Kate: I want to first apologize for not writing about last week’s episode- I guess I’ll say “life intervened” which I hope everyone (Spencer) understands to mean “was drinking too much.”(if only to mourn this fantastic thing of ours…)
“The Blue Comet” will, without a doubt, go down as one of the most exciting (if not the most exciting) Sopranos episode of all time. From the time that guy-Sil-killed-a-la-Tony-in-College walked down his driveway to pick up his paper to the scene of Tony cradleing a shot gun in bed (which REALLY creeped me out. It seemed like a terrible nightmare…sitting in a dark room, afraid to fall asleep and just waiting for someone to come and kill you- shudder) I was (literally) on the edge of my seat.
I’d like to get this party started with the eating of my words - I’m pretty sure you were correct about Chase this entire time. You have said throughout all of your Sopranos discussions with me (and almost every single post on this blog) that you think Chase is saying a big “Fuck You” to the audience with his ending of this show (not only the finale but in the episodes of season 6 leading up to the finale.) In fact, for someone who I usually trust to find interesting ways to prove a point (Chase), I was surprised by how obvious he proved you correct in “The Blue Comet”
Melfi ends therapy with Tony because she realizes that it’s not doing him any good, but rather just improving his skills as a sociopath. I had trouble with this for two reasons: one, because, it does seem like a “Fuck You” to the audience (if Melfi is a representation of law abiding citizens, which no doubt most of Sopranos viewers are, then we are all using Tony for a cheap thrill and never really expected him to change or become a better man. Q: What does that make us? A: (by Chase) Asses.
And secondly because are we supposed to really believe that Tony is a sociopath? I’m not sure I can, after last episode when he was cradeling AJ (and, yes, you could make the argument that in this episode he threw AJ in the closet, but he can be a whiny bitch sometimes….did I just write that?) after he attempted suicide. How Tony acts in a situation when no one is watching him and how he acts when he must ‘perform’ for society are very different and thus I would have to believe that a lot of his personality quirks (or murderous impulses, if you want to got there) stem from both external AND internal problems. Sigh- or I just don’t want to accept the fact that I totally fell for Chase’s antics.
Some other questions for discussion: Why not kill Sil? Is he going to jump up and be alive again in the finale like the last scene in a horror movie? Is he going to have a Kevin Finnerty like existence for awhile and is that what the finale is going to be? A co-worker suggested that it added a sense of realism to the story; that sometimes people get shot 5 times and just don’t die. I’m not sure if wasn’t just to give Sil one last bad-ass moment. Either way, I have a feeling that we are never going to know what happens to Sil- I doubt Chase is into fake bio pic paragraphs.
And the Big Kahuna- the fate of Tony: Death, jail, or does crime, actually pay and therapy sucks.
All yours answer man.
P.S. Spencer, Wesley has predicted since the names of the last 9 episodes were released that “The Blue Comet” was going to be the best episode in Sopranos history.
Spencer: "Psychopathy is currently defined in psychiatry and clinical psychology as a condition characterized by lack of empathy or conscience, and poor impulse control or manipulative behaviors" - the always right Wikipedia. One of the cruxes of the mob drama (be it in film or on "The Sopranos") is the way the likeability of the characters and their lifestyles shields the audience from their inherent unlikeability - the destructive forces that they are on society. We all really like Tony - in fact, probably 90% of the Sopranos audience would like to be good friends with him - but he is, without a doubt, a sociopath. His displays of empathy (with AJ at times, despite the throwing him against the wall :)) make him human, but that's the double standard Tony has always set for himself. Tony never seemed to sad about the son of his gambler friend, whose car he happily gave to Meadow. Certainly the rest of the list (lack of conscience, poor impulse control, manipulative behaviors) fits Tony to a T.
You say that the episode implies that the audience (and Melfi) have been watching Tony in essence for a "cheap thrill". I think that's right - and it's unsurprising that this revelation happens in the rare episode where Chase gives those thrill-seekers exactly what they want - nearly 60 minutes of mob violence. It had sort of a "this is what you want? well here you go, you ignorant idiots, but i'm going to cut you down to size while I do it" feeling. Sorry David, I love the dream sequences, but hey, we all love a little of the ultraviolence sometimes... (Kubrick reference for you..)
What did you think of the actual episode? Everything was obviously exciting but the show has really deadened these characters to a point where the deaths have felt meaningless to me - more like machinations in Chase's endgame then true character deaths. When (Wire Spoiler for those who haven't seen season 3) Stringer Bell met his death, it felt like a real loss - in fact, many questioned whether the show could go on successfully without his presence. Here, it's the opposite, where the show IS ending, and the deaths have to some extent lost their significance because of it.
I was discussing this with a friend the other day - I often forget the end of movies and books. I just finished reading "Clockers" by Richard Price (excellent read by the way for fans of "The Wire"), and three weeks later, I couldn't for the life of me remember how it ended. I think that's partly just the way our memory works but to quote a lame Aerosmith high school yearbook quote - it's a journey, not a destination. It's rare that the ending is why something is great - the "Usual Suspects" comes to mind although that's more because the ending makes you re-examine the rest of the film - although it is often why something can fail.
Why the tangent? Well, I think the current mass killing spree that the show has on has lost much of its impact because of the way Chase has backloaded everything in these past few episodes. The ending is the ending, and when re-watching the other 6/7 seasons, as we will, will knowing that Bobby and Sil (agree with you about leaving him alive - why bother?) die in the end change the way we experience the rest of the series? I don't think so, because it doesn't really change the way we experience them in the prior episodes, and we don't have to experience the show without them.
I'm looking forward to re-watching this season because I think the show has really b
een all over the place - from Johnny's cancer death to last night's whackfest to Tony's gambling addiction - it's hard to process from week to week (HBO shows are always better viewed on DVD in bulk). I think part of my problem with this season has been that it's so reactive to the audience and to the fact that the series is ending (all the red herrings that others seem to enjoy I find annoying) - but I'll expand on that in my next post. All yours.
No comments:
Post a Comment