Chasing It (6.16)

Tony goes on a losing streak. AJ proposes to Blanca.
Little Vito Spatafore expresses his
unhappiness in a multitude of ways.

Episode 81 – Originally aired April 29, 2007
Written by Matthew Weiner
Directed by Tim Van Patten

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Many viewers found this episode to be a real dud. They felt the hour was plagued by multiple issues:

  1. It had a weird visual style, due mostly to its use of a shaky hand-held camera
  2. Tony’s sudden gambling addiction seemed to come out of left field and just didn’t feel very believable
  3. The storyline about troubled Little Vito took us away from more pressing concerns just as the series was coming to a close

Of these criticisms, the one that I find most valid is the unusual visual style. Tim Van Patten was a longtime director of the series, going back all the way to Season 1, so I was surprised to see so much jittery camerawork and so many extremely tight close-ups of characters. It all felt a bit out-of-place to me, it is a look that better fits cinema-verite than it does The Sopranos. (However, a 2014 Vox article noted that Van Patten does have a history of using extreme close-ups because they provide, in his own words, an “in-your-face experience” which ostensibly allow viewers to better empathize with what a character is going through.)

The criticism of Tony’s gambling problem is a thornier issue. The episode begins with the sound of a spinning roulette ball, immediately setting the stage for a story about unlucky streaks and losing wagers. Despite this early setup, I had a hard time buying into the idea that Tony was going full-tilt into a gambling addiction now. It just seemed too contrived. The whole thing came on so quickly, like a flash flood. Of course, the previous episode did set up the idea a little bit, as Tony borrowed $200,000 (“a bridge loan,” he called it) from his friend Hesh. But that little snippet from the previous hour just seemed too thin a foundation upon which to build an entire storyline now. However, I have come to appreciate this storyline much more with rewatch. I’ve come to feel that it is not all that important for us to buy into Tony’s gambling addiction because this plot really isn’t about a gambling addiction. It’s about something going on inside of Tony that is more insidious and ugly. Matt Zoller Seitz expressed a similar sentiment in his write-up of this hour:

He’s behaving like a man who isn’t happy being a Mob boss, or a mobster period, and wants out. Because he knows he can’t get out, he expresses that wish subconsciously, by doing and saying things that destabilize the life he’s always known.

This is why I can accept Tony’s all-consuming and seemingly out-of-nowhere gambling addiction as something more than a typical network TV crisis-of-the-week improv. When a character is convincingly drawn, the details of his self-destructive compulsion don’t matter that much; what’s important is that it makes sense given what we know about the character, and arrives at a critical juncture in the storyline.

Tony and Hesh have been longtime friends, even referring endearingly to each other as tatelah in previous episodes. But now, deeply embedded resentments and prejudices are bubbling up in their relationship as they have assumed the roles of debtor and creditor. Tony insists on paying a vig on the loan, but he serves up anti-Semitic statements to Hesh along with the cash. Tony clearly feels some resentment towards Mr. Rabkin. (Hesh takes Tony’s ugly statements in stride, but we know it must be difficult for him to do so. We remember how quickly he almost came to blows with Reuben when he suspected the Cuban of harboring anti-Semitic feelings in 4.03 “Christopher.”)  

Tony also feels anger towards his wife, after she denies him some of her spec-house profits for a football bet. He explodes at her for not funding his “sure thing”—a wager on the Jets. (A bet on the Jets can never be a sure thing, regardless of what inside information you might have.) Angered by Carmela’s suggestion that he should have made the bet with “his” money  rather than asking for “hers,” Tony reminds Carm that she once secretly took “his” money out of the bird feeder and made it “hers” (a scene from “Mergers & Acquisitions” that we all certainly remember).

Tony is on a losing streak, losing money on sports bets, horses and at the casino tables. Hesh starts to suspect that one way that Tony might cut some of his losses is by cutting him out of the picture, and so he feels quite threatened when Tony and big Bobby Bacala arrive at his home. Tony pays his vig and then invites Hesh to a boat show. (When Tony mentions the boat show as their final destination, I think many of us immediately think of Big Pussy’s fate—as well as Paulie’s recent close call—aboard a boat.) We learn later that the invitation was legit and that Tony was actually trying to do right by Hesh by paying his vig in person. Bobby suggests that Tony should simply default on the debt (“You should tell him to go fuck himself and his $200k”), but Tony rejects the idea. What kind of Boss doesn’t pay his debts? Tony certainly doesn’t want to turn into a “degenerate gambler” (a phrase that he learned from his father). But Tony is degenerating now, not necessarily into a gambling addict but into something much worse. Tony is turning into some sort of grotesque beast, he is coming closer and closer to losing that small shred of humanity that he has been able to hold on to these past few years. We see, for example, how his homicidal impulses have been rearing up recently; he thought about killing Bobby Bacala and Paulie Walnuts earlier this season, and it is certainly within the realm of possibility that he could take Hesh’s life now. Moments after Carlo opines that no one would know if Tony simply stiffed Hesh, Tony lashes out angrily at Carlo for not kicking up enough money. Tony’s angry response, I’m sure, is not due to Carlo’s low production as much as it is to the conflict Tony feels within himself: he realizes that he can indeed take Carlo’s suggestion and stiff Hesh, but also knows that doing so would sacrifice some final vestige of decency and honor that he must be trying to maintain within himself.

I think another possible dynamic at play here might be Hesh Rabkin’s connection to Johnny Boy Soprano. Hesh was one of Johnny’s trusted advisors, and so he would surely be familiar with the disgust that Johnny Boy felt toward gambling addicts. Tony may feel, at some level, that to be in Hesh’s bad graces is to vicariously be in his father’s bad graces. If so, eliminating Hesh could be a way of escaping his father’s disapproving gaze-by-proxy. On the other hand, Tony may not be thinking whatsoever about what his father’s opinion would be of him now. In fact, I can imagine Tony taking ill-advised financial risks now precisely in an attempt to compensate for his father’s aversion to risk. Of course, Johnny Boy never had enough screen-time for us to know exactly how much of a risk-taker he was or wasn’t, but we do know that he passed up a golden opportunity to move out to Nevada and run a supper club with Rocco Alatore. Johnny gave up a chance to become a millionaire and take his family out the dangerous mob-land of north Jersey. Perhaps Tony’s irritation toward Johnny Boy’s old advisor is a latent resentment of Johnny Boy himself.

Maybe death-by-Tony was indeed in the very near future for Hesh, but if it was, we’ll never know because he gets “rescued” by another death. After Hesh’s girlfriend Renata passes in her sleep, a sympathetic Tony shows up to offer his condolences—and the cash he owes. The fact that Tony arrives now with the full amount, $200k, in one of those brown paper bags from Bloomingdale’s, shows that it probably wasn’t all that difficult for him to rustle up the cash:

medium-brown-bag

Tony could have paid Hesh back prior to this but he chose not to. Was Tony in fact thinking of stiffing Hesh, perhaps even killing him? Or was Tony simply saving his cash for a rainy day, because he feels a very rainy day is just around the corner? I think the previous episode provides some insight now. In “Remember When,” Tony confessed to Beansie Gaeta that he is “waiting for the other shoe to drop.” In the very next scene, after he is cleared of all suspicion in Willie Overalls’ murder, Tony grumbles “You gotta wonder what’s next.” Tony should have been thrilled to be off the hook but he wasn’t. His disposition is growing darker. Emily [formerly Todd] VanDerWerff also recognizes this change in him. Tony, she writes, senses that…

…the good run is coming to its end…What he’s doing here isn’t really addiction per se, nor is he really desperate to find a way back to solvency. When he needs to give Hesh the rest of the his $200,000, Tony is able to provide it in a paper bag. No, what Tony is trying to do is find a way back into the universe’s good graces, back onto the never-ending gravy train that propped him up for so long.

As we enter the endgame of the series, a sense of impending doom is settling upon SopranoWorld and its inhabitants. Tony may feel that his unlucky streak is part of a larger pattern in which he is being stalked by Karma or Fate or Something Big. Carmela senses it too, recognizes that there is “a giant piano hanging by a rope just over the top of your head every minute of every day.” Tony tries to convince her that “big picture-wise, I’m up…way up” because he survived a gunshot wound that he wasn’t expected to survive. But perhaps more to the point, Tony knows that it was a gunshot that he didn’t deserve to survive. He knows that instead of entering the Inn at the Oaks as legitimate businessman Kevin Finnerty last year (“Mayham” episode 6.03), he chose to return to the world as murderous mafioso Tony Soprano. Perhaps the former choice would have functioned as a sort of redemption for him, but the latter choice has left him utterly unredeemed. And now this unredeemed man seems to be following some subconscious impulse to burn through whatever is left in his life, ruining relationships, taking unneeded risks, even contemplating the murder of people close to him. I think that we all, Tony included, have an internal impulse to pursue whatever ultimate fate we think we deserve—it colors our actions and thoughts whether we realize it or not…

Driving home one day in 2007, my regular route took me past OJ Simpson’s Miami home. A crowd had gathered in front, and when I rolled down my window, a bystander told me that OJ had been arrested earlier that day in Las Vegas for robbing sports memorabilia at gunpoint. Like everyone else in the country, I was shocked that this man who in all likelihood got away with murder could now get himself in trouble over something so stupid. The excellent 5-part documentary, O.J.: Made in America, chronicles how OJ descended into an illicit, reckless lifestyle after his acquittal for double murder. He surrounded himself with thugs, sycophants and wannabe gangsters, cutting ties with his more respectable friends. A reporter in the documentary, describing this period of OJ’s life, says that “he was going down…he had no interest in getting to either safety or higher ground…he was going to go, essentially, to decadence.” Perhaps the Vegas debacle was just a caper that got out of hand, in which case we shouldn’t try to read too much into it. But I think it is quite possible that OJ was grappling with some serious guilt and may have been subconsciously seeking some way to be punished. (This would also help to explain why one year earlier he had produced that pseudo-confessional book, If I Did It.)

It may be a bit of a reach to say that Tony’s sudden gambling addiction indicates he has some fatalistic subconscious impulse driving him to wreck a life that he doesn’t believe he deserves to have. Whether or not that is the case, I think it is certainly the case that Chase is trying to emphasize Tony’s moral and spiritual degeneration now. Chase may have felt that he just didn’t have the time in this shortened, compressed season to make his case in his usual organic and natural way, and thus we have “Chasing It,” an episode where Chase throws the idea at us like a fastball. Thomas Hardy once wrote that “Art is a disproportioning of realities, to show more clearly the features that matter in those realities…” In this hour, Chase disproportions reality to some degree in order to show that nihilistic Tony is making his way toward a cliff, a cliff that may be one of his own making but a cliff nevertheless.

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UNFORTUNATE SON
In the previous episode, we saw Doc Santoro get whacked by his rival Phil Leotardo. Now, Phil gets his crowning ceremony. Nancy Sinatra (i.e. “Nancy With The Laughing Face,”) sings “Bossman” at a party for the new Boss. But Chase, to the consternation of many viewers, turns his attention away from from Phil Leotardo to focus instead on Phil’s second cousin (once removed): Little Vito Spatafore. Chase constructs Little Vito’s storyline from a small bit of dialogue which we heard back in episode 6.11 “Cold Stones”:

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 Jr’s “No” dripped with heartache, and Chase harnesses that heartache to create an unexpected storyline now. Many viewers were disappointed that Chase would deviate from more “important” issues to focus on Little Vito now, but this type of narrative detour is a common Chasian characteristic. Professor Dana Polan points out another reason why so many fans were frustrated by this particular detour: it is a tangent of a tangent. Many viewers did not receive the gay-mobster storyline about Vito Sr. very well, believing it to be insignificant and tangential, and now Chase was taking them even further down the rabbit hole with this story about Vito’s son.

The character of Little Vito had previously been played by Frank Borelli, but Chase taps Brandon Hannan to play the updated version of the boy. Hannan, who had previously appeared in short slasher- and horror-films like Dead End Massacre, The Day They Came Back and Nightmare, was able to bring something dark and disturbing to the character. It is his performance here that makes this storyline one of the most compelling one-off stories of the entire series.

And this brings me to a sort of inverted parallel between Vito and Little Vito: the actor who played Vito had actually played two different characters, whereas the character of Little Vito was played by two different actors. 2 vitosJoe Gannascoli played Vito Sr, but he originally entered SopranoWorld playing Gino the Bakery Customer in episode 1.08. Inversely, Little Vito was first played by Frank Borelli but is now played by Brandon Hannan. This is not a major point, but it does once again raise the topic of how Chase plays with issues of identity. I had previously noted that the character of “Vito Spatafore” was essentially defined by his various identity conflicts: overweight man vs. Atkins dieter, macho mafioso vs. closeted homosexual. He had even adopted various false identities during his crisis period: “Vince” up in Dartford, “undercover CIA agent” in his explanation to his kids. I also argued that Chase’s decision to specifically tap Joe Gannascoli to play a man suffering an identity crisis was meta-perfect because Gannascoli had actually had an entirely different identity early in the series.

I can make a similar argument now about Little Vito. I’m not sure of the specific reason why Hannan replaced Borelli in the cast, but having a different actor play the troubled young man now meta-emphasizes the change in his personality. He, like his father before him, is suffering an identity crisis. Those two questions which are such a significant part of Season 6—“Who am I?” and “Where am I going?”—are questions that both Vito Sr and Vito Jr struggled with. Father and son’s mutual struggles with the issue of identity seem to confirm the old saying: the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. (Phil Leotardo, however, phrases this a bit differently.)

Marie Spatafore comes by Satriale’s to ask Tony for $100,000 so that her family can get a fresh start up in Maine. (Silvio describes her as a mezzo mort before she enters the meat market, and Marie does in fact look ‘half-dead’ from all the stress she is under.) When she mentions that Little V may have hung the Petruzzo’s cat, we get a slight reaction shot of Tony. (We’ve known for a long time that Tony can accept almost any kind of monstrous misbehavior with one exception being cruelty to animals.) Not wanting to pay the requested amount, Tony assures Marie that he can some talk some sense into her son. Silvio later suggests that getting a dog for the boy might help. Tony, surely thinking of the Petruzzo’s cat, dryly responds, “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

Silvio is often seen fixing little trinkets and things in the backroom of Satriale’s. He is fixing a lamp when he makes the suggestion about the dog. So this is Mr. Fix-it’s idea for fixing Little Vito’s psychological and emotional problems: get him a pet. A rather lame suggestion, if you ask me. Silvio’s feeble solution highlights how difficult a problem this particular one is for the mobsters to solve. The mobsters are ill-equipped to deal with a young man in make-up. He doesn’t conform to their notion of masculinity whatsoever. The Mafia has an outdated, chauvinistic idea of masculinity, an idea that Vito Sr. was not able to conform to. Vito paid the ultimate penalty for his non-compliance: capital punishment by pool cue. Little Vito, by virtue of his queer Goth look and sissy demeanor, is now staging an almost perfect rebellion against the mobsters’ outdated, tough-guy notion of masculinity.

