We've seen all these themes play out throughout the series. The death of a Bada Bing! stripper last season (at the hands of Ralphie Cifareto) Meadow's age sank Tony deep into depression. And in the first season, when Tony and Meadow take a road trip to visit prospective colleges, Tony spies a snitch who flipped and is living under witness protection. He sneaks off and strangles the guy with his bare hands while Meadow meets with a guidance counselor. Consequently, he's loathe to scold her when she parties with newfound friends and comes back to their hotel room stumbling drunk. When you've just collapsed a guy's windpipe until his heart stopped beating, can you really berate your teenage daughter for underage drinking?
Picking up on a few other threads:
Ralphie continues down the road to whackdom. Tony finds evidence to confirm his suspicions that Ralphie and his sister Janice are having an affair. This, while Ralphie's dating (not married to, as I incorrectly asserted last week) the widow of Tony's mentor, Jackie Aprille. Great scene: only a couple as twisted as Ralphie and Janice could cuddle on the couch with a bag of popcorn to watch....Faces of Death! Great line: Janice implores Tony's warnings with "my love life is none of your business." Tony retorts "It is . . .considering I had to haul your last boyfriend out of the kitchen in a Hefty bag."
Ralphie also makes a crack about the wife of New York underboss Johnny Sack getting "a 90-pound mole removed from her ass." Problem is, the crack was delivered in front of the nephew of Paulie Walnuts, whose animosity for the Jersey family is building, who's thinking of jumping to New York, and whose contempt for Ralphie is already well-documented.
Here's hoping Chase has us chasing red herrings, as he did last season, when Ralphie's offing seemed to be a sure thing. The guy is just to damned colorful to kill off. And Joe Pontaliano, the actor who plays him, is one of the best character actors around (remember him in "Memento?"). My favorite scene last night finds Ralphie sitting on the edge of the bed as Janice reads by a nightstand lamp. He's clipping his toenails. One nail chips off and pelts Janice in the cheek. "Whatsamatter?" Ralphie chuckles, "you get hit with some shrapnel?"
Article comments
1 - Eric Olsen
Nice, Rad, I don't even have to watch it anymore.
2 - Kenan Hebert
Nice. Insightful. Good writing. Thank you.
3 - Boris Timanovsky
Just what this pathetic Sopranos addict needed:
some accessible post-game analysis to kill time
over while waiting for the next episode. Now, if
only this could become a daily column!
4 - Sabo
Ditto to Boris's post. Your commentary has helped out big time considering I was out of TV range for the first episode.
5 - Greg
Thanks for the great site. It's nice to have a place where all Sopranos addicts can come and read some insightful analysis into a this incredible show. But, I heard recently that the Sopranos might get cancelled, si this true?
6 - Brendon W
wow, season four......
can't wait for it come to Australia.............
Considering the 'Pay T.V.' channels are only showing Series One I will have a long wait...
Hope they put it out on VHS here....
Have managed to purchase one-two & three on VHS
7 - Rasin
Hello
whats this place then
um...
do you know whats going on with the sopranos?
i'm stoned at the moment so i;m not good at this time
do you belive that 1 skunk joint gets me high.
8 - James Isom
I was wondering if you could find out the song playing at furio's house party where he and carmela dance.
Thank you.....
9 - Laura
could anyone tell me the name of the song/singer in Sopranos Season 4 - Episode #4 (The Weight) - where Carmella and pony-tail dude are dancing.... what's the name of the song / singer? Thank you!
10 - MrMOB
>But Christopher isn't blood - he's related to Tony by marriage.
It has also hasn't rang true to me that Tony's plan to keep things in the "blood family" would be by using Christopher, who isn't his blood family at all. So here's an idea: perhaps Tony knows more than we do. Perhaps Chris isn't his nephew by marriage at all, but actually his son! Far-fetched, but does explain a few things.
Case for:
*Tony keeps harking on about blood, and Chris isn't officially blood by any definition.
*Tony is extraordinarily close to his nephew-by-marriage, cuts him some extraordinary slack at times, and seems blind to failings that he wouldn't with his other underlings.
*Chris has called his mother a "F#@*ing whore" on occasions; perhaps she was as he was growing up, and maybe even before she slept around. Tony would have been about 18 when Chris was conceived, I'm guessing Chris's mother is a bit older. In a similar circumstance in season 1 Uncle Junior remarks at a funeral of a very old, seemingly respectable woman how she went with him when he was a youngster.
*Perhaps the corrupt retired cop Tony tells Chris is his father's killer, also knew the real secret of Chris's paternity?
Case against:
*The pic of Chris's dad in the Navy uniform looks a heck of a lot like him (same big nose). On the other hand Chris's mother also has a pretty big nose.
*Tony and Chris's mother have exchanged so much as a single glance.
I'm guessing that at some point down the track Chris is going to find out that Adriana is grassing to the Feds and face the choice of whacking her or going into witness protection and ratting on Tony. At about this point Tony will spill the beans that they are closer than Chris ever thought.
Pretty out there perhaps, but I have just watched seasons 1-4 over the last couple of weeks and its been burbling in my head for this time.
11 - Eric Olsen
Spam aside - Rad, where've you been, bro?