It goes on and on and on and on...

Today marks the one year anniversary of the now famous cut to black that marked the ending to The Sopranos. The effect was immediate, and while the cultural ripples have faded some, the debate still roars on. David Chase's ambiguous and sudden end to the final Sopranos episode still hasn't escaped our collective psyche... and ultimately, that's the genius of the ending.

Several tv blogs and websites are revisiting the debate today, with nearly all pointing to this nearly 2200 word missive on the subject. It's a passionate argument for a 'Tony's dead' ending -- all I needed to say was 'passionate,' though, and you could surmise that he was in the 'death' camp. Since death is the ultimate final answer, there's a 'black and white' feeling to their interpretations, whereas those in the 'life goes on' camp seem more willing to see gray. I, for one, still believe that Chase left it up to the viewer, so we're all right (even the one's who say the ending is a cop-out). The only clues Chase has left us with are what was shown on screen and very few post-finale words on the subject. The most recent was his recollection of another famous ending, that of 1968's Planet of the Apes:

When the movie was over, I said, 'Wow, so they had a Statue of Liberty, too'. That's what you're up against.

You could take that to be just merely a joke, or that he's much more willing to look at the ending a different way than most (which is how I interpret it). But once again, he's putting the burden on the viewer to interpret.

One thing that seems cut and dried, though, is the effect that ending had on revitalizing the career of Journey. Downloads of "Don't Stop Believing'" skyrocketed the following days, sending the song to #1 on iTunes 26 years after it's original release. It's no coincidence that they released a new album last week (Revelation,) and it's expected to chart in the top 10, their first since Perry's last album with the group (1996's Trial by Fire,) peaked at #3.

Besides the Sopranos bump, though, Neil Schon and company took other alternative measures to get to this end. First, they needed a new singer, one that more closely sounded like Perry to take advantage of the opportunity at hand, and Schon found his prize via YouTube -- the lead singer of a Phillipino cover band called Zoo. Arnel Pineda, who's incredible back story requires it's own "Don't Stop Believing" song, leapt at the challenge, and the band went about recording an album in the style of Escape. They still didn't have a label, though, but decided to follow The Eagles lead and release the album exclusively through WalMart, using no record label at all. And now they're in the top 10 again. Wonder how record labels are interpreting that ending? Well... it's not actually an ending -- if there's anything we learned from The Sopranos, it's that it goes on and on and on and on.)

TV's Top Music Moments of 2007

After a popular series finale fades -- or cuts -- to black, nowadays there's a mad dash to find the song that ushered out the show. Download stats the next day go through the roof, and sometimes that recording will make a mark on Billboard charts. This year, that scenario happened time and time again, even bringing a group long since out of favor back into the limelight. Not all the moments I have below followed this path, but they all stuck with me, long after the credits rolled.

10. Total Eclipse of Meth Lab Matt [video]
Nip/Tuck - Ep 5.07, Song: "Total Eclipse of the Heart" - Bonnie Tyler
Miserable Matt pulls a Richard Pryor, setting himself on fire trying to cook up some drugs (meth in this case) in his apartment. After catching on fire, he manages to do a swan dive from the second floor into his complex's pool. The usual histrionics of Matt's scenes are amusingly sent over the top by using this Bonnie Tyler classic. Songwriter Jim Steinman -- the writer behind Meatloaf -- has a gift for over the top.

9. Mad Men Don't Think Twice
Mad Men Ep1.13, Song: "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright" - Bob Dylan
A fitting end to a nearly perfect first season of television. Dylan wrote the song as "a statement that maybe you can say to make yourself feel better," a consolation for your lover leaving you. As Don sits on the steps, we can imagine him having this argument in his head thinking about Betty and kids having left him -- this after finally realizing just how much he needs them.

8. Say Goodbye to the O.C., Bitch [video]
The O.C. Ep4.16, Song: "Life Is A Song" - Patrick Park
Credit Josh Schwartz for not playing the end of the series for tears, instead using the music for for a more simple montage of events that lead up to the series coming full circle. A grown and successful Ryan pays it forward by taking in a trouble youth. Cue whistling.

7. Life is Good [video] / [video] / [video]
Life Ep1.11, Songs: "Who By Fire" - Leonard Cohen, "Down Boy" - Yeah Yeah Yeahs, "Finally" - The Frames
The freshman NBC series was on a serious roll to end the year. Not only did it get picked up, but the final few episodes were it's strongest, especially musically. It seemed like someone beefed up the budget when it became apparent that the show had legs, and the work that was done with music in the final episode was some of the most inspired placement I've seen all year.

6. The End to a 'Series of Dreams' [video]
John From Cincinnati Ep1.10, Song: "Series of Dreams" - Bob Dylan
JFC proved to be a frustrating series -- moments of brilliance were followed by unexplained madness. David Milch's brilliant use of language couldn't save the series from being known as 'the show that killed Deadwood.' I still get a bit emotional watching the beauty of the opening credits, and the opening to the final episode, where John and Shaunie surf in from God knows where to this Bob Dylan song. With the series already dead, it felt like a wasted moment of brilliance... a beautiful bridge to nowhere.

5. Prince in Purple (and freezing) Rain [video]
Super Bowl XLI Half-Time Show - Playlist: Prince's Super Bowl Set List
After several disappointing half-time shows in a row, Prince steps in and tears the place apart. His royal badness owned the stage wearing heels in freezing rain, and in need of hip-replacement surgery! His cover of Foo Fighter's "The Best of You" was amazing -- I still don't understand why it's a single.

4. Morning Breaks for The Darling Mermaids [video]
Pushing Daisies - Ep 1.07, Song: "Morning Has Broken" - Cat Stevens (sung by Ellen Greene)
Ok, if you haven't seen this one, then it probably won't seem that special. But when Aunt Vivian breaks into the Cat Stevens classic, all the perfectly orchestrated silliness that preceded in the episode helped set this up to feel more then just a tug at the heart strings. The Aunts finally break from their depression and The Darling Mermaids are back in the pool, synchronized beautifully to the music. For me, this is the point where the series went from good to positively great.

