By Sean Burns
Can’t you feel it all starting to crumble around them?
It was another joyless week in Jersey, as this week’s episode, “Cold Stones,” set the stage for a mob war with Phil Leotardo’s New York crew in the same bleak, muffled tones we’ve come to expect from this season. Even the inevitable whacking of Vito Spatafore was a muted affair, occurring mostly beyond the frame-line and devoid of the show’s signature graphic violence. (On this morning’s Howard Stern Show, actor Joseph Gannascoli explained that not only was this one of four “endings” filmed for his character, but what aired was also a shorter and more discreet edit of the scene they originally shot.)
After spending the past ten weeks watching our characters try on different personas and alternate lives, it looks like everybody’s about to start slipping back into their old, now ill-fitting skins with a sigh of weary resignation. Vito’s attempt to buy his way back into The Life was half-hearted at best, complete with hollow-sounding re-assurances to his wife that he was on the verge of making things right with Tony.
It was an unexpectedly fine performance from Frank Vincent this week, as we saw stray traces of his ambivalence about killing Vito – it began to feel as if he was goaded into it by the double-barrels of his horrible shrew wife and the Catholic Church’s relentless persecution of gays. The episode was shrouded in homosexual panic: Phil “came out of the closet” before he whacked his brother-in-law, and then freaked out over the bodybuilding competition on TV. Tony walked in his living room to hear A.J.’s friends telling stupid gay jokes, and even T’s driver-side blow-job was a subtle callback to the first time we found out about Vito.
But the most significant development in “Cold Stones” was the almost complete un-raveling of Tony’s recent progress. The decision to get rid of Vito took a painfully visible toll, as Gandolfini blustered and sputtered a series of rationalizations (one of which was quite amusingly shot down by Silvio) before trying to dull his rage with whisky and strippers. Note the music cues that accompanied Tony’s night on the town: AC/DC’s “Back In Black” segueing into Skynard’s “Simple Man.” T immediately went back to being sullen and uncommunicative in his therapy, and I was convinced he was going to put that brat son of his in the hospital. (Have you ever seen a look of murderous disgust like quite the one Gandolfini registered upon seeing A.J. on the Internet in his underwear, “giggling like a fuckin’ schoolgirl?”)
Still unsteady on his feet, Tony dithered a bit in the face of Phil’s antagonism and was initially trying to strategize his way out of a war – too bad Silvio and Carlo accidentally got rid of that option. The killing of Fat Dom at Satriale’s --prompted by, again, more stupid gay jokes-- was one of the sloppiest and most brutal in the show’s history. (And how does Steve Van Zandt’s ridiculous wig manage to stay glued-on even when he’s getting a piggy-back ride like that?) There was a ghoulish brilliance to the shot of these two idiots playing cards next to the dead body, and Tony’s no nonsense appraisal of the situation (“Tell Gab I hope she gets over the flu!”) seemed to slam shut any doors that had opened since his near-death experience.
Vacation’s over -- it’s time to be the boss again. And Tony’s first move was to straighten out A.J. the way he should have years ago. (The cliched, jerky hand-held camera in the garage was director Tim Van Patten’s only visual misstep in this otherwise quite exquisitely helmed hour.) It was a scene that left the viewer strangely torn; seeing the Old Tony again, so cunning and commanding, was like being back somewhere you weren’t really certain you ever wanted to return. Still it was hard to stifle a cheer when he wiped the smirk of A.J.’s face by smashing the little shit’s windshield – back in black, indeed.
Of course, the real question on everybody’s mind is “Why so much Paris?”
At times, the travelogue aspects of Carmela and Rosemary’s trip seemed shoehorned in as a way for Chase to justify the expense of an overseas shoot. (On the other hand, having just sat through Ron Howard’s shockingly pedestrian use of the same areas in The DaVinci Code, I was simply thrilled to see location footage photographed with a bit of panache.)
