Tony returns to his regular life.
Allegra Sac gets married.
Vito gets outed.
Episode 70 – Originally aired April 9, 2006
Written by Terence Winter
Directed by Steve ‘Ichabod Crane’ Buscemi
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Whew! We’ve been sailing some rough seas lately, with mystical near-death-experiences and heavy-duty philosophical excursions over the last couple of episodes. We’re finally back in calmer waters now. “Mr. and Mrs. John Sacrimoni Request” is a solid and easygoing episode. This is a fairly straightforward hour that doesn’t require too much breaking down. I’m going to focus on the role that fantasy and fairytale play in the episode, because it is not obviously apparent and has not been discussed very much in any previous analysis that I’ve seen. Chase pits “reality” against “fantasy” in all three major storylines of the hour: Tony’s return to regular life; Allegra Sacrimoni’s wedding; and Vito getting outed.
Tony is getting settled back at home and at work, but everyone is treating him like a kid. Carmela acts like an overprotective mommy, even shielding him from provocative newspaper articles. Dante Greco offers to set his watch so that he can remind Tony to take his medications. The Sopranos can sometimes be guilty of beating us over the head with some point that it wants to make, and the point of Tony’s vulnerability and weakness is pounded into us here. But Chase can be subtle too. For example, when Tony comes to the Satriale backroom, Chase’s camera captures him pulling out a bottle of antibiotics. In each successive shot, that bottle—which represents Tony’s convalescence—appears at the bottom of the screen and acts as an anchor to the scene. It’s a subtle touch—we don’t even notice the bottle until Christopher calls our attention to it:
“Antibiotics,” Chris says. “I had that with the spleen. Staves off infection.” Christopher and Tony compare their surgical incisions. Tony has survived a major catastrophic event, and—like many survivors—he is convinced that his life will be changed going forward. In Melfi’s office, Tony insists that “Each day is a gift. And that’s how it’s gonna stay.” Tony feels that from now on, he will appreciate each day as a special miracle imbued with meaning and grace. He will give thanks everyday for the gift of life that he has been given. Yeah, good luck sustaining that feeling, Ton’.
We know Chase well enough—and most of us know life well enough—to know that Tony’s noble sentiment cannot last long. Tony is trying to turn his life into a fairytale, give it a “happily ever after” feeling in which he appreciates the value of each and every day. But the truth is that some days just suck—you almost wish that there was some sort of Existential Customer Service counter where you could return the day for a refund. Other days—most days, I think—feel neither miserable nor like a sacred gift; they just feel like another day in the long string of days that make up life. It’s the same ol’ shit. Another day, another dollar. Of course, there are occasionally days in our lives that are truly special and memorable, days we can genuinely be thankful for. Wedding days, for example…
The Sacrimoni family plans Allegra’s wedding in the visiting room of the prison where Johnny Sac is serving time. John assures his family that the wedding day will be special despite “all the roadblocks and persecution” that they face. We chuckle as the younger, anorexic-looking daughter’s food issues unexpectedly bubble up to the surface of the conversation: “Jesus, can we ever talk about anything in this family besides food?!” Chase doubles down on the humor by cutting to a familiar food market with its grinning pig:
All brides-to-be wish that their wedding day will be special, and Allegra is no exception. Her wish comes true—at least for awhile. The reception is a lavish affair, held at Leonard’s and filled with music and dancing and laughter and fine food. But the realities of mob-life start to intrude upon the fantasy. During the reception, Johnny Sac convinces Tony to whack “the mayor of Munchkinland” Rusty Millio. Rusty wasn’t thrilled about having to attend this wedding; in the opening moments of the episode, we saw him open the invitation and groan to his wife:
The wedding turns out to be quite a consequential thing in Rusty’s life—Tony was not willing to whack Rusty until Johnny Sac convinces him otherwise at the wedding reception. (This gives a double meaning to the episode title: Mr. Sacrimoni “requests” that his rival Rusty be killed.)
Allegra’s special day looks like it’s going to go well all the way through to the end, but it gets wrecked when U.S. Marshals choose an inopportune moment to usher John back to prison. As the Marshals pull their giant government SUV in front of the reception hall, they block the path of Allegra’s limousine (making a mockery, literally, of John’s earlier statement to his family that they would persevere through all the “roadblocks”). Ginny Sac faints in the ensuing confusion. The image of her legs sticking out from the crowd reminded me of the scene from The Wizard of Oz, when Dorothy’s house lands on the Wicked Witch of the East and all we see of her are her legs sticking out:
Ginny is no wicked witch, so I don’t know why this shot made me think of that movie. I guess the reference to “Munchkinland” earlier in the episode put me in a Wizard of Oz frame-of-mind. I can’t be sure that this shot is meant to evoke the Oz fairytale, but there is no question that Chase references another fairytale just moments later; after a teary-eyed John is hauled back to jail, the guys gather together and discuss John’s crying:
Paulie: His fuckin’ coach turned into a pumpkin, hehe.
Phil: But even Cinderella didn’t cry.
In the macho world of the mob, crying is a sure sign of weakness. Phil wonders if John Sacrimoni has the stugots to withstand the federal government’s prosecution. Tony is far more forgiving, he understands that fathers can’t always control their emotions when it comes to their daughters. Tony may have a particular soft-spot towards his daughter right now because she, perhaps more than anyone else, saved him from dying (i.e. entering the Inn at the Oaks) a few episodes ago. Additionally, Tony knows what it’s like to be led away in handcuffs in front of his daughter just as Johnny Sac was here—it happened to him back in Season 2:
Every wedding I’ve ever been to has tried to capture an idyllic sense of “happily ever after,” that sense of storybook romance. Even if a wedding can successfully evoke the magic of a fairytale, no marriage can sustain the fantasy forever. Some marriages don’t even come close. Throughout the reception, Vito Spatafore looks listless and dour—perhaps the happiness of the newlyweds serves to remind him how hollow and contrived his own marriage is. (We are neatly reminded of Vito’s homosexuality when he compliments sharp-dressed Finn.) In an ill-humor, Vito hustles his wife Marie and their kids out of the reception early, before they even get a chance to finish dinner.
The Sopranos often forwards the notion that people are the cause of their own unhappiness. If we are far from living our ideal life, then it is largely our own fault. We live in prisons of our own making. In one scene here, Tony gives voice to this idea, telling Carmela that we each make our own luck in life. This scene is bordered front-and-back by two scenes that emphasize Tony’s point. First, we see the cold interaction between Vito and Marie as he lies to her about why he’s going out so late at night. He has, in a sense, imprisoned himself in an unhappy marriage because he has chosen not to come out of the closet. And then one scene later we see that Johnny Sac has literally imprisoned himself. John Sacrimoni is an intelligent, capable man, full of love and respect for his wife and children. It’s not difficult at all to imagine that John could have provided a good life for his family as a law-abiding, legitimate businessman. But he chose to make his living as a mobster, and now he is confined in a cell as a consequence.
