There have not been the usual references to sport of late although this does not mean I have not been watching and listening to events over the past two weeks.
First cricket, my consistent sporting love, and where unlike football I have supported the national side regularly attending a Test Match day each year until the past couple of seasons. England are playing Pakistan in the Middle East with a humiliating defeat in the first Test held in a near empty stadium in Dubai although there were a few more people attending the second Test in Abu Dhabi. England ended the first day having taken 7 wickets for 256 runs. Yesterday Pakistan were only able to add 1 more run and England survive the morning with the loss of one wicket and making 48 runs. The going was slow but keeping wickets must be the priority given the two collapses of the first game. I will watch and listen until Leveson, then watch while listening to Leveson.
England appeared to be doing well after the early loss of Captain Strauss with Cook 94 and Trott 74 and a total of 197 for 2 but then 4 wickets fell cheaply. This morning before I arrived down stairs England had progressed well with an excellent innings from all rounder Stewart Broad of Nottinghamshire who was left all out at 58 when the innings quickly ended immediately after the lunch with the two last men out in the first over. It is now up to the opening bowlers not just to bowl accurately but take wickets if the lead of 70 runs is to have impact. I switched channels to watch Scotland‘s Andy Murray start his semi final game against world champion Djokovitch and the opening games suggested the difference between top man and nearly man is as wide as ever.
I have not mentioned American Football much over recent years, rarely watching a full game on TV except the annual Super Bowl. In part this is because of the demise of the two teams I commenced to support in the mid 1980’s seeing two live games at Wembley as well as regularly staying up on Sunday nights to see live relays. My chosen team was the Chicago Bears but after being given a shirt one season for the San Francisco 49ers I also followed their fortunes. This weekend I watched the play off between the 49ers and the New York Giants. They lost in a thrilling game in extra time having had the chance to win it.
Another disappointment was on Tuesday in the penalty shoot out of the second leg of the semi final of the League Cup competition in which my boyhood club, Crystal Palace, down to 10 men, held out to and through extra time before collapsing to Cardiff City when it came to the penalties.
Newcastle were smashed at Fulham in strange game which they dominated throughout the first half and then went to pieces in one crazy period in which they gave away three goals and lost 5. 2 in the end.
The only bright light was Sunderland who managed a hard fought 2.0 at home win against Swansea with two great goals and who are now out of the relegation quagmire in mid table but still 9 points adrift of Newcastle who remain in 6th a point above Liverpool having played he same number of game. The Sunderland Newcastle F A cup game is on television lunchtime Sunday which is excellent news. Newcastle visit to Brighton is the featured game on ESPN where I regarded the additional premium a luxury.
My game playing against the computer has improved in several respects so that after three years of trying I managed to achieve 18 million points at Luxor Mah-jong. I have also now won 2000 games at Spider patience out of 10047 and achieved another run of 101 games but still short of the maximum of 243 to date. Having decided to move up between levels in Chess each time I manage a run of 101 games I am stuck within level 3 because of lapses of concentration. The main success continues to be with Patience Hearts where my record breaking run is now over 2250 wins where previously it was only over 1000. Over all I have won 6400 games losing only a dozen early on before I got the hang of the play and maintain the 99point something average.
The crime/adventure/thriller/fantasy series that I like watching came to an end before Christmas except for the showing of the Soprano’s series back to back an episode a week which I shall update in a moment. A second season of the four episode crime caper set on Spanish Island. Mad Dogs has commenced as very enjoyable. Will be reported in about three weeks time as I assume there will also only be four episodes. One other development is the commencing of series 9 of the Naval CIS series which I have enjoyed because of the characterization although the first two episodes shown back to back on Friday were formula productions. A second season of Spartacus Blood and Thunder with soft porn beings on Sunday, called Vengeance. Last year there were two series with a prequel shown at the end. The Huge George Martin Books commencing with Game of Thrones 850 pages proved so engaging that I acquired the first five published works with the second over 900 pages, A Feast for Crowns, already being advertised for serialization in April although under the series banner Game of Thrones. I must also try and remember the ending of Merlin before Christmas now almost forgotten. Tremé is to have a third season the bets of the best because of the Jazz foreground and Blue Bloods can be expected to appear again. Given the ongoing programme with Leveson which should take me into the Cricket season and the amount of scheduled to cover, I am resisting the temptation to widen my interest further.
Now to the latest episodes of the Sopranos which brings to an end the 12 episode Season 4. Previously we learned that Tony had acquired an interest in a Horse Pie -O-My (44) which Ralphie was said to have acquired, the thoroughbred begins to win so that Ralphie ingratiates himself by ensuring Tony makes good winnings. Tony became so caught up in the horse that he takes Carmela to see the creature at its stables and commissions a large portrait of himself with the horse. His affection grows to the extent of protesting at the use of the whip in a race despite demanding more and more winnings. He stays up all night with the horse when it becomes ill after Ralphie calls Tony after having not paid the vets Bills. Tony settles the account but becomes more obsessed with the horse. I have given this story top billing because it demonstrates that on one hand we have the ruthless killer and hard man crime boss earning a major living from crime which involves stealing from others yet he is has a soft centre in relation to an animal.
Tony continues to have a volatile relationship with his psychiatrist accusing her of failure when he discovers that his former girl friend Gloria Trillo had killed herself by hanging. He is able to understand the guilt he feels for his treatment of her but not that he will only feel better if he stops his whoring and getting involved with challenging women as well as ending his criminal activities. He has a frightening nightmare about Gloria. However she is soon forgotten when Tony is attracted to the girlfriend of Ralphie and they begin an affair. It is Valentina who persuaded Tony to have a portrait of him with the horse Pie O My painted. She responds to Tony’s advances because she dislikes Ralphie masochistic fantasies which Tony learns was also one of the reasons why Janice threw him out. This is also part of Tony wanting to always t be powerful and in control.
Tony is devastated when he learns that there has been a fire at the stables and that Pie O My has to be put down. He discusses the loss of the horse with Dr Melfi and she comments on his different outward emotions and reactions between the animal and people. In relation to people he becomes angry and goes into denial. He gets angry at this and says going to see Dr Melfi is a waste of time and money.
