The Blue Comet (6.20)

AJ comes home from the hospital.
Bobby’s life gets derailed.
Tony holes up in a safehouse.

Episode 85 – Originally aired June 3, 2007
Written by David Chase and Matthew Weiner
Directed by Alan Taylor

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“The Blue Comet” was almost universally liked by fans and critics alike, and for good reason. It is an exciting episode, full of drama and pace. The hour is unique in that it could be seen as the first part of a two-parter, something that David Chase has never given us before. (Even though this hour does not end with a “To Be Continued” caption, the next episode picks up where this one ends.) I noticed a curious phenomenon when I was doing my research for this hour: several fans and reviewers misremembered events that occurred in this hour as happening in the next hour, and events that happened in the next hour as occurring in this hour. It’s almost as though “The Blue Comet” and “Made in America” together comprise the Series Finale in their minds. And perhaps they’re justified in thinking this way. In previous seasons, Chase and HBO would use Memorial Day weekend as a bye-week and then air the Season Finale the following Sunday. But in 2007, for this final season, they took Memorial Day weekend off (as usual) but then aired the final two episodes over the following two Sundays. In any case, regardless of whether you want to consider “The Blue Comet” to be part of the Series Finale or not, it is a powerful episode in its own right. Let’s get our teeth into it.

The hour begins with the camera on Burt Gervasi’s white shoes. Many viewers were by now equating white shoes with death. I believe it was episode 6.14 “Stage 5” that first made this connection—the camera lingered on Johnny Sac’s white shoes just before he died—and the connection continues here. Silvio strangles Burt Gervasi with a wire. Gervasi was talking to New York about bringing in some new management to the New Jersey famiglia, and he pays the price for his betrayal. The garroting of Gervasi, we might note, is much more realistic and brutal than the garroting of Febby Petrulio in Season One’s “College.” (A possible reference to that hour now: Tony sees a telltale wound on Silvio’s hand and understands what went down with Burt, akin to how Meadow had seen a similar wound on her dad’s hand and suspected he was up to something in “College.”) The increased brutality between these two strangulations underlines the dark road The Sopranos has traveled in its depiction of violence, a result of David Chase’s ever-increasing commitment to realism and verisimilitude. Arrivaderci Burt, we hardly knew ya, so it’s hard for us to feel any great pain by your death. Burt’s killing may not feel very consequential to viewers but it may turn out to be a very consequential thing for Tony and the rest of the guys, as Burt was the cousin of Carlo Gervasi. In the next hour, Carlo is believed to be talking to the Feds, and perhaps the death of his cousin here helped push him to start cooperating.

But Tony’s most pressing concern right now isn’t the Feds—it is Phil Leotardo. Phil, in probably his most quotable scene ever, gives the order to extinguish the rival family across the state line. When Phil gripes that he took Tony’s “fat fucking hand in friendship” at the hospital, it lends credence to the idea that his hatred of Tony comes at least in part from the fact that Tony saw him vulnerable and crying while he was recovering after his heart attack. We know that Phil is all about projecting a tough-guy machismo (maybe because he is trying to hide a closeted homosexuality, but more likely because he is just an old-school mobster). Tony saw Phil at a moment when his usual masculine posturing was down. Phil’s contempt for Tony now seems to be more about emotion and private vendetta and less about business. It’s become personal.

Agent Dwight Harris pays a visit to Satriale’s pork store. Tony sits with him for a moment, and the imagery expresses the complicated relationship between the two. They are cordial enough to share a table, but the vertical elements in the shot underscore the divisions between them:

Although Harris is referring to the inclement weather when he muses, “End times, huh? Ready for the rapture,” we understand that his words may have a deeper significance. The words “end times” and “rapture” connect directly to the Christian eschatology (the theology concerned with the Final Days) that was evoked by the previous episode’s storyline and title. The sense of anguish and impending doom that colored “The Second Coming” is carrying over into the current episode.

This is the final time the that the viewer gets to see the interior of Satriale’s and so I get a little sentimental watching the scene, especially seeing that familiar ‘pig mural’ behind Tony. But there is no time to be sentimental now—things are moving fast. Agent Harris has caught wind of New York’s murderous plan and has come to warn Tony. On the sidewalk in front of the pork store, Harris delivers the news that Tony and his top leadership are possibly being targeted. Moments later, a claustrophobic shot hints that the walls are closing in on the New Jersey boss:

Tony is so sickened by the agent’s words that he loses his appetite and tosses his sandwich into the trash can. I too was unhappy with the way the story was developing. As I’ve mentioned before, I felt there was something almost lazy about Chase’s decision to re-use Phil Leotardo and New York yet again to bring tension to the end of a season. But I suppose Chase’s decision makes more sense to me when I consider what the New York mob and the New Jersey mob might each represent. Many “conventional” movies and TV shows within the mob genre have used the New York mafia as their subject. The New Jersey mafia, on the other hand, has been the focus of Chase’s more un-conventional show. The battle now between the New York and New Jersey mobs, then, might be read as a representation of the battle between conventional and unconventional methods of storytelling. (This metaphoric reading of what the New York and New Jersey mobs each represent is more justified when we listen to Phil’s rant early in this hour; he lists various reasons why “this pygmy thing over in Jersey” doesn’t fit the definition of a conventional, traditional Mafia family.) The Sopranos has continually crisscrossed the line, back-and-forth, between convention and innovation, and as it rushes toward its end now, we wonder: will David Chase close his series with the elements—warfare, death, prison—that we traditionally expect to find in this genre, or will he venture across the line into more unconventional territory?

Tony meets with Sil and Bobby at Nuovo Vesuvio to discuss the impending war. Bobby is a true insider within the famiglia now, he has worked (and married) his way up the organization. Though Tony refers to him as “Buddha” when asking for his input, Bobby is more hawk-like than buddha-like: he wants to go to war. The intermezzo from the opera Cavalleria Rusticana plays at the restaurant, the same track that Martin Scorsese used as the theme for his film Raging Bull. Sil and T start throwing slow-motion punches at each other, a reference to the slow-motion boxing scenes in Scorsese’s movie. (Another point to make about Raging Bull is that one of its main antagonists was played by Frank Vincent, who of course plays antagonist “Phil Leotardo” on The Sopranos.) We watch with amusement as the guys trade fake-punches. Even with major conflict brewing, the guys are able to joke around and have fun, and it endears them to us.

David Chase also likes to have a little bit of fun as the heat turns up. He cuts from this scene at Vesuvio to a shop-sign with a funny pun built right into it:

Those unfamiliar with New York geography might think that “flatbush” is one of the waxing options offered by the shop, but Flatbush of course refers to a neighborhood in Brooklyn. Inside the shop (er, “shoppe”), Phil’s men make plans to hit 3 guys—Tony, Silvio and Bobby—within a 24-hour period. They have some doubt as to whether Bobby Bacala is the #3 man in the rival organization. Even we viewers might share their doubts. But the previous scene at the restaurant confirmed that it is indeed these three men helming the NJ mob now. New York has done its homework, and they are ready to bring the heat.

But New Jersey has a plan up its sleeve too: bring in the two Italian hitmen who killed Rusty Millio last year and surprise Phil at his goomar‘s house. The New Jersey mob is not as professional as their New York counterparts, as evidenced by their long chain of command; the order to carry out the plan passes from Bobby to Paulie to Patsy to Corky Caporale to the two Italians. (Butchie had earlier criticized New Jersey’s redundant layers of management.) Adding to the dysfunction, Paulie Walnuts seems to have some issues accepting orders directly from Bobby. New Jersey doesn’t seem to be in perfect fighting trim, but the apocalypse—ready or not—will soon be upon them.

The previous episode threatened apocalypse as well, but in that hour the potentially cataclysmic event was of a more domestic nature: Anthony Jr’s suicide attempt. AJ is still recovering in the psychiatric ward at Mountainside Hospital. His old acquaintance Rhiannon is also there, proving that possessing a beautiful mug and a lithe figure don’t exempt a person from having emotional and personal difficulties. (We first saw Rhiannon in episode 6.08 “Johnny Cakes.” She was at a nightclub pretending to be 20 when she was actually 15, and we later saw her giving AJ’s friend Hernan a blowjob.) In my previous write-up, I noted that the significance of Chase’s use of “Mountainside Hospital” could be that it connected to the “mountain” found in the lyrics of the old-timey song that closed the previous hour. An additional note about the real-world hospital can be made now: Mountainside is only one of two for-profit hospitals in the state of New Jersey. Indeed, Tony now complains about its hefty $2200 per day price-tag as he rides up its elevator. While Tony complains, Carmela screws on her smile and fixes her façade. Her son may have recently tried to sink himself into the dark abyss, but she manages to look as sharp as ever with her Mandarin jacket and perfect highlights and makeup:

(As the episode progresses, we’ll see more obvious examples of this sort of “façading” and masquerading.) Another note I want to make about this scene at the hospital is that the TV in the ward is showing an episode of the animated series Metalocalypse. The series is a comedy, but it is a very dark comedy and it can be bloody at times. The clip playing on the TV shows multiple dead bodies and severed limbs strewn about:

The cartoon’s name, “Metalocalypse,” may be giving us a premonition: the imminent apocalypse in SopranoWorld will be “metal” in nature, coming via guns and bullets. The bloodletting in SopranoWorld begins when the Italian hitmen arrive—and then whack the wrong guy. I guess there is some resemblance between Phil Leotardo and his goomar‘s father (though I wouldn’t say the man looks very much like the Shah of Iran), but the botched hit nevertheless points to how amateurish the north Jersey mob is compared to its adversary across the river. Maybe our guys are nothing more than “a glorified crew” after all. One of the most clever cuts of the episode—and of the entire series—takes place here, when Chase cuts from the unlucky civilian lying dead on the floor to a TV screen at the porn shop where Corky Caporale is hanging around:

Chase seems to be throwing a bone to his “hits-and-tits” viewers when he cuts from the hit to the tits. Tony is at home draining the swimming pool when Silvio arrives with the unsettling news that Phil got away. In fact, Silvio says, Phil had already gone into hiding days earlier. Tony has just made his first move on the chessboard only to learn that he is already two moves behind.

Janice also arrives at the Soprano home around this time, hoping to get Tony to fork over some money to help support Corrado. Tony mentions to her that he is emptying the swimming pool because “it costs a fortune to heat.” But we can guess the actual reason is because AJ is back home from the psych ward and Tony doesn’t want a repeat of the suicide attempt. The fake excuse Tony gives to his sister is another example of the masquerading and façading that fills this episode.

AJ seems fairly stable at home, but he raises his mother’s and sister’s eyebrows when he watches a program about the bloody street-fighting taking place in Iraq. This clip playing on the Soprano TV comes from a documentary, America at a Crossroads: Warriors, that had aired on PBS two months before this episode originally aired. According to its description on PBS.org, the documentary explores how “for many of the American men and women in Iraq, the strongest motivation is a need to serve and feel part of something bigger than themselves.” We remember that Tony had gotten a sense that he was part of “something bigger” during his hospital stay (particularly after reading the mystical Ojibwe quote pinned to the wall). AJ now seems primed to have a similar epiphany, and this documentary may help inspire his decision to join “something bigger”—the military—in the next episode. But I think the presence of the war documentary here is notable for another reason too. When we consider the Metalocalypse imagery earlier, this is the second time this hour that we’re getting a reference to very bloody violence on a TV screen within our TV screen.

Despite all the screentime devoted in “The Blue Comet” to AJ’s problems and the mob warfare that is looming over everything, maybe the most notable event of the hour is Melfi’s termination of Tony’s therapy. (Heads up: I’m going to devote quite a bit of space to breaking her decision down.) In the previous episode, Elliot mentioned Samuel Yochelson’s and Stanton Samenow’s The Criminal Personality, and the study comes up again now at a dinner party. There is some question among viewers as to whether Elliot instructed the dinner guest to bring up the study. I’m undecided on the matter. I think it certainly could be within Elliot’s nature to give such an instruction, but even he did, I don’t think the dinner guest would have clearly known Elliot’s motivations to do so. Elliot seems quite eager to confront Melfi about her mobster client in front of their colleagues. (When he mentions “rescue fantasy” during an unrelated dinner table conversation, we can guess he is trying to steer the conversation towards Melfi’s years-long attempt to “rescue” Tony.) Elliot eventually “outs” Melfi’s patient when he refers to him as “Leadbelly.” It’s a pretty clever reference—I’ll give Elliot that. But was it proper of him to divulge the info? Dr. Jan Van Schaik, chair of the Ethics Committee at the Wisconsin Psychoanalytic Institute, found Elliot’s disclosure to be “a very egregious ethical violation.” Elliot seems to have engaged in some douchebag behavior here in revealing a patient’s identity, but putting that aside, he does bring up a valid question: should Melfi drop this particular patient? Keith Jarrett’s “Sympathy” playing over the sound system during the dinner party perhaps reflects the “sympathy” that has guided Melfi’s approach toward Tony Soprano. But she seems ready now to reevaluate the tack she has long taken.

Back at home, Melfi reviews Yochelson and Samenow’s study. Maybe it was hearing from a couple of female colleagues that treating criminals has very limited results—as opposed to hearing Elliot mansplain it to her—that causes Melfi to reevaluate now. Chase, somewhat heavy-handedly, does an extreme close-up of the study’s text: “Therapy has potential for non-criminals; for criminals, it becomes one more criminal operation.”

In an interview for Fox News a few days after this episode aired, Dr. Samenow said that Melfi was being “duped” by Tony Soprano the same way that he and Yochelson had been duped by the criminals they had studied. (Dr. Yochelson could not comment for himself as he had passed away in 1976.) In addition to reading The Criminal Personality, David Chase consulted psychologist Nancy Duggan to get an idea where the experts stood on Tony’s treatment. Duggan believed that Dr. Melfi was enabling the mobster more than she was helping him. Although there was a somewhat widespread feeling among mental health professionals that Melfi was justified in terminating Tony’s treatment, there was much head-scratching, even outrage, at the manner in which Melfi dumped him. Many fans felt the same way.

I don’t think Melfi went into their next session gunning to sever their relationship. But everything Tony talks about, from his gratitude toward medical professionals to Meadow’s choice of career to AJ’s emotional problems, seems to strengthen Melfi’s suspicion that Tony is conning her. She starts taking potshots at him. Her rebuke, “So the boy who never cared about anything now cares about too much,” is particularly harsh considering that the “boy” just recently tried to kill himself. Melfi is clearly growing emotional. Tony tells her if they had instant replay, she’d see that she is being unfair. (She hides behind the fact that they of course don’t have instant replay.) As I mentioned in my write-up for the Pilot, David Chase chose a style of editing and operating the camera for all the scenes in Melfi’s office that is very restrained, very austere. We now recognize that this restrained style may have had the effect, intended or unintended, of hiding the growing tensions in Melfi’s heart. Her heart has become a tinderbox ready to explode.

Melfi keeps pecking at everything Tony says, finally attacking him—rather unprofessionally—for “defacing my reading materials” because Tony had torn a recipe out of a magazine earlier in her waiting room. Many viewers have noted the irony: it is a Departures magazine that precipitates Tony’s “departure” from Melfi’s care. I think that the nature of the magazine as well as its name may be relevant here; it is a “luxury lifestyle” magazine owned by American Express and distributed to the company’s Platinum Card customers. Tony steals a page out of the lux-life magazine just as surely as he has been “stealing” tips and ideas for how to bolster his criminal luxury-lifestyle from Dr. Melfi for years now. As Prof. Franco Ricci suggests in his book Born Under A Bad Sign, Tony has long been “defacing” Melfi’s words in order to be a more effective mobster.

Melfi recommends that Tony begin “psychodynamic therapy combined with Anafranil” and offers a referral to another doctor. Tony protests, quite reasonably, that his son has just gotten out of the hospital and there may be something irresponsible, even immoral, in her leaving him out in the lurch at this time. She thinks about this for a moment and then gives him what is probably a bullshit response: “Since you are in crisis, I don’t want to waste your time.” Tony was not the only one shocked by the speed and suddenness with which Melfi nixed his therapy—many viewers including myself were disturbed by it too. I’m not willing to chalk her behavior up to “female menopausal situations”—I’m no gynecologist but I don’t think that’s which way the wind blows. I just figured that her arguably inappropriate and unseemly behavior was simply coming out of the emotional state that she was in. Now that she believes that she has been the victim of a long con by Tony Soprano, she feels outrage. As with the case of Phil Leotardo’s stance toward Tony in this hour, Melfi’s stance is being driven primarily by emotion rather than by professionalism or reason.

I think Jeff Goldberg at Slate.com spoke for many viewers when he gave his explanation for Melfi’s actions: “What she feels, I’m guessing, is shame at her vicarious thrill-seeking, which is the real reason she kept Tony on her rolls for so long. And which is the reason we’ve watched the show for so long, Dr. Melfi being, of course, the stand-in for every law-abiding member of The Sopranos’ audience, who shouldn’t derive delight from the actions of violent mobsters but who do anyway.”

Very sensible explanation, it might very well be the case that Dr. Melfi got caught up in indulging the guilty pleasure of treating this exciting and thrilling client. (We might remember that she had once privately complained how boring some of her other patients can be, and in episode 2.05 she stormed out of a session with Elliot after he suggested that she was getting a “vicarious thrill” through Tony—Elliot’s words clearly hit very close to the bone.) But her guilt for having Tony Soprano as a client seems to have finally surpassed her pleasure. The question of complicity has been a long-running concern of the show, and Melfi must be grappling with it now. In episode 6.03 “Mayham,” Melfi had to supply the word to Carmela when Carmela couldn’t bring herself to say it; now, Melfi may be confronting whether she too has been “complicit” in Tony’s criminality.

All of this seemed like a reasonable enough explanation for Melfi’s behavior, but then something happened that led me to broaden my take. In my most recent re-watch of the hour, prior to starting this write-up, I remembered that this wasn’t actually the first time we’ve heard Melfi suggest an alternative form of therapy to Tony while trying to hand him off to another doctor. I checked my notes, and sure enough, Melfi had suggested Behavior Modification therapy to Tony when trying to nix their relationship back in “Employee of the Month” (3.04). I decided to watch that memorable Season 3 episode once again—Melfi and Tony may not have the luxury of “instant replay,” but we do—and it has supplemented the way I see Melfi’s actions now. I’ll give a quick recap of the relevant moments in that episode to explain what I mean.

In Melfi’s first scene of 3.04, ex-husband Richard is trying to convince her to toss her conniving client: “He’s an expert at this. The guy is conning you…It really concerns me that you don’t see this. Pink-slip this guy. He’s dangerous.” In the next scene, Melfi asks Tony if he brought the log she had asked him to keep. Tony has clearly forgotten, and she is clearly disappointed. In the following scene, she admits to her own therapist that “Richard was right. I’ve been charmed by a sociopath.” Melfi mistakenly blurts out the name of her mobster client to Elliot, who then suggests sending him to a Behaviorist.

Back in her office, Melfi takes Elliot’s suggestion and tells Tony it may be time for him to move onto Behavior Modification therapy with another doctor. But T pushes back against the idea, and he does it manipulatively and with bluster: “You know, you’re fuckin unbelievable. I ask you to get serious, but when it gets hard, you pawn me off on somebody else.” Of course, we know that Tony didn’t actually try to get Melfi to be more serious—he was the one not taking therapy seriously. Melfi gets startled by Tony’s pushback and she retreats, claiming that Behavior Modification therapy was merely a suggestion. (It’s almost like the time she retreated into being, in her words, “a little girl” at the sight of Tony in 2.03 “Toodle-fucking-oo.”) In the next sequence, she is walking through the stairwell of her office building while talking to Richard on her cellphone. She gets defensive about her failed attempt to cancel her client: “I told you I would discharge him, and I will in my own good time.” She is so engrossed in the conversation that she doesn’t notice the man in the red hat who eyes her with evil intent as they pass each other on the stairs…

In her 2006 memoir On The Couch, Lorraine Bracco writes that:

Shooting the rape scene was a more physically violent experience than I could have imagined. I felt the degradation. My body burned with pain when I was slammed down in the stairwell. It was so realistic that I tore the bursal sac in my shoulder and was in real pain. I had to have laparoscopic surgery to repair the damage. It wasn’t just me—doing that scene was traumatic for the whole crew. Many people on the set cried during the filming. The brutality was absolutely necessary. It was not gratuitous; it was real. So much of the violence we see on the screen—especially on television—is airbrushed so that it doesn’t appear as gut-wrenchingly awful as it is. I think it’s a disservice, because violence against another human being is despicable and it should be seen as despicable. You should be revolted.

After she is raped, she dreams of a Rottweiler that attacks her attacker. She wakes from the nightmare to find Richard resting peacefully beside her with a sleeping mask on. He is, in a sense, “blind” to her distress:

Back in Elliot’s office, she interprets the Rottweiler to be a dream-symbol of Tony Soprano. Tony would never turn a blind eye to her if she reached out to him for protection or revenge. In their next session—the final scene of 3.04—Tony agrees that maybe the Behavior Modification therapy she had suggested would be a good idea. But Melfi quickly squashes that notion. “I’ve been getting the distinct feeling that you’re giving me the boot,” Tony continues with a smirk, confident now that he will not be kicked out of this office. Sitting before her potential savior, with the fresh trauma still weighing heavily upon her, Melfi loses her composure and begins to break down. Tony tries to comfort her, and then asks, “You wanna say somethin?” She gathers herself and resolutely, memorably, says “No.”

We understand that Melfi’s “No” meant that she would not break the social contract, would not use Tony to mete out vigilante justice. But it’s clearer to me now that she was also saying “No” to her thoughts about kicking Tony out; if she had utilized Tony to get vengeance on her assailant, I don’t think she in good conscience could have continued to treat him as a patient. Saying “No” assured that her association with the big and powerful mobster would continue. Richard and Elliot had her best interest in mind when they tried to nurse her thoughts about severing Tony’s treatment, but these two men were utterly powerless in protecting her or avenging her after the violent and revolting experience she went through. The rape, in a sense, sent Melfi down an alternate timeline in SopranoWorld. She was getting ready to give Tony the boot, but then changed her mind after being assaulted. She had told her ex-husband that she would discharge Tony “in her own good time,” but the attack put a delay in her plan. Now, in “The Blue Comet,” that time has finally arrived…

Melfi opens her door and stands by it, an unambiguous signal to Tony that it is time for him to go—permanently. Many viewers have noted over the years that Melfi’s office seems to have an oval, almost womb-like shape. We never see any sharp corners along its walls. Professor Ricci notes that the space’s “absence of corners and shadowed recesses privilege openness and honesty.” But Tony Soprano has trampled on those concepts of openness and honesty; he has routinely disrespected this place. He is thus being kicked out of this corner-less room into a world where he is increasingly cornered and isolated.

Tony steps through the door into the waiting room. The first episode of The Sopranos, we all remember, opened in this waiting room. I suggested in my first write-up that David Chase may have shot Tony through the legs of the female sculpture in this room in order to diminish his masculine power. In her memoir, Bracco writes that it was her idea for the sculpture to be placed here:

I fought to get that sculpture included. It’s the work of the incredible artist Robert Graham [who is thanked in the credits of “The Blue Comet”], and I thought it reflected Melfi’s aesthetic sense. I wanted it known that Melfi wasn’t a stiff cardboard cutout of a therapist. She was a living, breathing woman, with interests outside of her office.

Jennifer Melfi (and Lorraine Bracco) may have made the effort to mark the office as the personalized space of “a living, breathing woman,” but big ol’ Tony Soprano came in and, over a period of years, in his own unique way, managed to make the space his own. Melfi is taking her space back now. On his way out of the waiting room, Tony makes a big show of placing the torn page back into the Departures magazine. Melfi doesn’t flinch at his ridiculous gesture. She knows that he will never be able to steal her words again.

I know that I cannot reasonably assert that Chase wanted us to think of “Employee of the Month” (much less go back and re-watch it) when trying to understand Melfi’s reasons for putting an end to Tony’s treatment. And without the details of “Employee” close at hand, it may be a little bit harder to see Melfi’s cancellation of Tony as a tale of Feminine Strength Regained. Or maybe it’s not that hard to see, I don’t know. Maybe I’m just mansplaining something that’s very obvious to many viewers. In any case, I think that the last image Chase gives us of Dr. Melfi bolsters this particular reading of her final storyline. Our last glimpse of Melfi on The Sopranos comes as she resolutely, confidently, closes the door of her office. The shot has always made me think of the final moments of The Godfather, but now I can see better how the callback to that great film functions more as a contrast rather than a comparison:

In Coppola’s movie, the put-upon, passive, manipulated wife can only watch as the door is closed on her. She is shut out of the dark-paneled room where the men conduct their business (just as she is shut out of virtually all halls of power as a woman in 1950s America). She has just been lied to by her husband. She has some intuition that her spouse isn’t the type of man he claims to be, but she is incapable of acting upon this intuition. In contrast to Kay at the end of The Godfather, Jennifer Melfi has found her strength and power. She definitively and decisively closes the door on this part of her life.

TV critic Glenn Garvin of The Miami Herald noted that it is not long after Tony is dismissed from Melfi’s office that he empties his backyard swimming pool; now that the office where he explored the significance of the ducks in the pool is no longer available to him, Tony wants to make sure that the ducks don’t have a place to come back to. Garvin’s insight helps us to see a connection that is being made now, a connection eight years in the making: early in Season 1, Melfi had helped Tony recognize that his anxiety about the ducks in the pool was really an anxiety about losing his family, and now 8 years later he drains that same pool because of his anxiety about losing a member of his family to suicide.

So, no more ducks and no more Dr. Melfi for Tony Soprano. Some viewers were happy that the good doctor was finally out of the picture. For some viewers, nothing would be more frustrating than having to watch Tony and Melfi prattle on in the Final Episode, an hour they hoped would be filled with blood and boobs and bullets. Chase, as I mentioned before, plays with the question of would The Sopranos have an unconventional ending or a more traditional ending throughout this episode; by removing Melfi from the narrative now, Chase seems to hint that the finale will be “less yakking, more whacking.”

At Vesuvio restaurant, Tony puts on a masquerade for his wife. He tells Carmela, “I quit therapy,” when in reality he was expelled from therapy. When Artie and Charmaine Bucco start to walk over to their table, Tony murmurs, “Here we go,” and the Soprano couple ready themselves to do some heavy-duty masquerading. First, they feign total happiness about Meadow and Patrick Parisi’s relationship. Then they try to pretend how pleased they are about Meadow’s decision not to go to medical school. Tony stumbles trying to think of a good reason why he’s pleased about it and starts mumbling something about the AIDS virus. Carmela comes to his rescue, mentioning all the problems doctors have go through with insurance companies and hospital cutbacks. But then, Carmela—caught up in her own storytelling—goes a little bit overboard, questioning if the compassion and patience that doctors need come naturally to Meadow. Tony doesn’t come to Carmela’s rescue now, but instead defends his beloved daughter: “What are you talking about??” When the Buccos query how AJ is doing, the Sopranos can answer only with monosyllables: “Good. Good.” They are stumbling through their masquerade and are losing the energy to continue it. Artie and Charmaine come to both their rescues now: Artie directs Tony’s attention to “Man-genius” (Eric Mangini, the Jets’ head coach), while Charmaine whisks off to order some limoncellos in celebration of Meadow and Patrick.

I’m getting a little sentimental again re-watching this scene, because this is the last time we will see Artie and Charmaine on the series. As an Autopsy commenter recently pointed out, there is something of a parallel between the names “Arthur”/”Anthony” and “Charmaine”/”Carmela,” suggesting that the Bucco couple can be seen as the non-criminal counterpart of the Soprano couple. Surely, Artie and Charmaine have put up façades from time to time (as we all do). But Anthony and Carmela’s entire public life must perpetually be a façade.

I’ve always argued that “fuckin regularness” is a fundamental part of life, ubiquitous and inescapable. In SopranoWorld, we see that the banality of life can also act as a façade, masking a potential of violence that lays just below the surface of everyday life. That calm façade gets shattered towards the end of this hour. Bobby Baccalieri goes into a hobby shop, leaving his cell phone in his car (which is why he misses Silvio’s warning call). He gets smitten with an $8000 Blue Comet train—it evokes for him the days of yore, a bygone American era (reminiscent of what Tony complained of missing out on back in the Pilot episode). There was always a gentleness to Bobby that made him different from the other guys. When the shop owner remarks that he can enjoy the train set with his son, there is something heartbreaking about Bobby’s response: “He don’t care.” That wistful statement becomes Bobby’s last words. Bacala’s final sequence is a showpiece of camerawork and editing. The camera dollies through the store, tracking the hitmen between the aisles. Chase inserts images of toy figurines and customers all the while crosscutting to a model train running along its track. Part of the power of this scene, I think, comes from how different its editing style is from the style that is usually employed on the series. In an interview for Post magazine published a few years before this episode aired, editor William Stich said:

In a lot of ways The Sopranos is a conventional show. We don’t use a lot of swish pans, we don’t use a lot of Steadicam that you cut from movement to movement constantly. Not a lot of quick cuts here and there. It’s basic good filmmaking. Shooting your master, shooting your over-the-shoulders, shooting your close-ups and having good composition. And you don’t have to over-stylize something, because you have a good script.

This sequence in the hobby shop is definitely more stylized and dynamic than what Sopranos viewers are used to seeing. I think a couple of the stylized images are particularly noteworthy:

The shot of the toy train barreling off its track activates a metaphor—SopranoWorld is running off its rails:

The wrecked toy model of the city of Newark, Prof. Maurice Yacowar writes, “parodies an empire crumbling”:

The closeup of a female figurine-spectator trying to stifle a gasp might represent what I have previously referred to as “the Culture of Spectacle”:

The author Mario Vargas Llosa, as I’ve mentioned before, is profoundly critical of modern civilization for valuing spectacle above all else. Unfortunately, many of our producers, directors and TV showrunners are not so critical as Llosa is. They don’t want to lose the ratings and dollars that the spectacular brings in. When one of the hobby shop customers (possibly one of the kids that were cowering on the floor) lets out a series of blood-curdling screams at Bobby’s murder, David Chase is reminding us of the devastating toll that spectacle takes upon the spectator.

“The Blue Comet” keeps chugging along. Patsy and Silvio are attacked in the parking lot of the Bada Bing. Patsy is able to hoof it through some trees and escape unscathed, but Silvio takes multiple bullets. (Some earlier imagery of Silvio polishing his white shoes perhaps foretold that his luck would run out in this hour.) This shootout isn’t as visually graceful as the earlier shooting at the hobby shop, mainly because of some clumsy slo-mo shots that were inserted in. But I do think the scene’s overall editing, particularly the sound editing, is very well done. Great care was taken to match street sounds and engine sounds from shot to shot. The emphatic sounds of accelerating car engines heighten the sense of accelerating urgency within the narrative. (And the next scene, I’ll note here, opens on Tony’s accelerating Escalade, using the sound of the engine once again to sustain the mood of emergency.) A crowd of spectators from inside and around the Bing, including a couple of dancers, watches as the action unfolds around them. In the mayhem, a passing motorcyclist loses control of his bike and gets run over by a car.

