 2020 04:26
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Kinda wonder if Silvio's stuck in a coma dream of his own. At least with Paulie on the run he's not around to drive him into cardiac arrest.
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May 12, 2020 07:02
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TBH I think Tony's arc was done anyway. The whole thing ends with Journey starting their refrain "Doooon't stop" and then it just stops. He's dead but even more importantly, he's complete. Then again, you know who else had an arc? Jerusalem posted:Get it out of the way now because I'm writing Made in America right now and I would really, really, really like the discussion to be about everything BUT the ending after it's done Whatever the thread engenders, I really doubt it'll just become an argument over that. You've done a great job with this thread and I went from liking the show *somewhat* to really appreciating & enjoying it.
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May 12, 2020 09:01
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phasmid posted:
"Where's my arc?"
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May 12, 2020 10:49
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Ginette Reno posted:There's a lot of clues that Tony did die. The boat conversation with Bobby makes a lot of sense when you consider how the show ends. Tony's comment in the final scene about the onion rings being "the best in the city", which is a callback to the scene in the Godfather where Michael murdered Solozzo and the corrupt cop. The likely murderer going to the bathroom and then coming back to kill Tony is also a Godfather reference. I'm sure there's a mountain of other clues I'm not remembering off the top of my head and I'm sure Jersualem will cover those in time. I have to ask what purpose an inexplicable cut to black serves if not to symbolize death? Doesn't seem like it justifies itself as an end to the series otherwise.
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May 12, 2020 10:58
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It's just giving you a little time to think 
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May 12, 2020 12:57
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BiggerBoat posted:Who's coming unglued? If you remember the original threads, as soon as the ending happened, that is all anyone talked about going forward. We will soon be at that same point here, and I want to get as much discussion about the show proper into the thread before it happens again. It's a very controversial and divisive ending, and it will (and should) get lots of discussion. I was just hoping to get a little more discussion of the rest first, before we all start yelling at each other about the final shot.
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May 12, 2020 14:14
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Jerusalem posted:Get it out of the way now because I'm writing Made in America right now and I would really, really, really like the discussion to be about everything BUT the ending after it's done hope dies last
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May 12, 2020 14:15
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lurker2006 posted:I have to ask what purpose an inexplicable cut to black serves if not to symbolize death? Doesn't seem like it justifies itself as an end to the series otherwise. People just saw it as a gently caress you by Chase. They thought he was basically saying "you love seeing guys get whacked and now all the sudden you wanna see Tony get it? Well gently caress you, you get nothing." So like, in that case the cut to black would be symbolizing the uncertainty of Tony's future, the idea that we the audience don't get to find out what happens to him. Grammarchist posted:Kinda wonder if Silvio's stuck in a coma dream of his own. At least with Paulie on the run he's not around to drive him into cardiac arrest. Fans of his show Lillyhammer have theorized that it's really Silvio's coma dream.
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May 12, 2020 14:43
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if tony soprano died, then how did we just watch like 7 seasons of his fun antics? people are stories we tell each other and ourselves. i see the ending as a death since he either gets blown away by members only guy or he doesnt and has a horrible life where he wishes he were dead. hes gone and his story is done and thats all that matters. whether hes dead depends on if you watch the show or talk about it with friends, or not. same for any tv show. same for people.
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May 12, 2020 14:45
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Season 6, Episode 21 - Made in AmericaAgent Dwight Harris posted:We're gonna win this thing! Tony Soprano lays on his back, mouth open, pillow behind his head. If it wasn't for the light snoring and the tracksuit you'd be mistaken for thinking he was dead and laid out in a coffin, and the choice of framing seems deliberate. When last we saw Tony he was lying alone in a bed, far from his family, his closest confidants dead or in a coma, clutching an assault rifle like a security blanket and staring at a door through which death could come and claim him at any moment. Now he wakes as the alarm clock clicks on and music plays. He sits up, groggy and out-of-sorts but still very much alive. For now at least, that door remains closed. Late at night as the snow comes down, Tony and Paulie sit in a Steinholz Beverage van out near the airport, waiting in the cold for a meeting set to start an hour earlier. Paulie is cold and upset, the last time he spent an evening in a van like this was out in the Pine Barrens, and it isn't a pleasant memory for him. Tony is more patient however, both because he knows the person he's meeting is doing him a favor by agreeing to meet in the first place AND because he desperately needs this meeting. The other person arrives at last, parking some distance away. Tony stares with concern out the window, making sure it's who he expects (and that they're alone) before leaving Paulie behind and joining the other man in his vehicle. It's Agent Harris, who was once on a task-force trying everything in his power to bring Tony down but has in recent times become - despite Tony's reluctance - more of a figure he respects... to a certain extent. Now that the meeting has started, he doesn't mind complaining a little about Harris being late, and insists on details when Harris grunts he really doesn't want to know WHY he is late. Harris gives them and Tony quickly changes his mind, Harris' anti-terror task-force were following up a tip on a terrorist boarding a flight at Newark Airport. Nothing came of it, and Harris mumbles it's either bad info or deliberately leaked so the terrorists can monitor their response. Neither explanation gives Tony much peace of mind, and he points out that his son has become obsessed with terrorism and he's worried he's been wrong to tell him not to make such a big deal out of it. They're interrupted by a phone-call to Harris, who wearily explains to the person on the other end that he's still at least an hour from home and they can "leave it out" for him to heat up. It's clearly his partner, and he becomes frustrated when they complain about not wanting to leave the food out, shouting at them that they shouldn't then and demanding to know what they want from him. Even at his worst with the microbe he picked up in Pakistan, Harris has never really lost his cool like this in front of Tony, but the stress and exhaustion of anti-terror is clearly catching up with him. Tony sees it too, apologizing somewhat for adding to it but explaining he suddenly recalled some pertinent information about Muhammad and Ahmed that Christopher once told him: the name of the bank they use. Harris is no fool, Tony only JUST remembered this highly specific bit of info? But he takes the details anyway, and then Tony lets the other shoe drop by "casually" asking if Harris' friend in the Brooklyn office knows where Phil Leotardo is? He quickly explains he only wants to know so he can keep his guys away from him and make sure nobody gets hurt, but Harris isn't buying this obvious line of bullshit. Chuckling, he simply responds that he hasn't, but Tony can't help but brings up how he thought the banking info might be helpful. Coldly, firmly, Harris tells him,"You're overreaching." Tony can see he's going to make no progress, it was a desperate gamble unlikely to pay off, so he simply leaves.   Daytime, Tony is driven in the same van by Dante to a small home on the shore. Nervously, carefully, he approaches the home and heads inside. It's a safe-house, but not for him and his fellow mobsters, but his family: this is the property Carmela bought at an Estate Sale as her next house project. Inside, he's upset to see Meadow leaving just as he arrives, explaining she's already late to meet Patrick in the city. Once she's gone, he and Carmela hug, and Tony has to bite back his irritation at her complaints seeming so petty to him compared to his own: the house smells strange, maybe it's toxic and she made a mistake buying it? She wants to get back to her own home etc. Reminding himself that she's here because of him, he controls himself, peeling an orange and promising her he's working on getting them all back home again. But he shuts down entirely when she mentions going to see Silvio in the hospital, face blank and offering a simple grunt of acknowledgement. When AJ comes downstairs with Rhiannon, Carmela notes she's not pleased about her coming around and Tony mistakes this for thinking she might talk to somebody as opposed to the idea AJ is sleeping with her. Not that he is, after she leaves and AJ grabs a drink from the fridge, Tony makes a poor taste joke about her eating disorder and says he still wouldn't kick her out of bed, and AJ points out that they're only friends... and she's still a Junior in High School. Carmela is shocked, though Tony doesn't seem to blink twice at his 20-year-old son spending time with a high-schooler, seemingly more disappointed that he is NOT having sex with her. In any case, they move on to more sombre ground. Bobby's funeral is coming up and he intends for them all to be there, and AJ complains that this makes no sense given they're living in separate homes to avoid violence. Carmela quickly chimes in to remind him that there is always a large FBI presence at the funerals, and it's startling to see just how open they are with him now about this type of thing. Long gone are the days of plausible deniability or hiding the truth about what Tony does. The little boy who had his eyes opened to his father's "job" at Jackie Aprile's funeral is now a surly young man being assured there will be no violence at Bobby Baccalieri's because the FBI will be watching. He storms upstairs like a teenager, and Carmela offers belated words of wisdom that he was happy and contended when he was with Blanca, forgetting that she herself was against the relationship and was relieved when it was over. The funeral itself happens without incident, seen by the viewer only through the monitors of the FBI Surveillance, showing sombre mourners standing bundled up from the wind as Bobby finally gets his wish of being reunited with Karen in the worst possible way. More lively is Vesuvio's afterwards, where everybody is gathered together and packed in tight, talking animatedly about everything but the funeral: the price of cauliflower, the fact that funeral meals always consist of lemon, chicken and fish, Jason Gervasi excitedly letting his father Carlo know he found a tray of roast pork etc. For many of them this is the only chance they'd had for some time to socialize in a large group, most of them have been bunkered down in fear of the Lupertazzi Family. Tony stands eating from a plate while looking over the mural of Mt. Vesuvius, Carmela sitting on a chair next to him and not at a table. Somehow, without either realizing, they've become the old people at family gatherings, just like the Reverend once told Tony would happen. Now they sit aside while the room is socially dominated by a younger crowd. Meadow, Patrick, AJ, the two Jasons and Bobby Jr sit together at a table holding a lively discussion about Jennifer Hudson, the oldest people at the table being Tom and Barbara (the "baby" of Tony's sisters). Paule moves through the room looking for a group to join, the usual "power" structure of the room absent today for him to slot into. Meadow spots him and invites him to seat and he doesn't take much convincing to quickly take a seat, grinning that he's young at heart. He's immediately smitten with