tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post8324745167708044764..comments2024-03-28T07:15:05.586-05:00Comments on Althouse: Last Sunday's "Sopranos" episode: "Kennedy and Heidi."Ann Althousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01630636239933008807noreply@blogger.comBlogger35125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-33900636067138354612007-05-21T10:49:00.000-05:002007-05-21T10:49:00.000-05:00Funny - I am an avid Sopranos fan who just can't w...Funny - I am an avid Sopranos fan who just can't watch the show lately without enjoyment. It used to be fun to watch the escapades of the group, but it all seems so joyless anymore. Perhaps it's the impending sense of loss, but the actors just don't seem to be having fun anymore. The only guy on the show who still seems to enjoy his work is Paulie, played by Tony Sirico. Everybody else seems to be in a pall. <BR/><BR/>What's worse is that the writing isn't *NEARLY* as sharp as the first few seasons. Ever since Tony's death trip last season, the show's been pretty lifeless. And this season's fascination with A.J. - perhaps the whiniest, weakest, least-likable character on the show, and this is a show dealing with *drug dealers, crooks and murderers* - is beyond me.<BR/><BR/>Christopher's death should have been more poignant, but it will ultimately be wasted. It's a shame that 80+ hours of quality television will be reduced by the last 10.Telecomedianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02406523817023350788noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-36707170066074365722007-05-21T00:15:00.000-05:002007-05-21T00:15:00.000-05:00Seven Machos:Bet you liked this episode!Seven Machos:<BR/><BR/>Bet you liked this episode!ambahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12042450225428891273noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-10631722173639178742007-05-20T20:27:00.000-05:002007-05-20T20:27:00.000-05:00. . . and he just tried, and couldn't . . . but he.... . . and he just tried, and couldn't . . . but he may drown by accident while Tony eats a hot dog . . . not that either . . .ambahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12042450225428891273noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-10988256227482609692007-05-20T20:25:00.000-05:002007-05-20T20:25:00.000-05:00Ha ha, we were all wrong. Tony revisited his huma...Ha ha, we were all wrong. Tony revisited his humanization on his peyote trip, made another futile human approach to Phil. Something similar, if darker, is happening to AJ. They're both having impulses to swim upstream against the garbage. Doomed, but not quite as nihilistic as everyone assumed. I still think AJ is going to kill himself.ambahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12042450225428891273noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-5174283388600878452007-05-20T17:31:00.000-05:002007-05-20T17:31:00.000-05:00I'll have to watch the end again but i thought Ton...<I>I'll have to watch the end again but i thought Tony yell "I did it" not "I get it".</I><BR/><BR/>I thought the same thing, but the official HBO site says "I get it" in its episode summary.Revenanthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11374515200055384226noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-16624279656903858622007-05-20T16:46:00.000-05:002007-05-20T16:46:00.000-05:00I really don't believe he's dead, but I'll agree t...I really don't believe he's dead, but I'll agree there is a a definite significance to his trip (in both senses). In Vegas, at the peak of his trip, his losing streak is finally over. And he finally realizes, or at least lets go of hiding the fact that Christopher's death was holding him down. That scene of him on the floor was probably the happiest Tony has ever been depicted in the entire series.<BR/><BR/>As for his final "I get it!" proclamation at the end of the episode, I really think, at the time at least, he actually got <I>it</I>. (Anyone who has taken hallucinogens can attest to that reality) But the scene also shared the obvious similarity to the lighthouse in his coma, as you mentioned. Except, after the coma, Tony struggled to live, or at least find a way to move toward the life that will make him happy. That has been a lot of trouble for Tony, as well as every made guy on The Sopranos, this season. Now, however, without having changed his ways, but his surroundings, Tony has seemed to find a way to live the life that he thinks will give him happiness. The symbology of the light just connects the two. Now, I am not suggesting this happiness will last; it