Throughout the scene, we get small glimpses of the familiar Bada Bing sign. Susann Cokal, in her essay “Narrative Ergonomics and the Functions of Feminine Space in The Sopranos,” notes that the sign “shows a naked woman arcing backward, overcome by the enormity of an exclamation point that emphasizes the club’s name—a visual representation of the way a phallus overwhelms a woman, or a shock overwhelms a TV viewer.” The Bing sign is now overlooking what is certainly one of the most shocking and overwhelming sequences of the series. The inclusion of the topless dancers who watch the bullets fly makes this scene the second time this hour that Chase tosses a bone to his hits-and-tits fans. But I don’t think Chase suddenly decided to pander to his most lowbrow viewers here in this penultimate hour of the series. I believe he is making is a criticism of those of us who hanker for this type of spectacle. When we momentarily make eye-contact with one of the dancers who inadvertently glances into the camera, it unintentionally reinforces our self-awareness that we at home are gazing at the crowd that is gazing at the violence. We are the crowd. We are the rubberneckers. Chase gives us spectacle while censuring us for requesting such spectacle.

This idea of “providing spectacle” was one of the primary driving forces behind another HBO show, Game of Thrones. Thrones had no shortage of pageantry, histrionic characters and extravagant violence, and in “The Bells,” the penultimate episode of that series, showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss gave in to their worst impulses, pandering specifically to their fire-and-flames, death-and-dragons viewers with little concern how the rest of their fans would take it. Kelly Lawler, in her review of that hour for USA Today, wrote “Where to begin with ‘The Bells,’ an absolute disaster of an episode that exhibited every bad habit the series’ writers have ever had? They threw out their own rule book (suddenly the scorpions don’t work and Drogon can burn everything?) to pursue gross spectacle.” Character-consistency and verisimilitude were tossed out the window by Benioff and Weiss, sacrificed for the sake of grand spectacle. (To Benioff and Weiss’ credit, the final episode was more reasonably constructed and, in my opinion, a pretty good end to a very fun series.)

Back to The Sopranos. Tony rushes home after the attacks on his men to evacuate his family. Rosalie Aprile is at the Soprano house with a newly discovered batch of photos from her trip to Paris with Carmela. (The mention of the Paris trip, with its investigation of difficult existential questions, perhaps implicitly brings those existential undertones into the current hour.) Tony tells Carm that Bobby is dead and instructs her to head out to the new property which she acquired in an estate sale. (Rosalie interrupts them after overhearing the conversation. “Anything I can do?” she helpfully asks. But she really doesn’t want to stay a minute longer in this house which may potentially become the site of a gangland shootout—“Or maybe I should just leave,” she artfully adds.)

Upstairs, AJ and Rhiannon are on a website reading about Adnan al Shukrijamah, wanted by authorities at the time for planning “dirty bomb” nuclear attacks on U.S. soil. So: AJ’s computer screen becomes the third time this hour that a screen within our screen references violence or potential violence. Tony directs Rhiannon out of the room, and then breaks the news to AJ about Bobby’s death. AJ doesn’t take it very well, and his immediate thoughts are about his own emotional state rather than about Bobby’s kids or Aunt Janice. When he starts to cry, Tony loses his temper and forcefully yanks wee AJ out of bed. (There’s a bit of irony in Tony’s reaction here; in the previous episode, Carmela lost her temper at Tony for “playing the depression card” and now Tony lashes out at AJ for something similar.) Even though I was a bit disappointed by AJ’s self-absorption here, I don’t think Tony’s response is justifiable at all. He gave his son barely even a moment to process his emotions. Tony plops the young man on his tailbone and drags him across the floor. A cord gets hooked on AJ’s foot, pulling his Xbox and DVDs and other possessions off of his well-stocked shelves:

In the previous episode, AJ tied a concrete block to his leg before plopping himself into the swimming pool. I had suggested that the concrete block represented the gloom and nihilism of being a Soprano which had long been weighing him down. Now, as Tony pulls AJ across the floor, we see AJ’s leg “tied” to some of the goodies and products that come with a life of leisure and consumerism. This is a different type of weight, but perhaps just as heavy. As he leaves the room, Tony snickers dismissively at the laptop displaying the latest news developments around the globe. Tony would much rather see AJ spend his time doing the stuff a “normal” young man his age would do. Tony is clearly disappointed that all AJ was doing with Rhiannon—behind his closed bedroom door, no less—was investigating the war on terror. Poor AJ. Living as a Soprano is a difficult thing under the best of circumstances, but now he has to cope with the worst circumstances of being a Soprano. Maybe AJ shouldn’t even be at home; it’s possible Tony pulled him out of Mountainside because he didn’t want to foot the $2200/day bill any longer. Instead of giving his son the attention and support that he needs right now, Tony is busy dodging the bullet that is out there with his name on it.

Carmela and Meadow rush over to Janice’s house. As the Porsche pulls into the driveway of the large, luxurious home, we wonder if the cost of this house was worth the price the mobsters have paid for it. Johnny Sac, the previous owner, was sent to prison and had to spend his last, sad days in a medical lockup. Bobby was then able to get the house for a discounted amount, but now he has paid the ultimate price. Inside the house, Bobby III and Sophia, sitting across from Janice, seem to be in state of shock. Over the course of their young lives, they have had to contend not only with their mother dying and their father dying, but now also with the horrifying prospect of Janice being their one and only caregiver.

Tony and the rest of the fellas hide out in a safehouse. Silvio, of course, cannot be there—but a cardboard cutout of him is. (According to Alan Sepinwall, Chase and the writers wanted some way to include Silvio in this scene. So they conceived this house not only to be an emergency hideout but also a storage space for Bada Bing promotional items, like the cutout.) Tony heads upstairs, toting the giant gun that Bobby gave him for his birthday (in a scene we remember from the season opener). As Tony looks at the gun, he has a quick flashback to the moment from that birthday weekend when Bobby wondered whether a person who gets shot can “see it coming.” Obviously, Tony may be flashing back to that moment because he is wondering now whether Bobby saw it coming. But Chase, a master at setting up future scenes, may have included the flashback for reasons that will become clearer in the next episode… (I’ll be coming back to this flashback in my next write-up.)

Of the three men who met at Vesuvio earlier to strategize: Bobby is dead, Silvio is as good as dead, and Tony is scrambling to stay alive. Phil Leotardo is taking care of all loose ends—he’s not leaving any scraps in his scrapbook. The Tindersticks’ spooky song “Running Wild” closes the episode, its sparse piano ringing in the dark and adding to the feeling of suspense. (Although the track was recorded years earlier, it sounds like it could have been written specifically to score this scene.) As the end-credits roll, we understand that David Chase has laid down all the tinder-sticks needed to ignite a giant conflagration in the final hour. Right now, going into the series finale, it looks like Chase may not be leaving any scraps in his scrapbook either.

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MARIO DIACO, ACCOUNTANT
I want to circle back for a moment to the scene when Janice visits Tony’s house. Janice tells Tony that their uncle doesn’t like speaking to Mario Diaco, his accountant, because the man has an artificial voice-box which makes Corrado think he is from outer space. This mention of a “voiceless accountant” toward the end of The Sopranos caught my attention. This final season of the series has been rife with questions of karma, of justice, of a moral accounting. By placing a voiceless accountant in the show now, perhaps Chase is suggesting that SopranoWorld is not a place where a final moral accounting can be heard. Corrado hesitates to meet with the accountant because his dementia makes him mistake the man for a space alien. But in a sense, all of the gangsters, including Corrado, have always considered any sort of true accounting of their work to be an extra-terrestrial concept, foreign to the world they move in. With apologies to Phil Leotardo (and Ralphie and Richie and Feech and others), this lack of moral accounting is the true villain of the series. In his essay “The Sopranos, Film Noir and Nihilism,” Kevin Stoehr writes that “While the external villains in Tony’s life change from season to season, the internal villain in his life remains ever-present: his inability to take account of his own moral decline…”

Mario Diaco most probably had his voice-box removed because of laryngeal cancer (overwhelmingly the reason why most laryngectomies are done). We remember that John Schwinn, back in “The Fleshy Part of the Thigh” (6.04), underwent a laryngectomy for this reason. I had suggested in my writeup for 6.04 that the significance of this plot-point might be that the man who gave Tony a less nihilistic way of looking at the universe—the man who suggested that Everything is Everything rather than a Big Nothing—was left voiceless in Chase’s cruel but realistic universe. And now we learn that the accountant, a man whose very purpose is to give a reckoning, has also been left voiceless in Chase’s universe.

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THE CRIMINAL PERSONALITY
The Yochelson and Samenow study had a considerable impact on Melfi and Tony’s relationship in SopranoWorld. In the real world, the study has been influential but has also received some criticism. There have been concerns raised about its methodology: for example, no control group was used, only male (no female) inmates were studied, and the 240 subjects that started the study winnowed to a small fraction of that number by study’s end. Yochelson and Samenow ultimately reached the conclusion that biological and social factors don’t play a very significant role in the behavior of criminals, a conclusion that is controversial and not universally agreed upon. I don’t think David Chase is necessarily making a comment about the merits or the flaws of the study when he places it in The Sopranos; I believe he uses it simply as a way to reignite a line of thinking that Dr. Melfi had abandoned years ago.

Nevertheless, the question of whether psychotherapy can help a criminal personality is fascinating. I’m not well-versed enough on the issue to give an intelligent answer. I have, however, often thought about how effective psychotherapy is in treating the nihilistic personality. My hunch is that psychotherapy—particularly when it’s just talk therapy with a couple of prescription drugs thrown in—is inadequate. I’ve always felt that the dread of “the Big Nothing” that nihilistic personalities must contend with is better addressed by Art. I’m not talking about going to some insurance-approved “art therapy” class once or twice a week, but rather immersing oneself in those profound works of film, literature, music etc that grapple with the deepest of existential questions. (Dr. Krakower suggested something similar in episode 3.07 “Second Opinion” when he told Carmela that her husband should read Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment.) But I know that not everyone has the time—or the inclination—to seek the balm and wisdom found in Art. And so I guess it’s a good idea for psychotherapists to leave some space in their calendars for all the nihilists out there seeking help.

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SCREENS WITHIN A SCREEN
I don’t want to make too much of AJ looking at three screens in this hour (2 TVs and a laptop) which each convey violence (or at least potential violence), but I do think it is interesting in that it reinforces the idea of AJ as a regular spectator to violence. Over the last few seasons, Chase’s camera has focused on AJ as he gawked at a fistfight outside a house party, gawked at his classmate Victor getting his toes acidified, and gawked at a young Somalian man getting beat down. AJ is the son of a mob boss, but ironically, these three instances of violence that he witnessed were not directly related to mob activity. They occurred within the flow of AJ’s daily life. Daily life in America may simply be more violent than it is in other first-world countries. The three screens within our screen in this hour self-reflexively underscore our perpetual exposure to violence. Regardless of whether or not the upcoming Grand Finale of The Sopranos will contain a massive bloodletting, we are not able to escape the spectatorship of violence that is a part and parcel of living in America.

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OF DEPARTURES AND DIET COKES
As I mentioned earlier, the specific reason why Chase chose to use Departures magazine in Melfi’s office might be that its status as a luxury lifestyle magazine added an interesting subtext to the scene. After the series finale, many viewers also believed that that magazine was a clue of sorts pointing to Tony’s “departure” from the world of the living. But I wanted to come back to the magazine for an entirely different reason. There has always been some chatter among fans and even some of the Sopranos pundits out there about “product placement” on the series. While I’ve never really heard anybody claim that the Departures mag is another example of product placement, I did take a look at the credits to see if there was any info about this particular item there. I found that gratitude and credit is given to various companies and products, but not to American Express (which produced Departures at the time):

Viewers often make a charge of “product placement” despite not having any evidence, from the credits or otherwise, that the product was actually “placed” there with financial or advertising considerations in mind. Not too long ago, a podcaster described the Diet Coke that Matt Bevilaqua drinks just before he is killed in “From Where to Eternity” as product placement. Perhaps the podcaster has some inside information not available to the rest of us, but the credits of that episode don’t indicate that HBO was working with Coca Cola. Plus, the “placement” of the soda can in that scene is actually quite poor, as the brand name on the side of the can is mostly obscured by a napkin. Furthermore, the brand name “Diet Coke” is never spoken by anyone. (Also, I’m not convinced that Coca Cola would pay good money to have its product described as a “sugarless motherfucker.”) The podcaster seemed to assume that the mere presence of a brand name qualified it to be product placement.

As I argued in my “Luxury Lounge” write-up, the use of name-brand products adds to the realism/verisimilitude of the show. Such realism strengthens the relationship between the viewers and the characters. Watching “From Where to Eternity,” we feel Matt Bevilaqua’s terror as these hulking mobsters tie him to a chair and question him. His mouth is predictably dry, and we understand his urge to gulp down the Diet Coke. David Chase could have had Big Pussy hand him a can with some made-up name printed on its side, something like “Dr. Salter,” for example. But doing so could have taken the viewer out of the moment; we might find ourselves thinking, even if only for a second or two, “I’ve heard of Dr. Pepper but I’ve never heard of Dr. Salter. Is that supposed to be some kind of salty root beer?” All of the universe-building, all of the suspension of disbelief, all of the work that had been done to build tension up to that point could have taken a momentary hit.

While realism strengthens the relationship between character and viewer, product placement tends to diminish it. A silent third-party essentially comes between the character and viewer to oversee the hawking of their product. The on-screen character is reduced to being a vehicle for an advertisement while the viewer at home is reduced to being a mark. I’m not naïve—I’m aware that HBO has spoken with various companies about the appearance of their products on The Sopranos. But the details of these talks are somewhat murky. We don’t know if money was ever exchanged or if HBO simply enjoyed the free use of the products, nor do we know the extent to which the companies had a say in what was seen or heard onscreen (if they had any say at all.) I know that HBO isn’t some hippy socialist collective trying to bring a golden era of peace upon the earth—they are a network running a business in the cutthroat world of television. Still, we need to be careful not to make unfounded, haphazard accusations of product placement on The Sopranos, because we might then be guilty of making an egregious error: we mistake an attempt to increase realism as an attempt to increase profits.

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2020
This year has rained a shitstorm on us like we have never fucking seen. A global pandemic, economic downturn, locked-down cities, Kobe Bryant’s death, George Floyd’s death, protests, riots and killings in American streets, murder hornets, West coast wildfires, an endless run of hurricanes and storms, unsettling events in the political sphere—the list goes on and on. If ya ask me, you can take 2020 and give it back to the Indians. Perhaps as Americans, we’re not as equipped to deal with such chaos as the rest of the world is. Svetlana Kirilenko told Tony as much in “The Strong, Silent Type” (4.10) when she said, “That’s the trouble with you Americans. You expect nothing bad ever to happen when the rest of the world expects only bad to happen—and they are not disappointed.”

In March, just as coronavirus was forcing the country to go into a shutdown, Netflix released its original docu-series Tiger King. A goofy soap opera of misfits and miscreants, Tiger King was exactly the escapist entertainment that we needed at the time. It had heroes and it had villains (and part of the fun was trying to decide which was which). Though not very poignant, the show occasionally managed to be sweet. Tiger King’s editing style—subtly borrowed from reality shows—exploited the sensational nature of the storylines, making the series one of the most talked about shows of the year. Adding to its popularity was the fact that it was remarkably meme-able. The lockdown meant we had lots of time on our hands to pass around memes like this one:

But I wondered if the popularity of Tiger King was being fueled by something more subterranean than simple escapist longing. Putting on my Captain Subtext hat, I wondered if the series struck such a nerve because it was reflecting the situation we found ourselves in: we were having to confront wild nature in the form of a dangerous virus much the same way people on the show confronted wild nature in the form of dangerous tigers. As much as we’d like to believe that we’re safe and secure from the threats of untamed nature in our cities and towns, the virus reminds us that the entire world is essentially a jungle. Walking through the aisles of a grocery store during the pandemic now, we may feel an anxiety similar to that felt by our hunter-gatherer forebears as they foraged for food in primal settings tens of thousands of years ago, and it is that same primordial anxiety that drives the narrative of Tiger King. Or perhaps not, I don’t know. I readily admit that I may be reading too much into Netflix’s show about a gay, gun-toting zookeeper.

Another show that found great popularity this year was our very own Sopranos. As with Tiger King, a variety of reasons probably accounted for The Sopranos’ newfound popularity, chief among them being the lockdown. A pair of new podcasts hosted by Drea de Matteo and Michael Imperioli surely also contributed. Another factor may have been the introduction of HBO’s new HBO-MAX streaming service. But here too, I wondered if there weren’t subconscious elements contributing to the Sopranos lovefest. Perhaps we recognize at a deep, almost subconscious level that the cultural concerns that David Chase explored in his TV series years ago are closely connected to our contemporary worries. First airing in 1999, The Sopranos expressed various fin de siècle (end-of-century) concerns: the increasing complications of the “American Dream” and the winding-down of the great “American Century.” We are now 20 years into the new century but are still grappling with some of those old concerns. Many Americans on both sides of the politico-cultural divide today feel that the country is headed down a wrong path. The pessimism on each side stems from two different, even opposite, sets of anxieties—and the horizon shows no clear signs of reconciliation or resolution. The Sopranos was a reflection of America’s troubled soul in the late ’90s/early ’00s. Most of us today do not have any greater clarity on these issues than we did back then, only a greater conviction that “our side” is on the right side of the ongoing battle for America’s soul.

Ever since 2007, the year The Sopranos ended, David Chase has no longer had his primary vehicle to make topical commentary about the state of the country. But he still seems to have the desire to do so. In May of this year, Chase sent newly written lines of dialogue imagining how various Sopranos characters would currently be dealing with the coronavirus to Michael Imperioli and Steve Schirripa to share on their podcast Talking Sopranos. The new lines, for example, expressed Meadow’s regret about choosing law school over medical school; Carmela’s happiness that Meadow didn’t become a doctor; and AJ’s astonishment at his younger self: “At one time I wanted to work for Trump. You believe it?! Fuck me, dude.”

The lines Chase sent to Talking Sopranos seem to have been a one-off, we haven’t heard much from him since. If Chase was a memer, he would have had a way to express his thoughts about the current state of affairs with regularity. But he’s not a memer. And that’s why I think all the Sopranos meme accounts on social media are so important—they connect The Sopranos to the current world in a way that David Chase no longer can. My internet-buddy @sopranosgram does exactly that here:

A meme usually works only if it is instantly understood—otherwise we just keep on scrolling with barely any recognition of it. The Sopranos had so many memorable lines by so many memorable characters in so many memorable situations, and was so eminently re-watchable (further imprinting its lines and characters and scenes into our collective memory) that we are able to instantly recognize the joke or reference behind a Sopranos meme.

Sopranos meme accounts have helped make the series relevant to new, younger viewers. At the same time, the meme accounts may appeal to older, original viewers of the series in part because they evoke a certain nostalgia. As troubled as the first decade of this century was, it feels like those days were positively paradise compared to today. Hell, right now I feel nostalgic for just last year. I feel cautious today walking into a restaurant containing a dozen or so patrons, but a year ago I felt only enthusiasm walking into a convention center packed with thousands of people. SopranosCon, taking place in November of last year in Secaucus NJ, was quite a scene. Stocked with several Sopranos actors, fans in bathrobes and tracksuits, the horse that played “Pie-o-my,” recreations of various sets (including the Bing stage, staffed with actual dancers), plus almost anything else Sopranos-related you could think of (and some stuff you would never think of), the convention in some ways was itself a hothouse of nostalgia. Artist John Podgurski’s reproduction of the Satriale’s pig-mural became a popular and nostalgic spot for people to meet. I and Vik Singh (warm and convivial host of the Poda Bing podcast) enjoyed a sit-down in front of the green and pink painting:

Perhaps some of Bobby Baccalieri’s nostalgic sentiment in this hour, as he pines for the days of sipping on a Negroni in the club car of the Blue Comet, has rubbed off on me. But I’m sure the bulk of my Sopranos sentimentality right now is coming from the knowledge that I will soon be wrapping up this years-long Autopsy project. Recently I came across some photos of the sets used at Silvercup Studios, and—to my surprise—the sight of the familiar furniture and set-decoration put a little lump in my throat:

There’s something strange, almost haunting, about seeing these production sets sitting lonesome in the cold glare of an empty studio. The disembodied sets, depopulated of all the familiar faces we’re used to seeing, serve as a reminder that the world of The Sopranos was not actually a real place. Chase’s consistent effort to portray SopranoWorld with realism and verisimilitude was so successful that it is sometimes easy for us to forget that the series was a crafted work of fiction, employing dozens upon dozens of technicians, designers, writers, actors and artisans to bring the fiction alive. David Chase was exceedingly good at marshaling the most exceptional people and resources together in order to breathe life into his fictional TV world. And that—more than nostalgia, current events, meme accounts, podcasts, blogs or anything else—accounts for the ongoing popularity of the series. We never get tired of revisiting a skillfully crafted work; its artistry has no expiration date. “A thing of beauty,” wrote the poet John Keats, “is a joy forever.”

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ADDITIONAL POINTS:

Possible reference of “The Blue Comet” title? In some interpretations of Hopi Indian prophecy, “the blue kachina” is a comet or star that signals the imminent end of all mankind. [But this interpretation may have been an invention/misunderstanding by a non-Hopi writer.]
White shoes. As usual, Chase seems to undermine our reading of his images as fixed “symbols.” This hour makes a good case that white shoes symbolize death, but we also know that Paulie has a closet full of white loafers—and he manages to remain standing all the way through the end of the series.
It’s ironic (and probably a bit devious) that Janice tells Tony that she can’t afford to support Corrado any longer, yet her husband Bobby barely hesitates to blow $8000 on a train set. Tony is outraged that she would even approach him about their uncle: “You got a lot of balls, coming to me! And as for your husband, Janice—‘Exile on Main Street!'” We’ll never know just how serious Tony’s threat of excommunication was because Bobby gets killed in the following scene.
The song from Cavalleria Rusticana, which I mentioned plays at Vesuvio, also appears at the end of The Godfather III. <<< G.3 SPOILER ALERT: The music starts just after Michael Corleone’s daughter is killed, and this led some Sopranos viewers to predict that the series would end with the death of Tony Soprano’s daughter. >>>
Punning all the way to the end. One of the guests at the dinner party claims, “All Italians have big noses.” He is not invoking an ethnic stereotype, as we are led to believe, but describing Italian wines.
During one scene at the Bada Bing, we can hear the dreamy but disturbing groove of The Doors’ “When the Music’s Over (Turn Out the Lights),” perhaps foreshadowing that the music and the lights will both suddenly go out at the end of the next hour.

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Duly noted.

* * * * * * * *

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393 responses to “The Blue Comet (6.20)”

John | November 22, 2020 at 4:14 pm | Reply

Thanks Ron. I enjoyed your insights on this one – especially the legwork behind the psychiatry stuff.

LikeLiked by 2 people
- Ron | November 22, 2020 at 4:18 pm | Reply
  
  Thanks John
  
  LikeLike
- Kristen | April 15, 2021 at 10:21 pm | Reply
  
  Amazing needed this!
  
  LikeLiked by 1 person
Dude Manbrough | November 22, 2020 at 7:45 pm | Reply

Yay! A new post! I’ll have to read this one again LOL! But I had to mention the “Metalocalypse” reference. Man I enjoyed that show, the premise sounds totally ridiculous (and it is) but it was just so…endearing, I guess I’d say. When I first saw this episode I had to rewind to verify I really saw that.

LikeLiked by 2 people
- Ron | November 23, 2020 at 11:42 am | Reply
  
  👍
  
  LikeLike
- Adria Young | June 24, 2021 at 10:32 pm | Reply
  
  Thank you for writing this, especially the Keats line; for the suggestion of Art immersion therapy for nihilists; and for the notes on Melfi’s last scene, as well as Artie and Charmaine’s. I love how Charmaine passive-aggressively shames Carmella for Meadow ‘staying in the family,’ as it were. Charmaine is still so smug in her choices and now relishes the inevitability of Meadow’s. Thank you so much for your expert analysis of this show. We met briefly at SopranosCon, I was thrilled. Looking back now, the whole experience was surreal but so satisfying. I have admired your criticism of the show tremendously since it began. I’m feeling sad to click to your final episode piece, but, like the show, I can always start it all over again. Best wishes!
  
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  - Ron | June 25, 2021 at 12:10 am | Reply
    
    Thank you Adria
    
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Jamie | November 23, 2020 at 12:56 am | Reply

You bastard. The entire way through reading this I was thinking “but Paulie has shelves full of white loafers, and he doesn’t die, albeit responsible for a lot of death”, but you nixed me in the additional points.
I wonder how many penultimate episodes of a season contain a death?

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- Ron | November 23, 2020 at 11:42 am | Reply
  
  haha you never know what you might find in the Additional Points
  
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- Natalie Reed | April 6, 2021 at 9:06 pm | Reply
  
  I was just thinking:
  Maybe Paulie having a closet full of white shoes, but isn’t *wearing* them, signifies how this ridiculous, absurd old man has *outlasted* everyone. He survives, but everyone around him dies. And the final lingering shot of him next episode is him all alone outside a desolate Satriale’s. Even Tony (probably) dies. Paulie’s numerous white shoes are the deaths of his FRIENDS (and enemies… the big trail of ghosts from From Where To Eternity), that have built up into a collection over the years.
  
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  - LK | December 2, 2021 at 1:57 pm | Reply
    
    Natalie – Remember that Patsy also survives, as well as most of the NY crew! Oh yeah – the kitty also lives (but maybe not for long)! 😉
    
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cVicN | November 23, 2020 at 1:31 am | Reply

Tony whupping AJ is foreshadowed in the final Melfi session. He muses that he should “put his foot up his Ass”. You wonder if his confrontation with Melfi in some way caused him to attack AJ. This was a way to lash out at her and to reject her as she certainly would have disapprove and tried to coach him out of such behavior.
Thanks for the write-ups and glad to have you back.

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- Ron | November 23, 2020 at 11:47 am | Reply
  
  That’s a good take…
  
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  - Kozhy | August 13, 2021 at 3:27 am | Reply
    
    There’s an even “better” one: AJ is obnoxiously overemotional and can’t function because he doesn’t hold anything back. So… In the first part of the season we saw Vito get out of closet “a little too much” – he stopped hiding it completely, and it did not work. What AJ needed at that moment, in terms of his emotions and in order to properly function mentally was to do the exact opposite – get into that closet a little. Not overshare constantly, not be a completely open book, close just some of the aspects of your personality (sorrow in his case) so you don’t lose it all. So, Tony did exactly that. Put him in a closet. And it worked. He was still AJ, but without the constant whining (not to underestimate his depression, just his behavior).
    
    Also, being in a closet is closing the door, metaphorically, to the trauma, which can either enhance it or help overcome it. Melfi closed her door to Tony, literally. He, the man that he is, never passes on a chance to spite people and burden them with the exact problem that he’s having, just so he could feel better about himself and not judge himself, but others. And since this is the ending, the culmination, and nothing is off limits – he will spite even his own son (this is not the first time, though).
    
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- Orangeannie | November 30, 2020 at 4:00 pm | Reply
  
  He didn’t really attack him. He had to get him out of bed and moving. There was no time to hold his hand. Even Carmela commented and said “how are we gonna get him out of the bed, much less out of the house?” His reply “He’ll get up.” Sometime expediency is a good motivator. two people he knows his whole life are shot, one died and he’s is whining like a baby. I don’t blame Tony for pulling him out of bed. He had to get him moving, no time for coddling.
  
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Mamjja, J.F. | November 23, 2020 at 4:26 am | Reply

Well worth the wait Ron, so much to feast on. Thanks for your hard work over all these years. Happy Thanksgiving!

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- Ron | November 23, 2020 at 11:39 am | Reply
  
  Happy Thanksgiving to you too
  
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Orangeannie | November 23, 2020 at 1:04 pm | Reply

Okay, here’s my first thought. I saw Tony’s look when he saw what was on AJ’s computer as concern because the troubling thoughts are still there in AJ’s mind. He had no time to coddle him because they had to get the hell out of the house. I couldn’t help thinking that maybe less coddling would have done AJ good. I still get the feeling that he is not as depressed as he says he is, I think he is self-pitying and Tony gets frustrated. I also think its going to be an ongoing syndrome with AJ. Self-involvement, and a disconnect from how other people feel. Yes, he is angry that he is a Soprano and has to deal with this…but still, he doesn’t seem scared.

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- Ron | November 23, 2020 at 2:07 pm | Reply
  
  👍
  
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- Trevor Goddard (@tgedd) | January 17, 2021 at 5:03 pm | Reply
  
  AJ was coddled? When? He was judged and yelled at by his parents for the entirety of the series.
  
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  - Orangeannie | January 17, 2021 at 10:20 pm | Reply
    
    When he vandalized the school? When he cheated on tests? When he smart mouthed his mother? When he lied and stayed at the hotel and got drunk and high and cursed at his mother and lied continuously?He can’t move out because he needs his mothers cooking?? He was lazy and stupid and dishonest and they always got him out of trouble. He was coddled because the mother parents out of guilt and fear, and the father is a criminal. They gave him everything and he was a little snot nose.
    
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    - Hawkman1982 | January 28, 2021 at 9:57 pm | Reply
      
      Totally agree…..Tony was right when he said all that stood between AJ and a sounds thrashing’s was his mother….
      
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    - mike | February 1, 2021 at 7:30 am | Reply
      
      not to mention his uncle jr. fuckup that would have gotten an average nobody a possible attempted murder charge but no no no not crybaby bitch AJ Soprano who complains “my stomach hurts” as Tony’s leaving the police station in disbelief over his current fuck up of all fuck ups.
      
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  - The Realist | February 8, 2021 at 11:49 pm | Reply
    
    Ha, when was dude NOT coddled? Just because his parents yelled at him didnt mean they didnt baby that little fker.
    
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  - Michelle | January 13, 2023 at 9:08 am | Reply
    
    Oh marone! That one line about AJ got me thinking and then the following happened. LOL
    
    AJ turned out to be the ultimate con man! And we see him for what he is in The Blue Comet and Made in America.
    
    AJ’s parents were the LEAST judgmental of him I have ever seen on TV or in real life. Like Meadow said “AJ. You’re their son. Do you have any idea what that means? You’ll always be more important.”
    
