AJ and Blanca

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Good show!

I was struck by AJ's relationship with Blanca. You know what?--their scene in the bedroom, or the tatoo on his forearm did seem to fit with his personality in the past of making immature decisions. However, when he stated that in "our" neighborhood, people don't get let out of jail right away, this struck me as a bit more suspect.

I would not have thought he'd distance himself from the Italian heritage and the nice neighborhood so quickly. In that comment, it seems like he's now characterizing and projecting himself with Blanca's plight. Not like AJ to even be that profound about socioeconomic status in America and the like. Just seemed odd coming out of his mouth. I'm not sure what direction Chase has Tony's son Anthony is going now. Any thoughts one way or another into this???

Re: AJ and Blanca

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i think AJ is projecting himself inton blancas situation and the fact that he works as a construction worker as his career...but the episode didnt show where he sleeps or hangs out everyday, and carmela did make that comment that he was spending the night at blancas "again"...so
maybe he does have some maybe slight credibility to call it his neighborhood, but just barely

Re: AJ and Blanca

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AJ and Blanco were in Tony and Carm's bed. I thought that was amazing. AJ's 'playing' Tony. He even came down in the robe to let his guests in.

From the recap before the episode I was reminded about the fact he dropped out of school after a semester like Tony. He has panic attacks. He has an older, beautiful sister, a carping mom and a brutal at times father. He doesn't seem to have the conscience of Tony and thus not his angst.

I think ultimately AJ could be the secession plan for Tony. Even though he seems to be an idiot at times, I think a lot of that is being a young, immature boy/man. He has the cold/calculating/ruthless heart to be boss, which he got from Carm. I love how he got that gang to move on by trading his bike instead of violence at end of S6Part1. He's been watching/observing/absorbing.

The only glitch to me is how Blanco will view OC. He seems to really care about her and Hector. If she embraces it like Carm, I think AJ is next boss. If she rejects it (like Artie's wife), then he many become the rat that destroys it.

I don't know why, but I've always had a feeling about AJ.

Re: AJ and Blanca

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I think we have to wait to see how this one plays out. AJ (as many have said before me) behaves immaturely, and it is especially clear in how he has reacted to Blanca. When they first met, he was dumbfounded. When he first got her number, he fell for her little game where she left the last digit off to make him "work" harder to get her. Then he gave some punks from the neighborhood his bike to make them shut up after Blanca said "My ex used to kick their ass." That one scene showed his desire to please her, the ease in which he is manipulated and his inability to get rid of the guys by sheer force.

AJ has many similarities to Tony...his selfishness, his self-indulgence, his panic attacks...but none of his smarts. However, he also idolizes Tony and wants to be tough like him. I think he and Jackie Jr. have a lot in common. They are both spoiled rich kids that received their privilege from a very violent lifestyle. Because of the way they grew up, they will always be outsiders to that life. But they will always yearn for that respect they saw their fathers receive.

I think Chase has been foreshadowing AJ's death for a while. ("That die is cast.") In the last season we saw AJ partying all night and being a complete sucker by picking up the bill. Then we saw him fail miserably when he tried to kill Junior. Now he's being a complete sucker to Blanca, who seems very impressed by his money. ("That jacuzzi is bitchin!") I think AJ will continue to be used, unless he finds some purpose in his life. Right now he's not in school and he's working a job he doesn't really care about and is throwing parties in his parents' house when they're not home. He's still on the immature path, so I don't have a lot of hope for him.

I am interested to see more about this relationship...the "our neighborhood" was very telling. (Good comment on that, HagensBing.)

Re: AJ and Blanca

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BellaConsigliere wrote: Now he's being a complete sucker to Blanca, who seems very impressed by his money. ("That jacuzzi is bitchin!")
Bella, agree with you there.

I felt I saw some interesting paralells in this episode between Carm/Tony and Blanca/AJ. The story about how Tony thought Carm was turned on as a young woman by watching Tony beat the crap out of someone, was instructive. Similar to Blanca's request in 6A that AJ get his butt outside and get those punks to cut the music that was keeping up her baby (her EX used to "kick their asses"). And how did she reward AJ? By laying him, of course! Maybe Carm and Blanca have more in common than Carm thinks!

And of course, your point about Blanca's materialism gets to ther heart of Carm's great moral compromise - she took the money and turned a blind eye to where it came from. Not that Carm isn't conflicted about that compromise, but she's lived with it.

The question, of course, is where will AJ turn to get money/power so that he can keep impressing Blanca? The life? Will he pull a Jackie Junior? Especially now that he's quit/lost the construction job and is working at a pizza parlour, he'll likely be faced with a decision about how he's going to make the kind of money he will need to feed the lifestyle he wants. AJ is as lazy and money-hungry as the previous generation of mobsters, but with none of the smarts or guts. This could end very badly for him, indeed.

Re: AJ and Blanca

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When Carmela heard Blanca speaking in the background and asked who it was, AJ said it was "the waitress." Also, he was wearing a tee-shirt with a pizza shop logo. It wasn't made clear, but I inferred that AJ no longer was working construction but was working at a pizza joint (and skipping work, at that). If so, he will have failed both at college and at construction. I can see him drifting into his father's world for lack of other options, and despite his father's desire to have him avoid that world. We'll see.

PubItalia--we were typing at the same time so I missed your post. I agree that AJ may turn to "the life" since he has nowhere else to turn. How he does there remains to be seen. He may turn out to be a decent mob-type, which is exactly what Tony didn't want for him. He's smarter and more cautious than Jackie, Jr, and displayed organizational skills in high school., so I kind of think he stands a better chance of success than did Jackie, Jr.

Re: AJ and Blanca

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shantyirishman wrote:When Carmela heard Blanca speaking in the background and asked who it was, AJ said it was "the waitress." Also, he was wearing a tee-shirt with a pizza shop logo. It wasn't made clear, but I inferred that AJ no longer was working construction but was working at a pizza joint (and skipping work, at that). If so, he will have failed both at college and at construction. I can see him drifting into his father's world for lack of other options, and despite his father's desire to have him avoid that world. We'll see.
I thought I wasn't hearing that scene correctly but it turns out I was. I thought it odd AJ told Carmela he was at the pizza joint. As much as I don't like AJ, I look forward to seeing what happens to his character in the remaining episodes. Blanca reminds me of a hood rat and it isn't far fetched to say she is attracted to the wealth of AJ's family.
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