Letters to the Editor
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Buh-Bye Christafur
I thought this episode followed the general trajectory of disintegration and deterioration set in place with the fight with Bobby in the first episode. Tony, as the centre of his family and la famiglia, is spinning out of control - the centres cannot hold.
Tony's kitchen scene with Carmella was classic projection, to articulate for the viewer Tony's inner thoughts. James G. is such a fine actor - you could see on the hopeful expression of his face that he was wishing Carmella would say "Yeah, *I* am relieved that he's dead", in order to ease his own conscience.
Tony is loyal to no one. It used to be that he was loyal, in his own deeply flawed way, to his family. Or that he was loyal to the Mafia Code. But he betrays even these two areas in which he can be "good", or be "moral" (according to the warped Mob sense of Morality". He murdered, MURDERED, Christopher, his son of the mob, a made man who hadn't yet ratted him out. He seriously contemplated whacking Paulie, his stand-in uncle. His brother-in-law beat the bejesus out of him, and won. Tony is coming to the sickening conclusion that he is rotten to the core. He gets it. There is nothing good about him.
Tony is utterly alone. His cohorts are going to abandon him to Phil, or Phil is going to slaughter all of them. Because if Tony is rotten to the core, Phil is pure murderous rage wrapped in flesh. What man in their right mind would be a soldier when you know that your leader has seriously considered feeding you to the fishes?
My predictions are that AJ will not survive. He'll kill himself. His new-found delight in violence stems from his deep sadness, his vulnerability to depression, his self-knowledge that he's an insignificant person without real wisdom. AJ might be turned on by violence, but he'll never be detached enough to make the transition from living in the straight world to joining the mob. When he was with Blanca, he tasted what a noble beautiful life could be like. He did love her, and with a juvenile hope that he could work hard and provide a life for her, and one day he'll be day manager of the pizzeria. Now what does AJ have to look forward to? A life of depraved indifference? Problem is, even though AJ wants to be indifferent, he'll never be able to detach completely.
Things will come apart for Tony and Carmella too. There will be a vicious scene in which Carmella finds out what really happened to Adrianna. Her willful blindness at how Tony really earns his money will be torn away and she's going to have to acknowledge who she really married. Think about the scene at the cottage with Janet "Tony's a good man!", "There has never been any violence in our house!", "My husband is NOT a vengeful man!". Her denial and facilitation in Tony's work is just as evil as Tony's acts. Her role is to make Tony seem human, but at heart, Carmella is just as conniving as base as Tony. The scene where she was crying to Tony that there "is a piano over your head" every moment showed just how little she cared about what happens to Tony, and how very very concerned she was with her material well-being. God forbid she should end up like Ginny Sack.
I can't believe there are only, what, 3 episodes left.