Phil is not very understanding when he has a sit-down with the boy at an Applegate Farm stand: “You look like a Puerto Rican who-ore. You make me sick.” The color scheme of this scene seems to underscore how trapped Little Vito is within SopranoWorld, because the red, white and black tones that completely surround him are also the theme colors of The Sopranos:

lil-vito-silo

Little Vito would almost certainly benefit from having more of the discipline and guidance that Phil advocates, but the boy also needs some sympathy and understanding. Phil, however, isn’t able to appreciate that part of the equation. Phil is still showing signs of the gay panic he suffered after finding out that Vito Sr. was homosexual. It blinds him from seeing Little V as a young kid just enjoying some ice cream here. Phil sees him instead as the incarnation of something foul, something vile. We might remember that back in episode 1.07, a question arose whether young AJ’s misbehavior was the result of simple youthful indiscretion or whether it was the result of some evil seed that he had inherited. Chase closed “Down Neck” with a scene of AJ enjoying an ice cream sundae, an image that signified that AJ was just a kid, not some incarnation of evil:

aj whip cream

I think the shot now of Little V slurping his sundae (sorry, his silo) at the ice cream stand serves a similar purpose: it emphasizes that he is just a kid. A change of location may serve the boy well, but Tony is not enthusiastic about underwriting the $100,000 cost to move. Tony tries talking to Little V himself, even bringing out his whole “you go about in pity for yourself” spiel, but he isn’t much more understanding—or successful—than Phil was.

After getting picked on by his classmates one time too many, Little V drops a deuce in the school shower. The act gives new meaning to Phil’s extremely ugly (but weirdly poetic) line from earlier: “I guess the turd doesn’t fall far from the faggot’s ass.” The gross act also inspires one of my favorite exchanges between Tony and Silvio:

Silvio: Carlo said the kid went into a litter box and ate some cat shit?
Tony: No, he took a shit, in the shower.
Silvio: Glad we got that straight.

(Steve Van Zandt has never gotten enough credit for his deadpan delivery.) I think it’s possible that Tony might have indeed sprung for Marie’s $100,000 relocation if his $100k bet on the Philadelphia Eagles had panned out. But the question of “would he have or would he not have” becomes moot because Philadelphia loses. (In a funny irony, Tony bets against the Dolphins because their starting kicker is out for the game, but we later hear a radio commentator say that the Fins won specifically because of a strong special teams performance.) And so Tony ends up feeding Marie the bullshit platitude that “there is no geographical solution for an emotional problem,” and they decide to send Little V to boot camp instead.

This particular type of camp was disturbingly popular in the mid-2000s. They often featured “gender-reinforcement” and “gay conversion” components where camp-goers would try to “pray the gay away.” Camp-goers were often subjected to a very harsh regimen which sometimes included corporal punishment. The camps lost popularity once it became clear how cruel and ineffective their methods were. (And now it is largely accepted that their intended effect—to fundamentally edit human beings—was in itself cruel, even unethical.) Marie doesn’t want to see her son sent off to one of these camps but consents to the idea because she doesn’t know how else to help him. I think we saw Carmela make a similar decision back in the Season 3 finale. In 3.13 “The Army of One,” Carmela resisted sending AJ to the highly regimented Hudson Military Institute, but she finally relented after attending Jackie Jr’s funeral. As I mentioned in my 3.13 write-up, Carmela wanted to adhere to the Nurturant Parent model of parenting rather than the Strict Father model that Tony prefers, but she finally conceded out of fear and desperation. Just as Marie concedes now.

The tale of Little Vito here can be considered a standalone storyline because we never hear anything about the young man ever again. But the essential conflict within the storyline—how should Tony go about rescuing the troubled youngster?—is about to reappear in AJ’s ongoing saga. AJ’s life has been going (relatively) smoothly, but it all begins to come crashing down now…

ANOTHER UNFORTUNATE SON
There have been hints all through season 6B that Blanca is not all that impressed by AJ. She doesn’t seem very enthusiastic when he asks to marry her, but AJ makes an impassioned argument that he’ll make a good life for them and their children. After all, he was made night manager of the pizzeria in just 3 months and he will be the day manager in just a few more, and he plans to own a chain of restaurants and clubs in a couple of years—“You’ll never have to work again.” And so Blanca says yes. (Well, technically she just says “okay.”) I must admit I felt happy for AJ here. He can still be clueless but he hasn’t been much of an asshole lately; he deserves some real happiness. But AJ’s bliss doesn’t even last one full episode. Blanca rains on his parade, almost literally: it is at the Latino Day Parade that she breaks off their engagement:

picnic-aj

Blanca tells AJ that she is not sure if she loves him and returns his ring. AJ is left dazed and confused, and it won’t be very long before he falls into complete depression. The conflict between the Strict Father vs. Nurturant Parent models of parenting will rear up again as Tony and Carm bang heads over how best to help their son. As AJ unravels and approaches a cliff of his own in future episodes, it will not be sure at all that either Tony’s or Carmela’s parenting strategies will be able to save him.

While we’re on the subject of the Strict Father mentality, I want to take a quick look at the footage on Tony’s TV of George W. Bush walking hand-in-hand with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia:

bush-tv

Both the Saudi Arabian monarchy and the Bush Administration were guided by Strict Father principles. They both espoused a patriarchal form of leadership and power. They both imbued their gods (God or Allah, take your pick, but each the embodiment of the Heavenly Father) with unquestioned patriarchal authority. They both valued compliance, conformity, and submission to the hierarchy. They both supported the regular use of the death penalty. These values and characteristics—perhaps that last one in particular—are also the values and characteristics of la cosa nostra. (There are roughly 70 killings in The Sopranos which originally ran over an eight-year period, while Texas executed 154 people during George Bush’s 6-year tenure as Governor.) Tony and Phil Leotardo clearly believe in the Strict Father model, with Phil even believing that gay men in general are not capable of playing the role of the strict father—soon after he murdered Vito Sr, he told Marie that perhaps the kids were better off not having their dad around. Both Tony and Phil make some attempt to fill the crucial role of father-figure in Little Vito’s life, but when their meager attempts fail, Little V is sent to a boot camp that is better able to implement their ideology. In the next episode, the battle between different parenting ideologies will heat up inside the Soprano home. Furthermore, I think Chase makes an effort in upcoming hours to extrapolate this ideological conflict within the Soprano household into a commentary about a similar battle taking place, larger in scale, within American society as a whole.

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THE END
During an outdoor lunch with the family, Meadow mentions that cousin Brian’s baby is due soon. Chase cuts to a shot of Carmela looking worried and uncomfortable:

brians-baby

In the very next scene, Carmela her calls her contractor-slash-father in the middle of the night, terrified that the roof of the house she has built and sold to her cousin will collapse in the stormy weather. It is no surprise that Carm should be worried about the structural integrity of the house: she knows that the house was built only because Tony, at her prodding, muscled the building inspector to look away from its construction issues. She may also subconsciously have doubts about the home’s structural integrity because she knows it was funded by her own lack of moral integrity: she pocketed Tony’s $600k while agreeing to look away from his criminal deeds and corrupt lifestyle.

As the series approaches its end, a sense of persistent unease within SopranoWorld is coming into sharper relief. Carmela worries that the house she built is of unsound construction. She also has a gnawing concern about what the future holds for her. Her anger at Tony for wanting to gamble with her profits doesn’t come out of some tightfisted greediness, it comes out of a worry that that cash may not be available when the comfortable life she has built for herself comes crashing down. Tony is also suffering from a persistent unease—he has become too paranoid to even go out to the driveway and get the newspaper for himself. But publicly, Tony hides his anxiety beneath a swaggering bravado.

I think many Sopranos viewers were also in a continuous state of unease at the time these episodes originally ran. This season aired less than six years after 9/11, at a time when our war on terror was not going nearly as well as first predicted. The way we chose to conduct the war probably only exacerbated the problem, creating as many enemies as we destroyed. And Osama bin Laden was still on the loose, releasing ominous videos from time to time. Chase makes several references to the threat of terrorism in the final season, reflecting a profound national anxiety of the time. We were all conscious of the giant piano hanging by a rope over our collective heads. This may be the greater significance of the footage of George Bush and King Abdullah that appears in this hour. Saudi Arabia is suspected of giving financial and material support to the men who attacked us, yet here is our President walking amicably alongside the Saudi king. Their cooperation reminds us that perhaps Tony and gang are also inadvertently working hand-in-hand with Islamic terrorists. Tony seems to get wind of this possibility when he drives through a Muslim neighborhood and sees Bing regulars Ahmed and Muhammed loitering with some men in traditional Middle Eastern garb. Chase conscientiously refracts our real-world anxieties and the threat of terrorism into SopranoWorld, and it adds to the general mood of uneasiness that characterizes The Sopranos in its final run of episodes.

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CONNECTIVITY
Chase always utilizes connectivity in his episodes, and in this hour he makes connections through the use of certain dollar amounts. As I mentioned earlier, $100,000 is the amount that Marie needed to escape north Jersey and it is also the amount Tony loses on the Philadelphia Eagles. A little bit more subtle is the recurrence of “$18,000”:

3-eighteens

Tony notices he is up 18 grand at the roulette table, which is the same amount he later bets on the horse Meadow Gold, which is the also the cost of the boot camp that Little Vito is sent to.

Another notable connection is made through the reappearance of the Lladro figurine here. Carm showed the figurine off as evidence of her family’s wealth to Devin Pillsbury in episode 4.06 “Everybody Hurts,” but she hurls it at Tony now when he suggests that the money she earned on the spec-house is not genuinely hers. As SopranoWorld continues to get darker and its characters become increasingly profligate and dissolute, Chase uses various types of internal rhymes and connections to help maintain some sense of order and structure within the series.

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TITLE SIGNIFICANCE
Dr. Melfi asks Tony, “What are you chasing, money or a high from winning?” Tony may indeed be chasing one (or both) of those things, but he may also be chasing the universe’s good graces, he may be chasing a sense of meaning, he may be chasing some form of punishment. Tony doesn’t answer Melfi’s question, and neither does the episode title—we can’t say with any certainty what the “it” in “Chasing It” refers to. The episode title keeps the major ambiguity of the hour intact. 

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ADDITIONAL NOTES:

  • Evidence of some bad blood? Matt Weiner, who wrote this episode, worked on the CBS sitcom Becker earlier in his career. Becker was created and produced by Dave Hackel. Perhaps not coincidentally, the gravestone of a “David Hackel” is desecrated by Little Vito in this hour:

hackel

  • Tony assures Hesh at one point that he will soon be getting his cut of “the MRI centers.” I wonder if this means that Tony finally put into motion that MRI scam he thought up in the Pilot episode.
  • “Cavatina,” the musical theme from The Deer Hunter (one of my absolute favorite movies), is playing in the restaurant as AJ proposes to Blanca. A central idea in the film is the “one shot” philosophy, the idea that you must be mentally and physically prepared to take your shot when the best opportunity presents itself. Perhaps the relevance here is that AJ is taking the best shot he has ever had at happiness by proposing to Blanca.
  • Pee. Stepping out of the bathroom, Hesh tells Renata that “That was me, not a fireboat.” So, every episode in 6B thus far has had a reference to peeing. Again, I don’t think there’s any great symbolism to this or anything, it’s just a part of the regularness of life. 
  • This hour supplies one of my favorite malaprops when Tony tells Marie, “…Vito’s passing and all that that entrailed.”
  • Another funny moment: Ted Yackinelli, the building inspector who comes to look at Cousin Brian’s house, seems pleased to meet Carm and Hugh—until he learns that they are the builders. “Oh, great” he mutters. (And then Hugh does this awesome arm gesture that nicely conveys the idea, “These building inspectors, they don’t know shit…”)
  • Jason Gervasi appears for a moment in this hour; he will figure heavily in upcoming episodes as AJ’s life spirals out of control.
  • Bobby Baccala seems quieter, more reflective lately. Chris even asks him what’s wrong with him. Perhaps committing his first murder three episodes ago is turning him into more of a solemn figure.
  • This hour contains a mention of Al, Christopher’s father-in-law who we have yet to meet, in connection to some power tools. (We remember that in the previous episode, the Cubans in Miami discussed Makita power tools.) The tools, as well as Al’s hardware store, become a major point of contention between Chris and Paulie in the next outing.
  • Many people have tried to decode Carlo’s (mistaken) reference to the “Eddie Valentine” episode of The Twilight Zone. (He seems to actually be trying to refer to the “Henry Valentine” episode.) All the fan-theories about Carlo’s allusion get somewhat complicated so I’ll stay away from the whole thing (other than to say that it’s fairly common for SopranoWorld characters to make these sorts of little mistakes in their pop references).
  • Chase supposedly went with Brandon Hannan to reprise “Little Vito” because he needed someone that looked a little bit older than the original actor looked. Hannan was nominated for a SAG Award and Primetime Emmy for his work here.
  • Howlin Wolf’s “Goin’ Down Slow” closes the episode. It’s very fitting, as Tony does seem to be making a slow descent into nihilism and decadence. The song title also reminds me of what that reporter had said about OJ prior to his Las Vegas arrest: “He was going down…”
  • Speaking of Las Vegas… The storyline in this hour about Tony’s gambling helps to set up the tale of Tony’s trip to Sin City a couple of episodes from now.

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BH and JG

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202 responses to “Chasing It (6.16)”

  1. sonicbluesea | June 10, 2019 at 12:47 pm | Reply

    I’m unaware of the fan theories surrounding the “Eddie Valentine” reference, and now you’ve got me curious. Any links I can check out?

    Liked by 2 people

    • Ron | June 10, 2019 at 2:51 pm | Reply

      Maybe “fan theories” wasn’t the right phrase, I meant more like interpretations. I don’t have any links but I know that Sepinwall takes a crack at it in “Sopranos Sessions.”

