Not as bad as I expected, considering it’s reputation as the worst episode. Even the worst episode of the Soprabos is pretty good. Most of the roughness comes from Silvio just not being meant for this role, the rewrites from Paulie to him being obvious and jarring. And a lot of the Columbus commentary is more blunt than the show usually is. It helps juxtapose their selfishness compared to Bobby’s grief, but it’s not the best tool for it.
Everything else is great though. The parallel between Janice’s and Tony’s therapies and for both just use it as a way to justify their worst tendencies, and the contrast between the therapist speaking of Janice’s renowned compassion and understanding and her practically throwing Ralphie down the stairs. Bobby’s palpable grief. That’s all top notch Sopranos.
The funniest part is Rudy Guliani being held up as an exemplary Italian American in 2002. How much things change two decades later.
The worst episode of the show so far.
Thanks Tony for that monologue at the end, even more relevant today
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2015-07-20T17:30:33Z
This is an episode about selfishness, or at least self-centeredness. Everyone in the episode is focused on themselves and their people and their situation at the expense of any other. Ralphie asks what's in it for him to support Rosalee. Rather than providing the "honesty and compassion that [she's] known for", Janice breaks up with Ralphie by yelling at him for not taking off his shoes and knocking him down the stairs. The Casino head only welcomes Tony and his crew to his casino in order to get them to try to book Frankie Valli for him. Junior is only worried about his widower helper driving him to his trial.
The same is true of the "who was oppressed the most" contest that everyone is having. The Italians disregard the Native Americans, Hesh is sympathetic to them until his Cuban friend claims his people's suffering under Columbus is akin to the Jews' suffering under Hitler. Everyone is focused on their own problems and grievances at the expense of the slightest bit of empathy for anyone else's.
The lone holdout is Bobby Bacala, who, despite having no hand in his wife's death, is constantly brought to tears by the thought that he wasn't there for his wife when he might have been. It's a hell of a contrast, and highlights how so many people with every reason to be considerate or empathetic only think about themselves, and how Bobby, who has every reason to let himself off the hook, is racked with guilt.
I don't know if Tony's speech at the end is supposed to be the author's avatar. It seems a little more direct in enunciating the point than the show tends to be, but it feels like the writers talking through the character. It's interesting, because in one way, it's a rejection of the cultural oppression pissing matches that consumed so many individuals in the episode--Tony argues that folks like Gary Cooper didn't complain about that sort of thing and that people rise above them-- but it's also another form of self-centeredness because it credits all of their success to their own ingenuity and wherewithal, seemingly ignoring the fact that they stood on the shoulders of giants and by the nature of their business, had many things handed to them that others would not have been able to wrangle. Interesting stuff, to be sure.