sopranos 4/15

[MurphAK60]

Wow..just got done watching..a few observations:

1. Again, I'll say - as I did last week - the music used in this show is downright brilliant. From Lou Reed's classic "This Magic Moment" to the Irish Punk song (anyone?) that ended this week's classic. Outstanding in summarizing the mood, the forecoming drama, etc. Loved it..

2. Sydney Pollack is amazing..the man needs to do more acting. While it's disappointing to know that's all we'll see of him in this show...I hope someone picks up what a gifted actor the man is. Loved the..."Oh yeah, I killed her aunt, and the mailman too..at that point, I had to fully commit".

3. The scene when Jerry got whacked..WOW..I thought my DVR f'ed up. Then I realized that was blood that hit Sil. Classic scene...one of my all time Soprano favorites. Sil moved it out quick didn't he? That's the kind of action we all love...

4. Phil is going to absolutely unleash hell on someone...my guess is Christopher..in retribution for Billy and for the Ellis Island gaffe - Leo(t)ardo..lol.

5. Poor Johnny Sac...Vincent Curatola rocked the house. I will say I would have liked to have seen that played out more. Someone like Curatola...seems almost wrong Sac was dismissed so quickly. Nice to see the daughters looking good tho :-)

6. Does anyone else think A.J. looks like some kind of gay latin pimp now? What a joke...I wish they'd write him and Blanca, Blanca, Blanca out of the show. Dumb.

7. Where's Artie? The comedy that man provides is sorely missing.

This is a classic example of how Chase can make both schools of Soprano fans happy. On one hand, you have the masses who want the blood and guts, the mafia stories, the murders, the la cosa nostra material...on the other, you have the minority who crave the weekly insight into the mind and psychological well being of Tony. This episode blended both like we've seen in seasons, 1,2,3 and 4.

One can only hope it continues on....

Watch out Chris, Phil is on his way...

[Waterfall]

Evidently Chickentown by John Cooper Clarke is the song but cant find it anywhere online ugh

[KDawg]

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Great episode. The hit scene was one of the best of the series.

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I agree, it was completely perfect. I really felt like it was what a hit would be like as Silvio was just sitting there dumbfounded and the hit interuptted his talk with the girl. Almost every hit scene we have ever seen before there was a huge set up and we would know what was going on, whereas here it came out of nowhere like a hit would possibly be. Just great stuff on the slo mo and how it all worked

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Who is more afraid of whom? Christopher of Tony, or Tony of Christopher? The looks on each of their faces during the hug at the baptism was equally 'what is this person capable of doing to me...?'

name of the song at the end of the episode is...?

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I loved that too, there was sooo much going on there and both were in utter distrust of each other

[gusmahler]

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This is a classic example of how Chase can make both schools of Soprano fans happy. On one hand, you have the masses who want the blood and guts, the mafia stories, the murders, the la cosa nostra material...on the other, you have the minority who crave the weekly insight into the mind and psychological well being of Tony. This episode blended both like we've seen in seasons, 1,2,3 and 4.


[/ QUOTE ]While I agree it was a great episode, it had hardly any blood and guts (not counting Cleaver, it was just the one hit).

There was a lot of "inner workings of mob" type stuff, though, if that's what you meant. Easily the best episode of the past couple of seasons.

[CappyAA]

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Great episode. The hit scene was one of the best of the series.

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Agreed - I was wondering wtf was going on when you saw everything slow down and the shrilling sound. Definitely very cool.

[Sluss]

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One of my favorite episodes ever.

On a side note:

Was Finn gay?

My wife says yes, I say no.

[/ QUOTE ]I always thought he was. I always thought that was where the whole Johnny Cakes thing came from with Vito. Might have just been though that he was a pansy and Meadow couldn't take it. It was getting pretty unbelievable that she would ever let him near her.

Very interesting last night, the New York tension is great. I liked the Johnny Sack stuff because it felt real. Looked just like how cancer kills. A slow quick death.

