Cold Stones (6.11)

Carmela sees a shining beacon in Paris, while
Vito’s lights are permanently shut off in New Jersey.

Episode 76 – Originally aired May 21, 2006
Written by Diane Frolov, Andrew Schneider and David Chase
Directed by Tim Van Patten

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“Cold Stones” is my favorite episode of Season 6A. It is a dense hour, packed with action, allusions, puns, drama, humor, cultural commentary and multiple connections to earlier episodes, all coming together in layer upon layer of lip-smacking, finger-licking goodness. (I might be comparing it to a layer-cake here because the episode title makes me think of Cold Stone Creamery. Plus I’m a little hungry.) Over the course of the hour, Chase cuts back and forth between Carmela’s trip abroad and Vito’s return home. Several commentators have noted the clever cuts that Chase uses to switch between the Paris and New Jersey locales (Alan Sepinwall described the episode as “a tale of two cities, told in edits”), but few commentators have given proper focus to what I think is an important thematic parallel between Carmela and Vito’s stories: both storylines are concerned with the issue of identity.

In the opening scene of the hour, Carmela and Tony are very angry at their son; AJ’s latest screw-up has been to get fired from Blockbuster and then omit to tell his parents about it for three weeks. AJ behaves like a complete twerp here, full of excuses for every criticism that his parents make. I find the shot that closes this scene very interesting. AJ shoots a bird at his parents as they walk away, and Chase frames him between the two half-wall columns. We’ve seen Chase use blocking before to show how characters feel trapped and frustrated, and the half-walls here serve that function to some degree. But the spaces left open by the columns and half-walls also seem to signify that AJ is not truly trapped, he has many options and opportunities available to him if he were only smart enough to recognize them. His extended finger expresses his frustration, but in truth, Tony and Carmela have been quite flexible and tolerant of him.

(Season 6A will end with a shot of this room from this same angle, but the moving camera at that time will turn the half-walls and columns into much stronger symbols of entrapment—but I’ll get into that in the next write-up.) Later that night, Carmela is distressed over AJ’s attitude, she can’t sleep. She bolts upright in bed, awakening Tony:

Carmela: It’s not only that he is a complete stranger to the truth, he’s got this dead streak in him…Deep down, it’s like this big “Fuck you” to everything.
Tony: I don’t know what that’s about.
Carmela: Remember that whole “God is dead” business on the day of his confirmation?

Of course, Tony does know what it’s all about—and so do we. Several of the Soprano family members—Tony, Janice, AJ—have inherited Livia’s nihilism, her “Fuck you” attitude towards the whole universe. Livia instructed AJ in “D-Girl” that “It’s all a big nothing,” and he seems to have taken his grandmother’s lesson to heart. (“D-Girl” is the thematic forerunner of this episode, and Chase helps us to recognize this—the “‘God is dead’ business” that Carm now mentions occurred in “D-Girl.”) As the parents discuss their problematic son, daughter Meadow comes in to tell them that she may go to California to be with Finn and therefore might not be home for Christmas. (She is indeed absent from the Christmas party in the next episode. Meadow is learning more and more how to put distance between herself and her family.) As Meadow discusses her plans and options, we understand that there is a great difference between her and her brother—Meadow potentially has a very bright future in front of her, unlike her bro. AJ has inherited his father’s nihilistic inclinations, while Meadow has inherited her mother’s resilience to such undermining beliefs. Carmela will have a brush with nihilism—with the utter meaningless of everything—in Paris later in the hour, but she will come away from it with both her sense-of-self and sense-of-purpose intact.

Carmela has won a trip to Paris and suggests to Tony that she take it with Rosalie Aprile, to make up for the earlier Rome trip that they had to cancel. (It was in episode 2.12 “The Knight in White Satin Armor,” in the aftermath of Irina’s call to the house after a suicide attempt, that Carmela leveraged Tony’s philandering into a trip to Rome for herself. But apparently that vacation never took place because AJ walked through a plate-glass door.) Carm is so happy and grateful when Tony agrees to the idea that she practically gives him permission to cheat on her while she is away, telling him he “could do whatever it is boys do when they’re on their own.”

As we would expect him to do, David Chase uses the early part of the trip to demonstrate that “the fuckin’ regularness of life” which is such a fundamental part of daily existence in New Jersey cannot be escaped even in a world-class city like Paris. Carmela is frustrated and enervated by Rosalie’s constipation and by the blaring rap music in the taxi and by her difficulties with the language. But then a funny thing happens. Moved by the art, history, beauty and culture of the radiant city, Carmela begins to have a transcendent experience. She is particularly impressed by the longevity of the cold-stone monuments, sculptures and buildings that surround her.

Season 6 has been heavy with philosophical, metaphysical explorations of identity—we haven’t forgotten Tony’s trip to Costa Mesa in the earlier part of this season. Now, Chase is giving Carmela a chance to explore who she is as a person. Some viewers and critics saw this episode’s script/location simply as a way for the cast and crew to go to the famed City of Light at HBO’s expense. But I’m not so cynical. I think Paris is the most fitting place in the world that Chase could have chosen to investigate certain notions of identity.

Paris is the locus of modern Existentialist thought. Although Existentialist ideas began to appear throughout Europe a century earlier, it was in Paris in the years immediately after WWII that the philosophy really took shape and reached a broader audience. If David Chase had been of age in the 1950s, I don’t think it would have been surprising at all to find him discussing the meaning of life in a Left Bank café with Camus, Sartre, Ionesco and other postwar thinkers and artists…

Our lives seem so insignificant in the broad scheme of things—we find ourselves somehow thrown into an unimaginably vast universe. Astrophysicists estimate that there may be well over a trillion stars for each human being alive today, and the number of planets may be substantially greater. We seem so relatively puny, without any inherent significance. Nevertheless, Existentialists assert that it is possible to find significance and meaning in life—but we are each individually charged with this task. I am responsible for discovering what is significant and meaningful to me. Only then can I live an authentic life. Each of us alone carries this responsibility. I may turn to God or priest or society for assistance, but neither God nor priest nor society can magically confer a sense of authenticity upon me. Carmela’s questions about life and authenticity have been a long (though often subtle) part of her story: “Our existence on earth is a puzzle,” she philosophically mused all the way back in the Pilot episode. Her questions about existence now come to the forefront of the narrative.

It is upon a bridge in Paris—the Pont Alexandre—that Carmela begins to recognize the relative insignificance of her life. For me, the bridge-setting recalls Albert Camus’ novel, The Fall, because its protagonist Jean-Baptiste Clamence began to recognize the pettiness of his own life also while walking across a Parisian bridge. Let me give a quick recap of the novel here. Clamence is a dashing, well-respected and successful lawyer, but his life begins to unravel when he hears some laughter as he walks across the Pont Des Arts. He becomes convinced that the laughter was directed at him because people recognized him to be a sham and a phony, they recognized that the image he projects of himself as a proud, noble and courageous man is actually a charade. Clamence has been carrying an embarrassing secret: years earlier, while strolling along the nearby Pont Royal, he passed a suicidal woman leaning over the railing. Moments later, he heard a splash, and then heard her screams as the current carried her downstream. In a moment of cowardice, he didn’t jump into the water and try to rescue the drowning woman; in fact, he didn’t even turn his head, but continued to walk as though nothing happened. He successfully represses the memory of this event for years, but it finally resurfaces and destroys the carefully wrought image of himself that he presents to the world. The bridge on which Carmela now begins her “inner” journey is just downstream from the two bridges upon which Clamence experienced those two life-shaking, life-changing events in The Fall:

I’m not suggesting that Chase is making a deliberate reference to The Fall here by placing Carmela on the Pont Alexandre. I’m only saying that we can find precedence within Existentialist literature for a protagonist to have an epiphany of the sort that Carmela has while in this particular setting. David Chase is clearly interested in investigating the same type of questions and issues that Existentialist literature explored, and told The Hollywood Reporter as much in 2008: “By and large, I still find TV to be a franchise-ridden bog. I still see a lot of policemen and lawyers and judges and sheriffs. There still seems to be a very intense interest in institutions and not as much interest in the existential situation of being alive.”

While there may not be a conscientious allusion to The Fall here, I do think there is something very deliberate in Rosalie’s reference to the 1963 film Charade. As Ro and Carm walk along the Pont Alexandre, a riverboat passes beneath them, reminding Rosalie of that film’s scenes along the River Seine:

The deeper, nested significance of the allusion to the film may be that Carmela is beginning to recognize—as did Clamence in The Fall—that her life is, in a sense, a “charade.” (In the film, several characters are not who they claim to be; their false identities are part of a charade.) Carmela’s marriage and lifestyle are something of a charade, they are part of a deal with the devil that has cost her her integrity and her core values. Carm’s earlier instruction to T to “do whatever it is that boys do when they’re on their own” underlines the payment she has had to make in this Faustian deal. In a Parisian cathedral now, she stands before a sculpture of a Madonna and Child, possibly thinking of Tony. We may remember that in “Amour Fou” (3.12), Carm similarly stood before a painting of a Madonna and Child—The Mystical Marriage of St. Catherine—and wept over her husband’s infidelity while complaining that she too has married a child:

Tony’s childish immaturity is now underscored by the edit that Chase makes; Chase cuts from Carm gazing at the Madonna and Child to a shot of Tony:

No, that’s not Tony having a panic attack behind the wheel of his car; that’s Tony getting a hummer from a Bada Bing girl behind the wheel of his car. Tony’s infidelities undermine Carmela’s self-identification not only as a wife but also as a woman who deserves at least a modicum of respect. While standing in the cold stone ruins of an ancient Roman bath, Carmela questions her identity, using the same words that her husband had used earlier in the season: “Who am I? Where am I going?”

Carmela has placed much importance on the events of her life—as we all do—but is now realizing that it is all made insignificant by the grand sweep of time. “In the end it all just gets washed away,” she cries to Rosalie. Carmela is feeling what author Milan Kundera described as “the unbearable lightness of being.” This thing that we call Life is so weightless, so ephemeral. The bodies that we each inhabit hold together for a number of years, then disintegrate into dust for all eternity. We desperately want our lives to have substance, gravity, mass, weight—like a “cold stone” would have. But in the end, everything that we are and everything that we have ever experienced—the good, the bad, the beautiful, the foul, the painful and the profound—it all just gets washed away.

There is an interesting moment in this hour that drives the point home. Just before leaving for Paris, Carmela asks Tony if he remembers her saying how much she loved him while he was recently in the hospital. Tony flatly responds “No.” It was an intensely emotional and significant moment that Carmela experienced standing there at Tony’s bedside, but the moment didn’t even register for Tony. It doesn’t necessarily take centuries or millennia for the profoundly significant events in our lives to be washed away or forgotten, it might only take days or weeks.

I love how Rosalie Aprile is presented in this episode, there is such a sweetness to her. When Carm starts crying, Ro embraces her and starts humming “La vie en rose” (which makes them both chuckle). Ro sweetly believes that her son is up in heaven alongside his grandmother and his dad and Jesus. She gives a delightfully perfect response to Carm’s criticism that her Parisian motorcycle-riding stud-muffin is only 28 years old: “Duh!” And there is something lovable in her naïve surprise that Paris also has an area named Belleville. (I am pretty sure that the Parisian neighborhood came into existence before the New Jersey one did.)

Livia Soprano’s nihilistic attitude was exacerbated by (and perhaps even a result of) her lack of deep connection to anyone or anything. But Carmela is bolstered by her many meaningful connections, particularly her close friendship with Rosalie, as she gets into a staring contest with the abyss now. Chase closes out the Paris trip by pulling out an element familiar to us from earlier in the season: the beacon. Carmela looks up at the light emanating from the top of the Eiffel Tower with a look of peace upon her face. During her trip, Carmela unexpectedly came face-to-face with a great darkness, but she has emerged from the confrontation unbroken.

When she returns home to north Jersey, Carmela slips back into the fuckin’ regularness of her life. It may seem a little pathetic and sad for her to be doing laundry and boring household chores after having such a transcendent and vital experience in Paris. But there is nothing pathetic or sad about it—when she asks AJ, with a laundry basket in her arms, if he has any darks to wash, we recognize that she is right where she most wants to be. After her crise d’ identité in Paris, Carmela has regained the identity that is most authentic and meaningful to her: a mother, wife and homemaker in Essex County, New Jersey.

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There is a small but important scene early in the hour (at a Costco) in which Tony and Phil negotiate No-show construction jobs for a new project. It is an important scene because it adds a bit of irony to Vito Spatafore’s story (which I’ll come back to later in the write-up).

