I just finished last week's episode on the old DVR and, um, what? Show's been on the air for seasons after seasons after seasons and now with just a couple of episodes left before the end they suddenly introduce a major new Tony Soprano character trait? Like, was Tony a problem gambler two weeks ago? Last year? This is some sloppy, sloppy stuff; especially considering how long a hiatus they took to plot out these final episodes.
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Week-Late Sopranos Blogging
06 May 2007 07:01 pm
Comments (22)
Yeah, I thought that was ridiculous. I haven't been blown away by any of the new episodes so far.
I didn't have a problem with it at all.
I like MP's explanation above, but I would add that Tony's gambling was brought on because he's been trying to reform himself in other areas of his life: not having affairs (except for the one-off in FL), not killing people. His gambling is displaced rage. It's a side-effect of the "new tony."
It's also another way in which the walls are closing in on him as we approach the last episodes.
I know I'm going to get guff for this, but I sincerely think that these past few episodes have been some of the best yet. Tony and Paulie on the boat in FL was an amazing scene. The cinematography and art direction have been top-notch.
I will say, however, that having Hesh's girl die suddenly at the end was pretty weak.
I agree with you, Frank: This season's scripts brilliantly show the noose tightening: Tony and Walnuts taking it on the lam--in a beat-up minivan. Seeing Beansy in a wheelchair makes mortality palpable. Chris hates Tony--lotsa possibilities there. Carm wondering why, at their age, things are so unsettled, gives Tony pause for regret. Vito, Jr. going off the rails shows that it's the kids that most often suffer. Dr Melfi laying down the law, that Tony has to honor appointments, introduces Tony to the realization that his accomplishments in life are illusory, because they're not legitimate; that he's attained the sort of wealth and power that most people look down on, that people fear, but don't respect. Men who claim to live by a "code of honor" are coming to grips with the fact that there's no honor in what they do. A little Agamemnon here, a little Lear there. I guess I'm a sucker for the pathos thing...
I have a good idea where things are going, but this episode cycle still has me guessing. There's a feeling of dread that was absent in seasons past. Gotta hand it to the folks who make the show: It takes a lot to make viewers sympathetic for a character like Tony. And the sympathy is built of small indignities, rather than great tragedy.
Misplaced Patriot's mention of the Robert Patrick story arc reminds me how far The Sopranos has fallen. That story arc combined writing and acting at far higher levels than this season's work.
At least I can look forward to the next season of Brotherhood -- it's like The Sopranos with coherent plots.
Jimmm -- agreed. Tony's slow realization that Chris is a drug-addled schmuck, and that he has no real heir, will probably be the last straw: there are no "Gary Coopers" left in the world, to use Tony's phrase.
A buddy of mine is convinced that it's going to end with Tony and the crew partnering with the FBI to take out Al Qaeda in New Jersey (a la the CIA-Mafia joint mission against Castro). I admit that it's not at all David Chase's style, but when you see this image serving as the poster for the final season...
http://www.hbo.com/series/img/features/sopranos_s6bposter_506.jpg
I get the feeling, based on tonight's episode as well as what we've seen earlier, that Chase isn't quite sure what he wants to do with these last few shows, and is feinting in different directions to keep everyone guessing. Is Tony's new gambling problem part of the set-up for some denouement? If so, it's kind of clumsy. Last week Hesh was worried that Tony was going to kill him. Then Hesh’s girlfriend dies (of a stroke, according to the HBO website - did anyone hear this in the show itself?) This week Chris and Paulie are out to throttle each other and Chris makes a big speech about how he could bring it all down around everyone’s ears by talking to the FBI. Then, nothing happens. This all seems to be more playing with us to no particular end.
Having grown up in a household where the male in charge was a degenerate gambler who desperately tried to hide his problem, I don't have a problem with this. Above all, Tony tries to present to everyone (above all, the audience) the father persona - now, like my own, he is failing miserably. Remember - Tony's own father cut the finger off the original Satriale in front of Tony and then tried to have a father-son moment with Tony - "Son, don't be a degenerate gambler. See what happens to those people?" Well, Tony has been hiding this from everybody - including us.
The gambling problem was clumsily introduced, even if it is thematically resonant.
Calupygian, you're correct to see the connections to the flashback, but I don't think Chase meant to imply Tony had been hiding the gambling, but rather that his choice to express his addictive personality through gambling is sign that he is not living up to his father's expectations. Keep in mind, Tony uses the phrase "degenerate gambler" a lot, especially for the John Heard crooked cop character and the sports store saleman. In his eyes, gamblers are pathetic, weak men who deserve to be ruined.
I thought tonight's episode was absolutely brilliant. Major themes of fathers, sons, mentors, genetics, inheritance, all coming together in recurrent cycles of repression, addiction, and rage.
The psychological complexity of this show is what makes it so superior to "The Wire," where everyone is essentially a rational actor or just a cog in a machine.
The gambling problem was clumsily introduced, even if it is thematically resonant.
Calupygian, you're correct to see the connections to the flashback, but I don't think Chase meant to imply Tony had been hiding the gambling, but rather that his choice to express his addictive personality through gambling is sign that he is not living up to his father's expectations. Keep in mind, Tony uses the phrase "degenerate gambler" a lot, especially for the John Heard crooked cop character and the sports store saleman. In his eyes, gamblers are pathetic, weak men who deserve to be ruined.