I have a feeling the Chris and Tony tension will build, but might not turn into anything and then will tick off the masses.

I loved when Sil wouldn't say to Tony that the boss in Cleaver was an insult to Tony. Plus Tony watching the movie that the Wings guy said he stole it from. It's those small things that have always made this show great to me.

[maryfield48]

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Who is more afraid of whom? Christopher of Tony, or Tony of Christopher? The looks on each of their faces during the hug at the baptism was equally 'what is this person capable of doing to me...?'

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Reminded me of the scene in 'The Wire' between Stringer & Avon on the balcony of Avon's apartment.

[NJchick]

When life turns to legacy
Monday, April 16, 2007
BY ALAN SEPINWALL

STAR-LEDGER STAFF

WARNING: This column contains major plot spoilers for last night's "Sopranos" episode.



A moment of silence, please. I'm in mourning and more than a bit of shock that the show killed off one of the greatest characters in its history.

I'm speaking, of course, about Gerry "The Hairdo" Torciano.

What?

Sorry, my mistake. The late Gerry The Hairdo may have had one of the show's best nicknames, but the classic wiseguy who died in "Stage 5" was Johnny Sack. Where Gerry went down in a hail of bullets in a power play by rival New York underboss Doc Santoro, Johnny had a quieter, more prolonged passing, succumbing to lung cancer in a prison hospital.

Vince Curatola, who's gone from masonry contractor to "Sopranos" bit player to one of the show's most essential cast members, called his farewell episode "an actor's dream," and he made the most of it, turning in a master class performance. One superb scene in particular was the first visit by wife Ginny and daughter Allegra, from the way Johnny gently broke the news with his understated, "I'm very, very sick," to the daggers he stared at that prison guard (in freer, healthier times, Johnny would have had that guy's entire family killed), to the look of anticipation right before he smoked his first cigarette in a long time. What a great sendoff for an indelible character.

Thematically, though, the key scene was the one where Johnny asked optometrist brother-in-law Anthony Infante, "How will I be remembered?"

When you're coming to the end, either as a man dying of cancer, a mob boss who believes you'll soon end up murdered or in the can, or a TV producer trying to bring closure to one of the all-time great dramas, thoughts turn to legacy, as they did so often throughout "Stage 5."

Tony congratulated Christopher on making "Cleaver" by noting, "100 years from now, we're dead and gone, people'll be watching this (bleeping) thing." (No doubt a sentiment thrown around the "Sopranos" studios of late.) Then he complained to Dr. Melfi that rather than pass on the connection he had with Christopher's father Dickie, he'll instead be remembered by Chris as a bully.

Little Carmine (granted a rare moment of respect by the writers) explained to Tony that the part of Carmine Sr.'s legacy he wanted to follow was the happiness, not being boss of New York. And Phil Leotardo prepared to end his brief retirement (watch out, Doc Santoro) because he didn't want his legacy to be as the guy who didn't avenge his brother's murder. (That Phil still holds a birthday party for his brother years after Billy died, and that Johnny still tells stories about Carmine Sr., shows how much both men value how people are remembered long after they're gone.)

While Johnny was dying and Phil was stewing, Tony's relationship with Christopher continued to fracture. Chris is sober again, and he's apparently dumped Julianna Skiff. But he's keeping his distance from the wiseguys, allegedly to stay sober, but also to distance himself from the people (besides himself) responsible for the death of Adriana.

Like Tony, I've been visiting with Dr. Melfi long enough to understand the subconscious, and Chris is never going to forgive Tony for Ade's death -- or for the affair he believes they had in season five's "Irregular Around the Margins."

They can make nice at the screening for "Cleaver" (a project Tony never would have given his blessing to if he hadn't just come out of a coma at the time), and Tony can even be godfather to Chris and Kelli's daughter, but whatever bond these two had is gone. Chris used to boast that he would go into Hell for Tony, and he's been living there ever since Tony ordered Adriana's murder.