a beautiful young woman also at the table, who introduces herself as Tara Zincone: Bobby's niece. He offers his condolences and takes the chance to pat her hand just a little too long, then leans back and opens the top button on his pants, patting his belly happily. The others at the table are amused, and he admits that he ate well, pointing out that "in the midst of death, we are in life... or is it the other way around?" Either way "you're halfway up the rear end" he quips, before apologizing to Tara for his bad language, explaining he's lost two dear friends recently. When it is pointed out that Silvio is still alive, he gets harsh and reminds them that his mother also died. He quickly settles down though, while Jason Parisi is called away from the table to be admonished by his father about something. The topic of conversation returns to Jennifer Hudson, and AJ has had enough, snapping that they're living in a dream, acting like nothing is wrong, gossiping about the Oscars. He quotes The Second Coming, asking what rough beast slouches toward Bethlehem to be born", a line that has zero contextual bearing on what he is saying, not helped when he calls the author "Yeets" and Tom quietly corrects it as Yeats. Meadow quietly tries to warn her brother to cool it, but he's got started up now and isn't going to stop. He complains about how President Bush let Al Qaeda escape in Afghanistan ("OOOH!" exclaims Paulie) and then invaded Iraq for no reason, before suddenly ranting about how America is still the place immigrants come in pursuit of a beautiful idea only to be sold "bling". Tara, with the benefit of not knowing AJ's history and so not handling him with kid's gloves, points out that he's all over the place and she has no idea what point he's trying to make. Paulie lightens the mood by cracking that he's "saying the framus intersects with the ramistan approximately at the paternoster"... or in other words, he's just talking gibberish. He's angry, he's upset, but in an ill-defined way he doesn't really know how to express. So he latches on to things to be angry about, because fixating on terrorism or late-stage capitalism is at least something he can wrap his head around better than this gnawing empty feeling deep inside of him he doesn't understand.   But this brief blip of normalcy - even if it was because of a funeral - can't last. Soon Tony and the others find themselves back in their safe-houses. Carlo watches the Twilight Zone from the couch, where a writer is told that television is looking for quality and talent (a nod by Chase towards the juggernaut that was The Sopranos ending, perhaps? Or just an ironic nod to the fact that even William Shakespeare's writing got mangled by studio interference in that episode). Dante is half-dozing sitting up in a chair while Tony and Benny play cards at the table. Anthony Maffei arrives with an envelope of cash for Tony, noting that it is light. Tony isn't happy about that, but he also doesn't question it. He puts down his leftovers for the cat to eat as Benny complains that he wishes they could hang out at Satriale's instead of here. As the cat happily eats the food, Tony is pleased to point out that it caught a mouse down in the cellar. The cat simply showed up during the big storm they had recently and has stuck around since. Tony's good mood fades though when Patsy arrives and offers another light envelope: most of his customers are giving their business to New York during this period when most of New Jersey's guys are off the street. Walden arrives, coming right through the front door which causes Dante to whip out a gun with surprising speed for his size. Walden half-apologizes as he locks the door up again. Carlo, sitting up from the couch, notes that he and some of the others are going go visit Silvio at the hospital, and asks Tony if he wants to come. Tony hesitates and then says no, explaining that he has poo poo he has to go. He thinks for a moment and then vaguely says it is to do with his daughter, before picking up the assault rifle and making his way up the stairs. They all watch him go, their Boss, and even Benny notes caustically that "yesterday it was his gout" - Tony's failure to make an appearance at the bedside of the best friend who was there night and day in similar circumstances (to the point he ended up in hospital himself) is not sitting well with them. A tourist bus drives through Little Italy in New York, the guide pointing out that it once covered 40 square blocks but is now a single row of shops and cafes. Outside one of those cafes, Butchie waits in the cold for a phone-call from Phil Leotardo. It comes, and he and Ray-Ray start walking down the street expecting to be told where to meet with Phil... but he's not coming to meet them in person, he wants to handle business over the phone. Butchie motions to Ray-Ray to return to the cafe, and continues down the street where he is lambasted over the phone by Phil: why wasn't "our friend" dealt with first instead of being left till last? Why hasn't anybody been able to find and deal with him since then? Why haven't they completed the order he gave them to decapitate the Soprano Family? Butchie offers reasonable defenses: they had every reason to suspect they'd catch Silvio and Tony together at the Bada-Bing, since they spent so much time together there before. They've all been out searching and looking, but Tony is as much a ghost to them right now as Phil is to the Soprano Family. Phil doesn't want excuses though, he wants results, and when Butchie timidly offers that maybe they should.... Phil quickly guesses he was going to suggest reaching out to do a deal. He absolutely refuses this idea, and Butchie is quick to insist he never said that was his idea. Phil promises that they'll sit down together and talk properly when this is all over, but when Butchie offers a quiet,"I hope so" back, Phil grunts he can't hear him and hangs up before Butchie can finish repeating himself. Chastised, feeling unappreciated, and realizing the reality of his smug belief that he and the others could quickly finish off the "glorified crew", Butchie feels lost in this moment. Hanging up, he looks around and realizes that his short walk has taken him out of Little Italy's reduced space and directly into Chinatown. He's surrounded by Asian faces, speaking languages he can't understand. Within a 30 second walk he has found himself out of his element and facing the reality of just how small his sphere of influence truly is. Turning, he retreats back to the safety of his tiny bubble. Things might be rough for the Soprano Family at the moment, but they're not a bed of roses for the Lupertazzis either. At least Tony's guys see him regularly.   Tony makes another nervous, mildly paranoid trip, this time driven by Dante to see Janice. Like Kelli, she now occupies a massive home that was far too big even before the loss of her husband. He finds herself wrapped up on the balcony, understandably wallowing in self-pity that she expresses in humor. Like he did for his mother in the past, he's brought Janice pastries, and like Livia did Janice also turns them down, but with the given reason that she needs to watch her weight and snag herself another husband. Tony can't help but laugh, and she does too, noting he's the only one she knows who would know she was joking. They laugh with pleasure at the memory of how seriously Bobby took his crack about Janice giving blowjobs at the boardwalk, acting as if the whole thing was a laugh and ignoring or pretending the very real animosity Tony felt afterwards. Tony mentioning his name temporarily wipes the smile from Janice's face though, and she has to force it back on before she thanks Tony for being there for her. What next for her though, he asks. She considers, Bobby Jr wants to go live with his aunt and Janice makes it clear by omission that she's not too cut up at the idea. But Sophia? Who has constantly been forced by Janice to conform to the gender dynamics that Janice herself once railed against? Janice is determined that she will stay, purely because Domenica loves Sophia and thus Janice has determined Sophia must remain. Tony admits that if this horrible mindset is another joke, it's one that even he missed. Standing up, he looks out over the rows of neighborhood homes and ponders the past: when Johnny Sack bought this place there were nothing but cornfields as far as the eye can see: now it's (expensive) suburban McMansions. Janice isn't listening though, she's busy convincing herself. She can make it work with Bobby's kids because Bobby would have wanted it that way... hell, she thinks she actually has a bond with Sophia, citing the baking they do together despite the fact every time we've seen anything like this, Janice has been forcing it on Sophia. Still, it's nice she wants to try for Bobby's sake, or would be if it wasn't for her insistence that she's had therapy and is a good mother, making it clear this is all about her rather than them. She doesn't want to be Livia, she wants to be a good mother, and ironically as a result she is doing damage to her new family in much the same way Livia did to her. Ironically Tony, who knew his mother better than anybody (which is to say, not at all), chooses to feed into this desperate delusion. Biting his lip and pretending not to hear Janice echoing Livia with her bitter,"Not that I get any thanks!" line about putting the "warped poo poo" with Livia behind her, he suggests she does make a go of it. She could bring in Harpo from Canada, have all her children together in this big place and really make a family after all: a new nuclear family! But this simply causes Janice to close down, muttering that Harpo changed his name to Hal, making it clear that this part of her life is closed off to her now. Tony, long practiced at banging his head against a brick wall when it came to his mother, sighs and offers a pleasantry as he departs, assuring her he is only minutes away. He told Kelli the same thing after Christopher's death, another widow in the wake of his destructive path through life. One husband he murdered, the other died because of him, but Tony feels no guilt over either: just a begrudging responsibility for one and an exhausted familial responsibility for the other. The lines of sympathy he offers have long since become as rote as his "what are ya gonna do?" response to tragedies he simply doesn't feel beyond the intellectual level.   As he returns to his van his phone rings. Answering it, he's surprised to see Agent Harris' voice without preamble announcing that multiple calls have been traced back to a payphone in Oyster Bay, Long Island. At first Tony is confused, but then realization hits: an FBI Agent is giving him the general whereabouts of the Mob Boss they both know he wants to kill, his "overreach" paid dividends after all. Eager, he asks where the calls are happening, but all Harris can offer here is that it is probably a gas station, speculating that the unspoken subject of their conversation has been unable to get his hands on a clean cell phone due to being on the lam. As Harris speaks, we see he is lying in a hotel bed shirtless. The door to the bathroom opens and a woman exits in her underwear, buttoning up her own shirt. She is another FBI Agent, and quite clearly not the wife/girlfriend that Harris spoke with on the phone during his late night meeting with Tony. He casts a guilty look her way and she returns an angry one his, and it's not clear if the guilt/anger comes from Harris cheating on his wife, or the fact he's clearly offering info to a mobster. Presumably she is the "friend" in the Brooklyn office he has mentioned, and the information she's given him has been pillow talk she probably never expected to get passed on. Tony immediately puts people into action, with Walden and Benny just two of the many who stake out gas stations in Oyster Bay. This itself is an indication of just how much the influence of the mob has waned. Butchie found himself a stranger in a strange land when he walked a single street away from his Little Italy base. Phil was able to disappear entirely off the radar simply by going to Long Island. Tony has been able to escape one of the Five Families of New York by just mostly keeping to a house out in the suburbs. But the net is tightening now, Tony has information and Phil has no idea his general whereabouts have been compromised. AJ finds a more appreciative audience for his surface level nihilistic angst in High School Junior Rhiannon. Sitting in his SUV with her in the middle of the woods, they listen to Bob Dylan and exclaim over the fact his lyrics seem so timely, since who could have possibly thought that there would be concerns about consumerism and political hypocrisy in the 1960s! But as she talks about how the music speaks to the current world, they find themselves staring at each other. They break eye contact and look away, but the pull of that gaze brings them back around. Both agree that the unspoken spark of attraction could be a mistake, that they're good friends (as he's insisted to his parents) and nothing more... and then they're making out as Bob Dylan continues to ramble in the background. She climbs into his lap and he lowers the seat, laughing naturally and without any air of the omnipresent gloom that has radiated from him since breaking up with Blanca when the seat jerks back suddenly and he drops into place. She removes her top and he reaches for her bra strap, thrilling to the feel of her lips against his neck... and then notices the smoke raising out of the air conditioner and the flames lapping the hood of the car. In a panic they flee the car, Rhiannon still in only a bra in the cold, barren woods as the fire raises higher from the SUV. Belatedly AJ remembers the warnings his father gave him about not parking on leaves, but it is too late to do anything about it. The sound system melts and Bob Dylan's voice slows to a crawl and dies, the tires burst and the seat covers melt. AJ starts to remark that at least the gas tank was almost empty, only for what little gas was in there to explode. He and Rhiannon watch in astonishment as the oversized vehicle burns out: one thing is for sure, both of them are more awake and alert than they have been in quite some time.  