Though Vito is not stuck in an actual prison as Johnny Sac is, he is constricted by his double-life as a closeted gay man. Vito is not living his best possible life, but rather an imitation of life. Fittingly, Marie is watching Douglas Sirk’s 1959 film Imitation of Life as Vito goes off into the night. Douglas Sirk fleed Nazi Germany (his real name is Hans Sierck) because his personal politics didn’t jibe very well with the growing German fascist state, but also because his wife was Jewish. He came to the United States and became well-known for directing lush melodramas that were critical of the constricted society of 1950s America. Films like Imitation of Life and All That Heaven Allows explore racism, social conventions, and class divisions. At a time when a vision of a wholesome, happy, godly, peaceful society was the prevailing American fantasy (a fantasy reflected in works like Leave it to Beaver and Bing Crosby songs), Sirk’s films came along to lift a veil and show us that all is not perfect in our country. Contemporary filmmaker Todd Haynes recognized that American society of the 2000s was, in some ways, as constricted as the 1950s America that Sirk depicted. He released Far From Heaven in 2002, a film very closely modeled on Sirk’s earlier melodramas. Haynes’ contemporary film doesn’t focus on race relations or class divisions as Sirk’s movies did, but on a more contemporary injustice—prejudice against homosexuals.
Many of Chase’s viewers took issue with his “gay mobster” storyline, and they had a variety of reasons for their dislike. Some found the scene where Vito gets sighted at a leather bar here to be a little too sensational, and others found the scene to be too unlikely to occur. Some viewers didn’t think Joe Gannascoli was believable in the role of a gay gangster. Some viewers simply didn’t like the story. (It’s completely legitimate to dislike certain storylines, but I’m sure that some of the ire directed at this particular story stemmed out of a homophobia that was more rampant and apparent in 2006 than it is today. And I would guess that a larger percentage of Sopranos viewers have this prejudice compared to the viewership of, say, The West Wing or Mad Men.) Other viewers complained that the storyline was just a comic excursion, or a way to kill time leading into Part II of Season 6. I didn’t share any of these opinions then, and even less so now. I’ve argued over the last few write-ups that a major goal of Season 6 seems to be to place The Sopranos in the cultural and political currents of its time. Chase puts his series square in the stream with this episode. When this episode originally aired in 2006, President Bush was pushing the Federal Marriage Amendment, a Constitutional amendment limiting the definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman. That same year, Evangelical leader (and anti-gay zealot/Presidential advisor) Ted Haggard was outed by a male prostitute and forced to resign his presidency of the National Association of Evangelicals. Also that year, Representative Mark Foley (R), who had taken anti-LGBT positions as a Congressman (though he didn’t support the Federal Marriage Amendment), gave up his Congressional seat after it was discovered that he had been sending sexually explicit messages to young male interns. Clearly, gay rights and attitudes toward homosexuality were common and contentious topics in our national dialogue at the time. Chase’s “gay mobster” storyline is an integral and necessary part of his effort in Season 6 to turn the series into more of a reflection of contemporary America.
Some viewers may argue that Vito’s story here did not contribute very much to the national debate over gay rights because the Mafia, after all, represents only a tiny (and very unique) sliver of the larger American population in which it exists. However, I think that Chase has always presented his mob as a subculture that is very much shaped by the larger mainstream culture of the United States. Vito Spatafore is not only hemmed by the customs and taboos of the mob, he is also ruled by American societal norms. The values of the mob and of American society often run parallel. And I think we can find an even stronger parallel between the conventions of the mob and the conventions of the U.S. military. In his essay, “Until the Fat Man Sings: Body Image, Masculinity and Sexuality in The Sopranos,” Dr. Keith Mitchell writes…
The jig is up for Vito, and he knows it…He knows the price of being queer and in the mob. The parallel between Vito’s situation as a closet gay man in the mob and the question of gays in the military is relevant here. Before his outing, Vito existed under a self-imposed “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was an official policy used by the U.S. Military as part of their prohibition against gay service members. (Gays could serve openly in the armed forces only after “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was finally repealed in 2011.) The Mafia has something of the rigid mentality and the hierarchal structure of a military organization, and many mobsters even think of themselves as “soldiers.” As would have been the case for any gay U.S. military service member at the time, the only way Vito could remain in his organization would have been to make sure that his secret never got out.
Vito knows he must flee now under penalty of death. He kisses his sleeping wife, grabs his gun and heads out for a motel. As Vito makes his getaway, The Browns’ harmonious 1959 tune “The Three Bells,” which we heard in the previous hour, plays again. We heard the first verse, about Jimmy Brown’s birth, in the previous episode but this time we only hear the second verse, which is about Jimmy’s wedding. I think Chase uses the song here just as he used it in the previous episode: as a way to gently mock the silliness of a simplistic, black-and-white mentality. Vito must make his escape now because his colleagues are still mentally stuck in the schematic morality of the 1950s. The simple, idyllic world that the song evokes didn’t actually exist in the The Fifties, but Chase’s mobsters—and many Americans still today—look back to that era as some sort of Golden Age. Of course, in reality, the affairs of human life and the human heart are far more messy and complicated than their backwards-looking, reactionary idealism allows for. Their idealized vision of the world may be wholesome and appealing, but it’s too good to be true. It is only a feel-good fairytale:
The Three Bells (2nd Verse)
There’s a village hidden deep in the valley
Beneath the mountains high above
And there, twenty years thereafter
Jimmy was to meet his love.
All the chapel bells were ringing,
Was a great day in his life
Cause the songs that they were singing
Were for Jimmy and his wife.
Then the little congregation
Prayed for guidance from above
“Lead us not into temptation,
Bless oh Lord this celebration
May their lives be filled with love.”
In the next episode, Vito will find himself in Dartford, a place that evokes this song’s “village hidden deep in the valley.” And there, Vito is “to meet his love,”—not Jimmy Brown, but Jim “Johnny Cakes” Witowski…
__________________________________
There’s a funny exchange here when Perry Annuziata (or Penne Arrabiata, as T calls him) chauffeurs Tony around town. Tony notices Perry’s powerful arms and they start talking about weight lifting. Tony feels the need to share an anecdote about his younger days:
Tony: There was a time when I could bench over 300 pounds.
Perry: (looks straight ahead at the road, unimpressed)
Tony: With a major head cold one time, I did it.
Perry: (still doesn’t respond)
Tony: If you cough with weights like that over your head, you could crush your neck.
So: when Tony’s mention of “300 pounds” fails to prove his manhood, he tries to salvage some of his masculinity by suggesting his bravery before a potential neck injury. Questions and issues regarding strength and masculinity pulse throughout this entire hour: Phil Leotardo questions Johnny Sac’s toughness after seeing him cry; Vito knows his life and status as a professional tough guy are endangered after being seen in a leather outfit; Tony feels weak and emasculated as he recuperates from his gunshot. With Dr. Melfi’s help, Tony figures out how to combat his feelings of vulnerability. Melfi tells him to project an image of strength, and Tony does just that when he gets back to Satriale’s. He picks a fight with strongman Perry and kicks his ass. (I guess it’s something like that old strategy of starting a fistfight with the strongest guy on your first day of prison to prove how tough you are.) Tony knew that he could easily bait Perry after seeing how quickly Perry was angered after getting cut-off by an aggressive driver. (I also wonder if Tony was looking to unload some resentment at Perry because of how unimpressed the muscleman was by T’s 300-pound lift.) As the guys help poor Perry up off the floor, Tony slips into the bathroom to vomit. He pulls himself up to the mirror and grins at himself in satisfaction. Tony is back in the saddle again, and he knows it. But the thrill of victory is short-lived; within moments, he is puking again.