      Like

    • Decristo | July 7, 2019 at 12:53 am | Reply

      I thought I posted a response to this but it didn’t post….the name of the character was rocky valentine i think and he was a good who was killed by a cop and to his surprise, an angel took him to a place where every score came easy and the women and wine were plentiful. He got bored and wanted to go to the other place but was told that he WAS in the other place.
      Recall too, that an Episode if TZ is playing in the safe house in the last episode and this episode is about tv writers. It’s so subtle and textured, the thought put into the show.
      Oh and on the TZ issue, the whole Kevin Finnerty story pretty much IS a TZ episode….all that’s missing is the camera panning over to Serling…..

      Liked by 2 people

      • Decristo | July 7, 2019 at 12:54 am | Reply

        Gangster not good…dang cell phone

        Like

        • Yevardian | July 12, 2019 at 4:40 am | Reply

          I still find Tony’s sudden gambling addiction far too sudden and one-off in this episode to find it engaging. I’d honestly consider it one of only bottom Sopranos episodes, along with “Live Free or Die” and “Johnnycakes”. And I actually quite like “Christopher” and “Luxury Lounge”.
          It would have been nice to have seen Tony’s gambling develop over the course of season 6A, it could have included a Vegas storyline with Christopher (who otherwise gets little to do except degenerate all season) instead of wasting everyone’s time with Vito n’ Johnnycakes. I still think that New Hampshire plot was the biggest mistake The Sopranos ever made. I don’t object to the story in itself, but 90% of it could have been implied offscreen. He just wasn’t an interesting character and the actor had no charisma either. Tellingly, all good scenes that subplot produced don’t actually involve Vito directly.
          It honestly still makes me mad even a decade later.
          There were some great characters that could have been fleshed out instead, for some reason I always found Butchie fascinating whenever he was onscreen. Little Carmine and Silvio were also curioud characters that never recieved an arc.

          Liked by 1 person

          • Decristo | July 18, 2019 at 8:08 am | Reply

            I liked Butchie too. He seemed such the weasel, the sort of long time mon survivor who hung on because he knew when to switch allegiance. The problem with the sopranos is that were way too many fascinating characters and just not enough time to explore all or even most of them. The Lorraine-Jason duo was intriguing too. And even Tina, I always wondered what happened to her….

            Liked by 3 people

  2. FThatParakeet | June 10, 2019 at 1:52 pm | Reply

    Always glad to see a new post. I’ll have to give it another try later though. Forgive my lengthy comment, but as someone who dedicates paragraphs to minor details, I hope you can bear with me. I’ll admit, I’m almost certainly alone here..but, that diagram grinded my enjoyment to a halt. Silly, yes. But I could not for the life of me figure out why you felt the need to add it. I’m not being rhetorical here–what were you thinking? What you admitted wasn’t a “major point” (which I’d argue isn’t even a minor point) was as understandable as it was uninteresting…on its own. Kind of like if you had told us somewhere in the episode that 2 meatballs were added to a pot already cooking 3 meatballs to make 5 total meatballs. But then, to help us slow people catch up to your brilliance, you illustrate the irrelevant coincidence. I don’t like to speak for other people, but I hope my fellow readers will forgive me. NOBODY was lost after your mentioning of the non-factor. And certainly not only up until that napkin doodle cleared it up for them. An actor played two characters; A character related to one of those characters was played by two actors. You write something like that in the Trivia section of IMDB and it will say “7 of 300 people find this interesting”. But, even if that little nugget was somehow Earth-shattering to someone, it certainly isn’t advanced calculus. And let’s remember to not overlook the irrelevance. In my previous meatball example, the total number of meatballs in the pot is a “who cares?” detail. Next, we’d (for some reason) insert a drawing of a pot with five meatballs in it, broken into sets of two and three. Even if I was such a dullard where I would need the simple math illustrated for me, wouldn’t I still, after finally figuring out all of my mind-bending calculations, end up wondering “but, who the hell cares how many meatballs were in the pot?” Just a bizarre thing to add and an even more bizarre way to add it.

    Like

    • sonicbluesea | June 10, 2019 at 3:00 pm | Reply

      I agree that the diagram was a bit of overkill… but nowhere near the level of your reaction to it.

      Liked by 2 people

    • Ron | June 10, 2019 at 3:00 pm | Reply

      Hahaha ok point taken.

      I tend to think about things in terms of diagrams and my original plan for S.A. was for the site to be chock full of them. I may be including one or two diagrams in my write-up for “Kennedy and Heidi” a couple of episodes from now, so brace yourself FTP.

      Liked by 3 people

      • Leonardi | August 9, 2019 at 4:39 pm | Reply

        That definetely needs a whole arc by itself and Chris does play a major point this season into Tony’s mind because his jealousy of Chris is a big reason for his murder of Chris. Chris has everything tony wants internally and externally tony at every chance belittles Chris attempts to get sober this season and in season 5. Tony does this because he knows he can’t change and Chris is taking a better step than he ever cared to do. Also in terms of women tony obviously lusted over Adrianna Julianna skiff even in Kennedy and Heidi he goes all the way to Vegas to bang Chris mistress. Even jokes to Carmela about how ugly Chris was and his nose and Carmela told him a lot of women found him attractive tony seemed nervous. He try’s to excuse the murder by saying he’s a lying drug addict who could’ve turned on him at any point. This is farthest from the truth Chris saved Tony’s life in season 1 helped in bury Ralph and didn’t tell anybody about it. He gave up on his dreams of Hollywood out of his loyalty to tony in season 2. Also he assisted in burying Ralph with tony and tony knew Chris was the only person he could trust with that. And lastly ofc Chris greatest sacrifice to try to prove his loyalty to tony Adrianna… He had a chance at a new life and even expressed how unappreciative tony was in the same episode to be with the women He loved but he didn’t and stayed with tony and mob. Tony is jealous tht Chris was brave enough to follow his dreams by making his own movie and expressed clear resentment over Chris dating Julianna. If Chris was gonna rat on Tony he would’ve did a while ago. It showed tony as a real disgusting human being in a lot of people’s eyes killed his own nephew out of pettiness Chris had his flaws built one thing he wasn’t was disloyal. This season I believe if tony did die which I don’t believe he did but if he did it would’ve been Paulie to do him in. Paulie actually has betrayed tony and it is completely not out of character for Paulie to do the same again so Tony’s own jealousy and envy blinded him to who
        The real snake was it wasn’t the junkie it was the snake staring him in the face all along. Great writing and I believe thts one of two possibility’s. Hopefully you read this and agree with what it meant for Tony’s character and why he really killed Chris remember most of what is said in the sopranos is a lie emotions are hidden all the time

        Liked by 2 people

        • Davide Ferrari | July 6, 2021 at 7:29 am | Reply

          Man, thanks. Im not the only one who thinks that way it seems. I always say that Tony killing Chris is the same as Tony’s treatment of Janice when he tries, and succeeds, in getting her mad over her son.

          Liked by 1 person

    • Anonymous | June 10, 2019 at 5:25 pm | Reply

      Have you checked your medication lately?

      Liked by 3 people

    • Mamjja, J.F. | June 10, 2019 at 9:51 pm | Reply

      LOL Parakeet, that horse you’re beating? Just a moment, let me check…
      Oh yeah, it’s dead.

      Liked by 3 people

    • Steve | June 11, 2019 at 12:10 am | Reply

      Ron – doodle away my friend. Parakeet – skip the preambles.

      Liked by 5 people

    • Orangeannie | June 11, 2019 at 11:48 am | Reply

      Why are you making such a big deal about the diagram? Just enjoy the post…Jeez.

      Liked by 2 people

    • Decristo | July 6, 2019 at 10:15 pm | Reply

      You need to calm down. The guy sets up a blog for us to pontificate and you yell at him? Go post on an Alf blog. Creep.

      Liked by 1 person

  3. Anonymous | June 10, 2019 at 7:49 pm | Reply

    I quite like the theory by FlyonMelfi’sWall called “Tony’s Vicarious Patricide,” posted on thechaselounge.net, which tracks Tony’s disassociated anger in 6B toward his father and father figures. In 6B we witness the “decompensating” that Melfi predicted would occur as fallout from Tony’s refusal to acknowledge the trauma caused by his shooting. Having failed to unleash his anger on Paulie, he now directs his anger toward another father figure, and gambles heavily – violating the only real “moral lesson” we ever saw his father ever teach him – “You must never gamble, Anthony.” (delivered immediately post “Clever Incident” btw). This explains the sudden prominence of heavy gambling as well as the shaky camera work as Tony struggles to find an outlet for the rage he can’t begin to acknowledge.
    The idea is that this unacknowledged anger toward his father & father figures (building since childhood, conveniently misdirected at Livia, and brought to the surface by the shooting) climaxes with Tony coming face-to-face with a baby car seat crushed by a tree branch, whereby his anger suddenly finds an outlet. After which, he feels A LOT better.

    Liked by 3 people

    • Ron | June 10, 2019 at 8:19 pm | Reply

      Great take. I haven’t visited Chase Lounge in a while, I wonder if FlyOnMelfisWall is still active on it. She’s brilliant.

      Like

    • Dude Manbrough | June 11, 2019 at 1:00 am | Reply

      Very well put. It’s the entire crux of season 6B. Tony is realizing that his father’s inability or lack of desire to steer his son away from “the life” is the root cause of every problem he has. His sudden cruelty and his reckless gambling are just his feeble form of rebellion long after the fact. Meanwhile AJ’s attempt at rebelling (a non-Italian girlfriend with a child, working an honest job) has failed which (spoiler) is going to lead directly to Tony proffering some ill-conceived fatherly advice that leads to disastrous consequences.
      Those who felt Tony’s actions in 6B and this episode were out of character are missing the point: he IS “out of character” as the series winds down. The facade is crumbling around his ears. his judgement is unsound, he is increasingly lost, angry and bitter. He forced Bobby to needlessly kill a nobody out of petty revenge, he seriously considered murdering Paulie, he attacked Hesh over a bridge loan and sabotaged a lifelong friendship and it’s about to get even uglier.

      Liked by 4 people

      • matteobrasi | March 15, 2020 at 5:24 am | Reply

        Excellent take. Only one point I’d disagree with, and I guess it’s not really important, but Tony having Bobby do the hit was not out of revenge. It was a business decision to do it, and the options were Tony and Bobby. So Bobby was the only realistic choice. But you can argue that is unimportant because Tony clearly took pleasure in assigning the hit to Bobby, which makes your point just as well. I equate the situation to the Jackie Jr decision. Tony putting it in Ralph was the logical thing to do. But Tony certainly took pleasure in making Ralph handle it.

        Liked by 1 person

        • sec112 | April 29, 2023 at 10:15 am | Reply

          The show makes a belabored point out of the fact the Canada hit nets them $15K. Which is laughably small for a hit on a civilian, and obviously included to make clear that the hit was NOT a business necessity. It was spite, pure and simple and meant to show that Tony has fully abandoned any attempt at change as 6B gets under way.

          Liked by 1 person

      • LK | November 17, 2021 at 12:21 pm | Reply

        Dude – Tony has been out-of-control since the Tony B fiasco (which I still believe should have been handled by Phil). His health is at its worst right now. He is unable to contain his feelings of rage, and his anxiety and depression continue to fuel his problems with his two families. He is both imploding and exploding simultaneously. Cooperating with the FBI would solve nothing; he wouldn’t be able to live his consumer-driven lifestyle, and he couldn’t possibly point fingers at his crew. Let’s face it – the dude’s fate is sealed; he is doomed, so to speak.

        Like

        • LK | November 24, 2021 at 5:56 pm | Reply

          Regarding Tony’s apparent ‘revelation’ in the desert, people might have thought that he finally understood who he was and what he needed to do to make things ‘right’. But as Emily Nussbaum (2007) notes, “… we’d had our own revelation. Tony’s life was just a series of empty epiphanies. Sure he was capable of guilt and anger and sentimentality – of deep emotion and loyalty. But no catharsis resulted in any true action. Instead, he was becoming his real self: the empty golem”. Alas, every last character gets sucked back into her/his own private hell; AJ is depressed (again/still), Meadow is consorting with the son of a mobster, Carmela is eyeing more real estate and enjoying the fruits (gifts) of Tony’s illegal enterprises, Janice is still a malcontent, Chris is overdoing his heroin habit, and Tony … well, he’s become such a degenerate that nothing short of a bullet will cure his addiction to chaos. In the end, is any of this relevant? Will we – unlike ‘them’ – be able to move on? That’s up to us, I guess.

          Liked by 1 person

  4. Leaman | June 10, 2019 at 9:18 pm | Reply

    I never could understand the vitriol towards this episode. As you point out, the specifics of Tony’s spiraling are not as important as the fact that he is spiraling.

    The gambling shouldn’t be seen as coming out of left field. We knew he gambled, we knew he had some shame about it, and we knew that at least some of that shame came from Johnny Boy telling a young Tony to never gamble.

    There’s also the fact that Tony’s losing streak ties in with the rest of Season 6 Tony’s outlook on being “up or down” on his luck in life. And, of course, it sets up how his luck changes in “Kennedy and Heidi.” Tony even points out the moment when his luck changed in his final scene with Paulie in the last episode. This is not something Chase came up with as a filler episode.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Ron | June 10, 2019 at 10:16 pm | Reply

      I always liked the Little Vito storyline here, but I wasn’t crazy about Tony’s gambling storyline at all when this hour first aired. But I’ve come to like and appreciate it over time for all the reasons you point out.

      Like

  5. RMS | June 10, 2019 at 10:00 pm | Reply

    Episode 81, actually. Otherwise, fantastic. I can’t wait to see what you do with the final four.

    Like

  6. R.K. | June 11, 2019 at 7:32 am | Reply

    Thank you for the commentary. The information about the boot camp school was new to me, and very interesting.
    – – – – –
    I would like to write a Farewell to Hesh.
    In appearance and manner, he is many Jews’ ideal grandfather or great-uncle. We would know something about the dark periods of his past, never speak of them, and be secretly thrilled by them. We would accept his black women with amused tolerance, and we (the males) would again be secretly thrilled.
    He has a sad ending. He never thought that Renata would die before him. Although he is lucky to have a son and daughter-in-law, he is going to end his days as a lonely old man.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Ron | June 11, 2019 at 10:01 am | Reply

      Good points about Hesh. I’ve liked the actor Jerry Adler since the ’90s when he was on Northern Exposure, and I recently realized he was a major character in Manhattan Murder Mystery when I re-watched that film last month.

