By Sean Burns
Howdy, folks. Sean Burns here pinch-hitting for Matt on Sopranos Monday. As if this task wasn’t daunting enough already, it turns out that last week’s “Sopranos” episode, “Johnny Cakes,” turned out to be a miniaturized, Jersey-hood version of “The New World.”
Sure, this time we’ve got franchise restaurants instead of British colonialism, and in lieu of the naturals we’re stuck with a foul-mouthed racist old lady, but the gist is the same – watching an ancient culture surrender itself to dubious, inevitable developments thrust upon it by outsiders. Obviously David Chase is an artist of a far more cynical temperament than Terence Malick, 
and his idea of “progress” here seems to be exchanging one old load of miserable bullshit for a newer, shinier one, but the theme was spelled out a few weeks ago, back in the hospital when our gang was discussing dinosaurs: “evolve or die.”
“It’s over for the little guy,” sighed Patsy Parisi, after trying to shake down a new Starbucks-ish coffee shop and getting stonewalled by a middle manager. There’s not enough wiggle-room on this low level to creatively account for protection payouts. And how can a couple of mobsters cause any real headaches for some CEO by breaking a window, when there are 1,200 other shops on the East Coast?
The times, they are a changin’. And so is Tony Soprano.
Yes, the man who Carmela once accused of “sticking his dick in everything that walks,” 
actually spurned the advances of Julianna Marguiles’ hotcha real estate broker. Tony turning down sex? What’s next, skipping dessert?) Naturally this sudden attack of virtue came about a little bit late and more than a little bit clumsily. But earlier, in an uncharacteristically valuable session with Dr. Melfi, we were able to watch Tony test-drive his usual rationalizations, insisting that he couldn’t be blamed “for seeking an outside avenue” -- only to discover that the old lies he always told himself suddenly weren’t working anymore.
Tony and the realtor did, however, consummate something: a business deal (which probably means more to most people than fucking these days, anyhow.) Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider’s teleplay cannily used the gentrification of the North Ward to stand in for a disappearing way of life. The key difference is that while Tony used to mawkishly sentimentalize “the old ways,” we saw a very different man strolling through the neighborhood. Selling that quaint poultry 
shop to make way for Jamba Juice could be a sign that Tony is turning a corner. It would appear that taking a bullet from his old-school uncle has finally hipped him to the fact that “the good old days” aren’t all they were cracked up to be.
It’s a point that came through most powerfully in A.J.’s storyline. Much like his mother, the boy is finding it impossible to create a life outside his father’s looming shadow. His misguided attempt to “join the family business” was an unmitigated disaster, and in a startlingly effective moment, we and Tony both learned that the half-cocked revenge scheme was inspired by the kid’s memories of watching “The Godfather” – the ultimate romanticized gangster myth – with his dear old dad.
Tony might as well be summing up his own recent journey when he said to the kid: “But that’s just a movie!”
The episode did have its share of odd moments. I’m still puzzled at what to make of “Brokeback Vito’s Adventures In Gay Hampshire.” Though of a piece with this season’s theme of characters trying out alternate lives for themselves, there’s something stilted and surreal about these sequences that isn’t quite cohering for me. Of course it didn’t help that Vito’s perfect man – a motorcycle-riding-firefighter-who-can-cook! – was granted an over-the-top heroic entrance that looked like suspiciously like an out-take from “Can’t Stop The Music.”
Much better handled was the hilarious scene at Blockbuster, as A.J. and his sidekick indifferently went through the motions of customer service while chatting on their cell-phones and cursing. It’s Chase’s sickly funny vision of our garish, impersonal, franchised nation, proving once more that “The Sopranos” is hardly a television show about the Mafia – it’s a show about America the way we live now, from Starbucks to shining Starbucks.
On the other hand, this week’s episode, “The Ride,” felt like a bit of a place-holder. Now that Tony is finally beginning to straighten up and fly right, Chase and company took a breather to remind us that regular life is… well, it’s kinda dull sometimes.
