Comments on The House Next Door: The Sopranos Mondays: Season 6, Ep. 7, "Luxury Lou...

Also, I thought there was something very empowerin...

2006-04-26T12:48:00.000-04:00

Also, I thought there was something very empowering in the final scene where Artie is cooking the rabbit he shot. Wasn't there a reference earlier in the episode to his problems with obtaining quality meat? Cooking up something he killed himself signaled to me that he's decided to take control of his own life. Although I actually find that a bit contradictory with the fact that, after finding out Vinnie Delpino is stealing from him, he doesn't run to Tony to fix the problem, he takes care of buisness himself (so to speak).

I found this episode a continuation of the theme y...

2006-04-26T12:38:00.000-04:00

I found this episode a continuation of the theme you've been referencing all season: wanting to change your life but finding yourself unable to. Christopher wants to work in the movies and Artie wants to be someone who can pick up strippers. I'm not really sure if Artie is holding himself back or if he's simply not capable of making that change. In Christopher's case he's unable to choose between the life he's known the unknown on the west coast. He wants it both ways but he'll never have the life he wants without taking risks. Not just the risk of failing in Hollywood but the risk associated with trying to leave the family.

M.A. Peel: Regarding the plane cameo, I bet if you...

2006-04-26T09:04:34.563-04:00

M.A. Peel: Regarding the plane cameo, I bet if you gave a reading like that to Chase, he'd probably be taken aback at first, then concede that subconsciouly he might have been working some things out.

The Odyssey-as-only-story has been invoked throughout the show's run, starting with Tony's anecdote of the ducks in the pilot and continuing throughout, most notably in the Season Five finale when he flees Johnny Sack's bust, walks home across a great distance and finally finds his way into his own backyard. And of course both Tony's Coma Land adventures and Vito's sojourn in the small town had that flavor as well, with a wandering hero encountering characters and situations which represent aspects of the life waiting for him back home, or aspects of his own personality or values.

MZS--thanks very much for the link. Love having y...

2006-04-26T01:25:00.000-04:00

MZS--thanks very much for the link. Love having yet another new Gospel to ponder.

Question: you didn't comment on Chase's cameo. What do you make of it? I read somewhere that Chase's other cameo was in "Commendatori," so someone over at TWoP commented that he was going home here, home to Naples. That's an interesting idea--going home. Some theories of narrative argue that there really is only one story--the Odyssey. And that all stories can boil down to the protagonist trying to return home. It is curious that Chase chose to step into his creation on the plane, rather than the myriad other, Hitchcock-like ways he could show up.

"wasn't unwatchable"I disagree, but only because I...

2006-04-25T23:25:00.000-04:00

"wasn't unwatchable"

I disagree, but only because I found the episode beyond "Curb Your Enthusiasm" uncomfortable to watch and spent most of it looking at the TV between my fingers. I didn't dislike the episode, I just spent most of it cringing.

I liked the episode. I acknowledge that it was slow and out of place, and I've felt like the hints they've been dropping all season about Vesuvio's decline were heavy-handed at best -- how many damn mentions of the fact that Artie never changes the menu do we need? Pull the trigger, please -- but I had a good time watching it even though the concensus on the couch was that, when S6 comes out on DVD, we'll probably skip this one.

richard cobeen: yeah, I wasn't unhappy to see Bacall take one to the face. She terrorized a friend of mine in Knopf PR years ago when her memoir came out; not a gracious person.

Ed: Yeah, at least we agree about the dreading-nex...

2006-04-25T21:12:08.156-04:00

Ed: Yeah, at least we agree about the dreading-next-week part. I fear we're in for a SOPRANOS version of that episode of SIX FEET UNDER where David spent three-quarters of an episode being abducted and terrorized by a deranged drifter just so the show could have a "powerhouse" hour.

Wow, Matt. We really aren’t on the same page with ...

2006-04-25T19:29:00.000-04:00

Wow, Matt. We really aren’t on the same page with The Sopranos. The first show of the season you didn’t seem to like is the only one I could tolerate. The correlation between the thug and celebrity lifestyle may be facile but at least it was a cogent point-of-view—taking on Christopher’s notions of entitlement. This actor who plays Artie is pitiful—did anyone see how he pounds the pillow before hitting the sack? (LOL!)—and the whole rabbit-shooting/back-to-my-roots scenes were embarrassing (I guess we agree there) but I appreciated the scene where Tony advises Artie in the kitchen. I tend to think Tony feels richer in episodes where he is more of a peripheral character. In these episodes, his conflictions—usually a crisis between his human and thug self—feel really thought-out to me. I’ve always bought his democracy, and I think I needed this episode to wash down the stank of that episode a few weeks back where he beat the shit out of his driver. This may be the last episode of the series I watch if what I think is going to happen next week actually does…

He also directed "Harold and Kumar Go to White Cas...

