Tony and Christopher never got over the killing of Adriana.
How could they? They both loved her, in their own ways. And although her cooperation with the Feds was a bad as Big Pussy's, she was different from him, different from any other member of the family who might have deserved to die.
Christopher's made a good show of getting over her. He's has a wife, a baby, and a movie. But a part of him can't stand the sight of Tony, however much he might mostly deny it. He says that Tony enables his drinking, which Chris is trying to stop, but the deeper truth is every time Chris sees Tony, he sees Adriana, and hates himself and Tony for killing her.
And he's finally beginning to let a little of that out ... telling those who might listen that Tony doesn't show him sufficient gratitude for the sacrifice Christopher made.
And of course Tony does not. And not just because no gratitude could ever expiate the guilt that Christopher feels. But also because Tony, for his part, very much wants to forget this. It's the worst part of a life that he already is more eager than ever to leave.
And so, tonight, we see the first unraveling ... the beginning of the Sopranos coming to terms with the killing of Adriana. It's just the beginning...
Played against the backdrop of AJ's problems, which are eminently normal - getting over a broken heart, because you were jilted - in comparison to the broken heart of Christopher which he'll never get over. But AJ's personal problems somehow spill into being Tony Soprano's son, as they always do, and he is walking down a bad path, too, in this night of nephews and sons on The Sopranos....
Useful links:
Naked Bodies, Three Showings a Week, No Commercials:
The Sopranos as a Nuts-and-Bolts Triumph of Non-Network TV my 2002 article, published in David Lavery's This Thing of Ours: Investigating The Sopranos
reviews of other episodes this final season: The Sopranos: First of Nine, Second of Nine, Third of Nine, Fourth of Nine, Sixth of Nine, Seventh of Nine, Eighth of Nine, Ninth of Nine
listen to free podcast of this review, and reviews of all the other final nine episodes
How could they? They both loved her, in their own ways. And although her cooperation with the Feds was a bad as Big Pussy's, she was different from him, different from any other member of the family who might have deserved to die.
Christopher's made a good show of getting over her. He's has a wife, a baby, and a movie. But a part of him can't stand the sight of Tony, however much he might mostly deny it. He says that Tony enables his drinking, which Chris is trying to stop, but the deeper truth is every time Chris sees Tony, he sees Adriana, and hates himself and Tony for killing her.
And he's finally beginning to let a little of that out ... telling those who might listen that Tony doesn't show him sufficient gratitude for the sacrifice Christopher made.
And of course Tony does not. And not just because no gratitude could ever expiate the guilt that Christopher feels. But also because Tony, for his part, very much wants to forget this. It's the worst part of a life that he already is more eager than ever to leave.
And so, tonight, we see the first unraveling ... the beginning of the Sopranos coming to terms with the killing of Adriana. It's just the beginning...
Played against the backdrop of AJ's problems, which are eminently normal - getting over a broken heart, because you were jilted - in comparison to the broken heart of Christopher which he'll never get over. But AJ's personal problems somehow spill into being Tony Soprano's son, as they always do, and he is walking down a bad path, too, in this night of nephews and sons on The Sopranos....
Useful links:
Naked Bodies, Three Showings a Week, No Commercials:
The Sopranos as a Nuts-and-Bolts Triumph of Non-Network TV my 2002 article, published in David Lavery's This Thing of Ours: Investigating The Sopranos
reviews of other episodes this final season: The Sopranos: First of Nine, Second of Nine, Third of Nine, Fourth of Nine, Sixth of Nine, Seventh of Nine, Eighth of Nine, Ninth of Nine
listen to free podcast of this review, and reviews of all the other final nine episodes
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