Letters to the Editor
captainlarab
Published Letters: 541 Editor's Choice: 41
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Agree with Silkstone about the train scene
[Read the article: "Sopranos" wrap-up: Hide-and-seek]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I agree, that was the one scene from last night when I felt like I was being beaten over the head with symbolism. I liked the initial shots of the trains zooming around the track as the assassins closed in (and LOVED the shot of them as seen through the security mirror--so creepy), but then the train symbology kept going, and going, and going, and when Bobby finally collapsed AND the train went off the tracks at that precise moment, I felt that the show had really overplayed its hand, a rarity for this show. As my partner pointed out, it was perhaps symbolizing that Tony's operation had gone "off the rails," but still, the point could have been made less cloyingly.
I also agree with Silkstone, Melfi's abandonment of Tony is deeply depressing. She lives, but only by doing a dishonorable thing. I also disagree with Elliott's insistence that Tony is a sociopath. While Melfi was reading that study about "criminals" (which was brilliantly filmed, by the way, that one-word-at-a-time full-screen thing), I found myself thinking "What is a criminal?" I didn't like the way the study used the term "criminal" to imply that some sort of bright line separates them from the rest of the human race.
Is Tony really *that* different from any of us? Just because he lives by a different moral code? What constitutes acceptable and unacceptable behavior, moral and immoral, crazy and sane, depends entirely upon context. Yes, it's unacceptable for a person to be running around New Jersey behaving this way. But if Tony were an Iraqi, we would not only think his behavior was completely normal, he'd probably be being relied upon by General Petraeus as one of those wonderful local leaders we're always hearing about who are giong to create a stable and democratic government in Iraq.
One little wrinkle I thought was interesting at that dinner party; I'm still trying to parse its meaning. Remember the comment about how "Italians have big noses," which offended Melfi and prompted the comment "If I had said that about a certain other ethnic group I'd be called a bigot" (to which everyone insisted, "We were just talking about the wine!"). Yeah, right.
I go back to one of Livia's initial comments about Tony seeking therapy, way back in Season 1 ("that's just a racket for the Jews"), and think: What is going on with this Italian/Jew thing on this show? Did someone, in fact, insult Melfi's ethnicity at the dinner party? Were they implying that her willingness to treat Tony had something to do with their shared ethnic background? Did she suddenly feel a kinship to Tony, and out of place within her profession? Or, if the reference to her ethnicity was intentional, was it because Elliott was trying to jar her into realizing that she had been enabling Tony all those years because her feeling of kinship with him had compromised her objectivity and judgment?
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No, there's something to this Italian/Jew thing
[Read the article: "Sopranos" wrap-up: Hide-and-seek]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I don't know, maybe it's just an undercurrent to the show. But it seems to me that every time Tony's crew interacts with the Jewish community, it's really interesting, and something is said or done that underscores, "Hey, Italians and Jews." There was a plot line very early in the show that involved an orthdox rabbi hiring Tony's crew to rough somebody up, then you have Tony's friendship with Hesh, which almost ended when Hesh tried to collect a debt and Tony made some sort of crack about Jews and money, and now this therapy thing.
Two immigrant populations, once uniformly scorned by the Anglo-Saxon population here, inhabiting largely the same neighborhoods, but each with its own survival skills and paths towards upper mobility and integration into the American melting pot. Tony wants Meadow to be a doctor, but she decides not to. Melfi is a doctor, but last night she apparently decided that she is nothing like Tony--since, Tony, after all, is a "criminal." On this show, to move away from the mob is to move away from being Italian, and yet that seems to be all any of them want to do. Chris tries to go Hollywood, AJ hooks up with a Puerto Rican, and when Meadow hooks up with whats-his-face Parisi, everyone's disappointed.
Yes, I did catch the Doors song right away! And thought, "What NJ strip club in the year 2007 would suddenly decide to play the Doors?" For a second there, I thought it was the Doors song "The End," but I'm glad it wasn't. That might have pointed more clearly to an Oedipal conflict between AJ and Tony which may or may not come to pass (and either way, I don't think Chase wants to tip his hand).
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AJ can't enlist
[Read the article: "Sopranos" wrap-up: Hide-and-seek]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]AJ's suicide attempt has immediately disqualified him from hundreds if not thousands of jobs. The military is one of them (unless there's a recruiter out there who's as crooked as the rest of them). So you can scratch that off the list of predictions.