    AJ did not get “yelled” at, not in his mind. He was only nagged by his parents. OMG that highfalutin expression on his face whenever he was confronted by a parent made me want to put him over my knee!! The only time you EVER saw AJ look shocked was the time Tony did FINALLY strike AJ in “Army of One” and again in that same episode when AJ was in the military school uniform and Tony looked like he was about to hit AJ again.
    
    Here are the few examples of AJ’s being coddled that come to mind (I am sure I am missing some). If I did ANY of these things… well, different times back then. But I can bet you dollars to donuts I would have been grounded in perpetuity and put out on my ass at 18 years old if I were this kid.
    
    –Stealing Carmela’s car and damaging it.
    PUNISHMENT: “You gotta respect the value of things” says Pussy followed by him handing AJ money saying “Here, go get a soda.”
    
    –“A C, three D’s, and an F.”
    PUNISHMENT: Go visit Grandma.
    
    –Smoking dope not only in the home BUT during a family gathering for his confirmation.
    PUNISHMENT: Being called an “animal” by his mother and getting spoken to by Uncle Pussy.
    
    –Getting drunk in school.
    PUNISHMENT: Suspension for a couple of days, being forced to visit grandma, psych testing for possible ADD.
    
    –Destroying the school swimming pool and trophy case (I found this one sad because of AJ’s former love for swim meets probably in that same pool).
    PUNISHMENT: NOTHING!!! The school does not want to lose him as a football player and the parents ground him for one month and make him clean the gutters. “Poor you.”
    
    –Stealing and cheating on a test.
    PUNISHMENT: Expulsion from school and a “threat” of having to go to military school. AJ conveniently passes out so military school is a no-go.
    
    –Flunking English.
    PUNISHMENT: Carmela’s helps write his Billy Bud and Lord of the Flies papers, while AJ sleeps at one point, and uses Mr. Wegler to help get AJ a better grade in English.
    
    –Again, doing poorly in school, but now with almost no prospects for a 4-year college.
    PUNISHMENT: Tony spends $30,000 on a brand new Nissan Xterra as a “motivational tool.”
    
    –Lies to Carmela about his whereabouts in NYC after a concert (that she initially refused to allow him to go) and then disrespecting her with the foulest of language.
    PUNISHMENT: Go live with your father.
    
    –Dropping out of community college.
    PUNISHMENT: Tony was in a coma… there was no punishment unless you count having to go get “an assortment” of bagels for the family upstairs at the hospital.
    
    –Spending thousands (most likely on his parents credit card) at night clubs and then asking for money for clothes.
    PUNISHMENT: Money for clothes.
    
    –Selling $5,000 drums that were a gift from Tony.
    PUNISHMENT: Nothing. Got money for the drums.
    
    –AJ gets fired from Blockbuster and keeps it a secret for 3 weeks.
    PUNISHMENT: Tony gets AJ a job in construction and, when AJ comes up with every excuse why he can’t take it, Tony smashes his windshield (not AJs smirking face).
    
    –Attempting to murder Junior.
    PUNISHMENT: Gets a pass from law enforcement because his father called in a favor to Zellman.
    
    –Finally. “The depression card.” OK, maybe that is harsh. I think on some level AJ was very [temporarily] depressed about Blanca leaving him. We have ALL been there. Without going into specifics, I know A LOT about depression, bipolar, manic episodes, and anxiety from personal experience with close family. I also have worked in family medicine for years. This kid was a spoiled brat. Plain and simple.
    
    But
    
    **AJ is his father’s son. A con man.** We see him make excuses why he cannot do more than lay on the couch watching TV, like hang with friends or, as Meadow suggested, move out… “I need mom’s cooking.” Then there is the botched suicide attempt (with a too-long rope in the heated pool), which I believe was not a cry for help, but a way to get attention and manipulate his parents. He knew he had only one thing left to do … as Carmela lovingly said to Tony once, “Why don’t you grow the fuck up!?” And AJ did not want the responsibility that comes with that. He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and a mother that, YES, coddles him. He did not want to go to work, to school. He wanted to have fun. So he pretends to want to kill himself to get his parents to finally back off from trying to make him a responsible adult as they have been doing more and more. Just my opinion.
    
    For all we know, Chase may have been inferring there was context beyond what the viewer actually sees (as he was famous for doing). The viewers may not have seen that earlier that morning AJ heard Tony say he had a meeting somewhere but would be home for lunch. Carmela makes TWO lincoln log sandwiches. I will go back and look for this clue if it exists.
    
    So, back to the suicide attempt:
    PUNISHMENT: He spends a few weeks sitting around watching TV (a favorite pastime) at a cost of $2,200 a day; then he lays around home in bed chatting with his new love interest about BS; he plays the depression card when it suits his wants. Example is after Tony tells AJ they need to leave the house and that Bobby is dead. AJ says VERY unconvincingly IMO “This is really depressing to me. I was already having so much trouble maintaining.” First off, AJ knows if Tony is saying “It’s important that we all leave for a little while until things settle down. It’s just a precaution.” that they need to get the eff out of dodge NOW. AJ knows what his father does for a living. Second, if AJ was as depressed as the viewers think, the thought of leaving the house and finding out Bobby died would have thrown him into hysterics immediately. But instead, he starts making excuses why this situation does not suit HIM.
    
    *****I think Tony finally sees AJ for the con he really is here and “kicks him out” of bed not falling for this BS. It takes one to know one. Tony was called on his BS earlier this same episode and “kicked out” of therapy.
    
    THE ICING ON THE CAKE: His parents buy him a brand new $60,000+ BMW M3 and get him a job working in movies with Little Carmine, which mom and dad say will lead to him getting the nightclub he wants them to front him for. And we see AJ smiling and laughing in the remaining scenes thereafter. He has the job, the car, the girl, lives at home, all on his parents’ dime.
    
    Coddled? ABSOLUTELY!!!
    
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- Hawkman1972 | February 9, 2021 at 8:40 pm | Reply
  
  I think people are as tough as they need to be, generally. Look at the survivors of world war 2, the Holocaust, the misery of that eras. Many of those people emerged as contributing, well adjusted productive members of society. AJ is the end result of the post world war 2 degradation of the American male. His great grandparents were immigrants who escaped poverty, his grandparents grew up hard and mean in the ole ethnic enclaves and his dad was the last in line to have that sort of upbringing. By the time you get to AJ, there’s nothing left but nihilism and easy living and coddling and made up maladies like add. That’s the message of the series to me, or at least one of the main ones…..
  
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  - Linda OConnor | July 30, 2022 at 3:27 pm | Reply
    
    If you go through genuine trauma like so many of the events you describe (or DV) the only way to survive is to tough it out. If you succumb to weakness or vulnerability you die. Then to survive the rest of your life without a post trauma breakdown you have to be in a permanent state of denial. That’s why so many holocaust survivors lead such incredibly productive lives. They’ve survived the worst lift can give and have energy generated by that trauma to do more and more afterwards.
    The downside of this amazing survival strategy is the guilt you can pass on to your descendants. For someone like AJ coming from many generations of poverty, war, domestic violence and abuse it’s almost impossible for him to acknowledge his own privilege. He has the absolute ingratitude to be rich and unhappy.. It. sounds like poor little rich kid shit but it’s his truth. When did he ever get the chance to be the unlucky underdog and rise above it? Never – any time he felt sorry for himself his mum babied him , him dad beat it out of him or his evil granny enabled him. No wonder he is fucked up.
    Meadow is more her mummy’s/maternal grandmas girl so her defences are stronger and more efficient. But poor AJ was cursed with being Anthony’s junior n
    
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- LK | November 1, 2021 at 11:28 am | Reply
  
  Great comments! I completely agree with you about Tony grabbing AJ out of bed. Had I been in Tony’s shoes, I would have done the same thing – by the hair no less! The sight of AJ laying on the bed, as if he was an invalid, absolutely infuriated me. This was no ‘depressed’ kid; he was later observed chatting-up his (girl)friend, without a care in the world. I doubt whether everyone reading this wonderful blog really felt complete sympathy for him.
  
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Slowed&Sopranos | November 23, 2020 at 1:21 pm | Reply

So glad to get one of these in time for Thanksgiving

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Steve Clark | November 23, 2020 at 1:35 pm | Reply

I literally went “OHHH!” and woke up the cat when I saw this was updated. Awesomeness. It had the effect of a jump scare in a movie, but a nice one.

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- Ron | November 23, 2020 at 2:08 pm | Reply
  
  😆
  
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  - Frank Roccapriore | November 23, 2020 at 2:40 pm | Reply
    
    Awesome stuff.Thanks so much for helping us get thru 2020.
    
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    - Ron | November 23, 2020 at 5:46 pm | Reply
      
      My pleasure.
      
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Terremotito | November 23, 2020 at 2:41 pm | Reply

Hallelujah! Been checking this site pretty much daily.
I imagine you have your work cut out for you for the next instalment. I wonder if you’ll end it in mid-sentence?

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- Ron | November 23, 2020 at 5:52 pm | Reply
  
  Haha believe me, I’ve thought about it…
  
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  - Terremotito | November 24, 2020 at 8:01 am | Reply
    
    “I will now tell you exactly what happened to Tony Sopr “
    
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Brandon | November 23, 2020 at 5:21 pm | Reply

Ron, there’s no thanks I can give that can accurately convey the gratitude I have for what you’ve done on this website.

At surface-view, it would seem quite unlikely that a show like the The Sopranos would have any deep resonance with one such as myself–a geeky, black, Gen Z-er living in the Midwest. However, therein lies one of the key attributes of American Myth that perhaps make it the central myth of the world–a story of one facet of the United States is irrevocably entwined in all its others.

Everything is Everything, and I am absolutely down with that.

Your musings on Spectacle gave me somewhat of an epiphany. The Sopranos–a numinous, mythic, phantasmagoria dressed in the skin of mundane, urban criminality–presents us the world as we know it before slowly cracking it open to reveal the bottomless realms and potentialities we’ve been unknowingly standing atop of. For me, THAT IS the Spectacle. Not flashy, not even a slow-burn, but more like the steady, beating pulse of a universal onmi-image stirring something dormant, yet eternal, in our cores.

…………and yeah, the shoot-outs and big titties are cool, too.
Thank you, again.

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- Ron | November 23, 2020 at 6:07 pm | Reply
  
  Thanks Brandon. Everything is everything, amen.
  
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  - Brandon P Finerson | November 23, 2020 at 6:13 pm | Reply
    
    P.S.—Looking forward to your “Many Saints of Newark” review and analysis!
    
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    - Kozhyleus | October 4, 2021 at 3:33 pm | Reply
      
      the movie is insulting at best.
      
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jfigs24 | November 23, 2020 at 11:28 pm | Reply

“the order to carry out the plan passes from Bobby to Paulie to Patsy to Corky Caporale to the two Italians. (Butchie had earlier criticized New Jersey’s redundant layers of management.)”

It’s like a game of telephone.. Tony seems to give Bobby a look when he asks ‘who do you want to take care of it?’ Why does he involve Paulie at all? Amateur power move as a result of their beef from the Italian festival in the previous season maybe? Or is it just bad management? But then why is Silvio there and not making sure it goes more smoothly? Paulie doesn’t want to be involved at all because he wants to survive which leads to him putting patsy in charge. Patsy, who has every reason not wanting to be 4th in line barely seems interested (“does he speak Ukrainian?” “The fuck do I know?”) and on and on it goes this thing of ours..

“Maybe our guys are nothing more than “a glorified crew” after all.”

I’ve always thought these quotes about Jersey being a lesser outfit were bullshit to be honest. I think the way the New York guys talk shit is similar to how real New Yorkers kind of look down on Jersey and it’s more of these alpha guys having a dick measuring contest. If you look at the facts, the two times the term ‘glorified crew’ came up were: 1) On the golf course when Johnny Sac was trying to convince Carmine of the importance of the relationship with NJ on a business deal until Carmine Jr. got pissy cause Carmine said Tony was like a son. Carmine loses his temper and uses the phrase. 2) This episode where Phil uses the phrase cause of his own beef (and even then his consigliere is like “whacking a boss, you sure?”). Not to mention the boss of a prominent family in Italy gives away her best/most loyal soldier and cousin. I doubt she’d do this if they were just some under-respected, under-valued “glorified crew”

Don’t have anything to add to the Tony-Melfi dynamic analysis except that it was incredibly insightful and well written as usual, Ron. Literally gave me goosebumps reading it.

Also the Lorraine bracco book sounds incredibly well written as well. How much sopranos stuff is in there? Is it worth a read for someone who isn’t particularly interested in most of her other work?

“This idea of “providing spectacle” was one of the primary driving forces behind another HBO show, Game of Thrones.”

I hate to be ‘that guy’ but this show got worse and worse the more they ran out of source material (or decided they were better writers aka 4.5 seasons in) but I can’t recommend the books enough (although I have to warn you the books are unlikely to ever get finished.. Still definitely worth the read though)

“Viewers often make a charge of “product placement” despite not having any evidence,”

Never understood this complaint. Products in the sopranos always seem naturally introduced and never forced. For example when Tony orders Chinese on the phone and orders cans of coke.. If he said cans of cola or something it just would’ve sounded ridiculous. Or when the commercial for Mercedes is on tv and it makes Tony think of Gloria. It wasn’t in there to promote Mercedes, it was in there to remind Tony and the audience about this beautiful woman who might became a major player in future episodes while at the same time leaving Carmela completely oblivious as to what Tony (and the audience) are thinking. I’m not sure they could’ve achieved that without the commercial but either way it worked perfectly. If done naturally and with purpose there’s nothing wrong with putting products in your tv show or movie in my opinion

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- jfigs24 | November 23, 2020 at 11:44 pm | Reply
  
  Except for a product like that ‘glorified reality show’ tiger king. Netflix makes any tv show over there. My estimation of you as a man, Ron, just fucking plummeted
  
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  - Ron | November 24, 2020 at 12:28 pm | Reply
    
    lol
    
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  - Ron | November 24, 2020 at 12:29 pm | Reply
    
    I haven’t read Bracco’s book, I came across those quotes while researching the sculptures in her office
    
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- Jamie | November 24, 2020 at 8:55 pm | Reply
  
  Phil says “Carmine has always said they were nothing but a glorified crew”, but Phil was in prison for Carmine’s entire reign?
  
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Allan | November 23, 2020 at 11:34 pm | Reply

Finally! I am happy that the analysis has been uploaded (great as always, by the way) but at the same time I’m sad because there is only one left and I’m afraid the analysis will end with: “and the real meaning of The Sopranos ending is…”.
I haven’t rewatched The Sopranos and The Wire this year (which I regret) but I watched seasons 4-7 of Mad Men and then I rewatched the entire show and couldn’t help but compare the chaos of 1968 shown in season 6 to the chaos of this year. It was especially shocking to see the King-assassination riots episode and that a few months later the George Floyd protests occurred.

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- Ron | November 24, 2020 at 12:54 pm | Reply
  
  I read a book once that studied the 100 most shocking events of human history, and one of the events on their list was the year “1968.” Lots of parallels to that year now in 2020..
  
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Thomas Raffell | November 24, 2020 at 3:33 am | Reply

Always brilliant to have another one of these! The analysis is worthy of the subject matter, which is the highest praise I can give. Great work Sir!!

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- Ron | November 24, 2020 at 12:42 pm | Reply
  
  Thank you Thomas
  
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Greg Butler | November 25, 2020 at 2:07 am | Reply

I think Melfi’s dropping Tony as a client also works as a meta dropping of the audience by Chase himself. We never really had to think about what everything actually meant before this point. Why did Tony dream that? Melfi / Chase will tell us. If they don’t, it’s probably not important or it’s simply “bad writing”. Tony never actually read into anything and neither did we, the audience. And what happened when Melfi / Chase wasn’t there to guide us one last time? We got one of the most divisive final episodes in television history. Can’t wait for you to review it, Ron!

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- Ron | November 26, 2020 at 12:22 pm | Reply
  
  Thanks Greg. Lots of meta-commentary going on in Melfi’s final scene…
  
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Rei Barker | November 26, 2020 at 1:05 pm | Reply

I just wanted to say thanks tbh. Great work.

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- Ron | November 26, 2020 at 4:21 pm | Reply
  
  thanks
  
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Samir Ansar | November 29, 2020 at 6:13 pm | Reply

Can we identify if one of the shooters that gets Sil is wearing a members only jacket?

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Keith Moriarty | November 30, 2020 at 5:09 pm | Reply

Thanks for another excellent write up, Ron!
Bobby’s murder scene has always unsettled me on a lot of levels. The sequence on its own is great film, and it works, but to me the stylized nature of the editing choices seemed too on the nose and kind of beneath what the series could – and still would – accomplish with its storytelling.

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- Ron | December 1, 2020 at 11:35 am | Reply
  
  Yeah I know what you mean. It’s a bit too choreographed, something like the ‘Union Station stairway’ scene in the film The Untouchables. But I think Chase is showing that he can do conventional gangster-movie fare with great technique and flair before going in a very unconventional direction in the Finale…
  
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  - Uncle Fat | December 1, 2020 at 3:29 pm | Reply
    
    Union Station scene? Masterpiece.
    
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    - Ron | December 1, 2020 at 3:46 pm | Reply
      
      As mentioned in the video, The Untouchable‘s scene riffs off of the famous ‘Odessa steps’ scene in Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin. And Naked Gun 33 1/3 spoofs the scenes from both of these films…
      
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      - Uncle Fat | December 3, 2020 at 4:11 pm | Reply
        
        Yup
        “Dyslexia for cure found”
        By the way I expect more extravaganza from Alan Taylor in “The Many Saints of Newark”.
        
        I love “Bacala death” scene. It IS over the top but if not then…When?
        
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Anonymous | December 1, 2020 at 9:54 am | Reply

Enough with the preambles………..Thank you Ron

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Charles B.S. | December 1, 2020 at 12:08 pm | Reply

One more review to go, and I can die a happy man XD !!!

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- Ron | December 1, 2020 at 4:15 pm | Reply
  
  😆
  
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Malignant Cunt | December 4, 2020 at 8:59 am | Reply

I found your website a couple of months ago after returning to The Sopranos after what must have been 10 years or more and have steadily read through all of the (available) episode analyses and comments. When it was first released, I watched all episodes 10-15 times, mainly when I was a student between about 17-23 years old. I was obsessed with it, but couldn’t enunciate why I knew it was so amazing, intricate and multi-layered – this website has been a fantastic resource for analysis and insight, for people like myself who are not ‘au fait’ with various televisual/filming techniques and tricks. It’s a real old-skool website that reminds me of the early days of the internet where websites were produced by individuals with a passion or interest, rather than SEO, advertisement-driven, click bait nonsense that makes up 99% of the websites I visit day to day.
It has also been illuminating to me to learn about the philosophical, existential and spiritual questions that run through The Sopranos and your write-ups.
Great effort Ron and I’ve read through 85 of the episode analyses just in time for the final one…as Patsy Parisi says: ‘Thank you. That was great’

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- Ron | December 4, 2020 at 11:10 am | Reply
  
  Thanks Malignant Cunt. It’s crazy how many emails I get from SEO hucksters…they have no idea how low “Number of Clicks” is on my list of priorities for this website..
  
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Elliott | December 4, 2020 at 9:16 am | Reply

There is a theory out there that stems from this episode. After the New York crew is discussing decapitating the New Jersey crew they are in the Flatbush beauty salon, the next scene Paulie is passing out barber scissors. As you mentioned 1. Paulie did not like taking orders from Bobbie, 2. In the beauty parlor scene someone asks if Paulie was on the hit list, and Butch says no. 3. In season 4 Paulie was talking to Johnny Sack about switching sides to New York. Do you think it is plauible that Paulie was feeding information to the New York Crew, and was in on the hit of Bobby, the attempted hit of Sylvio, and the arguable hit of Tony in the next episode?

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- Ron | December 4, 2020 at 11:43 am | Reply
  
  I’ve heard this theory. Some people also say that because Bobby’s father was a barber, the scissors strengthen the link between Paulie and Bobby’s murder. I guess it’s a plausible theory, but I don’t know…
  
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- windbag | December 4, 2020 at 6:04 pm | Reply
  
  I never gave that theory any serious consideration. One thing that I’ve never heard disputed is that Tony Sirico agreed to the role on the condition that he would never be a rat. Plus, Minn Matrone’s husband was a barber accessories salesman. I also assumed Paulie helped himself to some scissors he found while rummaging around for the the money after he killed Minn.
  
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  - Elliott | December 4, 2020 at 8:43 pm | Reply
    
    Technically a rat is someone who informs on the Mafia (breaks the code of Omerta) with the authorities. Paulie was flirting with changing sides when Johnny Sack was palying him in Season 4.
    
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  - Orangeannie | December 17, 2020 at 1:02 pm | Reply
    
    That’s my theory too. He waited and then tried to fence them.
    
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    - Anonymous | January 11, 2022 at 7:16 pm | Reply
      
      I’ve always thought the scissors symbolize Paulie cutting ties with the Soprano family. That and that LOOK on Paulie’s face walking out of the Bing after telling Tony he wanted to mull over the promotion. Perhaps Paulie and Patsy decide enough is enough. And MOG gets ”Made.” Emphasis on perhaps.
      It’s a real tribute to Chase and Gandolfini’s talent that, in spite of all his evil misdeeds (especially the murders of Adriana and Chris) so many of us still rooted for Tony right up till the end, but Chase used Melfi to try to tell us that we shouldn’t. Then the finale; Chase implies with a multitude of techniques that there’s a real likelihood Tony is killed instantly from behind/3 o’clock, but still spares viewers from seeing it graphically displayed on screen, or even knowing with absolute certainty that it happened. The final bell rings, this thing’s over, we need to wake up. If Tony saw his future when he visited Uncle Jun, wouldn’t he choose a more cinematic end?
      
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Uncle Fat | December 5, 2020 at 3:18 pm | Reply

On Aug. 19, 1939, the Blue Comet wrecked at milepost 86
Heh

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- Ron | December 7, 2020 at 4:50 pm | Reply
  
  That’s an interesting point. I guess the only way it could be more of a coincidence is if it had been milepost 85…
  
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  - LK | November 2, 2021 at 12:45 pm | Reply
    
    Ron – l found an article about the Blue Comet on nj.com. Apparently, it ran to Red Bank and continued south through the (season 3, episode 11) Pine Barrens(!!!) to Atlantic City. Any coincidence? At any rate, this episode was one of my favorites. Bobby’s murder, the shooting (and likely death) of Silvio, and Dr. Melfi’s decision to terminate therapy with Tony was a real ‘1-2-3 (sucker?) punch’ I should have seen coming, but really didn’t want to face. The end is nigh.
    
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Blackmambauk | December 7, 2020 at 2:46 pm | Reply

Finally have the chance to put my own thoughts down on the first half of the series finale for the Sopranos. Just been busy with my new job and other things that prevented me from doing so earlier.

Going back through both episodes each time, it’s incredible to notice how much is going on and really how many details, character stuff, ambiguous contexts and weaves and threads Chase and his team are packing into their last two episodes.

With the first scene kicking things off with Silvo taking care of Burt Gervasi, cousin of Carlo. Which considering what happens to him in the next episode and the two Jasons as a whole. Makes you wonder was this another thing that may have influenced Carlo on any level, did the fact his cousin was caught trying to get in bed with NY and killed raise suspicions in him that Tony might single him out as well at somepoint? Did it put more fuel on the fire when Tony ripped into him back in Chasin It? I’m sure you will give us thoughts on it Ron in the next review.

Then we have Uncle Philly and his scrapbooks scene, truly another wonderful scene for Frank Vincent to nail The Shah of Iran and truly show that there’s no more playing more, the roses and grandkids is dead for sure now. I said back in Kasha that something about Butchie just makes me suspect him for what he does in these two episodes, what he may or may not have been playing at? While again the theory i have heard is that the supposed FBI informant in Phil’s rank is Albert, which would make sense since he’s been seen all season with Phil while Butchie only turned up for the first time in Kaisha. And he’s vocal in raising not quite opposition, but surprise that Phil is really going through with taking out the supposed glorified crew. I wonder if Chase originally intended something else with Butchie for the last nine episodes, of him being the final threat for Tony but backpedaled and went with Phil because he suited his plans more and because Phil had more backstory, presence and beef with Tony. Not to mention Frank Vincent playing the role to perfection. And butchies aggression is a remnant of that aborted arc or was just bait and switch. Looking forward to seeing your thoughts on the next part on Butchie and what NY may be up to with everything in that episode.

Next there’s Agent Harris, now with the fact we know the gun charge and Rico Case against Tony is going on in the background throughout this season. And the terrorist thing with the two Arabs that Harris was chasing that Tony uses to his advantage here, along with how he mentioned Phil tried to set up a female agent to be raped. It certainly leaves a lot of details and motivations for Harris to involve himself with all of this and what his final words in the next episode refer to in universe is one of the main things i always find interesting in the finale of the Sopranos. We know Harris has always been more… professional to tony than the rest of the Feds we have seen. But here he chooses to cross a thin line and i still wonder on if it was a mix of the things mentioned or maybe more to it than we are shown.

Melfi… I’m still very mixed on what Chase decided to do with closing out the therapy stuff between her and Tony. On one hand, the whole Elliot pushing her to consider Tony a sociopath has been ongoing for a while and was seeded i think in season 3 and you could say season one with Mefi’s ex-husband thinking the same thing. Along with end of season five showed Melfi felt she was going round in circles with Tony everytime major things happen. So, the work is clearly there and it isn’t ooc for it to come up again. Though i think the way Chase handles Melfi reading Yochelson and Samenow is as you say very heavy handed and i wonder if maybe… maybe Chase is letting out the frustration he had with fans who rooted for Tony throughout the run of the series and which some fans think may have influenced some of his decision in regard to the finale itself.

Lorranie and James’s final scene is truly well done and the two give it their all in bringing out all the frustration, all the tension between their two characters and how Melfi, feeling once again Tony was just repeating the same feelings, same choice of words (put his shoe up AJ’s arse) that he really doesn’t give a shit and has no desire to improve on himself (all of which truy by this point in the series). His actions with the magazine and how Tony accidentally digs at her uneasy feelings of treating him for all those years. all as you say likely played the part of her finally deciding to end her treatment of him.

It is very abrupt and on my first watch felt like Chase rushed to close off that arc before everything else because overall Melfi’s arc ended in season 3 and she was kind of just there in the last few seasons. Along with that i felt the show leaving the impression for all that exploration of Tony, all the exploration of the psychological condition of the human science and other stuff. Its conclusion seem to be yeah Tony’s likely a sociopath. Which i do not believe he is for all his flaws, all his vices and screwed up beliefs and mental states. that and the fact sociopath gets thrown around in fiction and many viewers/readers on characters without any real understanding of what a sociopath actually is and how very few in rl are one.

But rewatch’s now lead me to the same conclusions you do and that like someone mentioned in the last episode review, this was chases way of meta trying to steer us away from Tony’s head. Of closing him off from the audience for good.

Elliot certainly reaches the height of his dickness in this episode with the way he gives way Melfi treating Tony and breaking confidentiality. What a prick and Peter Bogdanovich played him spot on through the series.

Love Artie and Charmaine’s cameo here, you can tell how happy they are they can finally load over Tony and Carmella after all those years of those two shitting on them, using them and rubbing their marriage, status in their faces. They are one of the few soprano characters who get somewhat of a happy ending, marriage back together business seems to be fine and if you want to believe one theory of the finale. Finally relieved of Lead Belly for good.

Now for the whacking stuff, as someone mentioned above, we get Butchie commenting on the redundant upper management of the DiMeo crew. And yet this episode, shows that claim isn’t without merit with the long line of command and tangling of arranging the hit, carrying it out and clear breakdown of communication between everyone in it that leads to the fuck up of hitting Phil’s goomah and her father and what comes after, compared to the NY hitman who are clearly given targets, locations and clear commands on who to take out and why and Phil going into hiding right away instead of dozing around as Tony and his upper management seem to do here (Paulie mentions Silov had his phone off all night). Now that is somewhat mob standard to insulate upper bosses from being charged with murder etc.

But i suspect Chase wanted us to see how complacent in a way Tony and his crew have gotten, how much it has declined with so many of its member dying or going to jail during season six. Of how after so many false alerts and tension’s from earlier seasons they have allowed themselves to think that nothing is going to really happen. And thinking that they expect Phil to be with his goomah like last time. That when this time things don’t go as planned, that even when Tony gives the order, Silvo is messing around with paperwork at the Bing instead of getting the fuck out of there, Bobby going to a Train store in NY and leaving his phone in the car. Is it any wonder NY were able to kill Bobby and leave Silvo braindead and possibly speaking Norwegian now.

https://www.sopranos-locations.com/locations/trainland/

bobby’s hit is the best in the serie, I love how they use the tracks, the train sets, Bobby’s hobby and final words to capture a man who we were first introduced as being seen nothing more than another fat dim witted seeming looking man. Who has grown and raised up the ranks through a mix of marrying Janice, taking care of Junior and being a good earner and dependable (seems Trains lead Bobby to lose focus as was the case in the first episode of season six). The shots of the little models, the railing off of the train. Truly sport on and wonderful work from the camera crew, set guys and Director.

Along with that Paulie, as usual took full blame and responsibility, but that he didn’t do nothing (classic Paulie) and Patsi seem to be having his own mind elsewhere, no doubt with whatever is going on with his Jason, hence why in the finale he’s so quick to pull him away from Carlo’s Jason and his face etc. and why he takes so long to react to the hitman who come at him and Silvo. And whatever chips may fall with his other son with Meadow and his botched oversight of the hit.

Oh Janice, here, as much as she’s clearly hobbing Junior onto Tony. Along with that we see in the next scene Bobby about to spend £8,000 dollars on a train set. It’s still truly disgusting how Tony reacts to it by offering her a dollar and quoting Exile on Main Street. Something i imagine he regrets when he finally sees his uncle for the last time.

Finally, for AJ, once again he has a lot going for him in this episode. Meeting up with someone he knows, looking at the army again. Pulled out of Mountainside possibly because Tony is starting to feel the strain of his recent gambling episodes and spending sprees. Or likely he really believes Aj just need a shoe up his ass and influences him pulling him down to the ground when trying to get him out of the house. Which is… yeah what it is, even if Tony thought it was the only way to get Aj to get out of the house. He still could have done it another way in my view and was just looking to vent all his frustrations built up form what happened in the episode. Even if you don’t believe AJ is still depressed (which is a big danger for anyone who is suicidal as they can linger on and that is personal experience here). But really if Tony did not want to deal with his son, he should have left him to be at Mountainside where he could get the help he clearly needs.

