The Many Saints of Newark. Now true, there is little Artie Bucco and even less Jackie Aprile, but if the relationship between these two cousins was such that they consider themselves so close as to be brothers you would think there would be some suggestion of this when Tony was a child and certainly as an early teen. That said, it is not relevant for these purposes.
Instead, we get our first purposeful episode with Where's Johnny. In it, all three figures are mentioned. Obviously Junior as he is starting to really suffer from his dementia. Not only does he go off in search of his brother giving the episode its title, but he also needles Tony with the "never had the makings of a varsity athlete" stuff (which is used word for word at one point in the film.) The same thing is suggested by Janice when she said "Daddy always said that" in reference to Tony having small hands. Johnny rather looms large over the episode though he does not appear in flashback. Not only is Junior remembering days gone by with his brother and Tony is more than irritated having to go back and recall things either said about him or perhaps unfulfilled wishes about being an athlete (which of course will come back later in the season.) Instead, he followed clearly in his father's footsteps.
Dickie is also referenced briefly by Ade when the FBI agent is wondering about the actual relationship between Chris and Tony. In explaining how they are really cousins, she also drops the line that Dickie "was like a big brother" to Tony. We see that now due to the film, but no more in terms of how much of an influence. Finally there is that last touching scene between Tony and Junior. Perhaps one of the most open things Tony ever utters on the show was his question to his uncle "Don't you love me?" It clearly hurts Tony and shows that there is a desire for Uncle Junior's respect and affection. I doubt this would be the case if Junior was not an influence and father figure.
There was also an interesting through-line somewhat for the season that doesn't involve Tony directly but could be seen as a thought in his mind as well - in Sentimental Education we see both Carmela and Tony B. looking at life "outside" of their mafia circles but ultimately cannot fully leave it because it's just too good and/or profitable. I think it's possible that Tony may be considering this as well, at least subconsciously if we take some thoughts from bits in his dream later in the season. But we'll get to that.
Because first we must look at perhaps the most interesting episode of the season for these purposes - In Camelot. It is here that Tony meets his father's former comare Fran Feldstein and gains a lot more insight into that time and his father's life. And we learn quite a lot as well. Johnny shared interests in a race track with Hesh and Phil Leotardo. It appears that Johnny gave away Tony's dog Tippi to Fran. We know that Johnny was still with her when he got emphysema as not only was she still smoking around him but also with her when Tony was around 16 as he causes Tony to lie to his mother when Livia had a miscarriage. (It's also interesting that the show clearly makes the house we know from the show the house they were living in by Tony's teen years.)
I'd say there is some interesting bits about Junior in this episode. Apparently he was in love with Fran but Johnny won her affections and caused Junior to "suffer in silence" but Fran disputes this and calls him a stalker. In fact, she thinks it was Junior that told Livia about Johnny and Fran (which might track given that we know he can be vindictive and has little issue hurting his own family or Family.) Dickie, of course, is not involved with any of this other than an assumption. It is clear that Tony has watched and followed many of the men of this world and was surely influenced. Fran knows this as she asks Tony "Tell me about your women..." She knows that men in this life have a wife at home and a comare on the side and in Tony's case it is a "good woman" at home and "very sophisticated" on the side. It's this last that causes Tony often to desire Melfi as much as he loves his wife Carmela. Now, we can look at the evidence and see that Johnny did not have that same kind of thought process for his wife/comare duality but from the film, we might consider that of Dickie. We don't know much about Joanne Blundetto Moltisanti other than she is largely presented as an alcoholic in the show, but not so much in the film. And Dickie's comare (his former step-mother) does show more sophistication as a self-learning immigrant wanting to start her own hair salon. So, without being stated, we can possibly see this as an influence by Dickie on Tony.
Yet the most interesting part of the episode is when Tony is presented these facts about his father. Whether it is by seeing it/hearing it or from Melfi trying to force him to confront those emotions in therapy, he cannot process it. Instead, he is more than willing to once again blame his mother. Livia "drove him into that woman's arms" and tosses out another of Livia's favorite "poor you" in reference to her. When Melfi suggests that Tony "forgive her and move on" Tony can only respond that she "made my father give my dog away...if it was up to her, she would have had it killed." It is quite interesting to me that it is really when Fran starts bad mouthing Livia that Tony starts to sour on her as he's been trying to help her previously in the episode but by the end of the episode, he's talking Fran up to his pals.
Tony is starting to realize the faults of his father (and so perhaps in himself) so he cannot process that and once again pushes it aside in favor of blaming Livia and considering his father the good guy. I'd say this is a rather large flag for Johnny to be that ultimate influence. I'd say there is yet one more bit of "the Kennedy connection" in this episode from the title alone to Fran's fascination/discussion of him - the hat, the hanky, the song. Kennedy often looms over the series from Junior's desire for a doctor with the same name to again Tony owning the hat (and of course much later) but if nothing else Kennedy may come up over and over again because of the father/son angle and the "brother thing" as Janice says earlier in reference to Jesus. Fathers and sons. That's what matters here. We know now that the Camelot suggested about the Kennedy presidency/myth is not as bright as it seemed at the time. But it is easier to remember the myth because of its brightness instead of the truth which is much harsher.
We return once again to Johnny in Cold Cuts. Janice has a choice line when she suggests "At my house, it was dog eat dog" and further, as Tony taunts her near the end, we must wonder where he learned that behavior. Mom or Dad? Or both? Of course, Johnny is mentioned as having a "couple of jars of peaches" up at Pat's farm. But what is truly interesting remains that reoccurring thing - Tony not wanting to fault his father or being embarrassed by him. Melfi mentions the Satriale's finger incident and Tony says "I wish I hadn't told you that. I dress up nice to come in here..." meaning he just doesn't want to realize what he knows deep inside and does not wish to process.
Further, in The Test Dream we once more see Tony in the back seat of his father's car and this time Johnny is definitely driving (and smoking a lot.) He's driving him to the job that keeps coming back up in the dream. Part of that "job" is surely getting back together with Carmela by the end of the episode, but most telling is the Coach Molinaro section of the dream. I have covered in the past the whole "unprepared" part of Tony's psyche, but something else stood out this time. While needling Tony and lamenting that he went down a different path, Tony tells him he's in therapy. The coach laughs and the first thing he says about it - "I suppose you blame it on your father." While Tony corrects and says his mother ("Even better" the coach laughs even more) it would seem clear that Johnny is up there in Tony's thinking even if he cannot get it to the fore of his mind.
Of course, there is also the "Valachi Papers" angle in the dream which many at the time took to be Tony looking at a way out of this life. Subconsciously that may be true. We will see that again as we move into season 6. But we know he never leaves. We know he cannot confront that part of his psyche. Why? Well of course because he is "unprepared."
So all told this entire season has shown us that Dickie is way in the background as an influence on Tony and Junior is certainly an influence (and perhaps a desired one.) But most of all it is Johnny Soprano that is THE influence in Tony's life, both as a man and mafia boss. Tony does not like to admit fault and so those parts of him that were influenced by his father are suppressed or embraced and instead he continues to find fault with his mother and those parts of him that he outwardly says he hates. A very enlightening season for these purposes.Statistics: Posted by Detective Hunt — Thu Nov 04, 2021 10:00 am
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