Just when she started to seem hopeless, Carm’s finally starting to ask questions about Jackie Jr., and admit it-- you knew she wasn’t going to be able to sleep in a 
strange hotel without having another Adrianna dream. Falco’s such a mesmerizing actress; I was captivated by the contradictory play of emotions across her face throughout the trip, and found her mini-existential crisis surprisingly moving. (And as our pal Alan Sepinwall pointed out in his Star-Ledger column, the Eiffel Tower’s searchlight was a neat visual rhyme with the airport beacon outside Coma Tony’s Costa Mesa window.)
Also touching was Tony Sirico, hunched and glowering in the corner throughout the episode with barely a line of dialogue to call his own. The former buffoon is radiating a terrific sadness these days – a perfect fit as the troops seethe with dissatisfaction, getting ready for a pointless war that nobody wants, and an inevitable ending that will probably feel like a mercy-killing for some of the most miserable people in television history.
It’s all going to rot these days – Silvio pointed out that there are rat turds in Satriale’s kitchen and the Bada Bing’s sign is covered in bird-shit. But Carmela assures us that no matter how much we worry, in the end everything gets washed away.
Monday, May 22, 2006
The Sopranos Mondays: Season 6, Ep. 11, “Cold Stones”
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13 comments:
In a way, this season is shaping up to be all the characters falling off various wagons: Chris with his heroin, Vito with his homosexuality and finally Tony, with his new outlook on life that included fidelity and a resistance to his usual techniques. You know that even though he sanctioned Vito getting killed, his ambivalence was still clearly apparent, especially after Phil took care of that for him. He didn't even look like he enjoyed his blow job -- though I did love the visual joke that made it appear Tony was about to have another panic attack behind the wheel. One other note: Cheers to Alan for showering Sharon Angela with praise. I've long loved her as one of the most undervalued members of The Sopranos' ensemble, especially in Season 4, when she coped with the aftermath of Jackie Jr.'s death, living and splitting with Ralphie and being Carm's sounding board about Furio.
Great summary. I'd like to add that Carm's Parisian moment of existentialism echoed something one of the monks said to Tony in the coma dream episode about how in a few years' time all the people in the business dispute would be dead. (Sorry I don't remember this better.) It looked like they were setting up Carm for a dismal trip to Paris and I groaned at the rap music in the taxi. But Carm in Paris was way better than Tony in Costa Mesa and I was pleased that the actress who played Adrianna got to go along on the junket. I imagine cast and crew had a great time filming there.
I'm not sure whether I completely agree that Tony has reverted entirely to previous form. AJ has been such a provoking little shit one could argue Tony's restraint in the face of AJ's spoiled-brat attitude is a compelling feature of Tony's better nature. But one can doubt that good things will happen to AJ on a construction site, however mobbed up.
I forgot one other question I had about Sunday's episode: Who exactly told the press that Vito was gay? I understand them realizing he was a connected gangster, but someone had to leak his homosexuality to the paper and who would have had the motive for doing so?
I would disagree with the assertion that Tony is falling off the wagon, at least completely. Granted, he indulged in a little extracurricular activity with that employee (can you really blame him--did you see that girl?), but in prior seasons Tony wouldn't have exercised the "restraint" necessary to just drop her off with a fistful of cash. He would have accompanied her inside, or to a hotel, for sure. He also would have cracked AJ's face instead of that windshield. His disgust with AJ's progress, and his failed parenting, during therapy was so palpable and brutally honest. Gandolfini the master was on display once again (especially during the garage scene as an earlier poster mentioned). Even his immediate responses to the slaying of Vito and Phil's captain evinced a sort of mature or level-headed resignation to the caprices of his profession.
I stand by my earlier prediction that the tragedy Chase is surely heading towards will involve Tony having actually made some real, significant progress since his coma, but a day late. The sum of his sins are, at this juncture, too much to atone for without paying a grave, grave price.
