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June 11, 2007

Ferdy at the Movies - Waiting for the DVD to Find Out How the Sopranos Turns Out

I understand that in the Sopranos finale a cat played a major role. We don't have cable, but I understand my responsibilities as America's Most Trusted Feline, and as soon as the DVD comes out I'll let you know my opinions on the subject.

I'm not a very big Sopranos fan, but Bruce loves it. Bruce has been through therapy, so the scenes with the psychiatrist have a special resonance with him. In addition, David Chase is a bit conservative, and Chase claimed in a TV Guide interview that Sopranos was in part produced out of his own anger. There is thus a strong angry conservative current running under the surface of Sopranos. Bruce says it's like talking to Peg-Eye Nate, only not as violent.

Sometimes the undercurrent breaks to the surface. Tony Soprano's daughter Meadow is arguably the smartest person in the family, but her post-adolescent liberalism comes out as strident and whiny. In one episode, she joins a law clinic that brags about how many crack babies it has reunited with their mothers. Another time she has a fight with her boyfriend that is so rife with psychological terminology that it borders on self-parody. And of course, there are plenty of high-profile idealists from the Sixties who are taking Sopranos money under the table.

The defining moment of the series in my opinion was in the first season episode Boca, when Tony discovers that the high school soccer coach had an affair with one of the underage girls on the soccer team. When Tony is raging about the incident to his psychiatrist, she asks him why he thinks he must be the one to serve justice on the coach. Tony abandons his plans to kill the man, who is subsequently arrested by the police.

In that one instance, Tony allows the rule of law to dispense justice. That kind of justice doesn't always work, but it is critical to our survival as a civilization. The mob organization to which Tony Soprano belongs is entirely devoted to the principle of using violence in place of the law.

One thing that is not obvious until the later seasons is that there is a dark sort of democracy in Tony's mob: if enough people decide they don't like the person in charge, they kill him. The season 1 episode Denial, Anger, Acceptance foreshadows this by way of a historical reference. While Tony is unsuccessfully trying to beat a Jewish hotel owner into submission, the victim tells the story of Masada, and points that the Jews survived while the Roman Empire was dust. Tony replies that he is the Roman Empire. The irony is that in the Roman Empire-- like the mob-- assassination was an all too commonplace method of determining the succession.

In any case, the show must have something to recommend it, because every few months Bruce watches the entire series from beginning to end. Apparently, even the twelfth viewing reveals new secrets.

I'll keep watch for the cat and let you know.

Respectfully submitted,

Ferdinand T. Cat

# At Mon 9:11 PM | Permalink | Trackback URI | Comments (2) | More Ferdy at the Movies | Tags: cats crime and punishment culture David Chase gangsters Sopranos television

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I promised I would talk about the cat in the Sopranos finale once I saw it on DVD. It's entirely possible the writers had a different interpretation than mine, but because I'm a superior life form, my opinion is the... [Read More]

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Comments

Posted by: Michael at June 15, 2007 1:19 AM

Posted by: Ferdy at June 15, 2007 6:48 PM