The Sopranos - Family Values

Junior's Review

Junior's Review
(Episode 76 - COLD STONES)

Vito is dead! Phil takes things in his own hands. He and two of his crew members beat Vito to death. The resolution can´t justify the amount of time we had to suffer through all the Vito scenes. It slowed the whole season down and only now there seems to be a chance of a power struggle between N.J. and N.Y. because Fat Dom, one of Vito´s killers, is killed by Carlo and Sil.

The most significant thing about Vito isn´t his gayness. First and foremost he is a greedy liar. He lies to Mister Moustache, he lies to his wife, he lies to his children and in one way or the other he lies to himself. Lies are everywhere in this episode to be found. A.J. doesn´t tell his parents the truth about his work, Phil comes up with some ridiculous remarks about Vito whom he loved like "a brother in law." Wherever you look everywhere is falsehood. Rosalie still doesn´t know anything about how her son was really killed. By the way, Vito shoot him in the back. Tony lied to Carme about Ade - naturally. Ade returning as a ghost has a nice touch to it. May be some of the Ade-is-living-theory-supporters will at least shut up now. But more interestingly it shows that the lies are rarely visible, but still they can´t be hidden forever. Since I was always wrong with my predictions I´ll take another shot and expect Carme to learn that Sil killed Ade because she worked for the Feds.

True love can´t exist under such circumstances or can it? The relationship between T. and Carme is based on money. Tony gives Carme a expensive purse filled with money as a gift before she flies to Paris. And she loves him because of it. From my observation the writers are working hard to make it very clear, that all the characters care only about the money and the lifestyle. These people don´t want to work hard. That´s one of the main reasons Vito returned to Jersey. They want to get paid for so called No-shows. Making money without any work. A.J. spends 500 Dollars for a bottle of Champagne in a club! Now we learn how he managed it. He sold stolen goods from Blockbuster. He simply follows the tradition. Yet Tony stands in his way and gets A.J. a job at a construction company. He wants A.J. to show up and work hard. I suspect Tony did it because he knows A.J. doesn´t have the balls to be a gangster. He complaints to Melfi about A.J. and you can´t ignore his disappointment. Tony perhaps has more pitty for A.J. than true love. A.J. is certainly not the son he wanted. Gandolfini delivered again a brilliant performance, especially in the scenes with A.J.. He would like to hit A.J., just like his father hit him, but he doesn´t. Great.

You can go to any place in the world, but you´ll always bring the place you´re coming from with you. Carme brings New Jersey to Paris. Most people forget that Paris has a long history of violent events. It´s not only the city of love. It´s also the locations of several revolutions and wars. Millions of people suffered in Paris and all the suffering is washed away, observes Carme. Life leads into nothingness and all what is left are cold stones.

This episode was a great piece of art, because every little detail had meaning. Furthermore it connects the past and the present of almost everything and everyone in the Sopranos. And even more it manages to establish a connection between the fictional world of a New Jersey mob family and the history of every human being in the history of the world. It was definitely worth waiting for a moment of splendid storytelling.

comments are welcome to: jan@winning.com

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