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Sopranos Final Season

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from: Jeffrey Goldberg
to: Timothy Noah

A Portrait of the American Family

Posted Monday, April 9, 2007, at 4:32 PM ET

Timothy Noah chatted with readers about The Sopranos on June 7. Read the transcript here.

Dear Tim:

To tire of The Sopranos is to tire of life? Jeez, that's throwing down the gauntlet. What if I were to tell you I was bored out of my skull by several of last season's (OK, Season 6, Part 1) episodes—you know the ones, the "Only HBO Can Save Time Warner's Tanking Stock So Let's Force David Chase To Make More Sopranos Episodes Than He Ever Contemplated Making" episodes? I can barely remember what happened during many of these water-treading hours. It was in the first half of this last season that The Sopranos finally seemed to succumb to the unromantic reality of what remains of mob life, which is that the mob is made up of stupid people ("dead-enders," to borrow from D. Rumsfeld) who have nothing interesting to say and spend nearly all their time doing nothing. I just got a letter from one of the mobsters I used to cover; he is, of course, looking for a ghostwriter, though he spelled ghost "goste" and also penitentiary "penintensury." (There's no spell check in prison, but still.) I had dinner with him once in Corona, Queens, at Parkside, a wonderful restaurant favored by the bent-nose crowd, and I almost fell asleep in the red sauce: There's only so much to say about Puerto Rican strippers, Fila track suits, and Zoloft—yes, he was on Zoloft. And, by the way, if he's reading this, no matter; the mob no longer has the ability to intimidate or take meaningful revenge. (Proof: Junior Gotti never even tried to kill the man whose testimony led to his father's terminal incarceration: Sammy "Bull" Gravano.)

Sorry, Tim, I digress: I often confuse you for Jerry Capeci. I know that happens to you a lot.

It was about the time the sixth season started that I fell hard for another HBO show, The Wire, which is so beautifully told, so taut and bleak and hilarious and—you should pardon me—socially redeeming (no less a personage than Slate's strap-on-your-Compton-hat editor calls it the greatest show ever on television) that The Sopranos suddenly seemed a bit superannuated.

Not to worry. I'm not picking a fight with you here. The vamping seems to be over. Last night's episode, as you correctly note, was fantastic. Everything I ever loved about The Sopranos, except for Paulie Walnuts' and Little Steven's hair, was on-screen, in abundance: gorgeous writing and wonderful acting (What can James Gandolfini possibly do after this?), dread, violence, family dysfunction, and full-contact Monopoly. The Soprano family, as Bobby notes, goes too far—but seldom all the way to caricature. David Chase recently argued that people watch The Sopranos because Tony and Carmela and company remind them of their own families. I have to say that I've never gotten into a fistfight during a Monopoly game (though I once gave your colleague Jack Shafer a hell of a beating during a round of Candy Land), but no show I've seen captures the resentments, regrets, joys, and utter irrationalities of American family life in the manner of The Sopranos. Or am I wrong? Do people watch The Sopranos simply for the blood? And when you finish answering that question, do me a favor and tell me how you think the show will end. That will allow me to segue to my own theory on how the show will end—a theory that I've been working on for three years and does not involve the Russian.

Best,
Jeff

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from: Jeffrey Goldberg
to: Timothy Noah

A Portrait of the American Family

Posted Monday, April 9, 2007, at 4:32 PM ET

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Jeffrey Goldberg is a national correspondent for the Atlantic and the author of Prisoners: A Story of Friendship and Terror. Stephen Metcalf is Slate's critic at large. He is working on a book about the 1980s. Timothy Noah is a senior writer at Slate. Brian Williams is the anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News. Terence Winter is a writer and an executive producer of The Sopranos. His teleplay "Pine Barrens," written with Tim Van Patten, won the 2001 Writers Guild Award and the Edgar Award.

Slate home page cover, June 11, 2007: Still of James Gandolfini in The Sopranos by Craig Blankenhorn © HBO. All rights reserved. Still from The Sopranos of James Gandolfini on Slate's home page; still of: James Gandolfini; Edie Falco and James Gandolfini; Steven Van Zandt, James Gandolfini, and Tony Sirico; James Gandolfini and Edie Falco; and Robert Iler all by Craig Blankenhorn/courtesy HBO. All rights reserved. Entry 9: Still of Tony with a tomato, and Entry 10: Tony's dad and young Uncle June © HBO. Entry 21: Still of Tony Sirico as Paulie "Walnuts" by Craig Blankenhorn. Entry 27: Still of Robert Iler and James Gandolfini by Craig Blankenhorn. Entry 30: Still of James Gandolfini and Sarah Shahi by Craig Blankenhorn. Entry 38: Still of Steven Van Zandt and James Gandolfini by Craig Blankenhorn. Entry 40: Still of James Gandolfini and Edie Falco by Craig Blankenhorn. Entry 45: Still of James Gandolfini and Steven Van Zandt by Craig Blankenhorn. Entry 48: Still of Dominic Chianese and James Gandolfini by Craig Blankenhorn.

