TV Club

A Parallel of Last Week?

Dear Glen, Peg, and Phil,

If this episode is any indication, the theme of  the “dead father,” to use a psychoanalytic term, seems to be replacing the “dead mother” as one of the show’s central motifs. Earlier episodes focused on the role that a dying mother–to be sure, a very particular and malevolent one–was playing in Tony’s emotional life. Now, with an apparent epidemic of cancer among Uncle Junior’s cohorts, a generation of fathers is passing from the scene. Although introduced abruptly, I don’t think the theme of the dead father is meant to stand on its own. Rather, it seems to me to be related to–indeed give an answer to–the theme of last week’s episode, namely, violence against women. There is even a connection in the stylistic excesses. Last week, the parallels between the attack on Dr. Melfi and on Janice struck me as too contrived for writers of this caliber unless they were intended. And this week, the sudden explosion of cancer cases also seems too over the top to be accidental. These stylistic extravagances are, I believe, meant to help them develop their main point: Men’s preoccupation with power and violence toward women is a result of their need to deny their helplessness in the face of nature’s indifference and cruelty, which is epitomized in death. I know you’ve heard this thesis before, but that doesn’t make it false.

The discomfort with the devastation being visited on the older men’s bodies is apparent in the passing comments made by the members of the younger generation. For example, the remark is made several times that Carmela’s Uncle Fibby only weighed 95 pounds when he died. And one of the wise guys is aghast at the fact that he has to help his ailing father off the toilet. But I think we’d all agree that the central figure in this context is Bacala. Although he is dying of lung cancer, he wants to be “useful” and carry out an assassination order like a good soldier–even if the target is his own godson. I think the terrifying quality of the struggle between the two men is meant to parallel the horrific nature of last week’s rape scene. And the killing does have its desired effect.  Afterwards, we see Bacala driving down the highway, totally rejuvenated and in a manic elation. Now if things were left at this, we would have a fairly conventional, if hyperbolic, criticism of the male propensity toward violence. But this show is too sophisticated for that. If we think back to the interpretation of Jennifer’s dream, she makes the point herself that the sign didn’t say “Danger,” but “High Voltage.” There was definitely something attractive and exciting about aggression. That’s a big part of why she’s drawn to Tony “the Rottweiler.”

Joel