      Liked by 1 person

      • LK | November 11, 2021 at 6:34 pm | Reply

        Ron – l did a bit of research about gambling and Hesh, and ended up on sopranoswiki.com. Apparently, Hesh “may be a composite character of ‘Mo’ Levy, who had connections to the Mafia and ‘Corky’ (!!) Vastola, a member of the Mafia and who worked with Roulette Records (!!) … There is some evidence that Renata’s death is all that saves Hesh from being taken out by Tony”. After Tony gives Hesh the $200K he owes him, we never see Hesh again. I guess Chase isn’t as creative as most of us believed; he sure borrows heavily from creatures of the underworld for his stories.

        Liked by 1 person

      • Anonymous | March 20, 2022 at 3:53 pm | Reply

        Jerry Adler is great… just wanted to say, I think Manhattan Murder Mystery is one of the true gems of Woody Allen’s filmography that gets overlooked. It was a big movie for me as a kid in the ’90s. Allen’s chemistry with Diane Keaton is amazing, and Adler is so good in that film.

        Liked by 1 person

  7. Orangeannie | June 11, 2019 at 11:46 am | Reply

    I think Hesh will mourn and then move on like every other man. All the characters in this show are the same…basically horrible. This episode is very sad and depressing. Especially Little Vito. Why doesn’t his mother just sell the house anyway and get the hell out of there? It’s true that his angst over his father will not go away by a change of scenery, but I think he could be helped. Imagine what is happening at school with the bullying. Why would Marie ask for money from the people who had her husband killed? You know she must know deep down that the mob is involved, and that he was killed because of his sexuality. Carmela is another one. She is losing sleep over sub-par lumber that she used to sell a house to her COUSIN no less! How f’d up is that? If her father built their house, then for sure the lumber was not up to code…why feel guilty if you aren’t going to change? I think Tony knows the end is near, and is just going down further and further….he knows at the very least he is going to jail. In this episode I think the writers want us to start to really see through Tony’s good points and see what is beneath. He’s really showing how monstrous he is. Neither Phil nor Tony really care about little V. Tony could have easily given her the money. He just didn’t want to. Phil is so homophobic, how can he be expected to talk to a kid who is wearing Goth make-up? Why would Marie consent to have him go to that place instead of doing whatever she can to get him out of that environment? Its not easy to have issues with the kids, and to do it alone…but at least try. I don’t think Tony is thinking about his fathers views on gambling either…his father was trying to expain away the reason for cutting off Mr. Satriales finger. He had nothing against gambling, only that you pay your debts. We’ve seen Tony gamble in every season. He’s sinking, and money can’t make it better. He lashes out at Carmela, and rightly too…she did use bad lumber to make that house…..why sugar coat it? 600,000 is a pretty good amount of money. Plus, shes planning a newer, bigger house with the proceeds. He has been seething about the money she took from the bird feeder for years. He will never forget it. Tony doesn’t feel guilty about his criminal activities. If Carmela feels remorse, then she shouldn’t have done it like that in the first place. She may not have a criminal personality, but in some ways she’s worse, because she’s a hypocrite. She could make 500,000 as a profit and use better wood.

    Liked by 2 people

    • sonicbluesea | June 12, 2019 at 11:05 am | Reply

      I think Tony is specifically thinking about his father’s views. Or, at the very least, subconsciously. To me, the hint is when he vehemently rebuffs the suggestion of stiffing Hesh. It ties it back to that conversation in Fortunate Son, where Johnny Boy not only told Tony never to gamble, but also told him that a man always pays his debts. Now, whether or not Johnny Boy himself actually lived by those words is another matter entirely, but it doesn’t really matter anyway. The point is that it definitely had an impact on Tony, especially when bookended by the trauma of seeing what happened to Mr. Satriale, and his first panic attack. We know this all still weighs heavily on his subconscious, as we’ve already established the connection between meat/panic attacks, and I think it’s all part of the same package.

      Liked by 2 people

  8. Orangeannie | June 11, 2019 at 12:14 pm | Reply

    PS. Tony is upset at the money he is losing with Vito dead, and maybe young Vito’s problems are upsetting him even though he doesn’t want to admit it. He never really want to have Vito killed…and so not only is he losing money because Vito is not earning, he sees what havoc it has wrought on so many levels. Tony isn’t enjoying his life anymore. I think he was just annoyed at Carlo because watching “Twilight Zone” doesn’t get the bills paid.

    Liked by 1 person

  9. Orangeannie | June 11, 2019 at 12:34 pm | Reply

    Blanca handles the situation well. She realizes that all the security in the world couldn’t make her get involved in the Soprano life. She’s like Charmaine..she knows who she is, and is not attracted by the lifestyle. Admirable, especially since money could help her out. SHE took the high road.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Yevardian | July 12, 2019 at 4:48 am | Reply

      I always interpreted her breaking up with AJ in spite of his family’s status, not because of it. Remember that Blanca and her family has been working within a Mob-dominated union for years. Sure, AJ’s parents gave her the cold shoulder, but why does anyone think she was attracted to such a drip in the first place?
      Every time AJ gets any action at all throughout the series, Chase quite explicitly shows that it’s solely due to the shadow of his father.
      (“hey, I’m like a gangster dude’s girlfriend!”)

      Liked by 1 person

      • sec112 | April 29, 2023 at 10:41 am | Reply

        There’s ambiguity in the reasons for Blanca dumping AJ, but there are a series of scenes with cuts that suggest she is made uncomfortable by the boorishness and conspicuous consumption of the family. In this episode, she comments, not in admiring way, on the fact that only two people are going to live in the large spec house. She seems unimpressed by AJ’s “you’ll never have to work again” comment – suggesting that even if she is attracted by safety and security, she isn’t impressed by Carmela’s life. She also had a reaction to the “real man” line in Cleaver. Though there’s reason to believe her initial interest was related to his rich father, there are also ample indications that when she got closer to the money, the lifestyle appalled her. We aren’t given a single reason, we are given many reasons – the family dynamics among them. In the end, with all the reasons to go, there wasn’t enough reason to stay.

        Liked by 1 person

    • mariocroatia | January 17, 2021 at 7:22 pm | Reply

      She is whore, but at least she doesn’t look like Vito JR

      Like

    • LK | November 11, 2021 at 6:41 pm | Reply

      Orange – Maybe not. She probably got a (better) offer that she couldn’t refuse!

      Like

  10. Stringer | June 11, 2019 at 2:47 pm | Reply

    Though Slava isn’t seen again in the series, in “Chasing It”, after having a meal with Paulie, Christopher and Bobby, Tony states that he’s going to see Slava to liquify some offshore money.

    Valery is dead.

    Liked by 2 people

    • sonicbluesea | June 12, 2019 at 10:53 am | Reply

      I too always took the reference to Slava as a subtle way to answering the ‘what happened to the Russian?!?!?’ question that kept so many viewers up at night back then. Just before Chase gave us all a whole new, even bigger chunk of ambiguousness to chew on.

      Liked by 2 people

  11. Allan | June 11, 2019 at 8:32 pm | Reply

    You have mentioned many of your favorite movies in several posts. I´m curious about your personal top.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Ron | June 11, 2019 at 9:07 pm | Reply

      McCabe and Mrs. Miller has been at the top of my list for years. Chinatown is a close 2nd. It’s hard to narrow the rest down, but they would include, in no particular order, Lawrence of Arabia, The Deer Hunter, Days of Heaven, Lost in Translation, La Dolce Vita, The Act of Killing, The Graduate, The 400 Blows…

      Liked by 1 person

      • Uncle Fat | June 13, 2019 at 2:41 pm | Reply

        Funny, I always thought that Altman, Kubrick and Fellini are hugely overrated and pretentious (although The Killing is masterpiece).
        Instead, Hawks, Wilder and Ford will do 🙂

        Liked by 2 people

        • Ron | June 13, 2019 at 2:52 pm | Reply

          I like them all 👍🏽

          Like

          • maarten429 | June 23, 2020 at 4:36 pm | Reply

            I’ve taken a detour (maybe to prolong watching the last few episodes,) and gravitated to watching Kubrick (quite unconsciously.) The night I watched Stage 5 I also watched Eyes Wide Shut and oddly Sydney Pollack appeared in both.
            I’m still trying to figure out the connection, but there is one.

            Liked by 1 person

        • Yevardian | July 12, 2019 at 4:53 am | Reply

          Fellini sure. Kubrick? Maybe. But Altman? He was one of the most down to earth directors out there, both in his films and his own personality.
          Incidentally I never thought Goodfellas was ever that great. Maybe The Sopranos ruined it for me because I saw it first.

          Liked by 2 people

          • Ron | July 12, 2019 at 10:03 am | Reply

            I love GoodFellas even though Scorsese’s style and gimmicks sometimes feel like a distracting watermark on many of his films..

            Liked by 1 person

          • Decristo | July 18, 2019 at 8:18 am | Reply

            Good fellas is great in a superficial way. It’s all glitz and period clothes and music and money and stuff and pure emptiness—-not even a whiff of introspection. Sopranos delves into the underlying emptiness of that whole life and that’s what’s so fascinating about it. And by extension it delves into the emptiness of modern life, period. Obviously you know that because you’re a fan, but rewatching Goodfellas again recently, it struck me how vapid it truly was. But then again that was sort of the point of the film, I always thought.

            Liked by 3 people

            • Yevardian | July 19, 2019 at 1:53 am | Reply

              Well my favourite gangster film might actually be De Palma’s Scarface remake, its so ridiculous and over the top. One recent Mob film that I thought was very good, taking a much more introspective approach was “A Most Violent Year”, starring Oscar Isaac. Despite glowing reviews however, it’s one of the biggest box-office bombs in history. Makes you think how The Sopranos might have fared if Chase tried to make it a film rather than a series.
              The Sopranos was never really about the Mob, and from season 3 onward any Mafia storylines in the show increasingly take a backseat.

              Liked by 2 people

            • Anonymous | May 9, 2020 at 1:59 pm | Reply

              Replying a year later, lol. About GoodFellas (of which I am a huge fan), I agree with you. I read the book (“Wiseguy”) and it was very much the same as you describe. Henry Hill basically saw a hustle in every situation he was in, all to make more and spend more money. One part not included in the film, he was in the Army in North Carolina, and he got busted for taking and selling surplus mess hall meals (I guess they were like airline meals). And later he helped fix some college basketball games. It was all business to him. There was no introspection, just “this is my career,” and serving time was just part of it, not a chance for penance. In that regard, the film stayed true to the source material, at least.
              I also read a book that his kids wrote as adults, and it was an eye opener. They were in constant peril as children, not only when Hill was a hood but in witness protection as well (which Hill kept compromising with his idiotic schemes). Hill and his wife were junkies and hosted orgies – this of course goes unmentioned (outside of coke) in Wiseguy. Hill also savagely beat his wife many times. It was interesting to read their side of the story. Anyway I think the movie is celebrated in part because of its craftsmanship and storytelling, and also because it functions as a sort of wish fulfilment for the common man (minus the getting caught/running for your life parts). But you’re right, it’s somewhat superficial, especially compared to the Sopranos.

              Liked by 1 person

          • Uncle Fat | July 26, 2019 at 9:04 pm | Reply

            Lucky that Chase saw GoodFellas first (and TwinPeaks), otherwise we’ll be miserable to the bone.
            Ron too.

            Liked by 1 person

      • Anonymous | January 7, 2022 at 8:17 pm | Reply

        Interesting that Godfather 1 and 2 aren’t included . Love all the films on your list, though.

        Liked by 1 person

      • Meredith Eliot | August 25, 2022 at 1:03 pm | Reply

        Coming in three years later, but I just watched McCabe and Mrs. Miller for the first time recently and loved it. And saw The Graduate for the third of fourth time…you just can’t beat those last few seconds on the bus as their situation just starts to sink in. Cut the shot two seconds earlier and it’d be a totally different movie. I’m not a Dustin Hoffman fan in general, but he has acted in some great movies.

        Liked by 1 person

  12. Jamie | June 11, 2019 at 10:58 pm | Reply

    “He surrounded himself with thugs, sycophants and wannabe gangsters, cutting ties with his more respectable friends.”

    Haha, I think THEY cut ties with HIM. He was driven out of Brentwood after doubling down with his “oppressed civil rights fighter” defense strategy, and lost the support of almost every influential friend he had.

    “I wonder if this means that Tony finally put into motion that MRI scam he thought up in the Pilot episode.”

    I’m racking my brain here because I was always under the assumption that they were running the MRI scam since the early seasons. I mean, it was the entire reason they let the HMO guy out of his debt. But the only two mentions I can remember is Bobby talking to Tony at Chris’ BBQ (I think), and Bobby and Tony meeting at the Bing when Chris is upset with Paulie.

    “Carmela her calls her contractor-slash-father in the middle of the night, terrified that the roof of the house she has built and sold to her cousin will collapse in the stormy weather.”

    Carm’s Dad built their house, right? One thing I didn’t get is why is she so worried about the spec house and not her own? Hugh almost certainly used the same materials.

    Liked by 3 people

  13. Karen's Ziti | June 12, 2019 at 1:35 am | Reply

    Tony and Carmela’s scenes in this episode are pivotal and underrated. I think the big “STOP TAWKINABOUT YOUR MUNNAY” fight is more hateful and explosive than Whitecaps, or any other fight between the couple (Army of One comes to mind). And the reconciliation scene is tender, in whatever way this show can be so, and chilling. “Who is out there?” Carmela asks. What rough beast?
    I think Bobby is just being an asshole to Chris. Notice the glances they exchange in the next hour, when Chris storms in about the drills. They’re both aware of how they’ve switched roles, and Bobby has certainly become more assertive in his Janus..ahem…Janice years. Oo Fa.
    The late, beautiful Jimmy G really ups the Joisey jibone in Tony’s voice in this last season. I always wondered if that was intentional, like a result of Tony aging and wounded. My favorite example is in this episode, when he’s talking to Vito, Jr. : You dink anyboddy wantsch dat?
    Great stuff as always Ron.