With the beatdown of Perry Annunziata, Tony has taken the first real step in settling back into “the fuckin’ regularness” of his daily life. The Students’ 1959 doo-wop song “Every Day of the Week” starts up and takes us into the final credits; “Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday,” they sing. Although Tony insisted earlier to Melfi that “each day is a gift,” these lyrics underscore that each day is primarily just that—just another day of the week. The regular, boring, day-after-day ongoingness of life trumps everything else in SopranoWorld. Life is not a never-ending fairytale. Sure, some days are a gift. But other days are not particularly special. And some days, you find yourself on your knees with your head in a dirty toilet bowl.
___________________________________
I find it notable that this hour features three works of art originally produced in 1959: Imitation of Life, “The Three Bells,” and “Every Day of the Week.” 1959 was arguably the final year of the old guard. In the following year, the old hat-wearing politicians were shaken up by the election of our new bareheaded President John F. Kennedy and his vibrant vision of the future. Also in 1960, Bob Dylan dropped out of college to focus on his music. These three works from 1959 must have seemed so dated within just a few years because of the artistic revolution that occurred in the Sixties. Art in that period, regardless of its medium, became experimental, conceptual, pop, performative, psychedelic, far out… The times, they were a-changin’.
The artistic revolution of that decade reflected—and fueled—a progressive swing within our culture. The 60s gave us LBJ’s “Great Society” plan, Civil rights, voter rights, the student movement, the youth movement, the peace movement, immigration laws that opened up our borders. Social and sexual attitudes loosened up, giving rise to “free love” and drug use. But there were legitimate concerns about the excesses of the decade, including concerns about governmental overreach. The pendulum started to swing back to the Right, and it has been swinging back and forth for decades now.
When it comes to gay rights, however, the pendulum has pretty consistently been moving in one direction, especially over the last 10 or 12 years. The Federal Marriage Amendment stalled just two months after this episode first aired. The military’s “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy was repealed in 2011. Also in 2011, evangelical Ted Haggard admitted to GQ magazine that he would identify himself as a bisexual if he was a member of today’s younger generation. Mark Foley went on to live openly with his partner after leaving Congress. A significant portion of the Defense of Marriage Act was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 2013, allowing gay married couples to receive more of the benefits that heterosexual couples enjoy. And in 2015, the Supreme Court struck down all state bans against homosexual marriage. Some viewers saw Chase’s gay-mobster storyline as a placeholder or as padding for a season that was irregularly divided into two parts. But the storyline genuinely reflected a major cultural concern of the mid-decade, and it may not even be too much of a stretch to say that Vito’s story in Season 6 played some role in shaping our culture’s evolving stance on homosexuality and gay rights over the following years.
___________________________________
In addition to gay rights, another contentious topic during the Bush era was the War on Terror. In this episode, Chase reminds us of terrorism issues and post-9/11 security procedures as the guests at Allegra’s wedding stand in line to pass through a metal detector. Tony even makes a reference to Osama Bin Laden. (And when Tony is asked to remove his shoes, we are reminded of that security procedure, post-shoebomber Richard Reid.) But this episode puts us in a terrorism frame-of-mind mainly through the reappearance of Ahmed and Muhammad at the Bada Bing. When Chris sees them, he jokes, “Where are the rest of the 40 thieves?” which certainly might allude to their criminal activities, but more pointedly, the Ali Baba reference underscores their Middle Eastern origin. As they conduct business, the men ask Chris if he can supply them with semi-automatic weapons “for a family problem.” Hmm, sounds kind of fishy. They seem more like typical American guys when they gaze at the Bing strippers, but this of course doesn’t rule out that they may be religious fanatics—some of the 9/11 hijackers enjoyed a strip joint too. Despite being told by the FBI a couple of episodes back to keep alert for suspicious activities, none of Christopher’s alarm bells seem to go off. Of the two contentious topics in this hour, I think most viewers would have predicted that ‘potential terrorism’ is the storyline that would have developed more as season 6A progressed, but Chase actually chose to focus more on the ‘gay mobster’ storyline. Chase loves to throw us the curveball.
__________________________________
Every Sopranos episode has some humor, but this one really tickles. Some of the more hilarious moments:
- Christopher’s Allegra/antihistamine confusion
- Christopher’s confusion over who owed who a favor in The Godfather
- When Tony returns home from work, Carm asks him “How was the first day? Do you want to take a nap?” like he is a little child. (And then cut to him crawling into bed for a nap.)
- AJ’s date says—while exhaling her cigarette—that she doesn’t eat fish because of the toxins.
- Johnny Sac’s dad shouts out some dietary advice: “Don’t eat that pepper!”
- AJ wonders, “An event planner?? Where do you get this shit?!” (It was in “All Due Respect” last season that Tony and Carm came to believe their son might be interested in this career.)
___________________________________
ADDITIONAL POINTS:
- It’s interesting that when Chris hands the stolen credit card numbers over to the two Muslim men, he parrots the famous American Express slogan: “Don’t leave home without it.” (The fact that the young men don’t recognize the slogan marks them as suspect cultural outsiders.) Throughout the series, Chase intertwines various criminal activities with companies that have the word “American” in their names (remember American Biotics from episode 1.10?), and we will see more examples of this later in Season 6.
- Irony: Corrado faked dementia earlier in the series in an attempt to avoid prosecution, and now he may avoid trial because he is actually degenerating mentally.
- Little Details: Corrado tells an orderly that he is taking Coumadin. (We know that Corrado suffers from TIAs, aka mini-strokes, and this is a medication used to prevent that.)
- Little Details: Petey is a minor character who’s been around since season 4 (I think he and Benny took out Credenzo Curtis and Stanley Johnson in “Whitecaps”), but this is the first time I’ve noticed his nickname: ‘Bissell’. It would be appropriate for him to be named after a floor cleaner—he is seen sweeping up Satriale’s here.
- Sopranos mythology: Allegra’s wedding sequence begins with shots that include trees and leaves being rustled by wind while church bells ring. Trees and wind and bells were used very powerfully in the previous episode, and they continue to gain mythological significance as the season continues.
- In “The Sopranos: The Vanity Fair Oral History,” Vince Curatola (Johnny Sac) pays a nice compliment to Steve Buscemi’s direction in this episode: “When Johnny Sac is brought back to his jail cell, in an orange jumpsuit, Buscemi said, ‘Vince, just sit down and do nothing—don’t even look exasperated, don’t look anything, it’s finished.’ And that was the cut he used. It was one of the best notes I ever had from a director: Sit down and do nothing.”
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Sopranos Autopsy 
One of the things I love about the Sopranos is how they weave the tiniest of threads throughout different seasons. The event planner line was great, because as you mentioned, in “All Due Respect”, Carmela reveals that Wegner has switched off counselling AJ as a result of their affair, but his new college adviser tells Carmella that AJ has asked about schools to study event planning, due to his success of his high school for-profit parties. We already know that AJ has a selective memory, since he completely forgot about announcing to his family that he wanted to go to West Point.
This episode also contains another instance of Tony using Chris as a barometer for the rest of the family – he has no trouble openly questioning Tony’s decision to farm out the Rusty hit – which no doubt Tony used to justify beating the living suitcase out of Perry. In the next episode, Chris compliments Tony on his handling of the situation. Chris has done this before:
* Chris raised a worry that the other captains may take Ralph’s disappearance as an indication that they are not under protection of the boss (he was correct – reinforced by Albert complaining to Sil and Patsy) – Tony reacts by gathering the captains together and suggesting that New York was behind it, and wanted a full investigation.