Final scene really is one of the creepiest with the way the house is, Silvo’s cardboard cutout nicely filling the background. The darkest and eerily silent of Tony clinging to his rifle, wondering if he will hear when it possibly happens (bobby certainly didn’t). Leaving viewers wondering of what is coming Tony and his crew’s way in the finale.

It’s been quite the year that’s for sure. the pandemic is and will likely will the biggest world wide event we ever will experience. I like to think this year has given us positives to go with negatives, has made people stop to think of how lucky we haven’t had something like this happen in our lifetimes until now, of how we need to change in a number of ways. That we need to be better, to stay connected and so on and on. Let us never forget 2020, learn from it and do better.

Anyways, i have rambled on long enough.

Thanks again for your hard work Ron as always, it was well worth the wait and i know the wait for your final review, for the finale will be well worth it.

No Pressure ;).

Blackmambauk

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- Ron | December 7, 2020 at 4:55 pm | Reply
  
  LOL “speaking Norwegian now.”
  
  Thanks B. I’m hoping to touch upon some of the points you mentioned in the final write-up, but at the same time I have to keep an eye on word-count and readability…
  
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  - Blackmambauk | December 7, 2020 at 5:25 pm | Reply
    
    Cheers mate, oh i bet, i don’t envy you for the task of keeping the finale review to readable length, engaging in the many nunances of it and covering as much as you can without rambling on or making it so long. It might be an idea to do the review of the finale and then do a seperate conclusion piece of the sopranos denouncing your final thoughts or something. Like an epilogue of sorts covering what you want to cover but couldn’t in the episodes reviews etc.
    Or a theories page of your thought on the ambiguous points of the series, characters etc. Since the Sopranos is rich in both.
    
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Sean H | December 9, 2020 at 3:52 am | Reply

Great job on these, Ron. I’ve read a number of them now piecemeal style and will probably get to them all eventually. You are diving deep, sir, and your conclusions are often quite convincing (a little more rigorous and a little less speculative than a lot of online Sopranos theorizing). I was a little surprised you went with Mario Vargas Llosa as your go-to for “spectacle.” I know he’s a Nobel laureate for literature and has a title called La civilización del espectáculo but I always thought of him more as primarily a novelist. When I hear “spectacle” I tend to think of the big “high theory” French guys like Debord & Guattari, Foucault, and Baudrillard. I’m sure Mario draws on them for his text on spectacle.

If you’re not familiar with him, a contemporary philosopher that does great work analyzing present-day society is Byung-Chul Han. His theories about how we live in a “fatigue society” are quite convincing. I’ll just thrown one highbrow quote in here because you made me think of it when you spoke about how The Sopranos became popular in the early days of full-lockdown pandemic quarantines. People need to be bored. To not be assaulted and deluged. Those of us who use the internet (rather than letting it use and manipulate us) love coming to sites like yours because they are dedicated to long and sustained reads, not soundbite culture or flame wars. Thanks for taking the time to write about a serious work of art like an adult and a (non-stuffy) scholar.

“We owe the cultural achievements of humanity–which include philosophy–to deep, contemplative attention. Culture presumes an environment in which deep attention is possible. Increasingly, such immersive reflection is being displaced by an entirely different form of attention: hyperattention. A rash change of focus between different tasks, sources of information, and processes characterizes this scattered mode of awareness. Since it also has a low tolerance for boredom, it does not admit the profound idleness that benefits the creative process.”

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- Ron | December 9, 2020 at 12:34 pm | Reply
  
  I appreciate that, Sean. If I’m not mistaken, Llosa borrowed the title “Civilization of the Spectacle” from another writer, but I can’t remember who. I don’t think it was one of the French post-modernists though; Llosa found many thinkers of that generation to be quite brilliant but believed they had a propensity, in his words, for “intellectual showiness”—which is itself a kind of spectacle…
  
  I’ll look up Byung-Chul Han, he sounds interesting..
  
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  - Tippy | December 10, 2020 at 9:24 am | Reply
    
    Another amazing write-up Ron, thanks. I loved your insight about spectacle; though I admittedly know nothing about any of these philosophers. I did immediately think of Tony’s quote about distractions when you brought up spectacle: “It’s all a series of distractions until you die.” I think this also connects to the theme of the fucking regularness of life in the show. In the 21st century we’re looking for our arc, but in today’s society we don’t (or can’t) actively search for meaning in our lives, so we just sit back and consume. And to quote Bill Bryson, “joyous consumerism is a world of diminishing returns.” We distract ourselves with these spectacles (the internet, television, movies, etc.) without ever partaking in life it seems. Maybe creation is the opposite of consumption, and something that creates more real, longer-lasting joy. Creation of art (like these analyses) or creation of bonds with others may be the key to happiness that is lacking in the Sopranos’ world.
    
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    - Ron | December 10, 2020 at 3:40 pm | Reply
      
      Absolutely 💯
      
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  - clinto42 | January 11, 2024 at 10:37 am | Reply
    
    Are you thinking of Guy Debord, Society Of The Spectacle? It’s a book and a found-footage film. When I was in college DJ Spooky did a performance of his own sound edit of the film… he changed it from dry sad violin music to trippy, layered turntablism. It was pretty impressive.
    
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    - Ron | January 11, 2024 at 4:51 pm | Reply
      
      I think it was Debord that influenced Llosa’s writings on spectacle.
      
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Dan | December 11, 2020 at 2:07 pm | Reply

I always thought the botched hit was an allegory of the war in Iraq and all the layers of subcontractors the US employed in what was another botched operation that led to the deaths of innocent civilians. 9/11 and the wars of the 2000s seem to loom very heavily over these final seasons in any case.

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R.K. | December 12, 2020 at 2:56 am | Reply

“There was much head-scratching, even outrage, at the *manner* in which Melfi dumped [Tony Soprano]. Many fans felt the same way.”
Looking at it with a more distant eye, one might even think it is something rare in ‘The Sopranos’, a scene which is not very well judged and not very well-written.
At the beginning, Tony is speaking with apparent gentleness and compassion, confirming what Melfi read in the report. He speaks of his gratitude to the staff looking after A.J. at the clinic and says, “Bless them.” That was out of key – Tony would never have said it.
He speaks of A.J.’s troubles and says, “We’ve talked about this.” Melfi sarcastically mutters, “And talked about it.” Again, I felt that was out of key.
When she says, “It’s not the first time you’ve defaced my reading materials,” I laughed. What is she talking about – a Philip Roth first edition or a gaudy magazine sent free to wealthy shoppers? It’s a funny line, but I don’t believe she would have said it.
We thought Melfi was a psychiatrist with qualms, a self-questioning psychiatrist, as well as being an emotional woman; but her emotions are shown too strongly in this scene, and I am not convinced.
– – – – –
Commenting on another episode, I wrote that I admire – a better word would be ‘respect’ – actresses who let themselves look ugly for the sake of their parts. Lorraine Bracco lets herself look ugly in this scene and I respect her for it.
– – – – –
When Tony tears the page out of the magazine, it reminds me of another scene, years earlier, in ‘College’. He is using a public phone, to which a phone directory is attached. In the directory he finds an advertisement giving both the phone number and the address of the person he is looking for. Instead of making a note with pen and paper, as you or I would do, he tears out the page. I would have liked to say to him, as Dr Melfi says now, “Did you give any thought to someone else who might want to read it?”
– – – – –
The commenter who saw that the names Arthur/Antony and Charmaine/Carmela echo each other was perceptive. The scene in the restaurant is very well done. The Bucco’s manner is full of congratulations and friendly interest, but they know that Tony and Carmela are not pleased with their daughter’s engagement or her decision to cease studying medicine, and they are ashamed of their son’s emotional disorder. They are needling the Sopranos, and they know it.
– – – – –
Thank you, Ron, for explaining certain things, such as ‘Man-genius’, which I’m sure that many of us didn’t get.

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- manny44ameritechnet | December 15, 2020 at 9:15 pm | Reply
  
  I disagree that the scene is badly written or that Melfi’s rejection of Tony’s therapy is too abrupt. The awkwardness and emotionality she shows can be explained by how afraid and angry she is. Melfi is just far too emotionally invested and the therapy should have ended years ago. She knows that and is embarrassed and angry at herself for failing to “cure” him and angry at Tony for the manipulation. I personally totally believe Tony could say ” God Bless ’em” and that Melfi would say “It’s not the first time you’ve defaced my reading materials,” both lines are hilarious of course. Charmaine was ABSOLUTELY twisting the dagger into Carmela at Vesuvio’s and frankly, good for her. That scene is so uncomfortable to watch. Chase has the Bucco’s standing above the sitting Soprano’s for extra emphasis. Artie making the pen writing gesture to signify constitutional law is * Chef’s kiss* 😘
  
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  - Orangeannie | December 15, 2020 at 11:22 pm | Reply
    
    I agree. But Artie has no malice in him really. Charmaine is a different story.
    
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  - Orangeannie | December 22, 2020 at 2:51 pm | Reply
    
    Also, Tony used the therapy more as a sounding board on how to maneuver issues in his daily life. He totally was not interested in finding out about his reasons for the things he does. He said many times that what is the point of looking back at all these things? Is it good to see why we feel the way we do? Yes, but ultimately if you aren’t going to change our actions who cares really? They are what they are and there are more immediate things going on that he needs help with. He doesn’t want to change, or feels that he can anyway. He IS a sociopath…he feels bad for a while and then he doesn’t. She invested herself in him and let the therapy go on too long. She should have told him about the guy who raped her, and then cut him loose after he meted out justice. I think she had affection for him. She wasn’t ready to let him go. She’s human, and she liked him.
    
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  - LK | January 11, 2022 at 8:28 am | Reply
    
    manny – I agree with you that Charmaine was most definitely ‘twisting the dagger’! She absolutely abhorred Tony for years, and developed a hatred for Carmela as well. The Soprano’s facade has finally been decimated, at long last! And despite this, they still can’t stop lying – Meadow wasn’t interested in ‘constitutional law’ – which focuses on ensuring that fundamental rights, like freedom of religion, etc. are not violated – she wanted to ‘defend’ Italian Americans, the mob, and white collar criminals! And the ‘looming’ of the Buccos over the Sopranos was the ultimate frosting on the cake! 🤩
    
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- Anon | March 2, 2021 at 9:18 pm | Reply
  
  fuck that. tony was paying good money for her services. her emotions, or what he did with her advice, had no bearing.
  
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  - Orangeannie | March 4, 2021 at 4:24 pm | Reply
    
    Therapists let you go if they see they aren’t helping you or you are refusing to change. That happened to my Uncle. He was i therapy for years and finally the Dr. said that he didn’t think he was willing to be helped. It was a waste of money. Melfi was actually enabling him, not helping him. Not on purpose, but out of wanting to help him and because she had an affection for him. I don’t know how good of a therapist she was anyway. She did the right thing. He really needed behavioral therapy. Just my opinion.
    
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    - LK | November 1, 2021 at 11:51 am | Reply
      
      Orange – Once again I agree with your comments. Melfi’s suggestion (way back then) that Tony might benefit from cognitive behavioral therapy was dead-on. The NIJ (National Institute of Justice) and the NIC (National Institute of Corrections) – and many other institutions – noted that cognitive behavioral therapy IS effective with criminals because it helps their ‘distorted thinking’, or their Impulsiveness, sense of entitlement and anger. Unfortunately, Dr. Melfi backpedaled. I think she became so titillated by Tony’s criminality that she was unable to move on without him. Definitely NOT professional!
      
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Orangeannie | December 15, 2020 at 2:50 pm | Reply

I still haven’t heard an opinion on Paulie bringing Barber Scissors to the Bing..could it be they are Min’s husbands??? That would be an interesting detail to throw in, not only killing her, but taking the “Precision Instruments” as well. In for a penny in for a pound!

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jasonmooney52 | December 16, 2020 at 12:30 pm | Reply

Great analysis as always, Ron. I’ve been thinking about the title. I think it reflects a major theme of the show going back to the first episode: Tony’s anxiety that his way of life (“this thing of ours” and America’s) is experiencing its death knell and his blame of contemporary culture for its decline. Where Tony lamented, “What ever happened to Gary Cooper?,” Bobby’s last words reflect a more mature take on the same subject: Bobby: “If [the Blue Comet] still ran New York to AC, Atlantic City would be a much different place today.” Owner: “Better class of people.” Bobby: “I suppose. Who the fuck really knows? Still, it’s nice to think that.”
Bobby’s ambivalence shows an adult’s grasp of subtlety: maybe the idyllic past wasn’t actually all that idyllic–at least for everybody. Compare this to Tony’s simplistic, almost childlike, insistence that the past is better than the present. Bobby’s heartbreaking final exchange cements the point that this way of life is indeed over, given that the next generation has little interest in maintaining it: Owner–“Your son’ll like this too. Looks fast.” Bobby–“He don’t care.”

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- manny44ameritechnet | December 16, 2020 at 6:52 pm | Reply
  
  That’s the aspect of Bobby I always liked. He was a slightly better adjusted human being than Tony or Paulie or Chris. I think a little too much was made of his supposed “innocence” as a character. He was never that. My favorite line reading of his was when he and Tony were in a diner and Bobby orders a steak and fries. Tony asks how it is because he’s bored by his egg whites and tomato slices.” It’s alright” Bobby says.😂😂 The way he says it, it’s like he’s saying “It’s a roadside diner steak, it’s mediocre what do you expect?” He really should have been more vigilant that day. Sloppy.
  
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- Ron | December 17, 2020 at 10:35 pm | Reply
  
  Yes, and Chase has more to say on the death–or at least the deterioration–of the American Dream in the next episode…
  
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- Anonymous | January 22, 2024 at 8:02 pm | Reply
  
  Good point. There was a Pullman car as part of that set. Life was hardly idyllic for Pullman porters.
  
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Karen's Ziti | December 22, 2020 at 1:07 am | Reply

– :I do think that Tony has used therapy, mostly unconsciously, to improve upon his sense of self. This may contribute to his criminality, his pathology, a lot of things in his life too, even self-reflection. Janice does it too. For all her fakeness, Janice has traveled more than anyone else in Tony’s immediate family. She’s had humble, shitty jobs, fucked people above and below her age group (“Just eat your eggs, baby”), and I would argue listens to Pharaoh Sanders’ more out-there music unironically (I mean, who’s she performing to in that gas guzzler in S2? Herself? Possible, but…). For all that knowledge, is she any wiser than her brother? Janice has made her worldliness (such as it is) suit her own needs, as Tony has with therapy. We see how easily Janice wraps her own therapist around her finger IN ONE SCENE. And still, and still, I feel for her when she shakes her head at Bobby’s death and helplessly looks at her brother. “Oh my God. Oh MY GOD.”
– :”Die as Yourself” is a trope in which someone who has either compromised their identity or had it compromised for them reverts to who they really are just before they die. Over the course of 6B we see Bobby harden a bit. He kills a man, usurps Chrissie’s position, and calls for war. But who do we see in his final scene? A man who loves model trains. In death, however, he’s a giant beast collapsing in on Newark, as the image above shows us.
– :Roe’s final scene (I think she’s nonspeaking at Bobby’s funeral) is subtly interesting. In another life, this could’ve been her. Would Jackie’s leadership have landed the Di Meo Famiglia in this mess? Prob not, but we only ever saw Jackie the way Tony’s suboridnates see Tony, without all the internal conflict and complexity.
– :Coco got some nice fake teeth, but his speech is slightly altered. Every little detail. This show is so good.
– :New Jersey is hardly full of spring chickens, but New York upper mgmt is so old and unglamourous. Phil’s the only one who bothers to consistently dress sharply. They look like the Greeks in the Wire or Calogero Vizzini.

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Fred | January 2, 2021 at 8:34 pm | Reply

I deliberately stayed away from this site for a few months just so I could binge your last couple reviews. I’m feeling very bittersweet about it of course but then I think, I’ll just have to do another full season or two rewatch and re-read of your work Ron. Anyways, I fucking love The Sopranos and SopranosAutopsy as well. It has enriched the show for me so much more.

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- Ron | January 3, 2021 at 11:33 am | Reply
  
  Thanks Fred
  
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Mamjja, J.F. | January 7, 2021 at 6:10 pm | Reply

Wow! After losing his staunch supporter Bobby, his long time confidante and oasis in his week, Melfi,
and having his right hand man Silvio reduced to a cardboard cutout (AJ would correct me with – “Standee!!!”),
it’s difficult to see how Tony recovers from this.
Corky’s “…couldn’t be helped apparently” took part in Chase’s back grounding of the U.S. occupation of Iraq. That
massive toll of collateral damage was mirrored by the collateral damage in this episode; from the Ukrainian debacle,
to the motorcyclist in front of the Bing, to the traumatized customers at Bobby’s hobby shop, to AJ’s interrupted
treatment. “Families don’t get touched, you know that…”, but Tony’s gotta know by now this just isn’t so.
That final scene of Soprano on his back, cradling his assault rifle in a bleak upstairs bedroom while a tinkling
piano ushers us out still drips with dread after multiple viewings. Wow!

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Scottie Walnuts | January 8, 2021 at 4:21 pm | Reply

As fate would have it… I finish my Autopsy-accompanied re-watch with this as the final writeup
Can’t wait for what you have to say about Made in America
And what a fitting theme of “spectacle” given the events that just transpired earlier this week, as most of us express outrage while our feet are up watching the TV cover the events like it was sport. We now know, 48 hours later approx. that at least five people died as a result of the events this week. CNN, on Wednesday, played the full (though grainy) video of the woman who was shot and killed in The Capitol, ostensibly to “show the full horror” of what transpired. There might be something to that, but I cannot help but feel like it was not a coincidence that the universe aligned with me to read this Autopsy now, with the “spectacle” of this week’s events fresh in mind. And of course, as many previous commenters have pointed out, to get to the final episode of this read-along-watch-through with nothing but blank to read…
‘Til we meet again in the Made in America write-up,
Thanks for everything Ron,
Sincerely,
Scottie Walnuts

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- Ron | January 23, 2021 at 11:34 pm | Reply
  
  Thanks SW
  
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Scottie Walnuts | January 8, 2021 at 4:28 pm | Reply

Addendum comment: is it possible The Sopranos is even more relevant today than it was when it aired? The arguments for would be extensive – far too much to go into here. But, it’s directly in line with what you wrote about the resurgence in popularity and memes that bring the characters alive into modern day. Call me dramatic, and I am a bit Walnuts, but The Sopranos, far from a “mere” mob drama, or cultural commentary, is a revelation of the spirit of modern Western man (American to be specific, but as a Canadian I (unfortunately?) have far more in common with the American experience than with the European experience, which Sopranos contrasts with America/New Jersey).
Anywho – Walnuts out, though I might do some poking around and commenting on previous episodes as these thoughts come to mind

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John | January 13, 2021 at 2:43 pm | Reply

Might Paulie’s collection of white shoes symbolize the bunch of ghouls following him around?

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- Anonymous | March 28, 2021 at 9:14 am | Reply
  
  I think Paulie’s collection of white shoes symbolizes both his status a “sole” survivor of the series, and the fact that he is an old man, who wore the same kind of shoes as Burt Gervasi. Paulie always had 9 lives, so his extensive shoe collection reflects that he always finds a way out, or escapes a terrible fate somehow. He is, in my opinion, the only character who believes sincerely in a higher power, and makes no apologies for who he is. He accepts himself, and makes no effort to change even when, as in “Remember When”, it is pointed out to him that he talks too much and makes a bit of a spectacle out of himself. He survives because he understands his true nature and accepts it–unlike everyone else in the show, who are all trying to put on a show (duality) for the public.
  
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  - LK | November 3, 2021 at 11:00 am | Reply
    
    Anon – It shouldn’t come as any surprise that Paulie wears slip-ons, given his phobia about shoelaces getting wet with pee and dragging on dirty bathroom floors (season 3, episode 1). His diatribe, although legitimate in nature, was very funny!
    
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Charles | January 18, 2021 at 6:32 pm | Reply

Great write up as always, recently finished a rewatch and this has been bookmarked for each episode. In any case, I find it funny that Melfi was so reviled for her (seemingly arbitrary) reasoning to stop treating Tony. This is a character who threw a table at her, made her see clients at a motel, more than once made her feel afraid, walked out in the middle of appointments, and admitted romantic/sexual feelings for her. The ethics of what Melfi’s decision to end things should certainly be discussed, but also worthy of discussion is if Melfi was 5 seasons too late in cutting him off.

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- windbag | January 22, 2021 at 1:44 pm | Reply
  
  One of the great things about The Sopranos is the passion it stirs in the viewers. Some people love characters that others despise. For those who rewatch the series, attitudes evolve and even reverse themselves concerning some characters. Melfi isn’t any different. Some people think that she shouldn’t have been such a large part of the show, or should have been shown the door earlier in the series. Whether or not I like the character, I think her place was an important one. She wasn’t family, which I think was a huge point. She was in a position where she could be objective, yet she chose to form a relationship and to care. In a way I think she represents a position that we all have occupied at one time or another.
  What do you do with a toxic person in your life? One that throws tables, becomes a barrier to other relationships, frightens us, ignores us, etc. At what point do we cut them off? And not just an extreme example as Tony, but what about a boss who’s a jerk? When do you quit? That work associate who always leaves the coffee pot empty? We wonder why Melfi put up with it at all? Why do we put up with people who drag us down? Because we think we can help them? Once we decide to stick with a seemingly bad relationship, who long is acceptable before we realize the futility of our decision and decide to cut our losses, admit we were wrong, and separate from them, bracing ourselves for the gleeful “I-told-you-so” comments from the Elliotts and Richards in our lives?
  
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  - Ron | January 23, 2021 at 11:33 pm | Reply
    
    It’s an interesting question, particularly now, when so many families and friendships have become seriously divided… Should we make a clean break with someone whose viewpoint/values/lifestyle we find toxic, or do we try to salvage the relationship by focusing on common ground?
    
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  - Orangeannie | August 11, 2021 at 4:59 pm | Reply
    
    I have a couple of siblings that are very toxic, and the decision to cut them out of my life was painful at first but now I’m glad. Nobody needs that kind of shit in their lives. Throwing tables or yelling is not a big deal, but bullying and making people feel bad is another thing. The Sopranos were all toxic, accept for maybe Barbara, but she was the one who kept Janice informed and was the catalyst for her arrivals. So who knows what her motives were? Melfi really tried to help him, and I think she had affection for him, because he has good points like everyone does. She tried her best, but finally realized it was no use. I can see the reason why she felt she could help him, and if he really wanted help instead of a sounding board he might have benefitted. Ultimately to use Tony’s words’ I yam what I am”. She was angry because she was fooled by him. Very natural.
    
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FThatParakeet | January 27, 2021 at 9:53 am | Reply

Ron, I wanted to drop you a note and thank you for this site. I’ve enjoyed these write-ups and your perspective on this great show. It’s fun to view the same scenes differently on each re-watch, based on ideas discussed here. Some I hop on board, some I don’t–but it’s fun nonetheless. Good luck with your future projects and stay well!

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- Ron | January 27, 2021 at 7:20 pm | Reply
  
  Thanks FTP
  
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Jamie | January 28, 2021 at 9:21 pm | Reply

I’m not sure I agree with the redundant management comment being reflected by the passing down of the Phil hit to multiple people. I always thought it was a direct reference to the “official” structuring of the family; with Junior and Tony both being bosses (bleeding off half the kick).

I think it is more indicative of Paulie’s fear of going after Phil.

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Kenenna | January 28, 2021 at 11:05 pm | Reply

Can you please do a write up on episode 21. your analysis is very much needed!

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- Ron | January 29, 2021 at 2:31 pm | Reply
  
  It’s coming…
  
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  - Scottm | March 28, 2021 at 5:08 am | Reply
    
    Hey ron, just wondering when made in america analysis will be up? Really looking forward to it, thanks for the good work!
    
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    - Ron | March 28, 2021 at 8:44 pm | Reply
      
      Thanks. I’ll get to it soon, unfortunately my notes are aboard a ship that’s stuck in the Suez Canal 😉
      
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      - Anonymous | April 22, 2021 at 7:30 am | Reply
        
        I just finished the show and I’m really craving for an analysis of “Made In America” right now, hope you can get it out soon. Awesome work!
        
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Anonymous | February 22, 2021 at 7:40 pm | Reply

Awesome write-up as always!

I must be dense, but could someone please explain the “Leadbelly” reference to me? It’s going over my head.

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- Ron | February 22, 2021 at 8:53 pm | Reply
  
  Thanks. Lead Belly was an old-timey singer (which may evoke thoughts of the operatic name “Soprano”), but more directly, Uncle Junior had earlier put a slug of lead in Tony’s belly.
  
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  - LK | November 1, 2021 at 1:48 pm | Reply
    
    Ron – Lead Belly (born Ledbetter) was not only a singer, he was also an accomplished musician; he played the 12-string guitar, mandolin, harmonica, violin and accordion. If you can find it, watch the 1976 biopic ‘Leadbelly’. He died young from ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease).
    
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    - Ron | November 1, 2021 at 2:19 pm | Reply
      
      👍
      
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Philip | February 23, 2021 at 10:04 pm | Reply

Ron, what’s up with the scene when Butchie and the NY guys were planning the hit in that salon and then he rearranges the bottles or something. Is there something more into that scene or just a signature Sopranos “regularness of life” moment?

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- manny44ameritechnet | February 24, 2021 at 10:05 am | Reply
  
  Visually, I always thought the shot of Butchie cleaning up a salon station was a funny and interesting shot but I wonder if it isn’t also meant to tie Paulie , and his showing up to Satriale’s with a shipment of barber scissors, with the New York crew yet again.
  
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  - Orangeannie | February 26, 2021 at 2:21 pm | Reply
    
    Those were Minn’s husbands Barber Scissors.
    
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- Ron | February 25, 2021 at 11:14 am | Reply
  
  I figure its a ‘regularness of life’ moment. Just like New Jersey has Silvio who’s constantly fixing stuff, maybe New York has Butchie who’s constantly rearranging things…
  
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Orangeannie | February 26, 2021 at 10:59 am | Reply

My thought is that Tony goes to jail, and the rest of the crew that is left either goes over to New York, or they keep business up as long as possible. We see Mink telling Tony that the RICO case has come to fruition and that people are talking. I am positive he will go to jail. I think his power has been diminished, and Paulie is unenthusiastic, so he would be the first one to go with New York, since he tried multiple times.. I think its the end of the Soprano crew. Could he get killed, yes, but I don’t see the point. Maybe Chases reference to a death scene was the Death of the Soprano Organized Crime family.

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jones | March 4, 2021 at 1:40 pm | Reply

Thanks for the great blog which I have really enjoyed. Maybe I am over-thinking this but when Carmela and Tony are in the elevator in Mountainside, Tony presses the button for floor six then Carmela says “Just one more week of this”. Could this be a double meaning – where floor six = season six, with one more episode left?

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- Ron | March 4, 2021 at 4:55 pm | Reply
  
  That’s an interesting thought..
  
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- Orangeannie | March 4, 2021 at 5:13 pm | Reply
  
  That’s a reach
  
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  - Mamjja, J.F. | March 6, 2021 at 11:30 pm | Reply
    
    Orangeannie, I will miss your commentary and everyone else’s after Ron delivers his final
    autopsy. Moltisanti’s “You learn as much from others” truly applies to this comments section
    of ours.
    I get the face value reading of “That’s a reach”, but a second reading makes me wonder if you
    aren’t slyly endorsing Jones’s hypothesis by referencing the final episode with a paraphrase of
    Agent Harris’ initial response to Tony – “You’re overreaching”.
    Yeah? No?
    Anyway, ding! The elevator ride ends, and soon the last supper will begin.
    
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    - Orangeannie | March 7, 2021 at 5:09 pm | Reply
      
      That was excellent!!
      
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- An..actual..fucking ..cake | January 23, 2023 at 10:02 am | Reply
  
  I always took the 6th floor as a reference to the book depository…death of the king by head shot
  
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Cory | March 9, 2021 at 4:15 am | Reply

The amount of research into this series that you have done is worth examining by a national journal. Have you written a professional study or a book on this series?
Another point to make: You have marvelously written about this series, spanning many years. Do you look back on early analyses of episodes and made efforts to update your thoughts?
Best regards to you and your father who, as I understand, died in recent events.

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- Ron | March 9, 2021 at 11:06 am | Reply
  
  Thanks Cory. I’m not very happy with some of my earlier write-ups, but I don’t generally go back to update or improve them..
  
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  - FThatParakeet | March 15, 2021 at 12:22 pm | Reply
    
    Sometimes that’s better, Ron. Instead of fixing it, you see how you’ve changed/improved over time. Don’t look at those early write-ups as negatives; look at your more recent work as improvement and development in what you’re passionate about. You might find more value in the journey than a polished version of the past.
    
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    - Ron | March 15, 2021 at 7:26 pm | Reply
      
      👍
      
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TAANE | March 18, 2021 at 5:24 pm | Reply

Did you ever realize that SOPRANOS is RON’S SOAP … ?
Cheers from Paris France.
Your is très sophistiqué !
Merci

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- Ron | March 19, 2021 at 1:04 am | Reply
  
  Merci. Yes I had realized that haha..
  
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TAANE | March 18, 2021 at 5:27 pm | Reply

I meant ‘Your work’ …

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TAANE | March 19, 2021 at 3:04 am | Reply

François Truffaut once said that everybody has two jobs: their own job and film critic. I don’t know what your own job is, but your work as a critic throws Pauline Kael into oblivion. Your are nonpareil. Mille mercis.

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- Ron | March 19, 2021 at 1:18 pm | Reply
  
  I appreciate it but I’m not at all sure about that. Pauline Kael was a master at what she did 🙂
  
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Sean H | March 29, 2021 at 1:33 am | Reply

Just a quick thing here, Ron. I rewatched this one again recently and I’d never made the connection before, but the comically oversized gun in the trash bag that Tony totes into the safe house is certainly phallocentric as well. Especially the way Tony clings to it. He’s surrounded by goombah men of various ages, all equally tremulous yet trying to project machismo and confidence. Tony looks legit scared and exposed on that bed, the type of soldier who’s used to the rear lines (like, say, a general, to allude to a certain painting) finally about to see actual combat. The size of the gun also brought to mind the last few episodes of Breaking Bad, where an aging-poorly white male antihero who doesn’t qualify as traditionally handsome (bald in Walt’s case, obese in Tony’s) has also equipped himself with an absolutely humongous weapon that certainly brings my mind to the word “Freudian.”

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- Ron | March 29, 2021 at 2:01 pm | Reply
  
  Sometimes a gun is just a gun, but there may certainly be some Freudian stuff going on here. Tony might very well be feeling less powerful at this moment in time, and he overcompensates for it with a giant weapon. I’ll be getting more into Tony’s powerlessness/impotence in the next write-up…
  
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- Mamjja, J.F. | March 30, 2021 at 3:48 am | Reply
  
  I wonder if Tony had his recurring Coach Molinari dream that night in the upper room.
  “What’s that you got there? A bigger dingus than the one God gave you?”
  