    Liked by 5 people

  14. Alex dubois | June 12, 2019 at 8:30 am | Reply

    Hey Ron great write-up as usual.
    I find your comment about tony’s Internal conflict to hold on the last scrap of decency and honour he has, having never thought about it like that, and I think it adds a new context to his session/confrontation with Melfi at the end of season 5. I agree with your interpretation that she unfortunately probably did more to push him to kill tony b than to deflect him away from it, but it seems she didn’t pick up on the internal conflict within him, with the preservation of tony b’s life contributing to his own sense of decency and honour. Really looking forward to your next three write-ups, with the father-son younger and older generational conflict coming into major focus it seems.

    Like

    • Yevardian | July 12, 2019 at 5:12 am | Reply

      I really found Melfi’s scolding Tony’s feelings for cousin as “being based in guilt and shame” a bit hard to take. Melfi is not supposed to be stupid, how is she supposed to interpret Tony’s concerns for his brother “being in deep trouble”? Are we really supposed to believe she has no idea how his world works after all these years?
      Similarly I was expecting much more of a reaction when in therapy, Tony comes as close to saying to any outsider that he had Adriana killed for Christopher.
      I guess like many others have said, the show’s writers never really knew what to do with Melfi after “Employee of the Month”, so she just sort of hung on as an appendix to the show from thereon.
      Though being the Sopranos this issue was at least acknowledged in Tony’s increasingly regular comments about it being a circlejerk. A lesser show would have used something very pat to give the subplot closure, like her turning to the FBI.
      But of course, the Sopranos is true to reality in that most issues or relationships in our life never receive true closure, where usually they dribble away in a highly unsatisfactory manner.

      Liked by 1 person

  15. Alex | June 13, 2019 at 11:03 am | Reply

    Hey Ron, I’ve told you many times that you run a great review site on the sopranos, with a great accumulation of academic analysis of the sopranos enhancing a viewer’s perception of the show. Your greatest strength as a reviewer however is that you understand the goal of a great piece of art, which is to give us enough guidance and treasure to spawn questioning and debate. To me this approach is very fresh and different and I hope you use it to examine other great pieces of media. Once the sopranos autopsy site is complete do you have any plans to examine any other tv shows or even films with your approach? If not, I think it’s something you should consider; I generally check this site once a day for any new analysis from you and I would happily sit down and read your analysis of any other pieces of mass media that I appreciate

    Liked by 2 people

  16. Orangeannie | June 13, 2019 at 2:15 pm | Reply

    The actor that plays little V has a better resemblance to actor Vito too.

    Liked by 1 person

  17. Grant from TX | June 14, 2019 at 12:48 pm | Reply

    Great write up, can’t wait for Kennedy and Heidi! Long time reader, first time commenter: would you be willing to share a bit about the process in writing your autopsies? Very curious about how many times you watch each episode, what your notes look like, the time it takes, etc. Thanks for the all the hard work.

    Liked by 3 people

    • Ron | June 15, 2019 at 10:56 am | Reply

      Thanks Grant. I guess I’ve watched every ep around 5 or 6 times over the years. The majority of my notes are on a 140-page Word document that is nothing but bullet points for each episode. The rest of my process is basically sipping on vodka-tonics while I hammer those bullet points into coherent paragraphs 😃

      Liked by 3 people

  18. Blackmambauk | June 16, 2019 at 8:34 am | Reply

    It’s an interesting episode this, as it focus on stuff many fans wouldn’t think were as you say tangent at this juncture of the continuing fallout of the Vito thing. From his homophobic successor bringing in three times less money than Vito was and at a time Tony is on a losing streak and spending money all over the place like on another boat as Hesh stated.
    The look on Carlo’s face after Tony’s rant on him shows how more and more Tony’s crew were quietly growing more and more dissatisfied and it may have helped to play a part of Carlo’s actions in the final episode and possibly Patsi’s as well considering their sons were close.
    Phil once again projecting his own toxic masculinity and homophobia onto Vito’s family that leaves Tony holding the bag and him sending Vito jr off to those camps you mentioned, I really dred to think what happened to Vito jr considering what we know those camps did to the people sent there.
    Focus on Hesh, a character that never had the best of focus episodes along with other stuff building up to the final few episodes like as mentioned Chris and Bobby stuff. The start of AJ’s downward spiral and so on.
    This episode i think shows that Carmella won’t end up where Ginny did if Tony was to die or be killed, she ain’t no Angie with her in the end having to sell her spec house to her cousin.
    There’s very few domestic fights in fiction that truly have my back against the chair, but the one between Tony and Carm this episode every time has such tension rarely seen to feel so organic, such malicious words spouted out that it leaves you at the end of your seat. It really nails just how much Tony is degrading as the show reaches it’s conclusion.
    Can’t wait for the analysis on Chris’s swan song and you writing on the wonderful slow moving bit that makes Tony look like a demon.

    Liked by 1 person

  19. Mamjja, J.F. | June 18, 2019 at 4:02 am | Reply

    I noticed two echoes in this Vito Jr. storyline from the phone conversation Vito had with Marie
    in “Johnny Cakes”. Vito tells Marie “You would like it here”, and Marie replies “Tell me
    where, I’ll bring the kids, we’ll relocate.” Sadly, it couldn’t happen, but Marie chases the dream in this
    episode, angling for Maine. Tony’s gambling kills that dream like the rat he stalked and
    strangled in Maine in season one.
    Also in that phone call, Marie tells Vito “There are these church groups, they could cure you of this!”
    I laughed at that line in “Johnny Cakes”, but it was chilling seeing exactly this outcome play out for Vito Jr.

    Liked by 1 person

  20. Elliott | June 22, 2019 at 9:57 pm | Reply

    Tony being a degenerate gambler is pretty believable to me, he seems to have an excessive personality and a lack of impulse control I.E. Having sex with Svetlana, Being an excessive gambler is not a stretch of imagination.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Yevardian | July 14, 2019 at 6:01 am | Reply

      I don’t think anyone claimed it wasn’t believable in itself, the issue is that it comes completely out of nowhere.
      Again, it could have slowly generated background tension through 6A, but instead we had to watch 2-3 hours of a gay fireman fall in love with a fat fuckin’ crook from New Jersey.

      Liked by 1 person

      • Orangeannie | July 19, 2019 at 4:02 pm | Reply

        I think we hear Tony in various episodes betting large amounts of money. I think it was in the episode with little Carmine in FLA, and in a couple of others too. He’s been gambling for quite awhile.

        Liked by 2 people

    • Cilurnum | August 31, 2019 at 4:07 am | Reply

      Yes. I also saw gambling as Tony’s escape. The escape offered a simple binary: win or lose. Everything else in Tony’s life is not as simple. He only realizes this by seasons 5 and 6A and 6B, which is why he spirals. He needs the escape because the absence of simplistic binary thinking makes life intolerable. Everyone dies, that is a certainty. But Tony also thinks everything goes to shit, and that everyone uses you, and lets you down. These other things may not be true. Still, when he’s gambling, he’s gambling on the possibility of the opposite of those beliefs. Chris let Tony down so many times, yet, Tony finds one of Chris’s girlfriends in Vegas. It’s pretty crooked on Tony’s part. But I think it gives him hope. Like gambling. The progression of it isn’t that important. There’s plenty of gambling in the show that doesn’t involve Tony directly; I think this sets the realistic stage for a mobster developing a gambling addiction. Plus the history of Vegas and the mafia. And, not to be longwinded, but I found it interesting how T uses his bets to get people to rally around him, to be on his side. Pie O’ My is all about being respected for having the winning horse. The Eagles – Giants game in the Bing: the clan sides with Tony. I think it’s Tony’s way of escaping loneliness. It’s also a symbol for what’s been happening all along in their business: constant uncertainty, constant, unplanned losses, and gains, expenses, fees, formalities, the individual as player, game theory?

      Liked by 1 person

  21. eph oph | June 24, 2019 at 2:12 am | Reply

    my fave bobby moment of the series in this episode. when tony bets on the horse race, exchange between chris and bobby
    chris: boss dropped like 18k on this, maybe more
    bobby: (appearing uninterested, looking elsewhere) yea?
    chris: what the fucks your problem?
    bobby: (pauses- looks at chris) what? im excited (shrugs shoulders) whaddaya want?

    schirippa as bobby is THE best

    Liked by 1 person

  22. Terremotito | June 29, 2019 at 10:24 am | Reply

    Excellent breakdown of a very layered episode. I just re-watched it last night. Your list of three complaints at the beginning practically read my mind. I too thought Tony’s sudden gambling fixation was jarring. This episode has a lot of great dialogue, but maybe the direction and (dare I say it) James Gandolfini’s acting could have gone in a mellower direction for more of a buildup toward his gambling mania. It’s believable that he would backslide toward “degenerate gambler,” but it was, like I said, jarring that it starts out that way. But then again Chase often leaves parts of the story out so we can piece together what happened between episodes and seasons.

    And, gun to my head, I would have guessed that this episode was directed by Paul Greengrass. Perhaps that was the point, with its post-9/11 paranoia, that it resemble something made by the director of United 93 or the Bourne movies. It was distracting at first, but not every Sopranos episode has to look the same. (The cut to Bush and the Prince always makes me chuckle, then immediately feel uncomfortable, like I just secretly saw someone I know kissing someone who’s not their partner.)

    The Little Vito storyline I had no problem with – it stands to reason there should be fallout from whacking Vito. It’s even one of Tony’s main concerns when he yells at Christopher a few episodes back when they first learn Vito is gay. I did find it odd that the camp people storm the house and wake the kid up. What, he doesn’t get to pack? But again, maybe Chase was going for something resembling the war on terror and the method in which special forces “neutralized” enemy targets. (Did Chase foreshadow the bin Laden assassination?? Doubt it but that, too, played through my head, as well as the fictionalized version in Zero Dark Thirty.)

    It’s amazing that with all of that, there’s also the Hesh, Carm, and AJ storylines getting serious airtime. Or rather getting serious plot progress in limited airtime. I marvel at how much this show can pack into an episode.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Mamjja, J.F. | July 10, 2019 at 11:00 pm | Reply

      @Terremotito, I didn’t put it together until you mentioned it, but the Vito Jr. abduction by the church group is in fact
      similar to the tactics used by US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan to round up members of the resistance.
      Those operations are done late at night for maximum disorientation, and the suspected resistance members
      are dragged away in full view of their families before being hooded and taken to a prison for interrogation
      and possible torture. (E.g. Abu Ghraib, 2003 and later)

      The long term effects of this trauma on Vito Jr. and his family can’t possibly be positive.
      It remains to be seen what blowback the US will experience for the suffering inflicted on families
      in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere continuing up to the present day.

      Liked by 2 people

      • Decristo | July 18, 2019 at 8:30 am | Reply

        Well at least you can ponder the reverberations of our attempt to kill terrorists in the Mideast and Afghanistan from behind your keyboard, basking in the security that the military provides you. Keep us posted on your observations.

        Like

        • Mamjja, J.F. | July 19, 2019 at 5:38 pm | Reply

          LOL Decristo!!
          It is summer here, so I’m definitely guilty of basking in the sun from time to time, and you’re
          right, I am “behind” my keyboard. (Em, that’s how they work right?) But don’t presume I’m
          “basking” in any “security” you think the US military is throwing my way.

          Firstly, it’s not clear that rendition, torture, and drone strikes on suspected resistance fighters
          provides long term security for the US, or anyone to “bask” in. The blowback from the US military
          invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, and subsequent interventions in Libya, Syria,
          Yemen, Honduras, etc. is already visible in a refugee crisis that’s affecting the wider world.

          Secondly, an attitude that only US military members can justifiably speak on policy effects and
          non-military citizens should remain quiet grateful is something I’d expect from a fascist functionary,
          or from Tony (like when he called Sal Vitro selfish for complaining while under mob “protection”).
          I wouldn’t expect this to fly in a democracy.

          I do enjoy Ron’s excellent autopsy of The Sopranos, and also the comments section where we
          all get to point out connections we noticed in SopranoWorld, so it would be strange not to connect
          the dots and question the larger world especially when the series itself references events and
          issues in American life which have only loomed larger since 2007.

          Liked by 2 people

          • Decristo | August 6, 2019 at 12:45 am | Reply

            Everyone can have an opinion obviously but the denigration of the military by the cultural elites since the sixties is a national shame. Funny how many of these elites have expressed enthusiasm for a military coup since Trump was elected. The irony is that that coup may come one day…but it won’t be the liberal elites who benefit from it.

            Like

            • Ron | August 6, 2019 at 12:58 am | Reply

              I don’t think any American would benefit if we started resorting to military coups to transfer power…

              Liked by 1 person

              • Decristo | August 27, 2019 at 1:49 am | Reply

                A lot of celebs would disagree with you! But I agree…

                Like

              • LK | October 24, 2021 at 6:59 pm | Reply

                Ron -WOW … Flashback to Jan 6, 2021 … The ‘non-military’ coup that damn near TOOK power by trying to overturn an election. Phew. Still in shock to this day 🚷.

                Liked by 1 person

                • KRE | December 7, 2021 at 5:52 am | Reply

                  “The ‘non-military’ coup that damn near TOOK power by trying to overturn an election.”

                  Hope you’re being sarcastic. Nothing more than citations for trespassing and parading have been issued. No insurrection, no coup, no power transfer; a vote delayed by a grand total of two hours. People protested for signature verification on a vote, and phony breathlessness like yours over it got someone shot and killed on the scene.

                  Like

                • jerseydragon | July 16, 2022 at 6:25 am | Reply

                  That was an honest and legal protest to a rigged election. You call that a ‘coup’ hunh? What the f*ck is wrong with you? Sopranos is for patriots. A ‘non-military’ coup. Disgraceful comment. You should be banned from here. F*ckin’ pathetic, anti-American sentiments here. Barry and Biden are atheist, fascist, child-molesting fucks. Barry is a bastard. Making him illegitimate for the presidency. An alcoholic adulterer and a hippie whore spawned “Barry,” years later the Donald saves the world, now Barry-backed-Biden buddy-fucks us out of hearth and home and you are looking for a fucking civilian coup.

                  Like

            • Pajama Top | August 6, 2019 at 9:01 am | Reply

              How many, by your count? I’m probably what you would consider a member of those cultural elites (or at least a subset of those cultural elites), and I live among them and read the op-eds in the mainstream media, and I haven’t seen enthusiasm for a military coup. What’s your source?