3. David Bowie is Having a Laugh[video]
Extras Ep2.02, Song: "Little Fat Man" - David Bowie
Ricky Gervais supplied the lyrics for David Bowie, reportedly suggesting that he try and do something musically in the vein of "Life on Mars" and the result is pure magic. Everyone sing along, 'see his pot-nosed face...'

2. Bob Dylan is a Cylon [video]
Battlestar Galactica Ep3.20, Song: "All Along the Watchtower" - Bear McCreary w/ Bt4
A Bob Dylan song acts as a catalyst that triggers beloved characters on the Galactica ship to realize that they are in fact cylons. BSG composer Bear McCreary says about the use of the song in BSG's universe: "Perhaps this unknown performer and Dylan pulled inspiration from a common, ethereal source." I guess that's related to the infinite monkey theorem, but Dylan still might think about retaining the services of Romo Lampkin to sue said unknown performer over trans-universe copyright infringement.

1. The Sopranos Resurrects Journey's Career [video]
The Sopranos Ep6.21, Song: "Don't Stop Believin'" - Journey
Possibly the cultural event of the year, it also sent Journey back up the charts for the first time in twenty years. The moment when creator David Chase cuts off the song with singer Steve Perry singing "Don't Stop..." and the screen went black still has folks talking about it. The choice of the song was partly for the opportunity to sync up 'Don't Stop' with the cut, but it's also simply a song from Tony and Carmela's past, telling nothing about his future. He's alive, though, ok? So is Journey, for that matter, with a new album coming out in 2008 (sans Steve Perry).

In the soup with John

Like a lot of people, I wasn't too impressed with the first hour of HBO's surf noir John From Cincinnati. It was hard to find things to like about any of the characters, and it was cryptic in a way that was more 'wtf??' than 'wow, you just blew my mind!' But now that I've seen three hours of the David Milch drama, I'm hooked to it like The Sopranos, Lost and, yes, Milch's last HBO series, Deadwood. Since it's probably not a show you can just drop in anywhere on, HBO is re-airing the first three episodes tonight – like lined up peaks for you to totally shred (Dude.)

There's so much going on in these three episodes, it's hard to put in one post, but here's some of the highlights. First and foremost is the opening credits, which are a mesmerizing montage of old surf film clips cut beautifully together with Joe Strummer's "Johnny Appleseed." In this regard, JFC dutifully fills The Sopranos shoes as opening credits that you relish watching again. I'm not sure if it's intentional or not, but Strummer's lyric about "don't go killing all the bees" feels especially ominous with recent news and all John's talk about "the end is near."

The music grows as a storytelling method throughout the series. When the second episode ends with a 'resurrection,' TV On The Radio's "Staring at the Sun" plays with the opening lyrics "cross the street from your storefront cemetary..." and goosebumps appear.

By the third episode, we're inundated with musical references. As Freddy "the ice cream man" (Deadwood's Dayton Callie) talks to himself in his car parked outside the hospital, he's listening to the Sarah Brightman duet with Andrea Bocelli of "Time to Say Goodbye (Con te partirò)" Freddy must assume the worst about Shaun to be listening to a song like this (especially considering his brutish nature.) "Aww. That's where the blind dago was supposed to come in. What's this, a different version?" No, Freddy, Bocelli actually comes in later. Some may remember once upon a time this song served as a sort of theme for Carmela on The Sopranos.

Then, in a very Twin Peaks-like scene back at the 'haunted' hotel room, Barry says, knee-deep in Milchspeak: "I alone, then, am favored by that jovially croaking postcoital falsetto winsomely caricaturing Debby Boone?" To which he starts to sing "You Light Up My Life," (did anyone else flashback to Todd Solondz' Happiness here?) When Barry later mutters the seemingly non-sequiter "black bobby socks," I find myself eerily looking forward to a Lynchian flashback that involves said song and socks.

Later in the episode, John makes Kai "see God," set to Buddy Guy's rendition of John Lee Hooker's "Boogie Chillen." Why Buddy Guy's version? Most likely because in the middle he starts improvising with the lines "gotta get away from John for a bit." The 'seeing god' montage is once again very David Lynch, showing four of the characters all being burned by metal: Kai's piercings, Ramon's necklace, Vietnam Joe's shrapnel in his leg, and the transdermal horn implants in Butchie's head. That last one was an odd revelation, one that you'd assume will have more meaning later, but Butchie as "the beast" here makes perfect sense. As Shaunie skates the half-pipe outside the Yost home, it's set to the song "Feeling Good," popularized by the great Nina Simone, but covered here to great histrionic effect by Muse. The onlookers gasp (Link revealingly says "Jesus Christ!") as they watch the resurrected son riding the homemade wave... cue credits.

Speaking of resurrection, you can imagine there's a lot of religious themes going on here - even the main character, named John Monad, a last name which philosophers associate with the obscure metaphysics of Leibniz. This use of a last name in sync with philosophy is pure Lost. Monism is the theological/metaphysical belief that 'all is one,' and there are no fundamental divisions. The setting of Imperial Beach is full of these 'divisions' or borders – Mexico and the US, Tijuana and San Diego, land and ocean, life and death. The main characters are faced with miracle after miracle, but refuse to recognize it as such, until Dr. Smith (played by chameleon Garret Dillahunt, who played two different roles in Milch's Deadwood) is shaken to his science-based core by Shaun's recovery. Then folks start to acknowledge what they've known all along: weird things are afoot since John arrived.

And last, but certainly not least, is Milch's dialogue he perfected with Deadwood. The characters speak a lot that seems nonsense, but with their actions, these words have a lot more meaning. When Linc (Luke Perry) says to Dr. Smith "Thank you. Thank you for the work you do," he sounds polite, but the look they give each other suggests enemies have been born. Meanwhile the following exchange appears to lead to punches, but instead to comaradie.