“Sure, every day is a gift,” Tony repeated once more, “but does it have to be a pair of socks?”
Spelling everything out with uncharacteristically ham-fisted obviousness, Terence Winter’s teleplay used a broken, dangerous carnival ride as a metaphor for our characters’ appetite for self-destruction. Janice noted in the final moments that even though this shoddy teacup contraption could have killed her daughter – the child still wanted to get back on the ride.
It’s a sentiment that certainly applies to Christopher – who, when faced with a blushing pregnant bride and shiny new McMansion (“stately Wayne manor,” he called it,) eventually stopped jabbering about his domestic bliss long enough to spin out on a heroin bender.
The episode’s early highlight found Tony and Chris hi-jacking a hi-jacking, accidentally stumbling over a biker gang mid-robbery and swapping bullets, making off with a trunk full of stolen wine. The amusing escapade was discussed, celebrated and then endlessly rehashed… most pathetically in T’s basement, as the two men sadly realized they had nothing else to talk about, so why not bring it up again?
More amusing was the cheerful, tangential corruption that accompanied cheapskate 
Paulie’s mishandling of the St. Elzear’s Feast. You know the times have changed when a friendly little religious festival (one that used to be quite a lucrative endeavor) gets all gummed up because the new parish priest wants a larger cut of the take. There was an amusing men’s room discussion, wondering how a humble street fair can compete with DVDs and videogames for your entertainment dollar these days (a conversation that’s no doubt being echoed in every movie executive’s boardroom) and the hour’s most haunting visual showed a statue of the Saint festooned with cash.
(This feast debacle also prompted the show’s funniest line of the year thus far, as Tony surveyed Paulie’s gross mismanagement and smiled: “You’re doing a heck of a job, Brownie.”)
It’s never a pretty sight when Tony Sirico is forced to do some real acting. Don’t get me wrong --he’s a great, cartoonish sidekick, but giving Paulie Walnuts a prostate cancer scare is hardly an effective use of this particular performer’s 
gifts. (Much like Little Steven Van Zandt, Sirico needs to bounce his persona off one the show’s more seasoned actors, otherwise his scenes tend to run off the rails.) Curious though, how after Paulie’s reconciliation with his mother, we saw a shot of that wind Tony’s always carrying on about.
The ghost of Adrianna loomed large over the proceedings. Could Carmela’s close encounter with Ade’s mom finally be enough to knock her out of denial? Edie Falco played the confrontation close to the vest, but I thought I saw something flicker behind her eyes when Tony had to pour himself a drink in order to get through his (absolutely ludicrous) explanation.
Stranger still was the flashback to last season, when Christopher broke the news to Tony. 
It was a brilliantly acted moment – memorable for both Michael Imperioli’s whimpering helplessness and Gandolfini’s chilling shift from anguish to ice-cold sociopath mode. Yet the scene felt awkwardly inserted, like one of those sitcom clip-shows that always clumsily segue with characters saying stuff like: “Hey, remember that time I came over to your house and…”
I guess we can only expect that an episode all about boredom would have to be a little on the tedious side. “The Ride” felt like a transitional hour, with Chase lining all his characters up in the same mood of seething discontentment, setting the stage for the fireworks to come in this season’s final three episodes.
Monday, May 08, 2006
The Sopranos Mondays: Season 6, Eps. 8 & 9, "Johnny Cakes" and "The Ride"
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It just wouldn’t be the House Next Door without an out-of-left-field canonization of The New World would it? Fine job with the assessment Sean, especially in light of the circumstances which required it. I wish I could view the meandering with the same rose tinted glasses you do though, as I’ve reached a point where the only thing I find more frustrating than this season’s lack of consistency are the apologists, standing by at all times to assure us that this is all part of some grand design. The capper there being “I guess we can only expect that an episode all about boredom would have to be a little on the tedious side.” Oh, so when "Luxury Lounge" was dull that was just a bonus?