              Liked by 1 person

              • Decristo | August 27, 2019 at 1:51 am | Reply

                I know that Sarah Silverman and Rosie ODonnel for two off the top of my head expressed enthusiasm for the idea of a coup….just google it, you’ll see….

                Like

            • Mamjja, J.F. | August 8, 2019 at 5:17 pm | Reply

              @Decristo
              Military coup? You think anybody wants that? Anybody sane?
              I would argue however that an atmosphere in which acceptable citizen discourse on
              the U.S. military is limited to total unquestioning support does open the door, and it would be
              the most unkindest blowback of all…

              Liked by 2 people

            • maarten429 | June 23, 2020 at 4:54 pm | Reply

              I don’t care who leads the “coup” – it can be broccoli farmers of America for all I care. Four more years of this shit and we’re cooked as a nation.

              Liked by 1 person

            • Manson Lamps | August 15, 2021 at 1:57 pm | Reply

              Welp, this post aged well.

              Liked by 1 person

  23. todd | July 3, 2019 at 5:43 pm | Reply

    I took Bobby’s disinterest in the race to be a sign of lost respect for Tony. After what happened in 6.13, maybe Bobby is more aware now of how selfish and ugly Tony is, and consequently has a hard time getting excited about the prospect of Tony winning even more money. Tony’s increasingly selfish actions have similarly distanced him from Christopher, who he seems to barely have spoken to since the incident with Julianna. He is slowly destroying all of his relationships with the people around him.

    Liked by 3 people

    • sonicbluesea | July 7, 2019 at 12:11 pm | Reply

      Agreed. It’s interesting to compare with the first season. In Season One, Tony seemed to have mutual love and respect with his crew, and his guys were genuinely rooting for him, and sharing in his joys/sorrows. By the tail end of Season Six, most can barely even stand him enough to fake a smile.

      Liked by 2 people

      • Decristo | July 18, 2019 at 8:34 am | Reply

        Good point. Some of that may be the simple passing of time. Enough of it goes by and it seems people just hate each other. It’s like people serve a purpose for each other for a period of time and then things change. People change. Gene wants to go to Florida. Chris wants to go sober. And people just resent the people that they think are obstacles to the new course they want to take.

        Liked by 2 people

      • Orangeannie | July 19, 2019 at 4:08 pm | Reply

        Also, to your point of the difference in the relationships, Tony was a new boss back then. Still one of the guys in a way. Now 5 years later, management has changed him and the guys see him differently. It’s like getting a corporate promotion to manager, and then everyone resents you for being a hard nose. Can’t be “one of the guys” and be in charge.

        Liked by 2 people

    • Dude Manbrough | July 18, 2019 at 7:15 pm | Reply

      That’s how I read it too. While Bobby might be doing marginally better than he was when he was babysitting Junior, he still struggles and has to work to earn, meanwhile Tony is recklessly pissing away money like it’s nothing. And the way he craters his lifelong relationship with Hesh was brutal.

      Liked by 2 people

  24. Anonymous | July 8, 2019 at 3:16 pm | Reply

    Great write ups keep up the good work!!!!

    Like

  25. Steve Clark | July 19, 2019 at 6:25 pm | Reply

    Hey Ron, have you saved any of SA.com as hardcopies, or as Word files? I have this insane desire to copy everything, put it into Word, and print it so that it’s preserved for my enjoyment in case the site ever expires.
    If that sounds like a strange idea, even stranger is the fact that I’d probably have a great time copying and reformatting it for paper. I’ve been that obsessed with this show at times and this site has best insights. (I like that husband/wife Sopranos review podcast too, and Soprano Sessions, but this site is DOPE.)
    Any estimate on the next update?
    Thanks

    Liked by 2 people

  26. Elliott | July 26, 2019 at 10:42 pm | Reply

    I don’t understand all of the hate for Goodfellas, Chase himself has said “Goodfellas is the “Quaran for me” . Throughout the whole series there are constant references to the movie, not to mention that many Soprano’s actors were in the movie. The movie won an Oscar, and is rated the 17th best show on IMDB, keep in mind there are 6 million movies on the database.

    Liked by 2 people

  27. CJS | August 2, 2019 at 8:42 pm | Reply

    I look at this episode as one of those ‘day in the life’ ones – like Mergers & Acquisitions or House Arrest.

    Gambling and sports betting would be a huge part of Tony’s daily life / income and from that perspective the episode doesn’t feel all that left field.

    One tiny exception I take to this episode and some others is that Tony’s money and financial status doesn’t seem consistent. Borrowing $200,000 like it’s nothing and gambling away $100k like he’s worth tens of millions doesn’t fit with things we’ve learned over the years. He said the house he lives in was worth $1.2mil, the car he drives is $50k, the savings he was laundering through Slava in season 3 were $600k etc. He’s a rich man, sure, but not ‘I’m going to put $100k on a football game’ rich.

    Just me being cynical though.

    Liked by 3 people

    • Ron | August 2, 2019 at 10:44 pm | Reply

      Both good points…

      Like

    • sonicbluesea | August 4, 2019 at 12:50 pm | Reply

      That’s just the thing though, Tony’s financial status ISN’T consistent. He isn’t a salaried employee with a consistent pay schedule, pay raise structure, etc. He has good years and bad. During Season Six things are going very well for him. I believe he says as much to Chris at some point, I think after arguing with Phil about vitamins or scooters, or whatever. Losing Vito hurt his construction business, but overall he seems to be doing a lot better than he was around, say, Season Four, when he had to sit all his captains down and chew them out over poor earnings. Not kicking up to Uncle Junior is probably a big factor, too. That said, like he said of Johnny Sack once, Tony does like to ‘live above his head a little.’ We all know someone like that, that spends as much as they make (or more). I imagine, for these characters, with the threat of sudden death or incarceration constantly hanging over their head, they figure they should enjoy it while they can, with less concern for the future. This becomes especially obvious after one of them dies. Carmella certainly knows it, which is why she was bugging him about estate planning as far back as Season Four, and constantly trying to make her own money, be it in real estate of stocks.

      Liked by 2 people

    • windbag | August 4, 2019 at 5:01 pm | Reply

      Doubling down is a common reaction to gamblers (and investors), so I think that his behavior is completely plausible, even predictable. Tony seems to compartmentalize his finances, so again, borrowing $200K for gambling/fun money isn’t that far out, especially since he’s convinced he’s on the edge of victory. He would have been way up if Carmela had gone for the football bet. Even though he’s on a losing streak, there’s still plenty of cash laying around, just not cash that was earmarked for gambling. So, he’s going to have to shuffle things around to cover his bad bets. I didn’t take this episode to be out of character, just a closer look into his gambler side…a “day in the life” glimpse at some relatively mundane events.

      Liked by 2 people

    • maarten429 | June 23, 2020 at 4:58 pm | Reply

      I agree. The finances don’t make sense to me. Actually, the whole scenario doesn’t make sense to me in its historical period. But it’s fiction and Chase has taken artistic license.

      Liked by 1 person

  28. My Pizza Never Hurt Nobody | August 6, 2019 at 4:44 pm | Reply

    Ron – Can we get a one sentence preview for your “Walk Like A Man” review?????????????

    Liked by 1 person

  29. Leo | August 11, 2019 at 2:10 pm | Reply

    Tony’s jealousy of Christopher is what leads him to kill him when he had the opportunity. When Chris kills tony he tells Melfi tht Chris was never Truly there for him as a family member. This is completely false he saved Tony’s life in season 1 due to his concern over Tony’s mental state. In season 2 he gave up his dreams of Hollywood out of loyalty to tony. Ofc chris greatest sacrifice is Adrianna in season 5 he had a chance at a whole new life with Adrianna coulda been truly happy for the first time in his life but no he stays true to the tony again. The real reason Tony’s jealous of Chris is to reasons one his relationship with women. Almost all the women in Chris life tony has lusted over to key ones are Adrianna clearly and julliana skiff. Tony after Chris death made fun of Chris appearance especially his nose and Carmella pointed out how a lot of women wanted him. And to relieve himself of the clear guilt he was feeling he heads out to Vegas and bangs one of Chris mistresses. Because now he don’t gotta feel guilty over doing this and worry about his feelings because “He’s dead”.but probably the biggest reason of Tony’s jealousy of Chris is Chris attempts at improving his mental health every positive step Chris takes tony seems to either belittle or put a stop to. Especially with his problems with addiction slowly every chance he gets he pushes Chris over the edge because deep down tony knows he can’t change so hurting someone before they do makes him feel better.And Chris is making better attempts at it than whatever tony claims to do. Season six tony was always wondering which of his best friends would do him in next and Chris being the “snivelling lying drug addict” made the choice it was Christopher and Assumed tht out of hidden jealousy and hatred he has been building for Chris when actually If tony did die it was Paulie who betrayed him who was acting strange and almost to nice in episode 21 Paulie definitely “walks like a man” so tony would look at Chris before he looked at Paulie and remember Paulie actually has betrayed tony in the past and it is completely in his character to lie to Tony’s face and plot his death so it would be very fitting for tony tht he made the wrong choice it wasn’t the Chris who represents the weakness he sees in his son in himself and modern America but it was the person tht tony himself said he admired and called him “Gary cooper “ that betrayed him in the end. Great writing as a whole and if anybody did tony in it was Paulie ny even said themselves they weren’t coming for Paulie referee to him as “management”. Paulie would do something like this and it is not against his character at all. Hope you read this Ron and agree and maybe add to my theory. Makes a lot of sense when you rewatch season 6.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Ron | August 11, 2019 at 6:25 pm | Reply

      I never really thought about the “jealousy” aspect of it, but yeah it surely could have contributed…

      Liked by 1 person

      • Leo | August 11, 2019 at 9:02 pm | Reply

        Obviously tony more successful and I think a lot to do with it also was tony thinking all season one of his inner circle would betray him it wasn’t the “fag” (Vito) it was the person who wanted to ice the fag(Carlo) who turned states so it tony might have made the wrong call killing Chris and Paulie might have conspired against him just a theory if tony did die there yk there are some callbacks to Chris and Adrianna in the final episode especially with the dead trees by Tony’s house.

        Liked by 2 people

    • Orangeannie | August 28, 2019 at 3:03 pm | Reply

      He killed Chris because he became a liability. He gave Chris a lot of chances, more than he gave others. Also, Chris knew too much and would probably rat him out if he got arrested. He as much as said so to T.J. Dolan when he was drunk and upset. Why would Tony be jealous? He could have had Adriana if there wasn’t that knock on the door interrupting …and he could have had Juliana as well if he didn’t back out. I don’t think there is a woman he couldn’t get, unless it’s Melfi. Even she was attracted to him at first, but someone like her would never date a mobster, plus she knew too much about him. He’s brings a lot more to the table than Chris does. Chris was a drug addict, which makes him careless, untrustworthy and not a good father or husband. Out of all the people Tony contemplated killing for no real reason this season, Chris is the one that should have died. Chris didn’t pick loyalty to Tony instead of Adrianna, he picked the life style…for these people and this show, he was no longer an asset….bottom line.

      Liked by 1 person

      • Elliott | August 28, 2019 at 11:51 pm | Reply

        I think the reason why Tony to killed Chris was a multifaceted decision. I see your point with it being a business decision and Chris being a liability, but there certainly was a jealousy aspect, as well as an anger aspect. Tony became enraged when he saw the tree limb right on the baby seat. Right after Chris’s murder Tony took a victory lap to Las Vegas and Slept with Chris’s Vegas girlfriend. If it was just a business decision I don’t think he would have done that.

        Liked by 2 people

        • Orangeannie | September 3, 2019 at 4:04 pm | Reply

          We don’t know who initiated the sex. And she wasn’t a “girlfriend” of Chris, so he wouldn’t be stepping on anyone’s toes. I feel that Tony is sad about the way things turned out with Christopher, even though he felt he had to kill him. He feels Christopher resentment of him, and is upset about it. He fails to see that a lot of things that he did undermined Chris, but Chris was not exactly Made Man material and Tony knew that was a mistake to bring him along so quickly. Bring in the drugs, and the fact that he could have killed the baby that he spoke so lovingly about and that was 3 strikes. Tony’s errors in judgement mostly have to do with family. He gives them more of a pass than others. I don’t see jealousy as a motivation. I see anger and hurt.

          Like

  30. Kaiju | August 22, 2019 at 10:01 am | Reply

    I’ve wanted to post something to this site for a few years now- but could never quite bring myself to do it. I woke up this morning and decided… today would be the day! Ron, I absolutely love your write-ups! Your work has been an amazing companion to our re-watch of this incredible television series! My girlfriend and I concluded Season 5 almost a decade ago but could not bring ourselves to finish the series. We just didn’t want it to end! Finally, inspired by your handiwork, last year we decided to restart at the beginning… and go the distance with The Sopranos.

    If I keep typing like this, I’ll go on forever- so I’ll try to wrap up with a few of the things we’ve wanted to say. Thank you so much for tackling all this- it could not have been easy! An understatement, I know. We finished the series a few months back and have been eagerly reading your insights into the final episodes. Again… thanks, Ron! I suppose I should say something about Chasing It, given its the episode I decided to make this post upon.

    Divisive as it may be, my girlfriend and I both enjoyed it! Like Micheal losing Dwight on The Office for a bit, it made sense that Tony would have gotten all too used to the fat envelopes Vito delivered. Not surprising that lost revenue stream would impact Tony’s lavish lifestyle. This episode is a sad reminder that, just because Vito’s storyline came to a violent conclusion, it doesn’t mean his family simply faded away from… is it Soprano-land or Soprano-world I see it referred to? The fact is, his children and wife still have to suffer in this harsh cityscape. I guess I’ll conclude with a question. (I wish I could conclude with a hundred more kudos & compliments for your craft here, Ron, but I’ll save some positivity for other entries!)

    Do any of the users on this site believe Tony, at any earlier point of his seasonal timeline, would have actually come through for Vito’s family? Incredibly tragic- given how much Vito lined his pockets in life. Would the same Tony that delivered a bundle of cash to Beansie, made a weighty donation in Gloria’s name, opened his wallet for Justin (I seem to recall the implication of him putting money toward Ralphie’s kid? Unless I was under the wrong impression), taken care of Pussy’s wife for a while there, and other such acts of generosity… have given Vito’s family the money for a fresh start?

