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Love these write ups and wish more people were chiming in. The summaries led me down a lot of YouTube rabbit holes over the last 2 weekends, watching highlights and episode recaps. I never got that subtle detail of Tony checking his gun before entering Livia's house with the very real possibility it might be a set up. I always took it as a reflexive thing due to not really knowing what was going on. Good stuff. One thing I wondered about in the episode where they whack Pussy: He's in close contact with the feds and, if I remember right, the boat and the trip in general was presented to Pussy as "I'm thinking about buying it. Come check it out." and that it was a test drive of sorts. Is that right? Because, if so how the gently caress did they clean it up so well and return it to the seller in the harbor? There'd be blood, trace evidence, bullet holes and all kinds of poo poo along with the real chance the feds would know where Pussy might be headed. If I remember right, though, he wasn't wired for the boat ride. Was it actually Tony's boat? EDIT: Also, do most of you buy Jr's assertion that he was testing Ritchie with the idea of a second hit attempt? Are we supposed to but it? Seemed to me it was Carrado being pragmatic when Ritchie couldn't muster up a crew. BiggerBoat fucked around with this message at 22:48 on May 13, 2019 |
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May 13, 2019 22:39
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Grenrow posted:Richie's death is so perfect for an rear end in a top hat like him. You'd think a lifetime spent in the mob or prison would have taught him that sometimes you have to be careful not to push people to the breaking point, but he never learned. That's probably why he ended up in jail in the first place, by being too much of a relentless psycho to finesse his way out of a situation. Remember what he said about Ade to Chris, that if you wanted to raise your hand you give her your last name. Since Richie was going to, that presumed to give him the 'right' because as he so often liked to say he was 'old school.' And now extinct. BiggerBoat posted:Also, do most of you buy Jr's assertion that he was testing Ritchie with the idea of a second hit attempt? Are we supposed to but it? Seemed to me it was Carrado being pragmatic when Ritchie couldn't muster up a crew. Honestly I think Junior was trying to have his cake and eat it too. If it worked, great, but sticking with the sure thing of Tony was also a smart move. "I'm in awe of ya."
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May 13, 2019 22:54
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Dawgstar posted:
That's how I took it as well and what I meant about Jr being "pragmatic". I don;t remember any follow ups or investigations into Ritchie's disappearance either. I assumed he must have been on parole but it's never shown so maybe not. Seems like someone in law enforcement would be asking questions and I'm still wondering if I'm remembering Pussy's murder boat the way described it. Why didn't he have the wire on that day? And was it Tony's boat? I don't think it was and seem to remember the gang luring him out there to help Tony decide if he should buy it as part of the ruse.
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May 13, 2019 23:54
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They showed up unannounced at his house and then Tony went into the bathroom and found the tape and wire. Pussy wouldn’t just be wearing it around for no reason
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May 13, 2019 23:58
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Ungratek posted:They showed up unannounced at his house and then Tony went into the bathroom and found the tape and wire. Pussy wouldn’t just be wearing it around for no reason That's right. And wasn't the ruse that he wanted Pussy's help to look over the boat he wanted to buy? Which, if so, gets me back to wondering how they cleaned up everything. Probably over thinking it though and they had likely just arranged a boat NQA ahead of time somehow.
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May 14, 2019 00:22
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BiggerBoat posted:That's right. And wasn't the ruse that he wanted Pussy's help to look over the boat he wanted to buy? I think it’s more they had just done a “Tony beats a murder rap” story and didn’t want to go right back to it
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May 14, 2019 00:29
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Now that Pussy's wearing a wire was brought up, it stands out to be wanting him to be wired at AJ's confirmation was a very odd choice. Wouldn't that be like one of the last places Tony or anybody would talk OC? It made for good drama, don't get me wrong. And now having typed all that, maybe it was yanking Pussy's leash to remind him the FBI was in charge.
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May 14, 2019 00:39
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BiggerBoat posted:That's right. And wasn't the ruse that he wanted Pussy's help to look over the boat he wanted to buy? They do about 10 things an episode that would realistically get them locked up. They never worry about finger prints, picking up shell casings etc. I remember one episode where Tony pulls out a sawed off shot gun from his glove box. If he got pulled over with that it’s like 5 years minimum.
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May 14, 2019 02:18
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We never do see the guy who’s selling the boat. When they get there it’s just Paulie waiting for them on the dock, and he’s like “the guy had to go see the harbor master but he said we can take it out” and they go. So it’s possible the boat isn’t really for sale, it belongs to someone who is friendly to the crew, thus there’s no quick rush to clean it of blood/evidence.
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May 14, 2019 03:07
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Dawgstar posted:Now that Pussy's wearing a wire was brought up, it stands out to be wanting him to be wired at AJ's confirmation was a very odd choice. Wouldn't that be like one of the last places Tony or anybody would talk OC? It made for good drama, don't get me wrong. And now having typed all that, maybe it was yanking Pussy's leash to remind him the FBI was in charge. It makes sense to me given Cubitoso's bragging about how he was the one who pushed to bug Livia's retirement community when everybody else said it was a waste of time and money. It seems that they were eager to find places the mobsters might feel were safe or somehow immune from being surveilled.
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May 14, 2019 03:08
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Your Gay Uncle posted:They do about 10 things an episode that would realistically get them locked up. They never worry about finger prints, picking up shell casings etc. I remember one episode where Tony pulls out a sawed off shot gun from his glove box. If he got pulled over with that it’s like 5 years minimum. I forget, did they ever do the "spit on a dead body that will eventually be found by law enforcement" bit? They did that poo poo in Sons of Anarchy so much, it became comical.
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May 14, 2019 03:13
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Jerusalem posted:Season 2, Episode 12 - The Knight in White Satin Armor Ever since I saw this episode, I have always pronounced "salad spinner" the way Irina does in this scene. Another great writeup, thanks Jerusalem. This one is definitely a contender for one of my favorite episodes in the series. It has all the best stuff - intricate schemes, psychological drama, a shocking twist, some hilarious dark comedy, and a great look at the good guy/bad guy dichotomy of Tony Soprano.
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May 14, 2019 03:14
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I always remember liking the episode, but I'm always left amazed at how good it is every time I watch it. It's crazy this was the penultimate episode, even crazier that Funhouse is arguably just as good if not better. The Sopranos really was a magnificent show.