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Natalie Reed | April 6, 2021 at 7:09 pm | Reply

I love how they used Tindersticks in the penultimate episodes of both Season 1 and Season 6. They’ve been a dearly beloved band of mine since 2001, when I was a wee pretentious little seventeen year old thing. Hearing “Running Wild” close that episode out hit me hard, because that album in particular is very very dear to my heart. In addition to that song and “Tiny Tears”, I also strongly recommend “My Oblivion”, “Can We Start Again?”, “If She’s Torn”, “Sweet Memory”, and that duet they did with Isabella Rosellini that’s title escapes me. “Marriage Made In Heaven”, maybe? I also think you’d love the video for Can We Start Again, Ron.
Melfi… you were such a f***ing amazing character. Whenever the wind whistles through the trees, I’ll think “Lowenstein, Lowenstein…”
Over the past month I’ve finally watched the show properly, through and through, by myself, on my own terms, and making my own interpretations, rather than always just catching various episodes here and there when it was being watched by the men in my life… my brothers, my father, my roommates, my heroin friends, etc. And every single one of them was always primarily into it for the “hits and tits”, which really negatively coloured my perceptions of the show. I ended up thinking that stuff – which I have little taste for – was the main draw or point. But it absolutely isn’t.
Watching it on my own terms, I can finally see how powerful and compelling and rich characters like Melfi, Carmela, Artie, and Svetlana are, and how good their stories.
IMO? Melfi is tied with Svetlana for being by far the *strongest* character in the show. She’s not flawless by any means (that wouldn’t be interested), but she has reserves of strength and courage far in excess of most of the people populating the show’s universe. This is a woman, who in full knowledge of who Tony is and what he’s about and what he’s capable of, is willing to say “fuck you” right to his face. And the “No” in Employee Of The Month… being able to see that kind of female strength and moral strength in the context of the famously macho gangster genre is SOOOO beautifully subversive. It’s a genre wherein a character’s power is almost always displayed through violence, and said power is generally the exclusive domain of men. And here is a woman displaying her power through the decisive REFUSAL of violence, while existing in nominal relationship to that genre.
IMO, this final episode for her echoes that strength and that refusal again, with one more, final, definitive “No”: she will NOT be party to the evil Tony does. She will no longer enable him. She will no longer accept his tainted money. She has finally, conclusively moved past all the things that were still tying her to him. Even as Carmela and, tragically, Meadow (as we see in the next episode) ultimately were UNABLE to pull themselves away from his terrible gravity.

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- Ron | April 7, 2021 at 11:11 am | Reply
  
  Well said. It’s interesting…your favorite characters are Melfi and Svetlana because their strength subverts the genre, while one of my favorite characters is Chris because his Hamlet-like weakness subverts the genre…
  
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  - Natalie Reed | April 7, 2021 at 4:02 pm | Reply
    
    That’s a really interesting observation! And Christopher, of course, subverts the genre in countless other ways too. More than any other character, he’s definitely the “here’s our show’s thoughts about gangster genre media” character.
    
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    - Natalie Reed | April 7, 2021 at 4:03 pm | Reply
      
      (in fact, I was thinking a couple weeks ago that a lot of his complaining and dissatisfaction can be seen as him being a genre character who thought he was going to be in Goodfellas or something but ended up stuck in The Sopranos 😛 )
      
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      - Ron | April 10, 2021 at 3:08 pm | Reply
        
        Haha
        
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Natalie Reed | April 6, 2021 at 9:24 pm | Reply

P.S.
“We’re all professionals here” right after Elliot behaved in a RIDICULOUSLY unprofessional manner was an outright belly laugh for me. 😛

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- Ron | April 7, 2021 at 10:55 am | Reply
  
  😆
  
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Eli | April 8, 2021 at 10:10 pm | Reply

Thanks Ron! Your thoughts really enriched the series!

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- Ron | April 8, 2021 at 11:00 pm | Reply
  
  Thanks Eli. I ain’t done yet!
  
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lucaspoole8 | April 10, 2021 at 12:33 am | Reply

Something to add as I rewatched it:
The scene with Janice flashes back to the first scene we see with her and Tony. They are taking by the pool and the drain is floating in the pool. The contrast between the full pool in season 1 with the pool being drained and the full colors of this episode further imply that the Sopranos are running out of time. Unsurprisingly Janice is asking for money in that scene as well. Michael Imperioli comments on his podcast that this scene with the drain is the first of many “snake” images we see associated with Janice and I think having this image reappear at the end reinforces her as a static character.
Amazing write up, can’t wait for the last one!

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- Ron | April 10, 2021 at 2:42 pm | Reply
  
  Good connection, though I think Imperioli got the snake idea from me..
  
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  - Please "Bear" With Us | April 13, 2021 at 10:17 pm | Reply
    
    Does he read this site? He seems rather interested in this kind of analysis and even some of the quirkier theories that others have come up with. I often forget I he wrote like five eps.
    
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  - Anonymous | January 10, 2022 at 8:05 pm | Reply
    
    Funny how in that same scene, Janice mentions that Uncle Jun will have to go to a state facility. “But Jesus, those fuckin’ places are snakepits.”
    
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Sean H | April 10, 2021 at 3:36 am | Reply

Svetlana is a fascinatingly feminist character, Natalie, I agree. I think part of the reason her scenes resonate so much is that the actress who plays her essentially won the equivalent of the Best Actress Oscar for Russian film. Gandolfini was an intimidating presence and serious thespian, but this is someone who was like, “I’m as good as you are, dude,” and her ability to underplay things matches/pairs with his his “big presence” and ferocity (which I was lucky enough to see in person on stage before he passed). She (Alla Kliouka, whose husband is also a pretty canonical figure in the Russian film world) takes a very limited/narrow role (one-legged Russian cousin to the lead’s mistress) and makes it one of the greatest supporting characters in TV history. No offense to Imperioli’s chops, Bracco’s perfect casting, or Bogdanovich’s encompassing wryness, but Alla’s acting game is next level.

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- 🦇 Tally Hopeless 🦇 (@nataliereed84) | August 27, 2021 at 3:11 pm | Reply
  
  Thanks Sean! And yeah, absolutely a great deal of it is down to Kliouka’s phenomenal acting chops.
  
  (to be fair, though there’s no shortage of fantastic actors on this show. Or at least impeccably cast ones).
  
  But I thought I talked about Svetlana and why she’s my favourite in the comments for a different episode? I think it was Kennedy And Heidi, maybe? I think in the context of someone wondering why women fall for Tony despite him being “unattractive”? (Scare quotes because he’s not actually unattractive, IMO; at least not when he’s pouring on the charm.)
  
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Anonymous | April 10, 2021 at 8:30 am | Reply

Love this

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Please "Bear" With Us | April 13, 2021 at 10:31 pm | Reply

Wrong episode I’m going to mention, but I’m looking forward to the big finale. It may be my favorite episode. A Rorschach blot of an ending.
Privately, the day the new presidential administration was sworn in felt like that episode to me: after months of fear and expecting perhaps nothing less than the end of the country (stress a la Tony going to the mattresses), things turn suddenly back to normal. Then you realize that the old problems are still there and will never go away and you remember the total uncertainty of everyday life.
Huh. Maybe this isn’t the wisest thing to post on a forum, don’t want to politicize. But it really felt that way to me on January 20th. I kept thinking I was AJ, suddenly full of life, depression lifted, and Tony, out in the relative open again. And then realizing it may not all work out in the end anyway, but hey, live while you’re alive. Or something.
That cut to black summarizes my view of life, the universe, and everything. It is a stunt but also profound; a cop-out and incredibly ballsy; funny, sad, scary, tranquil, etc.
Now if only we can integrate the series into the MCU in a graceful way… (okay that’s a joke; I’m out)

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Andy the English guy | May 3, 2021 at 5:21 am | Reply

By turning Phil into a house that yells cocksucker, Chase deliberately exposes the tensions between the long established metaphysical perspectives on human existence, and more transcendental notions typical of Tibetan Buddhism and the writings of Kant now regaining currency as developments in quantum mechanics increasingly permeate the popular consciousness. It’s also cheaper.

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- Orangeannie | May 24, 2021 at 3:44 pm | Reply
  
  Huh?
  
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roseannax | May 4, 2021 at 7:37 am | Reply

I think there’s a lot of focus on the impact on innocent people/society these mobsters’ actions have: the two people mistakenly shot dead; the screaming, most likely traumatised children (& other customers) in the train shop; and the motorcycle guy.

Also the irony of Tony telling Carmela “family are off-limits” when his two hitmen who thought they were shooting Phil assumed they also shot his daughter, since she called him, “daddy”.

I really enjoyed this write-up and can’t wait for the next one!

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- Orangeannie | May 24, 2021 at 3:46 pm | Reply
  
  I think they had no choice but to shoot her. Although I don’t know if in Sicily that rule counts. Remember the GODFATHER?
  
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- Orangeannie | May 24, 2021 at 5:12 pm | Reply
  
  Sorry roseannax, I should have said Godfather 2 when the Don killed everyone except Vito who was hidden and sent to America. 🙂
  
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godzillauk | May 11, 2021 at 7:57 am | Reply

On the comet, comets were also seen as a bad omen in Western culture. The Bayeux Tapestry makes reference to the witnessing of Haley’s Comet passing by earth in January 1066. It was seen by many at the time as an bad omen, and in the Tapestry, is interpreted as an omen for the Norman conquest of England.
Perhaps the titular comet was an omen for NY’s attempted conquest of NJ? Or perhaps it’s just an omen for the “end times”?

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dsmith | May 12, 2021 at 9:05 pm | Reply

Hello Ron, love your site! How do you feel about the issues raised in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPFR–MzKv0&ab_channel=WowLynchWow%21

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- Ron | May 13, 2021 at 4:03 pm | Reply
  
  Good video. But I think the question raised is answered in the phone call between Butchie and Phil in the final episode…they don’t really seem to have a whole lot of respect for one another.
  
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Uncle Fat | May 21, 2021 at 5:29 pm | Reply

June the Tenth
Waiting…

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- Ron | May 21, 2021 at 5:34 pm | Reply
  
  Haha that would be a nice way to cap it. I don’t think I can meet the deadline though..
  
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  - Uncle Fat | May 22, 2021 at 7:17 pm | Reply
    
    Denial – check
    Anger – check
    Acceptance – ?
    
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    - Ron | May 22, 2021 at 11:05 pm | Reply
      
      Lol
      
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Please "Bear" With Us | June 10, 2021 at 2:09 pm | Reply

Ron, did you see what David Chase said today? He’s releasing an extended version of Made In America in which Valery the Russian emerges from the Holsten’s bathroom and he and Tony go at it in “an epic tribute to Tarantino, particularly Kill Bill” (Chase’s words). Tony also appears to know Kung Fu, which I think is a masterful twist that reinforces the Eastern themes in the last stretch of the show.
Chase is quoted in the article as saying “It’s all about giving the audience what they want… they always know best.”
I guess this changes your next write-up. Wanted to make sure you knew.
(I am going to watch the whole series after your next write-up… your stuff should really be published somewhere, as it’s better than any book about Sopranos, including Sopranos Sessions.)

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- Ron | June 10, 2021 at 5:31 pm | Reply
  
  Haha thanks Bear
  
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Terremotito | June 29, 2021 at 12:45 pm | Reply

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Blackmambauk | June 29, 2021 at 1:03 pm | Reply

The trailer for Newark is finally here.

Interesting trailer, Livia’s actress almost feels like she’s channeling Carmella at times. Dickie’s first scene drinking alcohol and Tony having vibes of AJ as well. Uncle Jun with his hat. Can’t wait to see the film.

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Uncle Fat | June 29, 2021 at 2:03 pm | Reply

Yeah!

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Uncle Fat | June 30, 2021 at 2:13 pm | Reply

Trailers galore!

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Uncle Fat | June 30, 2021 at 3:04 pm | Reply

I was (and still am) worried about casting Stoll as Corrado, Magaro as Silvio and Magnussen as Paulie and really hope I”m wrong (Chase knows!)
but no problem with Farmiga as Livia. Spot on.

LikeLiked by 1 person
- Ron | July 1, 2021 at 10:23 am | Reply
  
  Yeah I know what you mean. But I trust the man who looked at Stevie Van Zandt and thought, “Hmm he’d make a good consigliere…”
  
  LikeLiked by 1 person
- clinto42 | January 12, 2024 at 12:34 pm | Reply
  
  I’m from the future and it was wrong.
  
  LikeLiked by 1 person
Jamie | July 4, 2021 at 9:32 pm | Reply

The entire time I was under the impression that TMSON was going to be a Dickie Moltisanti story – but since the trailer was released, I have my doubts.
* Trailer was focused on Tony
* The by-line “A Sopranos Story” was added
* The WB synopsis says it follows Tony through the riots
Optimistically, I would like to chalk this up to studio interference in order to drum up hype. But I don’t really want to see a movie about the “Baby Sopranos”

LikeLiked by 1 person
- Orangeannie | July 5, 2021 at 4:57 pm | Reply
  
  Its really about Dickie Moltisanti. I think the hook in the trailer is Tony Soprano as a kid, and his son playing him.. He’s in it, but I think the film is really about the race riots in Newark, and how it affects the mob. I can’t wait to see it. I think the Livia Character should have tried to sound more like Nancy Marchand, like the other 2 actresses did in the flashbacks on the Sopranos. But I am looking forward to it. Don’t have high expectations and take it as it comes. It might be a stand alone movie with familiar characters.
  
  LikeLiked by 1 person
  - Hawkman1972 | August 1, 2021 at 10:15 pm | Reply
    
    Hey, is it me or does this movie totally retcon Tony’s age? I get that we can’t expect total exactness with these things, but wasn’t T in his late thirties in the late 90s? That would put him being born in the late fifties or early sixties, and a lot younger than his seeming age in the movie. In fact wasn’t it established he was about ten during the riots? I got curious about this and saw a write up expressing similar thoughts.
    This will completely alter the series. First of all, it makes Tony friggin’ draftable for nam! Sociologically, that’s huge because the generation that came up after the draft and nam had a totally different reality by not being subject to the draft. This leads to the obvious question: why wasnt he drafted? He’d be the heart of the men who were drafted for that war: white, working class men in their late teens a d early 20s.
    Another thing: I hate the fact that they used a cover of a Dylan song that isn’t even from that era. Yes, I’m pedantic in this way, but I’m a huge music head and can’t stand anachronisms like that. Granted, this is a trailer and not part of a scene, but still….I crave authenticity and minute detail from my period pieces….
    Another thing: I don’t think Michael is good fit this role. James always carried that aura of menace, that combustible mix of lethality and gregarious charisma. His son just seems soft to me. To award him the role out of deference to bis dad tragically passing is laudable but lazy casting.
    I’m being harsh, I suppose, but a huge part of the show’s appeal to me was the generational decline of the ethnic American male. Tony was raised in Newark and had an innate respect and longing for a vanished sense of toughness. He was from the city not the burbs and mixed it up with minorities in a way that sissified white liberal, progressive chumps very rarely do. Yes, this is a loaded generalization, but a true one.
    Say what you will about stereotyping, but the working class Italian American male of the the first half of the last century was uncommonly tough, hard, Macho, brave, patriotic and violent. Look at Rocky Marciano. Poor, short, uneducated, seemingly a dullard, undersized, stubby armed, a World War Two vet, yet possessed of an endurance, patience, capacity for pain and a pure ruggedness that propelled him to victory after victory. Ever heard of a marine John Basilone? He is the literal embodiment of a courage that every marine prays he could muster. The list is endless.
    It was this sense of a vanishing identity that fueled the popularity of the working class Italian male in the seventies, from the ultimate throwback in the first Rocky to shows and movies like toma, baretta, happy days, travolta’s trinity of oversexed, underbrained Italian punks in welcome back kotter, grease and sat night fever. Italian men of bygone eras were hard, tough, and Tony knew and admired that, was raised by that, and wanted to BE that ….. But Tony was the last vestige of that stew and recognized that the spoils of his profession had spoiled his son. Being Italian meant nothing to AJ. Remember Tony waxing wistfully about the church his grandfather and great uncle built? It meant nothing to AJ…..
    So, anyway, enough rambling. I’ll give the movie a chance….just have some real misgivings….
    
    LikeLiked by 2 people
    - Ron | August 2, 2021 at 1:24 am | Reply
      
      From what I understand, the movie is set in 1967 and then fast-forwards to 1973 or so… Retcon avoided.
      
      LikeLiked by 1 person
      - Hawkman1082 | September 5, 2021 at 12:18 am | Reply
        
        Meaning the trailer scenes are early 70s and not late 60s? Ok then that makes sense, although it seems the timing would still be off…but again, it IS fiction…
        
        LikeLike
      - LK | November 3, 2021 at 10:36 am | Reply
        
        Ron – After counting on my fingers (and eventually my calculator LOL), I determined that the time-frame on ‘Many Saints’ is WAAY off. Tony was 39-40yo when Sopranos first aired, which means that he was born in 1959/1960, right? In the beginning of ‘Saints’, he is portrayed as being around age 8 in 1967 (during the riots). Fast-forward to 4 years later (1971), he’s at least 16-17yo, which means that he was born in 1954! Whatever was Chase thinking? Very confusing, if you ask me!
        
        LikeLiked by 1 person
    - maherdabum | August 22, 2021 at 1:10 pm | Reply
      
      Hawkman…….the first thing that came to my mind when I saw the trailer (and read the synopsis) for ‘Saints’, was that the timeline was off…..way off. If the film wholly takes place in 1967 during the Newark riots, it contradicts so much of the show’s and even the pre-Soprano’s timeline.
      -Tony mentions his age in almost every season, throughout the series, which confirms his birth year to be 1959-1960.
      -In S6 E15 ‘Remember When’ , We learn that Tony’s first (alleged) murder victim was Willie Overall, who he whacked in 1982, as a 22 year old.
      -In S1 E07 ‘Down Neck’, Tony’s flashback to 1967, clearly shows him as a 7 or 8 year old kid. In the trailer, Tony appears to be 15-17 years old.
      I’m hoping that my assumption is wrong. My best guess is that Chase is far too smart and detail oriented to try and fool his audience. I suspect that other than a few scenes in 1967, the rest of the film will appropriately, take place in the mid 70s,
      
      LikeLiked by 2 people
      - LK | November 3, 2021 at 11:31 am | Reply
        
        I had been meaning to discuss this issue earlier, but I think this is probably the best time to present my observations. In nearly every episode of the Sopranos, the camera always looks DOWN at Tony’s prone body, eventually framing in on/zooming to his increasingly bloated face. I think that Chase subliminally suggests that Tony’s in a coffin (which we never get to see). That shot of him laying in bed holding a ridiculously huge AR-10 assault rifle might have been a warning: you can surround yourself with soldiers and be armed to the teeth, but you’ll never see or hear the shot that kills you.
        
        LikeLiked by 1 person
    - 🦇 Tally Hopeless 🦇 (@nataliereed84) | August 27, 2021 at 2:22 pm | Reply
      
      He talked about the church to *Meadow*. He knew AJ was far too immature to get it. He didn’t even try.
      
      But with that church, he wasn’t rhapsodizing about 70s Italian tough guys. He was awed – likely with not a little amount of guilt and projection – about the hard work and suffering and materiality of his *grandfather’s* generation, who emigrated to New Jersey in the early 20th century with little to their name but a suitcase, in contrast to the privilege and wealth he and his father had amassed as their legacy.
      
      LikeLiked by 2 people
      - 🦇 Tally Hopeless 🦇 (@nataliereed84) | August 27, 2021 at 2:23 pm | Reply
        
        (privilege and wealth built on exploitation of OTHER people, who generally DO work for their money, no less. Remember Old Mr. Satriale, and Tony’s first “fainting spell”?)
        
        LikeLiked by 1 person
- Blackmambauk | July 6, 2021 at 12:33 pm | Reply
  
  I think the advertising is playing up Tony more due to the fact he was the star and main character of the series and that its James son playing him. Compared to Dickie who only got mentioned a few times in the series, never appeared in person or flashbacks and compared to Johnny and Junior Soprano, is shrouded in myth. Overall, i think the film is going to establish for the most part who Dickie was overall, how much of a role he really played in Tony’s life and how his relationship and influence on tony parallels Tony’s with Chris.
  
  I mean, Chase wouldn’t choose to return to the Sopranos universe, the time period without having a purpose, a story and theme he wants to do.
  
  The trailer’s first scene of him is drinking and hiding the bottle before Tony comes out, which didn’t surprise me. I always thought the camel didn’t fall far from the canopy’s nose. Chris certainly came to think his dad was nothing more than a junkie
  
  I thought Livia was acting and looking more like Carmella than Livia as well, i know the series many times over made clear Tony was always attracted to women who resembled or acted like his mum. But i felt this was a bit on the nose and doesn’t match up how i think Livia would look by the late 60’s, since when she had her miscarriage when Tony was sixteen, with the wiki having tony’s birth-date being 59 so this would have been 1975. But i chalk this up to possibly some rectons on tony’s age or the film most likely taking place over a decade or so like Goodfellas. But then the Sopranos was never strict on stuff like this.
  
  I think Juniors actor has the part nailed down, hoping he gets to be the Junior we all know and love, as much as Dominic made the character on all levels. I’m interested to see how Jon does as Johnny Soprano, he’s impressed me in every film and series i have seen him in.
  
  Looking forward to when it comes out this October and it doesn’t get delayed again.
  
  LikeLiked by 1 person
Lamarrv | July 18, 2021 at 2:03 am | Reply

There’s been a lot of discussion about whether Made in America is a great final episode or not, but can we agree that The Blue Comet is the best penultimate episode of any last season of a TV show?

LikeLiked by 1 person
- jmelfie1 | July 18, 2021 at 1:30 pm | Reply
  
  Agreed!
  Bobby’s death scene is one of the best choreographed scenes ever!
  It’s absolutely amazing.
  
  LikeLiked by 1 person
- Please "Bear" With Us | August 4, 2021 at 5:59 pm | Reply
  
  I adore Made In America, it’s one of my top five episodes. The genius is that it has this anything-can-happen urgent quality–it knows you’re hyper-alert because it’s the series finale and the music, story, and editing all exacerbate your anxiety. BUT at the same time, the second half especially plays up the routine of daily life that the show is mostly about.
  My fear was that the show would end without tension, like at the end of 6A. I had been disillusioned by the second half of that season. It’s very interesting to pick apart analytically but for me it was a rough watch. I watched Tony hanging out in his beret and the credits came on and my friend who was watching it with me went “What are they doing?” One of the authors of the Sopranos Sessions even said in his episode review at the time that he wasn’t sure he cared for the show to come back. (I tried to ask him about that reaction in retrospect having seen 6B… no such lamentation exists in his Season 6A finale summary in the book… and he wrote me back but didn’t answer the question.)
  Season 6B more than made up for this for me and, the in the routine dinner scene at the end, the tension became unbearably high of course. When the screen went black I waited, saw “Mickie Reuster,” and laughed (not in a “that was funny” way) and became elated. I was overjoyed. I think about that moment a lot. It means a lot of different things to me.
  Thank God for 6B and, finally, that punk rock last scene. (Despite the music being the perfect song by Journey, the end of that scene is frigging punk rock.)
  
  LikeLiked by 2 people
Kozhy | August 13, 2021 at 3:56 am | Reply

I never wanted to believe that Patsy had anything to do with the murder of Tony, but… I could see Phil and him having coffee, alone, as Phil leans on him with “That fat cocksucker’s cousin murdered my Billy in cold blood, and we both know that he did the same to your brother” and Patsy giving him that Patsy look, that grin. And just doing it free of charge, Butchie chips in with how he already talked to Paulie, and then we see Patsy and Paulie chatting in the Bada Bing, plotting, as they did.

LikeLiked by 2 people
- Kozhy | August 13, 2021 at 4:00 am | Reply
  
  Patsy saying to Gloria “it won’t be cinematic” kind of foreshadows the ending of Tony.
  
  LikeLiked by 1 person
  - 🦇 Tally Hopeless 🦇 (@nataliereed84) | August 27, 2021 at 2:31 pm | Reply
    
    I always loved how it foreshadowed the ending of GLORIA.
    
    She dies off-screen.
    
    LikeLiked by 3 people
    - Kozhyleus | October 12, 2021 at 6:52 pm | Reply
      
      Even more meta: she offs herself off-screen.
      
      LikeLiked by 1 person
Anonymous | August 27, 2021 at 1:16 pm | Reply

Ron, what you have done with this Autopsy is uncanny. I’ve read A LOT about Sopranos and your ability to still come up with some many fresh perspectives has made me ravenously consume the contents of this blog. Well done!!! I hope you can deliver the Made In America write up soon (not to sound ungrateful or impatient). I’ve been re-watching lately to get my fiance and her brother into the series – not to mention in excitement for the upcoming Many Saints of Newark. Your analysis has made me remember that, no matter how many times one encounters great art, the truly great stuff will always leave a mark, an impression, on you that sustains you through the regularness of life. You rock, Ron! Thanks for being you, and thanks for sharing your thoughts.

LikeLiked by 2 people
- Ron | August 27, 2021 at 4:42 pm | Reply
  
  Thanks so much!
  
  LikeLike
🦇 Tally Hopeless 🦇 (@nataliereed84) | August 27, 2021 at 2:54 pm | Reply

Ron, just curious, are you waiting for Many Saints to come out before doing Made In America?

LikeLiked by 1 person
- Ron | August 27, 2021 at 4:47 pm | Reply
  
  I’m in the belly of the whale right now, trying to sort through everything and post my write-up before Many Saints is released. It’s gonna be close…
  
  LikeLiked by 1 person
JeerMaus | August 28, 2021 at 7:34 am | Reply

Posted before in the comments of “Kaisha”, I believe, as Bea Lyndon. Can’t find the account or password but that won’t stop me.
Anyway, since the clock is ticking for “Many Saints” and the recap has only one to go, here’s a few stray observations:
* On rewatch, it seems like those who end up hazed by Tony in this final season come out with a bigger cold-heartedness, almost as if Tony is spreading the misery and paranoia. It’s not a linear development (there are plenty of characters who retain shreds of humanity) but their better selves are hidden even more.
* Remarkably, in these past months, I’ve watched several interviews with the cast and crew of the Sopranos. Astounding how all these people coming from the same place reach different conclusions on the same topic. This holds a key aspect of all media, interpretation to the beholder, and this is why I share my two cents here. Ron, when you described the Vesuvio scene in this episode where Tony and Silvio mock box while “Cavalleria Rusticana” plays in the BG, the scene had a different connotation to me. First, context: most of the fighting scenes in Raging Bull, the movie the scene references, were achieved with sponges soaked in red inserted in the gloves, giving the movie a smidge of “heightened realism”. In a way, the fights aren’t real, just mere spectacle, a pale imitation compared to reality. Taking this into account, the Jersey top brass look like wannabe war hawks, men who are ready to fight yet fail to grasp the reality of it. The scene is contrasted with the New York meeting, more formal and professional, and the next one with Bobby and Silvio where Paulie is more apprehensive at the idea, having survived the mob wars of the 70s. Knowledge engenders caution and what happens here is a rude awakening for NJ.
* Plenty of references to Chris post-mortem: Kelli appears at the beginning of “The Second Coming”, his death makes Paulie be the one to handle Corky Caporale here which blunders the Phil assassination and next episode features him in a photograph of Cleaver. The dead are always present, mostly as a reminder to the living of their failures. Not sure if you’re including this in your draft, but it would be nice if you explained your take on these events, as well as the scene where Tony weakly mentions the luck in gambling because of Chris’ death only for Paulie to shoot it down.
* Looking forward to “The Many Saints of Newark” and “The Definite Oral History of The Sopranos”.
* Been thinking of doing a video essay comparing “Bojack Horseman” and “The Sopranos”, which, all due respect to the showbiz episodes, I hold to be its Hollywoo(d) counterpart. (Raphael Bob-Waksberg, the creator, has mentioned Mad Men as inspiration and Matthew Weiner learned the chops in The Sopranos) So far, the connections include the Kennedy mythology, the focus on mental issues, morally ambiguous characters, a hateable/loveable protagonist and the ennui of everyday life in spite of the luxury. Any advice you could give?

LikeLiked by 1 person
- Ron | August 28, 2021 at 5:36 pm | Reply
  
  Good points JM. I’ve only seen a few episodes of Bojack but I’d be interested in seeing a video like that..
  
  LikeLike
Uncle Fat | August 28, 2021 at 3:45 pm | Reply

Finalmente, Don Bernardo

LikeLiked by 1 person
Sarina Scimeca (Coventry UK) | September 1, 2021 at 4:32 am | Reply

Hi Ron
Just wanted to say what a fantastic website you have created here. So insightful. A must for any sopranos fan veteran and newbie.
I first watched the show after the series had ended about 10 years ago, and have watched several times since. I am listening to Poda Bing and Talking Sopranos at the moment. In doing that it makes you see things in screen that you may have missed before. You website compliments everything so well.
So keep up the good work! Excellente 👍😄
Regards
Sarina

LikeLiked by 1 person
- Ron | September 1, 2021 at 8:18 am | Reply
  
  Thanks Sarina
  
  LikeLike
Uncle Fat | September 8, 2021 at 12:17 pm | Reply

New trailer

with The Flying Lizards!!!

LikeLiked by 1 person
Blackmambauk | September 25, 2021 at 3:10 pm | Reply

Just got back from Many Saints of Newark viewing near where i lived, loved it. All the actors were spot on with their roles. I think i enjoyed Vera Farmiga as Livia and Correy as Junior the most, they nailed their characters quirks, their quips and all the characteristics we love and loath about the two, Vera actually made me cry at one point, with a certain bit that i think really humanized Livia for me and add even more depth to hers and her son’s relationship. Michael, he was okay as Tony, didn’t feel like he was mimicking his dad at all. But i didn’t think he really stood out at any-point, no moment did i feel personally that he could carry a sequel if they ever decide to do one. Maybe i might be proven wrong, but anyone expecting him to match his dad is likely to be disappointed.

I will say, Like father like son for Tony and AJ.

There were plenty of references and call-back to the series and gave much new context to certain characters and events in the series. But as the actors have been saying, it ain’t the sopranbos depsite it being in the sopranos universe.

It is truly about Dickie through and through so anyone worried about tony being given too much attention can rest easy. And Alessandro manages like Michael as Chris, to make you feel for Dickie, to see who he was, why Tony looked up to him and how their relationship contrasts to the one Tony had with his son. Lots of parallels in places between him and his son, yet differences as well.

