SOPRANOS IV: HINTS, ALLEGATIONS, AND THINGS LEFT UNSAID: We're down to one more episode of "Sopranos" Season 4, and as always we're left with all kinds of loose ends that may or may not be wrapped up in Sunday's 75-minute finale. So I've decided, as a service to you the reader, to include each and every one of those loose ends, in order to prepare you for the big night. All of these are mere speculation, and should NOT be construed as predictions. Capische?
Here we go (Season four spoilers included, obviously):
- Will Tony and Johnny Sack conspire to whack New York boss Carmine, as was hinted last week? Will Johnny ever find out that Tony and Carmine had previously conspired (unsuccessfully) to whack him, back in the fat-wife-joke episode? And speaking of that hit, why didn't we ever see them call it off? That "Deliverance"-like family of hitmen may still be gunning for Johnny, for all we know.
- Will there be an endgame for the Adriana-as-FBI-informant plotline? Will she use the occasion of Christopher getting out of rehab to tell him about it, or might he find out on his own?
- Is the Tony/Carmella marriage in as much trouble as it appears? Will Tony find out about the Furio/Carmella non-affair?
- Speaking of Furio, are we sure that he disappeared back to Italy and not, say, into the Witness Protection Program? 'cause for a guy who suddenly up and left one day, his house seemed to sell rather quickly.
- What will be the outcome of Uncle Junior's RICO trial?
- Will we ever find out if Ralphie really killed Tony's horse Pie-O-My? If he didn't, who did?
- How about the Russian from last season's lost-in-the-woods episode? We haven't seen him since then, but he's been mentioned twice in recent weeks, and this season there's been all sorts of foreshadowing of things that happen two or three episodes later.
- Will the show's most unsympathetic character (Janice) succeed in seducing its most sympathetic (Bobby Bacala)?
- Will Paulie get pinched for killing the old lady last week? Tony for killing Ralphie? Christopher for killing the guy who killed his father???
- Back to Paulie- will Tony find out about his flirtation with the New York family? Will Tony discover the Pie-O-My painting in Paulie's living room? Between those, the old lady, and the Russian, things are not looking good for Mr. Walnuts...
- How about the character of Brian Cammerata (the financial adviser)? With the amount of screen time he's gotten, isn't he bound to become important in some way, like as as the family's new consigliere? The HUD scam was Brian's idea- but would Assemblyman Zellman dare the put the kibosh on it after Tony beat him with a belt?
- Is the Family still having the cash-flow problems it was at the beginning of the season (the "where's the fucking money" speech)?
- Is the Tony/Dr. Melfi therapy relationship really over? Notice Tony's gone since the beginning of Season 3 without a single panic attack- may he have one next week?
- Will AJ manage to score with girlfriend Devin Pillsbury?
- What will happen with Tony's girlfriend Valentina? Is she just arm candy, or something more (like, say, an undercover FBI agent)?
- How about Raymond Curto? The Soprano family captain was revealed to be a rat in the first episode of Season 3, but it was never mentioned again. May it be now?
- And most importantly of all, how long 'til Season 5? Steven R. Schirippa said in a recent interview that production starts in February, which would seem to place the premiere sometime around January 2004 (Season 4 production started in October 2001 for a September 2002 start). Too damn far away, in other words.
See, I told you there was a lot more to the show than the silly "who's gonna get whacked" guessing game...
The finale of Season 3 created many more questions than it answered- will this year's do the same? I'd say if they answer half the questions posed above, I'll be satisfied. That's all the analysis I can do for now- enjoy the show!