All this in a week where it’s announced that Chase has been secretly developing a “Sopranos” video game due out this fall with the involvement of Gandolfini et al. Really, it has nothing to do with this week’s episode, but everyone should reflect on that next time they find themselves looking down their noses at the “blood-thirsty masses impatiently waiting the next whacking.” Chase knows what sells; he’s just found a different audience to pander to.
What’s bothersome to me isn’t the lack of killings or mob scheming or any of the other pulpier elements, it’s the lack of evolution of the characters other than Tony. Admit it: I’m not the only one whose heart sank at watching Chris (yet again) spiral down into a pit of addiction, and not because I care about the character (which I sort of do) but because this has to be the tenth time it’s happened over the course of the show, and there’s little on earth less compelling to watch than the cycle-nature of an addict. (and while I’m in agreement that the flashback to the events of “Long Term Parking” was a wonderful performance moment for both Gandolfini and Imperioli, it was not only awkward but of questionable necessity. Like the show was once again underlining subtext for anyone in the back)
Same with Paulie yet again being a miserable cheap prick, and yet isn’t he now a millionaire from his drug score back in the third episode? Oh look, Janice in a neck brace again. And so on. I understand leopards can’t change their spots but sometimes at a distance and in the right they can resemble different animals.
Maybe that’s why I’ve become such a quick convert to the Brokeback Vito storyline after deriding it in this same forum back during the “Mr. & Mrs. Sacramoni Requests” episode. After initially striking me as overly jokey and besides the point, this B-storyline has turned into the unexpected heart of the season, culminating in “Johnny Cakes” which as far as I’m concerned has been the highpoint of a wildly over-praised (oh but aren’t they all in certain circles) season. Yes, Vito’s leather jacket wearing, handle-bar mustached, volunteer firefighter, motorbike riding, sensitive manly man lover may be an oddly idealized construction but it’s allowed the character to evolve against his own better instincts as the world (seemingly) conspires against such blossoming. Like most of the Sopranos non-professional cast, I’m not sure if Joe Gannascoli is a great actor but I buy him slowly letting his self loathing down enough to know that when the other shoe drops, as we all know it will, it’s really going to hurt. (the new game I play is watch the opening credits to see if Gannascoli’s name is in the crawl. If it’s not than I know the show’s planning on taking another week off)
It’s almost as if the show’s saying the only way to truly be happy is to remove yourself entirely from the mob culture of North Jersey and embrace something outside of yourself and the never ending quest for power and wealth. And if that aint a big old hint as to where Tony will be in early March of 2007 than I don’t know what is.
I believe the flashback to "Long-Term Parking" was actually a deleted scene from that episode -- one wisely deleted at the time (it would have ruined the horrible conclusion), but well used here.
I worry that people who haven't liked recent episodes have been rationalizing their dislike by suggesting, as you do, that big fireworks are coming. I'm not sure they are -- at least not in this batch. Since the coma episodes, the tone has been so muted, the focus on any big villains or arcs so incidental, that I think we're headed for an implosion instead of an explosion with these last three shows.
But then, I liked "Johnny Cakes" (except for the Douglas Sirk bits in New Hampshire) and "The Ride" (except for the Tarantino bits during Christopher's trip), so I may just be hoping for more of the same.
I actually enjoyed "The Ride." It seemed like such a quiet, change of pace sort of episode. Of course, that may just have been something I was in the mood for, but I enjoyed the silliness and pathos of Tony and Christopher's trip and the idea of having Adriana hovering over everything. Did anyone else notice that in an HBO promo for all their shows that followed there was a scene of Christopher hugging an obviously upset Carmela at their house? It didn't resemble any scene from an episode that I recall. As for "Johnny Cakes," that too was an improvement over the previous week's Artie and Bennie show, though the whole gay heaven aspect was a bit much. I can't remember where -- maybe it was Alan's column last week -- but someone was asking what linked AJ's anxiety attacks. I think they seem to be sparked less by a fear of the future as his fear of expectations, be it leading the football team, heading to military school or fulfilling favors for his club friends.
