SPOILER ALERT!
I’m trying not to give anything away (that hasn’t already been all over the media), but still…
SPOILER ALERT!
OK, I confess – at first I found it maddening (my first email to a friend and fellow addict read simply: ARGGGHH!!!). But in retrospect, I think it was perfect. The sense of dread kept me on the edge of my seat throughout the show — and gave me nightmares that night. In brief, I read it as Tony gaining an increased sense of his vulnerability. And considering that he has no innate sense of security to start with (unloved by his mother, who ultimately tried to kill him, how could he?), that’ s saying quite a lot. Add in that he has now witnessed the impermanence of everything (Junior’s dementia), and that his primary goal has been to protect his family, but that he now realizes that he has made them more vulnerable (AJ’s suicide attempt, Bobby Baccala’s murder), and the pain becomes excruciating. The little ironic note, that AJ has to remind him of his own good advice (“remember the good times”) may sound banal, but it’s also the only way to survive.
That said, I found the Phil Leotardo speed bump death extremely satisfying.
Oh yeah – and there was a cat! Maybe that’s really why I liked it. Remember, Kit can be a nickname for Christopher….
And you?
I really loved it. I enjoy a certain amount of teasing when it’s done well, and done by a writer/producer whose work is authentic and substantial. That last scene in the restaurant was tenser than watching “Jaws.” If, indeed, Tony was whacked, then I appreciate not seeing it, because no matter how monstrous he was, like Frankenstein he had a doomed sense of his own lost humanity.
That scene also reminded me of the training scene in Men in Black, where Will Smith and wannabe MIBs are presented with a scenario of approaching monsters, mutants, and a little girl with a chemistry book, and told to kill the villain. Everyone shoots at an alien except Smith, who shoots the little girl and has a perfectly rational explanation for it. We actually don’t find out if he was right, but he wins.
So in the restaurant, the camera lingers on every stranger, inviting (daring?) us to guess or deduce identity, motivation, intent. It was even shot in a subdued light; it was surreal.
But I can’t fully buy into the “Tony is dead” scenario, because wasn’t every outing with his family full of tragic possibilities for Tony? It almost seemed like we were actually seeing through his eyes how his normal days feel.
In the middle of all the tension, as they were being served food and Tony takes a huge fried onion ring, I said to Eric, “He shouldn’t be eating that.” Eric just looked at me–WTF???
So maybe Tony just had a heart attack, and the movie will open with him in a hospital bed.