So if Hillary is supposed to be Tony...

...then who is supposed to be AJ? Joe Biden? Ha, I kid.

Much of the political buzz this afternoon surrounded the parody the Clinton campaign produced of the Sopranos ending. The critical response has been generally positive, and it's baffling me. Unsurprisingly, I disagree wholeheartedly with Brunk, who giving "credit where credit is due," called it "possibly the coolest web stunt" pulled so far this year.

Dean Barnett over at Hughhewitt.com said it was hilarious.

From top to bottom, I can't figure out what people like about it. First off, why would you ever compare yourself to a sociopath like Tony Soprano, especially if you are running for President? Secondly, if one of the continuing memes of the campaign against your candidacy is that you are always fake and scripted, why would you put yourself in a web video where you're acting and reading a script. Third, and perhaps this is being a tad too picky, why include the random black dudes shot?

In the actual Sopranos ending, I saw the gang-banger shot as a joke of sorts to build up the tension, because of course Tony is going to assume the worst of two black guys. That was part of the show lore. Sure, the dudes in the Clinton parody were laughing around, but why bring back the memory of the earlier negative stereotype.

And the random Johnny Sack cameo?

Sure, Bill was funny, but the entire clip was stilted and forced -- two of the critiques that have had the most resonance on the Clinton campaign.

To make matters worse, they chose a CELINE DION song as the theme song. It'll be a long summer. And don't even get me started on the creepy, Stepfordian, yet irrestistably earnest Romney Christmas video.

Shish Kabob, what else do you need to know?

So I can't lead off this post with a "Wow" because the series finale of the Sopranos had no "wow" to it. The episode was good, and I appreciated some of the angles it took, but it was rather ordinary in terms of pacing and plot development. As I said before, David Chase doesn't do satisfying, and nothing showed that more than the finale.

That all said, I had no real problem with it.

In our Web 2.0 society, the capability of normal people to voice their opinions (in blogs such as these) and make their voice heard through citizen activism has created a sense of entitlement that I cannot stand. Bloggers and others (opinion anchors like O'Reilly) get indignant when something doesn't go their way, or someone doesn't agree to talk to them. It happens in politics, sports, and general entertainment. People feel that they are "owed" something or other just because of who they are.

There's a fundamental lack of respect for a person's political position or artistic vision, that the expert needs to cowtow to what people expect of them, just because. No real reason.

And to get back to the Sopranos, I'm not looking forward to the fans who will write that they felt "betrayed" by the anti-climactic ending. David Chase is a television visionary. Be happy that you were along for the ride, and express thanks for the years of quality television.

As for the episode, so it didn't go out with a big bang. The finale still wasn't a disaster. Life has come full circle for the Soprano family: AJ (whose military exploits I came very close to nailing in my predictions) is slowly becoming his father with a flashy car who complains about his dramatic mother; Meadow is perhaps even deeper in denial about the Mafia than Carmela; Tony is once again in legal trouble but is stronger because of his dutiful wife; the New York family is now in a peaceful arrangement with New Jersey; Janice is shrewd, greedy, and husbandless; and most importantly, the ducks are returning.

Everything that was old is new again, whether you like it or not.

The Sopranos Comes to a Close

Well, this post comes a few days later than I had originally planned, but I've gotten to absorb everyone else's thoughts (Slate, all the TK guests, Shuppy, et. al.), and now below are my predictions. And I agree with the smart money: Tony lives.

To start, Tony dying is too much of a tight resolution to resolve the series. David Chase doesn't do "satisfying", to address what Coop said in the comments of my last post . While I don't think he will leave everything unresolved and up-in-the-air, if Tony were to be killed by Phil Leotardo and crew, that would be disturbing and frustrating. Phil has come in too late to the series to be the guy who throws down the final solution.

That last sentence rings true for a lot of people, which is why others think Paulie has flipped on Tony and he'll be the one to stab the boss in the back. Paulie is too weak-willed and frenetic to be trusted to carry out anything of that magnitude. With Sil's death, Paulie has to know he's the #2 (to Tony's chagrin), so why would he jeopardize that to be, at best, a 5th/6th guy in the hierarchy in the New York family. Phil is no Johnny Sack.

Not only will Tony survive, but he will be alone at the top, since he got rid of Phil (somehow). As Tony realizes that he only has Paulie (the incompetent, not Machiavellian Paulie that botched the Leotardo hit) as his counsel, he will feel resigned to his position. He can't leave the mob, but he doesn't want to stay in the mob. His Faustian bargain has done him in, and he is isolated with neither Melfi nor Carmela (who has finally left him for financial security).

Quick rundown of final fates:

• AJ: Joins the Army, goes to Iraq.
• Carmela: Leaves Tony, goes into real estate
• Meadow: Patsy Parisi dies, his son takes up the business, Meadow realizes the bed she is making and leaves to live with Carmela. The Meadow dying scenarios are stupid, because David Chase would never want to associate himself with the stench of Godfather 3. That's like making a biopic of Janis Joplin and basing it on Glitter.
• Paulie: Alive and still laughing.
• Phil: Dead. As is his toadstool #2.
• The Terrorists: A red herring, never to return. Like the Russian.
• The Feds: Try to flip Tony, back to square one in the RICO case.
• Janice: Distraught, but vows to be a strong single mother.

Did I miss anything?

A couple of three things...

To quote the eminently quotable, and not-dead-yet Phil Leotardo (not Leonardo, because of the idiots at Ellis Island), a "couple of three things" about last night's episode of the Sopranos. Overall, I thought it was good, but not nearly as powerful as it could have been. If you're still reading here and haven't watched the show yet, you're an idiot. Stop reading.

