$5 Gas is Here

$5 gas is here. I saw that when I was out a few days ago running errands. Yeah, I've seen gas prices about $5.00 per gallon in the US before... notably at stations with rip-off prices in very expensive areas. But now $5+ has come to ordinary gas stations in my town.

Mind you, it's not that all gas is $5+. For now it's only the premium grades that stretch past $5, and only at the major name-brand stations. Discount stations remain below $5 for all grades, as does Costco.

Update: Just 4 days later, the prices are above $5.00 for all grades at the Valero station nearby. An indie shop a few blocks away on a side street is under $5 for all grades. The Costco where I bought gas today charged $4.159 for 87 octane fuel.

The Many Saints of Newark

Last night I watched The Many Saints of Newark. It's a 2021 feature-length film that's a prequel of sorts to the TV series The Sopranos that aired on HBO from 1999 to 2007.

One question many people ask is, "Will I enjoy the movie if I haven't seen the TV show?" Critics, by-and-large, answer in the affirmative. Their reviews argue that yes, it's a good movie even if you haven't seen the TV series, thought people who've seen the whole series will appreciate the movie more. Having watched most of the TV series now I'm going to disagree strongly with that characterization. The movie does not stand on its own. I consider it more of a fan service movie than a legit prequel.

Here are Five Things why:

1) The movie opens with a major Sopranos spoiler

The Many Saints of Newark opens with a voiceover than gives away a major plot point from the finale of The Sopranos. Fortunately this didn't hurt me. Even though I'm only about halfway through the last season— I couldn't wait until I'd finished it because yesterday was the last day the movie was available for streaming on HBO— I'd already had this plot point spoiled elsewhere. If you intend to watch The Sopranos later and don't want a series-finale spoiler, don't start with this movie!

2) The story begins in a strange place; no character development

One big reason this movie fails to stand on its own is that the plot sputters between different story lines. Nominally it's supposed to be about how young Tony Soprano grows under the mentorship of his uncle, Dickie Moltisanti— whose surname means Many Saints in Italian, an apparent reference from the title— to develop the skills that will eventually make him a crime boss years later. Tony's development turns out to be one of three stories the movie tells... and of those three it's the weakest.

The first scene in the movie showing the critical uncle-nephew relationship has Tony accompanying Dickie to meet Dickie's father upon his return from a trip to Italy. The elder Moltisanti arrives with a young second wife/fiancée from Italy. She is attractive and younger than the man's children. Dickie, who is married, is immediately infatuated with her. Dickie's competition with his own father and his romancing of his step-mom (eww) become one of the major storylines of the movie. In fact it's arguably the primary storyline as it's the only one with a clear beginning, middle, and end in the movie.

Interspersed between scenes of the love story are bits about Dickie being a gangster. He lies, steals, takes advantage of people, beats people, and murders people. He's not a sympathetic person at all. And through all of this he doesn't really grow. He doesn't become a better person at all, nor does he rise particularly much in the gang hierarchy. There's no character growth, for good or evil, there.

Meanwhile an impressionable young Tony Soprano is trying to tag along.... But why? we viewers are left wondering. There are parallels here to the character of Henry Hill in the classic gangster film Goodfellas— not the least of which is that Ray Liotta, who starred as Henry Hill, plays dual roles as Dickie's father and imprisoned twin uncle in this movie. Like Henry Hill, Tony Soprano  envies the respect and financial success the mobster enjoys.

In this story arc young Tony actually seems to turn away from organized crime. Oh, there are hilarious scenes where emulates gang crime at the kid level. He runs a low-stakes numbers game in school and mugs the ice cream man to take his ice cream truck for a joy ride. But then he recognizes that getting caught for serious crime means he won't get into college or be able to hold a legit professional job. As the movie reaches a climax he throws out a beloved gift from Dickie he knows was stolen. Given that this movie shows Tony repudiating crime, how is it a sequel for him becoming a crime lord?

3) Minor characters are entertaining... if you know them already

Another reason why I consider this movie a fan service is that many parts of it are vastly more enjoyable— and understandable— to people who've already seen The Sopranos. For those of us who know characters like Silvio Dante and Paulie Walnuts well, seeing the portrayal of their younger versions is a hoot.

Paulie is a simpering fop. In one scene he's painting his nails at a gang sit-down dinner. He can barely pass the peppermill across the table because his nail polish is drying. In another scene, he insists of switching positions during the beating of a rival gang member because he doesn't want to get blood on the fancy suit jacket he just bought.

In the portrayal of a young Silvio we see the definitive answer to a question many Sopranos fans have wondered about: is his magnificent pompadour hairstyle his real hair or a wig? Silvio circa 1970 looks like he's already 45 years old as his hair is thinning, badly. In the first half of the movie he wears it in an awful comb-over. By the later scenes his rich pompadour appears— and gets partly torn off (because it's a wig) during a scuffle.

4) Uncle Jun is (and always was) a pissant fool

Also in the vein of "minor characters that don't mean much unless you know them already" is another of Tony's uncles, "Uncle Jun'". His portrayal as a younger man here shows him to be a jealous idiot. I already wrote about how he's a proud fool in the season 1 wrap-up. This prequel movie portrays that he was always like that. He's a trifling person, isn't very smart, and perhaps most importantly for a person trying to rise up through the ranks of organized crime, doesn't have the respect of his peers. When Tony's father gets sent to prison, Junior haughtily tells the other soldiers, "While my brother's away everything goes through me." "What, you have diarrhea?" one quips. His peers all laugh.

5) A shocking reveal at the end!

While The Many Saints of Newark begins with a spoiler for the series it ends with a shocking revelation about an important plot point that happened in the middle of the series. In the penultimate scene ( movie spoiler )

The final scene shows a different explanation for why this event happened than is provided in the TV series. In a brief, coda-like scene, ( more spoilers )