The Sopranos - Family Values

Junior's Review

Junior's Review
(Episode 75 - MOE N' JOE)

The creative call to spare us the joy of an exciting plot line throughout season six was wrong. I have no clue, why Vito and his gayness was chosen to be the building block of season six. It doesn´t work! It´s almost like the writers are trying to get rid off the viewers.

How many times do we need to see that Vito is in love with Mister Moustache? They tell each other "I love you" and listen to Dean Martin music over a romantic dinner. Boring. Embarrassing. Corny dialogue. Bad television, it´s almost unbelievable it´s the Sopranos. This episode contained even a voice over scene for Vito! Something that was never done before and shouldn´t have been done in the first place. To make things even worse Vito is going crazy on vodka. He leaves his sweet Johnny Cake, drives back to New Jersey. To do what? Any suggestions or thoughts? On the way the fat man kills a man because he doesn´t want him to call the police. After all the gay happiness are we now confronted with a psychopath who wants to kill all the mobsters? In a reference to Scorsese's taxi driver Vito drives around in New Jersey. What is he up too? I don´t understand Vito´s actions so I don´t know. The motivation of his character is a mystery. Too bad. By the way, this isn´t a gay issue. This is about bad writing and bad storytelling.

Johnny Sac makes a deal with the prosecution. He pleads guilty, gets 15 years and most of his fortune is taken away. Johnny Sac is a great character and I can only hope he doesn´t disappear for all times. And again, mobsters end up dead or in the can. There is no other way out of the life they live. The better parts of the episode showed the tragedy of being a mobster. You are put in prison, your wife has no money, your friends use the opportunity and don´t hesitate to make a nice cut for themselves. You get what you pay for, like Tony says in the beginning. One of the funniest scenes in this season was how Ginny´s brother talked to Johnny in gang terms. Either you´re part of it and you know how to use it or you don´t.

When I see Johnny´s face I´m always reminded of season five and the power struggle. Everyone expected a clash between N.J. and N.Y. for season six. For ten episodes no dramatic event between New York and New Jersey has happened? The most dramatic event being the embarrassment of Phil because Vito is gay? That´s not enough, especially if we as viewers were set up for it. It will be very hard to built up the intensity the conflict had in season five. Season five is underrated anyway.

The best part for me was the evolution of the relationship between T. and Janice. Janice like Janice is always complaining and Tony reaches out to her when he sees how she deals with Bobby Junior. He gets her the Sacramoni house for a nice price. This makes Janice so happy that she cries. Another interesting aspect was how Tony talked to Melfi about Janice departure from home. She left, he didn´t, but now they are again at the same place. Another circle.

The gardener was true Sopranos-Style. An unimportant character, just two scenes and everything is told. He´ll work everyday, he´ll be pushed around by people like Tony, he´ll keep coming back to to the same houses for the rest of his life. So what difference does it make that Tony releases him like a slave from his service? Zero. Basically nothing will change for him.

What the last couple of episodes featured besides the Brokeback Sopranos and the circle theme is also an astonishing dislike of the characters it portrays. The contrast between Vito and the firefighters, between Tony and the gardener, the portray of greed and materialism, points only in one direction. These guys aren´t likeable. They´re lazy thieves. They lie to each other. They steal. They´re violent and greedy. They don´t deserve our empathy. I was shocked as I heard how Tony described how Bobby would change Junior´s diapers and that it gave him a kick. Tony can be an asshole, sure, but this statement rang false and totally out of character to me.

Let´s hope the two left episodes reach the quality of the first couple of episodes.

comments are welcome to: jan@winning.com

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