Only negative was that it was too short at 2 hours, first half of the film could easily have been a film or series onto itself, same for the second half.

Just wished my dad was still here to have seen it with me, as he passed in May this year, the pandemic forcing the film back a year meant he didn’t live to see it.

He would have loved it so much, he got me into the series in the first place even though i wasn’t interested in it, even wore his sopranos t shirt to it. I even got him a poster of Tony and Pie-o My last year from the series of Paulie’s adjustment to it, going to hang it in my bedroom with my sopranos signed frame picture.

But still, well worth the wait for it and i can’t wait to see your thoughts on it Ron and everyone here.

LikeLiked by 3 people
- Ron | September 25, 2021 at 4:54 pm | Reply
  
  Thanks. Everything I’ve heard about the movie has been pretty positive so far..
  
  LikeLiked by 1 person
- Fred | October 1, 2021 at 2:27 pm | Reply
  
  I just finished “Many Saints.” At first, I wasn’t digging it so much, but for me, the movie did build up a head of steam as it went on. I liked it. There are mixed reviews on Reddit (r/thesopranos), but I think those who aren’t happy with the movie went in with expectations that weren’t met. I know I did. Once I dropped those expectations, the movie was quite enjoyable. I will watch it again, and I expect I’ll gain new insights as I rewatch, just as I do with the series.
  
  I don’t know how good the movie will be for those unfamiliar with “The Sopranos.” As Blackmambauk points out, the movie does give new and interesting context to the series. Without spoiling, the most surprising to me was the snippet about Tony and Livia, the book she read to him, and his surprising reaction. I wonder if other viewers will see Tony’s high school guidance counselor as a precursor to Dr. Melfi.
  
  I do think that “Many Saints” would have been better served as a mini-series. There is just so much to explore, that the time constraints of a traditional movie just couldn’t hold it all. It’s interesting that David Chase just signed a five-year deal with WarnerMedia to develop content for HBO, HBO Max, and Warner Bros. Pictures Group. I hope this signals more Sopranos-related work in the future.
  
  https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/david-chase-sopranos-hbo-overall-deal-1235023889/
  
  LikeLiked by 2 people
  - Orangeannie | October 2, 2021 at 12:48 am | Reply
    
    I just saw it tonight. I felt the same way. If it was done even as a 3 part series it would have delved further into all the characters. That being said I thought it was very good, and The character of Dickie was very reminiscent of the character of Christopher. I will watch it again to really look and listen.
    
    LikeLiked by 3 people
  - Orangeannie | October 2, 2021 at 12:50 am | Reply
    
    Oh!!! Did you catch David Chase in a cameo ???
    Very Hichcockian!!
    
    LikeLiked by 2 people
    - Blackmambauk | October 2, 2021 at 7:41 am | Reply
      
      I wondered if that was Chase as Eckley? Though which one I kept asking myself with the way the shot was done.
      
      LikeLiked by 1 person
  - Blackmambauk | October 2, 2021 at 6:57 am | Reply
    
    Yeah, i have seen on Reddit many of the strong thoughts on the film, it was always going to stir up a lot of different views, opinions and feelings in fans. Which is what comes with a series as so well regarded as the Sorpanos, anyone whos a star wars fan like me will tell you of the viscous fights that goes on in fandoms this big.
    
    With a lot of it going towards how the film captures Silvio and supposed Retcons some fans think the film does, a character that after re watching the series recently, is really so over the top, cartoonish that its a testament to Steven for how he captured him. Same with Paulie, personally i thought the actors for the film managed to capture these characters well enough. It was always going to be very hard seeing someone other than Tony Sirico play Paulie as he was Paulie through and through.
    
    Saints of Newark i think can be viewed without having seen the Sopranos for the most part, though so much of it makes a lot more sense if you have seen it and know who’s who, what they are referring to and how Tony and Chris are like in the series. It does spoil though Chris’s fate right at the beginning so it goes both ways.
    
    Yeah, the book bit was where i cried at Vera’s acting as Livia, just the look she has, of being told how much it meant to her son. The sadness and dare i say even guilt in her eyes, it made me feel for her in the way Chase made me feel for Chris in the series despite his abusive treatment of ade, his arseholeness, of Tony etc. Which makes it even sadder with a following scene where her issues crop right back up. Alan Taylor has said they cut a fair few scenes form the film with Livia, with one of them he said was her best one with tony.
    
    So i’m curious of how much content ended up being trimmed, cut or deleted to fit Chase’s two hour limit he set for himself. It’s known they cut out a prologue scene they did with Edie Falco that was replaced with the opening scene they ended up using.
    
    It really i do think should have been a mini series, or a trilogy of films to give it all more time, more context and better fleshing out of so many stories, characters Chase decided to do for it all. Harold being one of them for me personally who would have benefited from more running time.
    
    But i loved every second of the film and i was grinning, laughing and enjoying everything i saw in the film in a way i haven’t felt at the cinema in a long time outside of one or two other films.
    
    So for me it worked, but i will go more into my thoughts once Ron posts up something for it or when the finale analysis is released.
    
    LikeLiked by 3 people
    - Ron | October 2, 2021 at 7:44 am | Reply
      
      Good thoughts. I think I will eventually post something about the movie. I’ve only gotten half-way through it (this is a very busy weekend for me) but I’m enjoying it so far…
      
      LikeLiked by 1 person
- Jamie | October 5, 2021 at 11:23 pm | Reply
  
  IMO, it was OK. I don’t think I’d watch it again. I managed to curtail my expectations, and unlike others, I was hoping that it wouldn’t show any of the events that The Sopranos referenced.
  
  It’s pretty clear that there was something fundamentally wrong somewhere, and in my estimation, it could be any of the following:
  
  * The studio demanded – and got – far more original Sopranos references into the movie than Chase wanted (including, for some reason, attempting to link Tony’s entrance into OC to the movie).
  * Chase is at his best when he is managing/overseeing talented writers, not when he is left to his own devices.
  * Chase caught lightning in a bottle with The Sopranos and will never be able to replicate it.
  * Maybe Chase just doesn’t have the stubbornness anymore that resulted in The Sopranos being so impressively different.
  
  The movie itself had enough flaws to tip the scales against it:
  * Chris’ voiceover
  * Dialog was direct, flat and linear
  * Wholesale retcon – why did they have to re-do the fair scene where Johnny got arrested?
  * Too many plots, too little time.
  * Verisimilitude took a back seat.
  * Sil’s actor doing a SNL-tier Sil impression, instead of just playing a character.
  * Reason for Dickie’s death. What the hell?
  * Fan service. We’ve all seen the Sopranos. We don’t need 60’s Junior yelling “SISTER’S CUNT!” for the benefit of the camera.
  
  I think Vera Farmiga deserves praise for doing a good job on a very unique and tough character that was essentially knocked out of the park by her predecessor.
  
  I think ultimately, TMSON tried to do too much in too little time.
  
  LikeLiked by 1 person
  - Ron | October 6, 2021 at 10:26 am | Reply
    
    Good thoughts. I wonder if it is the studio or Chase that is to blame for all the Sopranos callbacks but yeah, it’s too much
    
    LikeLike
    - Hexs | October 7, 2021 at 9:17 pm | Reply
      
      Seems lots of folks didn’t like the film, but as a sopranos fan I absolutely loved it. Hearing Christopher’s voice after all these years was so exciting.
      I loved the call backs. I loved how they did silvio. I loved the many references and the casting. My only gripe was that Paulie lacked his usual charisma. Overall I’m very happy with the movie and dearly hope they do another one!
      
      LikeLiked by 2 people
    - Blackmambauk | October 9, 2021 at 12:06 pm | Reply
      
      I don’t think the studio really interfered at all with the film outside of their marketing of focusing on Tony in the trailers and advertisements. Which had the impact of many fans thinking the film was going to be more about a young tony than Dickie as Chase’s intention and plan was all along for the film.
      
      Chase has never been afraid to throw in connections, callbacks, parallels etc in the Sopranos universe. It’s just that, when you have two hours to tell your story, arcs etc compared to ten-eleven hours each season. Then these elements can feel a lot more overwhelming and distracting than they do when you can spread or seed them across episodes.
      
      Which is how I felt about Avengers Endgame and all its callbacks, fanservice moments. Course most fans loved them and was the intent of the film. But I found them to be too much and self-indulgent overall.
      
      The film was never going to do what the series did. It definitely has its flaws and shortcomings as people and myself have noted. But it isn’t an irredeemable piece of work, disgrace to the series. With loads of plot holes as some fans make it out to be. Some fans simply expected too much from the film and were always going to be felt down or have issues with it.
      
      If you didn’t like it then full respect to you, if you did then good for you.
      
      I said my piece.
      
      LikeLiked by 1 person
      - Kozhyleus | October 9, 2021 at 12:51 pm | Reply
        
        Had no problem with the fact that entire first half of a movie was a pure ideology-service, but yeah, the fanservice with all the call-backs in a prequel movie was a bit tad much, of course.
        
        LikeLiked by 1 person
- Hawkman1972 | October 7, 2021 at 11:19 pm | Reply
  
  I was surprised not see Tony have a panic attack but maybe those started after the prequel?
  
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Sea | September 29, 2021 at 1:54 am | Reply

Maybe I’m really late to the party but is the title “The Many Saints of Newark” derived from Livia’s referral to Johnny as “he was a saint!”?

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- Ron | September 29, 2021 at 8:32 am | Reply
  
  Maybe that it’s in there too, but Many Saints translates into Moltisanti
  
  LikeLiked by 1 person
Sea | September 29, 2021 at 8:37 pm | Reply

Ahhh, got it!

Thanks Ron. For this site and your insight. You are a great writer.

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- Ron | September 30, 2021 at 1:01 am | Reply
  
  Thanks Sea
  
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colacentral | October 7, 2021 at 11:31 am | Reply

Hi Ron, just wanted to reply to an early paragraph in this about you feeling disappointed in the repetition of the mounting tension with Phil Leotardo / NY.

I swear that I saw an interview with someone a long time ago where they mentioned that season 6A was actually already in production and filming BEFORE an extension for 6B was signed. In other words, 6A was originally planned out as the final season and the writing had to pivot away from building to a conclusion. I believe I even read that it was specifically “Mr and Mrs John Sacrimoni Request” that was the last episode written before the extension was signed.

If this is true (and I wish I could find it again to confirm), I think this greatly alters perceptions of these two groups of episodes.

I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking that season 6B is the single greatest sequence of episodes of anything ever, just masterful from beginning to end. Well, I think the first several episodes of 6A carry that same energy. They have a masterful momentum and feeling of impending doom. It’s only really when we detour into Vito’s story that the narrative seems to slow down considerably.

All this to say that it’s obvious that Phil’s war with Tony was always intended as the final arc, but had to be abandoned in 6A once it was obvious that Phil was required to stick around, hence why Agent Phil more or less tells Tony in this episode “Remember last season when I told you about this? Yeah, it’s happening this season instead.”

Just speculation, but my theory is that the original concept of the Vito story line was to have been dealt with in a single episode, much as there’s a whole episode dealing with Tony burning bridges with Hesh, or killing Christopher, or fighting with Bobby, or that Stage 5 is more or less Johnny Sack’s story, or that the season opener is more or less Eugene’s story, or that “Remember When” was more or less a two hander with Paulie. I feel like the original concept of the structure of the final season was to have Tony come out of his coma very briefly as a changed man, before quickly descending into burning every bridge or killing every friend he had, one episode at a time. I imagine that Bobby’s death scene with the trains was planned from 6A too.

LikeLiked by 2 people
- Please "Bear" With Us | October 8, 2021 at 6:03 pm | Reply
  
  I think your theory is correct. David Chase mentioned that the Vito thing probably would have been shorter had it all been one season. And Alan Sepinwall back in the day, upset over the latter half of Season 6A, later wrote during 6B recaps that the extra-season thing was obviously what afflicted the later 6A episodes. The Vito storyline was very good at first (except for the dumb club scene… I think I know what the writers were thinking, that Vito is exploring a totally new identity a la Tony/Finnerty, but his appearance in a leather outfit just seems way off) but it felt too drawn out and peripheral. The New Hampshire stuff was initially an awesome callback to the Inn at the Oaks storyline, though.
  
  But 6B, man… Made In America is probably my favorite episode, it’s like one of my favorite movies of all time. And all the hits… Blue Comet, Second Coming, Kennedy and Heidi, Soprano Home Movies, Stage 5…
  
  (Only Ron can save me with his Made In America analysis now after my merely so-so experience with Many Saints of Newark. Maybe David Chase is the kid who always wanted to make movies but was actually born for TV instead.)
  
  LikeLiked by 1 person
  - Ron | October 8, 2021 at 10:47 pm | Reply
    
    I’m waist-deep into the Made in America analysis right now, but I’m simultaneously trying to gather notes for a Many Saints write-up…
    
    LikeLiked by 1 person
    - FanofRon | October 11, 2021 at 10:13 pm | Reply
      
      Before you post both you ABSOLUTELY have to see this Many Saints director commentary on this scene between young Tony and Dickie that foreshadows the end. Director Alan Taylor confirms that Tony dies at the end of the series.
      
      LikeLiked by 1 person
      - Orangeannie | October 12, 2021 at 1:15 am | Reply
        
        Where can we watch it? Is there a link?
        
        LikeLiked by 1 person
        
        Ron | October 12, 2021 at 9:34 am | Reply
        
        If you can’t see the video, search for “meet a young tony soprano in the many saints of newark anatomy of a scene” on youtube. Anyway, it’s not here that Taylor says he thinks Tony died. (Also, it’s just his opinion—he’s not “confirming” it.)
        
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        FanofRon | October 13, 2021 at 9:59 pm | Reply
        
        Taylor is talking about young Tony telling Dickie he saw a man get shot from behind and that he “doesn’t want that to happen to me.” Dickie then responds “that won’t happen as long as I’m around”
        
        Taylor then comments:
        “…it really hits at a heartbreaking note for me because he doesn’t really answer young Tony’s dilemma and in fact at the end of the scene young Tony is anticipating the end of the series and the end of his character.”
        
        So I’m not sure how you are saying that Taylor isn’t saying Tony dies at the end of the series? The emotional resonance is that Tony will die the exact way he feared as a young child.
        
        I suppose you’re right that it may be just an “opinion” and we know Chase wants to keep the debate alive but Chase wrote the scene and seriously doubt that Chase didn’t privately tell Taylor what the scene fully meant.
        
        LikeLiked by 1 person
        
        Ron | October 13, 2021 at 10:21 pm | Reply
        
        I’m including a link in my next write-up to a clip in which it’s very clear that Taylor absolutely, unequivocally believes Tony dies. But that same clip also reports exactly what Chase told Taylor his intentions for the Final Scene were—and it’s not nearly as absolute or unequivocal…
        
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  - Hawkman1972 | October 14, 2021 at 2:50 am | Reply
    
    I watched the series again a couple years ago and was amazed the tempo and power of the last episode….it was amazing….hey, correct if I’m wrong but isn’t there a scene of Tony digging for juniors lost treasure and he wipes his head and looks at the sun…that floored me….what was the point of that? The sun looked like the light during the coma scenes….anyone else think so?
    
    LikeLiked by 1 person
    - Anonymous | January 9, 2022 at 7:06 pm | Reply
      
      I believe the scene you reference is Tony raking leaves in his backyard. He looks up to see the trees blowing in the wind, which we know can be ominous, but could also mean “a great wind carries me across the sky.”
      
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- Allan | October 18, 2021 at 12:07 am | Reply
  
  It must be true. The first episodes of season 6A have a very notorious “the end is near” atmosphere, and then it becomes “no, the end can wait” when Vito takes the lead. It would also explain why they repeated the Chris relapsing to drugs plot so much.
  If it had been a single season, I wonder if it would have been as great as 6B.
  
  LikeLiked by 1 person
Hawkman1972 | October 7, 2021 at 11:13 pm | Reply

I have to say with great sadness that I am profoundly disappointed. When I first heard of the movie I was both elated and wary. Elated for obvious reasons…a chance to see the heyday of the Jersey mob before intermarriage, the breakdown of the old Italian enclaves, the creeping recession of “italianess” into the past, Rico, etc, did it’s number on the mob. Wary, though, because THAT was the strongest narrative running thru the series…it was the mob here and now….not a homerian callback to the first half of the last century, like the Godfather, nor the swinging sixties of goodfellas, but present day, with the homogenization of American life, the italianissimo strip mall eateries, couch potato sons, etc, the always present sense that nothing means shit anymore…..but, the movie felt pointless to me, all the quirks of the series were missing, the black humor, the way the show walked the thread between horror and slapstick….yea I get that it’s a movie and not 87 or whatever episodes of a years long series…but some of those episodes revealed such a nuanced reverence and homage to shows like the twilight zone that I guess i just got spoiled…

Some small things I did like was seeing frank gorshins appearance on one of the TVs…I am a fiend for the Batman tv show and frank gorshins portrayal of the Riddler was in truth a dizzying tour de force of manic evil and mania…only later much later did I realize that he based his portrayal on Richard widmark as tommy udo in kiss of death….….and that Joe Pesci album cover….actually the movie made me want to go back and watch the death collector, an obscure 1976 flick about the Jersey mob that always seemed like an actual sopranos prequel to me….

I don’t want to start arguments but watching this movie reminded me of what rock critic Lester Bangs wrote about Black and Blue by the Stones in 76….it’s depressing to sit and listen to an album that you want to like so much that you make yourself like it….

LikeLiked by 2 people
Hawkman1972 | October 7, 2021 at 11:17 pm | Reply

Random question I’ve always had that maybe a Jerseyite can answer for me….did Tony pronounce his ssss’s with a “sh” sound because that is an actual Jersey dialect? Or was it because he was of Neapolitan origin and the Naples dialect uses that “sh” sound prominently? Or maybe that’s a calabrese dialect, I dunno….

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- Jamie | October 12, 2021 at 1:37 am | Reply
  
  I think it had more to do with all the weight he put on, which impacted his sinuses. It’s a lot more difficult to pronounce your “s’s” when you are only breathing out of your mouth.
  
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  - Hawkman1972 | October 14, 2021 at 2:44 am | Reply
    
    Interesting….and I agree that added weight affects your speech and breathing….but remember how different he sounds in the pilot? He sounds more sophisticated, less boorish, with a deeper timber… I know I’ve read somewhere that he hired a dialect coach after the show was picked up….
    
    Oh another note, I caught an old episode of Archie bunker’s place the other night and it reminded me how it still amazes me how much Tony is essentially an ethnic Archie Bunker, thirty years later….from the casual racism, the lack of filter, the undeniable charisma, the facial expressions and especially the malpropisms….
    
    LikeLiked by 1 person
Kozhyleus | October 12, 2021 at 6:22 pm | Reply

That smoking asbestos looking like a literal steaming pile of shit beside the road along with other scenes including it in some way in this last season… in concordance with constant shit-references throughout the series, and we know Chase loves those, and also in continuity of the season’s main theme: letting audience’s expectations down; nothing but a shit, american television show, y’all duped yourselves into believing in some big payoff at the end, it’s all a big nothing, a pile of toxic waste.
In Made in America, at the beginning of the episode when Tony visits his family in that hideout house… he piles an orange just below the camera, but then the scene cuts somewhat abruptly and we don’t know if he ate it. In The Godfather of course, just like in The Sopranos, oranges are a sign of attempted murder (or orange juice in SopranoWorld along with eggs, rather) and/or death. Don Vito dies after eating/putting an orange in his mouth to scare his grandson in the tomato (name for which in german and slavic languages is “paradise” (Paradeiser, Paradajz, Paradeis)) garden (of eden)… yup. Tony dies surrounded by his family, and it is completely possible he, too, dies looking at his own grandson, inside Madow’s womb. Her pregnancy has been foreshadowed in more than a couple of episodes.
John Oliva, if I remember his name correctly, brought the 3 o’clock thing and sound cues… The last episode opens with a wierd sound mix: Tony is lying in bed, and the radio music comes from his nine o’clock, but then we see him from behind and his gun is at his 9 o’clock, and the sound of the radio is coming from his 3 o’clock, all of a sudden. It’s just bad sound geography and sound editing IMO, but it can be a very sloppy hint at the final scene (which is why I think it isn’t; ain’t no sloppy hints in The Sopranos – if it’s a hint, it’s precise, if it’s sloppy, it never is a hint but a coincidance, here and in general). I guess if his gun was at his right side, he would have stood a better chance of defending himself, who knows, but it’s very thin.
Upon review, I don’t really think there’s a real basis for Paulie betraying Tony, even though I kind of subscribed to that theory; Paulie really has his survivor arch and it matters little to nothing if he zigged or zaged when Tony’s destiny was deicided. In fact, Carmine not even knowing who he is, NYC doesn’t need his approval for anything, even if it heavily regards his own future: Paulie is a loner, he is always alone, even when he cooperates, and his last scene is kind of perfect, it never needed any theorizing on wether or not he had anything to do with Tony’s death. In fact, him accepting to lead Vito’s crew shows he didn’t know nothing of Tony’s death sentence: we wouldn’t get to see him thinking about it, because, if he knew Tony was getting whacked, he would do what that piece of shit Terry Doria did with Vito: he’d ask Tony for money or a favor. Instead, he does a favor for a dying man.

LikeLiked by 2 people
- Kozhyleus | October 12, 2021 at 6:29 pm | Reply
  
  If you think about it, Tony’s last two wishes have been to have that cursed crew handled by Paulie (a favor), and food (looking through the menu at Holsten’s). He leeched. He ate (not really, though). He died (really, though).
  
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  - Kozhyleus | October 12, 2021 at 6:39 pm | Reply
    
    The mirror shots (shots in mirrors, rather) we see in The Sopranos in certain key moments, really came to prominence in The Deer Hunter (1978), albiet merely an aesthetic tool; a movie set in the 60’s, just like the only two feature films Chase ever did.
    
    LikeLiked by 1 person
- manny44ameritechnet | October 12, 2021 at 8:53 pm | Reply
  
  All good stuff here Kozhyleus, and I can’t believe I never connected Livia’s philosophy of “It’s all a big nothing” with the series ‘Big nothing’ of an ending. Also have always believed that Tony dies looking up one last time at Meadow and coming so close to getting his wish of being a Grandparent. I think going to the GYNO to switch birth control is a tip-off of that possibility. You are also right I think about Paulie just saying yes to skippering the crew because he knows it won’t matter anyway. What an empty, cold airless world Tony is in at the very end.
  
  LikeLiked by 2 people
  - Kozhyleus | October 13, 2021 at 10:31 am | Reply
    
    It’s very weak, but I think that that John Oliva guy was aiming at the fact that Paulie sits at 3 o’clock from Tony in the final scene they share in front of Satriale’s, and then Tony gets whacked from 3 o’clock moments later. It’s very similiar to the Richie Aprile situation: he had no respect to pull off killing the Boss. Who is less respected than Paulie, among Capos? Exactly, nobody (since Chris died, that is). Paulie doesn’t have enough “clout” to be involved in it, which of course doesn’t mean he wasn’t a silent partner and an observer, but I doubt even that. Still, that scene with him and Patsy at the urinal at Bada Bing…
    
    That was some creepy shit, and then we see Patsy running along the water, which we know represents death, and he runs so wierdly, as if trying to not get wet while getting all wet (as if in quicksand). The fact that he was family-family with The Sopranos at this point makes it all more ambivalent who was REALLY involved in Tony’s assassination. Eugene can be the motive, and his wife paying for it with her inheritance money could totally be a Chase-thing to do, especially this openly hardcore liberal, pro-feminist, social justice warrior, woke Chase we saw in Many Saints of Newark. But I think it was simply Butchie and his crew, with the blessing from other 3 families, and possibly DiMeo himself: if anybody doesn’t want to see an out of control war, it’s the Boss that is incarcerated, with bills and everything that come with it.
    
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    - manny44ameritechnet | October 13, 2021 at 5:24 pm | Reply
      
      Confused by the recent critique that Many Saints is woke or has a liberal bias of some sort. Is it simply because they added a black character?
      
      LikeLiked by 2 people
      - Kozhyleus | October 13, 2021 at 9:23 pm | Reply
        
        It has nothing to do with the skin color of the character. It has to do with deliberate propaganda that is pretty much 90% of the movie. It would take too long to get into everything, but you can go to IMDb, go to the reviews section, then just plow trough if it really went over your head. It can depend on your age and general education, too, if you will be able to detect the bullshit that is served in almost every scene, but just to name a few…
        
        It is legitimizing BLM terrorist rioting on a cinematic scale, ignoring the fact that black businesses and minority businesses are hurt the most by terror and violence. It mythologizes all previous riots since the 60’s as “fights for freedom from oppression”, which is absolutely unbased; even National Geographic de-mythologized the riots in their great documentary LA 92 (2017), and they not only have a hard left bend and serve the same ideology, but chose to exclude any kind of narration or meddling, and made a documentary from pure, unedited, untouched videos of the riots themselves, so that everybody can see that history will always repeat itself, and that OJ is still a murderer, no matter the lies and the fires.
        
        It caters to the racist, liberal worldview to the point of insulting the intelligence of the viewer: all cops are racist. All white people are racist. All black people are oppressed. All black people are innocent victims. All black men are gentlemen and great in bed, without being different what so ever (does not being better at something mean that you are also different, like, good-different? Is Michael Jordan same as me, then, just better, but still we same even though he got six rings and I have zero, but it’s no difference? What the fuck were they even thinking writing bullshit like that).
        
        All women are beaten and/or killed by racist white men. All women are oppressed, and so on. It’s pure propaganda, the banal outlook of an ideologically driven narcissist who is still mad at his father for not supporting his drumming career, and now blames all the white people, if Italians can be called white, and they certainly cannot where I live, and I live near Italy, so…
        
        It also ignores the fact that not all black people were ever in the history of the USA victims: only a small proportion of people in America ever owned slaves, and those same slaves were sold to the Americans by Black Africans AS SLAVES, making Americans the same as their African and Europian and Asian counterparts, not worse in any way. Sold, for money. Most of the slaves in USA were white. As early as 1981 black families where both parents were college educated earned 2K more on a year level than a white family in the same predicament. It is pure and utter bullshit sold by the media, and Chase is so deep into it that it disgusts me to think that I ever watched anything he wrote with a benefit of a doubt that he is not a complete political moron and a staunch racist.
        
        It’s all about race: every decision by Dickie when dealing with his “Black Friend” is made from a position of a racist, one-dimensional piece of shit human being that “doesn’t get it”. We even witness characters from the 70s, like Travis Bickle, being called racist just because they are from middle America, even though he never ever shows any signs of racism, on the contrary (there is a very non-ambivalent scene that proves this, but not to Tarantino, obviously). It’s called revisionism, and it is one of the most recognizable exemplifications of ideological intervening: it’s pure propaganda, a narrative, a story, a lie, in place of a reality that is complex and multi-layered, as everything is. Murder is always a murder, though. Crime is always a crime, I agree. But why are antifa and BLM free to terrorize USA and burn the cities, then?
        
        Every Italian in the movie is a racist. It is absolutely insulting. Every woman is NOT a racist. What the fuck are we even talking about here? A dreamland? There are no racist women? No racist Blacks? Are you kidding me?
        
        An immigrant woman is not seen through the lens of a beginner in a new environment that faces challenges like, say, Vito Corleone in The Godfather Part II (1974); she is instead seen as a ready-made business-woman stifled by the patriarchy, and mean, sadistic white men, that she will fuck, but not for long, coz she an independent woman. She a sista. Somehow, an Italian woman from Italy in this film is black, but Livia, an Italian-American woman is played by the whitest, literally, The whitest (Polish) actress (not that I give a single fuck about someone’s race and/or ethnicity) to ever play an Italian woman on screen, and it’s normal.
        
        All cops are overtly racist. In New Jersey… Come on… Just, come on. Newark in the late 60’s was nowhere near Alabama, Texas or Louisiana. It’s insane that a cop would ever say “let him go, he is white” to a random driver. What a racist thing to even think of.
        
        It goes on and on, and I don’t really want to get into it, since is pure shit. And it was bound to happen, I even wrote about Chase’s one-sided, brainwashed liberal views in comments on this site on numerous instances, but it was always ignored, since this is a place where liberals have the upper hand, and all “others” must apologize in advance, and say yes massa, no massa. “This” being this blog, but also the entire internet with the new censorship laws and regulations on all social media and Wikipedia and so on. The big tech is hardcore liberals with no limits, so it’s bound to happen sooner rather than later.
        
        But most importantly, it takes away from every (black) American that achieved anything, despite the hardships that he or she has faced. A black woman flew to space when I was an infant (Mae C. Jemison, she had a cameo in Star Trek TNG); are you telling me that I need this shitty corporate (HBO is a fucking corporation, it’s pure capitalism at it’s fines, not some lefty altruistic institution, as if something other then church ever was, and we know how bad churches can get) propaganda to not be prejudiced against black Americans? Are you kidding me? A woman, black woman, flew to the fucking moon, when I was in diapers, but I need to watch a fictional white, racist cop, let a person out a danger zone based solely on his skin, and telegraph it, as if I couldn’t figure out the racist implication on my own, now I’m stupid, too? Fuck David Chase. And fuck the racist liberals for keeping this charade on for the sole purpose of making money and winning elections to make money and win elections to make money and… yeah.
        
        LikeLiked by 1 person
        
        Ron | October 13, 2021 at 9:42 pm | Reply
        
        Rage is depression turned outwards…
        
        LikeLiked by 2 people
        
        Kozhyleus | October 13, 2021 at 10:46 pm | Reply
        
        Funny, I thought diagnosing people with a serious mental illness would pass for at least passive aggressive, but sure, I have been depressed in my life. This was not it, though, if anything, I am quite content with both my life and people in my life. Diagnosing people is also a very popular rhetorical tool among the hard left. It’s basically what they always do when lacking arguments – they turn to ad hominem attacks, they attack the character. I attacked Chase’s character after watching his series at least 4 times, and only after it was absolutely obvious that he stands with the violent, enraged, rioting, terrorizing mob. But then again, who better to talk about depression than Chase. It’s a cute one-liner, though, and a cute way to avoid the content of what was said, and redirect the subject that was not started by me, once again.
        
        LikeLiked by 1 person
        
        Kozhyleus | October 13, 2021 at 10:50 pm | Reply
        
        Also, it proves my previous point that you have to talk in liberal spaces with great care, with either yes massa or no massa, and apologize in advance or risk being labeled as a whatever, ad hominem. Kind of makes it full circle.
        
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        Ron | October 13, 2021 at 10:52 pm | Reply
        
        Chill out dude. I was just reworking a line from the show.
        
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        Kozhyleus | October 13, 2021 at 10:55 pm | Reply
        
        I’m hip.
        
