The Sopranos 4/8.... spoilers?

Anybody else think there's some symbolism behind Bobby punching Tony over Janice. If my brother-in-law or sister-in-law was ragging on my wife I don't think I'd necessarily intervene ... that's a family thing that predates me ... so now, even though Bobby has been part of the "family" for a while now ... by intervening he is now all in.

 

My little fixation on the story about the 3-year-old found floating face down in the water -- and Janice's comments about Ma -- won't go away. Later, when Janice's daughter is playing in the lake, and she reprimands her, it gets dicey.

"She's never spoken to me like that before. Never."

Another good snapshot of the next generation passing along the dysfunction. I mean, the child is old enough now to talk and express ideas, and Janice can't seem to handle it.

 

Anyone remember how old poor Harpo was when Jan deserted him?

 

Didn't Harpo end up in Canada?

 

Except maybe his line that escalated things, after Tony made the comment about what the beauty contest winner must have looked like.

"You Sopranos go to far"

 

Just to touch on a couple of very minor asides that haven't been touched on yet.... how could Bobby have never heard of the "Free Parking" rule in Monopoly? Surely Janice must've used those rules before when playing Monopoly with Bobby & his kids (speaking of which, where were Bobby's kids this episode?). Plus his over-reaction to the rule was over-the-top "The Parker Brothers thought long and hard about these rules, I think we should honor them and play by the rules they came up with" and "I think I should get $100 every time I land on one of my properties, how do you like that rule?"


What evidence from the party will get left behind to get AJ in trouble? Did he remember to close the cellar windows? Did he change the sheets on his parents' bed?

 

Definitely. And with that, the free ride for Bobby came to an end, when he drew that assignment.

As for the baby story and AJ, I guess something still could have gone wrong at home. I don't remember there being any shots back at the party after their friends first showing up to the house, which leaves us in the dark about what might have happened, right?

 

i don't agree with it all, but as usual, a good day-after read:

http://www.nj.com/columns/ledger/sepinwall/index.ssf?/base/columns-0/1176092965256860.xml&coll=1&thispage=1

 

Maybe he legitimately never heard of that rule. I didn't until last night.

Maybe he was working when she played Monopoly with the kids. Maybe the game's been at the lake house and they never played it with the kids. Maybe kids nowadays don't play Monopoly.

Who knows? Sometimes we (including me) over-think this stuff. I think it worked fine as a scene that said a lot about the dynamics of getting involved with the Sopranos on any level, and I'm not going to worry too much about why Bobby never heard of the rule before.

Maybe he knew all along about the rule, and yet he was calling them on it just to start a scrap -- feeling his oats, as he did in other ways soon after.

 

A couple of people touched on it before, but I'll say it again -- anyone who thinks the gun/shirt/chest hair/DNA from that murder is going to come back and haunt Bobby/Tony hasn't been paying attention for the past eight years. That just isn't David Chase's style. He puts out red herrings like that all the time because he knows it will work certain viewers into a dither, but those plot points aren't important to his writing style. This isn't The Wire, where every piece matters.

The Russian isn't coming back. Adriana really died. Chris ain't getting HIV. And the Canadian Royal Mounties aren't going to use a button and a piece of fabric to catch Bobby.

The whole point of Bobby doing the murder was to show what a vindictive person Tony is. That's it. If the shirt ripping meant anything, Chase undoubtedly meant it as something symbolic and not as a plot device. What did it symbolize? Hell, I don't know. I'm still trying to figure out the Toblerone bar from a couple of seasons ago...

 

He did, IIRC, and did anyone else think that the drummer Bobby whacked might end up being Harpo? Then again, that's just too much of a coincidence.

 

I think the shirt ripping was a symbol of Bobby's innocence being ripped away.

Sure, he was a gangster. But for most of the series, he's been nothing more than a nurse/cook/housekeeper for Uncle Junior. Now, after that hit, he's finally a Soprano.