Three men, three bosses, three legacies. Johnny Sack asks what kind of name he'll leave behind, and his brother-in-law tells him he'll be remembered as a great husband and father. Johnny says no, how will he be known as a mobster. The brother-in-law explains that he'll be remembered well, except that once he took on the responsibility of being boss, he became a hothead. And Johnny, as he slowly fades away, begins to feel like it was all for nothing. When he dies, some his closest colleagues in the mob toast to him, and then life goes on.
Tony is someone who always worried about legacy to begin with -- carrying on his father's, passing on Dickie Moltasanti's, and ensuring its survival with Chris. Now he looks at 'Cleaver' and he too wonders if it was all for nothing, if the degree to which he tried to bring Chris up as his own left him to be seen as a rude bully by his protege. Melfi asks if he's reading into something there, and though he's not, as the final scene with Chris and Tony's eyes as they embrace shows, it is revealing of Tony's insecurities, of his concerns about what he's leaving behind.
A Phil Leotardo has the same worry. He looks back at twenty years in jail, has the same sentiment about lost honor that's been expressed by Tony, Big Pussy, Chris, and many others on the show, and wonders if it was all worth it. He worries that all he'll leave behind is a name that he feels has been mangled, that he's sees as symbolic as his family having taken other people's shit for too long. And he seems to vow to do something about it.
It was a little more out in the open than The Sopranos usually is, not as subtle, but as usual it was well-acted (Tony's scene with Melfi especially) and looks interesting as a harbinger of things to come, and as the show itself looking back at what kind of legacy it'll leave as it closes out its run. Not my favorite episode, but an interesting one.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2015-08-14T03:16:40Z
Three men, three bosses, three legacies. Johnny Sack asks what kind of name he'll leave behind, and his brother-in-law tells him he'll be remembered as a great husband and father. Johnny says no, how will he be known as a mobster. The brother-in-law explains that he'll be remembered well, except that once he took on the responsibility of being boss, he became a hothead. And Johnny, as he slowly fades away, begins to feel like it was all for nothing. When he dies, some his closest colleagues in the mob toast to him, and then life goes on.
Tony is someone who always worried about legacy to begin with -- carrying on his father's, passing on Dickie Moltasanti's, and ensuring its survival with Chris. Now he looks at 'Cleaver' and he too wonders if it was all for nothing, if the degree to which he tried to bring Chris up as his own left him to be seen as a rude bully by his protege. Melfi asks if he's reading into something there, and though he's not, as the final scene with Chris and Tony's eyes as they embrace shows, it is revealing of Tony's insecurities, of his concerns about what he's leaving behind.
A Phil Leotardo has the same worry. He looks back at twenty years in jail, has the same sentiment about lost honor that's been expressed by Tony, Big Pussy, Chris, and many others on the show, and wonders if it was all worth it. He worries that all he'll leave behind is a name that he feels has been mangled, that he's sees as symbolic as his family having taken other people's shit for too long. And he seems to vow to do something about it.
It was a little more out in the open than The Sopranos usually is, not as subtle, but as usual it was well-acted (Tony's scene with Melfi especially) and looks interesting as a harbinger of things to come, and as the show itself looking back at what kind of legacy it'll leave as it closes out its run. Not my favorite episode, but an interesting one.
(7.5/10)