Letters to the Editor
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Watch the trailer for next week
Clearly, Tony was laughing in relief on the floor of the casino, and his revelation while watching the sunset was that he was finally freed of the curse of Christopher.
In his supreme narcissism he's essentially thanking God for this gift...not of time to smell the roses, but of getting his mojo back.
Great episode, though I could have lived without seeing Tony puking in the john.
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More Classical than Christian
Ooh, all very good points, Anonymous.
I agree. I don't think he was sad. I think he was euphoric at his ability to kill Christopher. It's something that he had obviously been thinking about for a while, and having done it, he was impressed and amazed with his strong will.
I didn't see the connection with a Christian God. For me, it was much more classical in its allusions. I don't know, maybe that's just where my mind goes, but for me, it seemed much more Saturnine with the the god eating his children in an attempt to control the future. These are people who have behaved with unbelievable hubris worthy of Mount Olympus or the Bush White House. It will be interesting to see how Chase deals with them. And what that says about us all.
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disappointed
I was disappointed in last night's episode. Christopher and Tony have a very long history together, but this murder seems totally outside of any reasonable context. It is not foreshadowed, it does not play into any story line, and because it is so decontextualized, it fails to arouse any emotion except for utter contempt for Tony, which should not be new to any regular viewer.
It was, as if, David Chase wanted to prove everyone wrong about where this show was headed. Christopher was a son to Tony. We are not given any motive for his murder, except Tony's dream confession to Dr. Melfi where he expresses his distrust for Christoher, but for that to work dramatically, it needs to be foreshadowed in some way by the story. Otherwise it just comes out of the blue for she purpose of shocking viewers. Great stories reveal through narrative. They don't shock for the sake of surprise.
Tony does say "I get it" at the conclusion of the episode and not "I did it". Because the show is now running entirely on mystery and surprise, we have no idea what this statement means and we are left hanging with the very real possibility that we will never know what it means. The second part of this episode clearly shows a very happy Tony who not only wins big at the casino, but appears to now know the meaning of life.
It seemed pointless and irrelevant to me.
I hope that someone can show me what I might be missing in this episode, because I have incredible amount of respect for the creative abilities of David Chase and everyone else behind the Sopranos.
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"Sopranos" wrap-up: Things Fall Apart
Watching Tony's devolution is so painful because his time with Melfi has given him the tools to understand himself, but none of the moral superstructure to transcend his own nature. Again and again, we see in the wounded look in his eyes that he knows too much about his own motivations (as in the revelatory dream-session with Dr. Melfi in which he tells the unvarnished truth). He is desperate to find a collaborator who will help him rationalize his actions. But no one has anything like the amalgam of low impulse control, conceit, selfishness, self-loathing, and psychological insight that Tony lives with. He is unique and damned.
Even Paulie expresses regret for his treatment of Christopher and displays honest grief at his loss. Tony tries several times to point out that a tree branch smashed the child's car seat in the accident. The implication is that Christopher's death might be deserved, but no one seems to understand that subtext, further alienating him from people who are honestly mourning Christopher. It is a fascinating exploration of Tony's moral universe. Because we, as viewers, have just seen Christopher murder a good friend for the crime of failing to be co-dependent, we are left to squirm in the niggling notion that Christopher has paid for his crime. What is God, if not the force that delivers divine justice through unexpected instruments? Such moral ambiguities abound in this episode.
I thought the structure of the episode was inspired. Chase has always been more interested in amplifying the consequences of violence, then in fetishizing it. It's why "The Sopranos" is so unusual. Far from glorifying mob life, Chase has always depicted the banality of its evils and the sudden and irretrievable acts that fuel their lives. Here he is relentless in depicting Tony's moral decay, but also his fumbling search for enlightenment.
I have no idea how "The Sopranos" will conclude, but I have a hunch that the final episode will show Tony achieving true peace and understanding followed very swiftly by death from a loved one for something utterly unconnected to his true sins.
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Tony Junior
What will happen with AJ? He's being held out as the last bastion of hope to escape the family curse (and family business). I think his fate is the most interesting unanswered question.
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I did it!
I agree with others here...maybe the deadline was too tight, but I think Havrilesky, who usually gets it right (and I love anyone who also shares a passion for The Amazing Race!!), missed something on this last episode.
My impression of Tony's peyote-fueled roulette winnings was that he was thrilled, relieved, and believed that his luck had changed for the better, all because Chris was gone. This is a metaphorical murder of Tony's superego...how much more obvious could that be? Chris is talking about appreciating each day, giving Phil what he wants, they're listening to a song about childhood appreciation, and then BAM! The truck spins out of control, Chris needs help, and Tony kills him. Then Tony spins into complete selfishness. He tries to make Chris look bad (the child's car seat, drugs), then he goes off to Vegas, the capital city of egomania--on a private plane, no less--and descends into drugged-out, happy hell of his own.
I agree with Havrilesky that this episode made Tony utterly unlikeable (and no wonder Gandolfini is tired of playing Tony, as he's made clear in numerous interviews), but it also had some things to say about metaphysics and the nature of hell. Tony actually seems to be enjoying it because he is so completely psychopathic.
The bigger mystery to me now is what will become of AJ? Is he the one now straddling the line between what's good and bad about his father? Is he a reflection of Tony's own soul twenty years ago?