Timothy Noah chatted with readers about The Sopranos on June 7. Read the transcript here.
Dear Tim,
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StumbleUponDo I know that there are at least nine slang terms for pussy in Italian? Of course I know. What do you think I am, anyway? Jewish?
I had the great advantage of growing up among Italians—some real cugenes, as well as the sort of Italian who could pass for Jewish (we also had a few Jews who could pass for Italian). By advantage, I mean culinary advantage, cultural advantage, and linguistic advantage. My classmates enriched my vocabulary, sometimes in unfortunate ways. Once, in shop class, a friend of mine asked me for a particular tool, the name of which I didn't recognize. But he knew all the tools, and I didn't. Since he was busy building whatever it was we built in shop class, he asked me to ask our teacher, who was a young Italian-American woman named either Pizzuto or Rizzuto (well, it wasn't Rizzuto—I would have remembered that). And by the way, how hot is it in 1980 to have a female shop teacher, right? So I ask her for this tool: "Miss Puzzulo, could you give me the fangul?"
She gave me the fangul alright.
Before we go any further, a quick visit to the Department of Corrections: An acute reader, one with immense knowledge of Long Island's complex highway system, wrote in to note that Sonny wasn't gunned down off the L.I.E. but at the toll plaza on the Meadowbrook Parkway near Jones Beach. I know to a Californian such as yourself this doesn't much matter, but believe me, it matters to us Long Islanders. So watch it, buddy boy, or no $2,000 espresso machine for you come Christmas.
Another reader, named Jack Jeziorski, a person who apparently knows more about the role of citrus fruit in Mafia movies than anyone else alive, wrote in to say that my understanding of tomato-based foreshadowing was incorrect. It is oranges, not tomatoes, that stand for death in both the Godfather trilogy and on The Sopranos. He pointed out, correctly, that Vito Corleone stuffed an orange rind into his mouth just before he collapsed and died, and he noted that Tony was carrying a bottle of orange juice when he was nearly killed by Junior's gunmen in Season 1. (It was the orange juice bottle, you'll recall, that got the worst of it.) However, I stick with the notion that tomatoes play a symbolic role as well, if for no other reason than that they symbolize Tony's still-unexpressed desire to retire from the mob.
And now I will correct myself: I have to agree with you that Junior is in no position to kill Tony, so we should scratch him from the list. I would tend to believe that Paulie will play a role in Tony's end, should there be an end to Tony, except that David Chase excels at not doing the thing you think he's doing. In an e-mail, my goombah David Segal suggested that Paulie was actually wearing a wire in this last episode. Segal notes that Paulie "drove Tony to the scene of his crime and got him to confess that this was where he committed his first murder." He also points out, as you did, that Paulie is having guilty dreams about Big Pussy, the "Ur-snitch."
It's possible, but so is anything else. I still tend to believe that Janice will have the strong hand in Tony's downfall because Tony's female relatives have always been his downfall. But now I'm having another suspicion, which is that Tony has no downfall at all. I don't think we leave the series with Tony triumphant, but I also think that David Chase might just do the truly unexpected thing, which is to say, nothing. An unsatisfying anticlimax would be very Chase-like. And David Chase doesn't seem like the sort of person who would condescend to the audience by allowing good to triumph over evil.
Your paesan,
Jeff
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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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