After returning from New Hampshire, Vito makes his first contact with la famiglia by sneaking up on Tony at a mall. He makes a fairly persuasive argument of why and how he can resume working for the mob (although the suggestion that he can get a doctor’s note explaining his recent behavior is fairly ridiculous). Vito brings his brother Bryan along for backup. Bryan, all quiet and expressionless, looks kind of creepy the two times we see him in this hour. Perhaps poor Bryan suffered some brain damage when Mustang Sally grabbed a golf club and tee’d off on his skull in episode 3.05:

Vito has lunch with his family at Rockefeller Center. The golden sculpture of Prometheus behind Vito at the sunken plaza perhaps comments upon Vito’s return; Prometheus was punished by the gods for stealing fire and bringing it to Man, and Vito too is playing with fire now by returning to New Jersey:

Vito explains his absence to his kids by telling them that he is a CIA spy, working deep cover in Afghanistan. Chase really gets mileage now out of the earlier Charade allusion; the film is a spy-thriller whose story about multiple identities reflects Vito’s storyline in which he has had to manage multiple identities. (***Charade Spoiler Alert! Cary Grant’s character assumes several fake identities, but it is finally revealed that he actually is a member of the CIA.***) Just over the last few episodes, we have seen Vito take on various inauthentic identities: he has pretended to be a heterosexual man, a writer named “Vince,” and now a CIA operative. He just can’t stop living a charade. Back in his hotel room, Vito momentarily slips back into the fake-identity that he had in Dartford—he pretends to be “Vince” once more when he makes a phone call to Johnny Cakes. But Johnny Cakes wants nothing to do with him and hangs up.

Vito is all smiles and friendliness when he meets Terry Doria at a Stop & Shop grocery store, calling the goombah “Hopalong Cassadich.” (The endearment is obviously a play on the popular fictional cowboy Hopalong Cassidy. Interestingly, Big Pussy used the same endearment with Silvio in the episode in which he was killed, “Funhouse.”) Terry hits Vito up for a $20,000 loan, ostensibly for child support back-payments. Eager to ingratiate himself to his fellow Mafioso, Vito agrees to loan the money. At this point in the hour, there is some sense that perhaps Vito can make his return to north Jersey work: his wife wants him back; Tony is considering his plan to set up shop in Atlantic City; and now Terry is willing to meet Vito at the grocery store. But Vito shouldn’t get his hopes up. The market’s logo appears throughout the scene, seeming to underscore that it is still unsure whether the Mob will “green light” or “red light” Vito’s attempt to get his old life back:

Phil Leotardo is outraged to learn that Vito is back in Jersey and still alive. He spews his outrage at a meeting at Lou Costello Memorial Park (the same place he expressed his homophobic outrage in 6.08 “Johnny Cakes”), but Tony walks away now—he doesn’t want to hear any more of Phil’s shit.

We come to suspect over the course of the hour, however, that Phil may not be so furiously homophobic as he makes himself out to be. And he almost certainly is not as bigoted as his wife. Patty Leotardo feels completely humiliated having a homosexual in her family. She is almost too embarrassed to attend her Concerned Catholic Mothers meeting, especially since a minister from Denver, an “expert” on these matters, is scheduled to speak there. When she tells Phil that “Vito has to be made to face his problem squarely,” Phil understands that she is willing to sacrifice Vito’s life if that is what it takes to spare her the embarrassment of having a finook in the family.

Many viewers (particularly those with an atheistic bent) found The Sopranos to be very critical of religion, particularly in Season 6. Bible-thumping Patty Leotardo is something of an ugly character here (and something of a caricature in the way that Evangelical Pastor Bob was in “The Fleshy Part of the Thigh”). But I don’t think that Chase is criticizing religion per se: moments after Patty pressures her husband to do something about Vito, Chase cuts to a beautiful sculpture of Jesus at St. Eustache in Paris:

The quiet scene in the Parisian church conveys a sense of grace, awe, wonder, humility, comfort, fraternity, contemplation—y’ know, all the genuinely good stuff that religion can provide to believers. But Patty Leotardo represents an entirely different aspect of religion, one that is very familiar in America though rarely found in other Western democratic nations: the unholy alliance between politics and Christianity. Chase, I think, is criticizing not Christianity but our politicization of religion. I’ve argued that Season 6 is all about Chase’s effort to place The Sopranos in its times. When this episode originally aired in May 2006, we had a self-described Born-Again Christian in the White House and Republican majorities in both Houses of Congress, and all three of these governmental Houses supported anti-gay legislation. There was a real sense that our country was lurching to the right. The Religious Right had been on the rise for over two decades, and now it seemed that their uber-conservative social agenda would finally come to fruition. Ted Haggard, leader of the National Association of Evangelicals, was a frequent advisor to President Bush. I can’t help but wonder if the “pastor from Denver” that Patty Leotardo now mentions is a reference to the Colorado-based, gay-bashing Haggard, who was not a household name when “Cold Stones” first aired but became quite famous after being outed by a male prostitute as a meth-smoking homosexual six months later.

In the mid-2000s, there was a spate of American leaders and politicians who had to resign from their jobs when their anti-gay rhetoric proved to be hypocritical. Perhaps most memorable of the bunch, along with Ted Haggard, were Congressman Mark Foley (whose hypocrisy I outlined in an earlier write-up) and Senator Larry Craig (R), who resigned after getting busted for “lewd conduct” in an airport bathroom. We understand, of course, that their hypocrisy was a matter of political expediency. A sizable percentage of our politicians at the time were in the pocket of a powerful anti-gay lobby. Organizations such as the Family Research Council and the American Family Association, which virulently spewed anti-LGBT propaganda and proclamations, had great clout with many conservative voters and politicians. I can’t help but wonder if the “Concerned Catholic Mothers” group that Patty Leotardo mentions is a reference to such barbarous organizations as the F.R.C. and the A.F.A.

The series has long made links between the values of la famiglia and the “family values” that so many Americans love to tout. Lorena Russell, in her essay “Defense-of-Family Acts: Queering Famiglia in The Sopranos,” recognizes that:

When Tony mourns for Gary Cooper (see 1.01 and 4.03) or the simpler life of the 1950s (see 1.11), part of what he is asserting is the value system of white, bourgeois, heterosexist family values. Yet the ironic distance the show maintains not only calls Tony Soprano into question, but his entire system of conservative family values as well.

The show thus becomes a microcosm of cultural tensions within the early twenty-first century United States, where conservative legislations like the “Defense of Marriage Act” seek to protect the idealized American family, and where homophobia and sexism parade as family values.

George De Stefano, in his essay “A ‘Finook’ in the Crew,” finds a connection between the disingenuous talk about “family values” and Vito’s disingenuous attempt to return to the mob as a heterosexual man:

With the Vito Spatafore storyline, The Sopranos once again made the organized crime genre perform metaphoric heavy lifting in service of a larger critique. The series broadened the focus to take in a new and disconcerting development in American life: the convergence between the moral agendas of right-wing, evangelical Protestants and conservative Roman Catholics…

The lives of evangelical Ted Haggard, Senator Larry Craig, and fictional gangster Vito Spatafore attest to a sad but apparently universal truth: the need to belong to a structure that provides meaning and purpose and even identity, as well as power and money, can be more powerful than the urge to live authentically.

While I don’t doubt that Chase is taking a shot at the hypocrisy of so-called “family values,” I think Chase primarily directs his criticism at Vito who makes the morally questionable decision to come back to Jersey. Like Christopher, who was given a choice in “D-Girl” to leave the mob, or Tony Blundetto, who returned to the mafia despite having the intelligence and training to make a living elsewhere, Vito allows the lure of power, money and excitement to pull him back into la famiglia.

As I mentioned earlier in the write-up, there is some irony in Vito’s story here. It was because Vito couldn’t hack being a regular guy and making a regular living with a construction/handyman job in Dartford that he decided to return to New Jersey. He essentially became a “no-show” at his construction job in Dartford, and ironically, it is because of a difficult negotiation with Phil Leotardo over no-show construction jobs that Tony finally decides Vito must be whacked. The fruitless meeting with Phil Leotardo at the Costco earlier proved to Tony that he can’t afford to have his business relationship with Phil get further complicated by Vito’s presence. Tony will not give Vito a pass.

In Vito’s last conversation with Tony, we can hear Skynard’s “Simple Man” playing over Tony’s radio. It’s too bad for Vito that he never understood the wisdom in the song’s lyrics:

Forget your lust for the rich man’s gold
All that you need is in your soul
…
Don’t you worry, you’ll find yourself
Follow your heart and nothing else

This scene contains a shot that visually rhymes with a scene from episode 5.11 “The Test Dream”—Vito now and Angelo Garepe earlier are both captured with a hood-mounted camera just moments before they are each killed by Phil Leotardo. I don’t think this is a very significant parallel, I just think it’s one of those little subconscious connections that Chase often throws into his show:

When Vito steps into his motel room, Fat Dom Gamiello and Gerry Torciano are there to greet him while Phil Leotardo emerges from the closet. Vito is beat to death with a pair of cue sticks (one of which is rammed up his behind in a not-so-subtle message). Although Phil’s face remains expressionless as he watches the blows rain down on his cousin-in-law, he grasps the mattress in what almost seems like a flinch—and it made me wonder if Phil really believes all the hateful stuff he spews against gays.

We also wonder if Phil is gay himself. He literally comes out of the closet in Vito’s motel room, perhaps a sort of visual pun that suggests his own latent homosexuality. He demands the bodybuilding contest on the TV to be turned off, perhaps trying to turn off his own excitement at the sight of buff male bodies. And he has trouble sleeping after he whacks Vito. Ultimately, however, there isn’t enough information to clearly indicate that Phil is gay, and it really doesn’t matter anyway. Even if Phil has an attraction to men, I don’t think he would ever act on it because he is a mobster thru-and-thru. I can’t imagine him engaging in any activity that could destroy his standing within the mafia. I think he identifies himself as a mobster so strongly that he would repress any desire to act as a gay man.

(Some viewers took it further and believed that not only is Phil gay, but that he was carrying on a relationship with Vito. I just don’t see it. If there was some romance between the two men, I don’t think David Chase would have sat on the story or been so subtle with it. I’m not saying that Chase would have turned it into a Montagues vs. Capulets sort of drama, but two star-crossed gay mobsters from opposite sides of the river would have been a storyline too rife with potential not to develop further.)

Phil kills Vito, a made-man, without any authorization. There may be multiple reasons why he committed this murder. He may be posturing, demonstrating his power (as well as the NY famiglia’s power) after Johnny Sac’s imprisonment. Phil may also be carrying out a long-waited retaliation for a similar situation that Tony Soprano had put him in two years ago: Tony had blocked him from getting to Blundetto then just as Tony blocked him from getting to Vito now. (The savagery of the beating that Vito takes makes me glad that Blundetto didn’t fall into Phil’s hands in Season 5.)

But the biggest reason why Vito is killed, of course, is the prejudice against gays that runs rampant in mob-land. We have heard characters make gay slurs throughout the series. We have also seen characters suffer a sort of “gay panic”: Richie Aprile punches Janice in the mouth when she suggests it is ok for his son to be gay; Corrado, worried that he will be seen as gay if word of his oral proficiency gets out, smashes a pie in Bobbi Sanfillipo’s face; and Brian Gibson points out in his essay “‘Black Guys’ My Ass” that it may not be a coincidence that Ralph Cifaretto is killed soon after Tony learns about his non-traditional sex fetishes. Not surprisingly, “Cold Stones” is an hour filled with examples of gay bigotry: Hernan makes a demeaning gay joke, Silvio believes it was right of Richie Aprile to disown his son after finding out he is gay, Fat Dom cracks ugly jokes about Vito’s homosexuality. I think the most troubling example of the hour comes from Patty Leotardo who uses religion to justify her intolerance. She is quite horrible here. She cries out “Walk in those shoes!” in sympathy with her tailor who is going blind, but shows no sympathy for her gay family member even after his murder. Phil is unsympathetic too, telling recently widowed Marie that perhaps Vito’s death is a good thing as the kids may be better off not having him as a role model. I’ve long been amused at how these mobsters think of themselves as basically good people despite the fact that they are up to their eyeballs in murder, racketeering and extortion. Over the last few episodes, however, their moral hypocrisy has been more infuriating than amusing. These criminals delude themselves into believing that homosexuality is a greater sin than the panoply of illegal and immoral acts that they commit on a daily basis.

On his way to visit his daughter in Metuchen, Fat Dom stops by Satriale’s and starts talking shit. (The “homo actor Ramon Novarro” that he compares Vito to was beat to death by two men in 1968.) Silvio hits the back of Dom’s head with a Dustbuster and Carlo plunges a knife repeatedly into his belly. In a well-rendered, but ghastly, bit of detailing that expresses the unpredictability and transience of life, we see the blood seep into Dom’s shirt as we hear his cell phone ring—whoever is calling (perhaps his daughter?) has no idea that he has just been killed.