That changes when he has to sit and be lambasted by his father later on though. The whole family is together at Carmela's new project despite the danger, this explosion enough to draw Tony back into the family fold to read his son the riot act. He warned him time and again not to park on leaves, that the catalytic convertor runs hot enough that you can grill steaks! AJ, a grown man who still acts like a spoiled child, complains that he didn't see the leaves, while Meadow reads the New York Times and rolls her eyes at the fact that even under these circumstances and at their ages, this kind of scene continues to unfold. Despite herself she finds herself drawn into the same regression, as she comes to AJ's aid when he offers a bewildered,"I guess so?" to Carmela's ridiculous claim that he'd have run kids over if they'd been playing in the leaves unseen. Tony yells at her not to get involved unless she wants some too, and she stalks out of the house with a mumbled insult under her breath just like she'd have given when she was 16. Turning their attention back to AJ, he complains that he can't be expected to go around looking for leaves when he has depression, neglecting to mention he was more distracted by making out with a high school girl. When Tony snaps that the car cost 30k, he offers back with the blase indifference of a child of privilege that this is why he has insurance. Carmela is outraged, does he think he's getting ANOTHER car? She insists he won't (remember, he's 20 years old, not 15-16) and he agrees after a moment that this is good, it will force him to take the bus. They're incredulous at this remark, even moreso when he announces with determination that America must break its dependence on foreign oil. Like Tara noted, he's all over the place, he just basically spouts talking points in place of any real introspection or analysis, and believes himself better-informed than others as a result. But this is just the latest in a long series of frustrations for Tony that lead him to make a dangerous but necessary play. So we hear via an FBI monitor a phone-call to the Cafe Napoli between "Anthony" and George Paglieri. Paglieri is the person being monitored, a fact that he and Tony both must at the very least assume is the case. As a result, they speak carefully: George has recently spoken with "the son" (Little Carmine) who was "crying the blues" over the situation currently going on. Tony agrees that this is the reason he's calling, he wants to reach out to "the little guy" (Butchie), both agreeing that they're aware he isn't entirely happy with the current situation either. Tony wants George to organize a meeting on neutral ground, everybody trusts him AND he's "practically retired" meaning he has nothing to gain from betraying either side. George agrees that he could "probably" do this, even now being careful not to verbally commit to anything that might be being recorded. So who IS George Paglieri? Never seen before this episode, he is a character who seems to exist purely for the sake of this scene. A bit of lazy writing perhaps, but also a reminder that there is more to the Mob than the little slice we see on the show. Because Paglieri is the practically retired Boss of one of New York's Five Families (possibly the Gambinos, it is never explicitly said), somebody absolutely above reproach or suspicion by either the Soprano or Lupertazzi Families. It's just a shame that he was never actually mentioned or shown before (or after) this scene and the next. True to his word, George arranges the meet. Tony and Paulie arrive at what appears to be a scrap warehouse, handing over weapons and submitting to pat-downs. Butchie and Albie have already arrived, accompanied by Little Carmine who is not part of Phil's inner circle but still commands a position of some respect due to his late father. They all sit around the table, politely declining George's offer of water from the nearby table of snacks he prepared: a good host. The negotiations proceed, getting fired up as accusations are thrown about over who started it, Butchie insisting that the dead goomar and her old Ukrainian father was the things that kicked things off despite knowing Phil had already ordered Tony's death at that point. Tony waves that off and negotiations continue, unlike with Phil everybody at this table knows that there is a place for posturing but not at the expense of an actual deal. Tony offers a backhanded olive branch, this situation isn't Phil's fault but that of his dear departed friend Johnny Sack (now he's dead he is a convenient scapegoat) creating an atmosphere of tension within his own family that spilled out onto the Sopranos. This is the cue for Little Carmine, who suffered greatly due to Johnny's actions, to speak up... but he says nothing. Frustrated, Tony reminds him that George organized this meeting for all their benefit, and against his better judgement Little Carmine speaks up in defense of Tony's position and against his own family, agreeing that it didn't have to be this way. This marks the key point, as Tony knew it would. With a member of their own admitting the fault lies with their own family, the gates are open. Butchie, who has hated every second of this and wishes he could live up to his "real man" fantasies and just kill Tony, knows as he has for some time that this simply isn't feasible. They took their shot and missed, and now that same stubborn streak he encouraged in Phil has turned around on him and HE is suffering. His frequent, smug declarations about having balls and integrity disappeared the moment he got taken out of his comfort zone of collecting fat stacks of cash for little work from intimidated shop owners, desperate gamblers, exploited young women and bullshit construction jobs: constantly looking over your shoulder, making less money and trying to track down the head of another group of equally determined killers isn't anywhere near as fun! Quietly he notes that something has changed in Phil, and then offers Tony his word: the Lupertazzi Family will back off. That's what Tony wants to hear, but even though it is to his benefit this is still a negotiation, and you always ask for more than you know you can get, in hopes of getting a little more than they wanted to give. He'll accept Butchie's ceasefire... if they give him Phil's location. Butchie looks to Little Carmine who seems to think this is reasonable, but it is a step too far even if it puts their deal at risk (which, to be fair, he probably knows it doesn't). He can't agree to those terms, but he can offer a counter (again, ask for too much, get more than you would initially), making it clear that there is no objection to Tony doing "what you gotta do". In other words, there will be no repercussion if Phil is murdered.   With that out of the way, there are just a few loose ends to be wrapped up. Tony points out that they killed his brother-in-law, and Butchie offers a sincere,"So?". It isn't meant with malice and isn't taken that way, Butchie genuinely doesn't see any problem, this is simply the price of doing business. But when Tony points out that his sister suffered and something needs to be made right for her, Butchie also sees this as another perfectly reasonable price of doing business. So he suggests he'll come up with a number, Tony agrees, they shake hands and just like that... the war is over. For all the talk of "no more", for the demands to be a "real man" or the contempt for the Sopranos as a glorified crew... in the end it came down to the same thing it ALWAYS comes down to: money. Money started being affected by this war, and for all the claims of personal animosity and contempt for the others, for all the insistence that revenge was needed for dead loved ones or insulted friends... money solved all their problems. "This thing of ours", the "Family", the code that "either means something or it doesn't", being a "stand-up guy" or having "balls"? None of it matters, what matters is the money. For Phil, it was about more than that, and that is why his own men ended up abandoning him. It is why Tony skirted the edge multiple times in the past when he allowed his own emotions to override the fact that guys who make more money get more leeway to break the iron-clad "rules"... just like his own status as a high earner often let him get away with bullshit nobody else ever would. There is no moral compass here, no honor or integrity. When Tony complained to Melfi long ago that his immigrant ancestors were tired of being exploited by the wealthy, he also quietly added in that they "wanted a piece of the action too" and that is what it has always come down to in the end. They all depart, shaking George's hand as they go. Little Carmine is the last to leave, shaking nobody's hand, trudging far behind Butchie and Albie. Some have suggested that Little Carmine somehow orchestrated events or set things up, an idea I find frankly ludicrous, and this scene just firms my opinion on that score. He is present by default because of his late father's name/status. He offers very little to the conversation, follows Tony's lead, speaks against his own Family and clearly feels isolated from Butchie and Albie, two guys who largely weren't in the picture during his own aborted attempt to be Boss back in the Johnny Sack days. I take Little Carmine's story to Tony about realizing he simply needed to live a happy life as a genuine one. He is hooked up to the Mob and always will be, but when he gave up his aspirations of being Boss he also gave up the desire to be part of these high-level affairs. It is with reluctance that he has played the part of peacemaker between the Sopranos and the Lupertazzis these last few times. This is a game he was never any good at, and also one he clearly no longer has any desire to play.  