* Chris lambastes Tony for protecting Jackie Jr after his botched robbery – so Tony forces Ralph’s hand to absolve himself from responsibility. During Jackie’s wake, Chris will once again compliment Tony’s decision.
* Less of a link here – but Chris was safely moved out of harms way during the Blundetto saga, which the other captains resented.
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Good points. Another (sort of) example: Chris is able to gather several of the mobsters into a meeting of potential Cleaver investors – I wonder if Tony would have continued to greenlight the project after Ben Kingsley passed on it if not for the fact that so many of his guys got excited about it. Just the fact that Tony okays it shows Christopher’s special status. (I don’t think Chris got the ok simply because he played “the Adriana card.”)
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It’s like Christmas morning every time you post one of these! Thanks Ron!!
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Thanks 🎅
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Allegra’s new husband is looking pretty much like her father and Eric will probably have similar issues with “weight problem” like Johnny.
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That’s possible… We do get a sense that Eric will treat Allegra with the care and devotion that John shows to Ginny. John and Ginny have one of the sweetest relationships in the entire series…
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True, but Ginny can get heavy.
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When she hauls ass, she’s gotta make two trips.
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Ron – Now now, no fat-shaming!
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😉
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Hey Ron,
Do you have something of a ‘movies list’ for the Sopranos? To my mind, High Noon and Chinatown would be on top of the list after reading through your site. Any other recs would be appreciated.
Thanks
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Hmm you got me thinking now… There are a couple of movies off the top of my head that seem to tie in well with various Sopranos themes:
– Chinatown (when Walsh says “Forget it Jake, it’s Chinatown” it always makes me think of Livia’s “It’s all a big nothing”)
– The Singing Detective — the miniseries, not the film version (the main character believes that fiction should be “All clues, no solutions,” which is something I think Chase would agree with)
– Ride With the Devil (Ang Lee gets us to sympathize with pro-slavery Confederate soldiers, kinda like how Chase gets us to sympathize with his unappealing mobsters)
– A Separation (Iranian Oscar-winner in which we see the complex, conflicting motivations of every major character)
I haven’t seen Lil Carmine’s South Beach Strumpets series yet, but I’ll let you know if it’s worth a look once I get my hands on it…
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Ron,
I’d recommend ‘The Best of Youth.’ It’s a six hour epic story of an Italian Family.
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👍
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Seconded, though since we’re getting a little far afield I’ll go a little farther and recommend The Leopard (1963) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057091/plotsummary).
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I enjoyed it, always been a fan of Burt Lancaster
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Kind of out of left field, but I can’t help but think of Michelangelo Antonioni’s “Blow Up” in relation to the many scenes involving trees in The Sopranos. The repeated scenes in the park (“Blow Up”) involving wind and tree tops connected to the mystery developing.
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Absolutely. The characters in David Chase’s movie “Not Fade Away” even talk about how Antonioni uses trees in “Blow Up”…
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I know it wasn’t directed at me, but I’d recommend The Road to Perdition and A History of Violence for fans of the show.
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As others have said, thanks for this analysis. It’s amazing, and I’ve gotten a few fans turned on to it recently. I’m rewatching the show for the second time, and this site makes it all the better. Kudos, Ron.
You’re right about the Vito story reflecting so many of the stories at the time. I also think it serves the purpose of putting the whole saga into stark perspective when characters who murder, steal, and lust so easily condemn homosexuality as a sin. Even Tony says that it’s a victimless thing, though that gets Vito little.
Again, thanks!
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Thanks! You’re right, Chase definitely recognized how ironic it would be to have these horrible criminals place homosexuality at the top of the list of heinous sins, and I’m gonna be exploring this irony more as we get further into Season 6…
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I don’t think people minded the gay story line because of prejudice against gays. I just think that Vito as a gay man was played in a cliched way. Motorcycle outfit, really? Also, being so stupid as to pick your head up while you are blowing someone is a bad idea for anybody, not only a gay man…and I am convinced that Vito would have killed Finn if he went to the ballgame with him. He was not a sympathetic character to me. Vito is just not very smart, and not likable. Maybe if they had used a different actor I would have enjoyed it more. I bet that “Bissell” has some type of appliance business. I once knew a guy called “Tony Washing Machine” because he sold that type of thing.
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I know you’re not a fan of Joe Gannascoli in the role, but in a later write-up I’m going to go into one reason why I think Chase may have chosen him specifically to play “the gay mobster”…
“Tony Washing Machine” is pretty funny.. makes me wonder if William Perry sold refrigerators before he played for the Bears…
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Sorry if getting ahead of myself and this is covered in a future write up, but it was Gannascoli that approached Chase about the gay storyline. According to interviews with him, he was looking for a more prominent role on the show.
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Yes, I do go into this a bit more in a later write-up..
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Look forward to reading it!!
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After reading this (and the previous) entry with lyrics from “The Three Bells” by The Browns, I decided to watch a live video of this song: it’s a beautiful song choice and I was surprised that Chase had used it in two episodes in a row. Maybe he was trying to elude to something? …Let’s just say the third and final verse reveals that Jimmy Brown’s story is indeed a tragedy. 😦
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I’ll be getting to the subject of that (unheard) third verse in the final write-up…
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Love the site! I didn’t start watching The Sopranos until this year (2018). Started in late February, and I’m on my third time through. I plan to do a fourth–it’s just such a fascinating, densely packed, hilarious show! I can’t resist.
One of the things that really stood out for me in this episode was the Sacrimonis meeting in the prison to plan Allegra’s wedding. As wedding planning goes for most families, everyone starts to lose their shit. But then Johnny pulls it all together and refocuses his family on what is important. And it works–everyone calms down, and they start enjoying themselves again.
I laugh every time over how that scene would have played out had it been the Sopranos planning Meadow’s wedding. Even if they were in a civilian setting, rather than in a prison, you could bet your life savings that that meeting would have ended in a meltdown, including many raised voices and family members storming out of the room (and who knows how it would have turned out in a higher-stress prison setting?).
I kind of wish Chase had spent more time with the Sacrimoni family, because I love the compare/contrast between the Sopranos and the Sacrimonis, and it would have been interesting to have more information to go on to really hold the two families up to each other. Johnny certainly has a handle on family life that Tony can’t seem to grasp. Of course, the show is so crammed with story lines and characters that I’m sure it couldn’t be possible to give the Sacrimonis more screen time, but I still think about it. 🙂
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Wow third time in less than half a year, you may be setting a record!
The Sacrimoni family dynamic is such a refreshing change from the ugliness we usually see in SopranoWorld, and of course, I think Chase plays it up on purpose so that heartache of the final bit—Johnny Sac being wrenched away from the reception and escorted back to his prison cell—has maximum impact.
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I don’t know…One daughter has a weight problem and the other is anorexic….I think the mob life has taken a toll on them as well.
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To be fair, those weight issues could have come from any family, not just a mob one!
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During Johnny’s “mini sit down” with Tony during the wedding. He says to tony about Rusy “He’s a Cancer I can’t let it spread..” Considering Johnny’s fate its very eerie line. Also very prophetic. The “mini-sitdown” is just the tip of the iceberg of the indignities that Johnny Sac suffers at his daughter’s wedding.
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Realise I’m amongst friends here, so I’ll just go ahead and say this: I’m binge-watching The Sopranos, watching it for the first time, and a sadness has descended on me during Season 6, whilst watching this episode in particular, a growing realisation (that I can’t shrug off) that it’s not going to last forever, that pretty soon – within the next fortnight probably – I’ll have watched The Sopranos.
