(S06E09) A lot of fans of the show, including myself, have hemmed and hawed over episodes this season (and heck, last season) when no one was offed, or when a few different storylines were advanced but a lot of the show focused on the inner thoughts of people. This week, there were quite a few "events," lots of drama, and it was an all around good show.
Christopher conveniently ends up being a father just a day or two before Carmela bumps into Ade's mother at the Feast - thank goodness Ms. La Cerva didn't find out that Christopher had gotten married, as well. Additionally, this Christopher-centric episode showed him and Tony having a good old time just moments after getting lost in Western Pennsylvania, in a shoot 'em up reminiscient of something you might have caught on an old-time gangster movie. And who doesn't like that?
As much face time as Christopher received this week, Paulie was just as integral to what was going on. His attitude towards the church, which wanted a bump five times higher than it was going to get from the Feast being run by the boys, leads to a few issues, including complaints from the food sellers, and a lack of safety standards from the rides that are featured, as there wasn't enough money to get the rides that were used in previous years. it had been awhile since Janice had pulled any scams, so when the ride she was on with her daughter and Bobby's son came to an abrupt halt, and one or two other people on it are injured, she's just got to make the situation all about her. Of course, this was just to get Bobby to act on the situation, which he eventually did, only after she ratted him out at the Sopranos' dinner table. And again, the mastery of the editors working on the weekly previews showed Bobby yelling at Paulie last week, and followed that up with Janice yelling for an ambulance. That ambulance, ladies and gents, was for the actual injured boy on the ride, who cracked his teeth on the car. Hoo boy.
Had Tony not gone through the shooting and some other family issues of his own in the last few seasons, I can see him being much less tolerant of what has been going on with Paulie right now. First, Paulie and Vito were looking to screw Carmela while the boss was in a coma, and Vito ended up leaving town just after Carm told her newly awakened husband to keep an eye on him. Somehow, she didn't feel that Paulie was a problem. Then, Paulie's mom turns out to not be his mom, he beats up the Barone kid - which I feel will probably come back to bite him - and he might have prostate cancer at this point. Not that any of this is really driving his need to make cash for himself - and kick it Tony's way, too - but he's making it seem that way, and Tony is buying it.
Stepping back to Christopher, when we saw him out in Los Angeles hitting the blow with the prostitute, I really thought that he might completely fall off the wagon, or whatever it is you do when you go back to your drug habit. He made it a little while, but made the stupid move this week of drinking some red wine that he and Tony stole from "The Vipers" while in PA, then followed that up by letting one of his boys shoot up while in his Maserati. Bad, bad move. However, it was poignant the way the show merely showed him all alone, in different spots around the Feast, with his head hung just as all the lights are shut down that night. Will a new baby and a new wife, and a new house, it seems, get Christopher out of the gutter he might have fallen into, or is he now screwed? I'm sensing some conflict might come up between he and Carmela, or perhaps through Tony again, but with the "bond" two are sharing, perhaps that'll get swept under the rug again.
Two big things I'm looking forward to: the New York situation coming to a head, now that Tony and Phil are working together a little bit outside of Johnny Sack, and Vito making the mistake of telling his new boyfriend who he really is. Neither of those will, as they say, end well.















Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
5-08-2006 @ 8:16AM
Missy said...
I am very surprised by this review because I thought this episode was terrible. Once again, the preview toyed with us and showed us some promising scenes that ended up being LAME. I did NOT think that Christopher's breakdown at the fair was poignant, I thought it was boring. If you ask me, this whole season so far has been a disappointment.
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5-08-2006 @ 8:45AM
JR said...
The flashback scene of how the whole Adriana scenario unfolded between Christopher and Tony were reason enough for me to thoroughly enjoy this episode.
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5-08-2006 @ 9:25AM
Guido said...
I think this episode was boring.. which ironically I think it was intended to be boring by Chase. Tony talks about being bored with Melfy, and the scene with him and Chris at the end of the show with the Wine is painstaking. I'm not sure why we needed to be bored, because Tony was bored.
Chris getting married out of nowhere made little sense. Isn't this the first time we've seen this girl ??
The only bright spot, as usual was Paulie. Every scene with Paulie saved this episode. The Flashback scene was interesting, but it was kind of also felt forced in. I was expecting to see Tony/Chris run into Vito on their trip, but obviously that didn't happen.
