A.J. and 'The Second Coming'
As "The Sopranos" winds down, Inquirer television critic Jonathan Storm and columnist Karen Heller will chat online with readers about episodes at noon on Mondays (There is no new episode or chat next week.) In this excerpt from Monday, they were joined by Inquirer staff writer and mob expert George Anastasia.
Karen Heller: Let's talk about the kids. Last week, Tony killed his favored "son," Chris-tu-pha. This week he saved his true son, A.J., from drowning and mental despair. A.J. attempts to drown himself in the pool, where Tony's beloved ducks first appeared. Now Meadow seems to be drawing herself toward the business. She's cast off medical school, where she could be of help to real people, and is drifting toward law. My hunch is mob law, what with her dating Patsy Parisi's son, Patrick. Plus, isn't she asking for it eating in New York at one of the mob's restaurants?
Judy: I see A.J. as a modern-day Cassandra, a doomed prophet believed by no one. I like the foreshadowing and the use of Yeats' "Second Coming" - is Phil the rough beast slouching toward Tony's twisted Bethlehem?
Jonathan Storm: Striking that A.J.'s all worried about the real Bethlehem, with the Israelis and Palestinians. Tony seems like a lot more of a slouchy beast than Phil, so I wonder what "The Second Coming," which was this week's title, really means. . . .
KH: To me, it's all about Livia, the beast of them all. A.J. says: "Grandma said it's all a big nothing. She said in the end, your friends and family let you down. That you die in your own arms." Meanwhile, Tony tells [Dr.] Melfi, [your mothers] are the bus. They're the vehicle that gets you here. They drop you off, then they go their own way, continue on their own journey. The problem is, we keep tryin' to get back on the bus when we should just be lettin' it go."
George Anastasia: I think a lot of this is Shakespearean, which is something the writers seem to like. Meadow, with the new and now-identified boyfriend, could add a Romeo and Juliet twist to the ending. I think her comment to A.J., paraphrasing here - we're Italian, you're the son, you'll always be the favorite - was very telling.
Jeff: Last night's episode was great! Finally, we are actually moving somewhere - A.J.'s suicide attempt was warranted, and it was great to hear Tony go on and on, using some of the same language as his mother! I was wondering when he was going to start turning into Livia!
KH: And how about Carmella blaming Tony for the bad blood? That A.J.'s behavior is all due to the Sopranos, that is, Livia and his violent father.
GA: Livia has always been the 500-pound gorilla in the room and it's nice to have her presence again as this wraps up.
Coming to a Den Near You
From Carrie Rickey's Flickgrrl
http://go.philly.com/flickgrrl
Will the next installment in the Harry Potter series debut in your den? The technology is there - via pay-per-view - to enable you to premiere a movie at home the same day it opens in movie theaters. But would you pay $30 to $40 for the privilege? Here's a story [see blog for link] about the latest set in the match between the forces that want to make first-run movies available on your home screen on the same day and date they open at the multiplex and those who believe the current arrangement should be maintained. Me? I'm a big-screen girl for many reasons. (1) One of film's unique powers is that it is larger than life. (2) Directors compose on an epic canvas that loses something when it get shrunk to home-screen size. (3) Moviegoing is a group experience.
My kids are what the experts call "plaftorm-neutral": They don't care whether the movie is in a theater, on the home screen or downloaded onto a handheld. My hunch is that if the technology is there, day-and-date release of movies to theaters and pay-for-view is inevitable, but that doesn't mean I'll be a subscriber. For me, to watch movies on the small screen is like looking at a slide of a painting rather than the original. What are you willing to pay to see a new film at home? Or do you prefer the premiere at the 'plex?
Download of the Week
From Dan DeLuca's In the Mix
http://go.philly.com/inthemix.
Prince, "A Case of You." High-water mark of A Tribute to Joni Mitchell, the hit-and-miss encomium on Nonesuch that also features Björk, Caetano Veloso and Sufjan Stevens, who gives "Free Man in Paris," one of his trademark, classical chamber-pop treatments. Where Mitchell explored her lower register on the original, from the archetypal 1971 singer-songwriter LP Blue, the Purple One takes his tender vocal higher, and higher still, on a gossamer piano ballad about a yearning that knows no limit: "I could drink a case of you, and still be on my feet." On iTunes.