Bill: "What is your name please?"
Freddy: "What's your name?"
Bill: "Bill Jacks. I'm a retired police officer. And you don't want to make me ask your name again."
Freddy: "Retired cops don't get my name, what time it is, or pissed on if they go up in flames."
a few minutes later...
Freddy: "I'm a friend of the family, all right?"
Bill: "I'm a friend of the family."
Freddy: "Then they got two friends looking out for them."
Bill: "And you look out for them how, by seeing when their backs are turned so you can steal their drapes?"

The characters stand side-by-side with arms crossed staring at the house, the cop and criminal on the same side. It's exchanges like these that lessen the blow of not having another season of Deadwood to look forward to.

Playlist: John From Cincinnati - Ep101-103
1. "Johnny Appleseed" - Joe Strummer - opening credits/theme song
2. "Sun/Rise/Light/Flies" - Kasabian - closing credits episode 101
3. "Tic" - Kava Kava - surfers get ready for competition, episode 102
4. "Staring at the Sun" - TV On The Radio - Shaun opens his eyes, closing credits, episode 102
5. "Time To Say Goodbye" - Sarah Brightman - Freddy listens and talks to himself in the car outside the hospital, episode 103
6. "You Light Up My Life" - Debby Boone - , episode 103
7. "Boogie Chillen" - Buddy Guy and Junior Wells - John bones Kai / Kai sees God, episode 103
8. "Feeling Good" - Muse - Shaun rides his skateboard as people look on in disbelief, episode 103

More: HBO, in their infinite wisdom, has included a "inside the episode" section, giving the viewer more insight into each episode. It's very illuminating and you'll find yourself wanting to rewatch an episode as a result. Bonus: Here's Milch discussing discussing the show in a recent interview.

tags: playlist, john from cincinnati, television, hbo, soundtrack, tvotr, joe strummer, muse, buddy guy, twin peaks, debby boone, sarah brightman, andrea bocelli, deadwood, sopranos, rhapsody

Keep me hanging on

This is one series finale that requires a good night's sleep (or two poor ones like I just had.) The ambiguous ending which has Sopranos fans everywhere tied in knots, needs a tiny bit of distance to be appreciated, and in the rear-view mirror, looking at all the conspiracy theory wreckage from viewers, it's hard not to appreciate just what creator David Chase has done. He's essentially given everyone the ending they want, provided they're willing to look. Everyone's beat me to recapping, and dissecting the use of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" in the final scene. Thankfully, there's a lot more music to discuss (thunder not stolen!) and Vanilla Fudge's classic take on "You Keep Me Hangin' On" is a key thread in the fabric of the finale.

This song starts the episode off with Tony waking to it (nice that we're back to Tony waking up to start an episode,) and it appears on the radio two more times: Tony rides out to the spec house where Carmela, Meadow and AJ are holed up, and then again as Phil meets his end (the bouncing twin grandkids bundled in their carseats was genius.) Throughout the episode, Chase is saying his goodbyes, with trips to Satriale's, The Bing, Vesuvio's, Johnny Sack's house and especially the Soprano's McMansion. But the whole time, he's keeping us hanging on, like the lover who enjoys toying with our emotions. Set me free, why don't you Chase?

A master at tension, Chase at times seems like a cat toying with a rat (et tu, Paulie?) and nowhere is it more true then the inclusion of a Twilight Zone episode (again) Tony and the boys are watching at the safehouse. The episode, entitled "The Bard", is the story of a struggling TV writer who conjures up Shakespeare from the past to help him write (yes, that's a young Burt Reynolds portraying a Marlon Brando-like actor.) Is Chase giving himself a pat on the back here? I don't think so... the clip used tells a different story, where a television producer is lecturing the writer:

The television industry today is looking for talent, they're looking for quality. They are preoccupied with talent and quality. And the writer is a major commodity.

One has to think Chase is referencing the looming writer's strike that's casting a dark shadow on the upcoming fall season. The TZ episode, written by Rod Serling himself, was satire aimed at the industry at the time, something Chase I imagine identifies with.

Meanwhile, AJ is busy being a satire in and of himself. As he and Rhiannon listen to Bob Dylan's "It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)," his SUV catches on fire. (Tony lectures AJ with "It's an SUV... you gotta watch where you park it offroad!" Ha!) At Bobby's wake, he scoffs at everyone "watching these jack-off fantasies on TV," while the world falls apart around them. But in the end, when Tony offers him a job working on a film with Little Carmine, AJ is quick to dump his principles and drive off in a new BMW to The Noisettes' "Scratch Your Name." There's also the promise that AJ could open a nightclub in the future, so Tony is setting AJ up with the life of his mafia son Christopher, whom Tony had imagined taking over the family once upon a time. Too bad AJ's ceiling appears to be about that of Fredo.

Back to the Paulie-as-rat theory. There's apparently something in Tony Sirico's contract that stipulates he can't play a rat, so we can only infer from Chase's visual and auditory clues as to Paulie's secret, but having "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" play in the background while Paulie inexplicably turns down Tony's rich job offer suggests that he's worried about more then just a curse. Add to that his fear of the rat-catching orange cat (who sits near him following the meeting,) and it seems Chase has worked around the clause beautifully.

Meanwhile, it's the meeting with Junior that tells more about Tony's future then the ending does. First, while talking about Junior's situation with Uncle Pat, Sonic Youth's "I Dreamed a Dream" plays muffled in the background with the conflicting lyrics:

All the money's gone / The days we spend, go on and on
Shift / F*cking youth / Working youth
May all your dreams come true

Uncle June's penniless and lost in his own mind, and Tony's the f*cking youth working for his dreams that will ultimately end up with senility and little or no remembrance the glory. Tony sees his future there in the meeting with Junior, and it's an ending far worse then anything else imagined.