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        Anonymous | October 14, 2021 at 11:07 am |
        
        Far from it, Kozy, but your rants are free entertainment – so we thank you for that.
        
        LikeLiked by 1 person
        
        manny44ameritechnet | October 13, 2021 at 11:10 pm | Reply
        
        Do you live in The States? It’s not the left trying to subvert our democratic institutions right now. And arguing on the internet is not an efficacious or worthwhile way to make the world a better place anyways Kozhyleus. You’ll never vote for Biden and I’ll never vote for Trump. Leave it at the ballot box. No one is avoiding your post because we’re intimidated by the substance or avoiding the content or whatever. Read the room dude. Don’t leave comments with such divisive politics into a space for series that doesn’t even demand it. If you think Chase is a LIbtard why come here? For God’s sake, the guy made a movie set in 1967 Newark and you think he’s Karl Marx for depicting rioting.
        
        LikeLiked by 2 people
        
        Kozhyleus | October 14, 2021 at 9:48 am | Reply
        
        So, the riots have stopped? Antifa is in jail? BLM is being prosecuted? None of this is happening so, no, the left is actively subverting the rest of the institutions that haven’t been subverted already, like academia and public school system, which teaches pedophilia and critical race theory, so no, it’s the left, thank you.
        
        If the internet is not the place, you shouldn’t have brought it up, on the internet, I merely answered your question. The tribalism of “let’s not talk, coz you are team A and I am team B” is a very right wing to propose, on your part. I don’t subscribe to it, and the ballot box is compromised, and means nothing, so… I’ll say what I have when asked about it.
        
        Who is this “we”? And what room am I not reading? The one where an entire essay is devoted to “Trump politics” of The Soprano characters, or the revisionism of the fact that he was a hero of the black community in 80s, 90s and 00s? Listen to some rap music, or just watch The Sopranos or other TV shows and films from that time, he was removed from a movie for merely existing, a movie from 30 years ago for being a universal symbol of success and not “fascism”.
        
        If the “space” doesn’t demand it, you shouldn’t have brought it up, and Trump should not have had an essay written about him on a Sopranos analysis blog, it’s not me who “contaminated your space with divisive stances”, what ever those might be.
        
        Why come here? Because I’m not a tribalist, I believe in communicating ideas with facts, not creating safe spaces for anybody. I’m banned on many right wing “places”, too, so don’t worry too much about where I go and what I say.
        
        He is a neo-marxist, and subscribes to identity politics, that much is obvious, so you don’t have to think it: he made a movie to show you exactly where he stands, ideologically. Not me. Chase. He made his movie a safe place for ideology, and the world merely reacted.
        
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        Kozhyleus | October 14, 2021 at 9:58 am |
        
        The world being the fans of the Sopranos, those of us who wanted 2 hrs of Tony, and not 2 hrs of Marx.
        
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        LK | October 23, 2021 at 8:36 pm | Reply
        
        And rage is depression turned inward.
        
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        Kozhyleus | October 13, 2021 at 9:56 pm | Reply
        
        * Mae never landed on the Moon per se, but no black woman ever will if they think USA is racist in 2021, that much is for sure.
        
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      - Hawkman1972 | October 14, 2021 at 3:04 pm | Reply
        
        No….some of the dialogue seemed hamfisted and didn’t ring true, at least to me.
        
        What I found interesting is the overall kid seemed dressed more like a white motorcycle club member and made me wonder what black street gangs were like back then…
        
        Also, I posted this elsewhere but wasn’t Tony’s first hit named overall as well? The one they blamed on the deceased Jackie?
        
        LikeLiked by 2 people
    - An..actual..fucking ..cake | January 24, 2023 at 11:01 am | Reply
      
      If you look at Patsys face running away it’s contorted and rat like and he’s in a ditch where you do find rats
      
      LikeLiked by 2 people
  - Sopfan58 | October 16, 2021 at 1:10 pm | Reply
    
    The one thing I disagree with here is that Tony DOESN’T get that one last look at Meadow. The image of his angel is robbed by the bullet to his brain. In the POV sequence in the final scene, the bell rings and Tony looks up to see who is coming through door and we then see Tony’s POV of that person. Chase then always cuts back to Tony to see the look of recognition on his face.
    
    At the last ding of the bell, Tony looks up without any look of recognition on his face. Chase then cuts to his presumed POV or lack thereof. He never gets to see Meadow and I think that was an important choice by Chase. Tony’s Finnerty near death wake up call should have been enough to realize his family was all he really needed. Tony rejects that lesson by the end and loses his family in the process. All the duck don’t return and Meadow doesn’t make it to that booth.
    
    I have to admit I love Ron and his write ups but I’m filled with unease about his write up about the finale. He seems to have a mental block on Chase’s clear personal interpretation of Tony’s death. I think not understanding that Tony died undermines any full understanding of the entire show. I believe Ron even quoted Steve Schirripa who thinks Tony survived as some sort of argument for that position. I’m just afraid we’re going to get some Matt Seitz inspired pseudo-intellectual twisting of logic to try to conclude that Tony lives instead of a real analysis of the text and the film language of the final scene. Hope I’m wrong though and still look forward to it.
    
    LikeLiked by 3 people
    - Ron | October 16, 2021 at 1:29 pm | Reply
      
      I may have quoted Schirripa somewhere but I’ve never said I believe Tony lives. Nor have I ever said I believe Tony dies…
      
      LikeLiked by 1 person
      - Orangeannie | October 16, 2021 at 2:01 pm | Reply
        
        I said I believe he lives.
        
        LikeLiked by 2 people
    - Kozhyleus | October 16, 2021 at 1:45 pm | Reply
      
      Great point. I’ve only proposed a possibility since it’s literally a split second. The way you’ve described it is much more in accordance with what we actually see, in fact, it’s 100 percent right. The comment I’ve made only aimed to account for the (possible) intertextuality of the scene in order to further connect it to Vito’s last scene in The Godfather, not much more than that. It is a weird sequence: she actually sees him before the bell rings, and he never really gets to see if it was really her or just another random guest ringing that bell.
      
      LikeLiked by 2 people
    - Kozhyleus | October 16, 2021 at 3:08 pm | Reply
      
      “his family was all he really needed” this is easily the best sum up of the entire show in one sentence that I’ve ever read. It accounts for everything in between the first and the last episode perfectly. Similar comment even exists in Many Saints; “gotta give up the wanting”. It also further expands the critique of capitalism that was always in the background of what ever was going on in Tony’s and Carmela’s life (but let’s not ever call it Marxist, cause it is super triggering to some very toxic folk lurking around).
      
      LikeLiked by 1 person
      - manny44ameritechnet | October 16, 2021 at 9:48 pm | Reply
        
        lol I think anyone would be as triggered by being called toxic as by being called a Marxist… but in the spirit of peace amongst men…
        
        LikeLiked by 2 people
        
        Kozhyleus | October 16, 2021 at 11:05 pm | Reply
        
        Many a Marxist will wear that badge proudly, while most of the people blaming others for toxic behavior are toxic themselves, and projecting it because something triggered them. I’m a woman, so peace among men doesn’t do me much.
        
        LikeLike
    - 🦇 Natalie Reed's Dracula 🦇 (@nataliereed84) | October 17, 2021 at 4:02 pm | Reply
      
      I think it’s really important to note, though, that Tony didn’t REJECT what he learned from his near-death experience. It just slipped through his fingers.
      
      I believe he really, truly, sincerely tried to change and live every day like it was a gift.
      
      But why did it always have to be a pair of socks?
      
      He tried to change and grow, and he failed. That’s different from rejecting the lesson. And I think acknowledging and exploring that difference, how sometimes we simply *fail* to become better people, through lots of tiny, trivial, barely noticeable day-to-day choices, rather than through any single dramatic crossroads, is one of the most powerful things about Season 6 as a whole.
      
      LikeLiked by 2 people
    - LK | November 3, 2021 at 12:33 pm | Reply
      
      Sopfan – I totally agree with your overview of the last episode. You’re right; Tony looks up each time the bell rings. However, he really seems less interested or less invested in his own/his family’s safety than expected. In other words, he doesn’t scrutinize the faces of people surrounding him, especially that of the man who overtly stares at him, and he appears disinterested in the man who walks into the bathroom! I disagree with your comment that Ron has a ‘mental block’. Yes, he might disappoint those of us who KNOW that Tony dies by leaving his analysis open-ended, but he might surprise us all by acknowledging the traumatic ending of Tony (and this series). Maybe writing about the last episode is traumatic for Ron himself; after all, he has invested ‘his all’ over the years. Regardless, speaking on behalf of us all, let’s wish Ron the best of luck in his future endeavors!
      
      LikeLiked by 2 people
Mamjja, J.F. | October 14, 2021 at 2:00 am | Reply

At least not until YOU are old enough to be in diapers again, am I right Kozhy?
But seriously Kozhy, promise me one thing: Next time a fascist shows up to fuck your country?
Come election day? Maybe don’t cozy up to him. Maybe go back to sleep eh?
Very funny rants, Kozhy. Very cute. Thank you. That was great.

LikeLiked by 2 people
- Kozhyleus | October 14, 2021 at 9:53 am | Reply
  
  Which “fascist” are we talking about? Biden? Clinton? Thatcher? Churchill? Hitler? Coz, they all fucked my country up, and neither me nor my ancestors “cozied up” to any of them, on the contrary, they fought against every single one of them.
  
  If you seriously believe in the elections as an effective way to have your voice heard… yeah, you’re simply too young and naive.
  
  LikeLiked by 1 person
  - Mamjja, J.F. | October 15, 2021 at 2:20 am | Reply
    
    LOL Kozhy! Keep yappin’.
    
    LikeLike
    - Kozhyleus | October 15, 2021 at 10:20 am | Reply
      
      ROFLMAO! ROFLCOPTER! What ever you say, buddy.
      
      LikeLike
Anonymous | October 14, 2021 at 11:12 am | Reply

Ron, you are many-saints-worthy to post that Koz dude’s ramblings. What inane drivel that has less-than-nothing to do with this show. I mean, I do believe that connectivity and “everything is everything” should allow us to bring a plethora of prisms to view the show through – but damn, Kozy, your inability to read a room reminds me of Georgie’s inability to realize that opening his trap around Tony was gonna get him a beatdown regardless of what was said. Actually, let me just pull up that clip from Billy Madison about how none of your rambling, incoherent thoughts produced anything of substance. Of course you’ll snicker and stare down your nose, ignoring your navel to tell us we sheeple simply don’t get it. But dude, thankfully we do not all have to share your myopia. Your problems are not ours, and I appreciate you reminding me just how good I have it to not be stuck with a toxic mind such as yours.

LikeLiked by 1 person
- Kozhyleus | October 14, 2021 at 11:28 am | Reply
  
  Literally, you have said nothing, but ad hominem attacked me as a person, in a very condescending way at that. What a waste of time to even read what you wrote… Why would he not post it, so you could feel safe? Or so you could silence any opinion that you do not share? What a dumb thing to say. Talk about substance… and end up saying nothing.
  
  LikeLiked by 1 person
  - Anonymous | October 15, 2021 at 12:50 pm | Reply
    
    So you’re saying the framis intersects with the ramistan approximately at the paternoster…
    
    LikeLiked by 3 people
    - Kozhyleus | October 15, 2021 at 1:42 pm | Reply
      
      Goes around the internet comparing random people with whom he disagrees to the dumbest character in the history of television, along with other poor attempts of intellectualized, faux-highbrow insulting on a personal level;
      
      says he’s glad he’s not toxic.
      
      You win, honey.
      
      LikeLike
- Kozhyleus | October 14, 2021 at 11:32 am | Reply
  
  Oh, and I never ever said “you don’t get it” to anybody, I have said, it might have went over you head, now let me give you more than a couple of examples why the movie is SJW propaganda. So please, don’t misrepresent what I have said or done.
  
  LikeLiked by 1 person
  - Ron | October 14, 2021 at 11:52 am | Reply
    
    Ok how about we continue this thread when my Many Saints write-up comes out in around 6 or 7 weeks… I abhor the way you make your points Koz, but I think there is some truth in your criticisms of the movie…
    
    LikeLiked by 4 people
    - Kozhyleus | October 14, 2021 at 12:04 pm | Reply
      
      No need to. You can perhaps elaborate there, or here, on what is it that you abhor about my point-making, if you wish, but you don’t have to if you chose so. There are just two more comments I’ll make concerning this topic:
      
      Dickie Moltisanti kills his father because he hits a woman that is not involved with Dickie in any way, but ends up killing that same woman over sleeping with a Black American. That is Dickies arch, story-wise. If that is not SJW propaganda, I do not know how more obvious it has to get to be recognized as such.
      
      The other point is a comment of a comment about my comment “I’m hip” that I cannot reply directly for some reason:
      
      “Far from it, Kozy, but your rants are free entertainment – so we thank you for that.” – Anonymous
      
      Again with the group think, again with the “we”… It was a quote from Taxi Driver that went over your head, I’ve never unironically said it. It was an answer to a situation where a statement went over my own head, a statement which was also a quote from popular culture. That is all.
      
      LikeLike
      - Ron | October 14, 2021 at 12:15 pm | Reply
        
        You couldn’t reply directly because I’ve set a limit of 8 nested reply-threads to a comment. It becomes very difficult to track who’s replying to who beyond 8 threads, especially when viewed on a cell phone.
        
        LikeLiked by 3 people
        
        Hawkman1972 | October 14, 2021 at 2:59 pm | Reply
        
        I
        N
        O
        T
        I
        C
        E
        D
        !
        
        Love ya man!
        
        LikeLiked by 1 person
        
        Ron | October 14, 2021 at 3:43 pm | Reply
        
        hahaha I know. It may be better to view the comments in Full Site mode rather than Mobile mode..
        
        LikeLike
      - Anonymous | October 15, 2021 at 12:47 pm | Reply
        
        I’m hip, too.
        
        LikeLike
      - Anonymous | October 15, 2021 at 1:52 pm | Reply
        
        I feel like that guy in Janice’s group therapy session: “This is fuckin’ priceless.”
        
        LikeLike
        
        Ron | October 15, 2021 at 2:02 pm | Reply
        
        hahaha
        
        LikeLike
      - Anonymous | November 6, 2021 at 11:44 pm | Reply
        
        Oh, FFS stop being such a fucking BOOR Kozy. You have your opinion, fine. Post it ONCE and then FUCK OFF. Nobody wants to listen to your bullshit posted on every single goddamn reply, it’s REDUNDANT. We want to talk about THE SOPRANOS and our love of the show- not your fucking politics.
        
        LikeLiked by 2 people
        
        Orangeannie | November 7, 2021 at 9:59 am | Reply
        
        I must agree. 😂
        
        LikeLiked by 1 person
        
        LK | November 14, 2021 at 7:35 am | Reply
        
        Anon – I second that emotion, LOL! Koz, a lot of us have made snarky comments about politics and racism, but we’ve moved on fairly quickly and gotten back on track. The purpose of this site is to dissect episodes and characters, make our comments, respond to comments and, of course, to praise Ron. At some point, it’s time to move on. We’re almost at ‘the end’! Let’s all make peace with one another (and ourselves).
        
        LikeLiked by 1 person
        
        Orangeannie | November 14, 2021 at 12:20 pm | Reply
        
        Agree!
        
        LikeLiked by 1 person
        
        LK | November 24, 2021 at 9:21 am | Reply
        
        😎
        
        LikeLike
        
        Kozhyleus | December 12, 2021 at 7:49 am | Reply
        
        Why are you explaining to me what I should and should not do? I can voice my opinion any number of times I decide to. You disagreeing won’t make it go away, this is not your perfect world where you control other people. It’s the internet. People disagree all the time. Grow up.
        
        LikeLike
        
        Kozhyleus | December 12, 2021 at 7:46 am | Reply
        
        You don’t have to listen to it. I was asked by another user to explain my view, I wasn’t shoving it in your ears. I do not care what you want to hear, it is my opinion, you are not required to like it, or me voicing it. My comment isn’t preventing you from talking about anything you wish. And those are not My politics, they are Chase’s politics. So you can really fuck off, is what I’m saying, thank you.
        
        LikeLiked by 1 person
        
        Anonymous | January 9, 2022 at 11:57 pm | Reply
        
        Or he could just be a fuckin’ idiot. Historically, that’s been the case.
        
        LikeLiked by 1 person
    - Blackmambauk | October 14, 2021 at 12:20 pm | Reply
      
      Well, this whole thing escalated like AJ’s rant at Bobby’s wake or something Paulie would discuss with Silvio or Tone. The film definitely I think was flawed in showing the riots of 67, in how it’s used in the film, how it feels a bit like Chase didn’t really examine it in a way that it merited exploring why many black people rioted that night. I would have liked to have seen it be a climax like how in Do the Right Thing by Spike Lee, the riot at Sal’s Pizzeria was the pinnacle of the film’s exploration of everyone in it and how the police (the one who kicks off the riot with his killing of Ransheem, is Silvo’s hitman in this very episode). Of why they lashed out in rage against not just Sal at what happened, but also at the Korean shop owner who even the major was racist to earlier in the film because they didn’t have his favourite beer. Overall, I think Chase could have done the riots in a separate work or done it via Harold for a whole work with the soprano characters being a side gig to it all.
      
      Instead, it felt like it was there to mark the time period. To show the characters looking at it before they move on to 73 and never referencing it again.
      
      But I’m not sure where in the Many Saints has Marxist themes or elements in it. We know Chase likes to show and make clear his view of the mob culture, of America in the time periods his works explored. And that art is subjective and people are forever reading into their series for parallels, for critiques and allusions. Which the main series did do for the bush administration, but I’m really not sure if there is that for Many Saints. At least in how I think Chase didn’t really go into any with much depth or time in my view. Hence part of the weakness of the film and why I think a number of fans feel it’s such a letdown.
      
      Anyways, said my piece.
      
      6 to 7 weeks eh Ron? does that mean Made in America is close at hand ;).
      
      Thanks Ron
      
      Kind Regards
      
      Mamba
      
      LikeLiked by 3 people
      - Ron | October 14, 2021 at 12:29 pm | Reply
        
        I’m making progress on Made in America but this month has been a bitch. I had to euthanize my bird yesterday after two weeks of trying to nurse her back to health, and I’m going out of town for a funeral in a couple of days… I’ll try to get the write-up out by the end of the month…
        
        LikeLiked by 2 people
        
        Blackmambauk | October 14, 2021 at 12:34 pm | Reply
        
        Deepest sympathies Ron for your bird, having to euthanize your dearest companion is always such a heavy experience and deeply saddening. For yourself and everyone in your family who loved the bird as well.
        
        Please take the time to grieve for your loss, along with the funeral you are going to. The write-up can wait, we have waited for it this long, we can wait a bit longer.
        
        Take care Ron
        
        LikeLiked by 1 person
        
        Ron | October 14, 2021 at 12:45 pm | Reply
        
        Thanks Mamba
        
        LikeLiked by 1 person
        
        Hawkman1972 | October 14, 2021 at 2:57 pm | Reply
        
        Yes, sorry for your losses, sopranos is fun but real life can be harsh…..good luck….
        
        LikeLiked by 1 person
        
        Ron | October 14, 2021 at 3:38 pm | Reply
        
        Thanks
        
        LikeLike
      - Kozhyleus | October 14, 2021 at 12:41 pm | Reply
        
        Never said it was Marxism; it was Neo-Marxism, mostly. What was Marxist, in particular, was the portrayal of the genesis of the rise of black-on-black crime that the film closes with… Frank Lucas is portrayed as a hero of the people almost, and of course, black panthers were marxists themselves, and in the movie got subverted into a life of crime by a visionary black gangster, of sorts.
        
        The marxist massage is the framing: a black gangster opens the movie as a white gangster’s sheep, whom beats on his own for his massa. The movie closes with a shot of the same man, transformed to do his own collections, and start his own little crime syndicate that extorts the same black folk, only now, it’s by “their own”.
        
        The same logic followed The Sopranos Black characters: they all were, too, opportunistic in nature, looking only for themselves, and this being a prequel, effectively blames the White Man for everything that happened in the “black community” since the 60’s up to the crazy numbers that we see in, say, Chicago with black-on-black crime, that is of course, never to be spoken of in the mainstream, liberal media. Let me then close this with a Malcolm X quote, just to explain my own refrains to the liberals as racist, which confuse some as “inane drivel”:
        
        “The worst enemy that the Negro have is this white man that runs around here drooling at the mouth professing to love Negros and calling himself a liberal, and it is following these white liberals that has perpetuated problems that Negros have. If the Negro wasn’t taken, tricked or deceived by the white liberal, then Negros would get together and solve our own problems. I only cite these things to show you that in America, the history of the white liberal has been nothing but a series of trickery designed to make Negros think that the white liberal was going to solve our problems. Our problems will never be solved by the white man.” — Malcolm X
        
        This is, of course, subverted by Chase to serve his neo-marxist view, as to again accuse the Powers That Be for the plight of crime, in general, since it really has no race, until the liberal media gets on the story. Then, it’s the White Man’s fault, exclusively. And that is pure propaganda.
        
        LikeLike
        
        🦇 Natalie Reed's Dracula 🦇 (@nataliereed84) | October 17, 2021 at 3:57 pm | Reply
        
        “Neo-marixsm”
        “Black on black crime”
        “SJW”
        “Propaganda”
        “Blaming the White Man”
        “Massa”
        
        Somebody bust out the Right-Wingnut Commenter Bingo cards, this is amazing!
        
        LikeLiked by 4 people
        
        Kozhyleus | October 17, 2021 at 5:06 pm | Reply
        
        Are those terms to be censored? Do they imply a fascist among us? Do we need some muscle over here?
        
        LikeLike
      - Hawkman1972 | October 14, 2021 at 2:56 pm | Reply
        
        Was the kid blown away in the recruiter station related to Tony’s first hit? Didn’t both characters have the surname of Overall?
        
        LikeLike
        
        Orangeannie | November 7, 2021 at 10:01 am | Reply
        
        Yes, I thought the same thing.
        
        LikeLiked by 1 person
Uncle Fat | October 14, 2021 at 2:55 pm | Reply

I can’t stand Jon Bernthal and his idiotic tough guy mannerism

Joe Siravo is spinning in his grave.

LikeLiked by 2 people
- Hawkman1972 | October 14, 2021 at 9:14 pm | Reply
  
  I’m with you on that
  
  LikeLiked by 1 person
  - Orangeannie | October 15, 2021 at 1:13 am | Reply
    
    I think he’s good looking and sexy!! He had a small part but he did it well. ❤️
    
    LikeLike
    - Hawkman1972 | October 15, 2021 at 9:55 am | Reply
      
      He supposedly plays a good Punished which makes sense, the Punisher has a larger, muscular presence….I think he’s too Brutish to play Tony’s dad, but I can see why why you’d like him…..but no way could he ever deliver a line like “the lady likes her meat” like the guy who played T’s dad in the show….remember that? That was hilarious!
      
      LikeLike
      - Orangeannie | October 15, 2021 at 9:54 pm | Reply
        
        I agree. I guess I just like him. But the original father in the series was really great. Nobody can take his place.
        
        LikeLiked by 1 person
- Hawkman1972 | October 14, 2021 at 11:59 pm | Reply
  
  Hey on that note, I recently read an article about Jewish women in movies being played by non Jewish women. I recalled while reading it that Chase often says that he wants Italians to play Italians but the irony is that few “Italian” actors are linearly all Italian. Nivola is a quarter (as is De Niro) and James Caan isn’t at all…he’s Jewish like Bernthal…even Stallone is half Italian and a lot of actors are, like him and Nivola are part Italian and part Jewish…not a big deal, I bring it up only bc Chase brings this up a lot….he makes a point of it….
  
  LikeLike
  - 🦇The Black GOAT of the Woods w/ 1000 Young🦇 (@nataliereed84) | November 23, 2021 at 11:47 am | Reply
    
    Steve Schirripa is also half-Jewish / half-Italian and Jamie Lynn-Sigler isn’t Italian at all, she’s part Jewish and part (IIRC?) Cuban. They did work some of that into the show in interesting ways, though, like using it to help reveal the internalized bigotry / colourism of Carmela’s mother, re: her disappointment at how “dark” Meadow was.
    
    LikeLiked by 1 person
- manny44ameritechnet | October 15, 2021 at 2:11 pm | Reply
  
  Jon Bernthal is indicative for me of what makes Many Saints ( A film I enjoyed for the most part ) kind of inconsequential. The flashback scenes in The Sopranos are really, REALLY great. Really well-cast, well-acted, shot, and executed. Joe Siravo, in his performance, laid every bit of foundation needed for us to understand what Tony’s upbringing was about. That his role model was a violent criminal that was also incredibly charismatic and powerful. The movie was an interesting exercise but it was in the end essentially just an exercise. At least to me. Also, David Chase is obsessed with creating a feature-length film because all of his heroes are film directors but good god it seems so obvious that the material in Many Saints was screaming out for a much much longer run time. Probably around 6-7 hours. I bet 90% of the general criticism by fans disappears if this is a limited series.
  
  LikeLiked by 2 people
  - Hawkman1972 | October 15, 2021 at 8:50 pm | Reply
    
    Good points….in the flashbacks Tony’s dad does come off as charismatic and wily. In the movie he comes off as an oaf….
    
    LikeLiked by 1 person
  - Dude Manbrough | October 15, 2021 at 9:28 pm | Reply
    
    I couldn’t agree more. Siravo was just fantastic in the limited number of scenes he did. Totally believable yet “larger than life” at the same time. Just on a personal level, he reminded me of actual guys I knew as a NJ kid back in the 1970s, it was pitch-perfect. The “never gamble, Anthony” scene is just chilling to watch. And the way he played off Livia in that Gleason-ish way was likewise terrific.
    
    I felt that MSON played like a feature film made by TV guys. There’s a reason the great directors are great directors, they can really flesh out supporting characters with a minimum of screen time and it doesn’t feel forced or rushed. Two quick examples: characters like Maury in “Goodfellas” or Lance in “Pulp Fiction”. Minor characters for sure, but brought to life quickly and organically.
    
    In contrast, look at MSON. Johnny Boy, Junior, Paulie, everything we know about these characters comes from the show, it’s like their scenes are there to remind us who they are, not to develop them as characters. It’s not to say the ideas themselves were bad ones, just that it all felt rushed and shoehorned. And ideas were playing out that might have worked well over multi-episode arcs but seemed very rushed in the context of the film. And I think it failed at one of the major plot points of the film, that being Dickie’s influence over a young Tony Soprano. Yes, we saw the kernels, but only just in a mostly superficial way. It was on the verge of really getting there with the stuff about Tony and Livia, but the Johnny Boy role was mostly marginalized and never really explored except very briefly. IMO it might have been a better film if they focused more on young Tony with Dickie as the main supporting character and not the other way around.
    
    A mini-series would have been great. It would have been more subtle, too, as the film was guilty of blatantly telegraphing a few big moments. For example, as soon as I saw the ocean in the background it was obvious Dickie would drown her and as soon as Dickie’s warehouse guy said “TV trays” we all knew what was coming next. Although to be fair, I did genuinely enjoy a lot of the fan service moments, particularly the Livia scenes which really faithfully captured the character IMO.
    
    LikeLiked by 3 people
    - Anonymous | March 23, 2022 at 3:15 pm | Reply
      
      I’m shocked at how many of you all liked Many Saints… I thought it was ATROCIOUS. One of the most disappointing experiences I’ve ever had with a movie. And I had kept my expectations relatively low… nearly every scene was pointless, and awkward. A couple decent performances, that’s it.
      The only thing that would’ve made it worse is if it was longer, as a miniseries.
      Chase wanted to make a movie about the riots… but even he can’t get a film financed, unless it’s directly related to The Sopranos; so sad.
      
      LikeLike
Dr. Nick | October 17, 2021 at 5:04 am | Reply

Not doing a review of the last episode has to be a meta-joke, right?

LikeLiked by 2 people
- Ron | October 17, 2021 at 10:21 am | Reply
  
  Lol it’s coming..
  
  LikeLike
Kozhyleus | October 17, 2021 at 3:41 pm | Reply

Chase took much from The Bronx Tale (1993), everything from sub-plots and casting to dialogue, but the ending… He took that shit almost entirely. There’s another thing about the ending; the show deals with The American Dream, and one of the key components of that dream is to die among the loved ones with them smiling down on you. One cannot help but notice how Chase used black humor to close the series he started with it (the first episode, and almost an entire first season were much more black-humor driven then the rest of the series): you get to die among your loved ones, sure, but they get to see your brains.

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Uncle Fat | October 21, 2021 at 9:45 am | Reply

“Prequel film “The Many Saints of Newark” bombed at the box office with a $4.6 million opening, but it stirred up enough buzz on HBO Max that Sarnoff (Ann Sarnoff CEO) said more “Sopranos” content is now being discussed with creator David Chase.”

“We’re talking to David about a new series ‘Sopranos’-related on HBO Max.”

LikeLiked by 2 people
Uncle Fat | October 21, 2021 at 11:29 am | Reply

…and to be honest, I don’t know if this is good or bad news.

If David Chase will write the show primarily with Terence Winter (his wish) then I guess is good, if not…

LikeLiked by 2 people
LK | October 31, 2021 at 9:34 am | Reply

l don’t think that Ron is going to analyze Episode 6.21. Instead, he’ll allow his (phenomenal, wonderful, and truly amazing) ‘autopsy’ to simply ‘fade to black’, perhaps as an homage to Chase’s decision to remain silent about Tony’s death. Or maybe he’ll surprise us all and provide a remarkable, insightful, and final ‘last word’. Regardless, congratulations to Ron for entertaining and engaging us over the years! May you NEVER fade to black!

LikeLiked by 1 person
- Ron | October 31, 2021 at 8:12 pm | Reply
  
  Thanks LK. 6.21 is coming out soon…
  
  LikeLiked by 1 person
  - Udo | November 1, 2021 at 10:00 pm | Reply
    
    I’ve been checking everyday for the past two months to see when it will be posted–I’m a huge fan of your site! Eagerly awaiting Episode 21 🙂
    
    Thanks for all of your hard work!
    
    LikeLiked by 1 person
    - Ron | November 2, 2021 at 12:14 am | Reply
      
      Thanks
      
      LikeLike
      - R.K. | November 2, 2021 at 6:23 am | Reply
        
        Ron’s final blog post will be short and ambiguous, open to many interpretations. Then there will be a new website: ‘Sopranos Autopsy’ Autopsy.
        
        LikeLiked by 1 person
        
        Ron | November 2, 2021 at 9:09 am | Reply
        
        hahaha
        
        LikeLike
        
        MeadowsGold | November 4, 2021 at 11:49 pm | Reply
        
        The real question is will Ron’s analysis incorporate the recent Chase interview where he explicitly says “Tony gets it [in the diner]”?
        