- Big Silly
How about the scene towards the end where Vito's children read the truth about their Dad in the paper?
I am a regular Sopranos viewer (sometimes only out of habit) but I can't recall another scene where the effects of the "Family's" actions on someone not directly in "the life" are depicted. (unless you count Drea de Matteo's last scene)
This was a jarring (and for me, effective) shift in point of view that made everyone else's behavior seem even more ridiculous by contrast. (Were we supposed to know the guy who got killed in the kitchen?)
The mention of Vito's homosexuality in the newspaper still puzzles me. If all the gangsters were so outraged by it that they were prepared to kill him for it, it doesn't seem likely that they let the world know about it in the newspaper. If the feds knew, you'd think they'd have tried to use it as leverage to get Vito to flip and I don't see what they'd have to gain by leaking it to the press. It seems odd and I can't help but wonder if there is more to it than meets the eye.
Simon,
I've got to disagree with you about The Sopranos not showing you the effects of mob behavior on people outside the life. In fact, one of the reasons I continue to watch the show is that it is very effective at making you understand how dangerous these people are to innocent bystanders (and some not quite so innocent). Here's a list of the ones I can remember since Season 2:
*Robert Patrick - yes he was a gambling addict, but the crew willingly gave him a marker they knew he couldn't cover. His son losing his car was a perfect example of the damage these people inflict (remember the duet at the choir show that ended up being a solo for Meadow)
*Charmaine Buco (and Artie, although he is far from innocent)
*The guy who Christopher shot in the foot
* Adriana (again, far from innocent)
* Vito's family (the scene with the kids is the only one on this show to ever make me tear up)
* The hapless motorist killed by Vito (add Johnnycakes to the list as well)
* The stripper beaten to death by Ralphie
* The waiter murdered by Paulie
* Dr. Melfi (whose life was definitely in big danger for a while)
* The son who wanted to sell his dad's business earlier this season (and got beaten up by Paulie for his troubles)
* The egg store owner who got sold down the river by Tony's libido and greed
There's plenty more, but those are all the ones that come to mind right now. I think innocent victims are going to pile up big time over the last 9 episodes of this show, and David Chase is doing an unbelievable job of making the viewer understand what an empty existence these people have been leading (and we've been vicariously enjoying for 6 seasons). In some ways, The Sopranos is a longer version of Goodfellas (Chase acknowledges this with the homages to that film, especially in the kitchen scene this week); we got off on the humor and antics of the wiseguys in the first half and then recoiled in horror when their true nature was revealed in the second half. What the hell are we going to do for 8 months?
Hi all.
I would have checked in sooner, but I've been desperately searching for a tape of the actual episode. You see, there was some massive glitch with my cable service that caused the Carmella in Paris sequence to run on some sort of loop that made it last over 20 minutes. It seems this extra Paris material on my TV took the place of the episode's emotional and narrative center -- the frenzy of borrowing money that hit the crew (which Sean oddly doesn't seem to have mentioned in his recap -- can someone out there tell me what it was all about?)
Accepting that the version I got was really the actual episode, and once I stopped comparing this to classic SOPRANOS penultimate episodes (Isabella, Knights in White Satin, Amour Fou, and of course Long Term Parking) I thought this was a very good episode, given where they are now.
I really felt for poor, somewhat deluded Joe Gannascoli, when I read his comments in the New York Daily News, bemoaning the excision of Vito's extended sequence pleading for his life, and worrying that his Emmy chances have been hurt. (He seems disappointed that despite what he expected he no longer had a big role this season.)I was tempted to snicker about his acting, until I remembered that he was actually very, very good in Unidentified Black Males and earlier episodes this season, so he may have just gone out of his depth at about the time the writers went out of theirs with his subplot -- somewhere on that rainy drive to New Hampshire.
