How would you grade this episode on a 1-10 scale (10 being the best possible quality)

Total votes: 0

Re: Episode Review and General Comments

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Sopranology...very thought-provoking post. Thanks!

And FOMW -- I absolutely agree with you...if DC wants to throw a curve ball, he will have Tony gain enough self-insight to truly change. Now, I don't have any idea what form this will take, or what will finally push him over the edge toward enlightenment (perhaps Carmella's death, which we have speculated about), but that would be far less predictable than having Tony rubbed out in Artie's restaurant.....

I'm curious about something. I don't remember what episode it was, but there was a scene with Melfi in which she described some sort of pyschological disorder in terms of a shark...The shark keeps moving, because if it stopped moving and had to consider the damage it had caused it would crash....I'm probably getting this all wrong.

Anyway, in the first episode of 6A, I never understood why Tony was gorging himself on sushi. Was the point that he's the shark?

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chaseisgod wrote: I don't remember what episode it was, but there was a scene with Melfi in which she described some sort of pyschological disorder in terms of a shark...The shark keeps moving, because if it stopped moving and had to consider the damage it had caused it would crash....I'm probably getting this all wrong.

Anyway, in the first episode of 6A, I never understood why Tony was gorging himself on sushi. Was the point that he's the shark?
The episode was the same one I mentioned in my previous post and the one they played the clip from in the NPR interview, House Arrest. In one of her most direct tacts to date, Melfi starts the whole tangent by asking him if he knows why a shark keeps moving. Tony offers that they "can't breathe, or something". She tells him there's a condition called "alexithymia", common in anti social personalities, where the person craves "ceaseless action" so that they don't have time to think about the terrible things they do. Interestingly, Tony then immediately launches into the anecdote about Richie running over Beensie, says there was "no reason" for it, and Melfi becomes visibly exasperated because he has once avoided looking at himself.

According to online resources, alexithymia is basically a condition where a person has an utter inability to acknowledge, recognize, or verbally express their feelings, yet they clearly have feelings, which often manifest in psychosomatic conditions (like panic attacks, self mutilation, etc.). Alexithymics are generally not, however, social non-conformists. Some resources caution against confusing this condition with personality disorders like sociopathy, even though members of each group are emotionally unresponsive. http://www.alexithymia.supanet.com/isnt.html

So there may be some artistic license with this term in the show. Richard also uses it about Tony in season 3.

I like your idea about the fish gorging in 6A. That never would have occurred to me.

I've tended to see that one through my Christian lens, given the Icthus fish as the symbol of early Christians, still seen today on the back of many a car, and most especially the fact that the mystical "savior" figure of the coma interlude that switched briefcases had ordered a grouper sandwich himself, in contrast to Tony's blackened (burned by the nearby flames of hell) grouper.
Tony, his spirits crushed after b-lining to the fridge first thing in the morning: "Who ate the last piece of cake?"

Re: Episode Review and General Comments

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It's very difficult to label Tony's issues as "alexithymia" since he doesn't exhibit any real symptons. Tony is obviously quite capable of expressing his feelings and emotions - after all he has an extremely violent temper, displayed sadness with Pie-Oh-My, shows affection for his family, etc. Tony's real issues is his inability to empathize, or to "own up" to his true self. With mobsters, lying is a way of life, and Tony's ability to even lie to himself is quite typical.

I believe it's quite more simple - that Tony is afraid to acknowledge the fact that his father wasn't the bastion of parenting, that his father has at least some, if not most, of the "blame" for the relationships the household developed between the mother, children, and himself. It's something that Melfi has danced around since season 1, yet hasn't had the guts (or insight) to expose to Tony.

So yes, I agree, there are some definite liberties being taken with alexithymia as a diagnosis of Tony's mental state.

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awpilot wrote:It's very difficult to label Tony's issues as "alexithymia" since he doesn't exhibit any real symptons. Tony is obviously quite capable of expressing his feelings and emotions - after all he has an extremely violent temper, displayed sadness with Pie-Oh-My, shows affection for his family, etc. Tony's real issues is his inability to empathize, or to "own up" to his true self. With mobsters, lying is a way of life, and Tony's ability to even lie to himself is quite typical.

I believe it's quite more simple - that Tony is afraid to acknowledge the fact that his father wasn't the bastion of parenting, that his father has at least some, if not most, of the "blame" for the relationships the household developed between the mother, children, and himself. It's something that Melfi has danced around since season 1, yet hasn't had the guts (or insight) to expose to Tony.

