There’s a part of me that doesn’t even want to blog about this episode. I don’t want to ruin it. I don’t want to overanalyze it. I don’t want to pick it apart. It was a brilliant 50-plus minutes of television, setting things up for what looks to be one helluva memorable finale next week, and that’s really all that needs to be said. The episode speaks for itself.
But what kind of blog would this be if we didn’t actually blog? So let’s start by saying: Here we go. Seems the bloody, shoot-em-up ending that so many viewers wanted has come to be. That early scene with Phil and his two cronies was one of the best scenes of the season, maybe the series. “The Sopranos are nothing more than a glorified crew,” Phil says, quoting Carmine. “We decapitate and do business with whatever’s left.” Seems Phil doesn’t think all that much of his NJ counterparts, or at least, that’s what I gathered when he called them a “Pigmy tribe.” He wants the top three guys gone: Sil, Bobby and, of course, Tony.
A couple of interesting notes here, the first coming from one of the guys from the NY group. Bobby is Tony’s #3. We’ve kinda known it for a while but, as the NY guy pointed out, Bobby used to be Junior’s driver. Then he marries Janice and a couple years later he’s T’s #3? That always seemed strange to me. Turns out they promote everybody, as Phil says, and Bobby’s a very large piece of evidence. But would Bobby be in that position if Chris had still been around? Probably not. Or, at least, you can bet Phil would’ve made Chris a priority over Bobby because he understood that Chris would’ve hurt T more. But Tony gives Chris a friendly push toward his dirt nap a few episodes ago and poor Bobby pays for it. In a hobby store buying an $8,000 train, no less.
Second, who’s missing from that hit list? Paulie. Actually, someone even asked if Paulie should go too, and Phil’s guy clarified that their only targeting management. Man, Paulie’s so pathetic he can’t even get someone to whack him. And now, T’s stuck with Paulie again, in hiding just like their trip to Florida a month or two ago. I said “poor Bobby” earlier, but I feel sorrier for Tony, having to hole up in that house with Paulie for who knows how long. (By the way, whose house is that? Junior’s? His mom’s? I feel like I should know…but I don’t.)
Now, I can’t gloss over perhaps the funniest moment of the entire episode, the reason T and Paulie are in hiding (with a couple other guys) and the reason Sil also got hit (more on that later): they killed the wrong guy. Tony catches wind of Phil’s plot against him (thanks agent Harris) and goes on the offensive, ordering a hit on Phil at his goumah’s house before he can hit them. Only they shoot the wrong guy – some Ukranian who looked a lot like Phil – and when Sil and Paulie see the paper the next day and realize that they fucked up, the look they exchange is absolutely priceless. Too bad that may be one of the last times we see Sil, after he and Patsy got ambushed in the Bing parking lot. He’s still alive (barely), but I want to know why he didn’t have his gun on him instead of stashing it in a bag in the backseat. If he’d been able to open fire immediately, he probably could’ve at least taken out one of the guys before going down himself. That would’ve been a much more appropriate end for Sil; he’s too great of a character to watch him (probably) die while scrambling for a gun and not even getting a shot off.
Clearly, Tony is having a bad week, especially in the middle of the AJ crisis. After running into a girl from school (I’m assuming) while in the hospital, AJ’s home and watching war coverage, probably not the thing to be doing while you’re trying to overcome depression. Tony wants to talk to Melfi about, among other things, the AJ situation, but she’s not having any of it, not after reading that article that says, also among other things, that therapy becomes just one more criminal operation for criminals. Melfi thinks Tony’s been manipulating her for seven years, and she ends their association this week. Ooh, bad timing. Man, I felt bad for Tony, watching him come to the realization that she was ending his therapy at maybe the precise moment that he needed it the most. Thing is, we all know Tony’s a genuine guy. His sessions with Melfi have been authentic, and Melfi probably knows it too, but she’s not taking any chances. With one episode left, I wonder if that was her curtain call.
So this is it. We were left tonight with an image of Tony, laying in a sheetless bed, fully clothed with his jacket on, falling asleep while staring at the door to his room, an assault rifle resting on his chest. It’s coming, and Tony’s ready for it. Carm’s with Meadow, Janice and Bobby’s kids in another house – who knows if AJ is going to show up after Tony tossed him out of bed and dumped all the clothes in his closet on his head? Chris, Bobby and Sil are gone. Tony’s locked down in a dumpy old house…with Paulie. And nobody knows where Phil is.
You couldn’t pay me to miss next week’s finale. (Well, unless you’re talking serious money.)