He announces he is ending the relationship once more at a subsequent session and Dr Melfi expresses concern pointing out the progress he has made no longer having life threatening panic attacks. She urges him to get into contact if problems arise. The precipitating cause of his reaction is her refusal to explain the meaning of a dream he brings to her. He is in a car (Calling all Cars) episode 50, sitting at the back with his wife the Ralphie the driver of his father’s Cadillac and Carmela sitting next to the driver. There is a caterpillar at the back of Ralphie’s head which turns into an attractive butterfly. Sitting next to Tony is Gloria Trillo one of his recent mistresses and then another Svetlana Kirilenko.
Immediately Tony leaves the office Dr Melfi announces to her psychiatrist counsellor that she has been released from her most troubling and personally challenging client. Tony then has another panic attack when on a brief visit to Miami. As with his wife you know that they have become so important to each other than the link with Dr Melfi is unlikely to ever be broken permanently.
While there are moments of affection between Tony and Carmela and they still share a marital bed, under the influence of her priest and having attended individual and joint sessions with psychiatrists she has become more disaffected especially as she transfers her affections to Tony’s driver and hard man Furio who he brought back from Italy after his visit there to take over enterprises previously controlled by Uncle Junior. Carmela encourages Furio to arrive early and come in for coffee, or some home baking when he calls and later when he needs work undertaken on his home. She mentions him when in bed with Tony although Tony does not mention appear to see the significance. She arranges to see Furio for a meal with his girlfriend. Furio calls on her on the pretext of having left his sunglasses.
Her feelings come to the fore when Furio goes back to Italy following the death of his father. Tony remonstrates with him on return for being emotional. Furio admits to Carmela he has nothing in common with his family anymore or his background in Italy and that his future is in the USA. Carmela has talked about him getting a regular job career as a dental technician for example.
She discusses her feelings with her psychiatrist who urges her to take no action but this appears only to act as a spur. She has her haircut to make her look younger which angers Tony because she has changed her appearance without his permission. Furio who has broken with his girl friend senses the come on and backs out. He is shocked by Tony’s behaviour when they make a visit to the native American run Casino and Tony is clearly having an instant relationship with a buxom house girl. Tony had commented to Dr Melfi that he could have bought a fast car with all the money he had spent $300 a session a week and with that he would have a blow job. Tony needs to get back for an important meeting so having spent $15000 at the tables a helicopter transport to the airport is provided and at one point we are led to believed that Furio is about to push Tony into the rotating blades, Furio backs out and when Tony asks what is going on, Furio says he got hold of Tony because he had got too close to the blades. Immediately afterwards Furio disappears and Tony appears is angry on learning that the man has packed up and gone back to Italy, Carmela, fearing Tony is responsible for the departure finds that his home has been cleared of all possessions and she is devastated. She becomes angry with everyone including her daughter Meadow and son CJ as well as Tony, finding fault at every opportunity. Meadow begins to work out the position and in a conversation with Tony where it is evident he does not realise what has happened.
Previously Carmela nags Tony about what happens to her and the family if Tony goes to prison or he is killed and presses him to make official provision. Tony is in fact secreting huge amounts of funds around the property and made other arrangement through his Counsel and a Russian contact for such a situation. He resists the pressure from Carmela after realising his wife and family will benefit from the Trust only through his death and he will not have access to the funds if his circumstances dramatically changed. Eventually going through one of his feeling guilty phases he gives in and signs the papers for the Trust creating a good atmosphere between the two for a short lived while. Carmela discovers where Tony is stashing cash and takes some money assuming he will not notice and which she invests in stocks and shares. When C J comes into the room one day Tony asks if he has been in the backyard alerting Carmela that Tony is aware some of the money is missing adding to the tension which is growing between them. In part this is because she has become aware that Tony is seeing someone when she finds a broken fingernail within his clothing (Mergers and Acquisitions(47))
Their getting into trouble son CJ settled down in a new High school again after his expulsion and threatened sending to an army training establishment after establishing a relationship with an attractive girl Devin with his mother ensuring that the two are not allowed time together when at home. When he visits Devin’s home he finds that her family is even wealthier than his.
C J has revealed to his friends that his father runs a Pole Dance club the Bada Bada and they go off in search but fortunately he is confused about the location and end up elsewhere. He is told off for staying out after the family imposed curfew.
He tries to find somewhere to be alone with Devin through his sister Meadow who has become a leading volunteer is a law/welfare and support, as well as doing well on her courses and making friend with Ivy Leaguers from normal middle and upper class families. She moves into shared accommodation with other Ivy leaguers and Tony and Camilla help with the move and settling in party to meet the other house sharers and their families. One of the parents comments how lucky her son is to have Meadow in the house because she is such a good cook, and is a model because of her work at the centre as well as getting high grades for her work. She knows more about their daughter than they do. Meadow has a new boyfriend who comes for a good family and is going to skiing with him at the family holiday home.
Mother and daughter have their annual birthday meal together and after a good start it develops into an argument. Meadow states that the problem is that she has become everything that Carmela wanted having had to drop out of college to marry Tony and that she now resents her daughter. Tony attempts to be a peacemaker and reminds Carmela that she has created the wonderful human being her daughter has become. This only serves to underline the misery Carmela now feels with the departure of Furio. Worse is to come when C J accuses his mother of treating him as a child and not recognising that he has become a sexual active young adult because she is aging. Tony has suggested to Meadow that he mother is possibly reaching the menopause. Meadow is surprised to learn that her father has been in therapy and also attending joint session with her mother. The impression gained is that she is seeing her father in a new light. CJ remains CJ as a subsequent event will demonstrate. This leaves three members of Tony’s immediate family to cover.
