6x16 Chasing It

Not my favorite episode of the show. There's a lot of interesting ideas being tossed around here -- of how money affects, or in some cases dictates our relationships with people, but despite hints here and there, Tony's gambling problem felt very sudden. I do like the idea that with so many worlds conquered at this point, Tony is chasing another form of conquest. As Melfi points out, it's not the money he's after; it's the thrill. That part is semi-plausible, but still doesn't feel as organic a development as it might.

I've seen critics lament the "death of the episode" in television today -- the idea that with more and more shows being about serialization and catering to binge-watchers, the idea of a single episode of television as a story that can stand on its own is fading away. I understand that mentality to a degree -- some of my favorite episodes of serialized shows are basically one-off short stories that give shading to the overarching narrative, but are basically stand alone stories.

But the obverse of the problem comes in episodes like these, where a character develops a characteristic and goes through an entire series of ups and downs in a mere hour, and it all feels very rushed. That was, frankly, why I wasn't as enamored with the Tracey episode as most people -- because the rise and fall happened so quickly, and the narrative shortcuts necessary to establish the scenario made it difficult for me to buy in to the story. There's a very interesting story to be told about Tony losing the thrill of his business and trying to recreate with betting, but it's a tough one to start, finish, and adequately develop all in the same episode.

That said, as always, the acting makes almost any episode of the show worth price of admission. The scene where Tony tries to convince Carmela to bet some of her spec house money on the Jets, and then the follow up where he berates her after she turned him down and the Jets won, were both desperate and devastating in their own way. I'm a broken record at this point, but Gandolfini and Falco are each so good at conveying little shifts in emotion, and subtly startled reactions and fear and hurt and anger at oneself that's directed at another, that you can basically put the two of them together discussing grocery shopping and still feel the emotion of the scene. There's a lot of history and subtext baked into these two scenes, and they were definitely the pinnacle of the episode.

I always enjoy stories with Hesh, and there were some interesting scenes discussing how money turns even old friends against each other, and what Tony's response when somebody becomes economically inconvenient is. The way Tony's demeanor quickly turned sour against his good friend, simply because he owed him money, and even got antisemitic, was classic Tony pointing the finger at anyone but himself for his frustrations.

The Vito Jr. stuff didn't necessarily work for me. Again, there was some interesting stuff about Tony wanting to do right by Vito's family, but being unable to break out of his selfishness and addiction to do it. The contrast between his and Frank's talks with Vito Jr. certainly drew a good contrast between the two bosses, and showed how that Tony is, as always, a man with legitimately good impulses and a degree of perspective and understanding that Frank has, but who just as easily succumbs to his worse impulses when the road gets even a little rocky.

And the last storyline also had to do with money, with Blanca leaving AJ. The implication is pretty clearly that she thought she was moving her way into the luxurious and lucrative world of the mafia by dating the boss's son, and when it's clear that she's not going to be moving into a mansion like cousin Brian, that she'd be marrying a manager at the pizza restaurant, she wants out. It's all done very quickly, but it is, for once, a sad story for AJ, who despite his brattiness, seemed to be working hard and being a good surrogate dad and making something of a change from the lazy schmuck we'd seen in the first half of the season. To see him doing better and getting left for not being the type of high roller his dad is was certainly unfortunate.

Writing all this up, I think I like the episode better than I originally thought, if only because the ideas it covers are interesting even if the execution feels a little pat and the episode ends up feeling like a Sopranos take on an after school special. I'd probably call this a 7.5/10 for the standard the show's set. There's a lot to like thematically, but it doesn't quite come together.

(As an aside, that Nancy Sinatra cameo felt a little gimmicky to me.)