will go away soon after the drug wears off. But, for the time being, Christopher's death was a load of Tony's back, and allowed him to live life, even if for a couple of days, the way that will satisfy him most.The Markitecthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12811764875730276064noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-3867038475343016012007-05-20T16:14:00.000-05:002007-05-20T16:14:00.000-05:00Pat,I forgot to ask:Do you even know anything abou...Pat,<BR/>I forgot to ask:<BR/><BR/>Do you even know anything about Jimmy Breslin or the kinds of material he wrote?Luckyoldsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11489310035114843752noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-19139981854124924202007-05-20T16:12:00.000-05:002007-05-20T16:12:00.000-05:00PatCA said..."2 + 2 = 4.""Just checking to see if ...PatCA said..."2 + 2 = 4."<BR/>"Just checking to see if Lucky objects to everything or almost everything."<BR/><BR/>When I read something that silly, I comment. <BR/><BR/>Sorry for not "joining the crowd"...but...are you saying that YOU think the Sopranos are merely "a ripoff of "The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight".??Luckyoldsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11489310035114843752noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-41519974028514301992007-05-20T15:27:00.000-05:002007-05-20T15:27:00.000-05:002 + 2 = 4.Just checking to see if Lucky objects to...2 + 2 = 4.<BR/><BR/><BR/><BR/>Just checking to see if Lucky objects to <I>everything</I> or <I>almost</I> everything.PatCAhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08920623662477828662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-64916073834742608922007-05-20T12:29:00.000-05:002007-05-20T12:29:00.000-05:00AJ Lynch said..."For me, the show has always been ...AJ Lynch said..."For me, the show has always been a ripoff of "The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight". Compelling TV but not much more that that."<BR/><BR/>Get real, there's absolutely no comparison...except for the criminals and crime.Luckyoldsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11489310035114843752noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-22652565288124200432007-05-20T10:33:00.000-05:002007-05-20T10:33:00.000-05:00If Ann is right, we all owe her a bottle of expens...If Ann is right, we all owe her a bottle of expensive champagne! Tune in tomorrow...PatCAhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08920623662477828662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-84308402434571406412007-05-20T09:25:00.000-05:002007-05-20T09:25:00.000-05:00Yeah Ann great analysis for those who wanted to tr...Yeah Ann great analysis for those who wanted to try and read between the lines. <BR/><BR/>For me, the show has always been a ripoff of "The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight". Compelling TV but not much more that that. <BR/><BR/>I was glad to see Chris finally killed off- he epitomized the second-generation incompetence and stupidity and weakness of the boss's son.I'm Full of Souphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00241724007440718575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-69344186175271274762007-05-20T05:07:00.000-05:002007-05-20T05:07:00.000-05:00And as a Douglass/Rutgers grad (and I have been to...And as a Douglass/Rutgers grad (and I have been to a party at the DKE house) I thought it was both awful and fascinating that the Rutgers mobster boys found out that working as strong-arm bookies was very profitable. (So much for the Mario Puzo theory of at least attempting to cleanse the next generation of Mafia involvement by sending Michael off to Dartmouth: here the writers have combined college attendance and organized crime.) When I was there in the early 70s DKE was a jock house.Judith Brodheadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11019152368431678859noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-48926825762773223782007-05-20T04:58:00.000-05:002007-05-20T04:58:00.000-05:00My husband noted that Tony wins effortlessly in Ve...My husband noted that Tony wins effortlessly in Vegas after all of his failed gambling attempts after he's killed Christopher - in other words, his luck has changed - and he is rewarded for killing him, and he laughs and falls on the floor (if Tony were a real mobster, wouldn't people in Vegas recognize him and perhaps take a photo of him on the floor entangled with a woman who isn't his wife, both of them high on peyote?) I think he's torn between the newer generation (Christopher) and