His sister Janice has commenced to take an interest in the widower Bobby Baccalieri and his two children after throwing out Ralphie. Seeing other women take an interest in the loyal gang member with a soft heart and good father she pretends that some lasagne prepared by Carmela is her own. She successfully gets Bobby to return to work for Uncle Junior who gets him to strong arm a union official to fix votes. She hopes this will stop him grieving for his wife. Tony approves the relationship which brings brother and sister together and they remember good family times. The relationship develops between the two
Janice begins to believe she has found a new good relationship unaware that Booby is grieving hard for his wife and visiting her grave daily. His daughter questions what happened to the birthday cake she saw in his car when he collected her from school. Bobby by admits that he buried it alongside the grave and Janice realises he is far from moving on and that her position is precarious.
The Court Case against Uncle Junior is continues to his growing disquiet at the way it is going and how he is being portrayed in the media. When he leaves court one day in (Whoever Did this) (48) he falls down the steps and hits his head. He is anxious to leave hospital as quickly as he can but Tony has the idea that Junior should use the accident to his advantage and claim that mental instability renders him unfit to plead and therefore encourages Junior to pretend he has lost part of his cognitive functions and is confused. He prepares for the various Tests the Court will require before it accepts the position. Arrangements are made for him to have a nurse to care for him and this is arranged by Tony through Svetlana the Russian with one leg who Tony arranged to care for his mother and who had the conflict with Janice who at one point stole her special leg.
As might be expected Tony cannot resist making with the woman but she then decides not to have a continuing relationship because he is likely to be too much trouble. The Uncle Junior plan also goes wrong when the official doctors determine he is fit to continue and the Trial judge anyway insists on going ahead. This causes them to go to plan B which is to get at a Juror.
Tony’s nephew and protégée Christopher backslides on his commitment to live in girl friend Adriana to give up drugs while she is concerned that the live music bar she has been given is being more and more used as an alternative hang out for members of the extended crime family. Having forced to spy for Christopher and his associates by the Feds she becomes paranoid at being found out, hurt and killed but no one has any idea this has happened although with the court case they assume they are being kept under close surveillance. Meadow has taken the lamp to university where the bug was planted to overhear the conversations in the basement. For some reason the Feds have decided not to mount another operation to replace the listening device.
After watching TV Adriana believes that if she and Christopher are married she will not be able to testify against him. A marital lawyer explains that this will only apply after they marry and therefore does not cover what happened beforehand and this has separately been discussed within the FBI who make no objection to the marriage as a consequence.
The most important and far reaching development of the series to date happens when Tony reveals to Christopher, who is full of drugs that he proposes to make him his eventual successor and therefore a confidante above his official number two. He says he wants Tony to bring the family into the 21st century. Christopher is so hyped up he comments that they are already in the 21st century a point which Tony fortunately overlooks. Soon Christopher is called upon to show he is worthy of the trust been shown.
Things go from bad to worse for Ralphie. When he has the care of his son for the day the boy plays with the son of a neighbour who is unsupervised shooting real arrows into the air and asking the son to allow these to fall on a hand held target. Off camera the son misjudges the flight of an arrow and his chest is pierced. Although the child survives he lives in a state of coma which understandably aroused much anger on the part of her ex wife and makes Ralphie feel great guilt to the extent he goes to visit a priest. Worse is come when Tony is called out to the fire at the stables and sees his horse destroyed. When Tony breaks the news that the horse has died Ralphie appears disinterested and tells Tony that his son is showing signs of improvement. Tony believes that Ralphie caused the fire after taking out $200000 insurance and asks if he has been contact with the man who they arranged to set fire to the old restaurant of Artie Bucco to avoid a murderous hit being staged there. The two men fight and in his rage over the death of the horse Tony kills Ralphie and then contacts Christopher who is in a drug haze to help him get rid of the body.
Tony is concerned about the state of Christopher which is not helped when the young man points out that one of their own captains getting whacked could be a problem. Tony tells Christopher that he is the only one who knows and therefore any problem is with him. Tony does not feel as guilty about killing Ralphie as some of his other victims because of what the man did to one of the strippers at the Bada Bada.
In the tradition of the Sopranos end of series it is in the penultimate episode that issues which have been simmering hot up and in some instances explode. We have already had the death of Ralphie as yet one more of the originals gangster crew is killed usually the hands of another members rather than by someone outside or the intervention of the law.
There is no personal concern or regret at the disappearance of Ralphie who it will be remembered alienated h the New York Under Boss Johnny Sacks because of a joke made about his wife and indeed it was Tony attempt to broker peace reminding that conflicts within the families are settled by sitting down and negotiation and not by unilateral action such as Whacking in the episode- The Strong Silent Type (49).
Paulie Walnuts is released from prison full of anger that Tony and his other colleagues have not visited him in prison for fear of being targeted even more than they are present. He ignores the fact that he has been given no show jobs at the new development site which Tony runs in association with one of the New York families. He is not appeased by the coming out party at the Bada Bada
The release of Paulie leads to information coming to the family of a way to defraud the US Federal Government of millions of dollars through buying up run down and inexpensive properties and doing them up for re-letting This leads Christopher into a black ghetto neighbourhood where drug dealing predominates. It also has implications for relationships with the New York family where Sacks lives with his wife in a grand country house within the New England territory controlled by Tony(Watching Too Much Television) (46). Paulie need for more money arises from deciding to place his mother in the top retirement complex where Tony had placed his mother Livia. When Paulie finds that his mother is not going to be able to join regular social activities with former friends who are also in the home, Paulie begins to lean on their children and including the use of his crew to persuade a reluctant son to exert pressure on his mother. He also maintains an association with Sacks who implies to the New York boss is appreciative of his contact and that Soprano is not highly regarded.
There is now a move by the New York boss via Sacks to gain more money from activities controlled by Tony, The first is the housing fraud. When Tony refuses to contribute a portion of the profits, Sacks arranged for the man who does the official property assessments for the government funding application to switch to them or be beaten up. The man is then beaten up by Tony’s crew for not fulfilling his undertakings to them. This is a regular occurrence for anyone who works for the Mafia.
