Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Mailbag squared
It's twice the reader interaction fun today, with "Sopranos" letters at the new blog, and letters about the rest of the TV world (mainly complaints about canceled shows, reruns and, for the umpteenth time, CBS' Sunday schedule vis-a-vis sports) in the regular column.
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6 comments:
While I appreciate the Richie Aprile/"separate ways" comment, remember that Janice would rather think of him as being buried "someplace on a hill, overlooking a little river, with pine cones all around."
Well, Tony immediately admitted that this wasn't the case, and while I'm sure Janice doesn't know the gory details, that line could definitely be viewed as a wink to the audience by the writers.
Re: Tony and Bacala
I was surprised that Chase decided that Bobby had never killed in his criminal career. The myth surrounding the Mafia has always had guys performing a hit before getting made. In fact, in season one, Christopher killed the son of the Czech gang to prove to Tony he had what it took to be a soldier. Of course, Big Pussy had to explain that killing the kid may have been the wrong move but it seemed clear that Chris was respected for that move. Similarly, Christopher being shot was by two punks who thought Richie Aprile would take them under his wing, so this turn of events did not ring true to my ear.
The position by your irate caller that Tony sent Bobby to kill the kid to bring him closer goes against the tone set by Van Patten's direction and the dialogue. TOny clearly was angry over the fight, he tried to pass it off at 4:00 am when he staggered into the bedroom and acknowledged that Bobby beat him in a fair fight, but the remaining morning was Tony stewing in anger and embarrassment, plotting what to do with Bobby, (every time the bell on the boat rang and Tony looked at it I thought of Fredo being killed on the lake, in light of the prior Godfather references I am sure that was the point of the boat) and then deciding that he would not kill Bobby. Even the ride to the meeting with the Canucks had the tense moment of Tony pulling down the dirt road to let Bobby take a piss. The scene with Janice and Carmella was to underscore the tension of not knowing what Tony would do to Bobby. In the end, the meeting gave Tony a perfect chance to hurt Bobby, and he sent him on the mission purely out of pettiness that he learned from Livia.
While I think Tony will continue to groom Bobby, this incident was further proof that Tony cannot insulate himself from the life he has chosen, he cannot escape his choices.
P.S. I also think Chase did not like the fact that Bobbys only tough guy moments before this was intimidating a Union vote and reacting to the broken carnival ride, I think Bobby was coming off as a good guy who took care of Junior and never got his hands dirty, in Chases world that does not fly, all of the crimnals need to be criminals.
They've always treated Bobby like some gentle giant; his biggest plus in Tony's eyes is that he's a good earner, but I don't think Tony's ever seen him as hitman material until he needed to get back at him for the fight. Tony's not a vindictive man at all, eh, Carm?
Who else is possibly competent to run the organization? Silvio was overwhelmed by the task; he doesn't trust Paulie; Christopher's got his drug problems and Vito, the best candidate, is dead.
I suppose you could pass the reins to one of the more obscure captains, like Carlo (who now runs the ports and all of the construction business) or Larry Boy Barese (whose crew, at least in the first season, was referred to as the largest in the Family).
What Tony's worried about right now isn't so much the order of succession -- why does he care who replaces him after he's in jail or dead? -- as finding a replacement for Christopher as his insulation from prosecution, the guy who acts as a go-between for Tony and everyone else. The joke is, Tony's had this plan in place for five years (he announced it in season four, when he was 42, and he turned 47 in this episode), and he's still taking a far too active hand in the business. So, as with so many things on this show, it's really all talk.
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