Ridiculous sentiment, I know, but right now I feel like I want this show to continue forever. It must have been similar for those of you who watched it when it was originally broadcast; binge-watching is a peculiar (enjoyably peculiar) pastime – you really do engage with and immerse yourself in the show.
When I binge-watched The Wire I was *so* moved by and engaged with Season 4, I never watched Season 5. Still haven’t. I know Season 5 is subject to debate, possibly doesn’t reach the heights of previous seasons, but I decided to save watching it for now, so that there will always be a season of The Wire that I’ve not watched yet. I’m saving it for a rainy day, I guess.
Can’t do that with The Sopranos, can’t defer the gratification. But, man, ridiculous as it sounds, I’m mourning being this close to the end.
To make a feeble attempt at staying relevant to this episode: the actor who played Johnny Sac is fucking awesome isn’t he?!
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Yeah I’ve been saving some of Hemingway’s work for years now.. You only get to experience it “for the first time” once…
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As a Hemingway fan boy let me assure you that like the sopranos, 90% of his writing is almost as good and sometimes better on reread
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I know it. Part of the reason I haven’t gotten to some of his later work is because I keep rereading his earlier stuff
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Which of his works have you still not read if you don’t mind me asking?
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I’ve read almost all his fiction and non-fiction up to For Whom the Bell Tolls, but only some of the work he did after that
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Ah so you’ve read basically everything I have.. But if you haven’t read anything after for whom the bell tolls that means you haven’t read the old man and the sea? If that’s the case then you’re in for a treat. Every once in a while if my fiancé is visiting family or out with the girls I’ll curl up on the couch, crack a bottle of scotch and read the whole thing in one sitting (it’s only like 100 pages and hard to put down). And despite it not being his best work I also really liked across the river and into the trees.
Other than that though I can’t really speak.. I refuse to read anything published posthumously after reading the introduction to islands in the stream(?) where it explains in the introduction that his wife found the rough draft or whatever and edited it herself or some such nonsense. I feel like if it was ready, he would’ve released it. And the books of letters or whatever feel like too much of an invasion of privacy.. But my brother did read a moveable feast which was posthumous and he said he really enjoyed it
Sorry for the tangent but like I said, I’m a bit of a fanboy
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I’ve read The Old man and the Sea, it’s a masterpiece. If you haven’t read it, I would recommend Carlos Baker’s “Hemingway: The Writer as Artist”—it is a deep analysis and very influential in how I’ve approached writing Sopranos Autopsy
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Awesome thanks for the recommendation. Just put in a request for it at the library
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So I didn’t know where else to put this.. I’ve been reading the book you recommended Ron and came on the chapter dedicated mostly to for whom the bell tolls and read this:
‘But the most awesome symbol of doom is the air-power of the foreign enemy.. When the fascist planes roar over the mountain hide-out, it is always in threes, like the weird sisters, or in those multiples of three with which practitioners of black magic used to conjure.. “They moved like no thing that has ever been. They moved like mechanized doom.” It is by three such planes El Sordo’s band will be wiped out at three ‘o clock of the following Monday afternoon.’
‘Hemingway’s linking of the modern bombers with the ancient magic-symbol of number three greatly enhances the emotional effectiveness of the plane-passage.’
According to my extensive 2 minute google research – “The three weird sisters/three witches are characters in William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth. They hold a striking resemblance to the three Fates of classical mythology, and are, perhaps, intended as a twisted version of the white-robed incarnations of destiny. The witches eventually lead Macbeth to his demise.”
and
“The Rule of Three (also Three-fold Law or Law of Return) is a religious tenet held by Wiccans/Pagans and occultists. It states that whatever energy a person puts out into the world, be it positive or negative, will be returned to that person three times. Some subscribe to a variant of this law in which return is not necessarily threefold.
Based on these findings I can conclude that I have no idea what I’m talking about. But the whole 3 o’ clock thing in the soprano-verse might have more meaning than originally thought? Especially with Paulie’s obsession with that time and the fact that he’s spiritual/susceptible to the idea of mystical/metaphysical stuff
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3 is a very loaded number…
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So I am reading too much into this occult/religious shit? Or is there a chance the number 3 has more significance than Paulie freaking out over nothing? It’s hard to tell Chase’s intentions a lot of times because most of the time he’s hinting at deeper meaning and other times (in interviews and such) he’s making fun of the exact same people he’s throwing hints at that read *too* deep.
So I usually just end up following smarter people’s leads (like yourself) to know what to believe. In fact, if you ever came over anymore Ron you’d know I have a painting of you as a war time general hanging over my fireplace
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You know I can’t come around so much, what with the Feds watching all our houses
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1959, a watershed year culturally, is also represented as Tony’s birth year. Ever notice?
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Absolutely. I mentioned it in the previous write-up… In 6.04, we heard the first verse of “The Three Bells” and it is about the birth of Little Jimmy Brown.
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I see!
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Is it really? Doesn’t Carm say to feds that Tony was 3 years old when JFK was assassinated (when they ask questions about Sam Giancana), which would make it 1960? (the fateful day was 11/22/63) I think it was in S6E2. One of the funnier exchanges in the episode and clearly a dig at conspiracy theorists.
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For the longest time I thought Tony was born in 1960. But a shot of his drivers license in 3.05 shows 1959…
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Some more subtle connective tissue here – Both Allegra and Perry & Tony are cut off in their vehicles.
– You compare Tonys fight with Perry to “starting a fistfight with the strongest guy on your first day of prison to prove how tough you are”… this is exactly what Feech did, as he tells us in season 5. (Maybe you made that connection and that’s why you brought it up.)
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Remember that Perry didn’t really fight back because Tony is a boss. He definitely would have kicked Tony’s ass. And then got killed. So Tony was just showing that he was his old self, he would have never beaten Perry.
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I especially like the shots inside the prison where every single member of the Sacrimoni family is engaging in a smoke at the exact same time!!
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Funny note about Carmela’s conduct at the wedding that made me chuckle: she scolds AJ for cursing at the beginning of the reception saying “we’re at a wedding”. Only a few scenes later, it is her that stands up at the table and megaphone shouts at least 3 tables in distance “Ton, the rollatine!” as tho she’s in an elementary school cafeteria. Not exactly Miss Manners herself.
Ron, thanks so much for this site! Can’t wait to see the finale write up!
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Lol that must have been a helluva rollatini..
Thanks Gina!
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The little apples don’t fall far from the tree. Although, I wouldn’t want to miss the Rollatini either!! My favorite!
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I saw this as pretty realistic. In another life, I managed a ‘social club’ for many years. So I witnessed hundreds of weddings. It’s amazing how quickly they can go from proper and formal to raucous. All it takes is a couple of cocktails and some wine with dinner!
“Social Club?! He’s gotta GOOO!”
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Great episode, I love these write ups. Sometimes I have to watch an episode 2x to make sure I don’t miss anything.
The 3 bells This song documents three stages of the life of “Jimmy Brown” – his birth, his marriage, and his death.
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Thanks Paul
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When will seaonn part 2 be completed?
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I’m aiming for in about 6 months
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I always took the Vito storyline to be a kind of distorted mirror-image of Tony’s. No, I don’t mean Tony is a closeted gay man. But there are a lot of things he has to keep hidden about himself in order to function as, first, a member of American society, and second, of course, as a mobster.
