The Departing Sopranos


Tony SopranoThe Family came to town last night for their annual press preview at Radio City (which I did not attend) and for a more intimate thematic gathering at the small museum where I toil.

As the series itself is facing its final hour (or final eight episode hours) we gathered together “whacked” Sopranos—those actors whose character had been killed off—along with master creator David Chase and Terry Winter, executive producer.

The dearly departed present were Steve Buscemi, “Tony Blundetto”; Drea de Matteo, “Adriana La Cerva”; Vincent Pastore, “Salvatore ‘Big Pussy’ Bonpensiero”; David Proval, “Richie Aprile”; and Annabella Sciorra, “Gloria Trillo”; with Bryant Gumbel moderating.

The evening had some very nice moments. Gumbel mentioned that it seemed only the women showed up in dream sequences after their demise. Steve Buscemi countered that he had been in a dream sequence, “or something”—referring to “Mayham” at the beginning of Season 6 when Blundetto shows up at the Finnerty reunion while Tony is in the coma. Chase said very clearly—“that wasn’t a dream sequence”—with a smile on his face. The salesman Tony parallel universe was intriguing in the context of the whole narrative.

Each of the cast talked about getting “the call”—the call they dreaded, from Chase, telling them they would be killed off. Vincent Pastore said this evening was like therapy, that it was nice to know that they really hadn’t been fired.

David Chase is an intense guy. I greatly admire the serious auteurs of television, who create and populate whole worlds that they can sustain over time. (Strange how many of the heavy hitters are named David: Chase, Milch, Shore, Simon, even Kelley).

I came to The Sopranos late, so I don’t have creds as a serious fan. I entered the world in season 6, after that long hiatus following season 5, and read through the earlier history. I wasn’t dazzled the way I was swept off my feet by Deadwood, but I got hooked on the compelling drama, with its equal parts of the familiar—family issues, faith, the Church, Irish/Italian rivalries and putdowns (I just LOVE that parallel universe Tony’s name was Kevin Finnerty ha!ha!)—and the completely foreign—i.e., the banality of serious crime intersecting with genuine evil as a way of life, as even a family business.

The big question, of course, is how does it end? What happens to Tony? Do the Feds get him? Do the New York families put a hit out on him? Does he somehow become Kevin Finnerty, a solar-heating salesman? What happens to Carmela and the kids, and the rest of the Family?

The series comes back on Easter Sunday. Cute, for a show bringing us sin, death, and either a search for redemption or a rejection of it. Any predictions?

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March 28th, 2007
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Viewing 7 Comments

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    There are nine more episodes, by the way. They added another to the originally announced eight.
    I watched seasons 1-5 on DVD since I didn't have HBO, and it's an interesting way to enter the world of the Sopranos. For one thing, the commentary tracks provide a certain level of demystification not available when watching a broadcast. When a director calls your attention to a particular type of camera shot, or explains the frustration of directing the actors in one crucial scene, it's a reminder of what the creators of the show never forget, but which the show is carefully crafted to disguise: it's all fake, the product of a lot of talent dedicated to creating an illusion. Somehow that demystification makes it easier to pick up on glitches, not continuity errors so much as character inconsistencies. Tony Soprano, like Homer Simpson, has both an IQ and a level of sensitivity that seem to fluctuate according to the needs of each episode's plot.
    Still, I join in the general chorus of praise. At its best it's totally absorbing, and I find myself imagining what's happening to characters when they're offscreen. A few years ago August Kleinzahler wrote an article for Threepenny Review about the accuracy of The Sopranos in portraying the character, and characters, of northern New Jersey. It was very funny, and boiled down to saying that there was almost no exaggeration in the show.
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    Type your comment here.I came to The Sopranos late, so I don’t have creds as a serious fan. I entered the world in season 6, after that long hiatus following season 5, and read through the earlier history. I wasn’t dazzled the way I was swept off my feet by Deadwood,

    Almost exactly the same as me. Our house didn't acquire HBO until three years ago, and I was content to let the Sopranos-as-cultural-phenomenon wend its merry way without me.

    I've just now been making my way through the first season of Deadwood on DVD for the second time, and I'm still discovering subtleties, mirrorings, nuances of plot, and those delicious felicities of language that so distinguish that show. The Sopranos is very, very good; Deadwood is (or, sniff, sniff, was) great.
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    How great you were involved in that event, M.A. That would have been great to be able to stand back and observe and listen. Boy, I would've been exploding inside!

    I also came late to the show, but once I got into it, I loved it.

    I wish I had predictions, but I need a refresher course. How long's it been off the air now? 18 years or something? Seems like it. HBO gets on my nerves for that reason.

    I can say though that the worst (most heartbreaking) Soprano's scene/moment for me was when they killed off Adriana.

    The Skimmer and I were like, "No! No! Don't do it! Don't do it! Nooooooo!"

    But, they did it.

    Little Stevie just whacked her good.

    :)

    or

    :(
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    estiv, I hadn't heard about the ninth. It's certainly one of the most anticipated arcs in tv history.

    Neddie--the premature end of Deadwood is one of the greatest creative shames in tv history. Still fuzziness about what happened between David Milch and HBO how this happened. Here's a good article about John From Cincinnati, the project Milch abandoned Deadwood for.

    http://www.tvsquad.com/2006/11/21/more-on-milch...
    And a more recent article on the set of John. Turns out one of the Deadwood writers is Kem Nunn, author of 3 surf noir novels. Hmmm.

    http://surfingthemag.com/news/surfing-pulse/on-...


    Blue Girl--Drea de Matteo talking about Adriana was definitely a highlight of the evening. Someone asked when her character knew she was going to die, and she said when the car turned down the road. It was very chilling just hearing her talk about it.
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    I think Chase will end it as he began it - with the daily bits of life, with the small things, with life in northern Jersey flowing on before, minus a couple of guys. The brilliance of the Sopranos is in the everyday-life quality of it - MA, you're exactly right about the Italian-Irish stuff, the banality of that life. I grew up near it in Yonkers. We knew the mob places. No big deal.
    I don't suspect a blaze of glory Scorcese ending - Chase is the anti-Scorcese. He unglamorizes.
    I do indeed mourn Deadwood. A great bit of television.
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    Tom @ 5: I think you're right about how Chase will end the Sopranos. Seinfeld and Mash stand as object lessons in how not to end a beloved TV series--by making a big deal out of it.
    My favorite ending of a series was on Frasier. Neatly disguised from us until the last possible second is that Frasier is once again leaping into the unknown, taking a chance on love, with no guarantee or even a hint that this time it will work out. But he hasn't given up. He'll give it one more shot.
    If he had found true love, it would have been untrue to the spirit of the show and a little flat, but if he had given up completely the result would have been of a bitterness that only Britcoms seem able to pull off as funny. For my money, they got it just right. The character continues on as he was when the series started, but not in a way that seems static or cartoonish.
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