Tony Soprano probably longs for the days when all he had to worry about was his mother and uncle conspiring to have him whacked.
Now, life as a New Jersey mob boss is much more complicated, and getting more so with each passing corpse. On Sunday night, Tony sent Christopher to meet Adriana.
Chris and Tony were driving alone together at night along a two-lane road. Chris was behind the wheel, and he kept fiddling with the stereo. Oh, and he was high.
They skidded and crashed. When Chris told Tony that he wouldn?t be able to pass a drug test and was worried about having his license taken away, Tony looked in the backseat and saw a child?s car seat, which in this case served as a symbol for a lot of things: family, love, security, the future ? all of which were in jeopardy if Christopher lived, according to Tony?s way of thinking.
So he held his nephew?s nose and made sure he suffocated and died.
As the final three episodes of ?The Sopranos? approach, it feels as though the walls are closing in on Tony, which figures to create quite a denouement involving Tony and Phil Leotardo ? if David Chase and his writers are good sports.
In this final mini-season, one constant seems to be Tony?s rising sense of agitation and insecurity. In a recent episode, he became obsessed with gambling, and thus became mired in losing. At one point, he even tried to coax Carmela into taking some of her profits from the sale of her spec house and putting it on the Jets.
Cash-flow issues
That was the result of a reminder that Vito, one of his top earners, was gone for good, and money would be an issue.
There was also the episode in which Tony took Paulie on a little boat ride, reminiscent of the one Big Pussy went on and never came back from. Tony was worried that Paulie was shooting off his mouth too much, and that as much as he was a trusted member of the crew he might become a liability. Tony thought about fitting Paulie for cement shoes, but ultimately opted not to do so.
The brief storyline with Hesh and the money Tony owes him also illustrates the pressure on T. He would not have been so inordinately cruel with his wisecracks toward Hesh ? a man he displayed genuine affection for in previous seasons ? if there wasn?t a cash flow problem.
And now Christopher.
Tony?s rage tends to rise up at times without warning. This time it happened when he looked at the doped-up and bloody Chris behind the wheel, then saw the baby seat, then heard Chris confess he was on drugs, and a maelstrom of emotions hit him.
He was sick and tired of coddling Christopher, of tolerating his weakness. He was also deeply concerned that the FBI might find it even easier to make inroads with the unstable Chris than it was with the high-strung Adriana.
Even though clipping his nephew was something he?d surely thought about from time to time ? being the efficient mob businessman that he is ? this wasn?t premeditated murder. It was anger bubbling over, but channeled in a rational course of action. In the Mafia, this is how they fire employees, even when nepotism is involved.
The walls are closing in.
After Christopher?s wake, Tony went solo to Las Vegas and hooked up with one of his nephew?s party girls. It was a selfish move, but that?s Tony. He let the rest of the family grieve the loss of Christopher. He needed recreation on an unprecedented level, which in this case included peyote.
All of this sets up the final three episodes beautifully.
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