Otherwise, he would be encircled by jackals, whether they be the law, or his own criminal associates. He’s always got to be the tough guy on the one hand, the sad clown on the other.
“It’s too much to fuckin’ deal with sometimes.”
As for Vito, one reason for the relative unpopularity of his storyline is, I strongly suspect, something that is rarely addressed. A great many gay people themselves object because, let’s face facts here, Vito Spatafore doesn’t exactly present the picture of the commendable, admirable gay man who presents an appealing image of the gay lifestyle that a gay man might find admirable, or worthy of emulation. Far from it.
And worse, we see signs that, not only does he present an image that might well fit more of a homophobic view of what gay bashers think gay people are really like, Chase goes that extra mile by presenting Vito as, potentially, a sexually abusive, possibly violent would-be homosexual rapist. We can’t help but wonder what would happen if he could get Finn in the right wrong place at the right wrong time.
Chase probably saw those objections coming, I’m sure, and that may be why he outed Vito the way he did, in a club full of good looking gay guys who are out and proud, yet who themselves fit a kind of gay stereotype.
Granted, it does seem an unlikely scenario. We get the feeling this is not Vito’s first visit to this club, and you’d think he would be aware that the club owner was paying protection to the New York mob.
But, as is my wont, I have a possible explanation. The guys were collecting on an off-day, to make up for the fact that “Nicky”, for whatever reason, didn’t have a full envelope on the scheduled collection day. This was the day after, a day Vito thought would certainly be safe.
So, sucks to be Vito. Pun intended
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All really excellent points. I wonder, though, if gay people would have had as much of an issue with Vito’s portrayal in 2006 as they might have today. It was so relatively rare to see a gay person on television back then, even a despicable and violent gay character like Vito might still have been accepted by gays as “TV going in the right direction.” Nowadays, however, there is so much sensitivity about representation—it might be difficult today for Chase to even ask a hetero actor to play a gay character without getting all sorts of blowbang. I mean blowback. Freudian slip intended.
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This really isn’t anything new, Ron. I’m old enough to remember the old ABC comedy series Soap, in which Billy Crystal played a gay character, probably the first in television history. This was in the seventies, and some gay activists were even complaining back then because they didn’t like the storyline. They wanted the guy to be a more out and proud, militant activist gay. Like them, of course.
And this, bear in mind, was a relatively innocuous, even a likeable character, certainly in comparison to Vito.
By the way, I don’t say all gays are like this, or for that matter not even all gay activists. But they are certainly a factor, and a definite influence in how gay people are perceived, in the media and otherwise.
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“Which despicable, violent, amoral, materialistic, abusive, selfish or generally downright nasty character would you prefer to be gay in the series?”
If you had to pick someone…
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mac – I would have to say … Paulie. Yes, most definitely Paulie! LMAO! 😆
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I concur with the other comments and also extend a warm thanks for your time and dedication in completing this project. As a fan of the art that the Sopranos brings, even more so with in-depth analysis that ties up a few mental loose ends, your work is not only a godsend but necessary. In regards to Vito, I think Chase hit his mark. Keeping a secret of any kind comes with a myriad of strategies such as lying, manipulation, threatening behavior, etcetera. Now couple that with being in the mafia which employs these tactics as frequently as brushing one’s teeth. If anything, Vito could have been much more aggressive with silencing Finn but had to contend with the fact that it was the boss’ daughter’s boyfriend, thus complicating and limiting the usual tactics of keeping someone quiet. I read some comments that stated some viewers felt that Vito didn’t “fit the bill” of a homosexual or they didn’t like his character. That’s just it, there is no particular “type” of person that can be homosexual. Just like policemen or firefighters, they come in all shapes, sizes, educational backgrounds, and personalities.
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Thanks. The Sopranos helped to break that stereotype…
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I think it was the motorcycle outfit that I didn’t get. Plus, as I say, we know Vito as an unsympathetic person. I don’t like the actor in general, and I don’t like his character gay or not. I think that’s why I couldn’t buy it.
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Hey weight lifters, don’t think us fat guys don’t notice that we’re the only ones you make unsolicited offers to design a workout for. That’s half the reason Tony kicked the shit out of him.
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lol that’s hilarious
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“Haynes’ contemporary film doesn’t focus on race relations or class divisions as Sirk’s movies did, but on a more contemporary injustice—prejudice against homosexuals.”
I saw Far From Heaven when it came out and really enjoyed it. I do remember it touched on race, and its ending made an interesting point about race relations in the 1950s (in which the film was set). Spoiler alert… Anyway, it was telling that in spite of all of the prejudice against homosexuals AND blacks, Dennis Quaid’s character ultimately was able to break away and live the life he wanted with another man, however under the radar and restricted it may have been. Dennis Haysbert and Julianne Moore, on the other hand, were not afforded this freedom. They could have tried, but they clearly felt more “imprisoned” by social mores of the day. In other words, two white men were less encumbered than an interracial male-female couple.
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Ron,
Your mention of the 1959 film Imitation of Life and the social commentary, reminded me of the 1969 album, and song (Genuine Imitation Life) by a pop group trying their hand at psychedelic rock, and social commentary, The Four Seasons with Frankie Valli (Rusty Millio) out in front.
Also on the music front, the song playing in the background when Vito is outed, uses the riff from Dire Straights 1985 popular tune “Money for Nothing”, which in its unedited version, contains the controversial lyrics “ That little faggot with the earring and the makeup….” Subtle, but very effective musical use.
As far as the name of the wedding banquet hall, Leonard’s, that may be a reference to Phil’s original surname, that he explained in another episode , was changed to Leotardo upon his ancestor’s arrival in America. It’s the building where Johnny Sac surrenders his daughter to her husband and is the beginning of him surrendering his control of the NY famiglia to Phil (Leonardo) Leotardo.
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Wow how did I not catch Money for Nothing?
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I love Sopranos and your site makes me love it even. More. Still watching after all these years. Gets better each rewatch.
Leonard’s is in fact an actual Catering Hall located in Long Island, NY.
I have been to many events there, it looks the same in” REAL LIFE”.
I Revisit and refresh on Sooranos Autopsy. Patiently waiting for MADE IN AMERICA
thank you.
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Thanks. Yes, one of my good friends had her wedding reception at Leonard’s..
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Tony did kick Perry’s ass as you say, but at the same time it was a terribly unfair fight. Tony had the element of surprise in that I don’t think Perry would ever have thought Tony would actually punch him, especially for no good reason. And, of course, Tony is the mob boss — at one point Perry looks like he might fight back, but then (probably wisely) doesn’t. If Perry had decked the mob boss in front of all the other mobsters, I’m not sure he would have gotten out of Satriale’s alive.
If Tony was just a random guy who started something with Perry on the street, Perry would have mopped the floor with him.
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People who think big muscles win street fights are funny.
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I find that “The bride cuts the cake” song to be incredibly annoying. But isn’t it sung to the tune of “The Farmer in the Dell”. I would have never known about that nursery song if it wasn’t for that other gay HBO gangster from The Wire.
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I think it’s supposed to be annoying. And the wedding singer’s voice. No joy in it at all.