And so the gay-mobster storyline comes to an end. For some viewers, the end couldn’t have come soon enough. I don’t think most of the animosity was due to the nature of the storyline itself, which may have been rooted in similar real-world stories. (For example, John D’Amato, acting boss of the DeCavalcante family, was killed in 1992 after he was suspected of having a swinging homosexual lifestyle.) I think the sticking point for many viewers was the issue of believability. Many viewers just didn’t buy the story, and perhaps part of this was because the story didn’t seem to live up to the standard of realism that we had come to expect of The Sopranos. But as I argued in previous write-ups, Chase may have been leaning away from realism in order to purposefully give Vito’s fable a fairytale quality. Some viewers also didn’t find Joe Gannascoli’s performance as a gay mobster believable. Part of this may be due to our knowledge of Gannascoli’s history on the show. Gannascoli was not originally hired to play a gay mobster, he was hired to play ‘Gino the bakery customer’ in Season 1. A year later, he was recycled into a generic goombah named ‘Vito’ and—perhaps even more unexpectedly—was presented in Season 5 as a significant famiglia player with Captain status. It might have been difficult for some viewers to swallow that this dude that originally sauntered into SopranoWorld by asking for a pair of Neapolitan loaves in “The Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti” could now take up so much narrative space in the final season of the world’s greatest TV series. But I have come to feel that Gannascoli was very good in the role of Vito, and furthermore, I think there is an element of genius in David Chase’s decision to morph Joe Gannascoli into a gay mobster. I’ll come back to this point in the “IDENTITY GAMES” section a bit further down…

HOME SWEET HOME
The idea of “home” generally has warm and sweet connotations, we equate it with love and security and comfort. But the idea of home can also be a great source of pain if we associate it with rejection or feeling out-of-place. Vito left Dartford to come back home to New Jersey, but the place turned out not be as warm and welcoming as he hoped. Chase highlights this conflicted idea of home at the tail-end of the hour. The song over the end-credits is “Home” by Persephone’s Bees. Although the track’s complete lyrics are not heard here, the song describes a warm and idyllic place that the singer wants to come back to—but it is not clear that home is a place that can be returned to now, it may exist only as a past memory. About two minutes before this song starts up over the final credits, Chase gives us a quick back-to-back-to-back sequence in which we see Carmela returning home to Tony’s warm embrace, and then Rosalie returning home to her mother’s warm embrace, and then Vito’s kids struggling to understand why their father will never return home:

Vito Jr. reads the news of their father’s death to his little sister:

Vito Jr: (Reading from the newspaper) “Relatives say that the victim had surprised his friends and family by declaring himself a homosexual and saying he wished to lead an openly gay lifestyle.”
Francesca: I don’t understand. Dad wasn’t a spy?
Vito Jr: No.

Vito Junior’s “No” is one of the most heartbreaking syllables uttered in the entire series. He slowly comes to realize what really went down with his dad. The sadness that washes over him here sets up the later story of his rebelliousness in “Chasing It” (6.16). Members of two different mob famiglias decided that there was no place for Vito Spatafore in New Jersey, but it is the young members of Vito’s immediate family that must pay the dearest price for their decision.

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IDENTITY GAMES
The episode closes on a photograph of Vito taken from his time at the “Thin Club.” The photo is a nice bit of connectivity to cap this season—we might remember seeing the photo shoot at which this picture was taken in the season opener, “Members Only”:

The photo shoot in “Members Only” was part of the montage scored to “Seven Souls” (featuring William Burroughs’ voice) which opened that episode. When we heard the spoken-word piece “Seven Souls,” many of us played “the identity game,” trying to match up each of the “souls” that William Burroughs mentioned to some equivalent SopranoWorld character. I’m still not convinced that it is useful to come up with some sort of identity-matchup (like “Meadow equals Sekhu” or whatever), but it is important to note that Chase made a game of the notion of identity in Season 6. A strange, wild example of Chase’s “identity game” was Tony’s coma-visit to Costa Mesa as a legitimate businessman-version of himself who than had the persona of “Kevin Finnerty” superimposed upon him. Carmela’s identity as a wife and mother is also explored in this hour as she suffers a bit of a personal crisis. But the approach that Chase takes to explore Vito’s identity is in some ways the most interesting of the ‘identity games’ played this season. As I detailed earlier, Chase has a history of shifting Joe Gannascoli from one character to another through the series and, in some sense, this makes Gannascoli’s “Vito” the natural choice to shift from “mobster” to “gay mobster.”

But I think the real genius in Chase’s decision to assign the role of “gay mobster” to Joe Gannascoli is connected to Joe’s weight loss of about 150 pounds. (I touched upon this in my 6.08 write-up but it is worth expounding now.) Chase utilized Gannascoli’s real-world attempt to remake his identity by losing weight to emphasize Vito’s fictional-world attempt to remake his own identity by losing weight. In his essay “Until the Fat Man Sings,” Keith B. Mitchell argues that Vito’s

dramatic weight loss is tied to a gradual acceptance of his homosexuality. It is linked to his coming out process as a man… His weight-loss enables him to open the closet door and explore his sexuality… Vito is no Brad Pitt, but within certain quarters of the gay community he does not need to conform to this idea of male corporeal beauty. This he learns when he is on the lam.

Vito found a significant opportunity in a small New Hampshire town to live an authentic life as a gay man. But his identity as a father & husband & mobster in New Jersey kept pulling at him, drawing him away from the new identity he was forging for himself in Dartford. Vito was unable to successfully integrate and reconcile his various identities, and in the end everything got fucked up for him. Game Over for Vito Spatafore.

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PRINCE ALBERT
Carm refers to AJ as “Prince Albert” in this hour, and I believe this is the third time in as many episodes that his parents have called him that. They are referring to Queen Victoria’s son, heir to the throne, who came to embody the leisured and fashionable life while he waited for his crowning (at which point he became King Edward VII). Tony has always wanted to take a tougher tack with AJ, and he exploits Carmela’s absence to do so now. I have to admit, it was nice to see AJ lose his smug mug as T smashed the windshield of his SUV. I argued in my previous write-up that the American mafia has developed something of a negative attitude towards blue-collar work and blue-collar workers, but Tony now pushes his son into a blue-collar construction job in order to make a man out of him. Many of us had thought at this point that AJ’s new position might be one of those no-show jobs that Tony negotiated with Phil, but no, it is an actual job that entails actual labor, as we will soon see…

___________________________________

CLEVER CUTS
As Alan Sepinwall noted, this episode is a “tale of two cities, told in edits.” I’ve already mentioned some of the clever cuts that Chase uses to switch back and forth between Paris and north Jersey: cutting from Bible-thumping shrew Patty Leotardo in NJ to St. Eustache in Paris; and then from St. Eustache in Paris to Tony getting his knob polished in NJ. A couple of other memorable edits include:

Carmela’s soulful reverie on the Pont Alexandre to → the crass Bada Bing sign:

Carmela looking at the neon pig in front of Au Pied de Cochon to → Murmur telling a crass “my wife is a pig” joke at Satriale’s pork store:

__________________________________

BLACK AND WHITE
Tony has been a good boy since surviving his gunshot, he hasn’t played around on Carmela. But he is slipping back into his old ways. Two of the song titles in this episode’s soundtrack perhaps reflect Tony’s slide now from “white” fidelity to “black” infidelity: Tony chastely watches a stripper dance while Giorgio Moroder’s “Knights in White Satin” plays at the Bing, but it’s AC/DC’s “Back in Black” that is playing when he gets a blowjob from her:

I thought that Chase had done something similar to this way back in the Pilot episode; Chase dressed the restaurant host all in black when Tony was with his goomar, but put the host in white when Tony played the good husband to his wife:

(Perhaps an additional note to be made about Moroder’s “Knights in White Satin” is that it recalls “The Knight in White Satin Armor,” the episode in which Carmela first requested Tony to allow her to make a trip to Rome; that trip was cancelled but she uses its cancellation to justify her trip to Paris now.)

___________________________________

ADDITIONAL POINTS:

It all gets washed away: Silvio wants some “biangaleen” to wash away any blood that might remain after Fat Dom’s murder. I don’t think anyone in the country, other than a few NY/NJ Italian-Americans, was familiar with this regional term for bleach before this episode aired.
Carmela pauses at the mention of Heloise and Abelard in her guidebook. She is surely thinking of the conversation that she had with Robert Wegler about the doomed lovers in “Sentimental Education” (5.06).
The “tree” thing: Carmela dreams of Adriana standing with Cosette in a tree-lined courtyard, and various tree-lined streets catch Carm’s interest in Paris.
The title “Cold Stones” can function as a reference to Phil’s testicles: “The fuckin’ balls on that prick,” Chrissy says after learning that Phil whacked Vito. But maybe it is wife Patty with the really cold stones—she sleeps peacefully while Phil lies awake after murdering their relative.
Boy, these mob wives, I tell ya… A few episodes ago, we saw Carmela try to get Tony to lean on the building inspector, and now Patty Leotardo subtly pressures Phil to kill Vito. The wives, as we see over and over again, can be just as selfish and evil as their mafia husbands.
When Carmela calls home from Paris, Tony asks her “Is Paris burning?” Prof. Yacowar notes the significance of the question: Is Paris Burning? was a 1966 movie about the WWII liberation of Paris. (The program that Tony was watching on the History channel earlier was about this topic and probably prompted Tony’s playful question to Carmela.) The similarly-titled Paris is Burning, Yacowar continues, is a 1990 documentary about drag-queen culture in NYC—an interesting topic to be referencing in this episode where Vito is killed for being homosexual.
The second song over the end-credits, after “Home,” is “As Time Goes By” as it was performed in the movie Casablanca. It is a brilliant song selection because, for one thing, it echoes Carmela’s storyline in this episode: she wonders if everything gets washed away into nothing “as time goes by,” (and ultimately understands that in the end, “the fundamental things apply”). Secondly, the song makes us think of Casablanca with its very famous line of dialogue, “We’ll always have Paris.” Indeed, we will always have this moving and meaningful hour that we spent with David Chase in Paris.
Blowjob Symmetry. Matt Zoller Seitz notes that this episode has a blowjob scene (with Tony and the stripper) which may call back the blowjob scene in “Unidentified Black Males” (with Vito and the security guard). The gay-mobster storyline originated at that moment and it comes to an end now.
We hear a dog barking in the early morning scene as AJ goes to work. Perhaps it is Esterhaz, the neighbor’s dog that Tony and Carmela mentioned as it barked in the wee hours of the morning back in “The Test Dream” (5.11).
Chase has made two references to Cary Grant movies in as many episodes: Rosalie mentions Charade in this hour, and there was a visual reference to Hitchcock’s North by Northwest in the previous hour. And the next episode will have an easy-to-miss (but I think significant) reference to another Hitchcock film: Vertigo.
Chase will continue playing his ‘identity games’ in the next episode “Kaisha,” an hour which derives its title from the fake identity that Chris applies to his mistress.

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155 responses to “Cold Stones (6.11)”

Edson | November 8, 2018 at 1:47 pm | Reply

Another fantastic write-up Ron. This is one of my favourite episodes too and has one of the best lines – “You should be kissing her feet. If it wasn’t for her I’d have knocked your baby teeth out with one shot”.
Carmela’s expression when Tony enthusiastically points out the Nazis marching through Paris on the History Channel is priceless too.

LikeLiked by 3 people
- Ron | November 8, 2018 at 2:58 pm | Reply
  
  Haha yeah the German occupation of Paris wasn’t exactly the most festive of events and probably not the thing Carm wants to be thinking about as she prepares for her trip..
  
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  - Anonymous | January 5, 2022 at 9:04 pm | Reply
    
    That scene reminded me of the old joke,
    “Why are the streets of Paris lined with trees?
    So the German army can march in the shade.”
    
    LikeLiked by 1 person
Dylan | November 8, 2018 at 3:18 pm | Reply

Loved this write-up, Ron! So well-done, as usual. It made my day when I checked the site and saw that it was up.
Also, in regards to the possibility of Phil being gay, I thought back to Tony and Melfi’s conversation where she asks about male-male intimacy in jail and Tony says “Well, you get a pass for that.” Maybe over those long 20 years he spent in the can “compromising”, Phil indulged in this and now feels especially self-conscious about this issue as a result.

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- Ron | November 8, 2018 at 3:42 pm | Reply
  
  Yes, maybe Phil wasn’t telling the full story when he said “I compromised, I jacked off in a tissue”…
  
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  - Dylan | November 8, 2018 at 3:53 pm | Reply
    
    Haha, I wondered too if that wasn’t him altering the facts a bit.
    
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  - sonicbluesea | November 8, 2018 at 4:08 pm | Reply
    
    I wouldn’t be surprised if Phil had relationships while incarcerated, though I doubt that he was gay, and very strongly doubt that he had any sort of sexual relationship with Vito. I do feel that Phil probably isn’t quite as prejudiced as he presents himself to be (perhaps, at least in part, as a result of the time he spent behind bars), but that a lot of his actions are driven by what he’d been raised to believe is the proper ‘image of a man,’ as well as his wife’s beliefs. This gets touched on again in 6.16 (Chasing It), when Phil has a chat with Vito Jr. about his proper ‘image of a man.’ Like we saw with other characters back when Vito was initially outed, the simple act of even suggesting that Vito’s sexuality is acceptable could bring that person’s own sexuality into question, and that’s not territory these character wish to explore. Not necessarily because they are gay themselves, but because they feel even the insinuation is insulting.
    FF to 2018, and we see the same sort of thing happening with the Me Too movement, with men tripping over themselves to show how supportive they are of the cause. I look at a lot of those men with the same lens as those leaders and politicians whose over the top anti-gay rhetoric later proved to be hypocritical. Let’s not forget that Les Moonves was a founding member of the Commission on Sexual Harassment and Advancing Equality in the Workplace.
    