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May 14, 2019 03:36
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I always chuckle when I see the thumbnail for this episode on HBO Go/Now. It's Richie at the table with his arms spread, looking incredulous. It seems completely innocuous if you don't know what actually happens in the episode. That's a moment that I almost wish Twitter - or hell, even liveposting forum threads - had been around for in April of 2000. The Tony/Richie conflict has been building to a head for two and a half months, now he's got Junior in his corner with inside information...and then Janice, of all people, takes him out in the blink of an eye. Since I only saw the show via Netflix by disc/HBO on demand years after it ended, I can only imagine how fun it must have been to watch live. (My college roommate was a friend from high school, and he was very religious - his family was in the Pentecostal Holiness church. Nevertheless, they all watched the Sopranos, and were obsessed with it. I remember a weekend in our Freshman year when his extended family came to visit, sitting with them at a table in the dining hall while all these good, upstanding Christian people are breaking down the dirty details of who got whacked and what Ralphie did to get under Tony's skin. "Do you watch the show," his mother asked. I said no, my parents didn't subscribe to HBO, and at the time the DVD sets were still upwards of $100. "Oh, you've gotta start. Get you good and corrupted.")
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May 14, 2019 04:14
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ruddiger posted:I forget, did they ever do the "spit on a dead body that will eventually be found by law enforcement" bit? They did that poo poo in Sons of Anarchy so much, it became comical. They did it in The Wire.
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May 14, 2019 11:11
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ruddiger posted:I forget, did they ever do the "spit on a dead body that will eventually be found by law enforcement" bit? They did that poo poo in Sons of Anarchy so much, it became comical. No but they did a piss on a wall and eventually get found by the janitor bit. "They had our DNA!!"
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May 14, 2019 11:27
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There are probably instances sooner, but in the sixth season it's where they seem to start to get super worried about DNA testing. That's when Silvio nixes cutting up Fat Dom at the pork store for that reason.
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May 14, 2019 12:56
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I think it is season 3 when Tony sees Christopher on a laptop and tells him to turn it off before they talk because "I don't trust those... cookies?" 
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May 14, 2019 13:05
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Dawgstar posted:Now that Pussy's wearing a wire was brought up, it stands out to be wanting him to be wired at AJ's confirmation was a very odd choice. Wouldn't that be like one of the last places Tony or anybody would talk OC? It made for good drama, don't get me wrong. And now having typed all that, maybe it was yanking Pussy's leash to remind him the FBI was in charge. I think their reasoning is that loving everybody is gonna be there so maybe the odds of getting something good go way up.
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May 14, 2019 13:14
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Jerusalem posted:I think it is season 3 when Tony sees Christopher on a laptop and tells him to turn it off before they talk because "I don't trust those... cookies?" "That cookie poo poo makes me nervous!" One of my favourite parts about The Sopranos is poo poo like this. Their stupidity is hilarious and realistic.
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May 14, 2019 14:04
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I would have loved to hear Tony’s thoughts on smartphone privacy and poo poo like Alexa.
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May 15, 2019 05:55
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Just use it once and dump it. It’s what the Taliban used to do.
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May 16, 2019 16:42
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One thing that bugs me in Funhouse (and this is a thing with a lot of other shows) is the inauthentic soundboard-sourced fart sounds. It totally breaks my immersion hearing the Wilhelm Fart. Actors should rip their own farts into a microphone or something.
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May 16, 2019 23:54
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It really bugs me too, it's incredibly distracting and actually fairly irritating. They sound more like placeholders or some sound guy's idea of a joke that somehow made it into the final edit. I've been working on the Funhouse write-up, had to take a break because I got to the end of the first dream scene and realized I'd already written basically the length of a standard episode on it 
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May 17, 2019 02:46
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Jerusalem posted:It really bugs me too, it's incredibly distracting and actually fairly irritating. They sound more like placeholders or some sound guy's idea of a joke that somehow made it into the final edit.  c’mon man! It’s my favorite episode (bad fart noises notwithstanding). Just kidding, take your time man.
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May 17, 2019 03:03
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Season 2, Episode 13 - FunhouseTony Soprano posted:Why are you making me do this? Tony Soprano is in hell. Richie Aprile is dead, his sister Janice has returned to Seattle, Uncle Junior is firmly back in the fold, Christopher is not only recovering but has been avenged, the good citizen witness has refused to testify. Life is good.... but he's in hell. Because with Richie and Janice gone, he can no longer avoid the one person in life he fears and hates and craves the love/approval of the most: Livia Soprano. Joined by an exhausted Barbara, Tony and his sister must now work out exactly what is to be done with Livia, who can't live alone but also can't live with them. Compounding matters is the fact Livia remains deliberately "ignorant" of any wrongdoing, acting as if nothing has changed, insisting Tony eat, claiming Uncle Junior made up the idea that she was involved in "conspiring" about him. Barbara, who still has no idea that Livia was complicit in the attempted assassination of Tony (or even that there was an attempted assassination) just wants to settle things so she can once again escape to her normal life. But it isn't that easy, Tony is only there at Barbara's request and is livid even having to respond to Livia, while Barbara's husband Tom has been adamant that there is NO way that Livia can come live with them. Livia, who was more than happy to go back to Green Grove once it was no longer Tony's decision to make, is back on her old bullshit sobbing that she won't return to that horrible place. Tony agrees with her on that at least, forget that he won't pay for it, they wouldn't take her back even if he did because she was abusive to the staff. Barbara, exhausted, mumbles that maybe she and Tom can take her, but Tony leaps to Barbara's defense here (or at least to stop Livia getting her way), warning her not to fall for Livia's manipulation. He, of course, falls for it hook, line and sinker when he explodes in a rage when she says Barbara has learned this from Carmela. He's outraged, Carmela asked Livia multiple times to come live with them (to be fair, she carefully asked at times and in ways she knew would get Livia to refuse). But it puts him to his breaking point, he thought he had been able to put her behind him even if we know that was a fool's delusion and now face-to-face with her and all her old tricks again he snaps and makes one of the worst possible decisions he could. Storming out of the house, he rushes to his car, pulls out a pair of airline tickets from the Scatino Bustout