EPISODE 8: Johnnycakes
Skipped last week for time reasons and was tempted to skip this week based on not being able to remove my head from the commode after seeing Vito's "afternoon delight" with Morgan Spurlock. However, watching AJ pretend to be Frank White with everyone acting like his best friend until the tab came (or until they needed to break an apartment lease and still get their deposit back) revived another Sopranos memory for me... Tony's image of the "dancing bear."
AJ got a taste of what it's like to be on display this week, just as Tony did when Cusamano and his band of Merry Boardroom Dipshits pretended, in the massively genius episode "A Hit is a Hit," that the books of their Country Club were going to be opened soon just to get Tony on the golf course and jack him up with questions about John Gotti and the realism of The Godfather trilogy.
Other analogous situations are Christopher's forays into the movie business, Artie's attempt to invest in the French liquer that probably never existed and Paulie's being completely out of sorts in Italy in the episode "Commendatori." In short, when a Sopranos character tries to operate outside the area into which he has compartmentalized himself, the consequences are simultaneously funny and revealing. Chase's point seems to be that, even though these characters are, for the most part, big fish, New Jersey is a relatively small pond, and none of them are above looking lost or being treated with a lack of respect. Even the Eighth Wonder of the World, who could wreck shop on 3 T. Rexes while swinging from huge vines and juggling Ann Darrow between his hands and feet, had no chance once he was taken out of his natural habitat.
Tony may be the Boss of Jersey, but "the mayonnaises" are more interested in John Gotti, a preening, high profile former Boss from New York, who talked his way into prison for the rest of his life. AJ may be the son of the Boss of Jersey, but the idiots he surrounds himself with just want him around to get them into places that wouldn't lift the velvet rope otherwise and, once they ride his coattails in, they show their gratitude by letting him pick up the tab. Christopher may be a Captain and be like God to the dopeheads and degenerate gamblers in Jersey, but Jon Favreau and Ben Kingsley give two shits about Jersey. Even Paulie, when the guys go to Italy on bee-za-nees, can't find any friends in the old country other than putan's.
It really plays out as an illustrative sub-theme of Chase's primary theme, which is that people's personal lives can be so complex that mob life may actually easier to manage, and that, while the characters are in a line of business that most of us are unfamiliar with, their lives consist of the same bullshit we all have to deal with on a daily basis. Very cool, and an arguably more powerfully delivered message since, if you look close enough, Chase is preaching the opposite of what the Italian anti-def people and detractors of The Godfather harp on. This is not a glorification of Italian mafiosi, actually quite the opposite. These are real people, who just happen to have a very different job/lifestyle than the rest of us, but who also have shitty cell service, wives and kids who bust their balls and co-workers they can't stand. They too do dumb things for love or to hurt those they love. They too stereotype Middle Easterners as Al-Qaeda, eat cold cuts out of the fridge and are momentarily paralyzed with a knee to the nuts... and then they go slice people up in the back room of a butcher shop and feed them to junkyard dogs.
On a related note, good news for gamers! The Sopranos video game was announced today and is slated for an October release on XBox and PS2. Obviously they hope to buy us off for the next decade while Chase and Co. tinker with the final season, but I'm not even going to pretend like I won't buy it.
Favorite line from the past 2 weeks? "Enjoy ya success!" Little Carmine "The Belt Buckle" Lupertazzi, not knowing what else to say to Lauren Bacall, but knowing she's important enough to be respectful to.
If you don't know, now you know...
Skipped last week for time reasons and was tempted to skip this week based on not being able to remove my head from the commode after seeing Vito's "afternoon delight" with Morgan Spurlock. However, watching AJ pretend to be Frank White with everyone acting like his best friend until the tab came (or until they needed to break an apartment lease and still get their deposit back) revived another Sopranos memory for me... Tony's image of the "dancing bear."
AJ got a taste of what it's like to be on display this week, just as Tony did when Cusamano and his band of Merry Boardroom Dipshits pretended, in the massively genius episode "A Hit is a Hit," that the books of their Country Club were going to be opened soon just to get Tony on the golf course and jack him up with questions about John Gotti and the realism of The Godfather trilogy.
Other analogous situations are Christopher's forays into the movie business, Artie's attempt to invest in the French liquer that probably never existed and Paulie's being completely out of sorts in Italy in the episode "Commendatori." In short, when a Sopranos character tries to operate outside the area into which he has compartmentalized himself, the consequences are simultaneously funny and revealing. Chase's point seems to be that, even though these characters are, for the most part, big fish, New Jersey is a relatively small pond, and none of them are above looking lost or being treated with a lack of respect. Even the Eighth Wonder of the World, who could wreck shop on 3 T. Rexes while swinging from huge vines and juggling Ann Darrow between his hands and feet, had no chance once he was taken out of his natural habitat.
Tony may be the Boss of Jersey, but "the mayonnaises" are more interested in John Gotti, a preening, high profile former Boss from New York, who talked his way into prison for the rest of his life. AJ may be the son of the Boss of Jersey, but the idiots he surrounds himself with just want him around to get them into places that wouldn't lift the velvet rope otherwise and, once they ride his coattails in, they show their gratitude by letting him pick up the tab. Christopher may be a Captain and be like God to the dopeheads and degenerate gamblers in Jersey, but Jon Favreau and Ben Kingsley give two shits about Jersey. Even Paulie, when the guys go to Italy on bee-za-nees, can't find any friends in the old country other than putan's.
It really plays out as an illustrative sub-theme of Chase's primary theme, which is that people's personal lives can be so complex that mob life may actually easier to manage, and that, while the characters are in a line of business that most of us are unfamiliar with, their lives consist of the same bullshit we all have to deal with on a daily basis. Very cool, and an arguably more powerfully delivered message since, if you look close enough, Chase is preaching the opposite of what the Italian anti-def people and detractors of The Godfather harp on. This is not a glorification of Italian mafiosi, actually quite the opposite. These are real people, who just happen to have a very different job/lifestyle than the rest of us, but who also have shitty cell service, wives and kids who bust their balls and co-workers they can't stand. They too do dumb things for love or to hurt those they love. They too stereotype Middle Easterners as Al-Qaeda, eat cold cuts out of the fridge and are momentarily paralyzed with a knee to the nuts... and then they go slice people up in the back room of a butcher shop and feed them to junkyard dogs.
*****
On a related note, good news for gamers! The Sopranos video game was announced today and is slated for an October release on XBox and PS2. Obviously they hope to buy us off for the next decade while Chase and Co. tinker with the final season, but I'm not even going to pretend like I won't buy it.
*****
Favorite line from the past 2 weeks? "Enjoy ya success!" Little Carmine "The Belt Buckle" Lupertazzi, not knowing what else to say to Lauren Bacall, but knowing she's important enough to be respectful to.
If you don't know, now you know...
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