2006-04-25T18:40:00.000-04:00

He also directed "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle," which is a Jersey movie, so I guess they figured he was qualified!

Also -- I know we have already discussed in here t...

2006-04-25T16:26:00.000-04:00

Also -- I know we have already discussed in here the journeymen directors the show uses, but why was I not surprised that the episdoe featuring Lauren Bacall getting punched was the one directed by the same guy who directed "Dude, Where's My Car?"

MSZ, I agree with you about the lingering shots on...

2006-04-25T15:52:00.000-04:00

MSZ, I agree with you about the lingering shots on the products, but at least in this episode, these are POV shots for Christopher, no? And if not actually POV shots, I feel like we are supposed to see them as he is seeing them. Which in this case, for me, justifies them. Esepcially since Chris has always had a desire to try his luck in Hollywood, the Luxury Lounge and what he sees there, is a harsh reminder of what he will never have...even the stuff he gets as part of "mob swag" still has the price of work. To Christopher, he sees the luxury lounge stuff as free...(it doesn't occur to him the years of work that actors / writers put in.) Regardless, I thought this might be a set-up for Chris's eventually turning rat...the Feds dangle Hollywood in front of him, and he is too greedy not to take it.

I guess that's the long way 'round of saying the shots didn't bother me; I thought they were motivated by character.

Good point about british actors now that you menti...

2006-04-25T15:30:00.000-04:00

Good point about british actors now that you mention it. I was idly flipping through HBO the other night and damn if Dame Judy Dench wasn't lending her talents to a truly dreadful Vin Diesel vehicle, pardon the redundancy. Well you can't fault their work ethic, anyway.

Well, as a general rule, all British actors are wh...

2006-04-25T14:02:00.000-04:00

Well, as a general rule, all British actors are whores. Remember back in the 1980s when Michael Caine would appear in your wedding videos if you slipped him $100?

And as my partner Dave White observed: "Since when...

2006-04-25T13:05:58.320-04:00

And as my partner Dave White observed: "Since when is Kingsley picky about scripts? He was in Bloodrayne!"

M.A. Peel: I haven't seen any interviews with Chas...

2006-04-25T12:40:33.776-04:00

M.A. Peel: I haven't seen any interviews with Chase where he goes in-depth on the identity issues you mention (Italian-American Catholic raised Baptist, etc). But I did come across a fascinating article that addresses these issues -- an interview with Chris Seay, author of "The Gospel According to Tony Soprano,". Seay's a smart, observant man who also happens to be the pastor of the Ecclesia Church in Houston, TX. He makes good points about the show's guilt/sin/redemption motifs, defends it against charges of immorality, and argues that most religious art, unlike THE SOPRANOS, is fantasy that has nothing to do with how people actually live.

Karl writes, "I kind of see the episodes leading u...

2006-04-25T12:21:43.093-04:00

Karl writes, "I kind of see the episodes leading up to a falling apart or a radical reorganization of Tony and his cohorts." Chase and Imperioli said in a press conference early this year that the sixth season was unitd by a sense of dissatisfaction and anxiety about the future, a feeling that things were getting worse, not better. Barring surprises, that seems to validate your suspicion.

Personally I think that once one of these guys gets pinched, the whole organization will collapse, and everybody will start fleeing or selling out his crewmates (or both). Rats from a sinking ship. Look at the first three episodes -- Tony had barely gotten his tubes hooked up, and already the goons were lining up to claim his throne, and jack his wife out her traditional matronly skim when she needed it most.

jre writes, "I took a more charitable view to the ...

2006-04-25T12:16:15.066-04:00

jre writes, "I took a more charitable view to the product placement in the Luxury Lounge. Re-watching the entire series, it's critique of consumerism seems to be the most reoccurring theme, the idea that the quest for more stuff turns you into a monster." True, but here, as elsewhere, it's not so much the idea as the execution that annoys me. When they insert those little one or two-sentence summaries of how great the product is, often accompanied by a kiss-ass closeup, the satire vanishes and you're just flat-out watching an ad. The same point could be made without the ad copy posing as dialogue and the Home Shopping Network closeup of the merchandise. There's no law that says it has to be done this way; the show made the same point back in Season One with the characters arguing the merits of various gangster films and laserdisc vs. VHS, and later, DVD.

I honestly don't know if the substitution of generic products would be a less compromised way to satirize consumer culture -- though I thought it worked pretty well in Quentin Tarantino's movies, with Red Apple cigarettes and Big Kahuna burgers -- but THE SOPRANOS is set in some version of this modern world, rather than in Movie Geek Land, so some fidelity to observable reality makes dramatic sense. It's all in the execution. Right now, when the show mocks materialism while trotting out loving closeups of swag complete with ad copy, it reminds me of an old chain-smoker warning kids, "These things'll kill you."

Matt, Very interesting review, and observations, b...