And finally, as the series is 86'd, it's fitting it's in the diner-like atmosphere of Holsten's. As Tony runs through the table-top jukebox, we're presented with three different song possibilities. Tony shuffles between Heart's "Who Will You Run To" and Tony Bennett's "A Lonely Place," which both suggest endings that aren't happy. Instead, though, Tony chooses that Journey song, which understandably had some detractors initially from the Sopranos crew. Says Chase in an interview today:

I did something I'd never done before: in the location van, with the crew, I was saying, 'What do you think?' When I said, 'Don't Stop Believin',' people went, 'What? Oh my god!' I said, 'I know, I know, just give a listen,' and little by little, people started coming around.

While many think Chase's ending was a cop-out, I can't imagine a more perfect ending... and it's still being discussed and argued about. If you wanted Tony dead, the 'man in the members-only jacket' killed him. All you have to do is look back at what Bobby told Tony earlier "you probably don't hear it when it happens." And earlier in the episode he's eating an orange, a Godfather harbinger of doom. Tony goes to jail? The baseball caps were pulled low over a few shify eyes in the restaurant, looking like agents waiting for the call to bring in Tony. You want him to live? Look no further then the lyrics to the song - Oh, the movie never ends. It goes on and on and on and on ... and in the end we're left with silence, bringing to mind the ending to Hamlet. (Is Chase conjuring up Shakespeare like in the Twilight Zone episode already referenced?)

If you're looking for answers, you won't get them from Chase, who says "I have no interest in explaining, defending, reinterpreting, or adding to what is there. Anybody who wants to watch it, it's all there." I imagine it is... you just have to get past the red (or is it orange?) herrings. Ultimately, though, in AJ's final words "Focus on the good times. Isn't that what you said one time? Try and remember the things that were good."

Playlist: The Sopranos - Episode 621
1. "You Keep Me Hangin' On" - Vanilla Fudge - Tony wakes up; Dante drives Tony to his family; Phil fills up
2. "Denise" - Randy and the Rainbows - Tony and Paulie wait for Agent Harris at the airport
3. "Four Seasons" - Antonio Vivaldi - Bobby's wake at Vesuvio's
4. "It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" - Bob Dylan - AJ & Rhiannon listen to the song in the car
5. "I Dreamed I Dream" - Sonic Youth - Tony and Uncle Pat talk in backroom of The Bing
6. "Pretty Little Angel Eyes" - Curtis Lee - Paulie is spooked by a cat at Satriale's
7. "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" - Creedence Clearwater Revival - Tony offers Paulie a promotion
8. "The Jam" - Larry Graham - Neil bears bad news in The Bing backroom
9. "Scratch Your Name" - The Noisettes - AJ leaves work and picks up Rhiannon from school
10. "The Lifeboat Party" - Kid Creole & the Coconuts - AJ and Rhiannon watch TV<
11. "All That You Dream" - Little Feat - Tony arrives at a diner and waits for his family
12. "Don't Stop Believin'" - Journey - Tony plays Journey on a jukebox

More: The whole episode serves as a reminder for the genius in which The Sopranos has used music in a diegetic manner. By that, I mean, using music purely as it exists in the realm of the characters - songs on the radio, blaring from the Bing or from a restaurant... there have been countless uses of this method. While Chase abhors the use of score, he has never had a whole episode remain diegetic, due (in part) to the fact there's always non-diegetic music playing at the end that rides through the credits. But for the credits here, Chase stays true to the character's world, and since we no longer have a glimpse into the character's world, the music is gone and we're left alone with our thoughts to reflect.

More (last one I promise:) Had to love Paulie's vision of the Virgin Mary, pulling more psychotherapy into the drama with the Madonna/Whore complex. Tony adds to it by suggesting they sell 'jugs' of holy water at The Bing.

Previously: When the Music's Over (Episode 620)

tags: playlist, the sopranos, television, hbo, soundtrack, the noisettes, sonic youth, journey, twilight zone, shakespeare, the godfather, rhapsody

Don't Stop...

RE: Sopranos finale

Another way of stopping... there's so much here, hopefully I'll have something by end of day. In the meantime, your final song in The Sopranos series:

"Don't Stop Believing" - Journey

When the music's over

At one point early on in Sunday night's The Sopranos ("The Blue Comet,") special agent Harris says to Tony about the weather, "End of times, huh? Ready for the Rapture?" After what soon followed in this penultimate episode, that comment feels almost not apocalyptic enough to encompass all the carnage that ensued. It was an explosive and powerful episode that sets up a series finale that's sure to be talked about for ages (and consider that your spoiler.)

It's something else, though, that Agent Harris confides to Tony that kick starts the episode: Phil has set in motion plans to take out Tony and a few of his friends. Tony quickly ditches the gabagool sandwich in his hand (remember that meat was a catalyst of his first panic attack,) and gets 'management' together. At a meeting, they decide to hit Phil first, and then Tony and Sil crack up Bobby with some slow-mo boxing moves. The whole scene is backed by Pietro Mascagni's "Intermezzo" from Cavalleria Rusticana, which was used as the title theme to Scorsese's Raging Bull, making for a goose-bump-inducing moment. The piece was also used in Godfather III, in the scene where Michael Corleone's daughter dies, a dangerous reference if intended. Writer Terry Winter cleared that up yesterday at Slate:

...the use of Cavalleria Rusticana is Raging Bull and Raging Bull only. Godfather III does not exist for me. It ceased to exist at 3:30 p.m. on Christmas Day, 1990, when I walked out of the first ever showing at the Kings Plaza Shopping Center Multiplex in Brooklyn, utterly heartbroken at what I had just witnessed.