    Liked by 2 people

    • Ron | August 22, 2019 at 1:52 pm | Reply

      Thanks a lot Kaiju. Re Vito’s family: in the earlier seasons, I think Tony would have definitely lived up to his obligations to the family of a slain colleague. But given his moral and spiritual degeneration in the later seasons, particularly S6, I don’t feel so confident that T would have come through for them…

      (Btw, I tend to use ‘SopranoWorld’ to describe the overall universe of the show, but sometimes use ‘SopranoLand’ to describe specific mob or domestic environments…)

      Like

    • Orangeannie | August 29, 2019 at 11:29 am | Reply

      I think if he wasn’t in the grips of that losing streak, his better nature would have come through for Marie. But we are seeing that his better nature is not in evidence as much in season 6 as before. Everyone dropped the ball with Vito’s son, even his mother. These are women that don’t know how to fend for themselves. It’s amazing to me that a mother would leave the responsibility of her son in the hands of the people that killed her husband. If they could kill because of homosexuality…then how are they going to deal with a goth kid who shits in the shower at school and possibly kills small animals? They aren’t empathetic enough or intelligent enough to even know where to begin. Phil literally doesn’t care…and Tony feels put upon because he is on a losing streak and feels that he shouldn’t have to deal with it. If he had had Vito killed, maybe he would have done better for Marie. They are all reprehensible, but the mother should have sold that house and took him away from the whole atmosphere. How many single mothers manage to take care of the kids without the help of a father? They are all remiss, but I have to lay the true blame at her feet. She is the one who loves him, she should be the one to help him instead of taking him to that boot camp.

      Liked by 2 people

  31. Mamjja, J.F. | August 27, 2019 at 3:56 pm | Reply

    A few more observations. When Tony & Vito Jr. have their sit down, Tony deploys the Ojibwe
    “You go about in pity for yourself.” fragment again. I don’t think he’s tried that since Artie hilariously
    smacked it down in “Luxury Lounge”. Tony had a lot of nerve saying this to Vito Jr. Then he
    grabs Vito Jr.’s hand the same way he often grabs AJ’s hand in a way that says, just like he promised
    Marie: “Believe me, I’m gonna take care of you, and he’s gonna be ok.”
    It’s funny how Tony seems to have forgotten the second part of that quote “… and all
    the while a great breeze carries me across the sky”. He only uses the part that serves him.
    The shame and anger on Carlo’s face as he silently endures Tony’s fury “Maybe you should
    start sucking cock instead of watching TV Land, because Vito brought in 3 times what you
    do on construction!” reminds me of his face right before he stuck the knife into Fat Dom.
    Tony makes the connection between Hesh and Melfi, the two people in his life that he uses in
    similar ways, as an oasis from his regular life. When Melfi cut him off as a client earlier in the
    series, Tony went to Hesh’s house and tried to cast him in Melfi’s role. In this episode Tony’s in
    the middle of talking to Hesh about his business problems in a way he can’t do with Melfi. He’s
    being vulnerable, and even says “It’s nice being here”, so when Hesh brings up the loan so soon
    after that, setting boundaries, it really hurts Tony. Hesh just peed in the oasis.
    At the end of his session with Melfi where Tony talks badly about Hesh, and let’s slip that he
    sees therapy as an oasis in his week, Melfi also sets boundaries – requiring regular attendance
    as a condition for continuing. If he loses both Hesh and Melfi, he will have no safe harbor, god knows
    he gets no peace from Carmella at the kitchen table.

    Liked by 2 people

  32. Sari | August 30, 2019 at 4:04 am | Reply

    Excellent observations all Ron, you are a hero

    Like

  33. Emmanual Kreisman | September 21, 2019 at 3:55 pm | Reply

    I love the picture of James G. and the actor who plays Little Vito. The storyline is so relentlessly hopeless it’s nice to remember it’s just a show and see a real smile on the young man’s face.

    Liked by 2 people

  34. Matt H. | October 14, 2019 at 4:08 pm | Reply

    There is a little more set up to Tony’s gambling problem. He puts in, I believe $20,000, in football bets over the phone just before his sit down with Little Carmine at the golf course

    Liked by 1 person

  35. regan | January 13, 2020 at 5:15 pm | Reply

    Tony’s Worth. I’ve always been curious as to the exact amount of Money Hesh believes Tony to be worth. He tell’s Eli, “minus assets, under 6.” Eli is shocked that at such a lowly estimate of net worth for a boss. Does Hesh mean 6 million minus assets or 6 hundred thousand? Under 6 million would still make Tony pretty well-off in Hesh’s book (I think). Under 600K is so specific that it’s amazing Hesh could be so accurate in an estimate just from his observations of Tony over the years. Am I missing something? Does this 6 refer to something else? Some type of accounting term I am unaware? Looking for answers.
    Side note, I guess this episode is weak compare to the rest of 6B but, whatever, still great and it does set up Tony’s time in Vegas, one of my favorite episodes, later on.

    Liked by 2 people

  36. BicycleThief | February 11, 2020 at 10:45 pm | Reply

    I’m quite certain he meant $600,000 as that seems like a pretty accurate number. A few seasons ago Tony put away 600K with slava for safekeeping and now in this episode he has to dig into that. It seems that he more or less spends everything he makes, I’d estimate his actual cash on hand is around 100k and fluctuates pretty wildly based on any windfalls or increased spending. He’s clearly not a frugal man and will blow anything he gets on gambling, a boat, or shiny shit for Carmela. Also, in this episode Carmela says she made “6” in profit from her spec house which definitely refers to $600,000 (Tony says “we could have turned your bullshit into a million dollars” had he doubled it by betting that money on the Jets game). I suppose just saying a single digit means it’s in hundred thousands in Sopranos parlance but I had never heard that before either.

    Liked by 2 people

    • regan | March 10, 2020 at 11:33 am | Reply

      I buy the explanation. This shows us just how good Hesh is, he can dial in a man’s net worth down to the hundred K increment. It still doesn’t account for the equity Tony should have in his house but that might be hard to tap with his income situation, or worse, maybe he did tap it; part of that 3.2 for the boat. I feel like there’s a lesson or allegory to American’s here, especially at that time in our history right before the 08 collapse. I remember that time being one where middle-class types were taking out lines of equity to buy the flat screen TVs and Escalades. Still, if Chase was trying to make a point, this episode is just to subtle, i mean it took us Sopranos nerds over a decade and a group discussion to flesh it out, that would have been lost on the average viewer back around the time of airing…maybe that’s the point, the signs of economic risk and decay were always there but ignorable…

      Liked by 2 people

    • Andy | October 12, 2020 at 10:16 am | Reply

      Six figures?

      Liked by 1 person

      • Mike | November 23, 2020 at 4:04 pm | Reply

        In the throes of a mid-pandemic re-watch, and have a nagging question and also an interesting observation on this topic. I too am continuously intrigued by Hesh’s comment about Tony’s liquid assets being “less than 6”. Strange phrasing, perhaps intentionally vague by the writers. But there’s no way Tony has $6M in liquid assets. He is borrowing $200K in this very episode and obsesses over Carmela taking $40K out of the bird feeder throughout the series. Is it $600,000? This would be a strange and random amount to say “less than 6” for. I’m pretty sure he means six figures, which, while small, would jive with how Tony stresses about cash at times and probably has to avoid bank deposits for legal reasons.
        Also, I noticed for the first time how a lot of the financial references in this episode revolve around the number 6 (Hesh’s comment and Carmela’s spec house). Even the amount that Tony pays so that Vito Jr. can go to camp – $18,000 – is evocative of 6 x 3. I think the intended symbolism here is obvious.

        Liked by 1 person

        • Anonymous | January 22, 2022 at 8:17 pm | Reply

          It’s funny, I think of people saying something like “under six” when the reference is obvious. For example if you’re looking to buy a house in the $500k to $800k range, and the agent says a house is “under six,” you’d know. In this case, I’d guess that Hesh probably means under $600k. There’s no way Tony could show the self restraint necessary to put away $6m; that’s a ton of money in 2007. They’d have moved into a much bigger McMansion. And remember Tony was just an underboss until 8 years prior.
          “In my thoughts I use the technique of positive visualization.”

          Liked by 1 person

  37. SFB | April 20, 2020 at 7:37 pm | Reply

    Both AJ and Little Vito have been under suspicion for cat (small animal) torture and killing. In ‘Army of One’ Carmela and Tony have a fight about sending AJ to military school and Tony says “…the Cusamanos’ Binky? The cherry bomb with the nails in it? You think it was AJ?” (Carmela does not believe it was AJ). Marie Spatafore says regarding Little Vito, “…they claim he hung the Petruzzo’s cat on their garage door, but it’s totally unfounded.” She even says it’s persecution. Tony responds to Marie with the most excellent reference about Vito’s “entrails.” In both instances the mothers can not accept that their boys may be torturing animals. The results for each boy are different. AJ is spared from military school. Little Vito is forcibly snatched from his slumber under the supervision of his mother and whisked away.
    I love Tony’s line final remark at Satriale’s after Marie’s request for $100,000 to move to Maine: “It’s not easy to substitute for a dad, I should know, but maybe I can (insert Gandolfini grin) – PHIL – in here.”

    Liked by 2 people

  38. Dan | May 1, 2020 at 1:02 pm | Reply

    I think the little and big Vito story lines are really about the overarching theme of season 6a and b – the possibility of positive change and characters in Soprano world consistently failing to positively evolve as humans. Vito goes to NH where he is confronted with the state motto – live free or die. He chooses to die rather than change and embrace who he really is. For little Vito, real change involves starting again and moving north to Maine. But he is denied this opportunity by Tony’s continuing descent into the beastly side of his nature. (As an aside, Marie calls moving to Maine a ‘long shot’ – the next cut is to the Buffalo game where the commentator says something about the last play/Buffalo coming back to win as a real ‘long shot’ but that it happened, i.e., even long shot attempts at positive change sometimes work, and it’s better than nothing).
    Re: Tony’s gambling addiction, this is all a piece with the final opportunity he is presented to save himself (and his family) in s6. He gets shot, is shown by Kevin Finnerty that he needs to change his ways in order to be saved, and s6a ends on a jarringly optimistic note that he may follow through on this imperative. 6b is about Tony’s initially slow, then suddenly accelerating, rejection of his subconscious screaming at him to become a better person and remember the buddhist monks of the coma dream. I agree that the gambling addiction seems to come out of left field, but this is all (as you say) part of Tony’s rapid disintegration into the worst aspects of his nature. As you also note, he is even disgusted by himself given his Dad’s hatred for degenerate gamblers. I know this is not a universally agreed on sentiment, but I do think the screaming of “I get it” in the Nevada desert is Tony embracing who he is – a evil person, perhaps even a devil (as the imagery of the episode suggests), living in nihilistic universe.
    Ultimately, Tony’s refusal to change will (spoiler/opinion) leave him dead and his family poisoned by his ill-deeds and lifestyle. I feel Chase connects this descent throughout s6 to the cheap materialism of American society, which is, if anything, heightened as a type of comfort food in the post 9/11 environment. Characters are bombarded constantly with the easy way out through commercials throughout the season. They constantly choose the path of least resistance, junk food and shiny trinkets over spiritual change and it poisons their soul. Without wanting to go too far down the rabbit hole, the persistent shadow cast by 9/11 creates this incredible aura of darkness that envelops the whole final episodes, and it’s almost presented as apiece to Tony’s shooting – a shock moment for Americans and America to reassess their lives and lifestyle which is ploughed over by the emptiness of consumer capitalism.

    Liked by 2 people

  39. maarten429 | June 23, 2020 at 5:12 pm | Reply

    I’m pretty sure that Tony is insolvent. He’s spending recklessly (a 3.4 mil yacht?) and I don’t believe he was able to pay his debt to Hesh. Didn’t he theatrically apologize to Carmela in the penultimate scene? She gives him the cash!
    Altera est manus manum lavat – their marriage is merely transactional at this point.

    Liked by 1 person

  40. maarten429 | June 23, 2020 at 5:17 pm | Reply

    Chasing It – The creator (artist) is God and the ‘It’ is the Creation. The creator gets to manipulate, rescue, or destroy and I believe this is the meaning of the title.
    We have been on a psychoanalytic journey for the past 80 or so episodes.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Ron | June 24, 2020 at 11:05 pm | Reply

      I had a similar thought about the title, but I was thinking more like “Chasing It” refers to how David Chase put his particular spin on this unique episode, going down a tangent of a storyline that was itself a tangent. (Instead of laboring this explanation in the write-up, I just used the word “Chasian” to describe it instead.)

      Liked by 1 person

      • maarten429 | June 24, 2020 at 11:40 pm | Reply

        I think I see this as a macro-work and I’m not sure if all the rich symbolism was always deliberate or conscious. David Chase is a man acquainted with the psychoanalytic process and I tend to think this work of art was at least somewhat organic.
        It always stayed with me that he said, “This is not the DaVinci code.”

        Liked by 1 person

  41. Floflo | July 22, 2020 at 2:13 pm | Reply

    I don’t know if you talked about this, but, why is Tony smiling when he leaves Hersh’s house?
    Has he anything to do with Renata’s death?

    Like

  42. Ray Cordiano | August 7, 2020 at 4:53 am | Reply

    “To the victor, belongs the spoils”. I’ve always felt that the gambling was a way to show Tony’s endless need of wanting more & more and not being satisfied with what he has. He has it all but it’s never enough. Going back to the idea in “The Ride” that people who are dealing with boredom tend to take risks for a certain “high” or pleasure. Tony says he is “up” in life, but he might be even more bored than ever.. & is now, on an existential level, risking it all. He seems to be chasing something he can’t acquire.. true happiness?
    The great but depressing fight scene between Carm & Tony.. he thinks of his win as a total loss.. To put it simply, he’s looking at his win as a glass half empty. I think the “each day is a gift” is pretty much gone by this point. He might say it but he certainly isn’t living it. He’s trying to get more out of his devilish persona than anything that some “quotations book” has to offer.
    You brought up the theme of “unfortunate sons” in this episode.. in your write up for Fortunate Sons, I had commented that Tony tells AJ to “keep his eye on the ball” in regard to football. Keeping your eye on the ball can obviously be used as a figure of speech when referring to the “bigger picture” & staying focused, something that both Tony & AJ would be highly advised to do here. Instead, Tony is keeping his eye on the football, basketball & roulette ball.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Ray Cordiano | August 16, 2020 at 9:40 pm | Reply

      Ron, did you ever happen to see “Fearless”, directed by Peter Weir starring Jeff Bridges? It might be a little too “on the nose” as you like to say, but I couldn’t help thinking of this episode while watching it. I thought it did good job on exploring that feeling of being “up” in life after a near death experience. To quote Ebert, “Fearless is like a short story that shines a bright light, briefly, into a corner where you usually do not look. It makes you realize how routine life can become; how it is actually possible to be bored despite the fact that a universe has evolved for eons in order to provide us with the five senses by which we perceive it. If we ever really fully perceived the cosmic situation we are in, we would drop unconscious, I imagine, from shock. That is a little of what Fearless is about.”

