Don't Stop Believin': The Sopranos, Season 6, Part II.

[uvula_fr_b4]

Finally watched the last nine episodes of The Sopranos (Season 6, Part II) on DVD over the last, oh, 30 hours; as can be expected, not only has my casual use of profanity skyrocketed past longshoreman/merchant marine levels, my hunger levels have shot up past where they would've been had I actually smoked that yards-long spliff in Mel Brooks' History of the World, Part I.

Aside from some quibbles -- and no, kvetching about the infamous series ending aren't among them -- I think that David Chase et al pretty much pulled out all the stops on this one. Not many TV shows, even those created for HBO, achieve the level of quality, depth, entertainment value and sheer outrageousness that The Sopranos did; even fewer manage a valedictory lap to a mostly internally consistent, bravura finish.

• Glad to see that Meadow's one-time fiancé Finn finally wised up that there's no future (for him...) in hooking up with a wise-guy's daughter, even the daughter of the head of the north New Jersey Mob family.
  
  
• The subplot with Little Vito acting out -- the son of the slain fanook captain of Tony's Vito Spatafore (Joseph Gannascoli) -- in Episode 81 (Season 6, Part II, Episode 4: "Chasing It") was pretty well done, I thought, and had a harrowing conclusion. Tony's moral bankruptcy really comes through loud and clear in this one, as Vito's widow (and the audience) gradually learns just how much Tony's sympathy and good intentions are really worth. (But then, Artie Bucco could've told her a thing or two about that.)
  
  
• I felt slightly cheated at the relatively low-key way in which Christopher Moltasante (Michael Imperioli) finally got his ticket punched (in Episode 83, a.k.a. Season 6, Part II, Episode 6: "Kennedy and Heidi"); but, on the plus side, in that very same episode, Tony got to play sloppy seconds with one of Christopher's old flames, played by the criminally hawwwwwttt Sarah Shahi, and come as close to having a Carlos Castaneda experience as he's ever likely to have by dropping peyote with her. (And his pitch-perfect upchuck scene shortly after taking a peyote button: does no one bother to find out anything about illegal pharmacological substances before ingesting them?! I mean, what a bunch'a dumbfucks...)
  
  
• However, "Christafuh's" almost afterthought of an exit was more than made up for by the big send-offs given to Bobby "Bacala" (played by Steve R. Schirripa) in Episode 85 (a.k.a. Season 6, Part II, Episode 8: "The Blue Comet" -- and oh, the camera-work!) and Phil Leotardo (played by Frank Vincent) in the final ep, Episode 86 (a.k.a. Season 6, Part II, Episode 9: "Made in America").
  
  
• Christopher's former sobriety-buddy, the TV scriptwriter J.T. (Tim Daly), really should'a moved after his dealings with Christopher in Season 5, Law & Order staff writer job be damned....
  
  
• I'm surprised that no one's actually made a movie along the lines of Cleaver; it probably would make a tidy sum, especially on the DVD sales. *Shrug*
  
  
• I had zero patience with Carmella (Edie Falco), Meadow or A.J. in this arc: Carmella least of all, because she married Tony with her eyes wide open and stayed with him 'cause she liked the lifestyle, and yet she continues to live in this upper middle class suburban Barbie Dream World in which all stories about the Mafia are continuing smears by the WASP elites against all Italian-Americans, and yet she can't comprehend the necessity of getting the fuck outta Dodge when her husband tells her to. She knows what Tony does for a living, mostly has no problems with it as long as she keeps getting the House Beautiful accoutrements and the bling and the vacations and the summer "cottages" and the frequent dinners out at fancy-pants Italian restaurants, and yet acts (she might not be acting...) like a total effin' retard when the strong possibility that her own life and her children's lives just might be in danger arises. Meadow's taken her mother's unwillingness to recognize the obvious to the next level: she's so much a daddy's lil' princess, she decides to swallow a whole heapin' bunch of liberal platitudes and study to become a constitutional lawyer specializing in civil liberties cases, because she wishes to combat what she sees as pervasive persecution of Italian-Americans who actually ARE personally involved in organized crime. Again, Tony's moral bankruptcy -- and vanity -- are such that he smirks and lets his own daughter continue to wrap herself up in gross delusions about what he did to get them their house and all their toys. A.J. -- man, he's a dolt and a schlump and a ne'er-do-well quite a bit like his old man; if he was separated from his parents, he might straighten out in ten or fifteen years or so, but as long as he keeps suckin' on the Soprano famiglia tit, he doesn't have a prayer.
  
  
• Season 6, Part II was pretty much all meta, not just the series-closing episode "Made in America"; the aftermath of the events of 9/11, "Bush 43's" so-called "War on Terror," the ongoing slow-bleed of Iraq and, to a lesser extent, Afghanistan, became gradually more prominent as this block of episodes went on, almost as if David Chase was signaling his increasing disgust with how preoccupied John Q. Public was with, let's face it, a bunch'a made-up, criminal, douchebag dumbfucks, when there are so many other pressing issues commanding Mr. Public's attention and action. Granted, this is bit of biting the hand that feeds him, if that's what Chase was doing -- but that doesn't stop it from being a valid observation.
  
  
• Okay, the closing sequence in the diner in the very last episode, "Made in America": totally, totally meta-, yes, but also totally signaling that Tony got whacked. I mean, come on: there is no fucking way that he doesn't get whacked at the end, as well as, most likely, A.J. (can't let the only son survive to vow revenge, even if the only son is a wet-end like A.J....) and Carmella. Maybe Meadow survived, maybe not, but the Unholy Trinity of Tony, Carm and A.J., they're toast, man. The by-play between Tony and Bobby in the first episode of Season 6, Part II (Episode 78: "Soprano Home Movies") -- wherein Bobby says, "You probably don't even feel it when it's your turn, huh?" -- was even repeated in Episode 85 ("The Blue Comet"), in Tony's memory, as he "goes to the mattresses" for his war with Phil Leotardo. I mean, DUHHHH.
  
  
• That said, arguably the even bigger meta- of The Sopranos was the way that the events of 9/11 didn't get much mention at all, despite the fact that they would've been front-row-and-center even for a north Jersey mob. There's no way in hell that the New York City and north New Jersey families didn't cash in on the contracting jobs to clean up the World Trade Center site, the construction contracts awarded in the wake of 9/11, and maybe even some of the security contracts as well. And Tony's seeming reluctance to feed the ex-FBI agent-turned-Department of Homeland Security agent info on the "ragheads" Christopher dealt with? Fahgeddaboutit. No way in hell that History Channel-loving Tony Soprano would've failed to wrap himself in Old Glory and drop a dime on these guys, even without a gold-plated free pass from the feds for all future criminal charges against himself. (As to whether some of the other bosses might've played ball with some of the terrorist financiers, if the money and plausible deniability were right -- well, these wiseguys are all about the benjamins, and you can't buy a new Beemer, suburban McMansion, the latest Prada, Armani or Manolo Blahniks, or send your kids to private schools on patriotism alone.)