and storms back inside. Tossing the first class tickets onto the table in front of a bewildered Livia, he demands she take Aunt Quinn (mother of Tony Blundetto, who we won't see for a couple seasons) and go stay with Aunt Gemma in Tucson. Livia, actually thrown off her game by this sudden unexpected twist, tries to insist that her sister Quintina is scared of flying but Tony rejects it, he's done. He's made his big grand gesture and with that he thinks he is out, free and clear at least. The poor bastard. On the streets, a man attempts to use a payphone to call family overseas. Another man spots him and figures out what he is doing, and rushes over to offer him an international calling card he can use instead of having to pump in money. It's a $20 call with 1000 hours of calltime on it, and he's offering to sell it for $7. Yes this is another scam by the mob, and Tony is reaping the benefits as he and Pussy eat a big meal at an Indian restaurant (stuffed with hookers ala Shlomo Teittleman's Flyaway Motel) while meeting with their contact in this scam, who hands over a stuffed envelope full of cash. To the tune of Thru and Thru by the Rolling Stones they enjoy the food, the wine, the money, the good times with food friends. They return to Vesuvio and meet Furio and Silvio, Tony whirling a laughing Adriana around as he walks on air. Why not, with the Livia problem "solved" he's no longer in hell, he's walking on sunshine. He and Pussy playfully grab some of Silvio's fried zucchini flowers and order the last plates from Artie for themselves (Pussy also asks for mussels). Everybody is delighted with the calling card scam and the money it is already bringing in, though Furio isn't quite sure how it works. Pussy is more than happy to explain... and here Tony feels a sudden unease. It makes no logical sense, Pussy is simply answering a question genuinely asked, but as he lays out from beginning to end how the calling card scam ends, Tony's face falls as some instinct adds it to the list of things it has been building since his return at the start of the season. But he shakes it off when Artie arrives, asking him to put the zucchini flowers on the menu for Meadow's upcoming high school graduation party. They all celebrate Meadow's success (Artie makes a point of noting Silvio's daughter did well too) and raise a toast. Life really is good. Tony even discusses it openly himself, he almost can't believe it. At that very moment, a ghost walks through the door and Tony snaps at him to leave. It's Philly Parisi back from the dead with a suitbag, but when Tony orders him out we discover this is actually Philly's twin brother Patsy. Life REALLY is good for Tony, not only has he defeated or outlasted his enemies, but he even has the brother of one of his victims happily working for him.   Tony returns home with the suitbag, spotting Carmela working on a list of gifts for graduation night. He makes small talk about how the suitbag is stuffed with air making it look too large, a subject she is entirely uninterested in. Carmela is still (justifiably) upset about Tony's infidelities, it is the one sour part of what is otherwise turning into a perfect life. But he has a plan for that too, as he opens the suitbag to let out the air and gasps that his suit has a beard... and then pulls out a beautiful fur coat. Carmela is shocked and thrilled, and in less than a second all her cold contempt and justified rage are forgotten. Sadly Tony knows her all too well, the stock she puts in expensive gifts and status symbols. Teasing her with the coat, he makes it clear what he wants in return, and soon they're upstairs as she wears nothing but the fur coat and they have sex. Every last detail has been fixed at last, Tony's life is perfect. In the first of many masterfully put together dream sequences of this episode, Tony walks down the deserted boardwalk of Atlantic City, snow falling as he joins Hesh, Paulie, Pussy, Patsy, Christopher and Silvio looking out on the shore. They discuss minutiae, while Pussy stares fixedly into the horizon. "They" are not coming, and Tony reveals that he has gotten a terminal diagnosis. Cheerfully, everybody celebrates the fact that Tony has decided to light himself on fire and commit suicide rather than wait for his explicitly laid out death date of September 5th. Tony thanks Patsy for the fur coat and Patsy explains he's actually Philly, revealing the gunshot wound in his head and shrugging indifferently when Tony awkwardly apologizes for ordering the hit. Pussy continues to stare fixedly at the horizon. Tony decides that "they" aren't coming and pours gasoline over himself, only then noticing that Pussy has disappeared, replaced by Philly getting his shoes shined by his assassin Gigi Cestone. Paulie happily hands Tony a lit lighter and Christopher belatedly suggests that maybe the doctor's are wrong, at which point Tony catches fire in a (pretty amateurish looking) explosion. It's an incredibly well put together scene, capturing dream logic perfectly. There is an internal sense of logic even if things don't always make spatial sense and continuity doesn't exist from moment to moment. The blank staring, the shared knowledge, the ominous sounds of creaking wood, the casual acceptance of nonsense. It all plays into the dream, the crazy barely connected string of events that make perfect sense in the moment and none upon review. People don't act like themselves but they feel "right", and all through it Pussy's appearance is Tony's subconscious screaming at him that something is wrong, SOMETHING is wrong. Tony wakes with a start, waking Carmela as in a brief moment he lets his guard down completely and groggily asks her why he doesn't just kill himself. Coming to his senses he tries belatedly to gloss it over, telling her to go back to bed, but a line like that is going to wake somebody up pretty loving fast. She strokes his head as he begins sobbing, life is a joke and everything is black. Carmela assures him that this is his mother talking, but while he has a tendency to depression she's here to tell him everything is going to be okay. He has her, they have the kids, they are all safe and that is all thanks to him. But as she tries to reassure him, a fresh perspective hits Tony as he realizes that for once it is his body causing the problems and not his mind. Grabbing his stomach, he rubs it and realizes that what he is feeling isn't depression but nausea. As the cramps hit him hard, he launches himself from the bed and races to the ensuite, barely making it to the toilet before vomiting noisily. Carmela, seconds ago concerned and eager to help, braces herself for the other unpleasant part of a long-term partnership: helping them get through the shits. She leaves the bedroom to get some coke to help settle his stomach, a concerned Meadow quickly becoming outraged when Carmela blames the Indian restaurant for his condition. Unfortunately the sound department lets the side down a bit with comical fart noises to go along with the sound of Tony vomiting. Pussy meanwhile is having a late night meeting with Skip to hand over his latest tape, where his own previous good humor (and Junior G-Man aspirations) disappear as he watches the bulk of his cut from the calling card scam get taken away. Skip isn't ripping him off, part of their deal is that he keeps a subsistence level earning (like Tony does with Junior) while the rest goes into evidence. But watching the money go is hard, and all Skip can offer is that sometimes informants do well for themselves financially in their post-mob life.   