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  - jfigs24 | March 26, 2020 at 11:35 am | Reply
    
    Yea, The full quote is:
    
    “You want compromise, how’s this? Twenty years in the can I wanted manicott’, but I compromised. I ate grilled cheese off the radiator instead. I wanted to fuck a woman, but I compromised. I jacked off into a tissue.”
    
    The way it’s phrased that he wanted to ‘fuck a woman’ specifically not just ‘fuck’ could make you think he might have been going somewhere else with that..
    
    LikeLiked by 1 person
  - Mario Croatia | January 12, 2021 at 7:49 pm | Reply
    
    And his character Billy Batts, now inspiration for endless shinebox jokes (they were hilarious when we first witnessed them, but now are just lame and stupid) says in Goodfellas after he returned after six years in the can about Tommy- “I fucked kids like him in the ass in the can “- but i don’t think he meant literally, probably was saying that he beat them if they became arrogant . And mafia captain would be disgraced if someone raped him
    
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- mariocroatia | March 14, 2024 at 5:20 pm | Reply
  
  *pash
  
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sonicbluesea | November 8, 2018 at 3:47 pm | Reply

Great write-up, as always. I’ve been eagerly awaiting this one, and you did not let me down!
Some thoughts on various mobster offspring, as related to this episode:
It’s interesting, I always think of AJ as a little shit too, especially in the later seasons. But, honestly, the bulk of his behavior is relatively normal for a kid his age (and it is important to remember that he really is still a ‘kid,’ despite his club hopping lifestyle). Golden child Meadow wasn’t much better at that age. Though she’d managed not to flunk out of school, I remember several heated exchanges with Carmella over her behavior, with mom taking her to task for not getting a job, and lounging by the pool while reading trashy novels all day. She too had an endless list of whiny excuses. I guess the difference is that, for her, it was ultimately a phase.
The reference to Richie Aprile’s son here has always bugged me. When did he disown him? The one and only episode in which Jr appears is the very same in which his father is murdered. They seemed to be involved enough in each other’s lives that ‘little’ Richie (sorry big Richie, I know you hate that) attended his father’s engagement party, and used his new home as a dance rehearsal space. I know I’m overthinking it, but I’m a detail guy, and that’s always annoyed me.

LikeLiked by 4 people
- Ron | November 8, 2018 at 4:03 pm | Reply
  
  Yeah that line about little Richie bothered me too… There may be some way to explain it but it’s probably just a continuity error.
  
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  - Edson | November 8, 2018 at 7:00 pm | Reply
    
    I think it was more acute disappointment and disinterest than disownment. He would certainly have preferred Jackie Jnr as his son and “hair apparent”. I’m sure he even voices that sentiment at one point. I always took Sil’s comment as the writers putting the most absurd reaction possible out there and all the crew agreeing with it to show how moronic and narrow minded they were.
    
    LikeLiked by 3 people
  - sonicbluesea | November 8, 2018 at 8:05 pm | Reply
    
    Maybe Richie initially found out while still in prison, and disowned him from there. But then, after he got out, softened his stance a bit. Not approving, but not shunning either. Perhaps convincing himself it was just a ‘phase.’ Of course, the show presents absolutely no evidence to back that theory up, but that would be my best guess.
    And speaking of Richie, I’ve had a little theory about him for a while now, and it actually relates to this episode. While I don’t think Phil was gay, I have long thought that Richie might have been. Something about the way he made the girls turn off the lights while going down on him after getting out of jail always gave me that impression.
    
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- Blackmambauk | November 10, 2018 at 1:09 pm | Reply
  
  One think that AJ has going is that he won’t turn out like his dad and be in the mob. He will pretty much slog through life trying to get by on the bare minimum, if he’s lucky. He will end up like Carmine Junior and run a thing or two somewhere. Though i doubt he will be looking for a pint of blood or a gallon of gold. Interesting you mention the speech Livia gave to him in season two, he pretty much refers to that late in season six part two in a therapy session with his parents and of the time he did weed and Carmella called him a animal.
  All of this along with what you mentioned as well goes to show how much Livia’#s shadow hanged over the show, even three seasons after her death.
  That bit of Phil with his wife and Vito’s wife and the muscle men coming up on the tv is truly one of the funniest bits the show ever did. Chase always found a way to throw in a humorous bit or absurdly to serious bits, like in season one when young tony saw his dad being pinched and a clown called clarabelle was part of the mob guys arrested.
  
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FThatParakeet | November 9, 2018 at 12:48 pm | Reply

Ron, I hadn’t considered the Phil being gay angle; but, in the upcoming Kaisha episode, take note of his line “there’s something I need to get straight between us”. On the surface–and, in all likelihood, reality–it is a humorous play on words regarding his erection for her. But, given the discussed potentially gay angle, maybe him saying that he “needs to get it straight” is another subtle clue…for the sake of the mob life he most strongly identifies with, his urges–and consequently, his “braciole”–aren’t straight, but need to be.

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- Ron | November 9, 2018 at 5:15 pm | Reply
  
  Haha that’s a memorable line and I like your take on it
  
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Ryan | November 9, 2018 at 3:18 pm | Reply

Phil squeezed the mattress sensually while Vito was being brutally murdered.

I think it was Chase’s way of showing that Phil isnt gay and instead is solely motivated by violence and complete lack of any human compassion.

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- Mamjja, J.F. | November 9, 2018 at 10:26 pm | Reply
  
  I don’t know Ryan, it didn’t look sensual to me, but this is Chase we’re talking about, nobody’s ever motivated by just one thing.
  I’ll tell you though, watching Phil clenching that mattress, I thought he really could have benefited from the Richie Aprile treatment shown in Ep. 2.11.
  “Phil, relax. Relaaaaaaax. Let it go limp. Limp… limp… you’re flexiiiing! Limp. That’s it, simmer down. Simmer down! Easy…”
  Could have saved him the trouble of a heart attack and more maybe?
  
  LikeLiked by 1 person
- Jens | November 10, 2018 at 2:09 pm | Reply
  
  It was my impression too, that Phils mattress squeeze was a signal of some sort of satisfaction.
  
  Only reason why Phil would have silently felt bad for Vito was their personal relation as in Vito being married to Phils cousin. And if I understood correctly Vito was kind of a bridge between the NJ and NY famiglias. BUT: Phil is an older, macho, conservative, catholic, bluecollar, italianamerican male. His whole social circle from his wife to his gangster buddies mostly think that gays are disgusting creatures that should be put down like animals. i think its very likely Phil truly feels same way.
  
  And even though he would feel bad in some deep personal level, he must have felt some kind of relief when this source shame has been dealt with. I guess the mattress squeeze could be a signal of twisted relief.
  
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  - Anonymous | July 25, 2020 at 2:43 am | Reply
    
    It could be that “mattress-squeezing” is symbolically equated to “pillow-biting.” Maybe squeezing a mattress is Phil subverting his urge to bite a pillow. I think the joke or tragedy is that Phil derives pleasure from seeing Vito killed, and served “justice.”
    
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    - Ron | July 25, 2020 at 12:45 pm | Reply
      
      Interesting take. I only thought of Phil as being in pain at that moment, but as you and others have suggested, maybe the mattress-squeezing signifies both pleasure and pain, just as pillow-biting does..
      
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Orangeannie | November 9, 2018 at 5:29 pm | Reply

I was so happy to see this review!! Carmela in Paris with Rosalie…I think that Carmela’s problem has always been that she feels insignificant in her life in general. She feels the kids “hate her” and that AJ doesn’t love her as much as he loves Tony…and this is related to her low self-esteem. She knows she shouldn’t have married Tony and opted for the easy life, because it is morally wrong, and makes her culpable. The fact that she realizes that she is indeed insignificant in the big scheme of things sort makes her feel better about herself. Rosalie is not bothered by these things because she excepts things as they are and doesn’t over think anything, which is a good way to be when you are involved with the mob. It’s better psychically if you don’t think too much about what your husband does for a living. She was never upset about her son wanting to be a mobster like the Sopranos are. She is a simpler person, and therefore happier.
I think Phil stepping out of the closet was sort of a clever way to reveal himself to Vito. I don’t think it had any significance in his sexuality. I think he couldn’t sleep because he is such an angry man, about his place in life, and his brothers death…I don’t think he cared about Vito dying at all. It just made Tony’s life harder. Maybe it wasn’t as satisfying as he thought it would be because he still felt angry. The actress who played Phil’s wife was fantastic. Hiding behind religion when her husband is who he is…well that’s just self preservation. Remember he wasn’t around for 20 years, so who knows what kind of relationship they have. He seems bored with her anyway. I bet she’s hard to take on a daily basis.
I also think that Carmela was giving Tony permission to go back to his old ways, because having him be faithful wasn’t really as satisfying as she thought it would be. Just like when she felt she was attractive as a women when she slept with the teacher. It was validation. Vito’s love affair also wasn’t as satisfying as he thought it would be. Yes, he is gay, but that was not as important to him as money…and his family. He was getting along fine until someone caught him. The fact that he came back when he had to know he would be killed was supremely selfish. It shows that people, not just Soprano world people, but most people, yearn for a life they think would make them happy, when as you said, its up to them to make life meaningful. Other people can’t do it for you. Maybe Carmela gets some peace with her choices in life, because I don’t see her as dissatisfied with things in the rest of the series.
AJ is another story. I think being in his fathers shadow affects him adversely…and he just can’t function in the family. We see when he meets Blanca that he embraces her and her son and becomes a pretty solid guy. He lives with her, refers to “our neighborhood’. I think he really came into himself as his own person, so when she left him he was devastated. He’s a little shit, yes…but his parents are enablers, and the mother is so guilt ridden that she can’t parent him with any sense of right. How can he get a job at Blockbuster…when the work ethic in the house is non-existent? Tony getting him that job was the right thing to do and he did it. He stood up. So he has it in him. Perhaps he’s not a lost cause after all.
Also, I found it odd that the news of Vito’s his death would mention his homosexuality. People got killed left and right on that show and never made the papers that we know of. That sort of came out of left field, unless it was just to let us know that the poor kids found out about their father, setting up the story line of Little Vito later.
I never thought Richie disowned his son, he gave him 5000.00 for something didn’t he? I just think he was upset that his son might have been gay. I think Janice got a smack because she was nagging him and he’s an animal. Not that a shot in the face wasn’t something she deserved, not from him, but for other crappy things she did in the show. She’s a horrible person too. With a deadly temper. People sort of get what they wish for, and then they realize its not that great after all. This episode shows us that. I know this is a long story, but each episode has so much to say. Thanks for having patience with my rambling. I could go on and on, but I won’t.

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- Ron | November 9, 2018 at 6:09 pm | Reply
  
  Thanks O. I thought about you as I did this write-up because I had previously told you that I might be able to get you (and others) to appreciate Chase’s decision to use Joe Gannascoli in the role of “the gay mobster” a little bit more. But I don’t know if I was successful…
  
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  - Orangeannie | November 9, 2018 at 9:22 pm | Reply
    
    I buy the storyline. There are closeted gay men in all walks of life. It’s a sad state of affairs when they can’t be themselves. It should be a non-issue. But in that atmosphere Vito should have been more discreet. I am not a fan of the actor or his character because as sad as it should have been, I couldn’t empathize. Especially when he left that idyllic place and the life he thought he wanted, and went directly into certain death without regard for anyone. He risked certain death because hard work was too much for him. He’s just not very bright. So many screw-ups. Still in all, the episode had a lot to say about human nature and I liked it.
    
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Dude Manbrough | November 9, 2018 at 6:28 pm | Reply

There’s that cut from Carm in Paris to Sil outside the Bing…”make sure you clean that shit off her tit!”. Then one of the funniest exchanges of the series: “if Vito wanted to pursue that lifestyle, he should have done so quietly”…”he was…wasn’t he?”. Classic. Terrific write-up for a great episode!!!

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- Ron | November 9, 2018 at 6:41 pm | Reply
  
  Thanks Dude
  
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Mamjja, J.F. | November 9, 2018 at 11:38 pm | Reply

I enjoy the Rosalie character a lot. The worst has already happened to her. After losing her her husband,
then losing her son, you’d think it would be all over for her, but she’s still able to take pleasure in what’s
right in front of her. In the previous episode, I think she had just the one line – “Wellbutrin!” which she
delivered in response to Ginny feeling blue. “I wish there was a pill, John in that place.” But Ginny’s
smart enough to know it could be worse and considering the source she quickly adds “Of course I can’t say my
pain’s worse than anybody’s”. Ginny sees Ro’s situation more clearly than her own friend Carmella does on the Paris trip.
Ro – to whom the worst has already happened – is the one to hug & comfort Carmella regarding her anxieties about
what might happen. But clueless Carm blunders on, heedless of Ro’s tactful attempts to steer them back into the
present moment: “Maybe you’re more philosophical than I am”, “Tomorrow we hit the stores”,
“Bordeaux is so delicious”, “Oh boy!” until Carm clumsily slices into the tender central tragedy of Ro’s life as if it’s
an abstract topic of conversation. Only then does Ro’s patience break. “Jesus Carm!!!”

Thanks for another deep, insight-filled autopsy, Ron. It’s like Christmas each time you release another one!

