 Jamey is on a much-deserved vacation this week, so he asked me to step in and cover the blog. I’ll do my best to fill his considerable shoes. I was hoping for a barnburner tonight, the kind of episode where the blog would pretty much write itself, but instead a good 35-40 minutes were devoted to AJ, my least favorite character on the show (save for Livia, but she’s been gone a while now). Normally, he’s just a whiny, spoiled kid, but now that he’s doing some of that fancy book learnin’, he’s a whiny, spoiled, depressed kid. Tony’s reaction to AJ’s spiel about the virus spray on the meat underlined his own inner conflict about his son’s future. On one hand, he has always said he doesn’t want AJ to turn out like him, but when the kid tries to branch out, he threatens to put his head through the wall. “Twenty years, he won’t crack a book. All of a sudden he’s the world’s foremost authority.” Did anyone really think that AJ’s suicide attempt would be successful? Since we lost Chris last week, the odds were against another main character dying so quickly, and honestly, AJ hasn’t been able to follow through on anything. Once the cement block hit the pool floor, he freaked out, and it looked for a moment that he might somehow die accidentally at his own suicide attempt. Tony’s just-in-time arrival made for a very powerful scene. It’s obvious that he loves his kid, but at the same time AJ’s troubles are a giant pain in his ass, both at home and on the job. How will the suicide attempt affect Tony’s work? It can only be seen as another sign of weakness (in what has become a pretty long line). Pauley’s take was priceless: “Ask me, it’s all these toxins they’re exposed to. It fucks with their brains. Between the mercury in the fish alone it’s a wonder more kids aren’t jumping off bridges.” “Between the mercury in the fish alone“? Fucking Pauley is fantastic. Tony talks to Melfi about the suicide attempt and she suggests that it might have been a cry for help - that subconsciously he knew that the rope was too long to keep him submerged. Tony’s reply was classic: “Or he could just be a fucking idiot. Historically, that’s been the case.” Regardless, Tony understands that his cursed genes have a large part to do with AJ’s troubles, so he’s empathetic to a certain point, but that doesn’t stop him from getting into it with Carmella once AJ is committed. Is it just me or does it seem like their marriage is once again holding on by a thread? I had to laugh when Tony gave her a watch (out of guilt?) after he took care of Chris’ “business affairs” in Las Vegas. Business, Carm? You sure are a trusting soul. (Or more likely, you’d simply prefer not to think about it.) Later, in therapy, Tony starts talking about how mothers are buses and all we want to do as children is get back on the bus, but it can never happen. After Melfi says that the theory is insightful, Tony quips, “Jesus, don’t act so surprised.” It’s clear that Tony wants Carmella to accept some of the blame for how his son turned out, and this might be his way of disowning the kid. When Melfi asks if he’s ashamed of AJ, Tony replies, “Yeah, I am. Coward’s way out, right?” Aside from this week’s depressing depression, the brewing conflict between Tony and Phil finally kicked into high gear. Once Phil rejected Tony’s asbestos-related offer, it led to T pulling a couple of jobs that were designated for Phil’s men and then to that idiot Coco accosting Meadow while she was having dessert in Little Italy. It was funny to watch Tony try to calm his daughter and wife down when you just knew that underneath the surface his blood was boiling and that Coco was about to get one serious beatdown. I wasn’t expecting Tony to go all “American History X” in the restaurant, but it was even more surprising that Coco survived the attack. It’s clear now that Carmine’s failed peace accord will lead to further escalation, though I think his line to T – “you’re at the precipice of an enormous crossroad” – had more than one meaning. It was strange to hear Phil spouting his obscenities from the safety of his ivory tower. It’s doubtful that he’d be so bold if he were standing face to face with Tony, but even so, you could see from the look in T’s eyes that there is no going back. With just two episodes left, there are still a number of unanswered questions: Will Tony once again hear from the two suspected terrorists? Will AJ’s stint in the hospital do anything for his outlook on life? Will Tony continue on his existential journey and finally find happiness? Will his marriage survive? And most importantly, will he survive the coming war with Phil? Game on.
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One of the first things I thought was. it was too bad A.J didn’t succeed. He has to be the worst character on the show.
It was nice to see Tony revert to the thug that he is while he was beating CoCo half to death. Woould have been nice to see him blow that cock-eyed, red headed bastards head off of his shoulders.