Carmela helps a shaky Tony get back to the bed, giving him a can of coke to sip on to help settle his stomach. Lying him back in the bed, she has to pull the coke away as he tries to gulp it down like a toddler, and he rolls over to try to settle back into sleep, asking Carmela if she still likes the coat. Gratefully, with obvious love, she assures him she does. Dream Tony returns to the boardwalk, where the sound of wood has changed to an odd, rubber-like squeaking. Nobody else is present, and he looks about the rundown stores and spots a snarling Uncle Junior retreating from the broken panes when spotted. As Tony walks in place and the boardwalk moves around him, his shoes squeak and Silvio's voice bellows echoey questions at him. Where is he going? What is he looking for? Who is looking for HIM? Silvio slides by in an almost Mr. Rogers' style outfit (actually it's Pacino's outfit from Godfather III), quoting Pacino much to Tony's delight. Spotting a tower viewer, he feeds in a coin and looks through out to the ocean... and into a giant train station, where he sees himself and Paulie playing cards. The Tony in the train station pulls out a gun and shoots his old friend. Tony is "woken" by Carmela calling out to him, the sun has risen and he feels much better. He goes to therapy and tries to explain his dreams to Melfi, pondering why he would ever kill Paulie even if he does sometimes annoy the hell out of him... after all, Paulie's a great earner! Melfi is quiet so he keeps speaking, trying to articulate why he can't understand why he remains so full of.... "Anger?" she suggests and he becomes irritated, but she points out they haven't really discussed his anger. Sitting in her chair pondering Tony's issues, Annalisa Zucca reminds him once again that he is the biggest threat to himself. Because this is yet another dream (the worst kind, the one where you wake and go about your day only to realize it is all in your head) he accepts Annalisa's sudden presence, and talk turns to whether she is going to make him eat something. Unsettled by a mix of intimidation by her authority (all women are his mother) as well as his real life physical nausea, he wakes for real. It is still the middle of the night, and he again rushes to the toilet to vomit (and make more of those fake sounding farts). Carmela brings him a blanket after he gets it out of him, stroking his back as he sits chattering. He's humiliated to be seen like this by her, a weak child rather than the strong provider, but she isn't concerned by such things. He's sick, he needs looking after, and she is here to do it. Dream Tony hops into the waiting car beside driver Adriana, demanding Christopher in the back seat tell him where Pussy is. Christopher can offer no answer because Tony's subconscious still hasn't resolved that question in his own head. He's handed a roll of toilet paper by Furio who of course has also just appeared/always been present in the back seat. They drive away in their comically small car to wherever it is they are going. In real life, Tony is woken by the doorbell and real daylight. Artie has come to see Carmela to go over the menu for Meadow's graduation party, something she had completely forgotten thanks to a long night of tending to Tony. When he learns that Tony has food poisoning, he's quick to insist his restaurant has an A rating, but Tony clearly feels differently, demanding Artie come upstairs to see him. Barely able to make it back into bed himself, he accuses Artie's mussels of being the cause of his sickness, which offends Artie almost as much as he is offended that Tony thinks his outrage is out of fear of being sued. When Carmela complains to Tony that he shouldn't have had ANOTHER full dinner after his Indian meal, Artie leaps on that as an excuse: surely that place was to blame, they use ghee in their meals and it was probably just a rancid batch. Tony becomes nauseous and flees to the toilet when Artie goes on a tangent about the cremation of Indira Gandhi, and when Artie asks Carmela how Pussy is feeling she demands he call him to find out if he is sick too. Pussy is not, outside of some minor diarrhea (and Angie still despising even being in the same room as him), and he ate the mussels the same as Tony. They had different main dishes at the Indian restaurant, and as far as Artie is concerned this clears his restaurant of any blame. As Carmela prepares to call Dr. Cusamano, Tony feels the urge to vomit again, and Artie helps her to move him to the toilet.   Livia has, surprisingly, taken Tony up on his offer. She and her sister Quintina (played here by Barbara Andres) are waiting to board their plane to fly to Arizona, where she will presumably either try to regroup or satisfy herself by trying to remotely target Tony with periodic guilt. Before she can answer the boarding call however, airport security approaches and calls her name, which she knows from a lifetime of experience can NOT be a good thing. Tony sits in a daze on the porcelain throne, slowly nodding off from a mixture of lack of sleep and physical weakness. Mumbling,"Pussy" over and over, he "wakes" in the waiting room of Melfi's office, in pants and an undershirt with a gigantic erection making a tent in his crotch. Melfi welcomes him in, hard-on and all, where she questions if he's thinking of pussy or Pussy and makes reference to his previous duck dream about his penis being stolen. Tony sniffs, frowns and complains that he realizes he's in a dream which actually makes it worse, since he doesn't know how to get out of it. "Melfi" counters that as they're in a dream, they can explore what it means from a different perspective. The creaking and squeaking noises return as he admits that he wants to gently caress her and she responds almost robotically that she finds himself enormously attractive before suddenly becoming coquettish. Even in his dream he understands on some level that Melfi isn't attracted to him, and so he filters her into the mindset and reactions of somebody else. It's perfect dream logic, all of it happening on a subconscious level but constructing an emotional and psychological picture for him to experience in his feverish state where reality and dreams come close to merging. In the dream he pushes her onto her desk and she eagerly reciprocates as he pulls his pants down and enters her. In the real world, Cusamano and Carmela look down on him shivering, Cusamano correctly noting he is smiling while Carmela says he is freezing and gritting his teeth. Tony wakes and begs them to let him die, they largely ignore him to discuss what is best: the hospital will be no help, nor will pumping his stomach, the best they can do is keep him hydrated and let him work through the fever. As Cusamono prepares to leave he hears Tony blame the "loving ragheads" and comes to their defense, noting that the spices in Indian food tend to kill microbial agents. Tony blames "loving Artie Bucco then!" instead. Tony falls into a feverish sleep again, singing to himself on the floor, head braced on pillows and a blanket thrown over him. Cusamano and Carmela leave him to sleep, and he returns to find the pussy he was REALLY after all along... and one of the most surreal moments in the history of a great show that will be full of them.  Back on the boardwalk, dream Tony is called out to by Pussy's voice. Turning, he sees a fishmonger's stall, multiple fish sitting in ice, one of which is talking to him. It's Pussy, who chats with him about swimming as an exercise before just casually blurting out the burning fear that has been running through Tony's subconscious for weeks if not months already: he's working for the FBI. Tony begs him not to say it, that he doesn't want to hear it, but Pussy-fish insists he face facts. In Tony's mind, the reason for Pussy's betrayal of course must resolve around himself, as Pussy-fish explains that he turned witness after Tony passed him over for promotion in favor of Paulie and Silvio. Pussy's comment that the two fish on either side of him are asleep is a clear reference, one that enraged Tony who flips the display over, knocking the fish to the floor. "I WANT TO SEE YOU FLOPPING AROUND DOWN THERE!" he roars in the dream and in real life, waking himself on the floor near the toilet. He blinks, his mind clear again. The surreal elements of the dream aren't just present because they were a blast to write and film (and watch), there is an important element of storytelling going on here. This has all been Tony's subconscious trying to figure out a way to communicate a message that Tony has not consciously wanted to hear: that Pussy is a snitch, and that he must kill him. There is nothing that Pussy has done - in spite of our own meta-knowledge as viewers - for Tony to come to this conclusion but his instinct has warned him that something isn't right. Those nervous looks, the widened eyes at the BBQ, asking questions at inopportune times, his lengthy disappearance, openly laying out scams in conversation etc. All of them can be explained away