The Sopranos - Family Values

Junior's Review

Junior's Review
(Episode 72 - LUXURY LOUNGE)

The Sopranos never fail to surprise. Luxury lounge was surprisingly mainly about Artie Bucco and his problems. Second to him came Chris and his business trip to Hollywood. Remarkably Tony didn´t play a major role in the latest episode. He provided some advice and orders, but other than that he didn´t do nothing of real importance. After watching the show I was left wondering what do think of it. Was it crap like you can read it all over the net or was it brilliant? The answer is simple. The 72th delivery of David Chase amd his team can hardly be judged on its own. Though I´m not sure where exactly the season is heading, I´m still convinced that nothing in the show happens by coincedence. Therefore the only way I can make some sense of "luxury lounge" is by figuring out what they meant to show us.

Considering Tony it showed us a different person. He was very friendly, searched for reasonable solutions and even took Benny´s credit card fraud easy. I wouldn´t have expected such a calm reaction from Tony. Instead, Artie goes a little Tony Soprano and beats Benny up. Tony even tells Artie to go to therapy. A long time ago he was hostile to therapy, but now he realizes that it could actually help. You can´t ignore the obvious difference between Artie and Tony. Artie sticks more or less to the rules to make a living. He can´t go to Giovianni and put a bullit in Giovannis head. Artie does honest work. At the end he finds true joy in cooking a rabbit which he self shoot.Back to basics one might say.

Chris on the other hand comes to Hollywood for a meeting with Sir Ben Kingsley. I was waiting for the subplot since the meeting in episode 68. One thing I was hoping for was what in Hollywood is called development hell, but that didn´t happen. The script was finished off screen. However, I enjoyed the meetings between Kingsley, Chris and Little Carmine. Great dialogue, you could feel how strange Kingsley felt in their presence. Soon Chris attention turns away from the script though. He can´t believe what movie stars get for free and of course he wants to have it also. It´s all about to have and have not, not matter what and so Chris robs Lauren Bacalls gifts. He literally hits the legendary actress. Her appearance was a nice surprise and I loved it. The irony is perfect when Chris returns and Tony just picks the things from Chris` bag. Like the biggest Hollywood stars Tony gets all the staff for free if he wants.

Chase said reportedly money and materialism is all the characters care about and this mesage is written all over the episode. It´s nothing else but greed. The references to Italy underline this because there are the roots. Poor people crossing the Atlantic for a better future. Some choose the way of Artie, others the way of Tony. The killers from Italy who execute the hit on Rusty fly back to the old land with new watches and expensive pens. In the end greed connects all of the mob guys and thieves. So it´s only logical that credit cardnumbers stolen by a conservative jew end up in the hands of muslim gangsters. I don´t think that it was a wise creative decision. It takes away dimension from the characters. After all, they do care about some other things. Ask Phil for example how much he cares about Vito and the humiliation of his entire family. We wouldn´t care about T. if he would care only for money.

With all this said I really think it´s about time to move the plots forward and pick up some dramatic action. The ground for thematic, moral and socioligical issue is layed. A third episode in a row without clear, recognizable direction would be too much.

comments are welcome to: jan@winning.com

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