2006-04-25T11:24:00.000-04:00

Matt, Very interesting review, and observations, but I can't agree that the episode wasn't up to par. I liked the scenes with Artie, and I think we got some depth out of his character. I kind of see the episodes leading up to a falling apart or a radical reorganization of Tony and his co-horts. It seems as though everyone is doing there own thing, and slowly the center has to give. Chase may be bidding his time, but I think in this episode he shows us how the family is slowly falling apart. Loyalties which were always suspect begin to be questionable, and as Tony tells Christopher that "he's loosing focus". I'm still enthralled at the series, and wonder where Chase will take us. It's like looking at a car wreck. It's horriable, but I can't avert my eyes just yet. All I can say is Chase has me hooked.

Come on, now -- Christopher punched Lauen Bacall! ...

2006-04-25T11:17:00.000-04:00

Come on, now -- Christopher punched Lauen Bacall! That moment alone was worth the price of admission.

I took a more charitable view to the product place...

2006-04-25T10:17:00.000-04:00

I took a more charitable view to the product placement in the Luxury Lounge. Re-watching the entire series, it's critique of consumerism seems to be the most reoccurring theme, the idea that the quest for more stuff turns you into a monster. In that context, I didn't see the swag in the Luxury Lounge as "product placement" at all. It's just more fuel for the characters' sociopathy, and to me it came off as an obscenity. It also emphasized the difference between the "haves and have nots" back home--witness the dismissive way Tony (the "have") tosses back the crap when Chris comes to give him his taste.

Regarding Artie, I've always thought of him as not only a sometimes foil for Tony, but also as something of an audience surrogate -- always close enough so that he can get a sense of the large living of the mobsters, but still far enough away that he can never get a piece of it himself. And just as sometimes the show becomes grotesquely violent so that we don't forget just who we're dealing with (e.g., "University"), I guess Artie sometimes needs to have his hand shoved in boiling sauce to remind him too.

Why do I suspect that Kingsley made getting an app...

2006-04-25T02:20:00.000-04:00

Why do I suspect that Kingsley made getting an appearance on The Sopranos part of his price for acting in Mrs. Harris, and Chase took one for the HBO team? I'm sure the business doesn't really work that way but "Luxury Lounge" has made me cynical.

This episode had two fatal problems. The first is that Ben Kingsley doesn't belong in a show about Jersey thugs. He's an incredible actor but spot-welding a role for him here is a huge disservice to both the show and himself. The same goes double for Lauren Bacall.

Problem 2 is the idea that some goodfella would target a restaurant Tony Soprano eats at regularly for a credit card scam. Especially when the goodfella in question both drinks at the place and works for Tony. You don't shit where you eat, indeed.

So all the other crap the show strung between those two collossal pillars of implausibility just made things worse. Artie used to be a reasonably nice guy if something of a schmendrick, now all of a sudden he's a monster? Christopher drives a Maserati but goes gaga over some tchochkes and knocks an old lady down to get himself some? Look, I realise it's a rare plot which doesn't, on inspection, prove to have holes you could drive a truck through but how stupid do Chase and co. really think we are? That's a rhetorical question but what kills me is that while Christopher is doing a clueless-in-Hollywood number in a poolside cabana there is a true abundance of great characters and great stories waiting back in Jersey.

The scene I liked in this episode was Artie's thra...

2006-04-25T01:44:00.000-04:00

The scene I liked in this episode was Artie's thrashing of Bennie. It came totally out of the blue to me. I figured Artie was going to get himself killed. Then, bam, Artie won the fight. I never figured Artie to win a fight like that in his life. Granted, Bennie is no Tony Soprano, but he is a street tough guy, and Artie beat him up. I thought Artie was going to turn a corner then. This was not to be in a David Chase world, though.

An interesting article at South Dakota Dark says t...

2006-04-25T01:36:58.420-04:00

An interesting article at South Dakota Dark says that Season Six's purgatorial vibe may have only now begun to flower, but the seeds were planted in Season 5. Evidence included. A very convincing case.

UPDATE: Just rewatched the Kingsley scene, referen...

2006-04-25T00:22:40.180-04:00

UPDATE: Just rewatched the Kingsley scene, referenced above. Commenter Sean T. Collins is right -- he's obviously lying.

EC: I can't even remember the last time I thought ...

2006-04-24T23:56:21.096-04:00

EC: I can't even remember the last time I thought of Herbert Viola and Miss DiPesto. so thanks. Even though, as you say, they were no substitute for Maddie and David.

Hardly any reassurance in Christopher's insight th...

2006-04-24T23:36:00.000-04:00

Hardly any reassurance in Christopher's insight that these guys aren't potential terrorists - "he's got a dog" - as anyone who knows will tell you, a Saluki is very OK! you don't need a gun for that rabbit dinner, to guard your tent or sleep with your women and kids.