I'm very down (sure pun intended why not) on the Vito storyline. Think its been mishandled from the get-go, played for uncomfortable (un)intentional laughs (varies from moment to moment), and it's yet another victim of the "shoot gay intimacy in obscurantist long-shot/half-light" that also plagued Nichols' atrocious Angels in America adaptation.
Did love Tony and Christopher shootin' the shit with each other in The Ride. Most everything else about these episodes felt pretty much rote. Lawdy, dose therapy scenes! Big thrill for me is the Deadwood "Blessed are the..." previews. June 11th can't come soon enough.
And you know what... I'm gonna say it... I love Big Love. I'd go straight for Jeanne Tripplehorn. Then her jailbait son'd turn me queer right back. :-)
As far as "Brokeback Vito" goes, what I liked was how Vito's excursions outside his marriage paralled Tony's. Good liberals that we are we all root for Vito coming out, but boo Tony's escapade with the realtor. But both men are simply being unfaithful. One could argue that Vito was getting in touch with his true nature, and so it's ok, but if dogging around isn't in the nature of an alpha male then what is? A nifty conundrum, you ask me.
Sean, I liked your overall points. But one thought, which others echo, baffles me: ". . . proving once more that “The Sopranos” is hardly a television show about the Mafia – it’s a show about America the way we live now, from Starbucks to shining Starbucks."
I disagree. The Sopranos is specifically about the Mafia. Chase's sharp observations about the American landscape are just that. But his characters and their motivations are different from you and me precisely because because of this subgroup to which they belong, which is the organizing element of their lives and binds them to each other.
I was reading the "made man" entry in Wikipedia, describing the ceremony that initiates the chosen into Mafia hierarchy: "As this card burns, may my soul burn in Hell if I betray the oath of omertà.” Few of us take vows of any sort--maybe marriage, maybe military service. Neither requires that we accept eternal damnation as a prerequisite.
These people are different from us--no matter what commonality we share in negotiating the realities of daily life. But the issues of murder, extortion, and drugs, as a way of life--and all the burdens and fallout of those actions, is what drives the series. It's what the series is about. Why do people resist the classification that the series is about the Mafia? Without that distinction, the Blockbuster example is the car rental scene from Seinfeld.
Speaking of The Sopranos, The New York Times has an interesting story today about how A&E is sanitizing it a bit for when it starts airing reruns there in January -- and, according to the article, it's hard to spot the changes.
I don't think the show would be a hit if the characters were intrinsically 'other' from the mainstream audience. The issues it takes on are exagerrated, to be sure, for purposes of metaphor, but if Chase and co. wanted to make a show about the real-life mafia, he should have made a documentary.
I don't think the show would be a hit if the characters were intrinsically 'other' from the mainstream audience. The issues it takes on are exagerrated, to be sure, for purposes of metaphor, but if Chase and co. wanted to make a show about the real-life mafia, he should have made a documentary.
Vito's sojourn in NH is both an escape and a journey- towards accepting his identity as a gay man. Tony's many episodes with women other than his wife was all about getting some. This time, Tony didn't seal the deal. He left. He's still struggling with his sense of him somehow being changed. Maybe we'll get a Bresson-like moment at the end. Hoo-ha! Hey, if Malick can be tied to this thing, so may Bresson.
Who knows for sure what fate awaits Tony? But we can be farily certain that a painful fate awaits Vito. For it is common notice that gay life is depicted, more often than not, darkly. More than obscurantist, grimly so. And just why is that?
Sean: I wish I had something to contribute vis-a-vis the episodes, but unfortunately, budgetary concerns left me HBO-less about three years ago, and I haven't been able to catch up with the show on DVD yet. But curiously enough, that's not stopped me from reading the good writing about it on this site, and I just wanted you to know that I appreciated your taking the reins for Matt and coming up with interesting stuff that even us great unwashed can still read and enjoy (if one isn't too concerned about spoilers, that is.)
