![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
The Sopranos - mid-season 3 grabbag
Oct. 8th, 2021 01:14 pmWe've gotten a little binge-y with The Sopranos the past few days, watching 2-3 episodes an evening. We're now up to season 3 episode 7, just past the halfway point of the season. Because we've watched several episodes in rapid succession I'm not going to try to break out thoughts about each into its own blog. Instead I'll offer a grab-bag here in the format of Five Things.
BTW, I already wrote about a turn of events with Livia in s3e2 so this will be Five other Things.
1) Ralphie is a menace
In s3ep2 we're introduced to Ralphie Cifaretto, an ambitious member of Richie Aprile's crew. Like Christopher, he's not just ambitious but also hot headed; except he's way more foolish. He's fighting with another branch of the organized crime family over control of garbage hauling contracts. The men are firebombing each other's trucks. Tony, pissed that he has to mediate such ridiculous behavior, tells them "No more fires". Ralphie obeys by having his goons beat up a city official with clubs instead. In a later episode Tony promotes one of Ralphie's peers, passing over Ralphie because he's too rash. How does he react to it? Very rashly, of course. He complains about it repeatedly in front of others, including Tony, further getting him on Tony's bad side. The way he keeps escalating things telegraphs that he's going to get whacked sooner or later. Then in s3ep6 he injures a guy at the Bada Bing club and kills one of the gals. Tony lets him off with just a bit of a roughing up, but as he and his capos stare at the mess they have to clean up it's obvious they're nearly out of patience with Ralphie.
2) Paulie rides Christopher too hard
In s3ep3 Christopher is inducted into the gang as a "made man". It's a great recognition for him as he's striven for advancement since the very first episode. Paulie, his immediate boss, rewards him by giving him management of his sports gambling operation. The reward is ironic, though, because Christopher finds out it's really hard work to generate enough money from it to pay the very high rent Paulie demands. In addition, Paulie becomes cruel to Christopher just because he can. In later episodes he demands that Christopher strip naked in front of him to prove he's not wearing a wire. Once is during the daytime at the club in front of his colleagues; another time is at 2am, at his own house, in front of his fiancee. This development in Paulie's character is weird because it changes him from being a sympathetic character— as much as crime bosses can be sympathetic— to being an increasingly unsympathetic one. I hope the story provides a solid reason soon for why Paulie's doing this.
3) Meadow is a privileged asshole
Also in the category of characters becoming unsympathetic is Tony's daughter, Meadow. In the first two seasons she displays the angst and sass typical of a teen girl going through individuation. In season 3 she blossoms into a privileged little asshole. Her dad offends her with his racist explanation that he doesn't want her dating a half-Black guy she met at school. I'm 💯 that's she's offended; there's no defending what Tony said. But she seems to continue dating the guy more out of spite for her father than genuine interest in the young man himself. He senses this and breaks up with her a few episodes later. Meanwhile she develops a hostile attitude toward her mother, too, basically blaming her for enabling her mobster dad. "Enabling" him how? By cooking his food and doing his laundry? Meadow displays an overbearing entitlement to these things herself. In one scene she's eating at the table with her family and shakes her empty drinking glass in the air. Though she's literally only steps from the kitchen to refill it herself she expects her parents to be her servants.
4) Tony's afraid of... capicola?!
Tony experiences a breakthrough in his psychotherapy with Dr. Melfi when he realizes he's triggered by... of all things... sliced lunch meats. In one scene he faints when unwrapping slices of capicola from the refrigerator at home. Later, with the psychiatrist, he recalls through a flashback from age 11 how he witnessed his father and uncle inuring the local butcher when he can't pay the full installment on a debt to them. He followed his elders into a life of violent crime, so it's not violent crime that bothers him. Yet seeing capicola reminds him of his combination of confusion, fear, and disgust as an adolescent.
5) The cops can be venal.
No story about organized crime figures would be complete without a threat of the cops closing in on them. In the first two seasons the cops are mostly deus ex machina to the story; they swoop in with knowledge gathered off-camera to jolt the story in new directions. Season 3 opens with a team of FBI agents figuring out how to plant a listening device in Tony's house. In a first for the series we see a lot about how the cops work to gather information on the criminals. It becomes a bit like a police procedural, a la Law & Order. But unlike what's typical for these police procedurals over the past 20+ years, they don't present the cops as universally good people. At least one of them on stakeouts is more interested in ogling the bodies of attractive women through his binoculars than charting the movements of the bad guys.
