With one episode to go (this year, before the eight bonus episodes starting in January), here’s some of what we know:
Phil is going to be a major pain in the ass. Johnny Sack is gone after accepting a 15-year plea bargain last episode, leaving Phil as acting boss and likely successor. He’s been riding Tony’s ass (no pun intended) about the Vito situation, and when word leaked that Vito approached Tony incognito at a mall, asking to be allowed to buy back in, Phil set up a meeting with T to see if the rumors were true. The telling thing about that meeting was when Phil said, “If Vito was here and you knew about it….” He didn’t get to finish the thought because Tony walked away, but it’s clear there was a threat waiting at the end of that sentence. It’s also clear that Phil doesn’t have much respect for Tony, because he found Vito himself and watched as two of his guys beat him to death in a hotel room. Later, we learn they rammed a pool cue (unchalked, rumor has it) up his can.
The thing is, Tony had already reluctantly told Sil that Vito needed to be taken care of; instead, Phil offs one of Tony’s captains. How should T respond? He knows taking out one of Phil’s made guys would set off a war, and that’s the last thing he wants. Looks like that’s exactly what he’s going to get since Carlo took out one of the guys who killed Vito with a butcher knife. Sil helped, first by knocking him over the head and then jumping on his back when he lunged toward Carlo. We’ve known Phil was going to be trouble right from the beginning of the season, and now we’re finally seeing just what kind of trouble he’s going to cause. T and Johnny had their issues but they made it work. Phil is just a prick. The question is, does Phil try to take Tony out before Tony takes Phil out?
AJ is a little too much like Daddy. He likes to party, likes the women, has a violent streak and doesn’t much care for the law. He even had his very first panic attack a few episodes ago. This week, Carm finds out AJ was fired from Blockbuster for stealing movie posters and cardboard cutouts, and then selling them. “You always tell me to think like a businessman,” AJ tells Tony, “but every time I do, it’s no good.” Damn, he’s right. AJ made money by selling stolen merchandise, and he made money when he organized and promoted high school parties, but he got his ass chewed in both instances. If T and Carm aren’t happy with the choices AJ’s making, maybe they should take a hard look at his role models. Later, when Tony suggests to Carm that they shouldn’t have spoiled AJ, she says, “This is something in him. Deep down, it’s like this big ‘Fuck You’ to everything.” To which Tony pricelessly responds, “I don’t know what that’s all about.” Hello? D’uh! Anyone ever heard “Like father, like son”?
At this point, I’m trying to figure out who’s on a more dangerous path, Chris or AJ. Neither one of them seems headed toward anywhere good, though we’ve seen very little of Christopher the last two weeks. Tony confesses to Melfi this week that he hates AJ, which isn’t true, of course, but if it wasn’t for Carm, Tony tells AJ earlier in the episode, “I would’ve knocked out all your baby teeth with one shot.” Melfi, however, points out that the protection Carmella gave AJ when he was growing up is exactly the kind of protection he wishes his mother had given him from his father. Deep stuff. It’ll be interesting to see what course David Chase has plotted for AJ in these final nine episodes.
Carmella is bored and Tony is back. Carmella’s trip to Paris with Roe this week was an eye opening experience for her, one that will no doubt have her sniffing around the Adriana situation some more when she returns. Think she’ll learn that Tony had Ade killed? No marriage survives that. Carm is looking for more independence, which doesn’t exactly thrill Tony, and it’s going to be worse after this trip. “Who am I? Where am I going?” Tony said to nobody in particular as he faded in and out of consciousness in the hospital. Carm admits to Roe this week that she feels the same way. Meanwhile, Tony appears to have fallen off the spiritual wagon. He was forced into ordering the hit on Vito to help sooth relations with Phil, and shortly after making that decision, we see T getting road head from an unbelievably hot stripper while “Back in Black” is blaring from his car stereo.
Oh yeah, Tony appears to be back alright, though reluctantly. He wanted to let Vito relocate to Atlantic City, and he walked out on half-naked Juliana Marguiles because he didn’t want to cheat on Carmella. As hard as he’s tried to cling on to the perspective he gained through his time in the hospital, and as much as he may want to shake his lifestyle at times, it’s clear that Tony Soprano is and always will be Tony Soprano. And that’s most likely going to mean trouble for Phil Leotardo.