And Edward, thanks for the link on that A&E laundering job. This is a subject that has fascinated me ever since I heard they were going to show Carrie, and then The Exorcist, on network TV, and wondered how the hell they were ever going to do it. Well, technology has made it a lot easier, apparently, than even reshooting cleaned-up versions of specific scenes. I've related this story before-- perhaps on this blog-- so forgive me if this sounds familiar, but my favorite "bad language overdub" for network TV was when NBC showed Family Plot-- in theatres, an exasperated Bruce Dern turns to Barbara Harris and says, "For Christ's sake, Blanche!" But on network TV, he blurted out: "For rice cakes, Blanche!" Wow, what fun NBC would have had with The Sopranos back in the day...
It also seems to me that to some extent they are trying to parallel Tony and Paulie's reactions to life-changing events. Paulie's reaction to learning his mom was his aunt was violent and took it out on others. Now, his brush with prostate cancer (which we don't know if he has or not) has led him to reach back out to the woman he always knew as his mother.
Dignan: It just wouldn’t be the House Next Door without an out-of-left-field canonization of The New World would it?
Hey man -- I know whose house I'm in, even if my feet are up on the couch.
...apologists, standing by at all times to assure us that this is all part of some grand design.
Funny, I seem to remember you and I having a similar conversation a couple years ago, right before "Long Term Parking" aired and knocked us all on our asses. It's tough trying to see the big picture on a week-to-week basis, but what can I say? I have faith.
This video game news, however, is terribly disturbing. Do we get to play as Ralphie and beat the pregnant stripper to death for extra points? Can you choke Gloria Trillo in the bonus round?
I admit I'm an old fart who's way out of the whole gaming loop (like I really need another time suck?) but this sounds almost as creepy as the TAXI DRIVER game that's in development. Are these really good things to have in the world right now?
That said, I would love to play that DIRTY HARRY game when it comes out.
"Admit it: I’m not the only one whose heart sank at watching Chris (yet again) spiral down into a pit of addiction, and not because I care about the character (which I sort of do) but because this has to be the tenth time it’s happened over the course of the show..."
The more I think about that sequence, the more I hate it. We already saw an almost identical sequence in "Commendatori," it wasn't any more interesting then (but had better music), and it felt like treading water, stalling.
I suspect Chase et al. are repeating certain storylines and subplots on purpose, to show us that nothing changes, but the way it's being done here is both too much and not enough; it's not clear whether that's the point, and as a result, it's just dull.
Alan and I disagree on the Chris/Tony "Long Term Parking" cut scene. Well acted, I'll give you, but I wish we'd never seen it. We know what happened; we didn't need to be told. I get the feeling the actors lobbied to have it included, but I felt it weakened the story. Leave it unsaid.
m.a. peel: Why do people resist the classification that the series is about the Mafia?
Well I can't speak for others, my view is that The Sopranos is really a social satire about contemporary life - with the gangster element being a comic exagguration that blows all these characters common flaws up onto a larger scale.
Since the departure of Frank Renzulli from the writing staff in Season Two, the show seems be less tied to realistic details of Mafia life and has become more like a workplace sitcom -- giving the everyday quotidian annoyances an extra comic kick, since these guys also happen to make their living by killing people.
I feel like Chase said all he had to say about gangsters a long time ago, and that the show has expanded over the years to take on the culture at large.
"The Fleshy Part Of The Thigh" episode from several weeks ago is probably my favorite recent example -- taking on the health care system, gangsta rap street cred and the intelligent design debate all in one hour.
Am I alone in thinking there was a strong emphasis on children in "The Ride"? There was Christopher's news, and Janice's incident with her kid, and that odd scene of Tony with the baby -- what was that all about? (Not to forget the appearance of Adriana's mother and Paulie's reconciliation with his non-mother.) Is all this somehow tying back to Tony's changing relationship with his own kids? (It's my opinion that the show will end with Meadow taking over the family, by the way.)