        Can’t wait!
        
        LikeLiked by 1 person
        
        Ron | November 5, 2021 at 12:12 am | Reply
        
        I did read a Hollywood Reporter interview from two days ago but didn’t see anything new other than the “breakfast shack” idea…but that was pretty ambiguous statement… The “in the diner” you mention—are those your parenthesis or Chase’s?
        
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        madelcorp347 | November 5, 2021 at 10:11 am | Reply
        
        The poster is talking about the recent Chase interview. Chase makes it pretty clear that Tony was killed in Holsten’s. Not sure how anyone can interpret it otherwise. Quoted below:
        Feinberg: The 2018 book The Sopranos Sessions was written by guys who wrote, at the time of the show, for the New Jersey Star-Ledger, the paper Tony always read, Matt Zoller Seitz and Alan Sepinwall. They interviewed you and asked you to talk about the June 10, 2007, series finale with of course, “Don’t Stop Believin’” and the famous cut to black. You said, “Well, I had that death scene in mind for years before.” A) Do you remember specifically when the ending first came to you? And, B) Was that a slip of the tongue?
        Chase:Right. Was it?
        Feinberg: I’m asking you.
        Chase: No.
        Feinberg: No?
        Chase: Because the scene I had in my mind was not that scene. Nor did I think of cutting to black. I had a scene in which Tony comes back from a meeting in New York in his car. At the beginning of every show, he came from New York into New Jersey, and the last scene could be him coming from New Jersey back into New York for a meeting at which he was going to be killed.
        Feinberg: And when did the alternative ending first occur to you? I’ve spoken with showrunners who said, “I knew at the beginning exactly how my show was going to end.” Or by season three or whatever. It sounds like when you were writing, you liked to stay six scripts ahead of where you were in the action.
        Chase : Yeah. But I think I had this notion — I was driving on Ocean Park Boulevard near the airport and I saw a little restaurant. It was kind of like a shack that served breakfast. And for some reason I thought, “Tony should get it in a place like that.” Why? I don’t know. That was, like, two years before.
        
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        Ron | November 5, 2021 at 10:28 am | Reply
        
        Ah ok, I figured this is what the poster was referencing but I wasn’t sure…
        
        I’ll touch upon it in the final write-up.
        
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        Orangeannie | November 7, 2021 at 10:11 am | Reply
        
        He said Tony “should get it in a place like that” meaning a Small mom and pop restaurant. He’s still being cagey. I would love to see the alternate openings. Especially the one with Edie Falco.
        
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        🦇The Black GOAT of the Woods w/ 1000 Young🦇 (@nataliereed84) | November 23, 2021 at 11:37 am | Reply
        
        IIRC, it wasn’t so much a mom and pop restaurant as he meant he should get killed somewhere depressingly banal, with no hint of warmth or luxury, like the airport diner where the idea came to him. Vesuvio is a small mom and pop restaurant, but the vibe couldn’t possibly be more different from an airport diner or Holsten’s, you know? And it would be the most boring, trite thing in the universe for Tony to die in Vesuvio. It was about it being a shitty place that serves onion rings and has tacky americana on the walls, not it’s relative size or economic set-up.
        
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      - Udo | November 4, 2021 at 10:39 pm | Reply
        
        Could you take pity on us peons and give us an ETA for the review of the final episode? Also, do you plan on reviewing The Many Saints of Newark after?
        
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        Ron | November 5, 2021 at 12:15 am | Reply
        
        I would guess about a week. Re Many Saints, I’d have to watch it again before I could say…
        
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LK | November 4, 2021 at 2:39 pm | Reply

Gosh, I just had a weird thought – after 6.21, I/we won’t have AJ to make fun of anymore! Of all the wonderful, horrible, miserable, nasty and just plain evil characters on this series, AJ made me want to scream my brains out more than anyone else! Why in the world did Chase not allow someone – ANYONE – put this kid out of his misery? He served no purpose, other than to frustrate/anger his family, his school, and me/us(?). To make matters worse, I came across a May 2020 article about him (thehollywoodreporter.com). In it, Iler said, “The only thing I have done since Sopranos is I got called to jury duty and I didn’t want to do jury duty … so twice, to get out of jury duty, I did an episode of Law and Order “. Sounds exactly like what AJ would do and say. A loser, pure and simple.

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FThatParakeet | November 6, 2021 at 1:47 am | Reply

Ron, it seems to me that Michael Imperioli “coincidentally” makes a lot of the same connections that you mention. Granted, he was on the show and you review it. But, several times, his commentary on Talking Sopranos implies that his research involves reading this site of yours—the less-obvious connections like the name on the tombstone Little Vito vandalizes,for example. Are you holding out on releasing Made in America to leave him hanging? Haha!
(That would be hilarious. The guy strikes me as an egomaniac who refuses to admit he doesn’t know what he doesn’t know. I’m not asking for your opinion of him. Just sharing a thought and hopefully giving you a laugh.)

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- Ron | November 6, 2021 at 10:16 am | Reply
  
  Haha, no, I’m following my own timetable, I’m not trying to cockblock Imperioli…
  
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- Orangeannie | November 6, 2021 at 11:45 am | Reply
  
  I’m sure he reads a lot of this blog. He does a lot of research, just like Ron references articles and books about the Sopranos. You don’t personally know Michael Imperioli, just like we don’t really “know” Ron or any of the people that comment. He’s an actor that we know from his work, Ron is a talented writer, but truthfully I am not aware if he is a writer for a living or has another job that he goes to everyday. I believe it takes quite a lot of research and also impressions to write about this last episode of a series that so many people are invested in. This show premiered 20 years ago. You think the actors remember every episode and have thought about it all this time? Edie Falco can hardly remember anything when she is questioned. Unlike the fans who watch all the time, the actors have moved on. It been 2 years of this pandemic and horrible political crap. Maybe Ron has had other things going on in his life. Maybe Michael Imperioli has other projects he is working on. Who knows? Nobody.
  
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  - FThatParakeet | November 7, 2021 at 9:35 pm | Reply
    
    I’m sorry, Orangewhoever, but how do you know whether or not I know Michael Imperioli? For the record, I do not. But, you felt the need to tell me that I don’t know what I’m talking about…by speaking to something of which you don’t know what you’re talking about. Do you see the contradiction? I made a joke and labeled it a joke and then Ron acknowledged the joke as a joke. Where in this equation do you, Orangewhoever, think “This person needs my opinion on this matter.”? (Well, not really “this matter”, the matter you created in your head) I mean, it’s a forum—you can respond, of course. But your pointed comments are baseless and irrelevant.
    To paraphrase a character played by an actor I’ve never met from this old show that I don’t obsess about, “Just worry about how you’re being perceived.”
    
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LK | November 6, 2021 at 11:42 am | Reply

R.I.P. Frank Vincent (Phil Leotardo), 2017

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Allan | November 6, 2021 at 9:43 pm | Reply

I just saw The Many Saints of Newark because it hadn’t been released in my country until now (thanks, HBO Max), and I have many things to say, but I will wait for your post about the film. I will just say this: That we listen to Christopher and others from their graves doesn’t imply that in Sopranos universe there is indeed a big something after death?
And by the way, that opening seems to me like a nod to the original beginning of Sunset Boulevard.

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- Ron | November 7, 2021 at 9:28 am | Reply
  
  Yes great points
  
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LK | November 7, 2021 at 6:10 pm | Reply

R.I.P. Frank Vincent (aka Phil Leotardo) and Greg Antonacci (aka Butch DeConcini), both died on the same week in 2017

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Mario Castillo | November 12, 2021 at 2:32 pm | Reply

So, one drastic advantage of watching The Sopranos now is that now we have these reactions and analysis available at the tip of our fingertips, in that sense Ron, you’ve spoiled us. I honestly don’t consider that I’ve seen a Sopranos episode until I can read your autopsy and it becomes aggravating to do one without the other.

….so imagine my agony when I rushed here from watching the finale only to see it’s not yet done. But I’ll wait, because it’s worth waiting, you do an amazing job in this blog and I have poured over every single post with glee.

I have my collection ready for when that happens. And yes, I apologize, for I don’t have an envelope, either.

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- Ron | November 12, 2021 at 3:57 pm | Reply
  
  hahaha thanks
  
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colacentral | November 12, 2021 at 5:25 pm | Reply

Hi again, Ron. Just wanted to pop this link here to a blog post I discovered this week that I found really interesting and picks up on some things that I never noticed: https://lobsterlagoon.wordpress.com/2017/02/08/made-in-america/

It also itself links to another great old post that goes into some of the same material in greater detail: http://thechaselounge.net/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=2503

I thought other readers of this site, and yourself if you weren’t previously aware of them, might find these interesting.

I’m particularly fascinated by how I never picked up on the importance of the Cleaver logo before. I think I (and I’d guess most people) go straight to the most obvious conclusion that the Cleaver merchandise triggers Tony simply because it reminds him of Christopher’s passive aggressive film. The finger cutting incident never once occurred to me.

I think partly this is because the finger cutting incident seems so tame compared to most of the behaviour we witness elsewhere during the series. The other thing is that I tended to disregard that scene because it always felt to me like one of the few instances of sloppy writing in the show – kind of “let’s just resolve this blackout thing from season one by saying it’s triggered by this and then never go back to it again,” since the blackouts pretty much disappear from the show.

As a side note, I’m interested that there are still things about the show that I’ve never seen anywhere, and I’m interested to see if you include any of them in your Made in America write up. In particular, it astounds me that the sushi / onion rings parallel is never brought up. There are a number of things that can be read into the significance of that, but I think it not being talked about much (or anywhere, from what I’ve been able to find) speaks to how the “America” part of the title “Made in America” often gets overlooked. Tony is his father’s son but he’s also America’s son and he’s shaped by that culture (the way the gawping crowds at the scenes of Bobby’s, Phil’s and Silvio’s shooting got a healthy dose of American culture themselves). I think this is the sense that Matthew Weiner describes the final scene as “partly a fuck you to the audience” – not in an antagonistic way, but in a “This is how it really feels” way – taking the audience from observer to participant (noting, of course, the context of the Iraq War).

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- Ron | November 12, 2021 at 5:51 pm | Reply
  
  Thanks, I had been meaning to put the lobsterlagoon link on my “Go Further” page but I always forget..
  
  I’m going to be including a quote from Chase on why he chose the title “Made in America” for the final episode…
  
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LK | November 14, 2021 at 8:06 am | Reply

I just finished watching the Sopranos for probably the fourth time. I am exhausted and, to some degree, sickened by the enormity of it all. Peter Coviello’s 2021 article ‘Carmela and Tony Get Vaccinated’ (lareviewofbooks.org) best summarized this series as follows: “The problem with The Sopranos, as my mother would have it, was that it was all so ugly, by which she meant the torrential swearing perhaps most of all – but also the violence, the offhand bigotry, the crazy proliferation of guns, the routine infidelity, the casual and all-pervading degradation. Verisimilitude did not enter it”. I agree. There was no real ‘realness’, despite our fervid beliefs otherwise. We laughed, cried, and bit our nails in wonder over the years. But to what purpose? We KNOW it’s a TV show, and that it shouldn’t be taken literally, but we DID! Why? Are our lives so mundane that we end up living our ‘alternate lives’ through the characters? Perhaps. Regardless, it was the best series I’ve ever watched and really, really enjoyed. And it ended. Time to go pick some flowers, bake a pan of ziti, pour a glass of wine, and toast a new day.

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- Orangeannie | November 14, 2021 at 12:14 pm | Reply
  
  I thought the same thing the other day! I swear!! I love the show, and I can’t wait for the last of Ron’s breakdowns of the series finale, but let’s move on now.
  
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- manny44ameritechnet | November 14, 2021 at 5:56 pm | Reply
  
  In the words Of Chrissy when Tony tells him that human life in the grand scale of the universe is insignificant …” I don’t feel that way”.
  
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- Mamjja, J.F. | November 18, 2021 at 3:42 am | Reply
  
  Yeah, I’m with Manny44 on this one. I see myself re-watching The Sopranos every few years until my own “Cut To Black”. Even knowing what’s coming, I still get sucked into the world of these charming sharks. Probably I would not have watched the series a second time if not for the shocking way it ended. My second viewing was to discover what clues I’d missed that would reveal what really happened at the end. That led me to this site. Big kudos to Ron; his refusal to collapse the meaning of the series down to a singularity opened up The Sopranos for me, and changed the way I look at art and life. My point of view is different with each subsequent viewing, thanks to the multi-layered nature of the work. In my view, Chase has captured the essence of America in such an entertaining and essential way that as America moves forward – or doesn’t, the series only gets more relevant – and revelatory. It feels like there’s no moving on, and it’s for the same reason as we saw in Melfi’s office. “Anthony we’ve been dancing around this for years, how you live.” There can be no moving on without confronting the issues, understanding them, making tough changes, then being vigilant lest old habits creep back in. Failing that, the events recur, recur, and recur with just enough superficial variations to keep us distracted from what matters. This one’s a keeper.
  
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  - Ron | November 18, 2021 at 1:47 pm | Reply
    
    💯
    
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  - Joe in Bensonhurst | November 18, 2021 at 6:35 pm | Reply
    
    Very well said.
    
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LK | November 14, 2021 at 12:55 pm | Reply

In 1624, a poem by John Donne was published. It has been read and loved by millions of people across the world. It was written as a plea to people to understand the importance of a connectivity to God. I see it as a warning to Tony about his ultimate downfall. An excerpt follows:

No man is an island, entire of itself;
every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less,
as well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were.
Any man’s death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind;
and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
it tolls for thee.

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Terremotito | November 22, 2021 at 8:55 am | Reply

FWIW, since we’re all fans…I finally saw MSON last weekend and my opinion: Not great, Bob!

I don’t think I’ve spoiled anything here.

I was really disappointed, from the storytelling to the cinematography to (some of) the acting. It felt like Chase & Co. were trying to cram way too much backstory into two hours, maybe because they’re used to developing characters during a series. The film seemed like it couldn’t decide what or whom it was about, and one could tell from scenes that focused on this character or that that they wanted to develop characters and story threads, but just couldn’t because of time constraints. (The Italian bride character is a good example.) It also failed to do what The Sopranos did so well, create empathy for different characters (except maybe teenaged Tony). I had a hard time feeling anything, good or bad, for Dickie – the story’s protagonist, I guess.

It also imposed on itself the unnecessary burden of telling a Sopranos back story. Prequels gonna prequel but some of the lines were real groaners and there were too many George Lucas-esque “look who it is” moments. Plus the narration itself was basically a series spoiler – for anyone who hasn’t seen it and might want to start with the film.

Also, this is just my personal opinion but I thought the color palette was more appropriate for a sci fi movie or a thriller. I was kind of hoping for more vibrance, since it was the 60s/70s and the supposed “heyday” of the mafia. Or at least more browns/reds like the series had. The cinematography instead seemed to double down on dreariness, which was what I felt about most of the characters. Maybe that’s what Chase wanted, but it took away from any realism, in my opinion anyway.

What I liked: Vera Farmiga (tough trick, channeling both Livia and Carmela), Michael Gandolfini, and the scenes with Dickie and his uncle (Ray Liotta) in the prison visitation area. The storyline about the black bookmakers was interesting, and Leslie Odom, Jr. was very charismatic, but again, there wasn’t enough space to develop it properly…it almost could be its own series or film instead of a subplot.

I’ll be interested to read your opinions – have read through some above. Looking forward to upcoming write-ups here!

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LK | November 22, 2021 at 8:05 pm | Reply

In an article I found on Vulture.com (Matt Seitz, Sept 2021), Chase’s grandmother’s name was (believe it or not) Theresa Melfi, who was married to a man named DeCesare. Apparently, Theresa had a long-term affair with a much younger Italian immigrant. They had 2 children (Chase’s father and aunt) that she passed off as her husband’s kids. Theresa and her boyfriend later split town and changed their last name to Chase. However, Chase’s daughter (Hunter on this series) is named Michele DeCesare. Hmm.

Well, Thanksgiving Day is 3 days away. I’d like to wish everyone on this site – especially Ron – a very happy Thanksgiving!! 😎

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- Ron | November 23, 2021 at 8:48 am | Reply
  
  Thanks, same to you
  
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lewDAD | November 24, 2021 at 7:00 am | Reply

I’ve not read all the comments, so please forgive me, but I watched the final 3 episodes last night and something from this one is bugging me….when Tony is emptying the pool, Janice arrives, talks, leaves – then Silvio shows up to discuss the botched assassination of Phil and the inability to determine his whereabouts. Tony describes how Phil has gone into hiding awaiting the attempts on the Soprano bosses to pass, “going to ground they call it”, claims Silvio. “Who?” asks Tony. “It’s an expression” answers Sil.

Tony’s questioning here is part confusion, part accusatory I felt. Silvio gives nothing away in his answer, but the camera lingers just long enough to make me doubt Silvio’s retort and if the real place he’s heard that expression is in his talking to the FBI.

I’m not accusing Sil of ratting out here, but it’d be interesting to see if anyone else inferred the suggestion by the writers here.

Great blog btw, I’m a late arrival at the party, sorry.

And apologies if this posted twice … sign in issues

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- Ron | November 24, 2021 at 10:11 am | Reply
  
  Yeah the camera does linger. I just thought that it was more like Silvio is annoyed that Tony is questioning him about this trivial thing when there’s bigger issues to worry about..
  
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  - Orangeannie | November 24, 2021 at 11:08 am | Reply
    
    Silvio has many little bits of information like that in his head. Quirky personality trait.
    
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    - 🦇The Black GOAT of the Woods w/ 1000 Young🦇 (@nataliereed84) | November 24, 2021 at 7:05 pm | Reply
      
      I love how Silvio is just that *tiny* bit smarter than the others, and always has his little hobbies and diversions at his desk: fixing a shoe, doing a crossword puzzle, building a model, whatever. It’s those little specific details that don’t matter one iota to the story but still take up otherwise empty narrative space that help lend the show so much realism and make the characters all feel so real and unique. Like… Silvio has a whole rich human life outside of his work. It’s just like real life: there’s always VASTLY more to any given person, however minor, than what’s immediately relevant to our immediate concerns, and that richness of depth bleeds out in the details.
      
      I appreciate that you’re here with me in the “waiting for Made in America post” comments community, Annie. 😛
      
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lewDAD | November 25, 2021 at 5:37 am | Reply

@Ron – yeah, it could easily just be that. That’s the genius of the show – a slightly lingering camera and facial expressions of amazing actors and your head comes up with all kinds of stuff 🙂

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LK | November 26, 2021 at 4:23 pm | Reply

So, when I clicked on the episode list at the top of this page, I saw 6.21 Made in America. I almost peed in my pants! Damnation! I couldn’t open it! What does this mean? I think that Ron is awfully close to publishing his overview of the last episode! Am I right?? PLEASE let us know!
Hugs! 🤩🤔😚😏😑🙄😶

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- Ron | November 26, 2021 at 5:15 pm | Reply
  
  It should be working…
  
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Megalodon | November 26, 2021 at 5:11 pm | Reply

Apparently Lorraine Bracco did not like Melfi’s exit from the show.
https://nypost.com/2021/11/26/lorraine-bracco-was-upset-over-sopranos-characters-exit/

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- Michelle | January 13, 2023 at 9:54 am | Reply
  
  She had been dancing around disengaging him has a patient for years. If he was, in fact, using her to master his con, his criminal acts… then it was her moral obligation, as per the The Hippocratic Oath she swore to when becoming a physician, to uphold specific ethical standards. She admits at the dinner party scene that it’s “fascinating work.” She blames others for being too obsessed with her patient but never admits that she also just cannot stop rubbernecking. Chase made her tear off the bandaid, if you will. I thought it was a brilliant way to end the relationship. She was abrupt, with little-to-no warning, and zero sympathy… like most of Tony’s actions throughout the series.
  
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John | December 6, 2021 at 11:18 am | Reply

How did Dr Melfi know that Tony had torn the recipe out of the mag in her waiting room? Did she have a surveillance camera set up?

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- Ron | December 6, 2021 at 12:19 pm | Reply
  
  I think she saw him from the doorway
  
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MaoLee | December 13, 2021 at 12:57 pm | Reply

Maybe I just see it that way, but the little female – older – figurine kind of reminds me of Livia. She even reminds me very strongly of the Livia who holds her hand in
front of her mouth when Tony stumbles down the stairs in “The knight in white satin amour”. Perhaps this figurine represents Livia, who is an
excited eyewitness to the exact moment when Tony’s little empire collapses, represented by the crashing train.

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LK | January 7, 2022 at 6:45 am | Reply

R.I.P. Peter Bogdanovich (aka: Dr. Elliot Kupferberg, Dr. Melfi’s therapist), 2021

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- manny44ameritechnet | January 7, 2022 at 4:34 pm | Reply
  
  He was really perfect in the part. The casting was always so damn good on this show. Or maybe it was all in the writing. IDK.
  
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Anonymous | January 9, 2022 at 5:18 pm | Reply

“‘The Blue Comet’ keeps chugging along. Patsy and Silvio are attacked in the parking lot of the Bada Bing. Patsy is able to hoof it through some trees and escape unscathed, but Silvio takes multiple bullets. (Some earlier imagery of Silvio polishing his white shoes perhaps foretold that his luck would run out in this hour.) This shootout isn’t as visually graceful as the earlier shooting at the hobby shop, mainly because of some clumsy slo-mo shots that were inserted in. But I do think the scene’s overall editing, particularly the sound editing, is very well done.”
When Chase cuts from the slow motion train wreck of Bobby literally crushing the city of Newark, to Sil and Patsy in the parking lot, I could swear I heard a train horn in the distance.

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Anonymous | January 9, 2022 at 6:30 pm | Reply

The shot of Tony in the safe house sitting on the bare mattress with his assault rifle brought to mind the phrase “going to the mattresses” made famous by The Godfather.

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Anonymous | January 10, 2022 at 6:38 pm | Reply

When I watch the scene where Tony is leaving Melfi’s office for the last time, and he removes the magazine page from his pocket, unfolds it, smooths it out, places it carefully back in the magazine, and dusts off the cover, it strikes me as very Ralph Kramdenesque. Or maybe it’s Ed Norton….either way, could be a scene from The Honeymooners..

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LK | January 28, 2022 at 3:23 pm | Reply

From brainyquote.com:
~
“I was very lucky with ‘The Sopranos’.
▪ Steven Van Zandt

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bobsaccamanno | February 25, 2022 at 12:26 pm | Reply

The 1981/2 film version by Franco Zeffirelli of Cavalleria Rusticana can be viewed online. I recommend it as an introduction to opera for people unfamiliar or usually annoyed by the genre. I think Sopranos viewers might especially enjoy it. It is a very short one act opera. Of course the AV quality of a YouTube version is not great although some of the acting is surprisingly good. Placido Domingo a bit old for the part at this point but his acting is great. Physically, it would be better if his part were played by someone who looked more like Christopher or Jackie Jr. and the antagonist by someone who looks like Tony. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arqnoxvtzZ4

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- bobsaccamanno | February 25, 2022 at 12:42 pm | Reply
  
  This version shows the English subtitles. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0TI_PswDxM
  
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LK | March 18, 2022 at 6:20 am | Reply

Famous last words:
~
“I think I’ll buy a railroad”.
▪ Bobby Baccalieri (‘Sopranos Home Movies’)

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LK | March 21, 2022 at 11:34 am | Reply

More famous last words:
~
“Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in!” (Silvio Dante)

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Vicky | March 27, 2022 at 4:20 pm | Reply

I know this review was done 2 years ago so wouldn’t particularly expect anyone to see a new comment now, but the question about whether a criminal like Tony could be helped by therapy is interesting. Nowadays, there is reluctance to label anyone “a sociopath” and more of an emphasis on how trauma impacts development, which is obviously something Melfi goes into with Tony but not in the depth she could have done. The idea is that once you get people to stop going into fight-or-flight mode when experiencing their trauma (e.g. eye movement therapy) you can deal with their behaviour in the usual way.
However, no kind of therapy could have worked with Tony because he isn’t committed to the process. At best, he uses therapy as a place to offload and that’s when he isn’t openly contemptuous. He responds with aggression when challenged, he pushes the boundaries of the working relationship and he seizes control when he can. The thing that always strikes me about Tony is that he uses therapy as a venue for the kind of emotional exploration he denies others. Whether it’s AJ and his mental health, or Carmella’s anxieties about money or Meadow’s values around civil liberties, other people’s emotions are largely treated as an inconvenience, whereas Tony’s own emotions demand not only space to be indulged but he must explore them entirely on his own terms. His entire culture drives him to demand “be a man” from others but he thinks himself an exception to this, and no wonder because he’s been raised to view other people exclusively as either a means to an end or barriers to be overcome.
I would say that while Melfi is definitely not adhering to professional boundaries, and really should have dumped Tony as a client a long time ago, I don’t think it was ever just about thrill-seeking with her. Tony’s “origin story” fits classic profiles of violent people, his wife and children are clearly suffering because of him and Melfi is keenly aware of the impact he has on others. If Tony was actually committed to therapy, an ethical argument could be made that she’s morally compelled to keep trying. And Tony is very much a charmer, who’s convinced more than one person he’s working towards the same goal as them. Melfi’s loyalty to him also reflects her partial contempt to some of her middle-class, sheltered colleagues which is somewhat understandable I think. (Melfi’s colleagues overstep professional boundaries in nearly ever conversation).

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- Ron | March 27, 2022 at 8:22 pm | Reply
  
  All good points Vicky. But it makes me wonder: aren’t therapists trained to deal with clients like Tony? Not necessarily criminals or Mafia bosses, but people who have the characteristics you describe…
  
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LK | April 10, 2022 at 6:26 pm | Reply

Yes, most therapists are trained to work with ‘difficult’ clients. However, if the client is non compliant with medical treatment (i.e., alcohol abuse when on prescription medication), fails to follow-through with appointments, is verbally abusive and physically confrontational, treatment will not ‘work’. As I’ve previously mentioned, Dr. Melfi was ill-equipped to treat Tony (for not establishing rules and boundaries, allowing him to intimidate her, etc.). She was not morally obligated to continue treating him, but terminating treatment should have taken at least one or two more sessions.

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- Orangeannie | April 10, 2022 at 9:27 pm | Reply
  
  She had to do it like that. Like ripping off a bandaid. Otherwise he might manipulate her into treating him further. Plus, I think she was emotionally attached to him, and annoyed with herself that she waited so long to stop treating him. She was angry and embarrassed and she “ broke it off.” She felt foolish.
  
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FThatParakeet | January 1, 2023 at 10:04 pm | Reply

Hey Ron, Happy New Year!

When Tony and Carmela visit AJ, the woman at the desk says that kids in times of stress need calm. I never noticed the shot is slowly zooming in on her as she says this. Steady afterwards. Any thoughts?

Take care, bud!

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- Ron | January 2, 2023 at 3:24 pm | Reply
  
  Happy new year FTP. I don’t remember the shot off the top of my head. Chase did use slow zooms occasionally (sometimes so slow that you could barely notice). I’d guess it’s meant to emphasize the woman’s words..
  
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clinto42 | January 12, 2024 at 1:33 pm | Reply

25th anniversary of the Sopranos here, and I’m enjoying chiming in although late to the party.
Melfi’s dropping Tony reminds me of that old joke…
“so-and-so died suddenly.”
“but he was terminally ill for years!”
“yeah, but when he died it was sudden.”
Melfi was conflicted about it for years. Suddenly something changed in her. I imagine she felt physically ill in that moment and had no other recourse. Therapists are after all humans too. This is relatable. Most people can recall a breakup situation where they were mulling it over and avoiding it for a long time, then suddenly blurted out one day, “we need to break up.” It just pops out of your mouth. The most professional? No. Shit happens.
As for her tenure with Tony, I think it’s too quotidian to think she was aiming to “fix” him, although of course there was some of that. I think it was more the excitement of being in uncharted territory. The other therapists have boring middle-and-upper class American assholes with their divorces, their horrible jobs, bratty kids and boredom. But she gets to do work with a high-level mobster! She’s getting insights that are virtually unknown to her field… she may be the the only therapist in the world who got to do such prolonged work with such a person. That must have been a kick. Still, she was aware of the problematic nature of all this… the guy was hurting and killing people the whole time. But she let herself get addicted to it. Of course ironically, Tony was basically one more boring American with the same old mid-life problems. Womp womp!
If we’re talking realism, I have to think Melfi put out an “I was Tony Soprano’s Therapist” book after he was dead.
As to Many Saints, I enjoyed it while I watched it but… why did it exist? ITSH a JERKOFF.
I did want to mention, the shot of Tony walking into Holsteins was further proof to me that he got whacked in there, although I’ll save most of my comments on that for the next episode. Holsteins was figured so prominently in that shot, it had to be either saying “Look, viewer! This is where the TV series ended!” -which seems meta in a way the Sopranos never was- or “This is where this character dies.” Which seems FAR more credible. I guess the former is possible, there was a lot of corny fan service in the movie, but still… Sopranos references are to the Sopranos universe, not the fact that it was an episodic TV universe. That’s more of like, Curb Your Enthusiasm or 30 Rock level-meta.
Finally, I gotta say… it’s kind of interesting how right-wingers like this show. What’s up with that? Sopranos anti-America cynicism is palatable to them for some reason, while I can’t imagine them liking something like The Wire. Do they not get it? Or just not care?

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Anonymous | January 22, 2024 at 8:34 pm | Reply

A couple or three things to add:

Tony telling Melfi he knows from the way the wind blows is such a great line. Gynecologist kinda sounds like meteorologist, which of course hits the weatherman lyric in the Dylan song. Coincidentally, AJ and Rhiannon discuss Dylan’s uncanny relevance to their times just like we’re saying the same thing about The Sopranos 25 years later.

Tony’s “exile” comment to Janice is especially pertinent given her Stones’ Hot Lips logo breast tattoo.

Best low key acting moment: tough call between Artie’s scribbling hand gesture when reacting to the news of Meadow studying constitutional law or Butchie’s facial expressions when he and Albie try to make sense of Phil’s scrapbook comment.

As always, great analysis. You’re the man, Ron!

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Anonymous | March 12, 2024 at 3:24 pm | Reply

Some ideas about “White shoes”. More than just “death,” it’s about life, death, and imprisonment *in the mob*.

Paulie: has a rack full of sparkling white shoes -> Paulie is a stand-up guy (never a rat fuck) who lived completely as a mobster (no wife, kids, etc.) and will die as a mobster.
Johnny Sack: Wears white shoes in prison, but has scuffs on them and has to clean them. The scuffs associate with the allocution. His allocution is a mark (“scuff”) on his reputation as a mobster.
Bert Gervasi: As he lay dying, his white shoes twitch. Death of a mobster.

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