or made sense of without him being a snitch, but together they all add to the growing, uneasy sense that something isn't right with Pussy. More importantly, Tony knows on an unconscious level that if his paranoia is correct, then his only option is to kill Pussy. Kill a friend, a close and long-time friend, all on a suspicion, an instinct. He doesn't want to do it, but in the dreams he is given the message over and over again: he's not one of you anymore (Pussy staring and not responding), he isn't part of the group (Pussy disappearing when the others gathered to spectate on the shore), you are capable of killing a friend (Tony shooting Paulie while playing cards), all culminating in Pussy himself dictating calmly that Tony must do it, thus removing some of Tony's sense of guilt and loathing by making it seem as if not only is it the right thing to do, but it is what Pussy himself WANTS him to do. Gathering what little strength he has, Tony dresses himself and ignores Carmela's protests that he must get back into bed. He insists he has to go and shuts down when she tries to convince him otherwise. Realizing she isn't getting through to him she warns him he's on his own if he spends Meadow's graduation in the toilet. He arrives at Pussy's house all smiles, even if he still looks a sickly mess barely able to stay upright. Silvio is with him, and as he casually discusses his sickness with her, Pussy wakes upstairs to the sound of their voices. Rushing out of bed, he makes for the cigar box on his dresser but Tony is through the door before he can do anything. Tony steps in, sunken eyes, sallow face, sweaty skin, unkempt hair and tells Pussy he is feeling better, and Pussy agrees he seems better than he sounded on the phone with Artie. He offers them coffee, asking if they're just in the neighborhood, but Tony explains he's actually just gotten a call on a boat he's thinking of buying and he wants extra opinions on it since he's clearly in no shape to be making a good decision on his own, but the owner - a Cuban guy - has two offers on it so Tony MUST make a decision this morning. Pussy is surprised and a little too uneasy, but it's just vague enough that it seems reasonable, so he agrees to throw some clothes on and join them. Just at that moment though, another cramp hits Tony and he rushes into Pussy's ensuite, and Pussy agrees with Silvio that they probably don't need to be around for that and they go downstairs for coffee with Angie. As they chat amicably downstairs about the chores Silvio is supposed to be doing for his wife, upstairs Tony runs water in the toilet to mask the noise as he looks through Pussy's drawers for any sign, any evidence that his dreams were telling him the truth. There is nothing, the drawers are full of ordinary clothes and everyday miscellaneous items, even the cigar box on the dresser is simply a cigar box. As he flips that shut, not satisfied but unable to think of anything else, something about the cigar box makes him look again. Lifting the upper layer of cigars, underneath he discovers his worst fears realized: a tape recorder, battery pack, adhesive tape, microphone and little cassette tapes. Pussy is a snitch. So how does Tony react? He walks downstairs and smiles broadly and asks who wants to go buy a boat. A brief respite from his misery comes in the form of a another dream as he dozes in the back of Silvio's car, where he comes to the dinner table to tell an adoring AJ, Meadow and Carmela that he bought a boat. They're all thrilled, even more when Meadow tells them she decided to go to Columbia University right here in New York. They all applaud together, before the motion of the car jerks him awake to his horrible reality. Silvio is clearly not in the best of moods himself, as he takes a deep drink from his whiskey flask and offers some to Pussy who - more used to putting on an act than them - declines given how early in the morning it is. Silvio explains he needs it for his sea legs, and Pussy agrees,"gently caress it" and knocks some back himself. Does he suspect? Is is paranoid? Probably, but this is probably how he has felt for months now so it's become nothing new, just another thing to get through before satisfying himself that he was just reading too much into perfectly innocent looks and statements.   At the harbor, Paulie is waiting, telling them the Cuban has to go see the harbormaster but gave them the go-ahead to take the boat out for a spin. Tony comments knowledgably on the boat's bright points, agreeing with Pussy that the weather isn't the best but time and tide wait for no man. They all climb aboard, Pussy giving the barest hesitation as he looks around the otherwise deserted harbor. Out on the water, Paulie relaxes beside Pussy without a care in the world as Tony and Silvio stand up by the wheel. Paulie comments that the boat rides nice on the water and Tony suggests they pop below deck to see how it looks. Pussy heads in first at Paulie's invitation, making himself at home as he peruses the music collection and pops on a CD of ajaunty Frank Sinatra song. Silvio tells him to take a seat and he asks if they should drop anchor, turning around to see perhaps the most terrifying thing he could ever see, and the thing he has been fearing all this time.  Tony, quietly but full of menace, demands to know why Pussy is making him do this, when did he flip? Pussy pretends ignorance, that maybe this is a joke, asking what he means, but Tony simply stares a hole through him and Pussy's face falls. There is no escape here, he can no longer meet Tony's eyes, he drops his head into his hands, then looks to Paulie and Silvio for some escape and finds nothing but hard faces and murderous eyes. Finally he says it, devastating Tony,"They had me." Now the excuses come, the justifications. He had no choice, they had him for dealing Heroin. He mistakes Tony's question of,"How long?" for the length of the sentence they were threatening him with: 30 to Life, and Tony snaps that he means how long has he been a snitch, how much do they know? Silvio can't believe it when he admits it has been a year and a half, while Paulie's face is filled with utter rage. As we saw last season, Paulie forced himself to turn Pussy into a hated enemy when it was necessary, and was relieved to return to thinking of him as a beloved friend when he returned with Tony's blessing. Now the truth is fully revealed, his heart has been instantly hardened once more, Pussy is again just a monstrous traitor and not a man who he has been friends with for years. He shoves Pussy over with a roar, but Pussy shifts to trying to turn his treachery into a good thing. He only feed them disinformation, enough to muddy the waters and keep them happy while earning on any subsistence level he could manage. He would never do anything to put Tony in harm's way, nothing to hurt ANY of them, he promises! When Tony accuses him, he swears on his mother's eyes he wasn't the one who gave them the Bevilaqua hit information, he just gave them little things, trivial things. Paulie shuts off the CD and Tony, disgusted, demands specifics from Pussy. What exactly were these little, trivial things he told them? He admits they know about the calling cards, which gets a relieved,"I'm not in that!" from Paulie who quickly realizes this doesn't reflect well and angrily demands to know what else. The sound of a rope clanging against the mast outside drives Silvio to distraction, or rather gives him an excuse for his horror at the betrayal, and he rushes outside, breaking free of Tony who tries to stop him. All of them are reacting differently to Pussy's betrayal: Paulie is furious but also desperate to know how exposed he is; Silvio is horrified; and Tony is enraged but eerily calm. Pussy continues to angrily insist that he's given the FBI barely anything, in fact he's the one manipulating them! But Tony is thinking, not about Pussy but about where he has been, who he has spoken to, what he might know. A realization hits him: Webistics. Do they know? Pussy can't answer which is all Tony needs to know, and that hits hard, that is a potential major hit coming his way. Pussy tries to assure him that he mostly gave them stuff on the Scatino bustout, nothing that would be considered a Federal Crime without serial numbers attached. Again he tries to sell the idea that he's actually an asset, that disinformation is an effective technique they can use AGAINST the FBI. Disgusted, mortified, miserable, Tony simply stands and walks away, leaving Pussy alone with a furious Paulie.   