When Bobby delegates the hit on Phil to Paulie into the backroom of The Bing, The Door's "When the Music's Over" is playing, which is both odd and appropriate. Odd to think that anyone would choose to strip/dance to the 10-minute long experimental jam, and appropriate in the sentiment that it is almost over for the series. When Paulie then delegates the job to Patsy, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's "American X" is playing, featuring the lines you’ve sold your soul but it’s only a fake / you’d kill yourself for a piece of the take, making me think, again, that Paulie could be playing both sides here.

Later, when Sil and Paulie figure out that the hit was screwed up, the Madder Rose song "You Remember" plays, and a couple lines from the song are highlighted: No one knows how to turn this thing around / it's moving faster now, be quiet and I'll tell you about the sound. There's obviously no 'turning back' now, but Tony's crew finds ways to 'turn their back' on the danger. First Bobby gets taken out in spectacular fashion (while purchasing a Blue Comet train replica train set,) and we're reminded that while he's come a long way from being Junior's driver, he's still a naive little kid at heart.

Then, even as Sil and Patsy are in the process of 'going to ground,' they're still caught unawares outside The Bing (while listening to Nat King Cole's "Ramblin' Rose.") Why wouldn't Sil have a gun on him? Does he think that Phil's goons will respect The Bing? As the carnage is going on, Chase makes sure to have patrons and strippers (still naked) from The Bing outside gawking at the scene. It serves as a nice "F-You!" to the Soprano lookie-loos who only watch for the violence and the occasional nudity - Chase has never shied from publicly loathing their patronage.

While Phil is an arrogant prick, the bumbling by Tony's crew validates much of Phil's complaints about the New Jersey family and their way of doing business. Meanwhile, Elliott (Peter Bogdanovich) is also an arrogant prick who's problems with Tony are validated. Elliott is not only similar to Phil in that regard, but also in his success at eliminating Tony's support, as he helps push Melfi into giving up on Tony. Her abandonment of him in his time of need was a long time coming, given the history of their relationship, but the timing couldn't have been worse as a realistic resolution. It's hard to believe that Yochelson & Samenow's "The Criminal Personality" can close the book on that part of the series so quickly.

So it's just Tony and Paulie left, holed up in some nondescript safehouse. And as Tony tries to sleep clutching the semi-automatic rifle that dearly departed Bobby got him for his birthday, we hear the Tindersticks song "Running Wild" through the credits. It's the perfect moody, foreboding piece of work to end the episode, and while Chase uses the instrumental version, the lyrics to the song are relevant:

Running wild through my mind that I can't sleep tonight
Like a child, like a child I have no place to hide
Running wild, is there no ending for the...

Playlist: The Sopranos - Episode 620
1. "We Belong Together" - Robert & Johnny - Phil Leotardo sets plans in motion at his social club
2. "Intermezzo Stafonico (from 'Cavalleria Rusticana')" - Pietro Mascagni - Tony, Bobby, and Silvio talk and horse around at Vesuvio's
3. "Sympathy" - Keith Jarrett - Dr. Melfi and friends discuss her patient at a dinner party
4. "When The Music's Over" - The Doors - Bobby summons Paulie to the backroom of The Bing
5. "American X" - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Paulie and Patsy talk at The Bing
6. "Nuages" - Django Reinhardt - The Sopranos catch up with Artie and Charmaine at Vesuvio's
7. "You Remember" - Madder Rose - Silvio and Paulie read the news at The Bing
8. "Ramblin' Rose" - Nat King Cole - Shootout in parking lot of The Bing
9. "Running Wild" - Tindersticks - Tony goes to sleep

More: How appropriate was it that while draining the pool (the symbol for the family) Janice comes and brings up Uncle Junior. Tony can't clear out the water quick enough.

Previously: Slouching towards Bethlehem (Episode 619)

tags: playlist, the sopranos, television, hbo, soundtrack, tindersticks, raging bull, madder rose, the doors, brmc, rhapsody

Slouching towards Bethlehem

In one of the most dramatic moments ever captured on The Sopranos, Tony is reduced to stroking the wet hair on his son A.J.'s head, repeating "It's alright, baby," and for a moment, all the evil that lies within him is vanished. One has to imagine that scene (and the couple leading up to it - spoilers ahead,) are going to be remembered for a long time, especially come Emmy season, as both James Gandolfini and Robert Iler nailed the heart-wrenching details of the confusion and anguish required for it to work as well as it did.

A.J.'s suicide attempt in the family pool had so many things going on it's hard to know where to begin. Let's start, as we should in a post about music, with the song leading up to A.J.'s decision. As Meadow tries to connect with her little brother, the song playing in the background is Blue October's "Into the Ocean," a song that eerily echoes what's going on in A.J.'s head:

The loss of her, the one I love
My will to quickly end it all
Set front row in my need to fall
Into the ocean, end it all...
Into the ocean (goodbye) end it all (goodbye)

The family pool, where A.J. makes his attempt, has served in the series as a sort of symbol of the core of the family, the womb as it were. It's where Tony nursed the ducks to health, and where he and Carmela consumated the end of their separation. The fact that A.J. leaves just enough rope to barely survive both serves the purpose of it being a cry for help, and also as a metaphor for A.J.'s connection to the family. If he stays too close, he will die, but he only leaves himself enough slack to barely survive. When Meadow tells him he needs to take off on his own, A.J. claims he needs his mom's cooking as something else might "mess up his blood chemistry." (And what's the first thing we see from Carm? Lincoln log sandwiches. There's your blood chemistry! What does it mean that Tony eats one of A.J.'s sandwiches before saving him?)

Speaking of returning to the womb, Tony's recollection of what he sees in the desert on his Carlos Castaneda kick is a fairly poignant metaphor for what's going on here. He says (to Dr. Melfi:)

Our mothers are like bus drivers... no... they're the bus. They're the vehicle that gets you here. They drop you off, then they go their own way, continue on their own journey. The problem is, we keep trying to get back on the bus when we should just be letting it go.