There is also a request for an ongoing percentage of the new Hotel/apartment complex which is progressed with the main structures completed and the fitting out in process so when negotiations fail another union official comes along and calls a full strike from his members because there is no union Labour on site. When Tony is persuaded that a sit down settlement is the way forward he goes down to Miami to see the son of the New York Crime boss Carmine for assistance with the father and Sacks. Carmine and his son play golf with Sacks in an effort to broker a deal. When Tony arrives at the sitdown he finds the New York boss is not present and the terms are the same as before so he walks out. However there is an exchange between Sacks and Tony suggesting that they ought to take action to end the reign of Carmine
Tony has expressed concern that Paulie is not delivering the same weekly tribute as his other captains. Paulie attends a wedding where he approaches the New York boss and finds that he has no special position. He therefore decides to regain the confidence of Tony by breaking into the home of one his mother‘s friends when he thinks she is out. She returns and threatens to call the police so he has to kill her. However he is then able to impress Tony with the amount of his tribute that week.
Tony was at the Bada Bada club when the large portrait of him and the Horse arrives and he orders it to be burnt. When he is not there Paulie says it is worth $25000 and takes it home and hangs it up in his living room. The pictures seems to grow in size which each camera visit and to have a haunting effect on Paulie.
It is Christopher who becomes Tony’s main concern. In a drug and drunken state he sits on Adriana’s dog without realising what he is doing and when she returns she finds the dog has a broken neck and is dead. When she protests he beats her up so she turns to Carmela for help and Tony is furious saying that if Christopher had not been kin he would have whacked him. They bring in a Counsellor who gets everyone to write down the negative way that Christopher has behaved and when he is in a sound condition they confront him with the home truths on the basis they will do this in a non judgemental way. However when Christopher refuses to cooperate they lose their temper and beat him up so that he ends up in hospital.
The Feds have already told Adriana they have arranged a place for Christopher in a rehabilitation centre because in his present condition he is of no potential use to them as a witness. Tony insists he is admitted as a voluntary patient and lets him know that he has one of his men at a nearby motel with the authority to whack him if he attempts to leave before he is considered ready. The sequence is an amusing one. There is a similar light hand aspect when Janice brings around Bobby and his children for an evening meal and insists that C J stays in to entertain the children. Devin comes round for coffee and CJ takes her two his room on their own until Carmela finds out and takes the visiting children up insisting that they play a game with them. C J‘s solution is get out the ouija board and frightens them pretending their mother’s spirit is with them.
This then is the setting for the final episode of the series. (Whitecaps)52 when as is custom some matters are resolved while other are left for season five.
Adriana collects Christopher after he has been declared rehabilitated under observation from Tony’s appointed minder. Also keeping watch are the Feds. Adriana had admitted to Christopher that she is unlikely to have children because of an abortion that when wrong. Christopher had seen marriage as a means for starting a family and is devastated but eventually forgives her. There sis the impression that they are starting out again in contrast to what happens between Tony and Carmela. Everything else is placed in perspective. Things start off well when Tony says he wants to buy a beach home on the Jersey shore -Whitecaps. He takes Carmela and the family to see it saying he is buying as a future holiday home for his children to enjoy and Carmela is thrilled at the development although worries about the cost. There is a further complication in that the house is under sale to someone else and Tony uses the influence of his position to persuade the owner to sell to him and Carmela says it is a good investment because of size and location reminding of her career attempt as a Home sales agent.
The disaster strikes as one of Tony previous mistresses rings Carmela in a disturbed condition and spills the beans on her relationship with Tony. This is Irena who was taken up by another member of the Crew who Tony beat up because the man had dared to have a relationship with the woman even though they had broken up, The beating up caused the man to separate from Irena which was the catalyst for her desperate call to the house and speaking to Carmela. This is the last straw for Carmela so that when Tony returns home he runs over his golf clubs which have been thrown into the driveway and where Carmela is throwing out all his clothes and possessions from upstairs windows, She demands that he leaves and will get a restraining order when he refuses.
He does leave and goes to Irena’s place where he finds Svetlana who explains the background. He goes off and stays at Whitecaps. Tony tries to back out of the purchase because of the changed circumstances but is held to it.
Meadow and Carmela fight over the situation with Meadow raising the relationship with Furio which Carmela vehemently denies. Meadow demands to know why Carmela was prepared to eat shit for years until now and storms off.
Meanwhile Tony has set on forcing the owner of the property to back off from the purchase and return his $20000 deposit. He load his home cinema speakers onto his boat and offshore plays as loud as possible disrupting a lunch party the owners are having. Tony repeats this including at night until they give in.
Tony returns home and tries to exert his rights but Carmela stands her ground. A J helps Tony clear out the pool house cinema so that he can stay there. However this does not work and the couple continues to row going over the history of their marriage and Carmela admits she her only recent happy moments have been the visits of Furio. Tony nearly punches her but punches holes in the wall instead and she calls him a fucking hypocrite. A J pleads to go and live with Tony but Tony says he must now be a man for his mother. Meadow wants them to return to Counselling and thinks over the extent to which she has taken her parents and home for granted. Tony tries to ring Dr Melfi but puts the phone down when she answers. She tries to ring him back but finds the number is now blocked. Carmela and A J watch Tony leave the home. There is something final about this, or so it seems.
Meanwhile Uncle Junior get his mistrial when the threatened Juror fails to agree the verdict. Uncle Junior appears far from elated with the result and takes it out on his crew member Bobby Scalerico whose relationship with Janice appears to have taken a turn for the better. Junior appears to spike this wanting attention from Bobby.
Johnny Sacks admits to Tony his hatred for the way his boss has treated him over the years and Tony tells Christopher to take out a contract on Carmine to make it look like a one of car jack killing.. He arranges for the two men involved in taking his car when he went into their neighbourhood for drugs to do the killing, Meanwhile at the race track Johnny advises Toy that his boss wants to settle so they arrange a meet. They settle for 15% instead of 40% much to the horror of Sacks. Carmine expresses sympathy over the marital break up and Tony commends the man’s son. The behaviour makes Tony wonder if Carmine has got wind of the hit on him. Tony calls off the hit and Chris meets the two men and kills them. Sacks lets his tongue rip about the behaviour of his boss and says Tony can trust him and should not have backed out of the assassination and take over deal. Tony keeps repeating that Sacks should not be saying this now to him. It is possible to read from this how things might go in season six.
