Sopranos #80: Remember When
John Doherty
Tony wakes in a shot that echoes his helplessness when he was bleeding
on Junior’s linoleum.
Paulie “brung up ya paper” (useful in that at least), and brings news
of the feds’ excavation.
When Carmela discovers their espresso machine is on the fritz, Paulie
declines regular coffee. Out by the tomatoes, Tony strikes a Godfather
pose as Paulie fills him in about Willie Overall. Tony “made his bones
with that prick” back on Labor Day 82, demonstrating his work ethic to
Johnny Boy.
As Tony packs, Carm squirms, and Tony barks “It’s not like I won a
trip to Paris!” Paulie packs two pair of white shoes, glowing cleaner
than Johnny Sac’s “travellin’ shoes”.
“My tomatoes are just comin’ in” says Tony wistfully, feeling like he’s
earned the right to enjoy the harvest in peace at this stage of his
life.
Junior tells his pals “you gotta get me outta here”, but when Pat
proposes a way to escape, he tells them with excitement “Enchiladas
tonight!”
Corrado and his new Baccalla surrogate, Carter Chong, have set up a
sort of “Junior Executive Game” amongst the residents of the cuckoo’s
nest.
Meanwhile, Tony and Paulie speed past a sign (near Junior’s Wycoff
Center?) warning that “Hitchhikers may be escaping inmates” as they try
to escape becoming inmates.
Paulie is reminiscing: “Remember when we took you to Luger’s afterward,
me Puss, Ralphie? As Tony runs down that list of witnesses, he
calculates only one of them is still living. Tony wants to hear from
Paulie that he told the joke about Ginny Sac’s weight to Johnny Sac.
Paulie is not in a mood to cop to it.
Junior mocks “The Pride of Rutgers” when Prof. Lynch shows up to
collect Keith for their chess match from the Junior Executive Game.
When the professor calls in the heat and an orderly breaks up the game,
Junior offers some old school sass. Later, Junior & Chong trade Dad
stories, and Carter’s father issues rage to the fore.
Tony & Paulie are “rocking on” to a song from 1974 when they roll up to
what was once the “Havenaire” to find their favored dive has become
just another Marriott. Settling for Nachos at the corporate pub
Buckingham’s, Tony discusses his own father issues with Paulie. Paulie
says the only time he ever saw Johnny Boy cry was the night Tony was
born.
The next morning, Paulie is blabbing about their plans and loading up
on pastry to go at the breakfast bar like an over caffeinated senior on
a road trip.
Back at the Wycoff Center, it’s visiting day. We hear an orderly tell
one patient: “You have shit in your pants, Don” in a foreshadowing of
the incontinence the former don Junior faces a little later on. Junior
meets Carter’s mom , but his courtliness is lost on her.
Junior is writing Dick Cheney in hopes that he will sympathize with his
plight. He signs another autographed photo for Jameel to sell on Ebay
of “the Man who Capped tony Soprano”.
Tony’s brought Beansie, paralyzed from a violent attack, a gift of a
ball cap featuring the the blood dripping Cleaver logo. Beansie is
looking for the DVD.
Beansie’s got a couple of gifts of his own: some pics of the old days.
There’s Paulie in leather & flexing his ripped guns; and there’s Johnny
Boy and Junior in front of Satriale’s - a study in contrasts.
Johnny, the younger of the two, all cocksure gangster with expansive
attitude and greaseball good looks. And there’s Junior, all folded in
on himself, geeky, suspicious and still smarting from being usurped in
the family pecking order.
Finding our Beansie now must wear a colostomy bag, Paulie is aghast:
“Jesus Christ-- just kill me now!” Careful what you wish for...
Back at the Center, Junior is watching an infomercial that tells him:
“It’s easy to wish for a better life... just pick up the phone” The
phone rings and it’s Pat asking when they will do the escape from a
dentist’s office. Junior pleads the time ain’t right, and after all,
“Where would I lam it?”
In Miami with the hookers, Paulie is Loose Lips personified, blabbing
about old murders to add color to the conversation to Tony’s disgust.
In New York, Doc Santoro is giving Phil his marching orders as they
dine together. Leotardo offers Doc his “taste” of some recent dealings,
but Doc wants another taste -- off of Phil’s plate. Butchie DeConcini
cocks an eyebrow a table back, but Phil tells him “go ahead”.
Push comes to shove, Junior displays some of the old magic in a brutal
beating of the professor.
Tony calls Hesh for a loan of $200K to cover his spiral of gambling
debts “it’s been this way, past coupla months”.
Junior is sleeping through his “slight adjustment period” in his new
meds regimen, falling asleep to his non-reply reply from Vice President
Cheney.