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- Ron | November 10, 2018 at 12:09 am | Reply
  
  Thanks JF. You’re right about Carm’s cluelessness, but I can relate to her here. There’s something about travelling—maybe it’s the simple act of getting away from the everyday grind—that can send me into a sort of philosophical reverie, and then whoever I’m travelling with has to knock me back to reality with a “Jesus Ron!!”
  
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  - LK | October 19, 2021 at 10:55 am | Reply
    
    Ron – Yes, Carmela may be clueless on many levels (i.e., looking at a gorgeous antique necklace and saying, “Just think, Ro, some woman just like us wore that”), but her ability to realize that history – vis-a-vis the importance of art – has had an impact upon us appears genuine. On another note, her questioning of Ro’s feelings regarding the death of her son reveals her true callousness and lack of concern for others.
    
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César | November 12, 2018 at 7:14 pm | Reply

Regarding Phil Leotardo…who knows, but one thing that occurred to me is that he served a lengthy prison sentence, just like Frank Vincent’s character Billy Bats did in GoodFellas. In that film, Bats remarks offhand to his friend about Tommy, “I used to f— guys like that when I was in the can.” The remark is not sexual but posturing – i.e., prison sex or rape is about power. Of course, prisons are filled with men put away for years with no women in sight, so there is an “anything goes” attitude that wouldn’t apply outside. A man like Phil Leotardo would be excused by his mafia buddies any homosexual activity behind bars, and it wouldn’t just be about power but about sex and the need for an outlet. I’m not saying this makes Phil a bona fide heterosexual, just that it may have colored the character’s ambivalence about whacking Vito, or at the very least served to contrast his wife’s moral indignation. Another example of The Sopranos showing us that life isn’t binary.

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- Ron | November 12, 2018 at 7:36 pm | Reply
  
  Precisely
  
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- FThatParakeet | November 14, 2018 at 10:01 am | Reply
  
  This notion that “lack of women” gets a pass is nonsense. If I end up on an island with only guys, guess what? My days of sex are over. Sounds like an excuse to express urges that are there anyway to me.
  
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  - Orangeannie | January 18, 2019 at 10:59 am | Reply
    
    FThatParakeet But maybe in jail it serves 2 purposes, sexual relief and also making someone else a victim to alleviate anger? Just a thought.
    
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  - Terremotito | July 17, 2019 at 10:00 am | Reply
    
    In “Live Free Or Die,” Tony tells Dr. Melfi verbatim, “You get a pass for that. What are you gonna do? There’s no women there. You’re there five, ten years.”
    
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    - FThatParakeet | January 8, 2020 at 8:39 am | Reply
      
      Right, that’s the nonsense to which I was referring.
      
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      - Anonymous | January 5, 2022 at 9:26 pm | Reply
        
        We can’t have him here in our social club no more. That much I do know.
        
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  - LK | February 23, 2022 at 7:51 am | Reply
    
    FThat – However, in the case of sociopaths, there is the never-ending need to ‘dominate and control’ (to paraphrase Dr. Melfi). These guys lack self-control and empathy, so we can’t expect them to be model citizens while incarcerated!
    
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Mike | November 16, 2018 at 5:23 pm | Reply

Didn’t see this mentioned here: I awalys saw Carmela seeing the light from the tower as a clear callback to the light from Tony’s coma. There it seemed to beckon him to his own death, and I see it playing the same role here:
Carmela (via her dream) accepts that Adriana is dead. After her dream, the tower light invites her to her own death as well, should she continue to ask questions about Adriana.

She instead drops the issue and never mentions it again, recommitting herself to her NJ life. In other words, the light = death, and Carmela declines the invite.

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- Ron | November 16, 2018 at 7:42 pm | Reply
  
  It’s definitely a callback, but I think that may be the only definite thing about it.
  
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  - Anonymous | January 8, 2019 at 4:03 pm | Reply
    
    When are more episodes reviews coming? I’m now forced to buy the Matt Zoller book in lieu of more updates from Sopranos Autopsy.
    
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    - Ron | January 8, 2019 at 5:35 pm | Reply
      
      Haha I’ve been waiting for Matt and Alan’s book for a long time now.
      
      I’ll be updating soon.
      
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Elliott | November 23, 2018 at 5:35 pm | Reply

Excellent write up!

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- Ron | November 23, 2018 at 6:22 pm | Reply
  
  thanks Elliott
  
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Orangeannie | December 24, 2018 at 4:13 pm | Reply

Patty Leotardo is so hypocritical with her “religious” views. I would respect these women more if they faced what their husbands are like and what they do. Gene Pontecorvo’s wife was more pragmatic…at least she admits she knows her husband is a killer. I thought that when Phil’s wife said Vito has to be made to face his problem, maybe she just meant a beating. How can she advocate for murder while talking about religion? Although, there is Old Testament stuff that is full of horrible retribution. Do you think she sees Phil’s heart attack as retribution?

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- Mamjja, J.F. | December 24, 2018 at 8:13 pm | Reply
  
  I found Patty & Phil’s behavior while sitting shiva with Vito’s wife to be grotesque. Patty
  shows more sympathy for her tailor, crying “…walk in those shoes…”, than she shows for Vito’s family.
  Phil heartlessly tells Marie it’s probably better for the kids “…not to have that role model”. They both
  really believed Vito’s ‘sin’ deserved death. There are still a lot of people out there like that unfortunately.
  I’d be quite surprised if Patty had the introspection to connect Phil’s heart attack with Vito’s death.
  
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  - Carol | January 1, 2019 at 12:36 pm | Reply
    
    I agree. Murder is fine. Homosexuality is a sin. But everyone has to hang on to their sacred cows.
    
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- Mamjja, J.F. | December 28, 2018 at 10:47 pm | Reply
  
  One more observation about Phil & Patty regarding religion. When Phil sat on the bed and gave the order for
  Vito to be beaten to death, he reminded me of Saul in the Christian bible new testament giving approval
  for, and watching the brutal stoning death of Stephen in the book of Acts for the ‘sin’ of blasphemy.
  Of course the old testament (Leviticus) calls for the same death sentence for the ‘sin’ of homosexual acts.
  This same Saul later had a literal ‘coming to Jesus’ moment and changed his name to Paul. He wrote much of the
  new testament including several passages widely interpreted as condemning homosexual acts which continue to haunt us.
  Patty & her priest may have used these as justification for Vito having to be “…made to face his problem squarely”. Phil’s motivation seems
  more bound up in machismo, betrayal & reflexive disgust, but he also seemed to be pressed by Patty to take the action he did.
  And by being present at the murder, and mocking Vito as he begged for mercy it’s hard to conclude he wasn’t all in.
  Regarding Phil’s heart attack, I suppose even Nazi soldiers suffered from PTSD.
  
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  - Carol | January 1, 2019 at 12:39 pm | Reply
    
    He really didn’t need to be pushed. He was going to do it anyway. Maybe his heart attack was just a heart attack. He’s an angry, frustrated man. Even revenge is not as sweet as we think. Besides, I am really convinced that he used it as an excuse to agitate Tony and cause him to lose money. 2 birds with one stone.
    
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coreycroom | January 10, 2019 at 4:40 pm | Reply

I just want to add my surface reading of the post-death family scene with Phil, Vito’s wife, et al. I thought the bodybuilder competition was on the TV because the older gentleman watching was Vito’s dad. He bears a strong resemblance (just like Vito’s brother). I thought it was implying that Vito might have inherited his sexuality from ol’ Dad. Phil recognized it and still disgusted and told him to turn it off. Comedy gold either way.

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- Ron | January 11, 2019 at 11:51 pm | Reply
  
  I’ve never heard that take on it before, that’s interesting…
  
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- LK | October 24, 2021 at 4:33 pm | Reply
  
  Interesting thought! Plus, Vito’s son ends up wearing hideous ‘girlie’ gothic makeup (including lipstick), and Phil is called in to ‘set him straight’ about his need to ‘act like a man’ and help out his mother. I did not see any signs of hatred from Phil toward the child, just a bit of pity.
  
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Orangeannie | January 14, 2019 at 11:29 am | Reply

Just got the ‘Sopranos Sessions’ to read in the interim of your next write-up. I am liking it so far.

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- Ron | January 14, 2019 at 12:23 pm | Reply
  
  I like it too, particularly the interviews of David Chase. The episode reviews seem to basically be reworkings of write-ups that Matt and Alan had done previously. (The reviews are spoiler-free, which might hurt any attempt at serious Sopranos analysis, but I understand that a ‘no-spoiler’ policy could increase book sales…)
  
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  - Orangeannie | January 14, 2019 at 1:40 pm | Reply
    
    Yes that is a minus….but I have just gotten through the episode analysis and am starting the discussions.
    
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Steve | January 23, 2019 at 2:58 pm | Reply

Ron, wanted to get your opinion on the casting of Michael Gandolfini as young Tony in the upcoming prequel film. I think it’s an awesome casting decision and will lend a lot of authenticity to the role, but considering that Tony would have been 9-10 during the time period of the movie, and Michael is 19, I think it’s a little weird for a series that prided itself on connectivity and verisimilitude. Thanks for all the hard work you’ve put into this blog!!

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- Ron | January 23, 2019 at 3:29 pm | Reply
  
  It’s probably a good decision, they say Michael has got his dad’s gestures and movements down pat. I’m guessing the film takes place over a period of years—I dont know how else to explain the age issue.
  
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Anonymous | January 25, 2019 at 10:35 am | Reply

These write-ups are just incredible! Thanks for all your hard work in discussing this amazing show.

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Uncle Fat | January 26, 2019 at 2:13 pm | Reply

Almost three months of silence
I was expecting both Kaisha and SHM write-ups by now
What gives?
No Aspen for you this year, Ron

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- Ron | January 26, 2019 at 2:19 pm | Reply
  
  Lol Kaisha is coming out this week
  
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  - Uncle Fat | January 27, 2019 at 12:30 pm | Reply
    
    Great!
    
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  - Edson | January 27, 2019 at 1:24 pm | Reply
    
    Haven’t checked the comments in a while. Glad you’re no longer on the milk carton Joe! Looking forward to Kaisha.
    
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Mamjja, J.F. | January 27, 2019 at 3:59 pm | Reply

The scene of Vito & family at the skating rink with the kids where Marie is looking sad and
remote in a fur hat nagged at me. I took a while, but I finally realized why – she reminded me of Melania Trump.
Compare these two google images:
Marie & Vito:
https://www.google.com/search?lr=&as_qdr=all&q=images+sopranos+marie+fur+hat&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjo3dvQ6I7gAhUKoYMKHTlEBpEQsAR6BAgDEAE&biw=1366&bih=628#imgrc=fGduKUuOFx9P3M:&spf=1548621499955

Melania & Donald:
https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.vanityfair.com%2Fphotos%2F568da0f92c593fd31392ba7e%2Fmaster%2Fw_768%2Cc_limit%2Fmelania-trump-donald-trump-harpers-bazaar.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vanityfair.com%2Fnews%2F2016%2F01%2Fmelania-trump-interview&docid=4oCEZkfJwdzh8M&tbnid=FYzAoZGzDt1LQM%3A&vet=10ahUKEwiIr4CL6I7gAhXhy4MKHeGaBzEQMwg5KAcwBw..i&w=768&h=512&bih=628&biw=1366&q=images%20melania%20fur%20hat&ved=0ahUKEwiIr4CL6I7gAhXhy4MKHeGaBzEQMwg5KAcwBw&iact=mrc&uact=8

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- Ron | January 27, 2019 at 11:38 pm | Reply
  
  Oh man, hasn’t poor Marie suffered enough already?
  
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- Orangeannie | July 28, 2020 at 2:32 pm | Reply
  
  Neither one of those women (Melania and Marie) is a victim. They made their choice. Also, Marie was well aware of Vito’s sexual preference. Doesn’t take away that he can be a good father and a good provider. Both men are sociopaths and both women are enablers. Not victims. The children are the victims.
  
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R.K. | April 2, 2019 at 7:30 am | Reply

“Carm refers to AJ as “Prince Albert” in this hour, and I believe this is the third time in as many episodes that his parents have called him that. They are referring to Queen Victoria’s son, heir to the throne, who came to embody the leisured and fashionable life while he waited for his crowning (at which point he became King Edward VII).”

I think you must be right about this, but it seems to be an American usage, or error, which puzzled me, and probably other British viewers.

He is not known in Britain as “Prince Albert”, but as either “the Prince of Wales” or as “(King) Edward VII”. And also: although he must have been young once, the image everyone has is of a bald, bearded, portly, middle-aged man, very different from young AJ. Perhaps there was a TV drama or a film which showed him as a young man?

His father, the husband of Queen Victoria, is known as “Prince Albert” or “the Prince Consort”. He was a dutiful, industrious man, a true Victorian.

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- Ron | April 2, 2019 at 1:03 pm | Reply
  
  To be honest, I’m not personally familiar with Tony’s usage of it, I’ve never heard anyone of my generation in America say it. But it may have been more popular within Tony’s generation. Or it could just be an inside joke between Carm and Tony, one they both may be using inaccurately..
  
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  - Pet Ant | December 21, 2021 at 8:08 pm | Reply
    
    Did they not call him Prince Valiant?
    