The bus of the series could also be 'the famiglia,' as no one seems to be able to let it go. A.J. seemed to be sort of on the path until Blanca essentially paid for his bus ticket and now it's killing him. Adriana had a chance to leave and instead stayed (and we remember how that ended up.) Even Christopher contemplated leaving before meeting his end last week. Now even Meadow has returned, dating the son of one of Tony's captains. You remember how Tony felt about her dating Jackie Jr.? When Meadow tells him of the sexual innuendos that Phil's lunkhead Coco threw at her, he kept his cool. But soon as he found out she was dating another next-gen-goomba, he lost it... and Coco got curbed.

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold
This is the second time in the series that WB Yeats' famous poem "The Second Coming" (also the title of the episode) has been referenced on the show (Dr Melfi referenced it in passing during season 5,) and while it's use is cliche, it's an apt one for the series (and it's impending ending.) You have to admire creator David Chase for wielding this blunt instrument so delicately throughout the episode. The apocalyptic poem was written after WWI and while Yeats' Ireland was on the verge of civil war, so his dark visions of a 'rough beast' are open to several interpretations. Over the years, as such, it's come to take on all sorts of meanings, even rearing it's head lately in reference to the war in Iraq, finding Congressmen referencing it in session. One theme that remains in nearly all readings of the poem is that of impending conflict, and a final showdown between NJ (Tony) and NY (Phil) seems imminent (as it's been brewing for nearly four seasons.)

Finally, the episode ends with a Godfather-like shot of Tony walking with his son (depression is like the mafia?) and the song that takes you out is an old Italian folk lullaby, called a Ninna Nanna, which brings back to mind the scene of Tony cradling his son. This particular Ninna Nanna is from Sardinia and has the mother singing (in Italian) to her son, who's father is an outlaw that's escaped to the mountains: "Antoneddu, little Anton, I'd rather see you dead than a bandit in the mountains." Strong sentiments indeed... get out while you can, young Sopranos.

Playlist: The Sopranos - Ep619
1. "Ridin' Dirty" - Chamillionaire - AJ wakes up and turns on his stereo
2. "Please, Mr. Postman" - The Marvelettes - Tony recounts his Vegas trip to the gang
3. "Into The Ocean" - Blue October - Meadow talks to AJ in his room
4. "I Wanna Be Your Lover" - Prince
5. "Caravan" - The Brian Setzer Orchestra - Tony curbs Coco
6. "Suspicious Minds" - Elvis Presley - Tony and Little Carmine have a sit-down in the back of Satriale's
7. "Ninna Nanna" - Unknown Performance - Smithsonian/Folkways - Tony visits AJ at the hospital

More: Two malapropisms in this episode of The Sopranos oddly summed up a lot of what's going on. Little Carmine, king of the mispeak, says "you're at a precipice, Tony, of an enormous crossroads." Meanwhile, earlier Tony says to his crew "Alright, we may as well talk about the 500 pound elephant in the room," making for a very small elephant.

Previously: Uncomfortably Numb (Episode 618)

tags: playlist, the sopranos, television, hbo, soundtrack, folkways, ninna nanna, blue october, yeats, poetry, rhapsody

Uncomfortably Numb

Just because Tony's paranoid doesn't mean there's not someone out to get him. As the downward spiral continues to the end of the series, Tony's insulating himself by cutting off his confidants one by one, and this episode saw him snuff out probably the most significant of them all (consider this your spoiler alert.) As always, The Sopranos utilizes music to tell the story, and the theme song here was "Comfortably Numb" (making it two weeks in a row that an episode has started with that Pink Floyd number.)

While last week had Tony mumbling the tune, leaving it open for debate on it's significance, this week it's cemented into the plot in a couple of ways. Christopher pops a CD of Music From The Motion Picture The Departed into the stereo (it's the lead track,) while he and Tony sing Martin Scorsese's praises. Of course creator David Chase has reference Scorsese before, mostly homages to Goodfellas, but this one is far more overt. The Departed plotline of an undercover cop infiltrating the mob is a nod to Tony's (justified) paranoia about Chrissy. It's more then that though, as Scorsese's use of the particular version of the song speaks multitudes in both The Departed and in The Sopranos.

The song itself was a live recording (video) featuring Van Morrison (singing David Gilmour's part) from an all-star re-staging that Roger Waters did of The Wall in 1990 (The Wall: Live in Berlin,) to commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall just a few months prior. They setup the stage at Potsdamer Platz, that strip of no mans land between the East and West wall. While cleaning up the area, they found a smorgasbord of Soviet armaments and even a furnished Nazi bunker (not Hitler's as some rumors would have it.) It's this long-buried evil rearing it's head later that is a key to Scorsese's drama, and even more so to Chase's Sopranos, so it's hard not to forgive him for borrowing it.

The lyrics given emphasis here are "I cannot put my finger on it now / The child is grown, the dream is gone / I have become comfortably numb" which in last week's episode corresponded with Tony's disappointment with his son, AJ, so it's no surprise that Tony seems to be in the same mood here with his mafia son Chris. The songs lyrics also speak to the ease of one's pain, more specifically through drug use (legend has it Waters wrote the lyrics base on an experience with prescribed painkillers.) Christopher is high when he crashes the car, and later Tony hypocritically eases his pain through similar means (albeit, more of the 'organic' variety.)

Of course, there's more going on here then just being numb in comfort, naturally, as every song fits into place with the plot. When Chris' wake causes, and drives the strip to Lucinda Williams' "Are You Alright?" - which is a more then valid question. Later, Tony meets up with Chris' old stripper friend of Chris (Sonya, played by The L Word's Sarah Shahi) to deliver the bad news, and we here M Ward's "Outta My Head" - which is an apt description of Tony's state of mind. He's unconsciously becoming Christopher, showing that there was a bit of jealousy in there thrown in with his resentment. As Tony has proxy sex with Sonya, The Pretender's "Adultress" plays, and he's finally able to follow through on an affair with one of Chris' ladies (see Adriana and Julianna.) The Pretenders continue to provide the soundtrack with "Space Invader" as Tony gets high, ultimately leading to some peyote.