Without fanfare or drama, life returns to normal. Carmela, Meadow and AJ return to their giant home with Tony where Carmela's biggest concern now isn't weird smells in the kitchen but the stack of mail she has to sort through. The mobsters go from playing cards in a suburban house to playing cards at the back of Satriale's (is the Bada Bing still open for business?). Paulie is already pulling scams again, bringing in a box of barber's scissors to pass out to the others. Of course none of them would ever need or want barber's scissors... but if Paulie has scored some for free then of course they want them! Even Tony, who is mostly bald, tells Paulie to leave some by his coat as he reads the newspaper without a care in the world. Paulie isn't pleased though when a cat jumps up on the table. It's the same cat from the safe-house, and he doesn't like it, warning him that these "snakes with fur" can't be trusted and will steal the breath from babies... any old Italian will tell you that! Benny cracks that Paulie is the only baby around here so they have nothing to worry about, getting a laugh from Walden. Paulie is pissed at this comment, but apparently Benny has raised up enough in the crew that he can get away with stuff like this now. Paulie still pulls rank, demanding he get rid of the cat, but Tony walks by and vetos that, saying the cat can say and offering it an affectionate hand to sniff before collecting his barber scissors and leaving. Paulie, who is a big baby, waits till he is sure Tony has left and then flinches at the car, alarming it into jumping off the table and into a corner. But while life is back to normal, the hunt for Phil continues. On the lam, isolated from his men until he hears Tony has been done in, he remains blissfully unaware that they have simply stopped looking and gone back to their regular business. In Oyster Bay, Maffei drives Paulie by gas stations looking for any with a payphone to stake out. Life has to continue for Janice too, who may or may not know that money is coming from the Lupertazzis for Bobby's death but would probably do this in any case. She pays a visit to the State Facility where Uncle Junior has been moved after running out of the cash to remain at Wycoff. She's not the only visitor, Uncle Pat has come up from Florida to see his old friend/cousin, trying to get some flash of attention or interest from him by pointing out a double breasted robin outside the chainlink fenced window. Junior doesn't respond though, and doesn't even notice the commotion as Janice angrily snaps at a thoroughly done-with-this-bullshit clerk at the front desk as she and the nanny bring Domenica into the facility. She makes a beeline for Junior, but notices Pat and offers an awkward smile and asks how he is. He can only shrug, life could certainly be a lot worse... he could be Junior. She looks at her Uncle, he looks back at her, sneers as he recognizes her, and speaks her name. "Livia." Trying not to let on how deeply this hurts her, Janice smiles sweetly and explains she is Livia's daughter, Janice. She takes ou a photo and offers him a photo of Domenica, saying it is her and Bobby's baby. Junior looks down at the photo and in triumph declares her identity too: Janice. No, Janice tries to explain, SHE is Janice and the girl in the picture is Domenica. But just like he once did with Tony, in Junior's dementia he manages to find the cruelest possible thing to say. Smiling knowingly at the picture of the sweet little girl, he warns that despite her looks he knows she left his stove on on purpose, he caught her doing it. Janice bites her tongue, holds back her NEED to defend herself or explain it away, and takes the photo back. Gathering herself, she speaks in her sweetest and calmest voice as she delivers the bad news to him: Bobby is dead. "The Ambassador Hotel" agrees Junior, and Janice controls herself again. A shakiness in her voice that may be genuine or simply practiced manipulation, she explains she means Bobby Baccalieri, and that she is a widow now. Junior gives no reaction... but Uncle Pat is taking this all in, and he doesn't like it. So what do you do in a situation like this? You take it to the head of the Family. It seems the Bada Bing is still open for business, because Tony means Uncle Pat - now in a suit - in the back room where Pat explains his concerns. Janice came looking for money, she wants to exploit Junior for cash now that she's lost Bobby. It's a rather damning thing to say, especially about somebody who legitimately has just lost her husband in particularly brutal fashion. But Tony's distaste for Junior trumps that, he simply knocks back a drink and ignores Pat's pleas to do something... to at least show some curiosity in the current predicament of his Uncle. Doing his best to pretend indifference and showcasing anything but (much like his "she's dead to me!" declarations about his mother), Tony dismays Pat, dismisses his duty as the Family Patriarch, and simply growls that Junior can rot for all he cares.   AJ attends a therapy session, with a new doctor this time: Dr. Doherty. She reminds him that when he was an inpatient, he spoke about getting a job when he was back in the real world. With the breezy reasoning he always finds when facing the slightest inconvenience, he explains he can't get a job now because he doesn't have a car... he'll have to figure out the bus schedule. He does admit though that since losing the car he's felt oddly cleansed, and she asks if it is because the SUV was a polluter. He admits this wasn't the case, and actually laughs with genuine pleasure as he explains how it felt watching the car explode, marveling over the fact that everything melted and burned in a space he was in only moments before. He's experienced an adrenaline rush, and the flood of endorphins into his system has made him feel alive... and associate danger and death with the feeling of being unmistakably alive. Tony would understand only too well, the worst depressive episode of his life ended in that same cleansed feeling when he fought off the assassins sent by Junior with the blessing of his mother. Paulie arrives at the Bada Bing early one morning looking for Carlo. He's nowhere to be seen. Paulie turns on the stage lights and his eyes dart to the stage suspiciously. There's nothing there. He moves on past the mirrored walls, side-eying the stage as he goes. The Virgin Mary makes no appearance. He puts through a call to Tony to explain (one of) his concern(s): He was supposed to meet Carlo to go visit Butchie to work out finer points on a couple items of their deal, but Carlo never arrived and he hasn't answered his phones. Tony licks his lips, worried, then says he'll call back on a prepay. Waiting at the bar, Paulie casts another side-eye at the stage, but the Virgin Mary continues to be absent. He answers Tony's call and tells him his suspicions openly: Butchie lied and has taken out another one of their ranking guys. Tony considers this quietly as Carmela passes by in the bedroom, then voices his own concern: what if Carlo has flipped? Paulie seems surprised at the idea... until he remembers that Patsy told him yesterday Carlo's "idiot son" got arrested for selling Ecstasy. Tony drops the phone and hangs up, an expression of resignation on his face. He's not shocked or mad, he's just... resigned. Of course something like this would happen after he brokered a deal to escape the annihilation of his Family AND get the go-ahead to kill Phil Leotardo. OF COURSE it would. Carmela pops into Meadow's room to remind her that the Parisis will be arriving soon, and is surprised and pleased to see Hunter Scangarelo in there with her. She greets her, noting she hasn't seen her since she dropped out of College, and Hunter is happy to admit that she didn't drop out, she was kicked out for partying and drunk driving. Carmela laughs, pleased not to have to beat around the bush, and then frankly quite cruelly laughs that "that was always you!" But her good humor disappears when she asks what Hunter is doing now and discovers she is in her second year of Med School. Shocked, she listens as Hunter explains that getting kicked out gave her a wake-up call, she got her act together, finished her Undergrad at Purchase and is now studying to be a doctor. Suddenly her own perfect daughter can't even compare to Hunter loving Scangarelo? She keeps her forced smile on as long as she can, then drops it and mumbles the reminder to Meadow about the Parisis and backs out the door, humiliated. The Parisis arrive and they all sit uncomfortably but politely through Donna Parisi's tortured attempt to tell a very old and straightforward joke. Finally Patsy puts them all out of their misery by telling the joke for her. They share a laugh and Carmela offers Patrick more wine which he politely declines. Tony, thoughts of Carlo running through his head, tests the waters by asking where Jason Parisi is, and a nervous Donna says she thought he wasn't invited. Tony asks what is going on with that Jason's friend, the other Jason? He heard there was some trouble? Patsy gives a curt nod and then cuts off Donna when she starts to complain about what a mess Jason Gervasi is - this is a far cry from Tony's initial impression of the two Jasons as having their poo poo together and wishing his own son could be more like them. Having mined the information he needs, Tony turns the charm back on and laughs that there is no shortage of lawyers here. As they laugh and an awkward silence fills the room, Carmela notices that Patsy's drink is nearly empty and tells Tony - the host, after all - that he needs a refill. This makes things even more awkward, as Tony and Patsy now find themselves in the awkward position of the Boss of the Family needing to get up and get a drink for one of his underlings. Patsy tries to resolve this quickly by insisting he can take care of it, but now that the issue has been raised it would be more humiliating for Tony NOT to serve him, and he tells Patsy to sit back down. Donna beams at the role reversal and takes a not-so-sneaky look at the stamp on the bottom of Carmela's plates, while Tony turns on the charm again and laughs that Meadow would only take the case for free. This gets Patrick to chime in though, as he warmly tells them that Meadow's pro-bono work is why his firm - Grubman, Grubman & Cucio - is so eager to hire her when she is done with law school. Carmela perks up at this news, but her reaction is practically orgasmic when Patrick explains they recently have dinner with Steven Grubman and mentioned a starting salary of 170k. Tony is impressed too, but Carmela is over-the-moon. Suddenly her despair and humiliation at her perfect daughter not becoming a doctor has disappeared.... a STARTING salary of 170k? As Patrick enthusiastically talks about a corruption case his firm is currently working on and the others listen with interest, Tony places a hand lovingly on his wife's shoulder. But she doesn't notice, the only thing swimming through her head is that money. Meadow once sarcastically asked her if she thought education was just getting to earn more money. That is PRECISELY what Carmela has always thought, she defines success and love through money, and all the thought of Dr. Soprano is a distant memory in place of Meadow Soprano, Six-Figure Earning Attorney.   To be fair to Carmela, there is not a little element of an understandable desire for her daughter to be independent included in that mix too. It's just that for Carmela, independence only comes with money as well. She was once told to be truly "saved" was to take her kids and leave Tony and EVERYTHING touched by his blood money, and to be free if poor. She turned that into a cynical deal to allow herself to love Tony again on the proviso he bankrolled her efforts to ensure her own financial future. Meadow, she hopes, will never have to make that kind of compromise, because she'll be making her own money right from the start of her adult life. At Satriale's, the cat stares at a picture of Christopher on the wall, purring. Paulie enters and immediately spots it, and Walden - lifting dumbbells - laughs that it seems to be fascinated with the picture, telling about how his aunt's cat also had odd staring/sitting habits. Paulie is creeped out though and demands Walden remove the cat, but again he gets no respect from this younger generation of guys, Walden dismissively telling him to do it himself. Furious, Paulie grabs the broom to whack the cat with it, but then sees Tony entering and quickly pretends like he was sweeping the floor. He does point out the cat's odd behavior though, and Tony seems a little put-off himself, though Paulie isn't to know this is down to Tony having murdered Christopher and the photo being a permanent reminder of both Chrissy and the movie Tony chose to see as a symbol of their ruined relationship. He asks Walden to give them some privacy, so Walden scoops up the cat and goes to leave, but stops when Paulie complains that Walden is no kind of name for an Italian. Clearly having heard this many times in his life, Walden turns and growls back that he was named after MR. Bobby Darin: Walden Robert Cassotto. Paulie is actually amused at the fire the younger man has demonstrated, seeming to respect it. With Walden gone though, Tony gets down to brass tacks: the Cifaretto Crew (no longer the Aprile Crew, never the Cestone or Spatafore or Gervasi Crew it seems) are leaderless and chaotic without Carlo to run things. Tony has determined that Paulie is the best choice to run it now. To Tony's surprise, Paulie seems alarmed at the idea, even after he reminds him that it's essentially an ATM machine and that Paulie's own kick will include a bunch of the deals they have with New York... Paulie stands to make a LOT of money. He gets upset when Paulie asks to mull it over and notes he doesn't want to die and leave Tony with an even worse mess, complaining that Paulie is always being morbid. He does agree to let him have some time to consider it though, though he admits it does irritate him somewhat. Paulie thanks him, thanks him for his faith in him, and then collects his coat and leaves. Outside he looks on the verge of tears, but not because of happiness. 