First cricket, my consistent sporting love, and where unlike football I have supported the national side regularly attending a Test Match day each year until the past couple of seasons. England are playing Pakistan in the Middle East with a humiliating defeat in the first Test held in a near empty stadium in Dubai although there were a few more people attending the second Test in Abu Dhabi. England ended the first day having taken 7 wickets for 256 runs. Yesterday Pakistan were only able to add 1 more run and England survive the morning with the loss of one wicket and making 48 runs. The going was slow but keeping wickets must be the priority given the two collapses of the first game. I will watch and listen until Leveson, then watch while listening to Leveson.
England appeared to be doing well after the early loss of Captain Strauss with Cook 94 and Trott 74 and a total of 197 for 2 but then 4 wickets fell cheaply. This morning before I arrived down stairs England had progressed well with an excellent innings from all rounder Stewart Broad of Nottinghamshire who was left all out at 58 when the innings quickly ended immediately after the lunch with the two last men out in the first over. It is now up to the opening bowlers not just to bowl accurately but take wickets if the lead of 70 runs is to have impact. I switched channels to watch Scotland‘s Andy Murray start his semi final game against world champion Djokovitch and the opening games suggested the difference between top man and nearly man is as wide as ever.
I have not mentioned American Football much over recent years, rarely watching a full game on TV except the annual Super Bowl. In part this is because of the demise of the two teams I commenced to support in the mid 1980’s seeing two live games at Wembley as well as regularly staying up on Sunday nights to see live relays. My chosen team was the Chicago Bears but after being given a shirt one season for the San Francisco 49ers I also followed their fortunes. This weekend I watched the play off between the 49ers and the New York Giants. They lost in a thrilling game in extra time having had the chance to win it.
Another disappointment was on Tuesday in the penalty shoot out of the second leg of the semi final of the League Cup competition in which my boyhood club, Crystal Palace, down to 10 men, held out to and through extra time before collapsing to Cardiff City when it came to the penalties.
Newcastle were smashed at Fulham in strange game which they dominated throughout the first half and then went to pieces in one crazy period in which they gave away three goals and lost 5. 2 in the end.
The only bright light was Sunderland who managed a hard fought 2.0 at home win against Swansea with two great goals and who are now out of the relegation quagmire in mid table but still 9 points adrift of Newcastle who remain in 6th a point above Liverpool having played he same number of game. The Sunderland Newcastle F A cup game is on television lunchtime Sunday which is excellent news. Newcastle visit to Brighton is the featured game on ESPN where I regarded the additional premium a luxury.
My game playing against the computer has improved in several respects so that after three years of trying I managed to achieve 18 million points at Luxor Mah-jong. I have also now won 2000 games at Spider patience out of 10047 and achieved another run of 101 games but still short of the maximum of 243 to date. Having decided to move up between levels in Chess each time I manage a run of 101 games I am stuck within level 3 because of lapses of concentration. The main success continues to be with Patience Hearts where my record breaking run is now over 2250 wins where previously it was only over 1000. Over all I have won 6400 games losing only a dozen early on before I got the hang of the play and maintain the 99point something average.
The crime/adventure/thriller/fantasy series that I like watching came to an end before Christmas except for the showing of the Soprano’s series back to back an episode a week which I shall update in a moment. A second season of the four episode crime caper set on Spanish Island. Mad Dogs has commenced as very enjoyable. Will be reported in about three weeks time as I assume there will also only be four episodes. One other development is the commencing of series 9 of the Naval CIS series which I have enjoyed because of the characterization although the first two episodes shown back to back on Friday were formula productions. A second season of Spartacus Blood and Thunder with soft porn beings on Sunday, called Vengeance. Last year there were two series with a prequel shown at the end. The Huge George Martin Books commencing with Game of Thrones 850 pages proved so engaging that I acquired the first five published works with the second over 900 pages, A Feast for Crowns, already being advertised for serialization in April although under the series banner Game of Thrones. I must also try and remember the ending of Merlin before Christmas now almost forgotten. Tremé is to have a third season the bets of the best because of the Jazz foreground and Blue Bloods can be expected to appear again. Given the ongoing programme with Leveson which should take me into the Cricket season and the amount of scheduled to cover, I am resisting the temptation to widen my interest further.
Now to the latest episodes of the Sopranos which brings to an end the 12 episode Season 4. Previously we learned that Tony had acquired an interest in a Horse Pie -O-My (44) which Ralphie was said to have acquired, the thoroughbred begins to win so that Ralphie ingratiates himself by ensuring Tony makes good winnings. Tony became so caught up in the horse that he takes Carmela to see the creature at its stables and commissions a large portrait of himself with the horse. His affection grows to the extent of protesting at the use of the whip in a race despite demanding more and more winnings. He stays up all night with the horse when it becomes ill after Ralphie calls Tony after having not paid the vets Bills. Tony settles the account but becomes more obsessed with the horse. I have given this story top billing because it demonstrates that on one hand we have the ruthless killer and hard man crime boss earning a major living from crime which involves stealing from others yet he is has a soft centre in relation to an animal.
Tony continues to have a volatile relationship with his psychiatrist accusing her of failure when he discovers that his former girl friend Gloria Trillo had killed herself by hanging. He is able to understand the guilt he feels for his treatment of her but not that he will only feel better if he stops his whoring and getting involved with challenging women as well as ending his criminal activities. He has a frightening nightmare about Gloria. However she is soon forgotten when Tony is attracted to the girlfriend of Ralphie and they begin an affair. It is Valentina who persuaded Tony to have a portrait of him with the horse Pie O My painted. She responds to Tony’s advances because she dislikes Ralphie masochistic fantasies which Tony learns was also one of the reasons why Janice threw him out. This is also part of Tony wanting to always t be powerful and in control.