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  - mariocroatia | March 14, 2024 at 6:04 pm | Reply
    
    I always thought when they say Prince Albert that they were refering to the Prince Albert of Monaco.
    Monaco Prince was a hedonist, playboy, had relationships with many top models like Naomi Campbell, laid back guy , not very disciplined, relaxed, something like Little Carmine.
    
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R.K. | April 2, 2019 at 7:34 am | Reply

Carmela was elevated by her experience of Paris. Rosalie travelled at a lower level.

The first words we hear her speak in Paris: “Do your bowels just jam up when you fly?”

Her last words: “Shit! The Toulouse-Lautrec placemats!”

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- Orangeannie | April 2, 2019 at 2:38 pm | Reply
  
  She’s a simpler women. That makes her happier. Carmela is discontented in many ways and tormented by guilt and dissatisfaction. Rosalie has had tragedies, so she takes things a day at a time.
  
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Karen's Ziti | June 13, 2019 at 2:48 am | Reply

Rosalie is one of my favorite side characters in television.

I just realized Vito dies with Tony never finding out his ambitions, particularly from the early part of 6A, where he’ll tell anybody who half listens what a cool great boss he’d make. The show doesn’t dive much into their dynamic, T and V, Finnerty & Gino. Tony totally heard Vito’s bullshit in All Due Respect, but its noteworthy he’s mostly okay with Vito’s lifestyle, very nearly considers Vito’s offer here, and only leaves him to die when it just can’t lighten his pockets any further. I’d argue it’s one of the very few genuine “maybes” in the “Tony can change” struggle. In Live Free or Die, Tony acknowledges Vito as a close friend when talking w/ Melfi. We kind of shotgun Vito’s background in this season, even though he’s been around since S2, mostly in a crew & not Tony’s inner circle, sweating around Ralphie and all that. He’s scheming and mostly charmless, except in some dad aspect. His “Gilmore Girls” arc (as suggested by Emily VDW) is still incredible, such a contrast.
One of the only other things I’ve seen Joe Gannascoli in: College Road Trip (2008), some wacky Disney pap vehicle for Martin Lawrence. There’s a golf cart race, I think. Not exactly Cold Stones.

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Cilurnum | August 24, 2019 at 1:23 pm | Reply

Phil emerging from the closet before killing Vito:
At first, I thought it was hilarious. Then, I thought maybe Phil was giving a symbolic middle finger to Vito – only Phil gets to “come out of the closet” – as a sort of power move. It’s possible Phil doesn’t understand what it means. I don’t think it’s a reflection of Phil personally. At best, it’s a joke to the audience at the expense of Phil’s credibility. If they’re just dumb mob guys, they might think it will be terrifying for Vito to see Phil emerge from the closet. If they’re smart, it might take on the double significance, for the sake of humiliating Vito one last time before killing him. The latter might be more accurate – Phil does seem like a manipulative sociopath.

Phil does seem insecure about his masculinity.

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- Orangeannie | August 24, 2019 at 3:32 pm | Reply
  
  I think it was an FU to Vito. Here comes Phil out of the closet to kill him. It’s an ironic reference on Phil’s part.
  
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CoopsDeVille | September 13, 2019 at 2:09 pm | Reply

My friend asked her daughter last week if she had “anything dark to go into the laundry” and the daughter replied, “your soul mum?”

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- Ron | October 29, 2019 at 11:25 pm | Reply
  
  Kids today lol
  
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sam | December 14, 2019 at 10:12 pm | Reply

I think that the “Cold Stones” of the title can also refer to the statues/jewelry Carmela spends so much time admiring in Paris. We see that she’s enraptured by these figures based on her ability to identify with them — e.g., telling Ro that the necklace probably belonged to a married woman with kids. Works broadly as a commentary on how we project ourselves onto artwork, but there might be deeper thematic implications here w/r/t the Classical era’s acceptance of homosexuality and Vito’s storyline? May be a stretch.
Long time reader, first time commenter. Started my rewatch this fall and found this site soon after. It’s really some of the best TV criticism I’ve read. If, after you’re done with the Sopranos, you picked another show to dissect like this, I’d follow along, no question.

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- Ron | December 16, 2019 at 10:06 am | Reply
  
  Thanks, I don’t think I’d ever do another TV show but maybe some movies…
  
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- sec112 | April 21, 2023 at 9:46 am | Reply
  
  With regard to the Classical era’s acceptance of homosexuality, Carmela’s “in the end it all gets washed away” speech takes place in the ruins of a Roman Bath, a location that commonly would have been the site of male on male sex. Carmela is focused on her own life’s consequentiality, but the location being in a bath, and Rosalie making a comment about the kind of things that would have gone on there suggests Chase had more than just that in mind. Is he also commenting that we have forgotten the ancient history of homosexuality in Roman culture (“Where are the Romans now?” “You’re looking at them”)?
  
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someotheralex | March 17, 2020 at 9:10 pm | Reply

I thought Tony’s carjob scene was a callback to the one that didn’t happen – remember the rumour that went round about Tony and Adriana’s car accident in ‘Irregular Around the Margins’? Adriana is seen in this episode, so this felt more than coincidental – and it was whilst driving, unlike the one that Finn saw Vito giving.

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- Kozhyleus | August 5, 2021 at 12:38 am | Reply
  
  I have only now read your comment, and agree 100%
  
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SFB | April 15, 2020 at 7:42 pm | Reply

1. Carmela gives Tony permission to cheat on her while she is away in Paris, telling him he “could do whatever it is boys do when they’re on their own.”

2. Tony accepts the offer and gets his baguette serviced from a Bada Bing girl behind the wheel of his car, finishes down her throat, and she uses a tissue to clean her lips.

3. Carmela calls home from Paris, and Tony is so grateful to Carmela for giving him permission to do boy stuff while she is Paris, that while boasting about his parenting duties he all but admits his cheating when he tells her about (Meadow) “…get the car service regularly”, and (AJ) “…hose down the trash cans”.

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- Ron | April 15, 2020 at 8:30 pm | Reply
  
  Lol
  
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macleanalan | June 18, 2020 at 6:38 pm | Reply

Another great write up thank you.
A few other references / possible connections:
Knights in white satin playing in the Bing – the title was changed from the Moody Blues original “nights” and the artwork set in a bathhouse where Moroder was surrounded by moustachioed men to play up to the gay disco crowd, topical choice of music…
When Patty says Vito must be made to “face his problem squarely”, the cut to Paris is to a statue of “Ecce Homo”. Obviously play in words, possibly an allegory of Vito’s persecution (not a direct Jesus comparison I’m sure!).
In addition, the films you reference, the all have identity themes – North by Northwest has Cary Grant mistaken for a spy, Charade has many different identities within it and Vertigo has a character make one woman turn into another… Is this notably to play up American culture on the themes of identity so there are multiple connections / parallels?
What was the mad conductor show on TV about..?

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- macleanalan | June 19, 2020 at 8:43 am | Reply
  
  Oh yeah, also I wondered if the Prince Albert reference was actually Prince Albert of Monaco, who was a renowned playboy, now reformed but previously more known for partying and pursuing women than anything serious. I like that Tony and Carmela push him to a working class job which they on the one hand profess to support and on the other hand denigrate and demean.
  
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  - Ron | June 19, 2020 at 7:02 pm | Reply
    
    All great points…
    
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  - LK | November 4, 2021 at 6:58 pm | Reply
    
    Mac – I can’t figure out why Carmela refers to AJ as Prince Albert. But I do know that Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert, had penile piercing (true story)!
    
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    - Orangeannie | November 4, 2021 at 8:43 pm | Reply
      
      Just because he’s a spoiled kid. Prince of the family.
      
      LikeLiked by 1 person
Robye Shirley | July 10, 2020 at 11:39 pm | Reply

I love Sweet Child of Mine playing when Tony drops off the stripper after she blows him. The show never misses a chance to make a Meadow reference with girls her age.

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- Ron | July 11, 2020 at 12:55 pm | Reply
  
  good catch
  
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quackonbothsides | July 28, 2020 at 7:39 am | Reply

First of all, I’ve loved reading this blog on my rewatch, so thanks for your amazing analysis!

But for the first time I feel compelled to write a comment as I think you’ve got it quite wrong on Rosalie. It’s slightly ambiguous (as much of Sopranos is), and there are certainly a few moments — like when she’s flirting with that younger French man — that she is taking a more Carpe Diem attitude Carm could learn from. However I think generally her role in this episode is as a stark warning/malignant influence who drags Carm back to Tony.

I think Chase chose Rosalie to go on that trip with her as a reminder of what will happen if Carm stays within the mob life. When Rosalie’s placing the candles it’s a wake up call that her own children are endangered by the mob. And when Carm wants to talk seriously about Jackie Jr.s death (deep down she probably knows her husband is culpable), Rosalie is completely emotionally closed off. There’s no attempt to come to terms with her own culpability in being in relationships with two violent men (Jackie and Ralphie), relationships which ultimately led to the death of her own son. Instead she finds comfort in a very twee vision of religion, that means she can stay closed off.

I think the key line here in this scene is that Rosalie just wants to go shopping instead. In fact throughout the trip Rosalie is only interested in the surface level stuff — the commercial side of Paris, the food, the potential for sex. Much like Tony or the other gangsters. It plays into the more openly anticapitalist message in this season.

Paris gives Carm a physical escape from Tony, but it’s also a philosophical opportunity to escape. I agree that her line about human history is a callback to Livia’s nihilism, but unlike Livia, Carm has the capacity to genuinely love and cares for other people — in this very episode Melfi praises her for protecting AJ from the worst of Tony. She flirts with Livia’s nihilistic view in the ruins, but I think there’s also a more positive callback to the ‘everything is connected’ philosophy from The Fleshy Part Of The Thigh (i.e. these Medieval woman may have been just like us). I think the humbling experience of Parisian history was a chance for Carm to think about her life and identity in context and make a change. But she doesn’t. She steps back from confronting the fact that Tony killed Jackie Jr. and Ariana, even though this episode clearly suggests that a part of her knows the truth in both cases.

To me the ending where we see Carm followed by Rosalie come home is very dark. Carm has made her choice. She won’t leave Tony, so she will inevitably become like Rosalie… or Ginny Sack or any other mob wife. Emotionally shut off and inevitably bereaved.

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- Ron | July 28, 2020 at 1:58 pm | Reply
  
  Great take, and very persuasive. Of course, the main reason Chase has Ro go on the trip with Carm is simply because they are best friends. But I guess it’s also true that Carmela has such a narrow circle of friends, anyone that would accompany her would essentially play the role that you’re saying Rosalie does…
  
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crunch3384 | October 21, 2020 at 6:37 pm | Reply

Im not sure if it’s foreshadowing or not, but this episode planted the seeds that Carlo could become a rat. After fat Dom is killed and Tony goes to the bing, Carlo very sheepishly tells Tony that “Sil hittem first.” That showed me that in the face of authority (Tony in this case) Carlo tried to lessen the blow of him getting into trouble by shifting blame to Silvio. He starts by ratting out Silvio in a childish way and then later rats out the family to save his own child. Just my 2 cents.

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- Ron | October 22, 2020 at 10:50 am | Reply
  
  Good observation, maybe Carlo was never much of a stand-up guy..
  
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  - mariocroatia | January 16, 2021 at 10:31 pm | Reply
    
    He even said you must admire Phil for killing Vito, it’s not all talk with him in front of Tony and everybody else. All other guys thought Phil went too far with torturing and post-mortem humiliating Vito with pool cue. He got Vito’s construction business but was pretty lousy compared to him, that enraged Tony snapped at him and suggested he should start sucking cock instead watching TV-land. That remark didn’t help Tony when Carlo decided to flip, plus maybe he got scared because his cousin Burt Gervasi was garroted by Silvio for switching sides.. And his “idiot son ” got busted for selling ecstasy, it wasn’t very hard for him to be convinced to testify I think. .
    
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David | February 2, 2021 at 11:45 pm | Reply

Didn’t see it mentioned before, but maybe the foodies here caught it, too. Sil and Carlo are cooking up some fra diavolo (brother devil) when they kill Fat Dom, a sauce that shares a branch on the gravy family tree with (angry) arrabiata [6.05].

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- Ron | February 3, 2021 at 1:34 am | Reply
  
  😆
  
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Notemma Goldman | March 2, 2021 at 1:51 pm | Reply

The juxtaposition of Patty’s Catholicism with the church in Paris has to be deliberate, but I took it as a commentary on the irrelevance of religion in the modern world. France is a country that enforces “secularism” well beyond the American concept of separation of church and state, and where less than 5% of the population is religiously active. Carmela and Rosalie are walking through a dead church that has been preserved as an art museum and a tourist attraction. The message seems to be that picking out the idealized parts of Catholicism (the art and whatever we feel is worth going back to after centuries) is all well and good but trying to live it in the modern world is clearly ridiculous.
There are barely any overtly religious Catholics or Jews on the show who are presented in a good light. One-off character Krakower identifies as Jewish (and we know he looks down on purely ethnic affiliations, so he’s likely religious to at least some degree). Reverend James Sr, a black Protestant, is the sole example of an unambiguously devout religious person with no hypocrisy or double-dealing underneath.