As a husband and father, I've not been able to get thoughts of Matt, his children, and what they must be going through out of my head. Perhaps that has made me more sensitive to such issues.
I'm always pretty bowled over by the attention paid to SOPRANOS detail on this blog. Everyone points out stuff that barely registers as blips on my unobservant radar.
Then again, my love for the series has never been all-encompassing and yet it is must-see TV for me at this point.
All that said, I've never looked forward to the series as much as I have each Sunday night this season. Each week brings a new surprise - they're just doing stuff that I'd never expect the show to do. I can see why many would dislike it, and I've felt that way in previous seasons when events didn't seem to be going somewhere worthwhile or unfolding in a way that I feel they should. But this season has really gotten under my skin on nearly every level and plot point.
Has anyone else pointed out/noticed that the "Previously On" recaps have been notably deficient in giving clues as to what the episode following may hold? Has this always been the case (if so, take into account my previously mentioned lack of observational prowess)? Over the last couple weeks, I've noticed that the recaps seem content to merely show what happened last week (even if it's got nothing to do with this week), rather than pull from various episodes and piece together a little preamble that may aid a viewer who's out of the loop.
Yeah, the recaps have almost always just been specifically about the previous episode with very little foreshadowing of what's important in the episode to follow. The one exception is each season's premiere, which recaps everything.
Maybe I never noticed it before because the series doesn't typically flit around as wildly as it is this season.
And also I watched the first four seasons on DVD and never bothered with the recaps for obvious reasons.
Still, it seems odd - that's not how most shows do it.
I was hoping and praying the Sopranos game was just a BS rumor, but Google confirms it's legit. A shame, but we can still hope cooler heads prevail and that the project gets scrapped (as apparently happened with the videogame based on "The Shield", which would have been an even worse idea.
I'm surprised that no-one has mentioned Chrissy's unexpected marriage, which the whiners at TWoP are all aghast over. The more I think it over, the more I think it's a pretty brilliant point of entry into the unresolved Ade business, a subject that's been a long time coming. In turn, all of that led to Chris's dragon chase on Sunday night, which was one of the most beautifully cinematic moments of the series' entire run--and also, on the basis of war stories I've heard from friends who've been down that path, one of the most accurate depictions of a heroin bender I've ever seen anywhere in film and television.
So why did the episode leave me kind of cold? I'm still groping for an answer.
Mr. Johnston, nice to see you at The House!
I haven't checked out the complaints on Television Without Pity, but Christopher's 'impulse marriage' strikes me as perfectly in character - though I do wish we had at least seen the girl at last once or twice before this week. I imagine this will work out about as well for Chrissy as all of his Hollywood endeavors.
(I think it's kind of a riot that the actress cast as Christopher's bride - her name escapes me at the moment - is also playing Artie Lange's girlfriend in his upcoming movie, BEER LEAGUE. From Moltasanti to Lange -wow, this lucky little lady sure winds up with all the princes!)
Also, thanks Alan, for pointing out that the flashback was actually a deleted scene. (Now I understand why Gandolfini looked slightly less gigantic.) But I have to side with Sars on this one - as impressive as the acting was, I don't think it gave us anything that wasn't already being expressed between the lines.
I also do hate when they mess with the format of the program like that. THE SOPRANOS is usually so stylistically consistent, I recall spiraling into a froth-mouthed frenzy last season when "guest directors" Peter Bogdanovich and Mike Figgis started messing around with slow-motion and shaky-cams.
Yeah, some of the dissolves here were really contrary to the show's typical visual vocabulary (though not as much as the notorious freeze-frame in Figgis' episode, which his DVD commentary reveals was an unfortunate technical necessity).
