Ordinary Gweilo

I’ve recently finished watching season four of The Sopranos – on DVD rather than the bowlderised version on TVB Pearl.  I ordered it back in November, it was stolen and then replaced (did I mention that before?), and I finally got around to watching it just at the time that it was running on TVB.  Actually, I thought that I had missed it on TV, but yes they do show it a full 15 months after the HBO in the States.

It almost goes without saying that The Sopranos is one of the best things on TV.  You can argue that it isn’t as good as it was, but then what is?  The impressive thing is that the show’s creator David Chase seems to have a clear idea of the show’s progression – season one was about Tony Soprano as a child (and Livia’s son), season two was about him as Janice’s brother, season three was about Tony and Carmela as parents, and season four was about their marriage.  Over the four series, the main characters have developed, and a host of others have come and gone.      

If you haven’t yet watched season four and plan to do so, the rest of this article is one long spoiler, so you might want to stop here.</p

One feature of season four is that nothing much happened in terms of plot, and even Junior Soprano’s trial, which could have been the focal point, seemed to lead nowhere.  However, in terms of character development, a lot happened, especially with Tony and Carmilla.  One of the central questions in the show has always been why Carmilla stayed with Tony, and it was in season four that their marriage finally unravelled.  Revealingly, the great love of Tony’s life turned out to be Pie O My (a horse), and the animal’s death led directly to the demise of the only major character killed off in this series, the loathsome Ralph Cifaretto.

Oddly, in an earlier episode (4) it seemed that Ralph was going to be killed, along with Johnny Sack, but right at the last moment the hit was called off.  Apparently this episode was a late replacement for a storyline that had to be pulled because one of the key actors was indisposed.  What is odd is that it actually fits in perfectly with the rest of the series, particularly in establishing the Johnny Sack character and setting the scene for what happens in the final episode.  It is also typical of this season, in that fairly mundane events dominate and we are led to expect more violence than we actually get.

The Johnny Sack character has introduced a new dimension to The Sopranos.  With Junior on trial and now semi-retired, it was important that Tony Soprano should have another rival, and the interaction between the New Jersey and New York families adds another dynamic.

Back to episode four, and in line with the theme of marriage, the storyline is based around Johnny Sack’s devotion to his wife Ginnie, and how upset he gets when Ralph tells a joke about her weight.  It also introduced another twist, with Paulie Walnuts (one of Tony’s most trusted lieutenants) being the one who told Sacks about the joke – as part of his apparent attempts to get into his good books after feeling upset at the way Tony treated him.  They may go round intimidating and killing people, but they also have a ‘code of honour’ and can easily get upset by real or perceived slights.  Episode four starts with Sacks making a vicious attack on one of Tony’s henchmen after believing that he has insulted his wife.  Unlike virtually all of the other mobsters he seems to be faithful to his wife, which does at least make his outrage at the insults seem genuine.

The resentment that Sacks felt about the way that his boss (Carmine Lupertazzi) dealt with this matter is one of the contributing factors that prompts him to plot with Tony in episode 13 to have him killed.  What he didn’t know was that Carmine had authorized Tony Soprano to bump him off (because he was being so obstinate in trying to get this matter resolved), prompting Silvio and Christopher visit a marvellously weird and creepy family of hitmen whom they engaged to carry out their dirty work.  However, as with most of the planned hits in this season, it got called off (right at the last moment), as did the hit on Carmine in episode 13, when Tony got cold feet. 

Episode 4 also introduced the smouldering “romance” between Furio and Carmella.  Marvellously under-stated, with them never being alone together because (of course) it would be dangerous in the extreme for Furio if Tony ever found out.  In the end, Furio fled back to Italy, and Carmella finally realized that her life with Tony was a sham.  Perhaps (as David Chase suggested) in real life she would have carried on tolerating it for the sake of her children (or the money).  After all, as Tony Soprano pointed out in episode 13, she must have known what she was getting herself into when they got married.  However, Chase had the opportunity to make Carmella do what common sense dictates and throw out her husband  

“Whoever Did This” (episode 9) was the most dramatic story of the season, starting with the death of Tony’s horse Pie O My in a fire apparently started by Ralph Cifaretto.  When Tony confronts Ralph about the incident the fight that ensues ends with Ralph dead, and Tony calls his nephew Christopher  Moltisanti to help him dispose of the body.  What follows must be one of the most gruesome scenes ever shown on TV, as they chop up the body and we see the decapitated head being passed from Christopher to Tony (and I bet that wasn’t shown on TVB).  This storyline was another that demonstrated the absolute trust that Tony seems to have in Christopher.  In the early part of this series it seemed that this was going to end in trouble because of Christopher’s drug addiction, but he now appears to be recovered after a spell in a rehab clinic.  Even so, he’s hardly the smartest cookie in the jar, and you can’t help feeling that Tony may regret the decision.      

Now, whatever did happen to Valery, that Russian guy that Christopher and Paulie tried to kill in season 3…