Out of their minds, Tony and Sonya walk through the casino to the roulette wheel, where Tony wins roll after roll, much like the gambler in the Twilight Episode referenced a couple episodes ago ("Chasing It," Episode 616.) This, you'll remember, turns out to be hell, so when they stumble into the desert and Tony sees a sunset that looks a lot like his Costa Mesa coma dreams, I'm reminded of the theory a lot of folks had about that being a sort of purgatory that Tony was visiting. As he sees the light, he yells, "I get it!" and it's pretty obvious that he doesn't, even if Calexico's "Minas De Cobre (For Better Metal)" contributes to the Carlos Castaneda-like setting.

Playlist: The Sopranos - Ep618
1. "Comfortably Numb" - Roger Waters - Christopher and Tony driving home, crash
2. "Are You Alright?" - Lucinda Williams - Tony drives on the Las Vegas strip
3. "Outta My Head" - M. Ward - Tony meets Sonya at her apartment
4. "Get It Crunk" - Lil' Flip - AJ and his friends get in a fight outside of the fraternity
5. "The Adultress" - Pretenders - Sonya rides Tony
6. "Space Invader" - Pretenders - Sonya and Tony talk in bed
7. "Sophisticated Lady" - Duke Ellington - Phil talks to Tony on the phone in his social club
8. "Minas De Cobre (For Better Metal)" - Calexico - End credits

More: Anyone notice the seemingly random Katherine Hepburn interivew with Dick Cavett that Carm watched when she couldn't sleep? Hepburn would've turned 100 this past weekend, and my bet is it was a tribute to the "First Lady of Cinema." Regarding addiction, she says in the interview: "Cold sober, I find myself absolutely fascinating." I think we pretty much all did, Kate.

Previously: Manly Solutions (Episode 617)

tags: playlist, the sopranos, television, hbo, soundtrack, roger waters, pink floyd, the departed, martin scorsese, the wall, m ward, calexico, carlos castaneda, rhapsody

Manly solutions

This week's powerful episode of The Sopranos, once again deals with father-son relationships, with the main stories involving both Tony's sons - biological (AJ) and mafia (Christopher.) Tony approaches both their problems like his old man would've, telling them to "be a man" - which echoes his and Phil's half-hearted talk with Vito Jr in last week's episode. But, as creator David Chase has shown us this season, this conception of manhood is inherently flawed.

It all starts, oddly enough, with Tony singing Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb" as he approaches his recently dumped son parked on the sofa after numbing himself in front of the TV all night, his own way of dealing with Blanca's rejection. "When I was a child I had a fever, my hands felt just like two balloons," Tony sings unconsciously, and the scene before him begs the final refrain of "the child is grown, the dream is gone." Later, Tony gets a call at The Bing asking him to come home quick, and the song that's playing is Hot Chocolate's "Emma," which is a story of a would-be starlet who commits suicide, setting off alarms with to those familiar with the song's subject manner (Urge Overkill recorded an excellent cover of the song, naming it "Emmaline" back in 1991.)

A couple other songs reflect AJ's post-breakup state of mind, the first being Dido's "White Flag," which is about a scorned lover who won't give up the fight, and Muse's "Supermassive Black Hole," which has similar subject matter, only presented in a way that's more... well... manly - so strippers can dance to it, you know? (And the line "and how long before you tell the truth" might just speak to my inkling that Blanca's pregnant with AJ's child.)

It's at this time that Tony figures on a way for AJ to snap out of his depression - go out drinking at The Bing with his old friends the Jasons (who are now in college "majoring in cash, and minoring in ass.") As Tony informs AJ that he'll be taking this route of action, they're watching the John Wayne macho movie Hellfighters, which is based on renowned oil field firefighter Red Adair. His basic principle of putting out an oil well fire: starve it of oxygen and it'll go out - which appears to be Tony's way of thinking as well. Earlier, AJ and Tony shared another TV moment as metaphor, when they briefly watched the manly film Annapolis. In the scene we catch, the main character (played by James Franco,) is lulled out of his moping by a sparring match with his mentor (played by Donnie Wahlberg.) Sounds kind of familiar.

This 'suffocation' as flawed as it is, seems to snap AJ out of his funk. But instead of heading down his own road away from 'the family business,' this path follows neatly in Tony's footsteps, as we see the excitement in his face helping the Jasons drop sulfuric acid on a gambling debtor who can't pay. Tony says he doesn't want this life for his son, but he seems proud to see him on the path he's pushed him to. Meanwhile, he's similarly pushing his other son.

Christopher been clean and sober for awhile now, and has a wife, child, and a potential career outside being capo, with the success of Cleaver. Tony appreciates that Christopher is acting more responsible and wants to move up in the business, but can't understand the alcoholism part. Why can't he respect The Bing with his presence? And, the biggest insult, why can't he drink a real beer while manning the BBQ, the manly metaphor for moving up in 'the family' (see Tony's BBQ work in season 1.) Both he and Paulie push him back to drinking, and it takes a misguided manly act to seemingly snap him out of his 'funk.' After feeling humiliated at The Bing, Christopher runs to AA friend (Cleaver screenwriter,) JT Dolan. When Dolan won't hear his plea for help, instead spouting back the 12-steps, Chrissy falls further into hysteria. Dolan then says something that shakes both Christopher and the fabric of the whole series. He says "YOU'RE. IN. THE. MAFIA!" suspending the spell we've been under, where no one calls the business what it is. Christopher, reminded as such, pulls out his gun and shoots him in the head, a shocking, but strangely appropriate, reply.