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- Orangeannie | March 2, 2021 at 5:23 pm | Reply
  
  Who’s patty?
  
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  - Notemma Goldman | March 3, 2021 at 12:01 am | Reply
    
    Phil’s terrible wife
    
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    - Orangeannie | March 4, 2021 at 10:49 am | Reply
      
      Lol!! Yes. Played brilliantly by Donn Pescow!!
      
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      - MRGold | October 24, 2021 at 3:56 pm | Reply
        
        Geraldine Librandi played Patty Leonardo, brilliantly hateful. Donna Pescow played Patsy Parisi’s wife in the episode when the Parisis are invited to dinner with their future in-laws, Tony and Carmela. I remember Donna turning over the China saucer and pursing her lips at its (what I think) cheapness.
        
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      - LK | November 4, 2021 at 7:04 pm | Reply
        
        Orange – Donna Pescow played Patsy’s wife. Patty was Phil’s vicious wife.
        
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        Orangeannie | November 4, 2021 at 8:46 pm | Reply
        
        Yes, thanks.
        
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      - Orangeannie | November 4, 2021 at 8:45 pm | Reply
        
        I meant to say patsys wife!! Patty leotards was a horror!!
        
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Dylan Sexton | March 5, 2021 at 1:23 am | Reply

carmela intoned ro’s date was 26, not 28

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Kevin | April 22, 2021 at 10:37 am | Reply

Absolutely love your site. Been watching the series again for the 5th time and reading along with your synopses and it’s fascinating.

Just a note. Hopalong Cassadice is actually a quote from the Robert Deniro movie Midnight run.

Thanks

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- Ron | April 22, 2021 at 2:19 pm | Reply
  
  👍👍
  
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- Pet Ant | December 21, 2021 at 8:17 pm | Reply
  
  THANK YOU!
  
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- Anonymous | January 11, 2022 at 10:35 pm | Reply
  
  Joey Pants, Robert De Niro, Dennis Farina, and Charles Grodin. And of course moron #1 and moron #2. Great movie.
  
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Robert Tracey | May 1, 2021 at 3:45 am | Reply

I just realized something, when Vito calls Tony about setting up a Meet up time, Tony says to meet at mall,did he know someone was going to take Vito out?

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- Ron | May 1, 2021 at 9:53 am | Reply
  
  I think Tony had decided by then that his man Carlo would take Vito out, but had no idea that Phil would beat him to it
  
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- Jamie | June 24, 2021 at 1:34 am | Reply
  
  Yes, Sil tells Carlo to be at the mall, then Tony tells Vito to meet him there. If Vito had survived the night, Carlo would have gotten to Vito.
  
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Ryan | May 7, 2021 at 12:42 am | Reply

A possible third entendre on the title, AJ is told he’ll be ferrying cement in the middle of winter – those’ll be some awfully cold (lime)stones. Plus that little shit might just grow those stones T whinged to Melfi about. They’ll just be… cold.

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Alex | May 20, 2021 at 8:42 pm | Reply

Good lord, The Sopranos has a lot of cringe lines of intolerance, but the scene with the Leotardos talking to Marie Spatafore about the funeral arrangements might take the cake. There’s like 4-5 horrendous statements made consecutively.

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- Orangeannie | May 20, 2021 at 10:29 pm | Reply
  
  They are horrible people. Phil’s wife with her holier than thou religious beliefs!! Meanwhile the husband is a murderer. It was sickening I agree with you.
  
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Catherine | July 27, 2021 at 10:47 am | Reply

Thank you for your insights into the Vito storyline that helped me appreciate it more than I would have otherwise.
I can’t help but compare Vito to that other gay criminal of early 2000s TV – Omar Little. Omar is beloved. Vito is merely tolerated. There are many reasons for this beyond the superficial (Omar is fit!) as they served very different functions on their shows and their sexuality is treated very differently. Omar was authentic and his freely-lived homosexuality reinforced that before taking a backseat, allowing his moral code, courage and wits to define him. Vito arc is defined his homosexuality, and despite efforts to attain some depth in New Hampshire, defining any character by their sexuality is relatively diminishing. I found the most enjoyable part of Vito’s storyline was how it reflected on Tony, Meadow, Phil and the rest of the mobsters.

Comparing Vito to Omar also highlights the different classes of criminal. Mobsters/gangsters choose to live outside societal contracts and the law, but they are not free – as Vito, Tony, Uncle Junior, Chris, Eugene etc show, organised crime has rules that can be equally or even more restrictive. The Barksdale and Stanfield gangs had their own rules and were at least casually homophobic. They only way to be truly free is to be the lone gangster – free of society/Mob/Gang rules – defining and living by your own code. Perhaps the main reason Omar is so beloved. Perhaps unattainable fantasy. It is interesting that no one in the Sopranos yearns to be free (except Eugene, who was trapped and only after he received a liberating amount of money).

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- Ron | July 27, 2021 at 11:55 am | Reply
  
  Very interesting comparison. Omar found a way to thrive as a gay man despite the homophobia of the world he lived in, and he also teamed up with some female stick-up artists despite the misogyny of that world. He was an outlier in that criminal underworld which made him very compelling. This may be a fraught topic, but I wonder if, historically speaking, there was a greater acceptance of homosexuality by African-Americans than there was by Italian-Americans. Historically there have been many black LGBT people in various stages of openness (James Baldwin, Little Richard, Luther Vandross) who were embraced by the black community, but I’m not sure if there had been that same acceptance of queerness among Italian-Americans… Vito may just have been born into a tougher situation than Omar..
  
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  - Kozhyleus | August 1, 2021 at 7:20 am | Reply
    
    Don’t forget Pryor and Prince!
    
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  - Kozhyleus | August 4, 2021 at 3:31 am | Reply
    
    I think Chapelle answered your question in his best comedy special a few years back, while commenting on Jussie Smullet faking an attack on himself: “we knew all along (that he was lying), we just didn’t say anything”. And I love that. That silent tolerance, which is the only kind of real tolerance, because it’s not self-righteous. Also, add Paul Mooney to that list.
    
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  - mariocroatia | March 15, 2024 at 12:56 pm | Reply
    
    Very observant, great parallele between Vito and Omar. Omar was my( and for the most of viewers) favourite character in the underworld, the second is D’Angelo Barksdale( one of the few criminals there with the good heart, it was really chilling seeing poor D’Angelo reading and making the essay of Great Gatsby, he wasn’t going to rat( at least not yet) but his actions could be seen from.Stringer’s POW that he distanced him from him and Avon as “fuck you, both of you, your values, your worldview, i’m gonna rat you and at least we’re gonna share this prison for the next 15 years together”.
    
    And Avon is repulsed by Omar’s homosexuality that after he robbs them, after finding out that Omar is a gay, he doubles the prize for whoever finds him first.
    
    That’s why they tortured Omar’s young lover, gouging his eyes even while he was still alive , they tortured him savagely and Omar’s reason for going ballistics against Barksdale , killing their main players is that they tortured the young man for hours. That thought leads him to wanting wipe them all off the planet and even testyfing in the court against Bird, if they just shot him like they did that to Omar’s friend in first 2,3 hours we met Omar he would be sad offcourse, maybe wanting to shoot some of them but he would accept his demise quickly as the part of the game, yo !
    
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Kozhyleus | August 4, 2021 at 2:41 am | Reply

I have noticed a few points that could be useful, and that from what I read on the internet, haven’t been brought up.
1) The name of the episode… I mean, this one should’ve been quite obvious, yet everybody dances around it without actually catching on: yes, it’s about balls. But not Phil’s balls. It’s about… the strong, silent type, again. The entire episode is the conflict between the new generation and the old, without Tony mentioning the strong silent type once in this episode, he constantly brings it up in terms of AJ and, indirectly, Vito: the start of the episode, AJ’s lack of responsibility, we’ve seen that, but that single scene (my favourite scene of the entire series, no contest) when Tony goes to AJ’s room and sees him giggling in front of the computer… Not only that I have lived that scene with my father countless times, but that use of Gaze to point out the theme of the entire series (fin de siècle, turn of the century, new ways vs. old ones, father(s) vs. son(s), hard vs. soft, stone cold vs. flaccid, silent vs. chatty), without any lines, is in my opinion, the best scene that Chase ever wrote, hands down (Tony is particularly Godfather-y in that scene with his expensive suit, wanting his son to be strong, and silent, while his son is actually in a CHAT room, CHATING his ass of, the picture of non-masculinity, I mean, come on). Tony then threatens AJ, and so on… but the name of the episode is a reference to their conversation in season one: “your grand-grandparents built this church, they took care of the Stones…” I mean, if that is not enough, at the end of the episode Tony forces, yes, forces AJ into making concrete. The modern version of stone, in order to thoughen him up. It’s so obvious, yet everybody seems to have missed it. And then, Paulie with his remark about the old bosses, back in the day, and how they are looking on us… Then, it also depicts Phil as the typical old-school guy who can’t let go of Vito being gay. Tony is such a hypocryte. He wants for the old school guys, but when he has to deal with them (Feech, Richie Aprile, Johnny Sack, Junior and Phil), he fucking rages on about how he’s the victim and it’s all about him. The Melfi scene only reinforces the theme of the episode: Tony vs. AJ, and the easily ovrerlooked question that she asks Him: what do YOU want out of this life, making a clear pun at the fact that AJ’s a kid, sure, an overgrown one, but, honey, so are you. And he just never answers her, continuing his tangent, it’s insane the level of detail, and low-key jabs she takes to bring out his inner conflict and hypocrisy towards his own son. He even dreams of himself as a mason in season 5, yet, hates the working class and a couple of episodes back shits all over Sal Vitro.

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- Kozhyleus | August 4, 2021 at 2:55 am | Reply
  
  This one kind of pissed me off, because the person who thought about it got it all wrong, and you quoted him:
  2) Ade. The dream sequence, starting with the dead, winter trees, great catch… Sure, Carmela thinks about her in Paris, but so does Tony, subconciously, even before Carm does – the Blowjob symmetry: Matt Zoller Seitz is simply completely wrong. Scene with Vito’s blowjob is completely different: it’s daytime, the car is parked, it’s two men, there’s a third person (Finn), it’s tied to the grander narrative of being gay in the mob, it is just completely unrelated to the blowjob scene in this episode. Yet, in an episode where Ade is remembered (this episode), Matt fails to see that Tony takes that stripper for a ride (he took Ade for a ride when they crashed, and also, their cover story was “I gave her a ride home”), in the same car as he did Ade (the car name and model are the same, it’s a different vehicle of course), in the night, same camera shots are used, the stripper blows him and thanks him for a ride (the main thing of the episode 05×05 was the supposed blowjob that Ade has given to Tony, in a moving car, in the night). It’s shot for shot. The stripper also says to Tony “you are such a nice guy”, Ade’s trademark, if there ever was one, to call everybody nice, and than the music… Sweet child of mine, Tony called Ade a child multiple times. I mean, pardon my intrusions, but for the sake of the analysis, you should think about changing that part, or at least leaving Matt out of it, coz he’s wrong, as “film critics” are 95% of the time.
  
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  - Kozhyleus | August 4, 2021 at 3:03 am | Reply
    
    3) The Lou Costello statue, of him holding a bat is where Phil and Tony meet multiple times in this season. Phil’s guys beat Vito with baseball bats before doing who knows what. Also, that slow shot of Phil’s right hand, as Vito is getting pummeled… It strongly insinuates that it was Phil who inserted the pool stick up Vito’s ass. This is a broad motif in cinema, especially in horror genre and thriller’s: fucking/raping somebody as a form of punishment. It’s a european thing, many european directors resort to this only too often, and it got old 50 years ago. Yet, Chase does his Tarantino thing (one of many), where you don’t get to see it, and you don’t get to see the beating that leads to it, either.
    
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    - Kozhyleus | August 4, 2021 at 3:14 am | Reply
      
      4) Carmela’s self pity and historisation of self in the Paris scenes, but that scene with the jewlery, specifically: this is one heckuva marxist moment that Chase goes for, when Carmela says “they were just like us”: we know that contents of all western-european museums, UK’s espacially, are aboslutely stolen. Just outright, robbing rich people in war, in a revolution, or, mostly, after colonising them. This is a fact, perhaps not so widely known in USA, but in Europe, it’s our trademark. She looks at it and literally says, “we are like them”. Yes, you are. Your husband stole even your wedding ring. I’m an anti-marxist myself, but this one Chase got right. It’s all loot basicly, and that goes for the museums that are cathedrals: they were mostly financed by the war effort, or through heavy taxing of the poor. Can’t argue there, even though, yes, they are beautiful none the less. In Luxury Lounge you pointed out Chase’s potential hypocrisy on this matter, and I like to think that he kind of redeems himself here. But it goes with the constant hypocrisy of Carmela’s, in the next scene she fakes an exaltation, to the point of crying. And following that scene, we see Vito’s wife and her friend/cousin take that trauma-porn to the next level: she cries for her tailor going blind, I mean come on, how phony can you get, Vito just got fucked with a pool stick and died a “young man, who is also thin”.
      