the older (Paulie); he almost got rid of old-school Paulie, but chose to cut out new-school, AA-attending, film-loving Christopher. Where exactly this leaves his son Anthony I don't know.Judith Brodheadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11019152368431678859noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-53598824180549522332007-05-20T03:09:00.000-05:002007-05-20T03:09:00.000-05:00Fabulous analysis. I just don't think this is Tony...Fabulous analysis. I just don't think this is Tony dead, for the simple reason that no one will watch without him. <BR/><BR/>I, too, wish that he could be redeemed. The whole reason we like Tony and root for him is because he is trying, man -- trying to fight his demons. The personal struggle in his soul is the show. The rest of those people are just demented. <BR/><BR/>Sadly, I am convinced that Tony will meet a bad end. That's how the writers always like to do it. Romeo and Juliet didn't make it. Hamlet is dead. Jesus. Socrates.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-2487319418839228862007-05-20T02:01:00.000-05:002007-05-20T02:01:00.000-05:00I'll have to watch the end again but i thought Ton...I'll have to watch the end again but i thought Tony yell "I did it" not "I get it".<BR/><BR/>If he got it, then think of the last scene in Grand Canyon, a movie I found very similar to this episode.hdhousehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14573004614816464571noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-87419270449793346412007-05-20T00:23:00.000-05:002007-05-20T00:23:00.000-05:00Perhaps these two characters are not as inconseque...Perhaps these two characters are not as inconsequential as they seem. One of them may feel guilt over what happened and confess to the police, or making it even more direct: Doesn't Tony look up and see their headlights as he finishes murdering Chris? Is there any possibility that they saw Tony, if not killing Chris, then doing something that will call attention to the accident? We were not shown them coming back, but we don't know that they didn't come back. Getting the title is a lot of billing for 2 supposedly inconsequential characters. Perhaps their names refer to this plot playing out: the Kennedy being referred to is not JFK, but RFK, who relentlessly prosecuted the mafia, and this Kennedy--the one who wanted to turn back--is the one to bring about Tony's downfall. As far as Heidi goes, that seems to me to be a pun on "High - T," "T" being Chris's usual name for Tony.<BR/><BR/> One other note for those making abstruse connections to Tony as the "other Kennedy," since he was the passenger in the other car. The RFK analogy could also apply re all the Arab (at the Bing) and Palestinian (AJ's class) content: RFK was murdered by a Palestinian. (RFK was actually the first American murdered by an Arab terrorist).Jeff Zhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15583164506200319074noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-90652049774350814542007-05-19T23:47:00.000-05:002007-05-19T23:47:00.000-05:00CorrectionComfortably Numb is about psychotic epis...Correction<BR/><BR/><I>Comfortably Numb</I> is about psychotic episodes and medication. It's been a few years, but I do recall that one of the original members of the band had serious psychiatric problems. Just when the group was about to hit it big he was forced to go to hospital for treatment. Roger Waters wrote <I>Comfortably Numb</I> to commemorate the times his friend needed sedation just to perform on stage. Other interpretations arose because some people had a idee fixe re drug use.mythusmagehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10458869083534878283noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-79399085475573801752007-05-19T22:25:00.000-05:002007-05-19T22:25:00.000-05:00Tony's not dead. Phil Leotardo finally caught him...Tony's not dead. Phil Leotardo finally caught him on the phone in Vegas, remember -- "This is me hanging up - " just as Phil hangs up on Tony.<BR/><BR/>Tony's "I get it!" and all his other weird behavior is just typical peyote-tripping. <I>Everyone</I> thinks they get it, on peyote. That's the point of taking it.