So yes, I agree, there are some definite liberties being taken with alexithymia as a diagnosis of Tony's mental state.
I don't remember the exact scene, but I'm not sure that Melfi was diagnosing him as suffering from it. Seems like it was more than she was trying to get him to focus on some of the things he had done -- his own actions. Because every time the focus lands on him and what he's done, he ignores it or changes the subject.

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I'm a newbie so don't laugh but after watching "Stage 5" I got the impression that Blanca is pregnant and once she tells AJ he's goin to ask her to marry him.
howver she is going to break it off with him for some reason. Maybe Tony pays her to break it off with him and AJ finds out then trys to set up Tony (hence AJ is the new Livia). Or maybe she realizes that AJ is too immature so she gets back with her ex and AJ trys to kill her. Lol. I don't know. I just have the strange feeling that AJ is going to do something incredibly stupid before this season ends.
And I have the feeeling that Meadow, or AJ is going to die this season. maybe AJ falls into a deep depression and kills himself. Or maybe Meadow gets clipped when getting the papper one morning.

Re: Episode Review and General Comments

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CaliberCutChops wrote:All this talk of death and no mention of Sylvio. Strange huh, he just isn't considered...
Good point. He's really not a major factor in any plotline right now....I guess if NY finds out he whacked Fat Dom, that could change. And I suppose he could decide to see revenge against Doc for putting him in the restaurant when that guy got shot up Sunday night.

Re: Episode Review and General Comments

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Sopranology mentioned the legacy theme in the last episode. Johnny Sack needs to know what his legacy will be. And given the language Tony uses in congratulating Chris for The Cleaver we see it's on his brain too. How will Tony be remembered? I can only think it's in there because such concern will weigh heavily on Tony as he makes his final decisions in the Series.

My guess is it is being underscored as an issue as a way to set us up for Tony having one final chance to try to get out- one major deterrent to doing so being fears of an eternity of infamy. Genuine loyalty is an illusion in the world of The Sopranos. While Tony has been manipulated, influenced by guilt sometimes, at the end of the day, loyalty loses and his extreme selfishness calls his shots like it does for all these criminals and most of their family members/enablers. So it wouldn't be an aversion to the idea of betrayal that would stop Tony from selling out his friends and associates so much as an aversion to the deep universal loathing of him that his betrayal would automatically mean. The emotional intolerance Tony would have for a legacy of being reviled as a rat makes it susceptible to even those purely selfish considerations. While it's human nature in general to weigh and care what other people think about you, it is an even stronger force in Tony, who's entire life and position rests completely on manipulating what other people think of him to his advantage. And even when it has no rational advantage or disadvantage, that motive still works. Unless Johnny Sack believes in an afterlife, which I doubt he does given his life choices, why should it matter to him how people will remember him? Yet it just does, like it does for most real people, and certainly for Tony Soprano. If Tony ends up in a spot where he has to sell out associates to save himself, it's up for debate if he could tolerate the hatred of him. We see how much Chris's hatred of him affects him.

Now, if Tony were to try to use anti-terrorism cooperation to get out of the mob life, there would be other obstacles like his addiction to power, money and thrill, his fears that he needs power and money to attract Carmela. But the legacy note that Stage 5 hit a few times would not really be the big factor I suspect it's being set up to be. Tony would lose respect for working with the government, and it would shatter everyone's ability to trust him and maybe cost him his job but it would probably not be enough to associate the name Tony Soprano with complete revulsion forever more in the way turning on the mafia itself would. In fact there would be to some extent mixed feelings about it; as terrorism would affect their business in unpredictable ways, they're not necessarily averse to preventing it. And of course the button the FBI pretty easily pushed, terrorism risks hurting themselves or their family members. I can't see the show in any way in Hell ever making Tony some kind of hero who helped stop terrorism and getting a postage stamp in his honor. I think the legacy fears will be used to raise the stakes and Tony will find the available path to getting out blocked by, among other things, the potential to become a passionately hated man in the world he would leave. That's my guess what the legacy references are leading us.

Re: Episode Review and General Comments

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i think the fbi guys might just be after some laurels.if they can stamp some arabs as terrorists and get a raise, credits and honorable mentions on faxnews they might do it even though those arabs are not really terrorists, the fbi doesnt necessarily have to be holy here.and if tony would need a ticket out and he could rat against the arabs without ratting against any mafiosi he might do it when the time has come.
imho all in all he wants to live somewhere as retiree and reflect while reading yacht magazines or whatever.wasnt he even betting over the phone before he met little carmine?
if he would really be fully into the business like he was a few years ago he would whack chris now because of the plot in cleaver.but he plays nice uncle and jumps the boat soon imho.
in the end he might rat against anybody who is less old school than him so he can retire.

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