Jerusalem fucked around with this message at 23:59 on May 12, 2020 |
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May 12, 2020 15:01
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At another gas station in Oyster Bay, Little Paulie Germani has been roped into service despite still needing crutches and a neckbrace (the perpetrator of that assault is himself long dead, which probably makes him feel better about his situation). Showing a fake police ID to a mechanic at the station, he explains his injuries were "in the line of duty" but they're shorthanded. He wants to know if he's seen Phil, showing him a picture and explaining he may have been using the payphones. The mechanic explains they don't have payphones at this station... in fact very few in this area do anymore. The next day as Tony is driving home, he's delighted to see AJ running up the street. Loudly humming the Rocky theme song, he gleefully tells his son to get in the car and he'll drive him the rest of the way home. Exhausted, AJ does so, Tony beaming abut the fact that his son is getting out and doing physical activity, admitting that he needs to do it himself. "I'm gonna join the Army," AJ tells him, taking a nice big poo poo in his punch bowl. Tony is horrified, and then darkly concerned as he asks,"Did you sign any poo poo?" AJ admits he hasn't, but he is going to later this week... after he talks to Rhiannon about it. That upsets Tony even more, he's thinking of Rhiannon and not Carmela? Is he crazy? Doesn't he know he'll be sent to Iraq? AJ's calm reply that he wants to go to Afghanistan doesn't help matters, and things get worse when AJ lays out that he's figured out he can become a helicopter pilot, then once he's done in the army go work as a personal pilot for Donald Trump or somebody. Reminder, this fully grown man is 20-years-old. Tony has no idea how to respond to this, but insists that AJ do and sign nothing and tell NOBODY until they have a chance to sit and talk. He won't tell Carmela and never with AJ. AJ grumpily agrees. "He's gonna join the loving Army," Tony is immediately shown telling Carmela, who is laying in the bathtub and closes her eyes in resignation: she couldn't even have a nice soak without her entire life getting thrown into turmoil once more. Tony waits awkwardly with AJ's therapist Dr. Doherty as Carmela uses the bathroom, where they are set to discuss AJ's current progress as well as this new horrifying plan of his to join the Army, something Doherty admits she was unaware of. Carmela rejoins them and Tony admits that he has considered with the benefit of time that maybe discipline and order WOULD be good for him. Carmela agrees that it might be good... if there wasn't a war going on. The last time they had this conversation, Tony's argument for sending AJ to military school was that America "hardly goes to war anymore" and boy did that prove a charmingly naive bit of optimism. Carmela brings up that AJ has spent $200 on CDs to learn Arabic and Tony grumpily complains that all you need to know how to say is "shish kebab". Doherty takes in this racist joke without comment, but it is telling her next comment is to explain that AJ has told her he wants to push past the hate against an entire ethnicity and instead focus it only on terrorist. She can't reveal any more than that, and Tony complains that they're the ones paying for the treatment. She simply smiles at that. Dr. Doherty has gone uncommented on beyond her existence to this point, but it is probably notable to point out that she is... very familiar. Younger to be sure, and Irish-American rather than Italian-American... but there is a very strong sense of Dr. Melfi about her. Her wardrobe, her hair, her amused smiles that draw out further comment when you don't want to talk more. Tony looks at her and then snaps that he finds this whole therapy thing... she waits and then asks him to finish, and he brings up that it shouldn't matter than his mother was a borderline case. Carmela is exasperated, he's bring this up NOW? Doherty notes she was unaware of this and that is all Tony needs to be off to the races, complaining about how his mother was very cold and undermining. Doherty points out that AJ has only mentioned her briefly (she never dominated AJ's life quite like she did Tony's, despite her "it's all a big nothing" comment sticking with him, she was just his grandmother) but Tony is still going, pointing out that she didn't appreciate him putting her into a wonderful retirement community. Carmela can only roll her eyes, shake her head and glare at her husband as he turns this session about their son into own therapy session to replace the ones he claimed he quit himself. Melfi dumped him as a patient because she was humiliated and enraged at herself for letting herself be manipulated or at least fooled... but whether Tony was doing that or not, the fact is that he really did get something out of his therapy. Even if it was just the chance for him to moan or vent frustrations with somebody who would never share them.   Tony takes Meadow out to dinner, explaining that if she is going to get married then he'll soon lose his chance to take her out to dinner with just the two of them. He asks what she thinks might be wrong with AJ, but this quickly comes back to her (because of Tony, not Meadow) when she admits the world IS a sad and hosed-up place and he asks why she dropped being a pediatrician then? She gets upset when he talks about her wanting to be a "lawyer for black people", reminding him sharply that what she actually said was that the State can crush the Individual and she detests that. She isn't talking about New Jersey, but the Federal Government. He can't exactly argue that he disagrees with that, and to his great surprise she points out the real turning point for her was seeing how "Italian-Americans" are treated. If people like them could be poo poo over by the Federal Government, then imagine how badly new arrivals must be treated? Tony is surprised at this comparison, trying to figure out a way to explain without sounding racist that immigrants are less deserving than Italian-Americans (he can't, because it IS racist!). But she's not done, going on to say that watching her own father be dragged away by the FBI on multiple occasions were what gave her the impetus to go into law rather than be a boring suburban doctor. Tony considers this, and it seems like he has the self-awareness to be somewhat ashamed that he is the reason for her career choice. Because on some level he must know what she also surely must know... that it isn't "Italian-Americans" who are treated this way, but criminals. Tony wasn't dragged away by the FBI because he was Italian, he was dragged away because he's the Boss of a Criminal Organization that steals, beats, and murders people. As this is the last major scene to feature Meadow outside of the final sequence, it probably pays to discuss her character here. Initially the somewhat bratty high achiever whose perfection masked drug use, Meadow largely served throughout the early series as an articulate observer with rare inside access to at least the surface level world of organized crime. Educated thanks to the spoils of criminal enterprise, she was smart enough to see the hypocrisy of her father and his cronies and ESPECIALLY the hypocrisy of her mother... but she was also spoiled by those spoils of criminal enterprise. She could see her mother benefited from crime while trying to stand apart from it and believe herself morally superiority, but never quite self-aware enough to see she was largely doing exactly the same thing. She lived a privileged life, and while her pro-bono work and volunteering were noble acts, one thing that never changed from the first season was that she performed them for her own benefit. In High School her charity work was to look good on her transcript. In College, her volunteering allowed her to decry the unfairness of the system while she enjoyed a privileged position within it on the back of criminal enterprise. In many ways she simply mirrored her mother's relationship with the Church, holding fundraisers and bake sales and silent auctions to raise money for good causes, all while knowingly living off acts condemned by the Bible. Her character lost focus in her latter college years, partly due to the writers having mined plenty of drama from her already and partly because of a new focus on AJ's own struggles, particularly when having to compare himself to her: their perfect daughter. But there was also a solid character arc that started with Army of One and ends here with Made in America. Tony noted sorrowfully that Meadow was turning into just another robot, and to a certain extent he was right. When she chastised Jackie Aprile Jr's sister on the day of her own brother's funeral for the temerity of speaking about the Mafia, she was taking the first steps to embracing fully the hypocrisy of growing up with the mob. She never really fully accepted or allowed herself to accept the reality of what her father is. Even way back in College when she directly asked him,"Are you in the Mafia?" she treated it in a romantic, cinematic sense. When a horrified Finn was terrified from having seen Eugene Pontecorvo savagely beat Little Paulie Germani, she laughed it off and spoke of the heroic poverty of the Mezzogiorno and bringing certain modes of conflict resolution from all the way back in the old country. She didn't take his fear of Vito seriously, or his terror that he'd helped Tony decide to kill him. Rather she bristled at the suggestions or mocked them. When her father got out of hospital and was forced to take off his shoes at a wedding, and she watched a weeping Johnny Sacrimoni being hauled away from his daughter, she decided that the Federal Government (admittedly overstepping their bounds more than a little in both cases) were doing this simply because they were Italian-American. To admit anything else is to admit that she herself was in some small way complicit in their crimes. And now? Now she wants to be a lawyer who defends the little guy, but her definition of the little guy already encompasses not just the impoverished or the exploited, but men like her father who are worth millions and live a life of excess of the backs of criminal enterprise and human misery. She is far from the path of being a boring suburban doctor, and well on her way to becoming another Neil Mink: a mob lawyer. Tony and Carmela wanted only the best for their daughter, and what they got was an intelligent, beautiful and keenly observant young woman who is going to remain just as tied up with the mob as any of them. It is one of the great tragedies of the series: she is going to be a more successful version of Carmela.   Another day, another gas station. Patty Leotardo pulls up at a Raceway, Phil sitting in the passenger seat. The cold and calculating Boss of the Lupertazzi Family, instigator of all this drama, hardass who demands total obedience and refuses to budge from a position once taken... turns and giggles and waves at his grandchildren in the backseat, who giggle and wave back. "Bye-bye!" he coos,"Wave bye-bye, Grandpa!" He pops out of the car as Patty coos at her grandchildren too, and turning back he informs her he needs to make a phone-call so he'll meet her at the drugstore. She checks her watch and he reminds her to get the pharmacist to call his doctor so he can get a 60-day supply of Plavix for his heart condition. She sighs, obviously this has been a regular issue, but turns back to tell him she will... and a gun enters the frame and a bullet blasts through Phil's skull and kills him instantly. She has a moment of pure shock, then screams his name and pulls her seat-belt off and exits the car as her husbands assassin - Walden Belfiore, named for MR. Bobby Darin - calmly shoots his prone body again to make sure and then walks smoothly away to his waiting car and is driven away. Patty, in a complete panic, runs back and forth beside the car, but she has left the handbrake off and it slowly begins to roll forward. She screams again, realizing the grandchildren are inside the car and races to get back in, but the doors are locked. They giggle and smile at her as she thumps on the window and screams out, unaware something is wrong. The unsecured steering wheel turns and the car turns with it, and the full weight of the car rolls over the head of Phil's corpse. Several young men taking a drinks break from a long drive watch this happen and let out a gasp of surprise at what they've seen, one vomiting up his soda while another patron turns and gasps,"OH poo poo!" to see the (thankfully unseen by us) remains of Phil's head squashed all over the floor. This scene has been contentious for a number of reasons, not least of all because of that final moment of the reactions to Phil's death, but also the almost comedic sequence of events before it. What was the point of this scene? I can't speak to the comedy aspects, but I suspect I can see why we saw things unfold the way we did. During this final season, and in particular the buildup to this final episode, there was a not insignificant subset of Sopranos fans who watched