Switched reading gears to a couple of short story collections. I started Dan Chaon’s Stay Awake collection yesterday and read about 1/5 of Rage Against the Night, the benefit anthology for Rocky Wood. Got as far as my own story, which I read for the first time in quite a while. I liked it.
We did a Sopranos marathon last night, watching the final five or six episodes of the fifth season. Some seasons, when a new character appears, I place a mental bet that they won’t make it through the season. I didn’t think Tony’s sister Janice had much of a chance when she first showed up. Then there was Ralph Cifaretto, who surpassed his best-by date by a lot more than I expected. Enter Steve Buscemi as Tony’s cousin Tony, fresh out of prison after nearly two decades. He looked like a keeper, especially since he tried to stay straight and narrow at the beginning. Alas, he spiraled out of control quickly and almost caused a disaster between the New Jersey and Brooklyn mobs. And then there was Adrianna, who got in deep with the feds and kept getting deeper. Tony’s call about Christopher after she confessed to him was a surprise, and all the while that Sil was driving her to the hospital I thought it looked like he was going to whack her and leave her in the woods. (Okay, he did, so it didn’t come as a great surprise, but their attempt at misdirection was laudable.)
I loved Tony’s prolonged dream sequence. Surreal in a way, but only slightly. One thing that was weird was the way the guy next to Meadow at dinner was sometimes her fiance and sometimes her brother, without any explanation or notice. In one shot it would be one and then in a cut it would be the other. Freaky! And then there was the reunion between Tony and Johnny Sack, which was going so well until the Feds crashed the party. Loved the look on Tony’s face when he realized what was about to happen. Boy, for a big guy, he sure booked it out of there in a hurry.
When he got back home and started pounding on the back door, I was reminded of the closing credits of the Flintstones when the dinosaur puts Fred outside and he’s left on the mat, pounding on the door and calling, “Wilma!”
So, by the end of the season, he’s back with his wife, the problem with Adrianna (which he didn’t know he had) was solved, the problem with Tony B was solved, and his biggest ally and rival is in deep trouble. I guess that qualifies as a happy ending for a mobster.
