Patterico's Pontifications

3/19/2006

Sopranos — WTF?

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 9:59 pm



Feel free to explain tonight’s episode to me. I don’t get it.

16 Responses to “Sopranos — WTF?”

  1. Pattrico,

    Very simple. Tony Soprano who has been fighting with his inner demons for the few seasons is lost. He expected a hit from New York, a takedown by the Feds, but shot by Junior? Now all those old demons have come to the fore.

    JSF (d8da01)

  2. Yeah, but what was all that junk with the switched briefcases? Dream? Flashback? WTF?

    Patterico (de0616)

  3. He’s in a coma and dying. In his coma, he’s dreaming of trying to get back to his family, and he cannot get home: That is the metaphor for fighting death.

    Federal Dog (43c7eb)

  4. He’s in pergatory…here’s a great article explaining this.

    http://www.nj.com/search/index.ssf?/base/columns-0/1142836402123280.xml?starledger?colsep&coll=1

    jeff (c1cb4d)

  5. I could only theorize about the briefcase. It looks like his from a guy how looks like him. Kind of like Fight Club. Finnerty *is* him.

    The people in the dream represent what’s going on around him in the hospital. All the calls from Carmela are her talking to him at the bedside, the guys at the bar represent his crew stopping by to visit, Meadow being sweet to him on the phone, etc…

    There’s another parallel to be drawn that focuses greatly on AJ. At first, he couldn’t come to the hospital because of something he ate – parallel to Tony in the dream because his stomach hurts because of the fish. The disturbing attempt by Vito (who is planning his own insurgency against Tony) to take AJ home from the hospital especially given his parking lot indiscretions. And all of this taking place within one episode of Tony’s “family is the only people you can count on speech” he’d just given him. So goes Tony, so goes AJ.

    Frame this between the Soprano klan being forced to face the possibility of a life without their patriarch and having to live on an allowance doled out from his consigliere and it’s a “what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger” event.

    smantix (73ea0c)

  6. The dream parallels his unconscious sensations and depicts his effort to return “home” — that is, to stay alive. It also suggests his regret for the life he has led because, in the dream, he holds down a real job, is polite to others, and does not resort to violence even when provoked.

    Tom Anger (85ea5e)

  7. I agree with the comments pointing out the Hotel stuff is what Tony is “dreaming” while comatose.

    I had an analogous experience eighteen months ago for a 30 hour period after a cardiac arrest. In and out of consciousness, I had a bunch of dream episodes that seemed very realistic. When I woke up, I had no idea I had been out for over a day. I remember giving orders during that period about moving my schedule around, paying estimated taxes, etc., etc., but I now realize I was out of it for most of that period.

    When the episode started it was as Yogi Berra reportedly said, “like deja vu all over again”.

    Jim Rhoads (vnjagvet) (d3d48a)

  8. Retarded. Plain and simple.

    Dayna (3166cf)

  9. And don’t forget he is stuck in a hotel in Costa Mesa… Hotel California?

    Miller's Time (6ef007)

  10. The thing I like about Sopranos wasn’t in that episode – how they cut out all the crap and keep the story interesting and moving along. I did like the California accent, and how the elevator was unreliable like his brother-in-law. He took things into his own hands by taking the stairs, and got hurt. This may be the Jump the Shark episode, if they don’t pick up the pace.

    Wesson (c20d28)

  11. a brilliant episode – his wife was amazing – action will return, but the briefcase thing is a mystery

    Bird Dog (9f37aa)

  12. They ran out of the good writers and temporarily hired on one of the writers for Twin Peaks?

    C Student (59bfb8)

  13. It’s a dream (part wish fulfillment, as many dreams are, part about being trapped, not getting where you want to go, etc. all recognizable dream motifs.) The wish fulfillment is the life he might have had as an average Joe instead of as a killer. (Nice touch that he still has adulterous impulses even though he’s got a more pleasant personality.) The series has been about this guy dealing with his unconscious from episode 1. If he was happy with his life he wouldn’t have been having panic attacks. To explore his inner life through the dramatic device of a dream strikes me as absolutely valid for this particular series. This is very hard stuff to pull off in film, and I thought they did it better than I’ve ever seen it done this side of Dostoyevsky in “Crime And Punishment.” (And I’m not that big a fan of the series, just a sometimes viewer.) Going forward, I wouldn’t be surprised to see more of this sort of thing. All good drama ultimately deals with the theme of redemption. I don’t expect we’ll see Tony find it, I don’t think he’s redeemable, but all that time in the shrink’s office isn’t meant just as an odd quirk for a mobster character. It’s at the core of what the series is about. He’s struggling with who he is.

    Also, I don’t usually like to gush about actors, but I thought Edie Falco’s bedside scenes with Tony were pretty spectacular.

    Mike Sullivan (d8da01)

  14. i have a thought. If being “made” is like running a business, it’s all for one and one for all. They’re not all related. I realized how badly they were all backstabbing people. If Toni’s wife is cut out of the circle in the event of his death ( they aren’t really family, so technically Carmella is not part of the gang), she should know the money and all stops with his death. So why is she seemingly genuinly appreciative of everyone’s thoughts, and gifts andd prayers. Being the bosses’ wife she obviously know that short of Chris and the blood relatives, ahe’s out of the loop. Why isn’t she then weary of what ties will be cut once her husband dies? she can’t be so stupid to think all of these “concersn” are genuine.

    erica (e2fdca)


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