08-June-2007: The Penultimate Sopranos Episode
Okay, I admit it: I am a fan of the TV show, The Sopranos. I have watched all the episodes,
uncut and uncensored (as they are meant to be), on a subscription movie network. I mention that up front, because I understand that there are plans
afoot to clean up the episodes (by putting clothes on strippers and female sex partners; and by extensive use of
cutting and bleeping dialogue.) so that they can be rebroadcast on commercial network television.
Me? I can't imagine members of the Mafia using polite "socially-acceptable" language when planning
to kill someone, or that anyone would be interested in going to a strip club (which is where a lot of the action
takes place) where the strippers are fully dressed. In fact, I was somewhat surprised to see them wearing thongs
because any strip joint I have been in during the past thirty years shows all. Anyhow, off topic.
I wanted to write this before I saw the last episode (which airs here Sunday evening). I started watching the
series when cruising the stations one evening and stopped to watch as two gangsters, in their city clothing and shoes,
chased someone through the woods in winter. One lost his shoe in the snow. They were in cell phone contact with
their boss, Tony Soprano, who was incredulous as they told him of their progress (or lack thereof). They wound up lost in the
woods (one of them shoeless) over night.
It was the immediately apparent humanity that appealed to me. Yes, they were mobsters and yes, they were trying
to kill someone, but I know what cold feels like when you are not dressed for it. I am sure I must have lost a boot in the
snow at least once when I was a kid. But more so, they were clearly out of their element and all the tough talk, as they shivered together through the night,
was in comic contrast to their situation.
So, when the network announced it was going to show all the episodes in order from the beginning, my wife and I were ready.
The first episode opened at a typical suburban barbeque. The attendees were all business associates and their wives. "Business associates"
was how they referred to themselves. The protagonist, Tony Soprano, was in the "waste management" business, but we quickly understood that
it was a cover, or euphemism, for what he really did: manage a group of thugs, thieves, and killers. But, at the barbeque everyone was amiable,
hugging and kissing each other as part of a large extended family. The episode ends with Tony inexplicable collapsing. We were hooked on this
seemingly friendly generous and too human godfather in New Jersey.
As the story unfolded we often sympathized with and bonded with these thugs; their failings and weakness all to apparent to us, the viewers.
However, at times we were repulsed by their behaviour. For example, Tony takes a trip with his daughter to visit universities in the area in
order to find the right place for her. During the trip he spots a former associate who had turned and was now living in a witness protection
program. Tony stalks the man between times with his daughter. The man, sensing he has been discovered is extra careful, but Tony
appears from nowhere and garrots the man. Tony is smart, cunning, and he shows no mercy to those who break the code that binds the
gangsters together. The killing seems justified, though gristly, within that context and we can go on liking Tony.
That is the genius of the series: to make us empathize with characters who are committing crimes, some of them senseless killings
and vicious beatings of "civilians." On one hand we are rooting for the bad guys, and then we stop and ask ourselves
why? We know what they are doing runs against the moral fabric that holds societies together. Where would we be if everyone carried guns and casually shot anyone
who annoyed us? For some reason Americans idolize their criminals (e.g. Jessie James, Kit Carson, Wyatt Earp) while we, at least as Eastern Canadians,
are somewhat taken aback by it. (I saw a memorial plaque in California once that read: "This is the site of Black Bart's last stagecoach holdup." I can't imagine
a similar plaque anywhere in Canada.)
However, we are suckers for a good story—and the directors and writers of The Sopranos delivered as these interwoven stories of this dysfunctional
extended family drew us in.
The reason I wanted to write this before viewing the final episode is that I did not want to be influenced by how the story
turns out. For the past several episodes we have been watching as hubris, vanity, self-absorption, greed, and mistrust has been exacting its toll on the
supporting characters. Tony kills his nephew and heir-apparent, who was, himself, a weak dependant driven by illusions and who turned his long-time girlfriend
over to the gang to be killed for talking to the FBI. Tony's brother-in-law is gunned down by hired killers. Sil, Tony's oldest associate, is ambushed and we are told
will likely never recover consciousness. Tony tells his immediate family to flee and has to drag his son, who so deep within in his bed of self-pity that he is unable to function, let alone
become Tony's new heir or a successful man outside of the family as Tony hopes.
Tony's counter strike against his enemies is too late and he is forced to flee to a safe house himself, going to bed with a machine gun.
And that's where the penultimate episode ended.
What's left? We hope that Tony will prevail and be able to rebuild his empire, but we know that he is undone. Everything he has built upon
has come apart as it appears to do for so many tyrants throughout history. The ancient Greeks wrote plays about this very subject. He is, in a sense,
King Lear, undone by his own vanity and inability to judge the world for what it really is. The only question now is, will he go out a wiser human being,
or end up railing against the universe with the universal cries of: It's not fair! It's not my fault!