Tony is devastated when he learns that there has been a fire at the stables and that Pie O My has to be put down. He discusses the loss of the horse with Dr Melfi and she comments on his different outward emotions and reactions between the animal and people. In relation to people he becomes angry and goes into denial. He gets angry at this and says going to see Dr Melfi is a waste of time and money.
He announces he is ending the relationship once more at a subsequent session and Dr Melfi expresses concern pointing out the progress he has made no longer having life threatening panic attacks. She urges him to get into contact if problems arise. The precipitating cause of his reaction is her refusal to explain the meaning of a dream he brings to her. He is in a car (Calling all Cars) episode 50, sitting at the back with his wife the Ralphie the driver of his father’s Cadillac and Carmela sitting next to the driver. There is a caterpillar at the back of Ralphie’s head which turns into an attractive butterfly. Sitting next to Tony is Gloria Trillo one of his recent mistresses and then another Svetlana Kirilenko.
Immediately Tony leaves the office Dr Melfi announces to her psychiatrist counsellor that she has been released from her most troubling and personally challenging client. Tony then has another panic attack when on a brief visit to Miami. As with his wife you know that they have become so important to each other than the link with Dr Melfi is unlikely to ever be broken permanently.
While there are moments of affection between Tony and Carmela and they still share a marital bed, under the influence of her priest and having attended individual and joint sessions with psychiatrists she has become more disaffected especially as she transfers her affections to Tony’s driver and hard man Furio who he brought back from Italy after his visit there to take over enterprises previously controlled by Uncle Junior. Carmela encourages Furio to arrive early and come in for coffee, or some home baking when he calls and later when he needs work undertaken on his home. She mentions him when in bed with Tony although Tony does not mention appear to see the significance. She arranges to see Furio for a meal with his girlfriend. Furio calls on her on the pretext of having left his sunglasses.
Her feelings come to the fore when Furio goes back to Italy following the death of his father. Tony remonstrates with him on return for being emotional. Furio admits to Carmela he has nothing in common with his family anymore or his background in Italy and that his future is in the USA. Carmela has talked about him getting a regular job career as a dental technician for example.
She discusses her feelings with her psychiatrist who urges her to take no action but this appears only to act as a spur. She has her haircut to make her look younger which angers Tony because she has changed her appearance without his permission. Furio who has broken with his girl friend senses the come on and backs out. He is shocked by Tony’s behaviour when they make a visit to the native American run Casino and Tony is clearly having an instant relationship with a buxom house girl. Tony had commented to Dr Melfi that he could have bought a fast car with all the money he had spent $300 a session a week and with that he would have a blow job. Tony needs to get back for an important meeting so having spent $15000 at the tables a helicopter transport to the airport is provided and at one point we are led to believed that Furio is about to push Tony into the rotating blades, Furio backs out and when Tony asks what is going on, Furio says he got hold of Tony because he had got too close to the blades. Immediately afterwards Furio disappears and Tony appears is angry on learning that the man has packed up and gone back to Italy, Carmela, fearing Tony is responsible for the departure finds that his home has been cleared of all possessions and she is devastated. She becomes angry with everyone including her daughter Meadow and son CJ as well as Tony, finding fault at every opportunity. Meadow begins to work out the position and in a conversation with Tony where it is evident he does not realise what has happened.
Previously Carmela nags Tony about what happens to her and the family if Tony goes to prison or he is killed and presses him to make official provision. Tony is in fact secreting huge amounts of funds around the property and made other arrangement through his Counsel and a Russian contact for such a situation. He resists the pressure from Carmela after realising his wife and family will benefit from the Trust only through his death and he will not have access to the funds if his circumstances dramatically changed. Eventually going through one of his feeling guilty phases he gives in and signs the papers for the Trust creating a good atmosphere between the two for a short lived while. Carmela discovers where Tony is stashing cash and takes some money assuming he will not notice and which she invests in stocks and shares. When C J comes into the room one day Tony asks if he has been in the backyard alerting Carmela that Tony is aware some of the money is missing adding to the tension which is growing between them. In part this is because she has become aware that Tony is seeing someone when she finds a broken fingernail within his clothing (Mergers and Acquisitions(47))
Their getting into trouble son CJ settled down in a new High school again after his expulsion and threatened sending to an army training establishment after establishing a relationship with an attractive girl Devin with his mother ensuring that the two are not allowed time together when at home. When he visits Devin’s home he finds that her family is even wealthier than his.
C J has revealed to his friends that his father runs a Pole Dance club the Bada Bada and they go off in search but fortunately he is confused about the location and end up elsewhere. He is told off for staying out after the family imposed curfew.
He tries to find somewhere to be alone with Devin through his sister Meadow who has become a leading volunteer is a law/welfare and support, as well as doing well on her courses and making friend with Ivy Leaguers from normal middle and upper class families. She moves into shared accommodation with other Ivy leaguers and Tony and Camilla help with the move and settling in party to meet the other house sharers and their families. One of the parents comments how lucky her son is to have Meadow in the house because she is such a good cook, and is a model because of her work at the centre as well as getting high grades for her work. She knows more about their daughter than they do. Meadow has a new boyfriend who comes for a good family and is going to skiing with him at the family holiday home.
Mother and daughter have their annual birthday meal together and after a good start it develops into an argument. Meadow states that the problem is that she has become everything that Carmela wanted having had to drop out of college to marry Tony and that she now resents her daughter. Tony attempts to be a peacemaker and reminds Carmela that she has created the wonderful human being her daughter has become. This only serves to underline the misery Carmela now feels with the departure of Furio. Worse is to come when C J accuses his mother of treating him as a child and not recognising that he has become a sexual active young adult because she is aging. Tony has suggested to Meadow that he mother is possibly reaching the menopause. Meadow is surprised to learn that her father has been in therapy and also attending joint session with her mother. The impression gained is that she is seeing her father in a new light. CJ remains CJ as a subsequent event will demonstrate. This leaves three members of Tony’s immediate family to cover.