I thought tonight's episode was absolutely brilliant. Major themes of fathers, sons, mentors, genetics, inheritance, all coming together in recurrent cycles of repression, addiction, and rage.
The psychological complexity of this show is what makes it so superior to "The Wire," where everyone is essentially a rational actor or just a cog in a machine.
Urgh. I can't understand why everyone's worked up about this: Tony's gambled on the show before. He's not an addict, he's not a degenerate gambler, he's simply on a losing streak. The difference is that he's feeling it more because of the smaller envelopes that are being kicked upstairs.
I think recent episodes have been as strong as ever--tonight's particularly.
"This is some sloppy, sloppy stuff; especially considering how long a hiatus they took to plot out these final episodes."
As always, if you're following The Sopranos for plot, you're badly missing the point. It's really not what the show is about.
And weren't you just defending sloppy plotting?
Last night's episode was very tasty.
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Season 6B is really, really bleak stuff. This is Godfather 2 territory we're in. I expect things are really not going to end well.
The interesting question is whether they'll end with a bang or a whimper. Considering Chase's perversity, I'd go with whimper - It'll piss off all the non-fans like Matthew.
"The psychological complexity of this show is what makes it so superior to "The Wire," where everyone is essentially a rational actor or just a cog in a machine."
I realize that Sopranos fans thought their record as "critic's greatest show ever" was going to last as long as Dimaggio's, and instead lasted about as long as McGuire's. Hey, it is what it is.
Interesting. I don't have HBO. I've been watching old Sopranos reruns on A&E (Shut up you frickin' bloodsucker).
Very early in the show, Tony betrayed that he had some trouble with gambling. I don't think it is the classic "gambling addict" problem, though. It is more of an irrational fear tied to seeing his father hack off the butcher's finger over a gambling debt. In the same set of shows, he's anxious about his newly made protege taking on too much action with his sports book.
I agree with those who are saying this episode was unexpected and sloppy. Tony gambled in the past but it was always clear that he was in control and that it wasn't a habit. Tony had a very rational attitude about gambling, as is clear in the episodes where he's dealing with his sports store owner friend. He would rather be on the collection side than on the gambling side and when he did gamble it was merely recreational.
I didn't throw in the towel after the episode though because I thought the theme was consistent with the rest of the season (i.e. Tony is slowly losing control of his empire) and because the rest of the episodes are so well-done. In fact, last night's episode was one of the best I've seen in a long time. The fight between Chris and Paulie was a riot.
I have a prediction about the terrorist thing. I doubt that it will seriously lead to the uncovering of any real terrorist plots - that would be way to cheesy. My bet is that Tony is inadvertently exposing Chris to the FBI, given that Chris is the one with business ties to the Muslims.
Drinkof,
I'm curious if you buy the "The Wire" hype. My feelings are that while it is very entertaining and well-imagined, it is nowhere near as profound as it thinks it is.
Most of the penetrating insights that "The Wire" offers into American society could also be found in an above-average undergraduate senior thesis submitted to the Sociology Department at Brown University.
I've got a simple rule for any TV show or movie. If you have to make excuses for it or offer up your own explanations why something is happening...it's not really that good.
The Sopranos is like Sex and the City, a good show that just hit the right buttons at the right time with America's cultural elite. The Wire, meanwhile, seems like it was about 10 years too late culturally speaking to really catch fire.
Mike
Brayden,
I'm with you. I think the Feds nail Chris on the credit card stuff he did with the Muslims, that is what leads to him flipping, which is how I see it ending Chris in Witness Protection and Tony in jail.
"The Sopranos is like Sex and the City, a good show that just hit the right buttons at the right time with America's cultural elite."
Yup. And I actually appreciate that the "who's gonna get whacked next" crowd has moved on to other sensations.
The Sopranos is a really fantastic show, and they didn't deserve it.
There was a gambling precursor in episode 42. Christopher about columbus day in the Indian Casino.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned this yet, but my girlfriend (whose Lasik-enhanced vision is better than mine) noticed the book Carmela was reading in bed in Sunday night's episode: Rebel in Chief, Fred Barnes's biography of George W. Bush. When she got home from work today she asked me if Barnes mentioned this product placement on the panel segment of Special Report w/ Brit Hume, but I was flipping back & forth between Mad Money and Special Report and didn't notice if Barnes was on the panel tonight.
"I'm curious if you buy the "The Wire" hype. My feelings are that while it is very entertaining and well-imagined, it is nowhere near as profound as it thinks it is.
Most of the penetrating insights that "The Wire" offers into American society could also be found in an above-average undergraduate senior thesis submitted to the Sociology Department at Brown University."
And yet, no other show seems to be able to come close. BTW, I'll gladly read that thesis if you can point me to it! Especially with respect to organizational behavior, particularly re: politics, in my experience academic analysis utterly misses the points that The Wire nails.
Yes, rather obviously I buy the critical praise.
Curious, which seasons have you seen? It's my bet that you haven't seen them all, am I right?
Comments closed May 20, 2007.
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Heads in the Sand
Yeah, I felt the same way.
The impression I think we are supposed to get is that the loss if Vito, his biggest earner, has put him in a financial crunch, which led to him starting betting.
Not that this makes it any less sloppy. It really does come out of the blue. (And I felt they already dealt with the compulsive gambling topic quite well with Robert Patrick's arc a long time ago.)
Posted by Misplaced Patriot | May 6, 2007 7:34 PM