canyonwalker (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
canyonwalker) wrote2021-10-02 04:18 pm
canyonwalker) wrote2021-10-02 04:18 pm
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The Sopranos - Tweedledumb and Tweedledumber
In season 2 of The Sopranos we meet two new, minor recurring characters, Matt Bevilacqua and Sean Gismonte. Or as I started calling them, Tweedledumb and Tweedledumber. They're young hotheads working for Christopher who are trying to curry favor to get into the Sopranos gang.
Matt and Sean are introduced in a scene in the season 2 opener where Christopher is overseeing a pump-and-dump stock scam. They're (fraudulent) stock brokers who they take it upon themselves to beat up a fellow stock broker who's not pumping the pump-and-dump scam hard enough.
It's apropos that Matt and Sean are working through Christopher to rise into the gang because they're like reflections of him. For one, they yearn for indications of status. Christopher wants to be a "made" man; Matt and Sean want recognition from Tony. Two, they're all rash. Christopher has made a number of poor choices that get him in hot water— both with the gang and with his girlfriend. Matt and Sean rough up the broker thinking it will get them ahead but really it just gets them in hot water. (That hapless broker, BTW, is played by Kevin Sussman, who you may recognize as comic shop owner Stuart in The Big Bang Theory.)
Matt and Sean appear or are referenced a few more times during season 2. They act as busboys at a high-stakes poker game Tony runs. They're simultaneously glad for the opportunity to work in the same room as Tony and frustrated that's it's such menial work. Later, in the Bada Bing club, Tony ignores them. Feel used and unappreciated they decide they need to be much more aggressive to get ahead in the criminal gang. And that's when they really earn the names Tweedledumb and Tweedledumber.
They murder Christopher! ...Well, they try to. They open fire on him from a car in a parking lot. Chris falls to the ground, badly wounded from at least two shots that hit him. Before losing consciousness he returns fire with a concealed gun he always carries. With a lucky shot he kills Sean. Matt flees.
Matt then goes to Richie Aprile, a powerful man in the organization, for protection. Although Richie hates Tony and was part of the plot to kill him in season 1, Richie doesn't want any involvement in this hit against Tony's beloved nephew and protégé, Christopher.
While Christopher is in the hospital and his life hangs in the balance, his gang associates split time between his bedside and trying to find his assailant. Pussy gets a tip on where Matt is hiding. He and Tony kidnap Matt, rough him up while questioning him to determine if Richie or Uncle Jun' or anyone else in the gang put them up to it (nobody did), and kill him.
As an aside, Tony involving Pussy in the torture and murder seems to be a test of Pussy's loyalty. Tony has been suspicious for a while that Pussy is a rat (previous blog). Pussy suggests Tony ask Furio to help, but Tony rebuffs him, saying basically, "Three's a crowd."
Pussy later is in serious jeopardy with his FBI handle, Skip, who reminds him that he's not excused from committing violent crimes just because he's an informant. Skip demands to know if Pussy participated in the murder. Pussy gives him an evasive answer; Skip, clearly uncomfortable, chooses to accept it. I feel for Skip because this could be the beginning of the end of his FBI career.
Matt and Sean are introduced in a scene in the season 2 opener where Christopher is overseeing a pump-and-dump stock scam. They're (fraudulent) stock brokers who they take it upon themselves to beat up a fellow stock broker who's not pumping the pump-and-dump scam hard enough.
It's apropos that Matt and Sean are working through Christopher to rise into the gang because they're like reflections of him. For one, they yearn for indications of status. Christopher wants to be a "made" man; Matt and Sean want recognition from Tony. Two, they're all rash. Christopher has made a number of poor choices that get him in hot water— both with the gang and with his girlfriend. Matt and Sean rough up the broker thinking it will get them ahead but really it just gets them in hot water. (That hapless broker, BTW, is played by Kevin Sussman, who you may recognize as comic shop owner Stuart in The Big Bang Theory.)
Matt and Sean appear or are referenced a few more times during season 2. They act as busboys at a high-stakes poker game Tony runs. They're simultaneously glad for the opportunity to work in the same room as Tony and frustrated that's it's such menial work. Later, in the Bada Bing club, Tony ignores them. Feel used and unappreciated they decide they need to be much more aggressive to get ahead in the criminal gang. And that's when they really earn the names Tweedledumb and Tweedledumber.
They murder Christopher! ...Well, they try to. They open fire on him from a car in a parking lot. Chris falls to the ground, badly wounded from at least two shots that hit him. Before losing consciousness he returns fire with a concealed gun he always carries. With a lucky shot he kills Sean. Matt flees.
Matt then goes to Richie Aprile, a powerful man in the organization, for protection. Although Richie hates Tony and was part of the plot to kill him in season 1, Richie doesn't want any involvement in this hit against Tony's beloved nephew and protégé, Christopher.
While Christopher is in the hospital and his life hangs in the balance, his gang associates split time between his bedside and trying to find his assailant. Pussy gets a tip on where Matt is hiding. He and Tony kidnap Matt, rough him up while questioning him to determine if Richie or Uncle Jun' or anyone else in the gang put them up to it (nobody did), and kill him.
As an aside, Tony involving Pussy in the torture and murder seems to be a test of Pussy's loyalty. Tony has been suspicious for a while that Pussy is a rat (previous blog). Pussy suggests Tony ask Furio to help, but Tony rebuffs him, saying basically, "Three's a crowd."
Pussy later is in serious jeopardy with his FBI handle, Skip, who reminds him that he's not excused from committing violent crimes just because he's an informant. Skip demands to know if Pussy participated in the murder. Pussy gives him an evasive answer; Skip, clearly uncomfortable, chooses to accept it. I feel for Skip because this could be the beginning of the end of his FBI career.