His sister Janice has commenced to take an interest in the widower Bobby Baccalieri and his two children after throwing out Ralphie. Seeing other women take an interest in the loyal gang member with a soft heart and good father she pretends that some lasagne prepared by Carmela is her own. She successfully gets Bobby to return to work for Uncle Junior who gets him to strong arm a union official to fix votes. She hopes this will stop him grieving for his wife. Tony approves the relationship which brings brother and sister together and they remember good family times. The relationship develops between the two
Janice begins to believe she has found a new good relationship unaware that Booby is grieving hard for his wife and visiting her grave daily. His daughter questions what happened to the birthday cake she saw in his car when he collected her from school. Bobby by admits that he buried it alongside the grave and Janice realises he is far from moving on and that her position is precarious.
The Court Case against Uncle Junior is continues to his growing disquiet at the way it is going and how he is being portrayed in the media. When he leaves court one day in (Whoever Did this) (48) he falls down the steps and hits his head. He is anxious to leave hospital as quickly as he can but Tony has the idea that Junior should use the accident to his advantage and claim that mental instability renders him unfit to plead and therefore encourages Junior to pretend he has lost part of his cognitive functions and is confused. He prepares for the various Tests the Court will require before it accepts the position. Arrangements are made for him to have a nurse to care for him and this is arranged by Tony through Svetlana the Russian with one leg who Tony arranged to care for his mother and who had the conflict with Janice who at one point stole her special leg.
As might be expected Tony cannot resist making with the woman but she then decides not to have a continuing relationship because he is likely to be too much trouble. The Uncle Junior plan also goes wrong when the official doctors determine he is fit to continue and the Trial judge anyway insists on going ahead. This causes them to go to plan B which is to get at a Juror.
Tony’s nephew and protégée Christopher backslides on his commitment to live in girl friend Adriana to give up drugs while she is concerned that the live music bar she has been given is being more and more used as an alternative hang out for members of the extended crime family. Having forced to spy for Christopher and his associates by the Feds she becomes paranoid at being found out, hurt and killed but no one has any idea this has happened although with the court case they assume they are being kept under close surveillance. Meadow has taken the lamp to university where the bug was planted to overhear the conversations in the basement. For some reason the Feds have decided not to mount another operation to replace the listening device.
After watching TV Adriana believes that if she and Christopher are married she will not be able to testify against him. A marital lawyer explains that this will only apply after they marry and therefore does not cover what happened beforehand and this has separately been discussed within the FBI who make no objection to the marriage as a consequence.
The most important and far reaching development of the series to date happens when Tony reveals to Christopher, who is full of drugs that he proposes to make him his eventual successor and therefore a confidante above his official number two. He says he wants Tony to bring the family into the 21st century. Christopher is so hyped up he comments that they are already in the 21st century a point which Tony fortunately overlooks. Soon Christopher is called upon to show he is worthy of the trust been shown.
Things go from bad to worse for Ralphie. When he has the care of his son for the day the boy plays with the son of a neighbour who is unsupervised shooting real arrows into the air and asking the son to allow these to fall on a hand held target. Off camera the son misjudges the flight of an arrow and his chest is pierced. Although the child survives he lives in a state of coma which understandably aroused much anger on the part of her ex wife and makes Ralphie feel great guilt to the extent he goes to visit a priest. Worse is come when Tony is called out to the fire at the stables and sees his horse destroyed. When Tony breaks the news that the horse has died Ralphie appears disinterested and tells Tony that his son is showing signs of improvement. Tony believes that Ralphie caused the fire after taking out $200000 insurance and asks if he has been contact with the man who they arranged to set fire to the old restaurant of Artie Bucco to avoid a murderous hit being staged there. The two men fight and in his rage over the death of the horse Tony kills Ralphie and then contacts Christopher who is in a drug haze to help him get rid of the body.
Tony is concerned about the state of Christopher which is not helped when the young man points out that one of their own captains getting whacked could be a problem. Tony tells Christopher that he is the only one who knows and therefore any problem is with him. Tony does not feel as guilty about killing Ralphie as some of his other victims because of what the man did to one of the strippers at the Bada Bada.
In the tradition of the Sopranos end of series it is in the penultimate episode that issues which have been simmering hot up and in some instances explode. We have already had the death of Ralphie as yet one more of the originals gangster crew is killed usually the hands of another members rather than by someone outside or the intervention of the law.
There is no personal concern or regret at the disappearance of Ralphie who it will be remembered alienated h the New York Under Boss Johnny Sacks because of a joke made about his wife and indeed it was Tony attempt to broker peace reminding that conflicts within the families are settled by sitting down and negotiation and not by unilateral action such as Whacking in the episode- The Strong Silent Type (49).
Paulie Walnuts is released from prison full of anger that Tony and his other colleagues have not visited him in prison for fear of being targeted even more than they are present. He ignores the fact that he has been given no show jobs at the new development site which Tony runs in association with one of the New York families. He is not appeased by the coming out party at the Bada Bada
The release of Paulie leads to information coming to the family of a way to defraud the US Federal Government of millions of dollars through buying up run down and inexpensive properties and doing them up for re-letting This leads Christopher into a black ghetto neighbourhood where drug dealing predominates. It also has implications for relationships with the New York family where Sacks lives with his wife in a grand country house within the New England territory controlled by Tony(Watching Too Much Television) (46). Paulie need for more money arises from deciding to place his mother in the top retirement complex where Tony had placed his mother Livia. When Paulie finds that his mother is not going to be able to join regular social activities with former friends who are also in the home, Paulie begins to lean on their children and including the use of his crew to persuade a reluctant son to exert pressure on his mother. He also maintains an association with Sacks who implies to the New York boss is appreciative of his contact and that Soprano is not highly regarded.
There is now a move by the New York boss via Sacks to gain more money from activities controlled by Tony, The first is the housing fraud. When Tony refuses to contribute a portion of the profits, Sacks arranged for the man who does the official property assessments for the government funding application to switch to them or be beaten up. The man is then beaten up by Tony’s crew for not fulfilling his undertakings to them. This is a regular occurrence for anyone who works for the Mafia.