They are setting up one hell of a series finale between Phil and Tony. It’s going to be bloody.
Editting Goof? During the therapy session with AJ, Carmella, and Tony; all of a sudden the camera angle changes on Carmella and she’s talking about a Poem, it didn’t follow the dialog at all, do you think there was a goof up in the editting room?
I know it was meant for the Yeats poem but it looks like it slipped in there by mistake
I remember that cut in the therapy session and I thought it was meant to show the passage of time (i.e. the session is going on and on and it’s just one giant Soprano bitch session).
Did anyone notice Syl reading the book How to Clean Everything?
Do you think the “Blue Comet” episode has to do with the cleansing powder Comet?
Tony looked like a broken man after the bothced meeting with Phil & Little Carmine. He didn’t even put up an argument about not being able to take the pizza into the hospital. I see things ending very badly for Tony. The wheels are coming off that bus he talked about. I think the biggest hint of this is when Bobby went to collect from the asbestos contractor and he didn’t even have on envelope!
I see an eventual connection between the terror suspects and Phil. Tony knows his NJ mob family is out gunned by the NY mob family. So, he comes up with some sort of lie about Phil’s mob family’s ties with the terrorists. Tony knows how the law can equalize things. Remember when he was on the outs with Johnny Sac and then the Feds came in an basically eliminated him as a problem. Though, I know that Tony now looks at the Johnny Sac days as the good ol’ days.
Two things that I think Chase tried to “wrap up” this episode:
(1) the AJ story line - he’s hospitalized and that’s all for him, at least for the final episodes; and
(2) the terrorists - they bring the agents back to show Tony their pics, then say they think they might already be out of the country. That’s all we’re getting for that story.
That leaves the final two episodes to sort through the inevitable NJ-NY (or at least Tony-Phil) showdown and its aftermath.
One other thing: have to take issue with Paulsen saying Livia was his LEAST favorite character. WHAT?!? She was the whole point of the show early on (i.e., the driving and formative force behind Tony and his need to see Melfi) and had some absolutely GREAT lines and plots. Sure, she was a horrible mother and irritating woman, but, man, there simply is no Sopranos without Livia.
“there simply is no Sopranos without Livia.”
I disagree. This show is about Tony and it still would have been good had his mother died before the series started. Would it have been as good? We’ll never know.
Besides, I never said that Livia wasn’t important to the show, I just said she was my least favorite character.
Just stumbled apon this blog and gotta say its pretty good! I have a feeling that the last two episodes will be about the Ny-NJ mob war and Tony out smarts Phil stategicly… maybe even with an ending scene where we know Tony has won, and “has it all” as he told Phil they could have in the hospital but he still isnt happy, ending the show with the viewer to make your own opinions of what it means… The Sopranos has never been very obvious with thier intentions, prefering you to draw your own conlusions. (like the dreams and Tonys behavior after Junior shot him)
I also like Marteens idea of using the Feds to help his cause with Phil, a real Heavy Wieght with a lot of power backing him up and Tony could use the help. Who can he really count on anymore? Sil is probably the best option but who else, (I gotta say one of my favorite scenes is when Silvio stabs Phils guy who was “busting his balls” about Vito…no matter what Vito was they still had his back, says a lot about his character)Bobby?? PATSY? PAULIE? BENNY??!! come on… one of the biggest issues has been how Tony has to live trusting no one and no one ever knowing the whole truth of any of his life or business… they will have to think of a clever way for Tony to out smart Phil if they plan on Tony being alive at the end of the show.
It’s pretty clear to me with “all the hidden messages” embedded for people to “figure it out” left by Mr. Chase. After 8 years and all those Soprano parties, if the man who gave us such a strong pop culture hit series and put HBO on the map (all those including myself that could not cancel their HBO subscription for playing Christmas movies in June or old movies like the original Posiden Adventure on a PREMIUM pay channel just so they don’t miss the Sopranos) OWES it’s VERY loyal viewers a CLEAR ending UNLESS he was planning or would at least want to leave his options open to make a major motion picture for the big screen! There is no other reason to be so cryptic as that was not the style of producing or writing before this point. It’s all about the dollar my friends! PLUS the dream sequence was already used by the producers of Dallas with Bobby Ewing or was it J.R.? Say and argue what you must but mark my words, there will be a Sopranos one day with in 5 years on the silver screen!