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Although I didn’t hate it, I was never a big fan of the Vito subplot. But your break down of how it reflected American culture and society of the time is brilliant. I’m definitely gonna have a greater appreciation for that storyline from now on
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Ron, I can’t believe how brilliant and incisive your comments are. I’m watching The Sopranos for the first time 20 years after it first aired and as soon as I watch an episode I read your take on it. In many cases I’ve dipped in partway through an episode and regretted it cos I know you give spoilers but I feel a need to see your observations of a particular scene to see if I got the most out of it and also to see if you saw what I saw. It’s almost as if I am looking for your approval to see if you saw what I imagined. But goddam man. I can’t believe the insights,
meticulous and sophisticated depth of analysis you provide. I want to watch the whole thing again but read your autopsy’s first. This series is incredible (yes I know I am 20 years late) but I never had free HBO before the Coronavirus. This is the best series of all time. (Breaking Bad has been trumped….small t). Thank you. You have made me appreciate it more than if I had not discovered your website. I salute you Ron! Cheers 🥂
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Thank you, cheers!
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“The simple, idyllic world that the song evokes didn’t actually exist in the The Fifties, but Chase’s mobsters—and many Americans still today—look back to that era as some sort of Golden Age.”
I’ve been waiting to insert this thought, and this seems like the right place: Could the [Italian] Mob, as depicted in The Sopranos, have existed in 2000 or 2006? Because it seems to me that it has been structurally dismantled, whereas the Mob of this era manifests in the form of the Donald Trumps and Jeffrey Epsteins of this world.
Even in Staten Island, there’s no real Mob to speak of. Yes, there are remnants of it that appear in the hyper-masculine culture that still exists there, but not in the form of an actual Mob (with the exception of the Russian Mob, but that is a different animal.)
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You know, I actually replaced the word “conservative” with the word “reactionary” while doing this write-up because I didn’t want to evoke current politics too much in this write-up and trigger any conservative readers…but now I kind of regret the edit. I think it’s absolutely justifiable to equate Trump (or more accurately, Trumpism) with the mafia mentality…
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Late 80s, early 90s was the final meaningful era of most LCN activity in the northeast. It’s a TV show and not supposed to be entirely realistic in that regard. Epstein did his thing in plain sighted, aided and abetted by governmental figures and captains of industry and academics. Trump was the only one who was willing to offer damaging info against him, in fact.
Trump has been exonerated of all the phony criminal claims. Both of you should eat your words, and be embarrassed for having believed the slander of a mainstream media who have gotten essentially everything wrong since at least 2015. Suckers.
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I will happily eat my words if time proves that Trump is more akin to Mahatma Gandhi than to Tony Soprano…
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One wonders if Tony’s difficulty entering church (heaven) is analogous to him being scared to cross over in “Mayhem”.
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Yes, or analogous to how vampires can’t enter a church…
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“When Tony returns home from work, Carm asks him “How was the first day? Do you want to take a nap?” like he is a little child. (And then cut to him crawling into bed for a nap””
I thought it was the coziest scene in the whole series.
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“Other viewers complained that the storyline was just a comic excursion, or a way to kill time leading into Part II of Season 6.”
I’m so glad you disagree with this, because what a ridiculous argument!! What is any plot point for that isn’t the “main one” other than to …. fill up time!? Anyway, I think it’s an important one to pay attention to, and I’m looking forward to seeing how it is dealt with. So far, I’ve had mixed feelings about the show’s handlings of queer characters. I was particularly displeased about their handling of a “trans plot point” in an earlier season (can’t find the episode right now) when Jon Favreau stole Christopher’s story about a hate crime. Of course I wasn’t happy with Carmela’s comments about gay people, but I understand this is just a reflection of her character. I appreciated Meadow acting as a bit of an advocate! Particularly in defending the queer reading of that book last season.
Anyway, I know The Sopranos is all about flipping conventions, so I’m crossing my fingers that the gay mobster storyline goes against tradition, and treats my guy with respect!! My hopes aren’t too high though, I know they like to break hearts as well!!
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Great comment. I’m curious what you didn’t like about the trans plot-point in 2.07, because I just heard the guys on The Sopranos Podcast last week talk about how well it was handled, considering the episode aired back in 2000. (I think Chris even got the pronouns right.) I’m curious what the other side of the argument is..
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Pingback: The Soprano Onceover: #70. “Mr. and Mrs. John Sacrimoni Request…” (S6E5) | janiojala
I did not like the Vito storyline, simply nbeagause I didn’t like Vito at all. Nothing to do with him being gay. Found myself wishing all scenes with Vito would hurry up and get over with.
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I, too, disliked the ‘Vito’ episodes. I don’t see the point to him even being a character in this series. Perhaps Chase felt the need to ‘fill time’, so to speak, or to simply titillate the viewer with scenes of his brutal beating/death. Vito had no redeeming or exemplary qualities as a mob boss, and was certainly not liked by the other characters.
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Johnny Sack is The Sopranos Smoker character; cold, calculated, authoritative, never laughs. X-Files had one, Half Life series have one, Mass Effect series had one, and it all started with the Watergate scandal. Except, Johnny is the only one that shows emotions and vulnerability from the Ginny joke, up to the crying scene.
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I have a huge problem with this episode’s and onward writing, concerning Tony vs. Phil beef. It makes no sense, what so ever, to agree on killing Rusty. In fact, it’s The point of no return. Why, on Earth, would Tony change his mind on this? Knowing all too well that, since Phil was released from jail, he was The problem, non stop. Why? Killing Billy wasn’t enough meddling? Almost killing Johnny and Carmine wasn’t more than enough? It just makes no sense, that Tony wouldn’t realize that a) killing Rusty makes Phil even a bigger threat, coz he consolidates power on account of b) Johnny going BACK to prison in a COUPLE OF HOURS, leaving Tony to deal with Phil exclusively. Killing Rusty is doing a dirty job for my enemy, killing the enemy of my enemy. Phil didn’t even wait for Johnny to arrive back to prison before he started undermining Sack, and inflating his own power. On top of all of that, one of Tony’s capos (Vito), is ridiculously close to Phil, blood or no blood: it’s a conflict of interests, it makes no sense, and to then defend Vito just because he’s a good earner is naive. Loyalty is what makes it work, not money exclusively, and many other characters prove this, along with “have I not learned anything from Richie Aprile?”. Well, judging by the Rusty hit, no, you absolutely have not.
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On the other hand, it goes very well with the theory of everybody (with the sole exception of Sil), selling out Tony in the end without him realising it, all lead by Juden Paulie. I subscribe to this theory. Tony is amazingly socialy dumb. Carmela was right all along, he has Asberger’s, he does not know who is loyal to him, he had rats all over the place and Vito fucking men for years, as a capo none the less, and it took Finn, i mean, Finn, for him to be sure about it, and it took him a fucking year to finally realize that Big Pussy was a rat. Tony is the worst general of all time, he has no idea what goes on around him.
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nono… it took him 4 years to see through Big Pussy, actually. It’s insane, he has no business being a boss.
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Really good points. But I think Tony’s calculation is that Rusty is going to end up dead one way or another anyway—if Tony does it, them at least it might placate Phil and Johnny (as he mentions to Chris). Of course this turns out to be a miscalculation, but T couldn’t have known at this point that Phil would become more and more of an implacable asshole.
But more than any business strategy, I think Tony accepts Johhny’s request out of a sense of empathy. He refuses to accept until John practically begs him and invokes both his daughters. Tony doesn’t admit that personal feelings influenced his decision when Chris questions him about it (how could Tony admit that?) but it’s one of the ways Chase shows T’s humanity…
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Maybe the smart move would have been to leak the plan to Rusty but say it was Phil’s plan. Then Rusty might have been grateful to Tony and Phil in the big sleep.
