I must admit, I'm underwhelmed. Maybe it's the two-year wait, and maybe it's the fact that anything would pale in comparison to the utter brilliance of season five. And I'm sure I'll watch all these episodes again in 2 or 3 years and be transfixed. But right now, something's missing.
Perhaps everything will tie together in the last two episodes. But the last few weeks have left me cold, and a lot of it has to do with the Vito storyline. No, I don't mind the gay stuff, but rather the fact that so many episodes seem to revolve around him, when he's not that interesting a character, and the guy playing him can't act to save his life. The same problem plagued Season 3, when the entire series seemed to revolve around Jackie, Jr. And strangely enough, Vito's the one who shot Jackie.
I also thought for a minute that Vito's fire heroism would be featured on the news, leading someone back home to see it and alert them of Vito's whereabouts. But then I realized there's no way David Chase would so brazenly steal the entire plot of "A History of Violence."
Other thoughts:
- I see what they're doing: things are ending very badly for everyone. Paulie's got cancer. Bobby got shot. Johnny's in jail for years, as is Junior (taking the two best characters on the show out of commission). And Christopher's back on drugs- and he also bought a dream house. Doesn't everyone on the show who buys a dream house die not too long after? (Richie Aprile, Eugene, etc.)
- How does Bobby expect to be a captain, when he can't even subdue a gang of 12-year-olds? And I love how when Tony was shot he got a round-the-clock vigil for weeks, while when Bobby gets shot Tony sits in his own living room watching TV, with a bowl brilliantly balanced on his stomach.
- Funny how Tony has invoked the suffering of the Katrina victims on more than one occasion- like his "heck of a job, Brownie" retort to Paulie- but here he is trying to embezzle money from New Orleans. It was bad enough when he was just ripping off construction sites. Speaking of which, it must've sucked for Vito to have to go to a construction site and actually work, instead of just sitting around. Though either way, he at least got laid beforehand.
Posted by Stephen Silver at May 15, 2006 10:46 PMHow can you be underwhelmed BLOGGER when you wrote so much... I think you hit the nail on the head that things are going badly for everyone. I also think that Tony trying to rip off the Katrina aftermath is to make us not like him. He afterall is a bad character, like the rest of the group. Also, your point about Bobby not getting a vigil is just plain stupid. The guy wasn't stuck ina hospital in a coma. He lucked out in not getting killed and is obviously ok if he is home watching the Giants. DIE BLOGGERS DIE!!!
Posted by: A at May 16, 2006 11:42 AMI LOVE YOU JONNYCAKES!
Posted by: LilB at May 17, 2006 05:28 PM