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Remarks from the Fray Editor:

As a basic cable slum-dweller, the Fray Editor has been following the discussion of The Sopranos with admiration and envy. The passion, erudition, and insight of the show's fans—Slate's commentators and Fraysters alike—proves the case that this series is not to be missed. Below, Fray poster lucabrasi considers how the 6.5 season story arc has led the show inevitably to the present moment.

May this weekend's finale exceed your wildest expectations. My prediction? Paulie Walnuts in the Bing with a shoe buffer.—G.A.

Remarks from the Fray:

I must salute the excellent close of the mob wars arc that started way back in Season One.

Looking back from today, with Tony's Jersey crime family indeed looking like a "glorified crew" in the eyes of New York, one can see it, almost clearly:

Season One: Tony's issues were of ascension in that smallish Jersey family. Jackie Sr. was dying; Uncle Junior was the designated "front don," and yet bitter enough about Tony's power to use Livia's ambiguous directives to hit Tony. Didn't work. Junior was exiled and took on Federal heat; Tony had the others killed.

Season Two: Richie Aprile gets out of prison. A theme begins: guys out of prison resent Tony, who never served. But Richie, too, is "local Jersey trouble." His escalating conflict with Tony is going to be dealt with rather easily -- Tony wants Richie hit, but Janice delivers a dose of even MORE "local" justice.

Meanwhile, I think NYC underboss Johnny Sack turns up living in Jersey, but promising Tony "I don't want to wet my beak."

The main NYC Don is Carmine Sr, an old school guy. Tony can deal with Carmine Sr, but Sack starts getting that lean and hungry look...

Seasons Three and Four: Other issues are on the table (Jackie Jr., Tony and Carm's marriage), but Tony's adversaries are manageable: made guy Ralphie and the ever-more-ambitious and angry Sack. Ralphie is eliminated, quietly (if NYC ever finds out...). Sack wants Tony to hit Old Man Carmine; Tony pulls out at the last moment. Sack looks to be vengeful.

Season Five: The big trouble all starts here, with the release of the "Class of '84". It's like four Richie Apriles. Tony has a lotta plates to spin: an old-timer named Feech who wants it all, locally, Tony's cousin Tony B, the "Rockford Guy" (Joe Santos) who Tony B idolizes as a father, and a real hothead named Phil Leotardo.

Carmine Sr. croaks. Phil joins with Sack against Little Carmine, Tony B joins with the Rockford Guy and Rusty in backing Little Carmine's play. Tony elects to back off and see how Jersey can benefit from the ensuing bloodshed, of which there is a lot.

During all this, two little matters occur: Seeking owed cash, Tony subjects Phil Leotardo to a body-breaking car crash and beats up Phil at the accident site as a "throw-in." Tony B kills Phil's brother Billy Leotardo.

In retrospect, these last two actions were perhaps...unfortunate.

Sack and Phil kill more guys than Little Carmine's team. Little caves ("It's a stagmire.") Sack ascends to Donhood. Tony can deal with Sack (having killed Tony B as a burnt offering), and Sack will stave off the still vengeful Phil Leotardo.

But right at the end of Season Five, the Feds nab Sack. Go directly to jail.

Season 6A: Sack's in prison, but the putative boss, with Phil fronting him on the outside. Tony's shot for a few episodes. The "gay Vito issue" gives Phil new reason for putting the pressure on Tony's Jersey boys. With Sack losing power by the day, Phil contemplates his rages against Tony: getting beaten up by Tony, paying money to Tony, brother killed by the cousin of Tony, gay Vito protected by Tony. Phil has a heart attack to match Tony's gutshot. Things seem peaceful between these two wounded warriors. But this guy Butch turns up, taunting Tony.

Season 6B. Tony's luck with New York runs out, via a series of crap outs: Sack dies of cancer; Doc kills Gerry; Phil kills Doc.. Phil is "the big boss man," finally, and the worst possible New York Don Tony Soprano could face. Filled with jailhouse vengeance and itching to consolidate power, Phil pushes Tony too far (with the sexual insult of Coco towards Meadow, ultimately). Tony retaliates (curbing); Phil says "there's nothing left to talk about," and here we are.

Now, I' m not sure how much of that was plotted early on by Chase and Company, but looking back on it, you see how this final, fatal gang war was literally years in the making. Tony Soprano fended off Jersey threats (Junior, Richie), kept the peace with Carmine Sr, dangerously dueled with Sack (the longest of Tony's strategic encounters), sat out the gang war to replace Carmine Sr...and ended up on the wrong end of Phil's bloody ascension to the throne of the New York Family.

Where things are now is where they HAVE to be. Inevitability.

--lucabrasi

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