Another year, another Sopranos finale. This year has been difficult to sum up. The show has taken us on some fairly odd tangents this year, but has provided us with our share of moments. Before tonight's show, we were left contemplating the death of Adriana LaCerva and the impending war between the Brooklyn and New Jersey families, brought on by the postal actions of one Tony Blundetto. While the episode started off slow, we were treated with a beating, a whacking, and even a Meadow sighting. About the only people left out were Janice and Artie.
Enough with the small talk, however, the big deal for a couple of weeks has been Tony Blundetto, played by Steve Buscemi, and the problems he has had with controlling his temper all season. At first, we thought he was a stand-up guy. Locked away all those years, he applied himself to the fine art of massage therapy. Forgetting Paulie's advice to "Remember Pearl Harbor!", he went into business with a Korean, then promptly beat said Korean's face in when he asked Tony how some renovations were going. His legitimate prospects gone, Tony B. comes back to the family business and rapidly moves his way up the ladder. With the money raking in, he goes against common sense and avenges a personal matter with the New York family, escalating a full out war.
Deeeaaaaayyyuum.
In the Soprano household, meanwhile, things seem to be going well. I don't know about you, dear reader, but seeing Tony plopped in front of the TV munching on his half gallon of ice cream, ignoring even the most basic emotional needs of his wife, nearly brought a tear to my eye. Although I couldn't help but thinking that if Carmela really wanted to have better communication with Tony, she would buy him a Tivo. We all know how convenient it is to be able to pause the TV when our boyfriend/girlfriend/boss/parents call at the worst possible time. Not that I am encouraging this, but Tony could have paused the History Channel, nodded a couple of times in response to Carmela's apprehensions about her new house, kissed her on the head, then press play like nothing happened. Now that is marriage counseling.
Another problem Tony seems to be having is his son. Although he and Carmela want him to put his nose to the grindstone so he can get to East Stroudsberg State, AJ seems to be getting his entrepeneur on, and making inquiries into the feasibility of event planning. And although this really bothered his parents, I for one can understand what AJ is getting excited about. Besides Tony and Carmela wouldn't have anything to worry about if they visited LA.
The person I really empathize with this year is Christopher Maltisanti. Poor Chrissy has gotten no love this year. His hard work seems to be doing him no good, and his girlfriend was just killed for blabbing to the feds. On top of all of this, he is the number one person in line to get tapped if the people from New York decide to take a little revenge. We know he would take a bullet for Tony, but taking a bullet for Tony B. is something that he didn't count on among his soldier's duties.
To me, the big moment in this finale is the scene where Silvio confronts Tony about the problems the rest of the family has with Tony's actions. Silvio, the consiglieri, is not often called upon to do much work, but his contributions this season have been some of the best stuff all year. Not only did he do the dirty work with Adriana, he called Tony out about the hardship Tony B. brought upon his own family. After Phil Leotardo nearly beats young Benny Fazio to death trying to find out where Tony Blundetto is hiding, Tony realizes he has to take care of his problem.
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Comments (3)
i like six feet under, jerk!
1 of 3 | Posted by merlatonin | Posted on June 7, 2004 9:19 AM
OK, Six Feet Under isn't that bad, but I needed some way to end this post, and disparaging the West Wing wouldn't have been any good.
2 of 3 | Posted by J-Unit | Posted on June 7, 2004 10:04 AM
Six Feet Under is good if you think cliched soap opera storylines wrapped under the hipster HBO banner means quality television.
3 of 3 | Posted by b-side | Posted on June 7, 2004 6:00 PM