Vito (aka Vince) pulling the self-hating gay thing by bashing that hot cook/volunteer firefighter and getting his fat ass handed to him. Maybe he’s going to have a life turnaround now. I can’t really say he deserves one, but his soul could still be saved, no? I don’t know. I’m on the fence about it, and I’m not sure which direction the show is going to take with Vito or Tony, for that matter, and the idea of redemption. Nice little Brokeback Mountain moment there at the end, I have to say.
AJ and Tony had a breakthrough. That convo was a long time in coming. I do think Tony sees AJ with rose-colored glasses, though. “You’re a nice guy”? I don’t think so. I think he’s a stupid, spoiled brat, but maybe it’s not too late for him. He needs to get some new friends, though. Giving him the bill every time, “Soprano’s the man!” I’d want to throw up too.
Julianna Marguiles looks good, huh? It was cool that she turned him down for sex, and I was hoping he would turn over a new leaf and be faithful to Carmella. Are women really that turned on by mob bosses that they throw their panties at them like that? I can see in some social circles, but Ms. Skiff didn’t seem like the type. But hey, what do I know? It was nice to see him behave like a decent husband for a change. Gives me hope for the redemption angle after all… except for the smoked turkey thing. Displaced rage, Melfi would say.
That old lady, Mrs. Conti, reminds me of some of my less savory Italian relatives. Seems like a sweet little old lady, but she drops the n-bomb outta nowhere and is, in actuality, a nasty piece of work.
Those two wiseguys trying to shake down the Starbucks-- hilarious!
They did a fantastic job of making Tony look like an asshole in that episode, although he did pull himself back from the abyss of cheating on Carmela for a change. The way he smiled at the old woman before he said “sold” was great.
We’ll see if AJ is getting the message, or if he’s just having a panic attack or heart palpitations from the coke. That idiot. You knew he was going to do that, and what a good thing he’s such a fuckup.
I also laughed at the wiseguys trying to shake down a Starbucks. And Jamba Juice is next. Then the whole neighborhood will be chain stores. Won’t somebody please think of the protection rackets?
AJ was about as competent a hit man as I expected him to be. A lot of AJ’s secenes were more interesting than usual – everything with him trying to act like a bigshot at the club, the way he was being used by his weasely friends, the scene with Tony telling him he was a nice guy, the panic attack – there was more character development with him than we’ve seen in two seasons.
I don’t need to see Vito in any more sex scenes. Hetero, homo, it doesn’t matter. Vito needs to keep his shirt on.
I actually felt a tiny twinge of pity for Uncle Jun. The whole “Take me home, I just want to go home” bit was pathetic, and how glad he was to see AJ. I know he’s a mean, crazy old bastard, it was just a moment of weakness on my part.
Did anyone notice that AJ’s hair was much longer in the scene with Tony on the boat than it was in the rest of the episode?
I thought the whole episode was pretty good, though. Lots about truth and lies and being seen for who you really are, or even just being who you really are (Vito and AJ in particular).
I thought the scene with Tony and AJ outside the police station was the highlight. The lighting on Tony’s face was great, and it was just an effective scene from both of them.
Seems like this show just not getting the viewership it used to. Back in the day, I’d log on after the show and there’d already be 3 pages of posts. Now, I’m the one who has started the threads, after the eps, 2 weeks in a row now. Not that I’m complaining, but I guess the show is not as hot as it used to be. Is that a function of a decline in quality, the time between shows, or what? I still enjoy the hell out of it, though. It’s as good as it’s been for several seasons IMO. Better, even.
Yeah, and you have to give us time to watch Big Love, and then Desperate Housewives on the Tivo.
I loved this episode too – like you guys said, the interaction between Tony and A.J. was probably an eye opener for both of them. How could Tony expect to raise a “nice” kid? Tony didn’t have some of the same issues when he was growing up, with a father in the business?
Telling A.J. – “It’s a movie” – it looked like that sunk in.
Nice counterpoints – A.J. telling Tony “You have all the money in the world” and Tony actually considering setting A.J. up in a club. They’re both in dream worlds about some things.
So Tony’s hissy fit about the smoked turkey – does he think that’s a weakness, not boinking Julianna?
And what does Johnny Cakes see in Vito? It’s not his weight, it’s his lack of personality, dumbness, and dishonesty. That can’t end well.
Let me be the complainer this time. I really didn’t like the episode.
For all I care, Robert Iler could have been written out of the show, oh, say 5 seasons ago. Dear Mr. Chase, he’s a whiny, spoiled kid who can’t do anything right. We get it. Do something with it, or do not do something with it. You’re not developing a character anymore, you’re flogging a long dead horse.
This Vito in hiding thing is going on too long too. Or, if you’re insisting on dragging it out, why spend so much screen time on it? You’ve set up the situation, a gay mobster. Interesting. Ok, now why spend so much time away from Jersey? What point are you trying to prove in New Hampshire that you’re spending so much time there? We’ve already suffered through a second coma episode when one would have sufficed. Why put us through this long wait now too.
Alright, let me at least say something good. The poultry store vs. Jamba Juice was really good. The times they are a changin’. Tony stopping with the real estate agent because of her unbuttoning what Carmela had buttoned was nice too, as was the smoked turkey followup.
