The Sopranos 4/8.... spoilers?

At least she's Catholic

 

I would have died if Tony said that at least her name means "White" (courtesy of Don Imus)

 

Finally got my Sopranos and Entourage fix today.

Oh man, what an episode.

A couple thoughts:

1) Bobby's dead. His overreaction to Tony's bantering with Janice and subsequent fight won't be forgotten. Also, the Canadian has a handful of his shirt and he wasn't smart enough to toss the gun into the lake.

2) Janice is her mother. She spent time talking about how her mother lost control of her children when they began speaking. Janice lost control of her daughter when they were in the lake. Also, like Ma Soprano, she revels in humiliating Tony in front of Carmela/family/friends.

3) They're setting something up with Tony and Chris. He talked about a person with "divergent" agendas and hung up on Chrissy, after the latter couldn't be bothered to show up for the release party.

4) A.J. isn't going into the family business. Meadow is. She was very concerned and very loud when Tony was arrested.

5) Tony is getting smart. He realizes that his time as Don is limited, so he's going to set it up so others take the fall. By the end of the season, he'll be out of the business or he'll be Michael Corolone at the end of Godfather II.

 

This was the first episode in some time that I felt like could have been, much like "College," a short story. Independent of everything. Yes, it advanced the overall plot some, but what I liked about it is that it could have picked up right when Tony and Carmella arrived at the lake house, and nothing would have been lost. You'd have a story about an aging mob boss, a year removed from nearly dying, contemplating his future and realizing his time is short. His brother in law, one of the last few mob guys with a conscience, learns that he's going to get more responsibility, despite the fact that he's never really gotten his hands dirty, and he's thrilled. But the Soprano family being the Soprano family, he gets sucked into doing something he shouldn't, and as a result, he loses that last bit of innocence and morality he'd been able to hold onto. In the finial scene, we have Bobby lifting up his daughter, trying to come to terms with what he's done and who he's become. It could have been a fiction piece with two anonymous gangsters and lost almost nothing. Great stuff. I agree with those who say the DNA foreshadowing was likely just a ruse. This was more about reminding you of the two sides of Tony Soprano. He can be kind and loving, and he can be bullying, evil and petty. He's not someone we should love, yet we do anyway, which is the entire point, and why Chase has created one of TV's truly great characters. It makes us a little uncomfortable to care so much about what happens to Tony, because even though he tries to be a good person, he's not and he never will be. He can never escape the fact that Johnny Boy Soprano was his father, Livia Soprano was his mother, Corrado Soprano is his uncle, and Janice Soprano is his sister. It's also why, in many ways, the entire series is David Chase's middle finger to the profession on psychotherapy. Tony is no better, really, than he was ten years ago when he first started seeing Dr. Melfi. Because we are who we are, a product of our upbringing and our environment.

And hockeybeat, I think you're right. I've felt for five years now that Meadow, not A.J., is a more likely candidate to become part of "the family" even if it's simply as a lawyer. Although I think you'll see A.J. go down that road too this season, and evolve into a low-level fuck up, something like Christopher was in Season 1, or just before that.

Since I'm probably the board's most recognizable Wire zealot, I'll add this to the Wire vs. Sopranos debate. I love the fact that every piece fits together in The Wire. There is never a wasted scene. At the end of a season, you begin to realize that ever motivation and action had a purpose. It's beautiful storytelling, and as David Simon has said before, it's attempting to be the modern day equivalent of Greek tragedy. It's simply mind-boggling that some of you here who swoon over ever episode of the Sopranos won't give The Wire a chance. It's sort of like Friday Night Lights in the respect that even though not that many people watch it, it's rare that anyone who does watch it doesn't like it. Very rare. That said, I do like the fact that the Sopranos is a mess sometimes, sort of like real life. Not every action has a greater purpose or moves the plot forward. Sometimes scenes or episodes are just little set pieces, never to be picked up again. There is a beauty to that messiness sometimes, although sometimes we have Chris getting fried on H and starring at fireworks for 20 minutes.

 

By the way, whatever did happen to Furio? Did he just conveniently go back to Italy because he thought Tony was going to kill him?

I really did like this episode, much more than any of the first part of the final season. I spent the better part of a year catching up on all five seasons, and I thought the show finally started to lose steam around the mid-point of season five (except for Long Term Parking, which I thought was an excellent episode.)

How much of getting Bobby to do the killing is just Tony trying to get back at Janice? OK, you want your husband to be a made man? You want him to feel like he's earning? You want him to be a major player in the family? Well, he has to become murderous scum like the rest of us. So deal with that.

 

The last reference to Furio was at the beginning of the season after he left for Italy. Tony made a comment that he "had guys looking for him over there."

 

See, if Furio were to reappear, that would make so much more sense to me than the shit about the Russian. Since, you know, he was an actual character and all. (That said, I don't think Furio is coming back, and that's fine.) But it's weird that so many people who have a hard-on for the Russian convieniently forget Furio.

 

I'm guessing Furio comes back, for this reason:
A couple of R.I. radio stations are throwing a viewing party Sunday at Carmine's (yes, a franchise of the N.Y. eatery) at Twin River (the newly expanded megaslot parlor formerly known as Lincoln Park), which includes a meet-and-greet and Q&A with Vincent Curatola (Johnny Sack) and Federico Castelluccio (Furio). I don't think Castelluccio would be sent out on the promo circuit if Furio had been left out of the final season.

 

Or he could just be trying to milk a couple of more bucks out of his former gig.

 

Does anyone else think that Tony will test Bobby's loyalty by making him cheat on Janice? Remember when they were driving and the water skier waved to Tony, he looked over at Bobby and said "pretty girl, huh?" I don't know i just think that he would love to hurt his sister like that and he would loved to get more vengence on Bobby because he knows it will completely fuck with him.

 

Know what baccala is Italian for? I'm being serious.

 

Bobby was the only one without a goomah when ihis first wife was alive.