All Gannascoli's talk of alternate endings and excised material makes me suspicious and speculative about this episode, one which seems to me to have been tinkered with right down to the wire(they were still shooting the ice rink stuff after the season premiere had aired). I noticed that Chase's name suddenly popped up in the writing credits, too late to be included on the show's official website. Could this be a late-in-the-game rewrite? Or perhaps Chase ordered several versions from his writers and kept Vito's fate even from them (though given Vito's death relatively early in the episode, who exactly in the cast/crew did they think they were fooling with multiple versions?) Maybe I'm just reading into things.
I've also been wondering (sure, I'm likely wrong) if the "borrowing money" was a holdover from a plotline where Vito put a lot more money out on the street with more than the one wiseguy, in a desperate attempt to buy back his life. Could the "I wish I'd borrowed money from Vito" line have been a vestige from an excised plotline? It seems a bit incongruous in the episode as is.
Will be interesting to see where the next episode takes us. Right now I won't dare predict whether they'll try to shock us with some kind of huge, unexpected mid-season sendoff, or if they'll try to shock us with a somber, slow, business-as-usual episode.
"Simon,
I've got to disagree with you about The Sopranos not showing you the effects of mob behavior on people outside the life. In fact, one of the reasons I continue to watch the show is that it is very effective at making you understand how dangerous these people are to innocent bystanders..."
-Tully
Well, all these examples are certainly accurate. The distinction I would draw is that they all occurred, strictly speaking, to advance the plot.
The scene with Vito's kids didn't have to be included. We see things through their eyes, instead of just seeing some poor mope who we know Chris or Tony has got to kill.
Greg C, regarding the borrowing money. I think that was an allusion to the guy in the grocery store that asked to borrow money. (Unless I'm mistaken, I think that's him silently smirking during the "I wish I had borrowed money" line)
The point we're to take away being the callous cynicism and opportunism of the crew. The imminent whacking of a colleague is the perfect opportunity to take out a loan you won't have to repay. And it's perfectly acceptable to publicly bemoan missing this opportunity on the day of his death.
ben h,
You're right, it was the same guy smirking.
Though I'm probably just reading into things, what I meant by "incongruous" (probably the wrong word choice) was that Patsy's line would have made more sense to me in the context of a bunch of the guys having borrowed money from Vito once everyone knew he was back, rather than just that one supermarket guy, who probably told no one about it (he would have had to admit he was in contact with Vito behind Tony's back without telling). I was surprised that borrowing money would be the first thing Patsy thought of, since as far as he was concerned, Vito hasn't been in a position to lend anyone money for months (it's been about half a year since Vito lammed it, as the Sac wedding was in the heat of summer and it's now Christmas), though I'm not surprised by the cynicism Patsy expressed.
Also, I was just musing that one guy borrowing money in a Stop 'n Shop and one other guy wishing after the fact that he had borrowed money does not a crew-wide "frenzy" make, at least in my book. Maybe whoever writes the episode description got simply way more deceptive even than usual.
Greg C -
I think you may be right about the excised subplots; look at the description for the episode:
"A frenzy of borrowing money hits the crew; Carmela waxes philosophical on a trip with Rosalie; Meadow relocates."
I don't remember a "frenzy of borrowing money," does anyone else? I thought that Chase's writing credit may have just stemmed from the dream sequence (he always seems to have a hand whenever there is a dream sequence), but maybe he was doing some last-minute tinkering. Probably a good call, as it was a solid episode.
Edie Falco has been the best thing about the season, be it her vigil at tony's hospital bed and her rightful anger at AJ, she continues to be the anchor on this show that often seems to forget its roots by going off in all of these aimless directions.
The paris trip just sealed her greatness. I too have been around the world and when you actually get to some of these places, it really makes you feel that small. It can be happiness and despair rolled into one and it can make you feel so alive and aware of your own mortality.
If there is any justice, EF will have another Emmy come this year. Not that it matters, she is the best thing on this show. these last 8 eps better deliver.
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