When I interviewed David Chase a few months ago, he said Imperioli and Terence Winter were very proud of the deleted scene and were initially both pretty pissed off that Chase chose to remove it from "Long Term Parking", so it's no great surprise that it would get recycled. The deletion was suggested by Steve Van Zandt, and while we already knew he was a genius, it's now kind of indisputable.
The Devil & Andrew Johnston said: The deletion was suggested by Steve Van Zandt, and while we already knew he was a genius, it's now kind of indisputable.
Wow man, I had no idea - it was really a brilliant choice leaving that scene out. This totally makes up for Stevie's BORN AGAIN SAVAGE album... and the fact that I don't think his guitar has actually been plugged in since the first few weeks of the 99 Reunion Tour.
But seriously - I kid Silvio because I love him. And in addition to being a riot on THE SOPRANOS, he's totally the coolest DJ on terrestrial radio right now.
As anathema to the spirit of the show a GTA-style video game may be (curse you Burns for stealing my "Ralphie-beats-a-stripper level" joke) I'd by lying if it wasn't the first booth I'm going to be make a b-line to at E3 on Thursday where it's supposed to be unveiled (for the non-geeks in the crowd, E3 is a huge video game conference here in LA) so I can give the horrible details here next Monday. Doubtful the game will be scrapped, but then again that Taxi Driver game I played last year (you know, the one where a marauding Travis goes on a rampage after his "girlfriend" Betsy is killed) never did come out so maybe they'll just burry it out of shame.
Anyway, onto less dorky matters, I thought the Chris marriage plotline was completely appropriate. In fact my prediction before this season was that Chris would have gotten married before the season started but I guess he just needed that “visit from the stork” to push him over the edge. The guy’s been hiding from his problems for six seasons, and this sort of an impulse move was a no-brainer on the part of the show’s writers. And at least now he doesn’t need to adopt an Asian kid who will get beat up for having the last name Moltisanti like he feared back in season 4.
I too find myself floored by the revelation that the heart-breaking reversal/reveal of “Long Term Parking” wasn’t planned from the outset. Sometimes I think creative endeavors are like hot dog factories: it’s a lot harder to enjoy the final product when you know what’s going on inside them.
Dignan again: but then that TAXI DRIVER game I played last year (you know, the one where a marauding Travis goes on a rampage after his "girlfriend" Betsy is killed) never did come out...
I know I've said it before, but it bears repeating -- this is totally, absolutely the worst idea I have ever heard in my entire life.
I throw up a little bit in my mouth every time I think about it.
Had they shown that scene in LTP, we wouldn't have been able to share Adriana's brief hope that she was going to be able to leave -- that split-second fantasy shot of the I-95 sign at the north end of the Baltimore beltway always got to me.
Hi,
This is Greg -- an old college buddy of Sean's. He's generously invited me to jump into the fray. Nice to meet you all, and my thoughts and prayers to Matt and his family.
I'm sure I'll have a lot to say as time goes on, since I have a lot of thoughts about what's working and not working this season. In short I like it definitely better than the fourth, and better than a lot of the third, but it feels very much that something's missing compared to the highs (for me) of the fifth season. A few things spring to mind regarding what's missing -- Buscemi, Drea, Robin and Mitch scripts, and Junior and Johnny in more than cameo appearances. The show's years of systematically killing off everyone who can act (and sidelining two of the ones left) are starting to bite them in the ass, especially as this season Tony is so deep in the belly of his emotional denial that he's doing little more that wandering in a daze bumping into the furniture, and we have to spend a LOT of time with lesser characters. That's why I never seriously worry (Irregular around the Margins aside) that Christopher will die too long before the end of the series, because Chase wouldn't be that stupid -- would he? (Also, the now-traditional mid-season-Weiner-penned-Gandolfini-vacation episode didn't help.)