Outside, Tony and Silvio yell at each other about yelling at each other, after Silvio complains that the swell is making him sick and Tony hits him back with the fact he has food poisoning but is keeping it together. Of course both know but neither wants to admit that what is making them sick is the knowledge of what Pussy has done to them and what they will have to do to Pussy in return. Tony hesitates, braces himself and returns downstairs, where he can't help but smile when Pussy asks if they have any good tequila. Giving Paulie the nod, he joins them both at the bar where Paulie pours three shots and they all down them. Pussy pours more drinks, and tells them stories of the acupuncturist in Puerto Rico he had the affair with. She was 26 years old and never wore panties, he rear end was the second coming. They chuckle as Silvio rejoins them, and Pussy explains how she would drink him under the table every night... and he'd eat her out while he was down there! He waggles his tongue comically and they all laugh, all friends again, all enjoying each other's company... the only sign something is wrong Pussy's face falling in the silence between laughter and the almost desperate way he refills their glasses. Tony is smiling, but that smile fades into disgust as he asks Pussy to reveal if this true was just another story he told to cover his rear end: did she even really exist? Pussy lowers the bottle and slowly walks across the room. Turning, he stares at his three old friends and asks them quietly not to shoot him in the face, to let him keep his eyes. Paulie simply replies that he was like a brother to him, and Tony agrees, he was like a brother to all of them. Close to passing out from the fear, Pussy grunts that he's starting to feel dizzy from the swell too. They simply stare at him, and when Tony draws his gun the other two take his cue and draw their own. Pussy, shaky on his feet, facing three drawn guns, looks to the nearby chair and asks if he can sit... and Tony shoots him in the chest. Silvio and Paulie lift their guns and Silvio fires too. For whatever reason, Paulie does not, though his gun was certainly up to do so and he betrays no sense that he didn't mean to pull the trigger. Perhaps the gunshots heard on an exterior shot of the boat were Paulie belatedly firing? Or maybe he realized there was no need, as Pussy was clearly killed by the second shot at the very least. Certainly it wasn't a matter of love, since the moment Pussy's body crashes to the floor Paulie is instantly on it, removing his rings and other jewellery. To remove identifying marks perhaps? I think it more likely that Paulie simply figured there was no point in it going to waste. Wrapping him in plastic and tying him in chains, they dump the body over the side and into the ocean where it quickly sinks. Clearly not happy but also convinced they did the right thing, they watch their friend sink into the ocean and then turn away. They ride the boat away, and the only person who looks back, dazed and sickly but eyes intent on the now featureless patch of water, is Tony. So ends Pussy Bonpensiero.   At home that evening he sits watching The Temptations singing Ain't Too Proud to Beg on TV, snapping at Carmela for asking him to go buy a computer for Meadow's graduation present when he could have gotten a slightly smaller screen version for "free". She's in no mood for his bad mood since he was the one who insisted on going out earlier when she told him to stay in bed. The phone rings and she is disgusted to find Livia on the other end, but becomes alarmed when she hears that Livia has been stuck at the airport since 9am and that she needs a lawyer because she's being held airport security after they told her Tony gave her a stolen airline ticket. She hands the phone over to Tony, who had though he was finally free of her (again) and she whispers (the guard is RIGHT there) that the tickets are stolen. Tony, who only just dodged a bullet with Pussy, isn't stupid enough to say anything on the phone other than to tell her he'll send somebody down to pick her up but he has no idea what she is taking about regarding any stolen tickets. He hangs up as Carmela answers the doorbell, and it's the FBI with a warrant to search the house and car, the latter of which they've already executed... and found airline tickets matching those Livia used in Newark this morning. They enter the house after reading him his rights, cuffing Tony as Carmela complains that Meadow is about to graduate high school tomorrow, they couldn't wait a few days to "persecute" him? Meadow herself comes walking through the door with her friends as Tony is being taken out, horrified and humiliated, rushing up the stairs as her shocked friends whisper among themselves that they should leave. Tony is taken to processing and fingerprinted, almost collapsing as the strain of his food poisoning catches up to him. Cubitoso is delighted, is Tony Soprano weak in the knees from being arrested? Tony snarls at him that he isn't bothered by this bullshit and struts to the holding cage, smirking to Cubitoso he can forget about any more deli trays. But once Cubitoso is gone and he is alone, all he can think about is how he just murdered one of his closest friends to escape potential prosecution, and it was all for nothing as he has been arrested for something stupid he did himself. Carmela comes into Meadow's room where she lays out a rather tough message. Yes it was humiliating to see her father get arrested in front of her friends, but considering everything Tony does for her and the family it was unacceptable that she react the way she did. Meadow cuts Carmela off though with a tough message of her own: her friends don't judge her and gently caress them if they do, she'll cut them off. Carmela is enormously proud, and it is a genuinely sweet moment even if they are speaking in defense of a murderer. Mink has finally been reached and gotten Tony out of holding and into a crowded office being used for storage so they can speak in private. Tony is livid with himself, he hosed up and has nobody to blame but himself. He was so close to being clear and he had to give her the tickets just to be away from her voice, that grating, accusing, demanding voice that has haunted and chased him his whole life. Mink is pragmatic though, what's done is done so the only thing to do now is put it behind him and move on. The good news is that the 23 airline tickets are not enough to bring a case against him. But for Tony the fact it is a small thing IS the point. Because it was a small thing he should have been able to avoid it. All he had to do was spend a minute nodding and humoring his monstrous mother and he could have been clear. Instead he hosed up, he beat a homicide only to fall to this. Despite what Mink says he knows this could easily spiral out: he's talking the FAA, RICO predicates, Federal charges, he could be facing 30-to-life. But Mink assures him again, he's not charged with any capital crimes, he'll easily make bail. He just needs to get on with life. So he does his best, as he and Mink walk the gauntlet of Press that the FBI will have called, ignoring their shouted questions to get into a car and drive away.   