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Here’s a small thing I don’t know if anyone else picked up on re: ‘Bissel’ – the former CIA officer ‘Richard Bissell’ who plotted the Bay of Pigs and many JFK Conspiracy theories involve. Would be in keeping with Sopranos fascination with JFK and the assassination.
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While the portrayal of a a gay mobster may have been a little heavy handed and unbelievable at times here, I think that given the state of media at the time it came out (no pun intended), it was a pretty brave thing to do an interesting place to take the show and the story. IIRC, it was the actor who played Vito that really pushed for the idea, mainly because he was angling for a bigger role on the show. I’ve heard rumors and second hand info that the guy is kind of an asshole and really goes about monetizing his situation but I’m not sure how much credence to lend to that.
Also, Tony beating the shit out of Perry was similar to what Feech described where, in a moment where you feel weak and vulnerable, you size up the toughest guy in the room and kick his ass. We’re shown Tony looking over all the guys in the room, deciding “who’s it gonna be” and even twisting his ring around before he singles out his target – since he’s already made up his mind to beat up someone in order to demonstrate that he’s not weak (even though he is). He beats up on Perry to disguise his diminished state and to let everyone know he’s still tough; even after the operation and with the stitches and everything. You can see the look of shock, bewilderment and fear on everyone’s faces and, of course, Tony immediately vomiting blood immediately after the fight that reminds us he is, in fact, compromised and extremely vulnerable. Not tough at all.
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Herb – Re: Vito (Joseph Gannascoli). I found an article about him (wcspeakers.com) that was, ahem, rather interesting. It reads, “[He] has appeared in many films including his legendary role in ‘Goodfellas’ [his name is not even listed in cast credits] … He has proudly proclaimed himself a world famous chef [he worked as a cook and owns a restaurant]”. I guess if you want attention, go for broke.
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He wrote a book (maybe a cook book??) around the time the finale of the sopranos came out. I was in my mid 20s living in Philly at the time, and ran into him on the street outside an Italian gourmet food store where he was sitting and signing copies. I said it “sucked” that the sopranos was ending, and he said “speaking of sucking, what did you think about Vito?”. I asked for a pic with him, and he said he’d take it if I sat on his lap. I did. It’s a good pic. He seemed kind of ridiculous.
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Jeez…I hope you’re a female.
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Anon – Excuse me while I puke my guts out. I wouldn’t sit on that person’s lap if he PAID me! 😑
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He’s still pretty tough… Perry came at him for real and he beat him back. He had to rely on some fast street smart fighting, “parrying” his blow (hee) and punching him repeatedly in the bread basket but assuming Perry wasn’t pulling his punches he put him on the floor for real (before puking blood)
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The gal who played Allegra Sacrimoni is Caitlin Van Zandt (no relation to Steven). She’s no longer er… overweight; she lost 90 pounds after undergoing lap band surgery in 2008! 😁
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“Throughout the reception, Vito Spatafore looks listless and dour—perhaps the happiness of the newlyweds serves to remind him how hollow and contrived his own marriage is. (We are neatly reminded of Vito’s homosexuality when he compliments sharp-dressed Finn.) In an ill-humor, Vito hustles his wife Marie and their kids out of the reception early, before they even get a chance to finish dinner.”
I think the real reason Vito was looking listless, dour and in ill-humor was he was anxious to leave and get to the gay club…
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Yes very possible
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I thought the whole issue of choosing the Vito gay story came directly out of actual mobster events, as described in this article:
https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/the-gay-mobster-sopranos-writers-used-as-the-basis-for-vito-spatafore.html/
I imagine that today, ironically, it would be people on the left who will find little “concerns” with the story, including the asinine quibble that the actor is not himself actually gay (to our knowledge). How could he possibly imagine? they will ask. That used to be the whole point of being a great actor: that if you were good your imagination could put you into anybody’s shoes.
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bobs – I can see where you’re coming from. However, Gannascoli was/is not a ‘great’ actor, not by a longshot. While he was good at portraying a gangster, I simply did not find him believable as a gay man. 🙄
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The Sopranos is the last series I expected to find plot contrivances. I found them in Se06 which did not kill my love but slightly dampened my enthusiasm for All Things Soprano.
Silvio’s asthma and use of an inhaler, not seen or heard of before or after, seemed incredibly forced and heavy-handed. Vito (a character I always found to be one of the evilest but cared not at all that he was gay) going to a stereotypical gay leather bar in full Brando “The Wild One” costume? Really? Whatever else he was, he was not stupid. He had no idea someone might see him, or that collections were being made at that bar? His whole sojourn and finding True Love I found implausible and pointless and didn’t know why it went on so long or why he, of all the secondary characters, got so much screen time, especially as it was the last season.
Anyway, the contrivances: Later on, we see Tony’s seemingly overnight descent into a degenerate gambler. Other than with food, Tony has always been moderate in his vices – a cigarette here, a few drinks there, a snort of coke. The only thing we see him indulge in regularly are cigars. He saw, time and again, how gambling destroys lives and he’s profited from it even as he scorned other “degenerate” gamblers like Davey Scatino. I didn’t buy it. Unlike the rest of the series which I’ve seen a number of times, this is only my second time viewing Se06. Maybe I’ll like it better this time around.
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I think it was that the two parts of S6 were shortened and so Chase may have felt the need to artificially manipulate the plots a little bit to get thru everything before the series came to a close..
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Something I’ve always liked about this episode, and it’s so subtle: the wedding singer’s voice has absolutely no joy in it. It’s as flat as any of the tough guy’s. Flat as Johnny Sac’s at a sit down. This is especially evident when he’s singing the “bride feeds the groom” song. It’s such a small thing, but it grows with each watching of this episode.
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Just read ure piece,yrs too late,but 1959 is also the year Tony is born.so I think little Jimmy brown been born has significance there
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I agree, parts of the Vito storyline are hard to take. The way I can make sense of it is: He started out sneaking into gay clubs in places far enough away like Philly, New Haven etc. Then It became a habit over time and as he got away with it he got more and more sloppy, going to closer clubs in downtown New York or Brooklyn. The ridiculous outfit could be because he was clueless about counter-cultures and thought it was how you fit in. He could have gotten away with going in in a black T-shirt and jeans but like a teenager going to his first heavy metal concert he totally overdid it. But all it took was getting caught once to blow his whole life. You can kind of see him thinking that after he gets busted in the club. Still, it’s hard to imagine he would be so risky as to fellate the guy at the construction site. And what was his plan for Finn? Did he even know? Maybe he was compulsive about it, taking unwise risks because he had little impulse control, the criminal psychology. It’s all a little hard to make sense of and feels a bit played for laughs.
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I may be seeing things that don’t exist, but in the scene where Vito talks to Tony at the wedding, there are several mentions that remind us of Ralph Cifaretto:
Vito informs Tony that the person responsible for construction bids and contracts is a degenerate horse gambler, reminiscent of the story of Ralph and Pie-O-My;
Tony asks Vito if this same guy will “play ball”, and Vito responds “He’s fucking Joe DiMaggio”, reminding me that Tony put Ralph’s head in a bowling ball backpack. It also reminds me of the DiMaggio family of killers, from Rhode Island, who tell the story that they took a guy’s head off in one of their murders.
If I’m hallucinating too much, tell me.
PS: For sure, if Ralph were alive and invited to the wedding, there would be a lot of fat jokes, especially when Ginny Sac faints.
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