My impression from the Long Term Parking DVD commentary was that the idea to cut the Tony/Christopher scene (a still from which was up on the HBO episode page for weeks) was jointly Drea's and Stevie's, and having seen the bandannaed "genius" speak publicly on a number of occasions, I'm inclined to credit Drea with the genesis of the idea. But who knows? I'm surprised that it's been referred to in some reviews as the Sopranos' first flashback, since Long Term Parking and To Save Us All From Satan's Power were centered on flashbacks (the latter to very poor effect, I think), and there was a ridiculous "rewind and flashback" scene in Proshai, Livushka, which was actually not the dumbest choice made in the episode, since it also featured digital Livia.
I gather Winter, Gandolfini, and especially Imperioli were really upset, and what happened the other night seems the conclusion of a two-year long struggle between Chase and those guys. I agree, of course that LTP worked better as it was, and the flashback was unnecessary last episode -- not least because it reminded us of how good the show can be at its very best.
In a way, it was like Winter was acting out his own version of the sad Christopher/Tony "Vipers" basement scene, with nothing particularly new to give us in the episode except a rather weak "Hey, remember that brilliant episode I wrote last year? Man, that was awesome" followed by an awkward pause.
I know Paulie's malaprops and mispronounciations are integral to his character, but can't someone teach Sirico how to pronounce "biopsy" for god's sake? It took me right out of the show (doesn't say that much for the episode, I guess).
Despite my other misgivings, for some reason I find Tony shrugging and telling Christopher that everything's been "copasetic" when it couldn't be farther from for him the most heartbreaking moment the series has given me in a long time. I credit Gandolfini.
I keep talking myself into thinking that my problems with recent episodes (which are still really good) are part of David Chase's brilliant conceptual vision -- forcing us to endure the same spiritual emptiness and unfocused malaise as the characters, particularly Tony. Usually these conversations end with me slapping myself, calling myself an idiot, and reminding myself what Chase's beloved Freud would have said -- "Sometimes a B-plus season of your favorite show is just a B-plus season of your favorite show."
I think what really undermines each batch of new episodes is the interminable wait between seasons -- they have to jump over higher bars for fans forced to wait so long for new material. For example, with the exception of Irregular Around the Margins and Long Term Parking, I didn't think a lot about Season 5 when it first aired, but once I revisited it when it came out on DVD, I truly realized how good it was. Season 4 for the most part, with the exception of The Weight, was pretty lackluster until Ralphie got knocked off, then it soared (with the exception of that lame Calling All Cars episode stuck in the middle). For me, while Season 1 always seems to be placed as the high-water mark because of the marvelous Livia, I actually lean toward Season 3 as the best -- where practically every episode they hit out of the park.
"I think what really undermines each batch of new episodes is the interminable wait between seasons -- they have to jump over higher bars for fans forced to wait so long for new material."
I think you're right on here, but I'll add another dimension to it. The show builds up such a sense of dread and foreboding as the season progresses that each show can seem like something of a let down. (Especially, as Alan S. noted in his Star-Ledger review, in light of the cannily edited "Next time on..." bits that make every episode look like the most exciting thing that's ever been on television.)
That said, I've re-watched the complete series (to date) before the start of each of seasons 3, 4, 5, and 6, and have always been surprised by how well they hold up. Even the much-maligned season 4 is at least a B/B+ when you're not distracted by waiting for "something to happen" each week.
I do think once you remove expectations from the equation the show is quite wonderful even in episodes where "nothing happens", as I too regularly rewatch previous seasons on dvd and have yet to stumble on an episode that isn't enjoyable in its own way (even Irregular Around the Margins which I hated at the time has grown on me now that I have a clearer view of the big picture). But the combined presence of the ticking clock (oh my god, we're in the last season, and this is what they wasted an episode on? Don't they know there's only a handful of hours left to play with?) and the amount of time waited often makes the show feel like a missed opportunity.
I know when I'm sitting around this fall eagerly awaiting the final 8 episodes, I won't be reflecting on whether Paulie overcomes his cancer scare or how Artie's restaurant is doing or if Chris ever gets his film career off the air. I find I come for the whackings, and stay for the characters.
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