to see "who gets whacked". The fun for these viewers was in watching the mobsters pull off scams, get into arguments, every so often somebody would get killed etc. Tony's family life, AJ's troubles, Meadow's delightfully juvenile "adult" arguments with Finn, Carmela's moral despair etc... that was secondary to the mob stuff. Now if that is what these fans liked, then that it what they liked and more power to them. But even from the beginning despite the obvious Goodfellas trappings, The Sopranos was primarily a show about Tony Soprano's issues with his family. Despite the setup of The Blue Comet it was never likely that the show would end with a big mob war or Tony wiping out all his foes in a Godfather style montage. So how does the Phil Leotardo clash that has been building for many years finally resolve? Well Tony is nowhere near it when it happens of course, he isn't even a latecomer to the party like he was with Richie Aprile. The primary threat from the wider Lupertazzi Family is squashed early into the episode with a simple sit-down like should have happened with Phil, and both sides agree to simply ignore the fatalities on both sides (sans a number for Janice) and go back to what they do best: making money from human misery. That leaves only Phil, and David Chase goes out of his way to remind the audience that we're not watching a one-dimensional villain get his comeuppance at last, we're watching a human being die. Mean-spirited, stubborn, aggressive Phil the hard-rear end Boss is nowhere to be seen because he doesn't need to be that person in this moment (for him, not us the viewer). What we see is an old man nearing retirement age, driven by his wife, having a mildly testy conversation about his heart medication and cooing happily at his beloved grandchildren. Phil isn't one thing or the other, he's both. He's a human being, with all the flaws and fallacies and contradictions that all human beings have, albeit ones enhanced for television drama. For the people who wanted to see guys getting "whacked", the only death we see this episode isn't cathartic or a fist-pumping moment. It's traumatic and upsetting (though perhaps also unintentionally comedic) and over in a flash. Phil at least was spared Bobby's pain, he never saw or heard it coming, one moment he was talking to his wife and the next he was gone. But there is no solace to take in that, because Patty saw it and will be forever traumatized by it, and who knows what if anything the grandchildren will remember of this impactful day. But Phil himself? After 20 years in prison and a bare few months at the top of the Lupertazzi Family, his part in all this just... stopped.  Agent Harris is watching an al-Qaeda video in his office when he's joined by Goddard, who asks him if he has seen Metro News. Harris hasn't, and more out of vague curiosity than anything Goddard points out that it has been reported that Phil Leotardo has been killed. Harris sits up straight, a giant smile crossing his face, and bangs the table and declares,"drat! We're going to win this thing!" Goddard is taken aback by this reaction and Harris belatedly realizes how incredibly inappropriate what he just did was. He never liked Phil, who once tried to set up a fellow FBI Agent he knew to be raped, but even so his jubilation is uncalled for... but more to the point is his statement. "We" are going to win this? Harris, who has slowly been working on turning his long association with Tony into a source of information re: terror, has gone too far and started identifying with the mobster. His line is a direct reference to claims made about a real life FBI Agent, but it is also an example of just how pervasive the corruption of the likes of Tony Soprano can be. This is Harris' last scene, he slowly went from middle-management within Cubitoso's taskforce to a world-traveling Agent fighting terrorism... but he never truly escaped the influence of that mobster running a "glorified crew" in New Jersey. AJ comes downstairs looking more like his father than ever in sweatpants, undershirt and robe. His parents have summoned him, they want to talk about his desire to join the Army... in short, they're against it. AJ is still certain it is the right choice though, still dreaming big without any mindset of how to achieve it by noting he can use the military experience he doesn't have and the Arabic he doesn't speak to get recruited into the CIA when his enlistment is up. Tony reminds him that recently his plan was to be a helicopter pilot and work for Donald Trump, and AJ accuses him of trying to make this all a joke... does he even remember that he said this? Or is it like his confusion over them remembering he wanted to run a party business or go to Westpoint? But while AJ often forgets what he says himself, it's no surprise that he remembers vividly almost everything his father tells him, because his father looms large as the dominant figure in his life even moreso than his mother. He reminds Tony that he wanted him to go to Military School, and with contempt for himself notes that he didn't go because he started crying. Carmela, quick to remind him she hated the idea anyway, points out he would have least come out of it an Officer. AJ has that covered too, he's applying for Officer's Candidate School so he can be a liaison officer with the local population in Afghanistan. Carmela, in spite of her oft-spoken insistence that AJ was just not motivated or that his teachers were unfairly biased, finally lays it on the line for him: his grades suck and he flunked out of College, it's unlikely he'd ever get picked. He's pissed at her telling him something that is demonstrably true, accusing her of being mad that he didn't go to College. She's not going to accept that though, this isn't about that, if he doesn't want to go to College fine... but don't go getting his legs blown off as an alternative! "Always with the drama" he grunts, and waves his arm dismissively... and there she is again: Livia Soprano lives on in these little gestures and cutting remarks, though it is far more likely AJ picked it up secondhand from Tony. So what about Rhiannon? AJ admits that she isn't keen on the idea either and he isn't quite sure how to deal with this, because now that they're actually dating all his high-minded thoughts about making a difference are competing with his 20-year-old's desire to have an incredible amount of sex. This is the crack they need, they remind him that he once dreamed of opening a Club, and he reminds them they poo poo on that idea as well. But Carmela reminds him that he told her many of his friends he used to go to Clubs with are now in Film School. That's true, but he isn't sure what that means, and she motions to Tony who plays the best card they have. Daniel Baldwin gave Tony a screenplay the last time they met, hoping he would help finance it like he did Cleaver. He forgot all about it until all this came up, and now he's read it... it's called Anti-Virus, about a private detective sucked into the Internet through his "data-port" who has to solve crimes involving virtual prostitutes. AJ is as baffled by what this has to do with him as he is by the logline, but they have a point. Tony took the script to Little Carmine and he's interested in developing it too, and they're going to work to produce it as a film. AJ is bewildered, Little Carmine? Doesn't he do porn? Controlling his temper, Tony reminds him he produced Cleaver and is branching out, and now comes the carrot. Carmela explains that there is a job for him on this production, working for Little Carmine's producer, Inge as a development executive (a D-Girl!?!). AJ lets this sink in for a moment... he'd be working in film? This perks him up in a way they haven't seen in some time, having not seen his adrenaline rush from making out with Rhiannon and then escaping an explosion. But what does this have to do with Clubs? Well it's all connected, Carmela insists, Hollywood and gossip columns and nightspots. Tony wants him to get real world experience in all of this for awhile, and then he can come and see Tony and they will TALK about him maybe investing in a Club. In spite of himself, in spite of his desire to make a change or to at least lash out in his blind rage at the world... AJ feels a moment of... hope? Greed? Desire? One of his many flights of fancy may actually come true, and all he has to do is work in film production for awhile first?   But with one crisis potentially averted, Tony has another to consider. He meets with Neil Mink in the back office of the Bada Bing, where they're brought burgers and discuss what Mink has figured out about Tony's Carlo suspicions. All he has been able to get info wise is that SOMEBODY is giving Grand Jury Testimony and that subpoenas are flying all over the place. He bangs away at the bottom of his sauce bottle as Tony lets this sink in, getting distracted by the monitors in the back room showing topless dancers rushing through corridors between the stage and the dressing room. He suspects there is an 80-90% chance that Tony will be indicted, with the gun charge that the US Attorney took off Essex County at the top of the pile as the simplest to argue (even if Mink can easily argue against it), but interstate fraud also likely plus of course, if Carlo is talking homicide as well. Tony, seething under this volley of hits, snaps and tears the sauce bottle from Mink, slamming his own meaty paws to no effect on the base. He slams it to the table and for the first time Mink grasps just how shaken up he is. Carefully, he reminds Tony that they have envisioned and prepared for this day for years, and notes that trials are there to be won. Tony, trying to calm himself, agrees he's right. But it is Tony's freedom that is on the line here, in the immediate wake of his shutting down the war with the Lupertazzis, the successful killing of Phil and keeping his son from joining the Army yet another problem has landed in his lap. He sits and tries to stay relaxed, while Mink - who is getting a big payday win or lose - takes a big bite out of his burger and continues to focus his attention on the half-naked women on the monitor. Gabriella Dante is giving Silvio a pedicure when she realizes somebody is in the doorway. Looking up, she sees Tony has at last arrived. Standing with a quiet,"Oh" and a smile, she hugs him, casts a look her beloved husband's way, then leaves them alone. Tony settles down beside him, the hospital silent, the corridors empty, none of the noise and energy that permeated the ICU when he in his coma and recovering from the gunshot wound. Balloons, cards and well-wishes are everywhere, but most of Silvio's closest friends are dead and his closest has waited so long to come see him. He says nothing, all he remembers from his own coma is that he went somewhere and didn't want to go back, he doesn't recall anybody talking to him or saying anything (no memory of Paulie driving him into overdrive) and maybe assumes there is simply no point. The doctors didn't think he would survive, or at least not without brain damage, but here he sits at almost 100% mental and physical capacity again... but it doesn't seem to ascribes the same chance to Silvio. So he sits and stares and doesn't know what to say, and finally he just holds his friend's hand. Why did he take so long to come? At first the easy excuses of going to ground, hiding from the Lupertazzis etc made sense. Then it was "poo poo with my daughter" or trouble with his gout that the others knew were bullshit. Then the war was over and he still didn't visit even though others including Carmela did. Then Phil was killed and he still didn't come despite all possible danger being gone. Only now does he arrive, and I can only assume that it was for a rather human reason: he didn't want it to be real. There has been a lot of talk about whether Tony is a sociopath, including my own rambling notes on it in The Blue Comet. He has shown a desire almost to the point of obsession at times to shake off all those who knew or remembered him from a time when he wasn't the man of influence and power he is today. But Silvio has never been one of the targets of this obsession. Even at the lowest point in their relationship, when he was giving more influence relatively quickly to Christopher, their bond remained strong. Part of it was perhaps that Tony knew Silvio didn't crave his position (and his collapse when temporarily filling the role attested to this), but I think a larger part is that they came up together and somehow in spite of all the poo poo they went through never turned on the other, and their bond only strengthened with the years as a result. Silvio was one of the few people Tony could implicitly trust, with the only downside being his position as consigliere (and his age) meant he wasn't in a place to be the conduit role Tony wanted first from Christopher and later from Bobby. So for Silvio to be shot but not be killed, the reality never truly set in for Tony in spite of everything everybody else told him. Bobby was dead, of that there was no doubt. But Silvio wasn't dead, and as long as he didn't come to the hospital and see him it wasn't really real: the one man who had been there at his side for almost his entire life wasn't really just a shell being kept alive by machines. But finally he had no choice but to come, especially with the knowledge of possibly life in prison hanging over his head, and now it's real. Really real. Silvio is all but gone.  