But with the death of Bobby and near-death of Sil, I'd have thought Chase and Co. could have packed a couple of painful punches to the gut. Bobby's death scene was intentionally foreshadowed with the cell phone ringing in the car, so it made the train store scene difficult to watch...but it was more Scorcese-esque than a bonafide Sopranos scene. I loved the part with the train and the people covering their eyes.

Sil's (near) death was as sudden as Christopher's, but not all that surprising since they already took Bobby out. I'm torn here, because aren't I supposed to be more upset and shaken by the death of two major characters? Christopher's death was really shocking, but not so here. Anyone else feel the same?

Melfi's scenes were bizarelly shot, and I think really distracted from the overall episode. The zoom-in on the psych study was very weird and unnecessarily over-the-top, and the dinner scene with Dr. Kupferberg (?) was cartoonish. Kornheiser's "Colors of Benneton" reference was perfect for the scene, and neither Melfi or Kupferberg were in character. Besides, who goes to a social dinner with their shrink? That's just awkward.

The one thing I did like about Melfi's farewell to Tony was the reverse-godfather sequence with the doors shutting. Unlike Kay having the "Godfather" world shut down to her, in last night's ep, Tony has his enabler shut down to him. Or am I stretching here.

Other thoughts:

• Tony draining the pool was a clear signal that bad stuff was about to go down. Throughout the show, the pool has been the symbol of rebirth/life in the Soprano household. The series started there with the ducks, the Soprano marriage was rekindled in the pool, and AJ's life was saved by Tony during the ill-fated pool suicide attempt.
• That scene with Tony finally giving it to AJ was brutal. I'll say it again: Iler has been brilliant this season in showing AJ's patheticity (made up word, but I like it).
• Great to see Artie Bucco show up again, although I dunno if he'll return for the final ep. His "constitutional law" line was typical Artie: feigning interest while looking like a tool.
  
• The Mangini cameo was classy. I doubt that the NFL or the Jets approved that appearance.

My prediction for the final week? Check later this week for a Tony/Phil analysis...and predictions.

Updated Soprano Thoughts -- Vol I, Post ii

A few straggling thoughts that I forgot to include in the earlier post.

• I've found it interesting in how Tony and AJ respond to their respective psychiatrists. Tony never tells the full truth to Dr. Melfi, sometimes even lying to himself and to her to avoid tackling the real issues. It's readily apparent, however, that AJ is an open book and told his psych all about his problems. Ironically, neither of them seem to have been helped by their "terapy".
• I agree with Tony Soprano that AJ was too pathetic and incompetent to pull of his own suicide.
• Maybe I was wrong about the whole jihadist thing. Slate's Tim Noah sees a possible connection, and my friend Seth also thinks that the al-Jazeera Web site could go somewhere. I'm still not convinced. I think the AJ plot line is done for the season, with him remaining in the hospital under observation as the show closes out. I can't figure out what the point is of the two terrorists...but we'll see.
• Annie and I both want to know, "WHERE IS ARTIE BUCCO????"
• Since this is somewhat mob related, this YouTube mashup of the Godfather IV: Fredo's Revenge is brilliant: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dtf_Gxy9ZRY&eurl=

How to Clean (Practically) Anything - Sopranos Thoughts, Vol I

I want to throw these thoughts down now, so I can continue to read Slate's brilliant analysis and skim and get frustrated by inane commentary from the likes of David Poland and Jonah Goldberg. Both need to step out of their usual boundaries and forget making bizarre connections to their day-jobs. Tony and Christopher were like Eisner and Ovitz? Whaaa? A.J. as an Islamic jihadist? Seriously??

Instead of long-form analysis, I think I'm just going to go bullet points from here on out.

• Am I the only one who thought that A.J. was going to die for sure? After last week's offing, I figured that it was only a matter of time before someone else prominent died in the show. The suicide scene was really rough to watch...absolutely brutal.
• On a similar note, Robert Iler has been phenomenal this season. Absolutely brilliant in showing how A.J. has matured...and not matured, in still throwing out random factoids that disturb his world view, just as he always has. If the Emmys meant anything, I would jump on his lobbying campaign in an instant.
• I hope that smarter people than I, (Tim Noah, please?) give me some reasoned an indepth analysis of the significance of The Second Coming. Annie Shuppy, my Sopranos enabler, raises a good point: Will Yeats poems jump up the Amazon charts thanks to A.J.?
• And if Yeats poems don't...will How to Clean Practically Anything make it?
• Carmela Soprano is really losing it. She's turned into Laura Linney's character from the Truman Show, where she turns into total housewife mode and shuts down mentally, hoping to brush the problem under the carpet. From her reaction to the Vegas watch to the scene where she blamed Tony for A.J.'s problems, I can see her cracking under the pressure in the next two episodes.

Speaking of which...

• We are clearly headed for a Phil/Tony showdown to end the show. I am still backing the "Tony is Michael Corleon at the end of Godfather I" scenario, where he has Phil and his crew killed, and Carmine Jr. brings the family under Tony's thumb.
• BUt Tony is also going to have to clear ranks in his own family...and I mean literally. There was some discussion this morning on Tony Kornheiser's show about why Phil was hiding upstairs, and why he suddenly backed out of their meeting. That led me to believe that one of Tony's capos is double-dealing, a la Paulie with Johnny Sack.
• It's not Paulie Walnuts this time...it's Bobby Bacala. With Janice's urging, he's letting Phil in on the scoop. Tony is going to have to kill Bobby...and perhaps Janice...to get them out of the problem. Some of Tony's guys may have to die too...perhaps Paulie or Patsy?
• This is all idle speculation, but you can read more thoughts if you want at another guy who's opinion I really respect: Creed Bratton.