Just watched this episode for the first time earlier today, and I continue to spot patterns in how the show is delivered:
Silvio given more screentime than usual, and thus I predicted he'd be, in one way or another, dead by the end of the episode. Not quite the case, but he's out of it for the time being even so.
Anybody else think Vito's a walking caricature? Bad acting, though there's a certain woodenness to him which makes him sort of appealing.
The show is full of little moments where you expect something and it doesn't happen: what was with the camera lingering on the toilet door as Silvio sits inside? For a moment I thought it was another cubicle, adjecent to Silvio's, with a Fed inside. Then I saw the red shirt. Surreal little moments like that which get the heart racing and then lead to an anti-climax. Some may argue that, in the bigger picture, the show itself is handled in this way.
Convenient writing again: Vito is revealed to be closer to Phil than we first thought; Silvio suddenly has asthma; it's Chase doing what he does best, I think, and what he's done since Episode 5 of season one, "College", and more and more predominantly since: to make each episode stand alone.
This episode in particular was so fascinating because it covers fresh ground and sheds light on relationships never touched upon; I think, in this sense, Tony's coma brought out some of the best potential, and best writing, on the show--not to mention, in Edie Falco's case, the best acting. Melfi and Carmela's discussion was fascinating; Bobby and Vito; Chrissy and AJ; Vito and Phil; Carmela with the
capi.
Resulting predominant themes, then, seem to be Selfishness (I count Melfi as the only character not driven by selfishness, and maybe Meadow) and, oddly, Memory. Or Lack Of It. Tony diagnosed with Alziemer's in his dreams, Junior shooting Tony in the first place due to the same thing, probably, Vito and Phil forgetting what they were talking about at dinner, and so on.
Funniest moments: Chris telling the others
Ghostbusters is another reason they should make their
Saw-meets-
The Godfather film; Paulie's remark about Tony looking terrible, and Paulie telling the others, "So I was holding his hand..."
Best moment: That final dream; for Gandolfini's acting if nothing else. It was also the only time during Tony's coma that I actually felt unsafe in the writers' hands. It got me thinking all sorts of things, such as when
Romance and Cigarettes, the musical in which Gandolfini stars, was filmed, and whether he had been available because he was no longer working on the show...like Adriana's demise was certain when
Joey signed her up.
Great episode.