<BR/><BR/>What this episode showed is Tony finally realizing that being decisive, and taking/doing what he wants, is the only way for him to win. He finally stopped waffling over Christopher, and his luck turns around completely after that. Of course, if that luck doesn't hold, they'll trace that load of asbestos back to Tony's "business" and the whole house of cards will come tumbling down.Joanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06093453920666892035noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-37622434819356269322007-05-19T20:43:00.000-05:002007-05-19T20:43:00.000-05:00Just a theory:Methinks Tony will be taken out by B...Just a theory:<BR/><BR/>Methinks Tony will be taken out by Bobby Baccala, via the urging of Tony's conniving sister, Janice, thus...finishing off the job their late, great nurturing mother always dreamed of orchestrating herself.Luckyoldsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11489310035114843752noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-53654260219088599882007-05-19T20:25:00.000-05:002007-05-19T20:25:00.000-05:005 hours on a great Sopranos installment is not a b...5 hours on a great Sopranos installment is not a bad thing.<BR/>It is an excercise in thinking.<BR/><BR/>My only quibble is that I and I think most audience had hoped it would never come to "pure evil Tony". Morally conflicted Tony was far better. I liked the guy who would weep for an informant or a dead horse.<BR/>I always thought Carmella was more amoral than Tony - saying otherwise with her posturing, but shutting up whenever her money and power were threatened. Reveling in her faux victimhood.<BR/><BR/>I, BTW, never saw the ducks and water as death, but bits of innocence flying away from "T"..<BR/><BR/>At TWOP, I did 5 hours on critiques of two S1 "Veronica Mars" - the only network show I thought matched "Sopranos Best".<BR/><BR/>Time well spent!Cedarfordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00602418702398818596noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-24752426372135367682007-05-19T18:02:00.000-05:002007-05-19T18:02:00.000-05:00With a post that long, Ann, I think you need a cou...With a post that long, Ann, I think you need a couple of footnotes... ;-)PatHMVhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15542719040606654134noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-75563914256148394152007-05-19T17:13:00.000-05:002007-05-19T17:13:00.000-05:00Bravo. But I don't think Tony's dead, materially....Bravo. But I don't think Tony's dead, materially. Spiritually, probably so. But I still think a moral crisis awaits him. <BR/><BR/>"I get it" is going to be the endlessly pondered koan of this show. The sun flare reminded me of the nuclear tests in the Nevada desert. If Chase is indeed punishing us for sympathizing with Tony, he might also be punishing us for thinking there is a meaningful distinction between Tony and us. <BR/><BR/>Killing Chrissy = "pre-emptive war?" <BR/><BR/>Testing nukes = poisoning the water with asbestos?John Stodderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14185881995621265497noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-53038138541327996132007-05-19T17:12:00.000-05:002007-05-19T17:12:00.000-05:00Personally, I think that's WAY too much analysis o...Personally, I think that's WAY too much analysis of that episode.<BR/><BR/>My take:<BR/><BR/>The episode is called "Kennedy and Heidi" because the show has a long history of naming episodes after oblique references to the plot events therein. E.g., "The Fleshy Part of the Thigh", "Toodle Fucking Oo", "Watching Too Much Television".<BR/><BR/>Tony's not dead. The significance of the Vegas sequence and the peyote trip is that it is transformative -- by eliminating a chronic problem (Chris) he has changed his luck from bad to good.Revenanthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11374515200055384226noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-43458614016842224192007-05-19T15:48:00.000-05:002007-05-19T15:48:00.000-05:00This was fascinating. Worth all the hours, I'd say...This was fascinating. Worth all the hours, I'd say. It's significant that we never do see Carm after Tony leaves for Vegas, do we?<BR/><BR/>I took the "I get it" line so narrowly. Remember how Tony tells the unnamed woman that he didn't party as much as Christopher because he, Tony, always had to be so responsible? This struck me because in previously this season, Tony is positively whiny about having to assume all the caretaking family and Family duties (like giving money to Vinnie's widow). The sun flashes -- which I thought of as the dead calling to Tony -- he shouts "I get it," and high as he is, I thought he's talking to Christopher. Sorta: "I get it, I understand the need to escape. Maybe drug use wasn't the weakness I thought it was." <BR/><BR/>Now though, with this interpretation, I can't wait to see the next episode.Irene Donehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06487513411911942757noreply@blogger.com