Next up on his list to deal with is Paulie. Meeting him outside Satriale's where Paulie is sunning himself with a reflector, he asks for a decision on running the Cifaretto Crew. Paulie thanks him again but admits he has to pass, and finally admits why he doesn't want the job... every guy who ever ran that crew died prematurely! Tony can't believe it, simple superstition is the problem? Paulie is adamant though, he beat cancer and he isn't going to tempt fate. He lists all those who came and went: Richie Aprile, Ralphie (who he calls Missing in Action as opposed to dead), Vito, who knows where Carlo is, and even Gigi. That's going too far for Tony, who angrily points out that Gigi died taking a poo poo as opposed to anything violent happening to him. That doesn't do much to inspire Paulie though. Tony considers for a moment, so Paulie is really going to turn down a huge promotion and life-changing money he could use to help his niece with Multiple Sclerosis... over superstition? This is just like his bullshit with the cat, and Paulie takes exception to this... something's up with that cat! Tony has had it, the cat provides a service by catching mice and rats and he wants to drown it? It's not looking at Christopher, it probably just smells a dead rat in the wall or something like that. No no, Paulie thought of that! He moved the picture to a different part of the wall and the cat moved there too! Tony is a little flummoxed by this, then declares that it is probably some abstract collection of shapes in the picture that is fascinating the cat, but it doesn't know or care who Christopher was, goddammit! The Boss of New Jersey, angrily trying to explain to one of his oldest (literally) soldiers that a cat isn't seeing a ghost. They sit in silence for a moment, and then Tony admits a little superstition of his own he hasn't wanted to admit to anybody: since Christopher died, his gambling luck completely turned back around to positive, though of course he doesn't admit that he is also glad Christopher is dead (or that he killed him). Paulie points out that if it is fine for Tony to believe the two are somehow related, why isn't it fine for him to believe in a jinx on the Cifaretto Crew? They sit quietly in the sun for a moment, two aging mobsters arguing about curses, and then Paulie offers his own never-before-admitted experience: he saw the Virgin Mary in the Bada Bing. Tony takes this in and then with quiet awe asks why Paulie never told him before... they could have made a shrine and sold holy water in gallon jugs! Paulie is aghast, he bares his soul and Tony mocks him? Tony offers somewhat of an olive branch though, admitting that maybe there is something out there, but is the solution to this to NOT live his life? In any case, if he doesn't want the job then Tony can give it to Patsy. Paulie's head whips around at this, as Tony notes that since Patrick and Meadow are marrying, it'll be good to be able to offer the new addition to the family a cushy gig like this. Assuming he's simply playing the necessary card to get him to buckle, Paulie shakes his head in admiration at Tony always knowing exactly what to say, but Tony insists he is being serious. So Paulie swallows his fear, sets aside his superstition and agrees to the role. A pleased Tony congratulates him on the quite frankly enormous windfall he's giving him (which will in turn make Tony plenty of money too) and heads away. Left alone, Paulie lets his fears assail him once more, then forces them aside. Picking up his reflector, Paulie catches the sun and bounces it back under his chin to bake it to an even more leathery brown. Relaxing in the sun, he fails to note the cat wander up by the front of the store and settle down nearby to enjoy the sun itself. Maybe it's Christopher's spirit reborn, maybe it's just that cats like non-cat people because they unknowingly give all the social cues to let cats know it's cool to hang around, or maybe it's just a cat enjoying the sun. In any case, this is the last time we will ever see Paulie Gualtieri, unknowingly sharing space with his nemesis... a cat he thinks is haunted. I can't think of a better way to sum up his character than that, really.  AJ leaves his new job, and of course Little Carmine would name his Production Company "Lone Wolves", the singular plural. He's chatting on the phone to Rhiannon about how his parents HAD to buy him a car because there is no public transport here, but he put his foot down and insisted no SUV.... so now he's got a loving BMW because of course does. He drives down the highway, enthusiastically talking on the phone about how convenient these wide highways are while listening to Noisettes which is about as far from Bob Dylan as you can get. He picks her up at the High School and they drive on, two young people in an expensive gas guzzling car who gleefully abandoned their principles and forgot all about the misery they had been happily wallowing in to just enjoy being young, rich and privileged. Back at home, they settle on the couch and eat chips, forgoing al-Jazeera to giggle over music videos edited to make it look like politicians are dancing. Carmela is happy to see her son happy, even if he is dating a loving high school kid, and lets him know they're going out to eat dinner tonight at Holstens. She was going to make manicott, but now she has to meet carpenters to discuss plans for her Estate Sale purchase, a property that not all that long ago they were hiding out from in fear for Tony's life. Outside, Tony is sweeping the leaves and stops for a moment to just enjoy nature, knowing that a time may be coming where even this simple pleasure is gone from him. He doesn't explicitly look for it, and that may say more than anything else about the journey he has been on, because while birds are chirping in the background... there are no ducks. David Chase resisted the urge to ever bring them back after the pilot, and it was a moment that Tony would never have deserved. Somehow in spite of it all his family ended up okay, even his suicidal son is now back to his old self (not great but a shitload better than the alternative) but he never changed anything in his life to earn the idyllic happiness he thought the ducks represented. Carmela joins him and lets him know the "consensus" was for Holstens, even though she was the one who told AJ that is where they were going. Tony checks his watch and offers her a vague "I gotta see some people" but promises to meet her there. She nods and leaves, and he goes back to sweeping. He actually has one more task on his list to cross off to satisfy himself in case the worst happens with the FBI, but this is the most unpleasant task of them all, one he never thought he would have to do again. He has to see Junior Soprano. He finds himself trapped on the threshold, staring in the common room after signing in to the facility. Across the far end of the room he can see him, the monster that shot him (and tried to have him killed once before that), the man who played catch with him and mentored him and taught him a great many things... including all the mistakes not to make. An orderly breaks the spell by asking him to move so he can get by, and that gives him the impetus he needs. He crosses the floor and for the first time in two years comes face to face with his Uncle. He's not there. There's an old man in a chair, toothless and confused and upset. When he stares at him, there is no recognition, and Tony's barely restrained contempt doesn't affect him at all. Tony doesn't believe it at first, positive that this is just another trick, playing the same game on everybody else that Tony once gleefully told him to try on during his court trial. There are glimmers there, but they could just as easily be randomly firing synapses, as Junior peers up at the giant looming over him and notes with pleasure,"We used to play catch." When Tony leans in close and asks if he remembers shooting him, Junior lowers his eyes and looks away, but not from guilt. His is now a life where he is constantly asked things he doesn't remember by people he doesn't recognize. But his pride is still there, his determination not to be made a fool off, and so he tries to pretend he knows what is going on, and gets angry when it is obvious he doesn't, and lashes out in his confusion. It is a sad sight familiar to anybody who has spent any amount of time with somebody who suffers dementia, but Tony doesn't want to feel pity, he wants to hate. Furious, he "plays" along, snapping that he's Anthony, Johnny's son. Junior responds with an insult that doesn't speak to any of that, it's a defense mechanism played by a mind that still works but can't latch on to anything to anchor it. Tony twists the wheelchair around and takes a seat, whispering harshly about Uncle Pat coming to see him, about Janice and the money. This, a recent occurrence, Junior does vaguely remember, complaining that people keep asking him about money but he doesn't know what they mean, a man from another galaxy comes and asks too. Tony knows this is the accountant with the voicebox, but ignores Junior's complaint that he is confused to make the point he came to make. He isn't here to confront Junior for his sins, but to do the right thing for Bobby. Not Janice. Bobby. If Junior DOES have money squirreled away, it should go to Bobby's kids. Them specifically, not Janice (he doesn't say it and probably hates that it is true, but Tony will take care of her), because Bobby was with them, a Made Guy, and it wouldn't be right not to look after his children. "I never had kids," mumbles Junior, and a frustrated Tony repeats his point: if he remembers having money somewhere, he needs to tell Uncle Pat who will give it to him as Head of the Family to hold as guardian... for Bobby's kids. Junior nods at this, he may not understand it but he knows the man in front of him is being serious and talking about serious things. Tony asks if he remembers Bobby and Junior assures him he does... and somehow it is this lie after all the truth that finally makes him realize it isn't a game or a scam: Uncle Junior is gone. "You don't know who I am, do you?" he asks in awed disbelief. All the hatred and disgust drains away from him in that moment, and is replaced by pure pity. He asks him if he remembers Johnny, his own brother, and Junior clearly knows he should, but doesn't, and so he purses his mouth tight and says nothing. Tony considers, and asks him the one thing he should remember above all else: "This thing of ours." Junior's mouth drops open, he knows what that means, but his response just further hammers home to Tony the depths of his dementia,"I was involved with that? Tony considers this, and with genuine warmth he speaks to the Uncle he loved once as opposed to the ogre he let himself believe he was, even if both have been replaced by this shell of a man before him. Leaning close, smiling, he tells him that he and his brother Johnny once ran all of North Jersey. Junior smiles, and opines with simple pleasure,"Well, that's nice."   