BTW, I already wrote about a turn of events with Livia in s3e2 so this will be Five other Things.
1) Ralphie is a menace
In s3ep2 we're introduced to Ralphie Cifaretto, an ambitious member of Richie Aprile's crew. Like Christopher, he's not just ambitious but also hot headed; except he's way more foolish. He's fighting with another branch of the organized crime family over control of garbage hauling contracts. The men are firebombing each other's trucks. Tony, pissed that he has to mediate such ridiculous behavior, tells them "No more fires". Ralphie obeys by having his goons beat up a city official with clubs instead. In a later episode Tony promotes one of Ralphie's peers, passing over Ralphie because he's too rash. How does he react to it? Very rashly, of course. He complains about it repeatedly in front of others, including Tony, further getting him on Tony's bad side. The way he keeps escalating things telegraphs that he's going to get whacked sooner or later. Then in s3ep6 he injures a guy at the Bada Bing club and kills one of the gals. Tony lets him off with just a bit of a roughing up, but as he and his capos stare at the mess they have to clean up it's obvious they're nearly out of patience with Ralphie.
2) Paulie rides Christopher too hard
In s3ep3 Christopher is inducted into the gang as a "made man". It's a great recognition for him as he's striven for advancement since the very first episode. Paulie, his immediate boss, rewards him by giving him management of his sports gambling operation. The reward is ironic, though, because Christopher finds out it's really hard work to generate enough money from it to pay the very high rent Paulie demands. In addition, Paulie becomes cruel to Christopher just because he can. In later episodes he demands that Christopher strip naked in front of him to prove he's not wearing a wire. Once is during the daytime at the club in front of his colleagues; another time is at 2am, at his own house, in front of his fiancee. This development in Paulie's character is weird because it changes him from being a sympathetic character— as much as crime bosses can be sympathetic— to being an increasingly unsympathetic one. I hope the story provides a solid reason soon for why Paulie's doing this.
3) Meadow is a privileged asshole
Also in the category of characters becoming unsympathetic is Tony's daughter, Meadow. In the first two seasons she displays the angst and sass typical of a teen girl going through individuation. In season 3 she blossoms into a privileged little asshole. Her dad offends her with his racist explanation that he doesn't want her dating a half-Black guy she met at school. I'm 💯 that's she's offended; there's no defending what Tony said. But she seems to continue dating the guy more out of spite for her father than genuine interest in the young man himself. He senses this and breaks up with her a few episodes later. Meanwhile she develops a hostile attitude toward her mother, too, basically blaming her for enabling her mobster dad. "Enabling" him how? By cooking his food and doing his laundry? Meadow displays an overbearing entitlement to these things herself. In one scene she's eating at the table with her family and shakes her empty drinking glass in the air. Though she's literally only steps from the kitchen to refill it herself she expects her parents to be her servants.
4) Tony's afraid of... capicola?!
Tony experiences a breakthrough in his psychotherapy with Dr. Melfi when he realizes he's triggered by... of all things... sliced lunch meats. In one scene he faints when unwrapping slices of capicola from the refrigerator at home. Later, with the psychiatrist, he recalls through a flashback from age 11 how he witnessed his father and uncle inuring the local butcher when he can't pay the full installment on a debt to them. He followed his elders into a life of violent crime, so it's not violent crime that bothers him. Yet seeing capicola reminds him of his combination of confusion, fear, and disgust as an adolescent.
5) The cops can be venal.
No story about organized crime figures would be complete without a threat of the cops closing in on them. In the first two seasons the cops are mostly deus ex machina to the story; they swoop in with knowledge gathered off-camera to jolt the story in new directions. Season 3 opens with a team of FBI agents figuring out how to plant a listening device in Tony's house. In a first for the series we see a lot about how the cops work to gather information on the criminals. It becomes a bit like a police procedural, a la Law & Order. But unlike what's typical for these police procedurals over the past 20+ years, they don't present the cops as universally good people. At least one of them on stakeouts is more interested in ogling the bodies of attractive women through his binoculars than charting the movements of the bad guys.
The deal is a 100% match on the first $4,000 contributed annually. Oddly the matching starts with the first payroll in November. I mean, hey, the sooner the better.... But starting it late in the year is a rough fit for me because I've been funding my 401(k) to hit the maximum contribution for the year. I don't have $4,000 of eligible contributions left with which to max out my company's match.