Tony & Paulie meet the Cubans, with Paulie dashing out like a young turk.
In collusion with Chong, Junior starts tossing his meds.
Tony discusses his concerns about Paulie with Beansie. Beansie says
it’s cause Paulie lives alone “no wife, no kids. You’re all he’s got”.
Silvio calls with news that Tony is “off the hook”, but Tony’s got to
wonder “what’s next?!” Hearing Paulie’s grating cackle, he looks in to
see his captain laughing like a fool at an old “Three’s Company”
episode.
Entertaining his crew of the moment, Junior tells one joke too many and
undercuts his position on the pecking order by wetting his pants. the
doctor gives him the option to take the meds or “wear Depends and
transfer to another facility”. Junior starts taking the meds to Chong’s
disgust.
Later, when Chong has not emerged for lunch, Junior brings a gift of
some outdated pop music. Chong is wallowing in his Daddy issues, and
Junior mixes him up with his nephew Tony in trying to offer praise.
On board the Sea Vous Play, Paulie prepares Rigatoni a la Tony, but
he’s lost his own appetite due to the drill about the Ginny Sac joke.
Tony eyeballs the ax. Tony tells Paulie he should be checked for
Tourette’s syndrome.
Tony sees the rolling swells of sea; he looks down at the implements of
death: a baseball bat, a large knife and chunks of chum and bait.
Paulie is silhouetted against the ocean- the ocean that swallowed
Pussy-- trapped between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea.
The swells of the ocean momentarily evoke the nausea tony suffered
during his revelation and murder of Pussy. Tony fires the bottle of
Stewart’s root Beer at Paulie, choosing a bruisingfor him today in
lieu of death.
Chong is tossing paper balls (like Meadow tossing rolls at Junior at
Jackie Jr.’s funeral feast) at the piano player at Junior’s John Denver
sing along at the Center. but today, his “Dark Father” Corrado says,
no, play by the rules, take the medicine, comply. Enraged, Carter
throws himself at Junior, knocking down the professor for good measure,
and now it’s Junior’s turn to be the punching bag.
Coming home, Paulie hears someone, and surprises Pussy frying up
something in his kitchen. “When my time comes, tell me, will I stand
up?” Paulie asks his dead former business associate. He wakes abruptly,
and goes immediately to pumping iron to keep that day off in the
horizon.
At the Soprano household, Carm is unwrapping a $2000 espresso maker a
gift from Paulie. Tony reminds her that “it’s guys like him that
allows our whole lifestyle here”.
Doc Santoro leaves the body rub to get rubbed out entirely on the
pavement. Butchie D. , grinning maniacally, is seen as the wheelman
tearing away.
At the Bing, the Jersey crew absorbs the news. Silvio, reading the
paper, matter of factly announces “It looks like Phil’s the head guinea
over dere now”. Paulie goes on blabbing about some story from 1972.
At the Wycoff center, the battered Junior in his wheelchair enjoys pet
therapy, nuzzling with his good hand a fellow bruised creature in the
cat in his lap. It’s a sad echo of another Don in another place- when
Brando as Vito Corleone nuzzles the cat in his lap at the top of his
game.
Snakes&Arrows
"John Doherty" <jgnospa...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:2007042321243516807%jgnospamdoherty@comcastnet...
hip D
Thank you for these are great recaps... they help put the episode in
perspective... your imagery is extraordinary.
Dirk Diggler
There was a guy on the usenet during season 2 or 3 named Lawless that used to do
similar analogies. You guys are both great.
Mark Nobles
> Thank you for these are great recaps... they help put the episode in
> perspective... your imagery is extraordinary.
>
Yes, this was a terrific recap that filled me in on a couple of things
I missed. Thanks.
Pay no attention to that motherfucking snake on the motherfucking
(arrow) plane.
Rollo
<jgnospa...@comcast.net> wrote:
>
>Tony discusses his concerns about Paulie with Beansie. Beansie says
>it’s cause Paulie lives alone “no wife, no kids. You’re all he’s got”.
>Silvio calls with news that Tony is “off the hook”, but Tony’s got to
>wonder “what’s next?!” Hearing Paulie’s grating cackle, he looks in to
>see his captain laughing like a fool at an old “Three’s Company”
>episode.
>
I thought this moment echoed the scene from last season in which Tony,
peering into A.J.'s room, is disgusted to see him "sittin' there in
his underwear, wasting his time in some chit-chat room with some other
fuckin' jerkoff, laughin' like a fuckin' schoolgirl. I wanted to
smash his fuckin' face in." Tony doesn't laugh very much, and he
doesn't enjoy seeing other people laugh either. In each instance,
these scenes preceded a moment of major confrontation between Tony and
the person.