Not that I think this is where the season is going (more and more, I'm expecting a "life goes on" conclusion with Tony neither dead nor in prison), but something to chew on:

After Ralphie killed Tracee, Tony initially got back at Ralphie in less overt ways, like making Ralphie be the one to decide Jackie Jr.'s fate, or stealing Ralphie's girlfriend and his horse. Making "Cleaver" -- a movie depicting Christopher's warped interpretation of the events of "Irregular Around the Margins," in which the Christopher stand-in eventually kills his boss and mentor -- seems like Christopher acting out on a level similar to Tony's early punishment of Ralphie. Eventually, Tony had enough and Ralphie's head wound up in a bowling ball bag; could Christopher reach a similar breaking point? Could his payback move from the subconscious to the conscious? And how would Tony be remembered if his junkie cousin took him out?

Some other random thoughts:

-- With the death of Johnny, the Tony/Christopher schism and Phil's burning resentment, this was a dark hour, but also a wickedly funny one, and I don't want to shortchange some of writer Terence Winter's jokes. Among the best: Paulie turning the farewell toast to Johnny into a story about himself (and screwing up the lyrics to "Spinning Wheel"), Silvio's deliberate non-reaction to Tony's attempts to discuss the real-life parallels in "Cleaver," Christopher braining J.T. Dolan with his "Human-itis" Award, Paulie's confusion between Billie Holiday and Judy Holliday, and Johnny dismissing Ginny's theory that cancer comes from a bad attitude by asking of 6-year-olds with leukemia, "What's that from? Their negative thinking?"

-- Continuing the series' long-running theme about the futility of change: Johnny gives up smoking and eats healthier, and he gets cancer anyway.

-- Well, that was a nice little promotional gimmick that Agent Harris had to go ruin by interrupting Tony as he went to get his morning Star-Ledger. So now that our time on the show is apparently over, what's our legacy?

-- So Meadow and Finn are splitsville, eh? Not really a shock, as he only proposed as protection from Vito.

-- The song playing over the final scenes at the New York bar and the christening was "Evidently Chickentown," by "punk poet" John Cooper Clarke, one of the show's weirder, more ominous musical selections. Legend has it David Chase heard the song only once before, while cleaning his garage in 1983, and made a mental note to use it in a show one day.

-- "Cleaver" star Daniel Baldwin is obviously one of Alec's 400 or so actor siblings, while Jonathan LaPaglia, who played the Cleaver, is the younger brother of "Without a Trace" star Anthony -- who just so happened to be Fox's choice to play Tony back when David Chase was developing the script there. Little on this show is a coincidence, so take LaPaglia's casting as a hat-tip to what might have been.

-- More guest star goodness: Sydney Pollack once again proving he may be a better actor than director with his nonchalant work as oncologist-turned-convict Warren Feldman. His delivery of the anecdote about killing the mailman ("At that point, I had to fully commit.") was hilarious, and his presence in turn inspired this brilliant bit of wisdom from Anthony Infante: "You're right. He still has the knowledge. I mean, O.J.'s no less of a running back, right?"

-- Guest star oddness: Hey It's That Guy! actor Chris McDonald, who played Chris' new AA sponsor, is arguably too recognizable to be plopped with no introduction into an episode where Chris is schmoozing with C-list actors playing themselves.

As usual, our "Sopranos" blog (blog.nj.com/alltv/) will be filled with extras throughout the week: a chat Monday at noon, an interview with Vince Curatola about Johnny's death, reader response and more.

Alan Sepinwall may be reached at asepinwall@starledger.com, or by writing him at 1 Star-Ledger Plaza, Newark, N.J. 07102-1200.

[youtalkfunny]

It's been a long time since we've seen an episode so moving.

(That's not a complaint--I'm tickled.)

[guids]

While watching it, for some reason, I thought they were going to reveal that the janitor/doc, knew all along that johnny was going to die within 3 months, but he told him 1 to 3 years so Johnny would not just give up.