The Basement and Other Stuff

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Sorry if this has been addressed, but I though the scene toward the end in the basement, with Chris and Tony while Tony was unpacking the wine, was poignant and, well, real.

There was the awkward silence, so they fell back on making fun of the Vipers again, with nearly the same dialogue and facial expressions etc. from their dinner after the wine rip-off. I assumed the awkwardness was at least partially because that's also where they effectively decided to kill Ade, and it was on their minds.

Other random thoughts:

To paraphrase Skakespeare, Tony protested way too much with Carmela on the subject of Ade. She broached the subject and he immediately dismissed it -- but she was not accusing him, she was talking about Chris. I felt Carmela saw right through that.

When Tony playfully growled at his neice at the fair, the image of a bear entered into my mind, but I'm sure it's just my overactive imagination.

Now they are clearly in the fall, which was alluded to in the episode - a dumb thought I had was this season (and the bonus episodes) will work through a winter of discontent and then end with a final spring-related renewal.


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Re: Wine Price

143
"Sorry to disagree, but I have a strong recollection that we did see Chris shooting up.

Apologies if I'm mistaken. But I'm pretty sure we clearly saw that."


i watched that scene again and your right it shows a needle in chris' arm.

the works look smaller than the one corky was using though that thing was huge! i hope chris didnt share a needle and would like to think he's smarter than that.

</p>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p098.ezboard.com/bthechaselounge ... tonMass</A> at: 5/10/06 6:39 pm

Re: The Basement and Other Stuff

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Unfortunately, Chrissy shows very few signs of intelligence. He's such a brutal loser thug. Why do I feel so sorry for him? Maybe I'M a loser. You know he's going down and, after that drunken bonding scene with Tony, I can't help but think that Tony is the one who will have to take him out. If that happens, the scene will be the stuff of legend. Hope it won't happen but scared it will.

</p>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p098.ezboard.com/bthechaselounge ... elikate</A> at: 5/10/06 9:17 pm

Re: The Basement and Other Stuff

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YoLaJimbo:

I hadn't thought of the Ade connection -- but I'm not entirely convinced you've got it nailed. I'm sure that provided some subtext for the akwardness of the conversation, but I wonder how much of it is the increasingly superficial relationship between Tony and Chris. When was the last time they had an actually meaningful conversation about something OTHER than mob business?

If they are as much the first kind of family (blood) as Tony has wanted to believe in the past, why is it that they can only talk about issues related to their other family (the mob). Tony couldn't muster it up to ask how things were going with Chris' brand new wife, and in the same vein Chris couldn't offer up ANYTHING about his new home and home life?



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Re: The Basement and Other Stuff

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I have to agree with Darngoodcoffee here.

Chris and Tony's relationship has eroded down to false comradery. On one hand, Chris has made a drunken gester to kill Tony. On the other, Tony has time and again given him a pass on issues that would put most mobsters in the grave.

All this kinship has gotten them nowhere. We see them address some of these issues and it leads Chris back to his addictions. At the behest of Tony none the less.

I'm thinking the Adriana issue is going to finally destroy there relationship. Compare the flashback scene to the scene of them in the basement. All they can talk about it the Vipers. It's a lame attempt to forget what they did to Ade.

</p>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p098.ezboard.com/bthechaselounge ... store>Pork Store</A> at: 5/11/06 1:41 am

Re: Basement and Other Stuff

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<blockquote>Quote:<hr>But I wonder how much of it is the increasingly superficial relationship between Tony and Chris.<hr></blockquote>

DGC, you articulated better than what I as fumbling at. In this episode there did seem to be one real exchange between Chris and Tony, when they were sitting outside, drunk on wine and their score, professing their love for each other. It seemed pure and real. Cut to Tony the next morning, hung over, waiting for the coffee to brew. (Boy, have I been there.)

So in the basement scene later, alone with each other again, it was awkward and forced, and they reverted back to the conversation they had over dinner re: mocking the Vipers, reliving the score, etc., in an attempt to recapture that feeling, but this time it seemed forced and devoid of connection.

But yes it is superficial, as is most things in their lives outside the mob (as you noted) -- Chris' asking Kelly to marry him was a desperate atempt to recapture what he had with Ade, and at the Bing when he announced it, he mentioned Tony's "wisdom" which also seemed to be laying it on a little thick. Everything in their lives seems built on lies, including the advice and praise they give each other (Chris solemnly telling that other guy he needs get help with his heroin habit even as he can't say no).

<blockquote>Quote:<hr>We see them address some of these issues and it leads Chris back to his addictions<hr></blockquote>

Good call on the addictions. Another echo from Ade's demise in the episode was the heroin use. We've seen Chris fall off the wagon before with alcohol, but I think the only time he used heroin after his recovery was the night Ade was killed.

</p>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p098.ezboard.com/bthechaselounge ... LaJimbo</A>
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at: 5/11/06 3:49 am

Re: Basement and Other Stuff

150
This episode was chock full of unrealized desires, at least to me. Many of these are the desires of excitement that Tony mentions. However, Tony and Chris also desire a relationship of one another that isn't quite as substantial as they would hope. Chris eagerly yearns for a father figure from Tony (as his father was murdered) and Tony (on some level) yearns for a successor that is close in blood to him. As proud as Tony is that AJ has not followed in his footsteps, he still wants a child/successor that he can relate to, and feel like he has imprinted his life, as his own father did to him.

This complex relationship is one that both parties seem to want, and even pretend that they have. It is simply not there, imo though. Even during their drunk talk outside, I found myself thinking "Yes, they have supported each other during troubling times. The bond they have is nothing special, or even particularly dense. It is purely superficial. They just want the bond to take on more of a life than it actually has.

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