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      - Kozhyleus | August 4, 2021 at 3:21 am | Reply
        
        5) This one is final, and minor: that particular shot of Dom lieing dead on a table in Bada Bing, Carlo on the left of him, Sil on the right, and perfectly aligned with his dead body, just above it, a poster of what seems to be Joan of Arc, with what seems to be a sword. Funny, killed by a cooking knife in a trip to Paris episode, while Joan is watching from above.
        
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    - Kozhyleus | August 4, 2021 at 3:40 am | Reply
      
      There’s also something it that gaze of Phil’s dissapointment that tells me: motherfucker, I was inside for 20 years, and I a) never touched a man, or b) was taking two guys at once every week, but: you don’t ever do it on the outside (to quote him from an earlier episode, “you never admit to this thing of ours”), because it means the end of the Strong, Silent type.
      
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  - Kozhyleus | August 4, 2021 at 9:44 am | Reply
    
    In fact, because of the extreme similiarity with the Ade blowjob ride in 05×05, a case can easily be made that the entire scene with the blonde stripper and the blowjob is Tony’s dream (that gets followed by Carmela’s dream of Ade in this same episode). He dreamed of almost all the people he killed, and his sexual fantasy with Ade came to an abrupt ending with the crash, and then any chance for it died with her being offed by Sil. It’s what people often dream of: finishing sexual innuendos.
    
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Kozhyleus | August 4, 2021 at 1:57 pm | Reply

A more than couple of episodes back, you noticed that Tony generally wears dark clothes when he’s cheating on Carmela, and light clothes when he’s with her. In this episode, we see Tony have his first sexual experience outside of his marriage since he left the hospital, and talk about it with Melfi numerous times as something that he thinks about, regularly. A stripper blows him, and in the same episode, Carmela is suddenly washing darks. After even encouraging him in the beggining of the episode to “do whatever boys do while she’s away”. Just, wow. You are right: she IS back to the regularness of life. And she is happy in NJ, as long as she doesn’t know.

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Chris Harris | August 20, 2021 at 9:50 am | Reply

I think you are spot ON about the exploration of identity, and watching this episode in the context of the final season in mind, I couldn’t help but wonder if this episode acts as a kind of denouement to Carmela’s series-long struggle with hers. If the separation was her third act attempt to break into a new identity, and to begin down a new path, her failure to break from the ‘blood money’ signaled her eventual defeat. In her negotiated return, she nevertheless tried to salvage something of a new identity by starting her ‘own thing’ a la Angie Bonpensiero – but even her spec house proved to be dependant on Tony, this seems to be the episode where she seems finally resigned to her lot in life. As you point out, it features a perfect summary of her underlying faustian deal: Permission to, ‘do whatever it is that boys do’ followed by the gleeful acceptance of what she once derided as, ‘just another mink coat’ in the form of the designer purse and cash. And fittingly, it ends with her seeming embrace once and for all of her identity as the domstic enabler she described to Krakower: ‘All I do is keep clean clothes in his closet.’

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Moonman | December 5, 2021 at 8:53 pm | Reply

Chase is given credit for everything in this writeup, every decision described as his. But he was merely a third writer on this one. It was directed by Tim Van Patten, and edited by Sidney Wolinsky. TV is very much a collaborative medium, and auteur-theory suck-ups don’t have a place in it. You should credit people for the work they did, here and elsewhere.

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- Ron | December 5, 2021 at 9:54 pm | Reply
  
  As I mentioned in my very first write-up, for the Pilot, I use the term “Chase” as a catch-all for the entire production team; when I’m referring to David Chase the man, I rely on the intelligence of the reader to figure it out from the context. Can I ask… why the fuck do you even visit this site?? Because all you ever do is take cracks at me and at some of the other commenters…
  
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  - mariocroatia | March 14, 2024 at 6:53 pm | Reply
    
    Balls on these pricks( i meant balls as a gall, nerve) !
    
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Pet Ant | December 20, 2021 at 9:22 pm | Reply

Maybe Phil was someone’s bitch in prison, and that’s why homosexuality upsets him so much now.

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- Orangeannie | December 20, 2021 at 11:12 pm | Reply
  
  That’s what I think too!! He did it in prison as a necessity, but the thought of actually doing it out of prison and because you LIKE makes him sick.
  
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  - Pet Ant | December 22, 2021 at 5:49 pm | Reply
    
    I think that fits with Phil’s virulent anger, especially with all the harping on shame and disgrace to the family.
    
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Anonymous | January 8, 2022 at 3:36 pm | Reply

“We also wonder if Phil is gay himself. He literally comes out of the closet in Vito’s motel room, perhaps a sort of visual pun that suggests his own latent homosexuality. He demands the bodybuilding contest on the TV to be turned off, perhaps trying to turn off his own excitement at the sight of buff male bodies. And he has trouble sleeping after he whacks Vito.”
I think the reason Phil has trouble sleeping is more due to the fact that his hatred for the Soprano Family burns with the heat of a thousand suns; he’s thinking about how to take them down.

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LK | January 17, 2022 at 9:25 am | Reply

The scene where Tony smashes AJ’s windshield with a helmet was funny as heck! First of all, windshields are made to be virtually impossible to break. Also, the hole in the glass was about 5 times as large as the helmet! I guess Chase was looking to make Tony out to be a real mean brute (albeit a bloated, grotesque brute). 🤡

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- Ron | January 17, 2022 at 11:33 am | Reply
  
  Haha I also thought it wasn’t very realistic how that windshield broke…
  
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LK | January 31, 2022 at 12:05 pm | Reply

P.S. Better to bang a helmet into the windshield than AJ’s head. I wonder whether AJ caught the significance of Tony’s violent action. Then again, AJ ain’t the brightest bulb in the lamp. 😕

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Anon | March 1, 2022 at 4:09 pm | Reply

that stripper got me really horny while she was dancing to the song “Knights in White Satin” by girorgio moroder. knights in white satin was the malapropism tonys ex russian mistress uttered, asking where was her knight in white satin, when be was breaking up with her. what david chase mean by this?

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- LK | March 23, 2022 at 2:20 pm | Reply
  
  Anon – ‘Knights in White Satin’ is a song written by Justin Hayward (‘The Moody Blues’ group) in 1967. It’s about a person who can only love someone from afar. In other words, loving an unattainable human being. Irina is Russian, and her knowledge of the English language is limited, so she most likely got the title of the song screwed up.
  
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  - clinto42 | December 21, 2023 at 10:29 am | Reply
    
    Also it was “Nights” without the K which makes the mistake funnier… Knight in shining armor, K/night in white satin armor. All the malapropisms on this show to me seem to point to how in America and much of the world the “emperor has no clothes” people wield power without any intelligence to go with it. Think about Trump this week.. “I have never read Mein Kampf!” I mean this shit writes itself.
    
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LK | March 23, 2022 at 2:10 pm | Reply

I thought that I was bored out of my mind with Chris’ drug abuse, but now with Julianna’a drug abuse, I’m ready to tear my hair out! Well, at least the MOST boring storyline, in my opinion (the gay Vito thing, which contributed absolutely nothing to this season, except line the actors’ pockets) has finally ended!

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- clinto42 | December 21, 2023 at 10:30 am | Reply
  
  You hater.
  
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Pingback: The Soprano Onceover: #22. “Cold Stones (S6E11) | janiojala
Hesh | May 30, 2022 at 2:22 pm | Reply

great write up, dude, but the fall is set in Amsterdam, and not Paris. (your point stands because that scene does happen, but in a flashback which is illustrating the character’s selfness and cowardice despite having such a high opinion of himself while he was living in Paris), he simply walks by it and rationalizes this as “i wouldve had to put my own safety in jeopardy if i did somethign.” at the time it has no effect on him, he simply goes on with his life. It is some time later when the character is walking across the bridge again, after having a great day, that he hears the laughter. It’s kind of a flashback in a flashback.

“I was happy. The day had been good: a blind man, the reduced sentence I had hoped for, a cordial handclasp from my client, a few generous actions and, in the afternoon, a brilliant improvisation in the company of several friends on the hard-handedness of our governing class and the hypocrisy of our leaders. … I felt rising within me a vast feeling of power and — I don’t know how to express it — of completion, which cheered my heart. I straightened up and was about to light a cigarette, the cigarette of satisfaction, when, at that very moment, a laugh burst out behind me.”

It’s set in amsterdam because Camus was demarcating Jean’s descent into hell (Amsterdam functions geographically like Dante’s inferno).

like i said, your point stands, as the Fall is mainly about identity, just like Season 6:

“Thus I progressed on the surface of life, in the realm of words as it were, never in reality. All those books barely read, those friends barely loved, those cities barely visited, those women barely possessed! I went through the gestures out of boredom or absent-mindedness. Then came human beings; they wanted to cling, but there was nothing to cling to, and that was unfortunate–for them. As for me, I forgot. I never remembered anything but myself.”
― Albert Camus, The Fall

but it’s just a note.

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- Ron | May 30, 2022 at 5:56 pm | Reply
  
  Accurate note. I just didn’t want to belabor a whole explanation in the write-up…
  
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  - mariocroatia | March 15, 2024 at 3:03 am | Reply
    
    Thank you Ron for your pointing of that Albert Camus short novel, i am reading these days again your analysis so when you mentioned his work The Fall, i said to my self i must i read it, Camus roman Etrangere ( The Stranger i think in english) is one of my favourite romans, i must red it at least 50 times, it’s really strange how am i moved and puzzled by that novel and its antihero Mersault.
    I read it multiple times, from my high school , when i was 17 to now, 26 years later, it doesn’t take more than 2 hours to read it. I red The Plague too few times.
    So last night i downloaded it from one PDF sites and started reading it, its really interesting.
    
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    - Ron | March 15, 2024 at 11:10 am | Reply
      
      The Plague, The Stranger and The Fall are as relevant today as when they were written..
      
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Peter Dutton | June 1, 2022 at 5:26 am | Reply

One very small point: it’s actually the church of St Eustache (rather than a cathedral) that Carmela and Rosalie visit. It’s a beautiful church of cathedral proportions. Loving these analyses!

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- Ron | June 1, 2022 at 9:42 am | Reply
  
  Thanks
  
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Nick | June 14, 2022 at 10:37 pm | Reply

I think the Skynyrd connection is interesting…in 4.05 “Pie O My” Vito tells Adrianna that she needs to “play some Skynyrd” at her club, Crazy Horse.

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Anonymous | October 25, 2023 at 6:46 am | Reply

Again the background tv programs provide some annotation to the present situation. “For the Supreme Commanders, control over the sworn enemy’s capital city is the epitome of their power in Europe” The ww2 documentary is touching on the power struggle between NY and Jersey that’s threatening to boil over if Tony leaves it unchecked. And so Tony feels he can’t handle Vito the way he’d wanted to do as not to inflame things, yet tensions mount regardless thanks to Phil and the surprise whacking at Satriales. Fucking Vito, why does this all have to happen to Tony! Tony’s shameless in how control over all domains of his immediate life is really all he cares about which is why Paris never appealed to him even if he had spare free time. The situation with AJ bothers him because even with Carmela gone he feels powerless to influence AJ since he can’t resort to threats of violence with family which is the preferred method of getting ones way in Sopranos world. So he’ll hit AJ where it can hurt, financially, which interestingly also seemed to be the subtle and economically safe play with Phil. Meanwhile Carm finds she’s a lot like Tony after her introspective trip to Europe because it all comes back to her world in Jersey regardless. She wanted a vacation because the stress of AJ and her powerlessness with the spec house was hurting her, but vacation mode doesn’t seem to come easy. The reflections that lead to sadness, the French soldier memorial, and her probing Rosaline about her deceased child all come from nagging questions about her involvement in Jersey crime that she cannot put to bed, she cannot stop worrying about, and in the end it’ll all be for what? Rosaline’s right, Carm is too “philosophical’ which is to mean that she hasn’t learned to numb her nagging mind of peaky questions in order to cope with the horrors that comes with being part of the familia.

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Anonymous | February 7, 2024 at 8:59 pm | Reply

Arriving years late to the party here, but someone mentioned in a previous post that Vito looks like a devil as he arrives in Dartford in “Live Free or Die”, wearing a red hood & asking for entrance in the middle of the night. I think the Vito as a devil theme is reaffirmed here in “Cold Stones,” when we see Johnny Cakes reading “The Devil in the White City” while lying next to Vito in bed. The “devil” in that book is H. H. Holmes, a con artist, serial killer, and pathological liar who committed a series of notorious crimes during the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair (another parallel – this world’s fair was celebrating the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ arrival in the so-called “New World”). Vito arrives in this new world, a very white, Normal Rockwell-esque town, but he realizes quite quickly that he simply doesn’t belong – he is too used to the excitement and relative ease of a life of crime. I think this parallels with Carm, implying that she too is a “devil” in the “white city” of Paris. We have watched Carm wrestle with her ethics & spirituality over the last 6 seasons. Despite her deep knowing about Adriana’s fate, her philosophical insights in Paris all ultimately lead her back home to the underworld of the mob, where she feels a sense of belonging. Carm spends all six seasons in a state of cognitive dissonance that rivals Tony’s; she sees herself as an ethical, spiritual person, but she, like Vito, ultimately chooses a life of crime, making peace with it all for the sake of her Porsche’s and LV’s full of cash.

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