So both sons are jarred back into Tony's world of masculinity, and the ending is oddly calming for both, given their night of terror. AJ ends up with the whole family at the dinner table (first time in a long time,) sharing a joke and some food (and reminding us that there are women in the episode who aren't strippers.) Meanwhile Christopher calmly walks up his driveway and replants an uprooted tree in his front yard. This was appropriately backed by the Los Lobos song "The Valley," which sounds almost like a prayer that follows an itinerant farm laborer and his dream of home. It was an amazing episode, one that sets a pretty high bar for the final four to come.

Playlist: The Sopranos - Ep617

1. "Comfortably Numb" - Pink Floyd - Tony sings this coming down to find AJ zoning out watching TV
2. "Lady Tangerine" - Crazy Penis (Video) - Paulie and Chris talk at the Bing loft
3. "Emma" - Hot Chocolate - Tony flirts with a dancer
4. "White Flag" - Dido - AJ watches a couple canoodle at the pizzeria
5. "Walk On By" - El Michels Affair - Patsy and Tony talk in The Bing's VIP lounge
6. "Body Burn (D-Code Club Mix)" - Cubanese - Tony talks to The Jasons at the Bing
7. "Supermassive Black Hole" - Muse - The Jasons watch a stripper dance
8. "Y.U.H.2.B.M.2" - Whitey - AJ hangs out with The Jasons and some dancers at The Bing
9. "Salt Shaker" - Ying Yang Twins - The Jasons talk to Victor at a frat party
10. "Hand On The Pump" - Cypress Hill - The Jasons and AJ abduct Victor from a house party
11. "Tom Sawyer" - Rush - Tony pulls in his driveway
12. "The Valley" - Los Lobos - Chris returns home

More: JT Dolan was working on a Law & Order script when Christopher (Michael Imperioli) comes in, which is a fun reference to the fact that Imperioli has a recurring role on the series as detective Nick Falco.

Previously: A pebble in a lake (Episode 616)

tags: playlist, the sopranos, television, hbo, soundtrack, hot chocolate, pink floyd, masculinity, hellfighters, john wayne, rhapsody

A pebble in a lake

Early on in this last Sopranos episode, Christopher says something that speaks a lot to creator David Chase's methods: "Like a pebble in a lake. Even the fish feel it." He may have been speaking about the prior death of Vito, but the sentiment that even the smallest events have a larger rippling effect rings true in the series. It's what makes episodes like this so hard to gauge, where little happens and you can't figure out what's going to come back and be a significant player in the plot. And with only five episodes left, Chase's slow boil is reaching the point where this lake is stealthily cooking all the fish at once.

The episode ("Chasing it") is on the surface about gambling, but really it's about self-destruction as a means of coping. Tony's been surrounded by 'yes' men and living high on the hog for some time now, but since surviving Junior's bullet, he hasn't been happy with being the boss and the knowledge that the only ways out involve death or disgrace. His gambling problem manifests itself as a substitution for confronting these feelings, and it's telling that the music that underscores his gambling is "Goin' Down Slow" by Howlin' Wolf. Meanwhile, Vito Jr is dealing with his father's death and public embarrasment through teenage rebellion. You'd think Tony could empathize given his storied rebellious past, but in the wake of his piling gambling debts, he sees it more as a money problem.

Speaking of money, Tony's trusted friend (and unofficial consigliaro) Hesh unknowingly gets caught in Tony's self-destructive storm when he loans him money. Furthering his self-destruction, Tony adds Hesch to the list of people (Bobby, Christopher and Paulie;) he's alientated in these last episodes. Even Carlo gets Tony's wrath, for both not bringing in as much as Vito did, and for bringing up an episode from The Twilight Zone. The episode ("A Nice Place to Visit") involves a gambler/small-time crook who never gets a break, and finally dies and finds himself in a place where he can't lose a bet, and everybody says they love him. This turns out to be hell. In Ray Kurzweil's 1999 book, The Age of Spiritual Machines, he makes the following point:

Death gives meaning to our lives. It gives importance and value to time. Time would become meaningless if there were too much of it. If death were to be indefinitely put off, the human psyche would end up, well, like the gambler in the Twilight Zone Episode.

This rings true for both Tony and the whole ending of The Sopranos as a series. Meanwhile, it's not all so serious... Nancy Sinatra sings "Bossman" at a party for Phil, celebrating his ascension to 'bossman' of the NY family. Brother Frank Jr has already appeared as himself on the series back in the 2nd season ("The Happy Wanderer" - which was also an episode about gambling, brining it full circle.) One has to wonder if there's enough time left for sister Tina to make an appearance as well, especially considering she's the one that revealed daddy's ties to the mob (and JFK.)

Playlist: The Sopranos - Episode 616
1. "Peppermint Twist" - Joey Dee and the Starliters - Tony vents to Silvio about Vito Jr. at Satriale's
2. "Kernkraft 400" - Zombie Nation - Tony loses a bet at the Bing, as the NY Giants win ahead of the spread
3. "Bossman" - Nancy Sinatra - Nancy Sinatra performs at Phil's party
4. "Goin' Down Slow" - Howlin' Wolf - A night of gambling, and again at the end as Tonys pays his debt and his respect to Hesch
5. "Ralph's New Blues" - Modern Jazz Quartet - Tony pays Hesch a visit
6. "Rompe" - Daddy Yankee - AJ takes Victor to the Latino Day Parade
7. "Livin' La Vida Loca" - Ricky Martin - Marching band plays this as Blanca breaks up with AJ at the parade
8. "Honky Tonk" - Bill Doggett - Tony drives by a mosque and recognizes Ahmed and Mohammed from the Bing

More: The concept album Spiritual Machines from Our Lady Peace is based on Ray Kurzweil's book, and even has a track with the passage quoted above ("R.K. on Death.")

Previously: Why James Dean died and Paulie lives on (Episode 615)

tags: playlist, the sopranos, television, hbo, soundtrack, nancy sinatra, twilight zone, books, age of spiritual machines, rhapsody