Much as Tony's idealized life as husband is subverted, so too is his role as father. Carmella, in condoning Tony's extra-marital affairs, in exchange for him funding her spec house project, has agreed to become a prostitute, or perhaps more correctly, a madam. This theme is explored to a far greater extent in the just-aired season.)Īs Tony's bonus, he will be allowed to continue whoring around, but discretely (a "don't ask, don't tell" policy). Both careers, of course, center around homes/family. As her emotional relationship with Tony becomes more and more tenuous, she tries to establish financial independence from her husband, first as a real estate agent, then as a home contractor. (Over the course of the series, Carmella has become increasingly concerned over the fact her financial security is based solely on Tony. In exchange for Tony being able to return back home, he agrees to fund Carmella's attempts to establish herself as an independent woman, by financing a spec house she wants to build with her father. Tellingly, what allows Tony to move back home is not a declaration of his love for Carmella, but rather a financial arrangement, not unlike the deals Tony makes in his mob life over "no works" and "no shows". He does everything he can to reconcile with Carmella. He repeatedly shows up back at "home", to eat, do his laundry, swim in the family's pool.īig as he is, Tony is helpless on his own, without the context of true family, as opposed to mob family. Like any adolescent boy, he's unprepared for the eviction, bunking with some of his buddies, where they spend their time on a sofa, watching TV, drinking, making fart jokes. Although Tony has slept with hundreds of women, and Carmella never slept with any other man, including Furio- the affair never got beyond exchanged smiles and private talks- Carmella's cumulative disgust with Tony's sexual betrayals, and her revelation to him of her own emotional betrayal, causes the marriage to collapse. Because of his withdrawal, Carmella began seeking love elsewhere, unsuccessfully, first with her parish priest, then with a building contractor, finally with a member of Tony's own crew, Furio, with whom she fell in love.
Over the years, the love has slowly leaked out of Tony's marriage to Carmella, due to his emotional and sexual withdrawal from her, and her reaction to that withdrawal. What makes The Sopranos so fascinating is the way in which the show demonstrates that such an idealized adolescent life cannot lead to true happiness. If someone annoys him too much, or gets in his way, he can, in fact, kill that person, without risk of reprisal (and no one dreams more of killing, than a little boy). If someone annoys him, it's easy for him to either beat up the offender himself, or have one of his underlings do the beating for him. He's physically powerful, so he doesn't have to worry about being intimidated. He spends most of his time with his male friends, shooting the breeze, drinking in bars, watching topless dancers, getting into fights. He doesn't have to work, receiving a more than comfortable income from the privilege of his position (mobsters under him must kick-up part of their earnings to him, essentially in acknowledgement of his father's legacy).
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He has the security of family, with a wife and two children, and yet is still free to sleep with as many other women as he wants.
On the surface, Tony appears to be living any adolescent boy's fantasy. Tony Soprano is the middle-aged head of a crime family living in New Jersey, having inherited that position from his father (the family was ruled briefly before Tony's rise by his uncle, Junior). The prodigal son returns, and as a result of returning, dies. The theme of Six Feet Under is Mortality.
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The series is one of the best ever shown on television, topped only by HBO's other landmark show, Six Feet Under. The series was originally scheduled to end this year, David Chase, the show's creator, having said he felt he explored all the ideas he wished to over the series' run, but then Chase decided that in addition to this year's "final" twelve episodes, there would be eight "bonus episodes", which at the time of this writing are scheduled to air in early 2007. The Sopranos has been on the air since 1999, albeit it with long gaps between seasons. We ordered pizza to eat during the marathon.Īfter the final episode aired, I was surprised to read the next day how many fans and critics thought the season was a disappointment. Sunday, June 4, in preparation for watching this season's final episode of the HBO series The Sopranos, Mary and I had a Sopranos marathon during the day, watching all prior eleven episodes of the season, which we had recorded on our DVR.