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5-08-2006 @ 9:52AM
Destin said...
David Chase said in an interview that Adriana's death episode initially included an emotional scene where Christopher told Tony she was working with the Feds. But, they decided it would work better if the audience didn't know for sure what was about to happen. So they cut the scene, even though they liked it a lot. I think it's pretty clear that they showed the deleted scene as the "flashback" last night. Pretty sneaky.
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5-08-2006 @ 10:31AM
margaret said...
NEXT WEEK WILL BRING IT ALL TOGETHER.....HAVE PATIENCE!
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5-08-2006 @ 10:47AM
sada said...
This show is over. No one watched the sopranos for in depth analysis of the human mind and each individuals struggle with life. It was blood, murder and carnage. thats what we watched it for nothing else. This is what happens when people (David Chase) have too much time to think things over, they wind up overanalyising and ruining everything. Chase probably thinks this season is his baby, but its absoulately borring and horrible. Kill the show off!
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5-08-2006 @ 11:20AM
Jen said...
I'd love to see Adrianna still be alive!!!! Maybe all the references to her with seeing her mother & flashbacks between Tony & Christopher could be a preview to that! HA HA
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5-08-2006 @ 11:24AM
Jan said...
Christopher's drug use in the car (he wants to say no, but he can't) and the poignant scenes around the feast (fair) are very important to where this show is going. His drug addiction is going to be what brings the family down in the end. Remember when Tony told Christopher in the emergency room several seasons ago that if it weren't for the fact that he was his nephew he would have killed him, but instead he sent him to rehab? Well, that is going to be Tony's demise. The Feds are going to bring Christopher in on Adreianna's murder, and he is going to roll over because he is now a family man and he has stated that his kids are going to have it better than he did (it's immaterial that we weren't brought in on the fact he had a girlfried - 2 years have passed, afterall...he may have dated her only a month and he would have married her becasue Adrianna had aborted his baby without telling him and he was furious when he found it out...no way would he let that happen again). This is what makes this show so good - all the layering. Pay attention to what is taking place in these supposed "boring episodes" - it is laying the groundwork. All these little chinks in the characters' armor (Paulie's prostrate, Tony's sprained ankle, Vito's sexual persuasion, Christopher's weakness for drugs)as well as the Starbucks that doesn't buckle to their pressure (it's a changing world), are symbols that characterize the beginnings of the breakdown and vulnerability of the Sopranos.
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5-08-2006 @ 11:28AM
Myron said...
When Tony talked Chris into drinking the wine was it because:
a) he's insensitive?
b) he selfishly wanted someone to celebrate the thrill of the caper with?
c) it was calculated to produce a bonding session?
d) he has a calculated reason to make Chris weak?
I don't know. It could have been a throwaway plot device to start Chris downhill. But it seems Tony is always working an angle, always has it thought out three steps in advance. That's why I question the motive.
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5-08-2006 @ 11:33AM
johnnymac said...
I really don't think that Sil would have let her get away. Unless the Russian found her and nursed her back to health and raised her as one of his own. Now there's a new series just waiting to be developed.
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5-08-2006 @ 11:47AM
Khamel said...
i have been saying for a while to friends of mine that the show is going to end with chris having to kill tony. i'm not sure why right now or for what reason he would have to do it, but this show makes me like its more and more likely to happen. the talk about a bond just re-enforces the fact that the bond will have to be broken. isn't one of the phrases in the teaser for the next episode about bonds being broken?
and i really hate paulie now. hes just annoying and im really hoping he dies.
i agree the episode was boring as well. i think it was so more by design then poor writing (although last season has some bad episodes so chase isn't perfect imo).
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5-08-2006 @ 12:41PM
Tucker said...
Chris didn't just sit there while his buddy shot up, he snorted heroin with him ("what the hell, just one little toot"). He wasn't just chilling around the festival, he was stoned out of his gourd. He's in the gutter, not out of it.
To "sada": obviously you're not one of the ones supposedly watching the show. "in depth analysis of the human mind and each individuals struggle with life" is, and always has been, a major part of the show's focus. As for "killing it off," once again you prove yourself to be completely uninformed as your wish has been granted. After this "season-and-a-half" run, the show is finished. Thanks for playing, try to find a more mindless show to enjoy.
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5-08-2006 @ 1:44PM
Ron said...
