Sopranos Series 6 Episode 3
Whilst Tony is comatose, his band of hoodlums pretend they care when in reality - they deeply believe they would be better without Soprano back at the helm. They jockey for position. The care factor for Tony’s biological family is practically non-existant.
They would much rather ‘the Skipper’ die so they don’t have to pay a considerable tribute to the boss’ wife.
Life as a mobster is not all it cracked up to be. When Paulie nearly loses his life (and his balls!) in a nearly botched robbery which nets them close to a million dollars, we see him the next day in his humble kitchen cutting out grocery coupons!
Silvio Dante has stepped in as caretaker-boss.
Silvio is in the midst of delusions of grandeur when in reality his skills as a boss are pathetic. He finally realizes just how hard Tony Soprano’s job is. His time is in constant demand and he just does not have the nouse to provide solutions to problems when said problems arise and need to be solved - fast.
When Vito and Paulie realize that Tony is back from the dead, they scurry off quick smart to get Carmella a taste of the heist that in realtiy, they would much rather keep for themselves. After handing over money to Carmella, Vito and Paulie appear grief-stricken - moreso than when their boss was as close to death as can be. Carmella sees the pain and disdain in the eyes of these two ‘loyal’ soldiers when she catches a glimpse of them in the leaving elevator. Christopher is bitten by the movie bug again knowing full well it is against the wishes of Tony.
There will be repercussions to pay when Tony is back to his normal self.
It’s a selfish world the mob, yet without a strong, focussed leader - these guys are nothing but visionless rats ready to desert the sinking ship at any given opportunity.
I think Sil will be happy to have Tony back in charge. He got a taste, and found out it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. He gets to be the acting boss, and 2 days later, ends up in the hospital. LOL.
I’m not digging the way Paulies character is going. The way he talked about Carmella, and being so stingy with the money. I’m not sure where they are taking this, but it’s starting to look not so good for Paulie, once Tony finds out about his lack of due diligence with the kick up. Paulie did have some funny scenes though. Him getting Tony out of the coma by nearly literally talking him to death.
As far as Vito goes, I hope the hell he gets whacked. I think he will too. When Tony finally came out of the coma, everybody looked happy except for him. Then that look that Albert gave him…I think he may tell Tony.
I may be over analyzing here, but the last scene in this episode got me thinking that Chris may be getting set up by Chase to become Ade 2.0. We know that in season 1 Ton gave Chris a firm no on the screenplay thing.. so for Chris to bring it up again, and saying that Tony needed to invest in the movie as well because Chris tiped them off about Ade. Once Tony is fully coherent again I am fairly certian that Tony will in no uncertian temrs tell Chris F* no on the Screenplay (again), and F no to investing in it… which I am guessing will stoke resentment and anger in Chris.. All of this combined with the fact that in the last episode we saw him chatting w/ the FBI, I think that all signs are pointing to him turning informant.
Another thing that struck me w/ this episode is that we are kind of seeing the worst sides of the core of Tony’s crew, it is interesting that he is in a coma for just a little while and already they are ready to turn on him. The only one who kept Tony’s best interest in mind was Sil. Anyways I can’t wait till next week.
By far, one of the most hilarious episodes in recent Sopranos history. Paulie talking to Tony and Chris and his AA sponsor pitching “Cleaver”. Just seeing Chris’ eyes light up when they pitched it to the rest of the gang. Classic.
“Sometimes I go about in pity for myself, and all the while, a great wind carries me across the sky.â€
Let us not forget the sub-context of The Sopranos that is easily shadowed by the dominating mafia foreground, psychology. The show encompasses what goes on inside of Tony Soprano and its affects on surrounding circumstances. He is certainly a new leader now that he has had psychotherapy. That Ojibwe saying is a perfectly congruous with his comatose dreaming. The entire time he is under the powerful wind like entity carries him along, (his ‘families’) and his pity Kevin Finnerly.