      Liked by 1 person

      • Ron | August 16, 2020 at 10:10 pm | Reply

        I saw the movie back when it came out and again a couple of years ago. There’s definitely some common ground between this episode and the movie, they both explore how regularness and luck and feelings of invincibility and nihilism all mesh together in the thoughts of someone who just barely escaped dying…

        Like

  43. emerson1011 | December 23, 2020 at 1:43 am | Reply

    Disagree with the criticisms…Magnificemt Episode..
    …Why Not Explore the effects of the family particularly children of the suddenly gone from that world..
    …Exposes when push comes to shove Tony will choose his own self preserve feelings of relief over any child’s needs unless except his own..
    Yea the whole spec house arc is irritating; but that leads to again exposing Tony as to what ultimately matters

    Liked by 1 person

  44. Notemma Goldman | March 11, 2021 at 12:03 am | Reply

    “In a funny irony, Tony bets against the Dolphins because their starting kicker is out for the game, but we later hear a radio commentator say that the Fins won specifically because of a strong special teams performance.”
    Another member of Vito’s family doomed because of a Finn…

    Liked by 1 person

  45. Jordan C. | March 29, 2021 at 3:30 am | Reply

    I was hoping you’d comment more on the bizarre and haunting death of Hesh’s girlfriend. I always found it to be one of the more surreal and unsettling things in the series. It’s almost supernatural, or as if Chase and co. themselves are telling you the audience “we’re just going to make this character stop breathing because we can.” It’s incredibly odd and ominous and appropriate as the show is coming to a close and the way the show closes. Any thoughts?

    Liked by 1 person

    • Ron | March 29, 2021 at 1:56 pm | Reply

      I think Tony has murderous feelings towards some of the guys of his inner circle throughout 6B, and it’s Hesh’s turn in this hour. Renata’s death may have, in effect, saved Hesh’s life. But maybe it also speaks to ‘the regularness of life.’ We may have been expecting a violent gangland death at the end of this hour, but instead we get a woman who quietly passes away in her sleep…

      Like

      • Megalodon | October 29, 2021 at 4:12 am | Reply

        It was double misdirection. The show raised expectations for “a violent gangland death” and Hesh was certainly fearing such an outcome. However, the episode also hinted that Hesh could die in a more mundane manner. After Tony visits Hesh at his home and they have the awkward talk about the $200,000 loan, Hesh is all frustrated and angry before he goes to bed, so much so that Renata says “This is why I don’t like you seeing him before bed. You’re all upset.” Then Hesh asks his daughter-in-law and son to keep taking his blood pressure because he’s sure something is wrong. They suggest his unease is from eating Kung Pao chicken. Hesh says “It’s not the fucking MSG. It’s Tony Soprano.” So even if Tony didn’t murder Hesh, the story hinted that the stress itself of dealing with Tony could also harm Hesh. And of course, when you compare Hesh and Renata, you would think he’s the better candidate for a sudden fatal heart attack or stroke. And then the show sucker-punches us with Renata dying instead.
        Both Renata and Hesh point out how Hesh having to deal with Tony causes stress and takes a toll. When Renata says that Hesh gets “all upset” whenever Tony visits him before bed, that means these stressful encounters have happened before. And whenever they happen, Hesh inevitably complains to Renata about them. Hesh probably complained to Renata a lot about his fraught dealings with mobsters. So while Tony has been stressing out Hesh, Hesh has been passing on that stress and anxiety to Renata. And in the climax, when Hesh tells Renata to go to the bedroom and lock the door, that could have been the final push that overwhelmed her, because that was Hesh telling her that she should fear for her life, which is probably the most dangerous kind of stress to suffer. Both Hesh and Renata suffered from the actions of Tony Soprano. While Hesh complained to Renata and his family, Renata suffered in silence, and then died in silence.

        Liked by 1 person

  46. Natalie Reed | April 4, 2021 at 10:09 pm | Reply

    Not to make a big fuss or anything, but the polite, respectful thing to do with someone who has recently transitioned is to refer to her by her name – in this case Emily – not to refer to her by her *deadname*, and then *parenthetically* saying you’ll be *calling* her Emily because that’s what she wants. That essentially frames the old name as the “real” one and the new one as merely something you’re willing to act *as though* it’s her name. Do you get my point?
    I know a lot of people might find that nit-picky or oversensitive or “social justice warrior” or whatever, but this kind of thing does matter in a culture with such intense and frequently murderous hostility. Y’all know Meadow, wherever she is in 2021, would be taking my side. 😛
    Otherwise, solid write-up. I definitely think it’s silly to think this is a story about Tony having a “sudden gambling addiction”. It definitely isn’t. It’s a story about SELF-DESTRUCTION, by whatever means are most immediately available: both on Tony’s part and, in parallel, on the part of Vito Jr.
    Tony, for intricate and complicated reasons, is destroying his life and (most noticeably in these first few episodes of 6B, his friendships and familial relationships – Bobby, Janice, Paulie, and now Hesh and Carmela), and gambling is what’s most immediately “on hand” in his lifestyle for doing so at this particular moment. Likewise, Vito Jr’s shame, confusion, self-loathing, anger, hatred, etc are being projected into self-destruction and annihilating his relationships through what’s most immediately “on hand” for HIM: basically, “if everyone’s going to call me gay all the time, fine, I’ll reject conventional masculinity and go full-on Hot Topic goth. If everyone’s then going to then call me a psycho, and put even MORE pressure on me to fit rigid heterosexual male norms, fine, I’ll be a psycho then, and take a shit in a public shower”.

    Liked by 1 person

  47. Salim | April 29, 2021 at 1:23 am | Reply

    One comment re: your write-up. “Allah” is simply the Arabic word for “God”, and is considered by Muslims to be the same God whose presence was revealed to Abraham (Ibrahim) and is therefore the same God worshiped by Jews and Christians. Muslims also revere the same prophets as the Judeo-Christian tradition along with others that are unique to Islam.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Ron | April 29, 2021 at 11:49 am | Reply

      Yes, when I wrote “take your pick” I meant take your choice of the different approaches to God..

      Like

    • LK | November 23, 2021 at 10:16 am | Reply

      Salim – While you are correct in saying that Muslims, Jews, and Christians worship God, the Jews do not recognize the word Allah. The Hebrew Bible refers to Adonai, which is mentioned approximately 450 times, as God.

      Like

  48. Davide Ferrari | July 6, 2021 at 5:07 am | Reply

    This is my first comment, so, first thing, I’d like to sincerely thank you for all the insightful and thought provoking analysis you produced on this show, which I find to be a clear example of great cinema reviewing. I especially like the fact that you go out of your way to comment on the specifics aspects of audiovisive production (editing, sound, in fact, production itself), along with doing what many others does, which is wonder in theoretical territories. I think that a student of cinema, be it directing, editing or photography, may LEARN some things (even “practical”) from these pieces (I know I did). Due – but sincere – compliments aside, my question is: in this article you wrote that the only sure thing is Tony’s personal decadence, which I, too, find to be the case; so what do you think about Chase’s statements regarding this matter, that Tony, at the end, is “still the same man”? I have an hypothesis, but I’d like to ear your insights!

    Liked by 1 person

    • Ron | July 6, 2021 at 12:10 pm | Reply

      Good question Davide. I feel like Tony is changing in the sense that he is degenerating morally and spiritually. But he has always been on a downward slide—that has never changed, because that’s a fundamental part of who he is..

      Like

  49. Durasim | October 4, 2021 at 2:31 am | Reply

    I’m not sure of the specific reason why Hannan replaced Borelli in the cast, but having a different actor play the troubled young man now meta-emphasizes the change in his personality.

    Chase supposedly went with Brandon Hannan to reprise “Little Vito” because he needed someone that looked a little bit older than the original actor looked. Hannan was nominated for a SAG Award and Primetime Emmy for his work here.

    I don’t recall if Vito’s children were ever seen at all before this season. Frank Borelli’s portrayal of Little Vito was low-key and subtle throughout the Vito Sr. storyline in Season 6. Up to Vito’s death, both Little Vito and his sister Francesca were portrayed as naive and uncomprehending of what was happening. We’re meant to understand that Vito’s children were suffering quietly, which Borrelli portrayed quite effectively reading the newspaper about his father. With this plot turn, Little Vito no longer suffers quietly. Chase wanted it to be loud and in-your-face. In addition to wanting an older looking actor, Chase may have questioned whether Borelli could have transitioned from being the gentle quiet boy suffering in silence to becoming this louder defiant emo kid with “queer Goth look and sissy demeanor.” Hannan’s prior work in slasher/horror films probably showcased his ability to sell stronger emotional displays.

    Liked by 1 person

  50. HerbOf4 | October 17, 2021 at 11:25 am | Reply

    – Hesh’s comment of “under six” most certainly has to be millions I would think.

    – I don’t think the mob ever really “takes care of the families” of the people who get clipped or “go away”. We see it over and over again where they try to cheat Carm when Tony is in the coma, Angie, Vito’s family, Ginny, etc. In the new movie, Chris narrates from the grave that Tony left his family “pocket change”. They pay lip service to it, like a lot of things, but don’t do it.

    – Speaking of money, ever notice that Tony’s solution to so many existential crisis is to hand over money? We see it here with Hesh and the Spatafores. He does it a lot. Giving money is how he tries to show love and concern.

    Liked by 1 person

  51. Anon | November 19, 2021 at 5:53 pm | Reply

    Is the ‘formerly Todd’ really necessary…

    Liked by 1 person

  52. LK | December 12, 2021 at 7:03 pm | Reply

    So in one frigging episode, Tony becomes a degenerate gambler? I know he placed bets on games and occasionally won or lost. But to become a hard-core gambler for ONE episode? Nancy Sinatra pushing her ‘new’ CD by singing to Phil? An NFL game that takes place in the Spring? I expect much more from Weiner than this weak episode and piss-poor dialogue. Sorry to those who think highly of this episode. 😣

    Liked by 1 person

  53. Anonymous | January 7, 2022 at 8:58 pm | Reply

    “Tony notices he is up 18 grand at the roulette table, which is the same amount he later bets on the horse Meadow Gold, which is the also the cost of the boot camp that Little Vito is sent to.”

    A small correction: I believe Tony is up 18k at the blackjack table (they leave when the dealer is switched out).

    Liked by 1 person

  54. LK | February 19, 2022 at 2:32 pm | Reply

    Happy 93rd Birthday to Jerry Adler (‘Hesh’)! 😎

    Like

  55. 87pos | February 19, 2022 at 8:59 pm | Reply

    Tony puts his money on “Meadow Gold,” potentially a play on Beck’s 1994 album “Mellow Gold,” the hit single of which was “Loser.”

    Liked by 1 person

  56. LK | February 27, 2022 at 10:11 am | Reply

    Why did Marie ask Tony for money? She and Vito owned a house, and Vito probably owned his goomar’s house as well. She probably heard about Tony’s largesse (financial help) with Angie (Pussy’s widow). As the wife of a mobster, Marie never had to work and likely assumed that she could continue playing mom – as long as someone else footed the bills. Remember, she could have easily sold the house(s) and moved elsewhere.

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  57. Hesh | June 2, 2022 at 7:41 pm | Reply

    with tony’s obsession of “cowboyitis”, of which we have heard about in numerous instances, and the projection (e.g. we see how becoming boss went to tony’s head; he constantly mentions how he’s the boss and takes advantage of the fact that he’s boss by bullying others, making comments, beating people and then referring to this obscure set of “rules” which mean you can’t touch a boss). We clearly see mirroring when he is talking about phil “you should’ve seen him, smug, making comments.” he might as well be describing himself. On some level, he wants to prove that “this thing” doesn’t work, is vapid, and is moronic. you can see the incredulity in his own voice during that early morning meeting with johnny sac, as they’re talking about millinos of dollars he says “this is about food for our kids.” it’s so absurd that even tony himself doesn’t really believe it anymore. this disillusionment is a major theme of the entire show. about what “being an american is”, what a good man is (gary cooper), what a good husband is. These are the pianos over all their heads, and they all make deals with their own devils.

    in my earlier example, we can see it. Phil is a way better “man of honour” than tony ever will be, and this is what makes him anxious. you can even hear him allude to it at one point “gotta tell you, with john in prison, phil has stepped up.” Phil deserved to be boss and believes in the cosa nostra. Tony doesn’t, for him it’s just about power — a dwindling power that he’s never dealt with because his dad basically forced him into it. these 6B episodes are these coming to a head, this is also why the aesthetic is different in these episodes, and the camera angles are more jagged (as opposed to slanted with clean cuts and corners) and wobbly. It’s about the internal struggle we all have when our worldviews are challenged and fall apart.

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  58. Anonymous | October 17, 2022 at 1:30 pm | Reply

    Reminds me that “Hackel” (the name on the gravestone) was also what Tony mistakenly called his uncle Ercole that he never met in his converstion with Junior at the doctor’s office (2.06).

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  59. Anonymous | December 14, 2022 at 11:51 am | Reply

    Gotcha. Good point. I am about to binge watch this show yet again. Take care.

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  60. Anonymous | April 23, 2023 at 8:08 pm | Reply

    Just rewatching series and I see Tony….smirking, if not smiling, as he leaves Hesh’s house. Never occurred to me he might have had something to do with Renata’s death but see FloFlo back in 2020 had same thought! Anyone else?

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  61. Kim | August 6, 2023 at 7:54 pm | Reply

    Yes. I think that he arranged it with Carlo a scene or two before in front of the Pork Store.
    Hesh was concerned about her safety when he stopped by. He told her to lock herself in her bedroom. When Tony was leaving Hesh’s house, the door didn’t latch properly. He smirked when he left. I have no doubt that Tony arranged it.

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