Sopranos - 5/13

Great episode. Definitely shocked by the accident and Tony finishing Chris off (mercy killing or not, definitely Tony getting rid of a liability).

So much for A.J. finding himself in the life. He's already struggling with it and he has barely done anything yet. (I seem to remember somebody insisting last week that this would be the case...wonder who that might've been).

 

The guys that A.J. is hanging out with are such assholes, you gotta love it.

 

Those are Pussy's kids, right?

 

So with Christopher dead, can we forget about a "Sopranos" movie?

 

It was almost as if Tony blamed Chris for his bad luck. Like the roulette winning proved to him killing Chris was the right thing to do.

 

Just before Tony finished off Chris, Chris said "Never pass the drug test. Call (unintelligible)." Does anyone know what that second part was?

 

I believe he was saying "call me a cab."

 

Chris said "call me a cab."

 

I loved the fact of the lyrics of Comfortably Numb that they didn't talk over right before the crash.

"The child is grown, the dream is gone."

You could see in Tony's face that there was no possible way that Chris was going to take over someday.

 

how about AJ's new friends offering him condolences like junior wise guys?

 

OK, had some time to digest... and I apologize in advance for the length.

Mercy killing? I disagree. There was no mercy or compassion or anything of the sort in Tony's eyes. If so he would've shown at least some hint of remorse after the fact--rather than become irritated with others' grief and high-tail it to Vegas while everyone else was still mourning. Also, before and even during the killing of Chris, Tony kept looking at the mangled car seat. Remember he kept bringing up how it was completely destroyed. I think, at the time, he used that to help justify killing Chris--the potential death of an innocent in a similar situation--and he kept waiting on someone to validate his decision. No one did, yet another reason he abandons good ole Jersey for Sin City.

Chris has always been one of my favorite characters, mostly because of his flaws. Because of those flaws, I always thought Chris would die eventually before the series ended, but I was shocked to see it go down in such sudden fashion.

To me Chris embodied what David Chase has been trying to accomplish with the deconstruction of the Godfather-type mythos that surrounds the Mafia--in short, that the current generation isn't made of tough enough stuff. Truly, the "strong, silent type" is dead. Chris wanted to be a big bad Mafioso, but he couldn't do it. He was too unstable, had too many issues (drugs, fucked up parents, you name it) and was too eager to please Tony--thus, he constantly made mistakes. As a result he gravitated toward films. But when script writing failed, then acting, he got into the business the only way he could: by force.

I've said it in private and communications with friends outside of SJ, and I'll say it here. All Chris ever wanted was for Tony to love, respect and accept him. Was he a fuckup? Sure. But from the pilot episode, where he pops the Czech, through the Adrianna mess all the way through to "Cleaver", he only wanted his acceptance. That was obvious in the episode before this, as he lamented the fact they used to be so tight.

On a side note, was Cleaver a revenge fantasy? Certainly. But I think Chris thought, if the movie was a success, it would bring him back into the good graces of his surrogate dad. Instead, it and his continued sobriety only served to further alienate Tony from Chris.

Deep down, Chris still loved and respected Tony--and was dependent on him. Think of all the times Chris agonized in private over what was, to Tony, a minor scene: be it the teasing he endured from Tony and Tony B., the perceived affair between T and Adrianna, et cetera. Of all the times Chris came running to Tony over what was a minor incident--last week's bit with the stolen drills, for example. When Chris was telling Tony to call him a cab, Chris was expecting Tony to do what he'd done so many times before: protect him, cover his mistakes. Tony obviously had already abandoned any thoughts of making Chris the heir apparent, but I think seeing this final flaw--this latest relapse and the fact it could have potentially gotten Tony killed this time--pushed him over the edge.

For someone who says "every day is a gift", we've certainly seen a new side of Tony in these final episodes. He is darker and meaner than he ever was. First, sending Bobby to kill the guy because he lost a fight. Now, this. And let's not forget that the asbestos was dumped in wetlands with ducks quacking right nearby.

Another interesting point: Obvious parallels between the Vegas trip and his Kevin Finnerty stay in Limbo. I disagree with the Sepinwall column that said Vegas represented Hell, but that's just me. What I find interesting is that, as Finnerty, of course his stay in Limbo was involuntary. This time, Tony chose a similar existence to the one he tried so desperately to escape while in a comatose state. In the process, he seemed to assume the persona of Chris--having sex with a woman Chris knew, and experimenting with drugs exactly like he had.

I'm still not sure what "I get it!" at the end signified.

Hope that wasn't too rambling!

 

I meant to say, right before the crash, the shots of Chris as he was driving somehow made hom look younger than he has in quite a while.