In therapy, Tony - recovered from his food poisoning fully now - is sullen. Finally he speaks, venting fury at his mother for what she said and who she said it too: how could the wife of Johnny Boy Soprano drop him in it like this? While his reaction is understandable and even reasonable, Melfi knows him well enough to sense that something else is buried under what he is verbalizing. Melfi agrees his mother and the airline tickets are serious, but is he really this angry about THAT when a year ago she tried to have him killed and he didn't react with anywhere near this level of rage. She points out they have never talked about that attempted assassination seriously (to be fair, she'd crossed a pretty gigantic ethical line with him shortly before he found out) and tries to take the chance to do so now. Given she attempted to have him killed last year, it indicates she probably inflicted serious psychic trauma on him in his youth too, and they can only deal with that if he lets her help him find out what. But Tony shuts down as he always does when it comes to REALLY exposing the causes of all of his issues. Suddenly he's all smiles, laughs, jokes and singing as she tries to explore not only Livia's flaws but Johnny Boy's too. She refuses to let him fob her off though, admitting that she hasn't pushed him enough and that the reason for this is because along the way in their treatment she became frightened of him. Her treatment by Elliot has obviously worked wonders, because now she's back on a somewhat even keel (though keeping him as a patient is still a big mark against her) and she presses him to accept that his ever-bubbling rage is a distraction from the real feelings he is too frightened to face. What feelings he asks, and she hits him with sadness, and asks him to admit what the other thing that is bothering him is. She can sense sorrow beneath the rage, and that hits close enough to home that for the briefest moment he is exposed... and then he throws up the guard again and gleefully tells her about how he hosed her in a dream the other night, right there on her desk. "Well you threw that at me like a rock," she complains, but won't let him get away, she wants him to talk about what is making him sad. He is reduced to "gently caress you!" but she doesn't flinch, just presses him to face up to what is eating him up. It's exactly the treatment he needs, exactly the treatment he has demanded when he complains he is getting no benefit from her, and of course exactly the treatment he is too scared to accept. So he stands up, declares them done, and walks out singing,"Maybe, baby", trying and failing miserably to pretend like she hasn't knocked him completely for a loop with her precision strikes at the core of his psyche. Meadow graduates high school at last, watched with tearful, almost disbelieving pride by Tony and Carmela (and a happy AJ filming it with a camcorder). Tony wraps an arm around Carmela and beams with pride at his little girl succeeding at this major moment of her life, turning a grateful and loving look Carmela's way as well. The ceremony over, the beaming Tony takes Christopher aside as everybody gathers for photos and cheap coffee to give him news of his own pending graduation: he has recommended Christopher get Made. Christopher's eyes widen and he sucks in a deep breath before breaking into a smile and joking that he deserves it since he's "got no spleen, Gene!". They hug and Tony congratulates him, Christopher thanking him genuinely before noticing what might be a potential issue: Uncle Junior has arrived and is giving Meadow a gift. Tony quickly makes his way over, he may have reconciled with Junior but Carmela certainly hasn't, and warns him through a smile for Meadow's benefit that he needs to clear out. Junior, disgruntled but understanding, assures him he is going. That's one problem down, but another raises its head as he spots Davey Scatino trying to eke the last drops of coffee out of an urn. He’s done his best to clean up for the graduation but still looks disheveled. Tony approaches and comments how good it was to see their kids graduate, and Davey agrees that the youth are who are important. Of course, because of him Eric is now going to a State College rather than Georgetown since that is all Vic can afford for his nephew, not that Tony knows that. Davey has to explain that he got accepted but couldn't go because of "a little money pinch". Tony tries to take this moment to offer an olive branch, he heard that he and Charlene ("Christine," Davey wearily corrects, Tony didn't even know that much) broke up and he's sorry about that. Not Davey though, no things are great, why he's going to move out west to work on a ranch! Tony thinks that is hilarious but Davey insists that he grew up in New Mexico as a kid so he'll be fine. He betrays the real reason of course, in spite of Vic shoving him back into rehab and his own dark night of the soul after losing EVERYTHING to his gambling, he's already offering for Tony to come down to the ranch and then join him on direct flights available to "Nevada" which he just so happens to know run out of the area. Yep, he means to spend every bit of money he makes at the ranch in Vegas, probably justifying to himself that he'll be trying to make the money to put Eric back into Georgetown and somehow make everything right if he can just get his luck to turn. He lost everything and has learned nothing, and the only person who doesn't know it is him. Tony considers this miserable gently caress-up and finally decides to just leave well enough alone, so he simply wishes him luck and walks past him to hug his daughter and tell her how proud of her he is. Something that Davey probably can't do with Eric, who if he is lucky is simply disgusted by him rather than outright hating him.   They return to the house to complete the celebrations, where the food (catered by Artie, so they didn't believe he was responsible for the food poisoning, obviously) is much nicer and the there is plenty of nice wine on offer. Angie complains furiously to Carmela about how selfish Pussy is since he knew the graduation was today and yet hasn't shown up, an indication that as of yet nobody but Tony, Silvio and Paulie have any idea that Pussy is dead and gone. AJ passes by with his camcorder, recording everything, and the final beautiful montage of the season airs to close the second season of the Sopranos: a triumphant follow-up to a magnificent first season that in many ways may have surpassed it. Interspersed between scenes of loving family pride as Meadow revels in HER day and her proud parents watch on, we see the many moneymaking operations of the mob in action as well as those closed down by Pussy's discovery: the brokerage is gone but the garbage business continues, the video booths and strip club bring in money, the calling card operation continues in a slightly different form. Associates drink wine and take photos together in the Soprano household, laughing in a solidarity that will remain firm till the second it doesn't, as Pussy could attest. A junkie nods off as he sits smoking in the lounge of the Flyaway Motel, Teittleman's son having no choice but to tolerate his presence. Tony, Silvio and Paulie pose for photos together, laughing happily, the fourth of their group nowhere to be seen because he's sleeping with the fishes. Poker games big and small bring in piles of cash. Davey Scatino loads up his meagre possessions and prepares to drive west in search of his missing luck. Before the final shot of the ocean where Pussy’s corpse has come to its final rest, Carmela goes looking for Tony and spots him smoking a cigar in the lounge, the master of all he surveys, his victory complete in spite of the possible Federal charges hanging over his head. His enemies are dead, his family are safe, his daughter is a success, surely the charges will be dropped too. All that is left to vex him is his mother, a demented old bat he's already half-convinced himself isn't the monster he still secretly fears the most. She's the one person who could actually provide the FBI with any real ammunition to use against him, but surely Johnny Boy's wife would never do such a thing, right?  What a shame that we were left with such a perfect setup for a season 3 that would never happen. What we got instead was great, but I'll forever be left wondering what might have been. Season 2: Guy Walks into a Psychiatrist's Office... | Do Not Resuscitate | Toodle-loving-Oo | Commendatori | Big Girls Don't Cry | The Happy Wanderer | D-Girl | Full Leather Jacket | From Where to Eternity | Bust Out | House Arrest | The Knight in White Satin Armor | Funhouse Season 1 | Season 2 | Season 3 | Season 4 | Season 5 | Season 6.1 | Season 6.2 Jerusalem fucked around with this message at 13:45 on Apr 23, 2020 |
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May 17, 2019 12:01
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Excellent write up as usual - I'm really digging these. I wonder, how much do we know about the season 3 plot that never was? Has David Chase ever gone into more detail than the very broad outlines you describe?