Well, I’m sure I’ve succeeded in sounding like a whiner, but with only a few episodes left in the series, this one felt like a waste.
When Tony called Phil out for being an acting boss, isn’t Tony technically only the acting street boss? I suppose he might have moved up to acting boss (especially with Junior gone), but did he become the actual boss? Isn’t the actual boss in prison. I think his name is Dimeo. That is the name of the crime family right? Jackie was acting in his place and Jackie died. Then Junior became the acting boss.
Has Junior been officially removed? Did the boss in prison die or was he removed?
Your comment just added that much more to that scene. I didn’t consider the unbuttoning what Carmela had buttoned just that they had both been working on his shirt.
Gettting tired of Vito. Tired of New Hampshire. Time to move on.
Well she turned down Tony at FIRST… but she knew what she was saying yes to when he invited himself over and was quite pissed (at herself mostly) when Tony stpped and left.
I thought we’d see a bit more of this this season, but I can’t really see Tony or Chris being able to pull the shit they could in earlier seasons in terms of tail. Tony’s an older man now. He’s out of shape and bald… not two things high up on the HOT list.
I think they kind of alluded to it at the begining of the epsode with Christopher. He walks out of Satriales and two hot jail baits are walking by and completely ignore him. Season one or two, he would have atleast gotten a nod.
I really like the Vito stuff. I loved the inane B&B breakfast concersations that drove Vito to the diner.
Every episode lately I am thinking, ok- what is the point here , for the first half. Then sthe second half turns out to be more interesting. But it seems like they are really trying to drag this season out. I guess they know people are invested in the characters and will prol’ly watch anyway.
And every preview for the next week seems like it is going to be THE episode you have been waiting for…bit it’s not. I guess some may call that effective writing/marketing…
But let’s pick up the pace already!
Where is AJ getting the money to pay all these tabs? the one they showed last night was $1890. I know it isn’t from the suit money Carm gave him, and certainly not from blockbuster…
AJs problem is a lack of attention from his father. Can you imaging Tony letting AJ talk to him the way he does? The only reason he gets away with it is because correcting AJ would require real parenting and a little effort, which Tony is not willing to give up.
And a little about last weeks shooting. If you are a mob guy and two unknown guys talking Italian block your way out of the driveway and one gets on one side of the car and one gets on the other, asking for directions…get the frick outta there! Don’t sit there like a dumbass. You are in the mob. This is how people get whacked. Don’t you watch the Sopran-… never mind…
This has nothing to do with the substance of the episode, but I was irritated by the mere fact of Julianna Margolis being in the episode–she looked great and it was a good little sidebar, but all these freaking celebrities getting their cameos in before the show ends sucks. It was cool when Frank Sinatra, Jr., and David Lee Roth played in the executive game, but now the cameos are bugging me.
I think it was from the sale of his drum kit. He must have run through it pretty quick, though. I didn’t think his friends always relied on him to pay though, I thought it was just because that afternoon he told his buddy on the phone that he was “totally minted”, or some crap; i.e., tonight’s tab is on me.
I wonder if Junior recognized AJ for who he is, or if he thought he was '70s-era Tony. He greeted him as “my nephew”, but I’m not sure what he would normally call AJ.
Also, I wonder how much AJ was motivated by loyalty, and how much by simply wanting to prove himself. And his fumbling the knife reminded me of the scene in Fun With Dick and Jane in which Jim Carrey tries to rob a store, but gets his gun caught in his sweatshirt, and in classic JC style, bends and yanks his arm in every direction possible without ever getting his hand out of the pocket. I wonder if he thought past the “E chisto e per ti!” moment at all, and if so, was he willing to go to jail after stabbing Junior?
Actually, to answer my own question, he didn’t think. He just doesn’t think. He had about a half second between dropping the knife and the orderlies’ reactions, in which he could have grabbed it up again and stabbed Junior anyway, or taken a hostage. Sure, he would have lost in that scenario, too, but it’s clear that he has neither the ingenuity nor the ruthlessness to even be a foot soldier.
And yeah, the boat scene bugged. And so does Melfi’s therapist.
This episode had me wishing I had a double speed with sound button on my DVR. It was just moving too slow. Not that I disliked the stories - I just feel they could have been tightened and another subplot worked in. Take 10 minutes and give us Janice and Bobby, or Paulie, or something else to speed up the pace.
Rilchiam, he would be called “my nephew” (if my own Sicilian-side of the family is any indication). A.J. is getting his dad’s panic attacks, and for what? He isn’t as spoiled as he would like?
Good thing it is not the FBI chasing down Vito. He’d have been found the next day, no more than two. Vito knows Phil a lot better than his wife, Phil’s cousin, does.
Chase must have had a bad Blockbuster’s incident, although I’ve seen service that bad (at other stores, as I don’t go to BB).
Now who thinks that phone call Vito made to his wife will be how they catch him? Me, for one.
She’ll tell Phil about it, including the name that came up. Phil will track down that guy, Todd Whatever and Todd will, of course, explain the circumstances surrounding the loss of the phone. He might even be shown a picture of Vito, who, btw, really needs to find a better place to stay. And then, budda bing! good-bye Vito.
BTW, the Johnny Cakes guy is like the only guy in Sopranos history who can defend himself in a fight, right or wrong? I loved how he kicked that pipe out of Vito’s hand.