Junior Soprano began the show as a major thorn in his nephew's side. A powerful Captain within the family, rankling at the fact he had always been the junior partner to his younger brother and even more at the fact that his "little nephew" was now equal to him and threatening to surpass him, Junior craved power but never truly held it. A Boss in name only, put in place by Tony as a lightning rod, he lashed out angrily at every perceived slight or challenge to authority he felt was his by right. Manipulated by both his nephew and his sister-in-law, almost assassinating Tony out of humiliation, it took his house arrest and his forced capitulation to Tony for him to become a late bloomer. Forced by circumstances to think beyond his immediate desire for power or control, he came to realize the benefits of long-term thinking, to figure out how to negotiate and plan and counteract. He still had his moments of pettiness and stupid short-term aggression of course, but in that respect he wasn't much different to Tony himself. The sad irony of Junior Soprano was that it wasn't till he was an old man that he figured out how to become the leader he always wanted to be, and by then it was too late. Worst of all was that just as he finally started using his brain properly, it began to fail him. The slow (and then rapid) progression of his dementia was devastating to watch, especially in the way it wreaked havoc on his family and friends. Dominic Chianese was a revelation in the role, displaying a vulnerability that was remarkable while retaining the hard edge of the character's personality... even when that personality was largely stripped away by the damage to his brain. Junior never feels like an actor pretending to have mentally fallen apart, it genuinely feels like we've seen a man's slow decline unfold before our eyes. This is not the end of this episode, but it is where I end writing for now. The bulk of this final episode of the Sopranos is often overlooked in favor of discussing the final scene. This is understandable because... well, the final scene is one of the most remarkable things to ever be filmed in television. But I want to talk about the rest of this episode, I want people to discuss it and dissect it and argue (with, not at, each other) the points and the takes and the conclusions and the impressions. I want to talk about Tony's obvious checking off of lists of things to do with the Sword of Damocles of the FBI hanging over his head. Of Paulie's superstition; Carlo's unseen but presumed betrayal; Phil's death; AJ and Meadow both selling out in different ways; Carmela achieving her dream and having her own career; Patsy's unlikely rise from suicidal twin brother of an assassinated loudmouth to being part of Tony's family; Harris succumbing to different forms of "corruption"; Butchie's capitulation to the money; Walden and Benny's lack of respect for Paulie; the absence of Silvio and so, so much more. There is so much to say and do before I write about the final scene of this remarkable, beautiful show that still holds up so strong more than 20 years after it first began airing. But let's end with the ending of this penultimate scene, which ends on what I feel is a perfect note. When Junior tells Tony,"Well, that's nice" it is the final nail in the coffin for Tony to accept that the man he knew is all but gone. It's worse than Silvio, because this body still walks and talks, but the person he was is gone, even if that was a person that Tony had grown to hate. Tears welling in his eyes as he watches Junior turn back to watch the birds, unable to even engage on the most basic of levels with him, Tony stands and leaves. He walks away from what was his Uncle Junior, and as he goes he walks faster and faster in his desperation to escape.  Season 6: Soprano Home Movies | Stage 5 | Remember When | Chasing It | Walk Like a Man | Kennedy and Heidi | The Second Coming | The Blue Comet | Made in America | The Final Scene Season 1 | Season 2 | Season 3 | Season 4 | Season 5 | Season 6.1 | Season 6.2 Jerusalem fucked around with this message at 12:08 on May 17, 2020 |
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May 12, 2020 15:01
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Still reading the write-up but great read on some of these scenes. Random thoughts: That Butchie scene I never understood, but it's crystal clear now. Tony peeling an orange seems like a Godfather nod too, would certainly make sense, portending death Little confused about what's going on with Jason Parisi "Like Tara noted, he's all over the place, he just basically spouts talking points in place of any real introspection or analysis, and believes himself better-informed than others as a result." Great insight escape artist fucked around with this message at 16:15 on May 12, 2020 |
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May 12, 2020 15:49
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Thanks again Jerusalem, I appreciate all the effort. That last scene with Junior is such an incredible gut-punch, it could have worked as an ending for the series almost. It is hard to overstate Dominic Chianese's ability, as you said it never felt like a performance, it felt so incredibly real. He captured the truth of dementia with such nuance, it was a performance for the ages. I wonder if AJ is piloting Air Force One these days?
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May 12, 2020 16:13
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i think the saddest part of the junior scene is when he asks "i was involved with that?" because it implies when heard This Thing Of Ours he remembered what it meant, and had memories of...some aspects of it, but couldn't place himself or anyone else. It really was all in there, and that little uptick in his voice reads to me as though hes hopeful in that split second that he can remember SOMETHING, anything. a drowning man reaching for the life preserver, only for the waves to cruelly pull him under just before he can grab it. his tone sinks down and he becomes flat again in his "that's nice" response, and you can see on Tony's face that he's registering all of this. When junior flattens out, that's when he gives up and can't look. It's not that he doesn't remember that crushes him, it's that he can't even get close to it again.
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May 12, 2020 16:35
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While I agree that Carmine was sincere about pursuing his happiness and not getting tied up in trying to run things in New York anymore, I still think that meeting was a https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G29DXfcdhBg moment for him, and maybe that's why he seemed out of it and reluctant about the whole thing. I don't know how he can go to that meeting and casually retire back to living the good life. Even if he's happy letting Butchie or someone else take over, there's a track record proving he's not some harmless guy they can just ignore since he directly influenced a meeting that led to a boss's death.Paper Lion posted:i think the saddest part of the junior scene is when he asks "i was involved with that?" because it implies when heard This Thing Of Ours he remembered what it meant, and had memories of...some aspects of it, but couldn't place himself or anyone else. It really was all in there, and that little uptick in his voice reads to me as though hes hopeful in that split second that he can remember SOMETHING, anything. a drowning man reaching for the life preserver, only for the waves to cruelly pull him under just before he can grab it. his tone sinks down and he becomes flat again in his "that's nice" response, and you can see on Tony's face that he's registering all of this. When junior flattens out, that's when he gives up and can't look. It's not that he doesn't remember that crushes him, it's that he can't even get close to it again. I felt the same way the first time I watched it. I kept hoping something would register with Junior and there would be a level of catharsis there, but nope, he's gone. It's all a big nothing. I think it's really one of the bleakest scenes in television. I wonder if Tony walks away wishing he'd visited sooner, so he could have had some kind of confrontation with the man who shot him (even if Junior clearly wasn't himself in that moment either), instead of going to see that. Dr Kool-AIDS fucked around with this message at 17:50 on May 12, 2020 |
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May 12, 2020 16:46
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Edit: different car
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May 12, 2020 17:19
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I love that short-lived smirk from Junior at the end, like an ember in a burned-out campfire that caught some wind.
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May 12, 2020 21:15
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Grammarchist posted:I love that short-lived smirk from Junior at the end, like an ember in a burned-out campfire that caught some wind. You get the feeling that even if he's completely gone (which I don't think there is any degree of an act anymore) he knows he's getting one by.
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May 12, 2020 21:25
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Ishamael posted:If you remember the original threads, as soon as the ending happened, that is all anyone talked about going forward. We will soon be at that same point here, and I want to get as much discussion about the show proper into the thread before it happens again. Since Jerusalem has specifically requested we not discuss the black out ending and doesn't want it making GBS threads up his thread, I won't bring it up again out of respect for his work - and even if I disagree with that approach I understand it. I've already weighed in on it and there's tons of other forums/boards that have beaten it to death so it's all good. There's just been a lot of low traffic here for all these excellent write ups lately and the only posts we've been getting center around what Jerusalem Should Write Next or occasional weigh ins on the ending though so, to me, anyone weighing in is a good thing. ... I'll try to move the topic and throw out some bait for commentary. One thing I've noticed reading these recaps were the "this is the last time we see character X, Y, Z - something I never gave much consideration before and the Sopranos, compared to other prestige shows, just kind of abruptly "faded out" people (Melfi, Artie, Janice) whereas on poo poo like The Wire and Six Feet Under, we got the flashy ending montages. Telling that Junior gets his own sendoff in the finale since that's where The poo poo Started in S1 and now he's shown to not even remember any of it. Some go out in a hail of bullets or get murdered and others just...go away with no fanfare. A pivotal player like Johnny Sac died off screen for instance. A dynamic and violent character just vanished while lesser shows would have visited the potential affair with Carmela. Also, labeling Tony a "sociopath" is too simplistic IMO - too broad - and I maintain that the primary "failure" of his treatment isn't entirely what Melfi read but rather the complete incompatibility between what therapy is designed to treat and the inherent dishonestly required from someone in Tony's line of work. We see him dancing around poo poo all the time and making up stories for what happened to people that he was directly responsible for murdering (Chris, Pussy, Ralph, Ritchie). How can a person get into any sort of healing mechanism this way? The central theme of the article Melfi was reading was that the sociopath "uses" therapy to make himself a better liar and such but I don't see it that way entirely. If anything, Tony's treatment overall made him a LESS effective mob boss, since the two things simply can't conflate and all the things you learn in therapy fly directly in the face of the things that make you capable of running a criminal enterprise (empathy, sensitivity, forgiveness, introspection, honesty). So many of the things he gleaned from his sessions flat out hosed his poo poo up, despite his panic attacks going away. Tony was right. It was a complete waste of time and money at least for someone like him. He's killed how many people during his "treatment"? Beaten, threatened and tortured how many more? Never once did he admit any of that in therapy.
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May 12, 2020 23:11
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BiggerBoat posted:Tony was right. It was a complete waste of time and money at least for someone like him. He's killed how many people during his "treatment"? Beaten, threatened and tortured how many more? Never once did he admit any of that in therapy. While I agree that Tony's therapy was largely doomed by the clash between his "job" and his desire to resolve his issues, I do think you can't discount that Tony himself was largely to blame because he refused to engage with therapy beyond the surface level. He skipped sessions because "gently caress that bullshit", he assumed paying his bills meant that Melfi would simply serve up "mental health" like it was a meal at a restaurant. He was a passive participant, who flirted with deeper engagement but always pulled back the moment she had him in uncomfortable territory. He took any excuse he could find not to make the effort, or mistook feeling exhausted with having made effort, and of course he could always fall back on "I can't elaborate further" as an easy out for when he wanted to shut down the conversation. Melfi is far from blameless herself, of course, but she did at least always put in the effort even if she was the one who chose to keep the therapy going past the point she could reasonably expect results. escape artist posted:Little confused about what's going on with Jason Parisi I realize now I conflated a couple of the scenes and muddled the timeline somewhat. Jason Parisi gets summoned from the table by Patsy who looks pissed off at him out of nowhere, and I assumed that he was upset because he had heard about Jason Gervasi getting arrested. Belatedly I remember now that Jason Gervasi is actually at that function, eagerly pointing out the roast beef to his dad, so he presumably hadn't been arrested yet and Patsy is just mad at HIS Jason for other reasons. Come the Parisis visiting the Sopranos, it's common knowledge that Jason Gervasi has been arrested and Carlo has disappeared, and they haven't brought Jason Parisi on the off-chance his close friendship with Jason Gervasi has made him suspect or at least unwelcome. I got very excited about this theory and went back to add in more on it to the write-up, and got ahead of myself/forgot the timeline, sorry. I'll go back and edit a bit of it out to avoid confusion.
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May 12, 2020 23:56
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