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May 17, 2019 16:45
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That's not a Mister Rogers outfit, it's almost exactly what Pacino wore in the infamous "Just when I thought I was out..." scene in Godfather III. 
Mahoning fucked around with this message at 17:48 on May 17, 2019 |
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May 17, 2019 17:44
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Well slap my rear end and call me Nancy.
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May 17, 2019 17:56
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I put Funhouse against any single episode of any television show. It's an absolute masterpiece and in my opinion does enable season 2 to eclipse season 1 in brilliance. That closing montage is The Sopranos in microcosm: a snapshot of the dark side of the American dream, where a few criminals reap the reward for the suffering of faceless victims.
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May 17, 2019 18:59
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Can you actually buy airline tickets like that? Just a pile of “one ticket to anywhere” that you can keep in your car and give to your mom when she’s being a demented old bat?
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May 17, 2019 20:59
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It’s one of the quaint pre 9/11 things that date the show “How fuckin hard is it to get on an airplane?” 
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May 17, 2019 21:08
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Never picked up on this when I originally watched it but in hindsight I wonder if Puss ordering mussells was subtle foreshadowing that he was about to end up on the bottom of the sea.
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May 17, 2019 23:14
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I do find I miss Pussy's presence on the show going forward, although admittedly keeping him as a rat for an extended length of time would stretch credibility.
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May 17, 2019 23:31
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Mahoning posted:That's not a Mister Rogers outfit, it's almost exactly what Pacino wore in the infamous "Just when I thought I was out..." scene in Godfather III. I believe I can be excused for not making the connection because I try to pretend Godfather III never happened 
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May 18, 2019 02:31
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Midgetskydiver posted:I put Funhouse against any single episode of any television show. It's an absolute masterpiece and in my opinion does enable season 2 to eclipse season 1 in brilliance. That closing montage is The Sopranos in microcosm: a snapshot of the dark side of the American dream, where a few criminals reap the reward for the suffering of faceless victims. Agreed. It's probably my favorite episode and thanks for another great write up, Jerusalem. A few stray observations: - The biggest thing to me about why this mob execution landed was the established relationship(s). Reminded me again about what bothered me so much about Buscemi's Tony Blundetto character being the catalyst that set off the war in the final seasons and how much it wasn't truly earned. I get why they would use Buscemi on the show (because of course you would) and he was fine but his sudden introduction and subsequent emotional weight his death carried felt really forced and crammed in to me. We got to watch Pussy and his situation evolve and stew. Blundetto was just suddenly Tony's beloved cousin we never heard about. - I like how the show never really confirmed one way or the other whether Jimmy was, in fact, a rat after Tony basically used him as a convenient out for having to face the emotional consequences and stark reality of Pussy. I'd say all signs point to be Tony being correct about Jimmy but it's never conclusively confirmed one way or the other, a little bit sad the way Tony conveniently focuses suspicion on someone he cares far less about than his friend and it's just sort of left out there as far as I remember. - Pussy trying desperately to convince his killers that "I got this down. this disinformation thing...it's a fuckin ace!" is brilliant writing and Vincent Pastore is so god damned good during that whole scene. No over acting or selling it too much. - Speaking of that, when he's reminiscing and talking about "eatin her out", I thought it had been established with Junior that eating pussy was a no no - or is that just for the old school types? Or did Pussy just not care and it was some strange confession? - I never noticed that we didn't see Paulie fire but we heard a lot of off screen gunshots too. - Didn't the ariline tickets come from busting out Davie's store? How were they considered "stolen" when we're clearly shown them being ordered on his still (at that time) good credit line? They even dedicate a few lines of dialogue to Davie asking how he's supposed to justify their purchase. Or was it a different scam? I wondered if Davie had flipped, run to the cops and used the Nevada ranch story and the divorce to set up his disappearance into the WRP when I watched it the first time. Interesting idea I think.
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May 18, 2019 02:33
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I think it's assumed Jimmy was a snitch. I can't think of any other reason he'd try that weird fingerprint technology bit in Tony's basement, and they also call him out for wanting meetings over stuff they'd gone over already.
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May 18, 2019 02:40
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Amazing writeup. I will say about Tony B that Tony S not mentioning him makes sense given the emotional weight and guilt he's suppressing regarding the circumstances of his incarceration. There was never any doubt in my mind Jimmy Altieri was actually an informant after they figured him for one. I do like that Pussy makes a few later appearances in flashback/dream, about once per season it seems. As for his talk of cunnilingus, I think at this point it didn't matter one way or the other and as Tony said was likely made up. For Junior it was damaging because of his position in the organization combined with the subservient perception of the act. Pussy on the other hand is bragging about it which takes away some of the shame aspect, I would think.
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May 18, 2019 03:33
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Dawgstar posted:I think it's assumed Jimmy was a snitch. I can't think of any other reason he'd try that weird fingerprint technology bit in Tony's basement, and they also call him out for wanting meetings over stuff they'd gone over already. I feel like at one point in the series during an FBI meeting they had Jimmy on a board as a confirmed snitch
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May 18, 2019 03:44
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It's also played up like a joke, Pussy cracking a joke about eating her out is something they can all laugh at (in the same way they might laugh at somebody saying,"Suck my dick!" etc) while with Junior the info was that he genuinely loved (and was good at) eating pussy, which in their demented backwards take on masculinity was a big no-no. In regards to the airline tickets, they had Pussy's information explaining that Scatino's bankruptcy was managed as a bustout by Tony and Richie to recoup debts from illegal gambling, and that they knowingly forced him to order the tickets on a credit line they knew he could not pay back. Pussy hands over the tickets to Skip who tells him that while this is good, it's useless if they can't show a direct connection to Tony beyond Pussy's testimony (which Mink would easily discredit). So when Livia shows up with the tickets that are marked in the system as "stolen" (unpaid for might be slightly more accurate?) and straight up tells security that Tony gave them to her, that gives them enough for a search warrant and they find more of the tickets in Tony's car, proving a concrete physical link between himself and the bustout. Of course like Mink says, even that isn't gonna be enough to put Tony away even if they are federal charges, because he can argue that he bought them from Davey unaware they were stolen (which Tony did actually state as he was arrested) and Davey himself wouldn't be any use to testify against him since he's A) utterly terrified of Tony and B) a complete gently caress up gambling degenerate who ran his store into bankruptcy and stole from his kid's college fund, and Mink could discredit him on the stand even more easily than he could Pussy. The only thing that would really be cause for alarm would be Livia testifying against Tony, which is why the original plan for season 3 was going to be Tony having to bite his tongue, swallow his pride and do everything in his power to get back on Livia's good side, which she would have exploited the hell out of and gotten immense enjoyment from.
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May 18, 2019 03:55
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