I cherish my five seasons of Sopranos on DVD and finally got HBO to enjoy this one... what a stunning disappointment. What happens in each episode is decent enough but the directing and editing pace is sooo freakin slow... there's room aplenty for subplots to be revisited, instead each episode feels disconnected from the last. I won't be in a hurry to make my DVD collection complete when this is over. On the bright side... I get to to see Big Love afterward.
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5-08-2006 @ 2:36PM
Tom said...
My quote of the night was still "Let me school you on domestic violence." Good to know that Tone is an expert =)
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5-08-2006 @ 3:33PM
Jen said...
For all of you who are on here week & after week complaining of being bored with the show, stop watching it already!!!! There must be something there to keep you watching it 6 weeks later! Move onto another show & let the people who really like the show & truly understand it enjoy the finale!
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5-08-2006 @ 4:14PM
babbo said...
Okay, it seems that we all either agree or disagree with what the show has to offer this season. Quite honestly after the first season, and subsequently 9/11, the show changed. It was evident in Tony's thought process when the show returned. However, there were some brilliant episodes. This season has proven to be about 20% good and 80% mezza mezza. There were some compelling moments, but for the most part there has been just rehashed stereotypical Italo-American behavior and that was so evident with last night's episode. Suddenly the family spends 6 consecutive days at the feast? C'mon Chase, be more creative.
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5-08-2006 @ 7:44PM
ian said...
First off, there is no better show on TV right now. The episodes this season may not be laced with as much violence as previous seasons, but they still deliver with top-notch writing, and outstanding performances. A true Sopranos fan watches for the intricacies of daily life in the modern day mob. For those critical of the lack of blood, there's always the Spike channel or "When animals go bad". Let the rest of us enjoy the in-depth analysis that no ther show comes close to conveying. The fact is, each season and each episode offers something unique and thought-provoking. And unfortunately with the end of the Sopranos, HBO has yet to come up with anything half as worthy to fill its shoes. A show like this comes around once every ten years - enjoy it while it lasts.
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5-08-2006 @ 9:35PM
Bob M. said...
Has every major character on the show this season depressingly illustrated a failure to behave in a free, independent manner? Christopher is prey to substances, AJ is unable to break free of his dad, Vito is subject to his sexual needs, Paulie cannot break the bond with his "mom," and Tony is pulled back from death, which he was about to welcome. And on and on. . . . . Interesting that big, tough mob guys--uber individuals who theoretically exist outside of established social order in order to create their own chaotic system--aren't all that tough and individual. No wonder Tony was ranting about the lack of smoked turkey in the fridge last week--hell, he might have a baguette in his pants 24/7, but he's lost the cajones he had in the past to do what he wanted to do rather than worry about his wife. Some tough mob guys. Silvio is hitting the albuterol like he's on the pipe. These tough guys have lost their edge. Worse, no more is it ironic that the mob is living in the suburub and possibly corrupting it--they're corrupted by suburbia, going middle class and soft. In the end, we are all without free agency, sucked into the boring abyss of the middle class. It's not the show this year that's boring and unchallenging but, for me at least, the incredibly sad recognition that if the mob can't beat the middle class system, what hope is there for the rest of us?
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5-08-2006 @ 10:47PM
babbo said...
Stop with the moral posturing already, MANAGIA!
Listen, you mean to tell me that watching Artie bash that P.O.S. like he did after the credit card scam didn't make your blood circulate better? C'mon, man!
Even when Tony and Christofah bonded while ripping off the wine from those 'faccie di cazzi' Viper Gang and then Chris nailing the guy with a bullet, wasn't like a good old fashioned Cowboy shoot 'em up? Yes! And to the 'middle class' guys who watch it, that is escapism in its purest form.
That is why we watch. At least that is why I watch. I hope Vito/Vince chokes on a tall stack or something else so I don't have to see that finocchio ever again!
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5-09-2006 @ 12:38PM
CraigO said...
Is it just me, or did Christopher's new girl tell Tony he was right about the wine tasting fantastic? So she's drinking while pregnant? Or was this a continuity error? Or was this a nod to future revelations that she's not really pregnant and has been working with the FEDS all along to get Christopher and will eventually cause Christopher to turn on Tony cause the FEDS found the russian in the woods and he's been out to get them ever since? Ok, that might have been a reach. :)
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