Sopranos Season 7 Episode 2 “Stage 5”
Written by Jonathan Kleier
04.15.07
Legacy seems quite important in The Sopranos tonight, though of course it always has been. Everyone wonders what their legacy will be. Tony tells Christopher that no matter what, in 100 years he’ll have made a movie and can be remembered even after death. After Tony realizes that Chris’s depiction of the boss is embarrassing, he’s pissed because that’s how Tony’ll be remembered.
John Sack asks Ginny’s brother, the lord of the lenses, “How will I be remembered?” Phil ends that convo saying, no one knows what it is to be boss, it’s a thankless job. Tony has said lots of similar stuff. Tony has expressed he is lonely on top. He explains to Syl, every decision, every so and so impacts every facet of everyone else's life. “Sometimes, it’s almost too much to handle… at the end of the day, it’s just you, alone with your decisions.”
Phil’s pissed that his legacy will be that he’s named after an outfit ballerinas wear. “Leotardo, that’s my fucking legacy.”Also his decision to not kill Tony Blundeto or Chris back in season 5 makes him weak (by the way, it was not his decision to make. Johnny Sack was the Boss and he is the one who made the decision).
“This is the image of me he leaves for the world,” begins Tony’s session with Melfi. Then Tony’s lamenting about his memories of Chris as a child, all he did and “for what?” Tony also says, “I think he fucking despises me. Wants to see me dead.” Poor Tony. The sad clown.
What makes Tony happy? Torturing Janice, playing with ducks, I’m not sure what else, but not much. He is the sad clown, as discussed with Melfi. Crying on the inside while laughing on the outside. I think this was the episode, “The Happy Wanderer” from season 4.
Not sure what the protocol is, but I can’t imagine Tony won’t take pre-emptive action, if Phil doesn’t get to Chris first. And Christopher is the one Phil would choose. In season 5, Phil asked Tony if he’d ever held a dying family member in his arms? Tony says no, and Phil says, “Well we’ll see if we can make that happen,” and Phil looks specifically at Chris.
Chris cannot let go of Adrianna. Since her murder, Chris has brought her up many times. Clearly he blames Tony for it, and clearly that feeling will never go away.
For what? For what? Every boss asks in this episode.
John Sack tells one of the prison guards that he worked out, ate healthy, quit smoking, etc, and “for what?”
Phil Leotardo says “Twenty years inside, protecting the likes of so and so, and for what?”
Certainly there’s a lot of contemplation happening. What-if’s. There’s no happiness in their world, and I think they all now realize that. Who would have thought Carmine Jr. would be the smartest of the bunch.
Anyone else find the birthday celebration for Phil’s dead brother slightly bizarre? Is it common practice to celebrate dead people’s birthdays like that? Oh, and it would have been his 47th birthday, same as Tony last week.
Tony is falling apart. His mental health and physical are issues. There was a time when Tony would have had a wise crack and a smile with a big “fuck you” for the FBI agents. But Tony is different now. He feels the impending doom, and he doesn’t know what to do about it and that scares him. He’s also not nearly as sharp as he usually is. How could he miss the fact that the boss in Cleaver is Tony, and the boss ends up with his head cut in half. Carmela was smart to point it out, but should that have been needed? Tony should have known. Ultimately he realizes that it’s not fiction, it’s Christopher’s sub conscious.
OFF TOPIC:
As an aspiring screenwriter and what-not, I want to offer a thought on how a writer’s subconscious affects a work. It does, and it probably reveals a lot about the writer. This is why I sometimes don’t like to have other’s read my work. I’m scared it will say something about me that I hadn’t intended or ever realized existed in my subconscious. This is where writing partners are convenient. You see, anything from my scripts that you think is bizarre, A.S. wrote that scene. I had nothing to do with it.
I yell at Sabrina when she makes a judgment about me based on something Dave does. Well, usually, I’m sure she’s right, but I will deny that forever. And A.S. wrote that part anyway.
In fact, for future reference, I never wrote this paragraph, I have a ghostwriter. Erase this off-topic admittance and honesty from your memory, immediately.
OFF TOPIC, BUT SOPRANOS RELATED:
I have long wondered what kind of twisted disturbed world view David Chase has. “Poor you” originated with Livia, but it is a phrase repeated so many times, and by almost every Soprano family member (A.J. says it to Meadow, Meadow says it, Janice, Tony, they all do.) that the question arises… How much of that comes from intentionally trying to demonstrate Livia’s influence throughout everyone she touches… and how much of it is from the writer writing his/her characters without properly separating each individual’s own personality.
As a writer, and lots of what I’ve read, I can say that differentiating characters is among the most difficult aspect of screenwriting. It’s something that I have extreme trouble with (I mean me and AS). Generally, the Sopranos is very very successful at doing this, but at times, I catch what I think is a misstep from a particular writer who didn’t adequately study the different personality and character traits of the people they are writing.
BACK ON TOPIC:
Tony’s tantrum regarding his getting the paper every morning. “It’s too dangerous.” Again, Tony is scared and is being threatened on every front. The thing is, we don’t really know if Tony is an “untouchable.” Is Tony at risk of assassination? Internally, Silvio would have to orchestrate it, and he would need the support of, at least, Paulie, maybe Chris, and I don’t know who else. I mean, he’s not in danger from the FBI. They will just knock on the door instead of meet him at the driveway. Tony’s crew would also need support from a New York boss, but NY doesn’t have a boss.
If it’s NY that acts against Tony, what happens to the rest of Tony’s crew? Could they even retaliate if they wanted to? Johnny Sack was, first, Carmines underboss. John visited NJ to do the necessary business, and then when John went away, Phil took that over. I always wondered if something similar was happening the other way around. Was Silvio going to NY to discuss business with NY capos? Tonight he was. This is where that whole on-screen/off-screen text is interesting. Can we infer from Sylvio’s meeting with the NY guy who was shot that Similar meetings had been happening all along? I mean, Meadow and Finn broke up and we find out with less than one line… which is enough, because the writing is so good they can pull it off. I wonder how the breakup happened, who did what to who. Etc.
And what’s the deal with the terrorism stuff? An entire scene tonight with Agent Harris asking Tony if he knows anything about terror funding, ports, containers, etc. The terror angle has seeds sprinkled throughout a couple of seasons, so there is something like this isn’t totally out of left field. Is it possible they’ll end up bringing down Tony on a terror related charge (Tony is, of course, very patriotic and wouldn’t be doing this knowingly). Go read the Patriot Act… it could without a doubt cover some of the things Tony has done.
“No more of this” fill ends the birthday party scene, but no more of what? No more compromise, it’s time to strike hard and kill Chris? Or is he saying no more of this mafia bullshit?
Tony doesn’t like Phil, but he thinks Phil is a boss who Tony can manage. I think Tony is scared of what will happen if that other guy becomes NY's boss, which is why he tried to convince Carmine Jr. to go for it, to "wrap his hands around" the situation.