Can anyone think of any other instances of Tony seeing someone
laughing, or just happy, and then confronting them or beating the crap
out of them or killing them?
Also, whatever happened to the 907 motif? That was kinda interesting.
Vegetable Lasagne
just a suggestion... if you're writing these in MS Word, turn off the
'smart quotes' feature. Thanks for the great recaps.
Vegetable Lasagne
news:c9hr2357099042str...@4ax.com:
He described this exactly to Melfi in his Happy Fuckin Wanderer scene
Ford T. FreezerClown
"Rollo" <roll...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:c9hr2357099042str...@4ax.com...
He once saw Janice happy after her anger management classes were working and
baited her into a homicidal rage. "How do you say I have no mother in
French Canadian?"
John Doherty
>
>> On Mon, 23 Apr 2007 21:24:35 -0400, John Doherty
>> <jgnospa...@comcast.net> wrote:
>>
>>
>>>
>>> Tony discusses his concerns about Paulie with Beansie. Beansie says
>>> it’s cause Paulie lives alone “no wife, no kids. You’re all he’s got”.
>>> Silvio calls with news that Tony is “off the hook”, but Tony’s got to
>>> wonder “what’s next?!” Hearing Paulie’s grating cackle, he looks in to
>>> see his captain laughing like a fool at an old “Three’s Company”
>>> episode.
> Rollo <roll...@hotmail.com> wrote in
> news:c9hr2357099042str...@4ax.com:
>>>
>>
>> I thought this moment echoed the scene from last season in which Tony,
>> peering into A.J.'s room, is disgusted to see him "sittin' there in
>> his underwear, wasting his time in some chit-chat room with some other
>> fuckin' jerkoff, laughin' like a fuckin' schoolgirl. I wanted to
>> smash his fuckin' face in."
Good call. With AJ, it was that his son was not developing into a man
by his definition. With Paulie, it's like a treasured role model from
his youth -- a feared MF-- is either devolving into a gabby child like
fool-- or has always been that way, and Tony is just starting to
notice. With Paulie's history, he's far more potentially dangerous to
Tony than AJ is.
>> Tony doesn't laugh very much, and he
>> doesn't enjoy seeing other people laugh either. In each instance,
>> these scenes preceded a moment of major confrontation between Tony and
>> the person.
Remember Carm's critique of all the goons laughing extra hard at his
own jokes? Even the comfortable retreat into humor, which can help get
you through bad times, is supect for Tony. Does anyone really find him
funny, or is it just brownnosing?
>>
>> Can anyone think of any other instances of Tony seeing someone
>> laughing, or just happy, and then confronting them or beating the crap
>> out of them or killing them?
>>
>> Also, whatever happened to the 907 motif? That was kinda interesting.
On 2007-04-24 08:20:38 -0400, "Ford T. FreezerClown"
<fordtfre...@hotmail.com> said:
> He once saw Janice happy after her anger management classes were
> working and baited her into a homicidal rage. "How do you say I have
> no mother in French Canadian?"
That was one of the series finest hours, IMO, and one of the ones where
the pain of livia's mothering came through lous & clear, years after
her death.
Tony couldn't live in a world where he had to bear that pain himself,
without Janice as a fellow traveler in the world of the miserable.
Just like with her husband this season doing the hit- if he can't get
better, everyone ought to be sick.
KC
wrote:
>On Mon, 23 Apr 2007 21:24:35 -0400, John Doherty
><jgnospa...@comcast.net> wrote:
>
>
>>
>>Tony discusses his concerns about Paulie with Beansie. Beansie says
>>it’s cause Paulie lives alone “no wife, no kids. You’re all he’s got”.
>>Silvio calls with news that Tony is “off the hook”, but Tony’s got to
>>wonder “what’s next?!” Hearing Paulie’s grating cackle, he looks in to
>>see his captain laughing like a fool at an old “Three’s Company”
>>episode.
>>
>
>I thought this moment echoed the scene from last season in which Tony,
>peering into A.J.'s room, is disgusted to see him "sittin' there in
>his underwear, wasting his time in some chit-chat room with some other
>fuckin' jerkoff, laughin' like a fuckin' schoolgirl. I wanted to
>smash his fuckin' face in." Tony doesn't laugh very much, and he
>doesn't enjoy seeing other people laugh either. In each instance,
>these scenes preceded a moment of major confrontation between Tony and
>the person.
>
Seems like Tony sees the laughing as weakness and in the case of
Paulie, that can lead to recklessness. The two people Tony is most at
ease with are Sil and Hesh; both are reserved personalities. Tony and
Chrissy get along when Chrissy is serious about the business, but when
he gets excited about the movie, or becomes content in his life, Tony
sees him as weak.
KC