Category: The Sopranos (Page 5 of 9)

At one point during tonight’s episode, Tony told Beansie that things were going great, but he was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Excuse me? Things are going great? Not only are the feds up your ass more than ever, but your brother-in-law beat the snot out of you two weeks ago, you said last week that you thought your cousin wanted you dead, and this week you very nearly dropped one of your oldest, closest friends over the side of a boat. Again. If this is “going great,” I’d hate to see Tony after a bad day.

I’m sure some people will complain about this episode’s apparent lack of action, but think about what’s been accomplished now: Tony had the brawl with Bobby, the backlash from which we still haven’t seen; Tony’s convinced that Chris despises him and Chris thinks Tony’s pissed about his movie; and now Tony apparently thinks Paulie is so much of a liability that he’s giving serious consideration to whacking him. Three episodes in, and Tony’s at odds with three of his guys. If I’m Sil, I’m watching my back.

It was pretty cool to hear some of the stories Tony, Paulie and Beansie were sharing this week, and that picture of young Paulie was awesome. I wasn’t entirely sure what Tony was trying to accomplish on the boat, but it seemed like he kept harping on the joke Ralph told about Johnny Sack’s wife because he was looking for a reason to off Paulie. When Paulie flat-out denied that he told Johnny about the joke, T thought about going through with it anyway before deciding to chuck a bottle of beer at him instead. Still, judging by what Tony told Beansie and by how annoyed Tony seems to be with Paulie these days, it certainly seems like Paulie’s living on borrowed time.

Fortunately, the potential problem with the Willie Overalls killing from 1982 (apparently Tony’s first) blew over, but after Sil told T the good news, he said, “You gotta wonder what’s next.” Maybe it’s not the most optimistic outlook, but it definitely seems to be a realistic one. The feds may not be able to pin Willie Overalls on Tony, but that won’t stop them from digging up something else on him.

Speaking of which, did anybody else think the girl Tony hooked up with was asking too many questions? Seems if you’re “laying low,” as Tony told Paulie earlier in the episode, you use your aliases even around the ladies. The blonde Tony slept with seemed awful interested in the people at the table the night before, and she said something that made it sound like she’d been talking with Paulie too. Something to keep an eye on, maybe.

How great was it to see Junior back in action? Sure, it’s not quite the same now that he’s hopped up on meds in that criminal loony bin, but he’s clearly still a little ‘oobatz.’ That Asian kid that was hanging around Junior was trouble from the get go, and I figured he was going to attack Junior at some point, but I wondered if he would actually kill him. Turns out he just beat Junior up pretty good. How exactly Junior’s arc this week relates to the overall storyline is a bit unclear, though I’m thinking it was a way to show just how far someone of Tony’s stature (and Junior’s before Tony) could eventually fall.

Finally, I guess we should discuss the drama in New York, where the guy who whacked the guy everyone thought was going to take over for Johnny Sack got whacked himself (got all that?). This time, Phil was behind the hit, and for a good reason: you just don’t take food off another guy’s plate. I’ve always known that, but now I know just how dire the consequences can be if you break that rule. Keep your fork to yourself. Lesson learned.

There was a very telling moment in tonight’s episode, and as is often the case, it came in Dr. Melfi’s office. After attending a screening for “Cleaver,” Chris’ just-wrapped horror flick, Tony breaks down and tells Dr. Melfi that Chris despises him. It was obvious during the screening that the boss in the film, played by Daniel Baldwin (“Fuck Ben Kinglsey. Danny Baldwin took him to fucking acting school!”), was based on Tony – the open white bathrobe in the basement scene was a dead giveaway – but not until Carm confronted Tony about the scene where Baldwin fucks the fiancée of Michael “The Cleaver” did Tony stop to think about what that could mean.

So Tony tells Dr. Melfi about how Chris was more like a son after Chris’ dad died, and it bothered him that Chris now seemed to hate him. In fact, the big fella actually broke down and cried during the session before saying, “He wants to see me dead,” a reasonable conclusion considering Baldwin (I didn’t catch his character’s name in the movie) wound up with a cleaver in his skull. But here’s the thing: Tony didn’t seem too concerned about the possibility of Chris making a move against him; he was broken up by the fact that – by his estimation, anyway – Chris despises him.

By this point I think everyone can agree that, whatever goes down in these final few episodes, Chris is going to be right in the middle of it. What exactly that means, of course, remains to be seen, but after agent Harris told Tony that he had recently talked to Chris before adding, “maybe he never told you about it,” I’m hanging on to my original theory: Chris is going to rat Tony out. Maybe he really does despise Tony after having Adrianna killed, or maybe he’s just trying to save his own ass, but all the signs are there, including the scene tonight where Chris was talking to Shooter McGavin (for all you “Happy Gilmore” fans out there) and an FBI agent showed up to talk to him.

Of course, the possibility exists that David Chase is leading me around by my nose and he wants everyone, including Tony, to think that Chris has flipped. That could very well be the case, but at the very least it’s clear that Chris, like little Carmine, has started to distance himself from the family, intentionally or not. He’s clean (allegedly), he’s got a wife and a baby now, and his movie is about to hit theaters. Chris seems to be following Carmine’s lead and trying to find happiness in his life.

Not much happiness in the New York family these days, though. Stage 4 lung cancer took Johnny Sack out at the end of the episode while everyone – even people on the freaking news – speculated about who would be his replacement. Phil apparently doesn’t want the gig after his heart condition last season, and the apparent favorite, Jerry Torciano, was whacked while having dinner with Sil and some lovely ladies in the coolest scene of the episode. Meanwhile, Tony wants Carmine to take over but, as he told Tony over lunch, he’s not interested, and his reasoning certainly seemed to strike a chord with Tony. Is it time for Tony to find happiness in his life? Is that even possible at this point?

I’ve heard and read complaints by people who say not enough happens on “The Sopranos” anymore, but I don’t think those people are appreciating the story that Chase is creating. This is a mob show, sure, but it doesn’t need to be all guns and blood and “fuggedaboutits”. Chase is building toward something, with the trouble brewing between Tony and Chris, last week’s brawl between Tony and Bobby, the drama in New York and the potential problem Phil poses, and Carm’s refusal to leave the Adrianna situation alone. And beneath it all runs Tony’s mounting questions about the choices he’s made and the state of his life, capped off by the fact that the guy he loves like a son seemingly hates him. Changes are coming, big things will happen. Maybe they’re not happening fast enough for some fans, or maybe there just aren’t enough corpses along the way. But as long as Chase gives us the payoff he seems to be moving toward, I’m going to enjoy the ride.