There is also a request for an ongoing percentage of the new Hotel/apartment complex which is progressed with the main structures completed and the fitting out in process so when negotiations fail another union official comes along and calls a full strike from his members because there is no union Labour on site. When Tony is persuaded that a sit down settlement is the way forward he goes down to Miami to see the son of the New York Crime boss Carmine for assistance with the father and Sacks. Carmine and his son play golf with Sacks in an effort to broker a deal. When Tony arrives at the sitdown he finds the New York boss is not present and the terms are the same as before so he walks out. However there is an exchange between Sacks and Tony suggesting that they ought to take action to end the reign of Carmine
Tony has expressed concern that Paulie is not delivering the same weekly tribute as his other captains. Paulie attends a wedding where he approaches the New York boss and finds that he has no special position. He therefore decides to regain the confidence of Tony by breaking into the home of one his mother‘s friends when he thinks she is out. She returns and threatens to call the police so he has to kill her. However he is then able to impress Tony with the amount of his tribute that week.
Tony was at the Bada Bada club when the large portrait of him and the Horse arrives and he orders it to be burnt. When he is not there Paulie says it is worth $25000 and takes it home and hangs it up in his living room. The pictures seems to grow in size which each camera visit and to have a haunting effect on Paulie.
It is Christopher who becomes Tony’s main concern. In a drug and drunken state he sits on Adriana’s dog without realising what he is doing and when she returns she finds the dog has a broken neck and is dead. When she protests he beats her up so she turns to Carmela for help and Tony is furious saying that if Christopher had not been kin he would have whacked him. They bring in a Counsellor who gets everyone to write down the negative way that Christopher has behaved and when he is in a sound condition they confront him with the home truths on the basis they will do this in a non judgemental way. However when Christopher refuses to cooperate they lose their temper and beat him up so that he ends up in hospital.
The Feds have already told Adriana they have arranged a place for Christopher in a rehabilitation centre because in his present condition he is of no potential use to them as a witness. Tony insists he is admitted as a voluntary patient and lets him know that he has one of his men at a nearby motel with the authority to whack him if he attempts to leave before he is considered ready. The sequence is an amusing one. There is a similar light hand aspect when Janice brings around Bobby and his children for an evening meal and insists that C J stays in to entertain the children. Devin comes round for coffee and CJ takes her two his room on their own until Carmela finds out and takes the visiting children up insisting that they play a game with them. C J‘s solution is get out the ouija board and frightens them pretending their mother’s spirit is with them.
This then is the setting for the final episode of the series. (Whitecaps)52 when as is custom some matters are resolved while other are left for season five.
Adriana collects Christopher after he has been declared rehabilitated under observation from Tony’s appointed minder. Also keeping watch are the Feds. Adriana had admitted to Christopher that she is unlikely to have children because of an abortion that when wrong. Christopher had seen marriage as a means for starting a family and is devastated but eventually forgives her. There sis the impression that they are starting out again in contrast to what happens between Tony and Carmela. Everything else is placed in perspective. Things start off well when Tony says he wants to buy a beach home on the Jersey shore -Whitecaps. He takes Carmela and the family to see it saying he is buying as a future holiday home for his children to enjoy and Carmela is thrilled at the development although worries about the cost. There is a further complication in that the house is under sale to someone else and Tony uses the influence of his position to persuade the owner to sell to him and Carmela says it is a good investment because of size and location reminding of her career attempt as a Home sales agent.
The disaster strikes as one of Tony previous mistresses rings Carmela in a disturbed condition and spills the beans on her relationship with Tony. This is Irena who was taken up by another member of the Crew who Tony beat up because the man had dared to have a relationship with the woman even though they had broken up, The beating up caused the man to separate from Irena which was the catalyst for her desperate call to the house and speaking to Carmela. This is the last straw for Carmela so that when Tony returns home he runs over his golf clubs which have been thrown into the driveway and where Carmela is throwing out all his clothes and possessions from upstairs windows, She demands that he leaves and will get a restraining order when he refuses.
He does leave and goes to Irena’s place where he finds Svetlana who explains the background. He goes off and stays at Whitecaps. Tony tries to back out of the purchase because of the changed circumstances but is held to it.
Meadow and Carmela fight over the situation with Meadow raising the relationship with Furio which Carmela vehemently denies. Meadow demands to know why Carmela was prepared to eat shit for years until now and storms off.
Meanwhile Tony has set on forcing the owner of the property to back off from the purchase and return his $20000 deposit. He load his home cinema speakers onto his boat and offshore plays as loud as possible disrupting a lunch party the owners are having. Tony repeats this including at night until they give in.
Tony returns home and tries to exert his rights but Carmela stands her ground. A J helps Tony clear out the pool house cinema so that he can stay there. However this does not work and the couple continues to row going over the history of their marriage and Carmela admits she her only recent happy moments have been the visits of Furio. Tony nearly punches her but punches holes in the wall instead and she calls him a fucking hypocrite. A J pleads to go and live with Tony but Tony says he must now be a man for his mother. Meadow wants them to return to Counselling and thinks over the extent to which she has taken her parents and home for granted. Tony tries to ring Dr Melfi but puts the phone down when she answers. She tries to ring him back but finds the number is now blocked. Carmela and A J watch Tony leave the home. There is something final about this, or so it seems.
Meanwhile Uncle Junior get his mistrial when the threatened Juror fails to agree the verdict. Uncle Junior appears far from elated with the result and takes it out on his crew member Bobby Scalerico whose relationship with Janice appears to have taken a turn for the better. Junior appears to spike this wanting attention from Bobby.
Johnny Sacks admits to Tony his hatred for the way his boss has treated him over the years and Tony tells Christopher to take out a contract on Carmine to make it look like a one of car jack killing.. He arranges for the two men involved in taking his car when he went into their neighbourhood for drugs to do the killing, Meanwhile at the race track Johnny advises Toy that his boss wants to settle so they arrange a meet. They settle for 15% instead of 40% much to the horror of Sacks. Carmine expresses sympathy over the marital break up and Tony commends the man’s son. The behaviour makes Tony wonder if Carmine has got wind of the hit on him. Tony calls off the hit and Chris meets the two men and kills them. Sacks lets his tongue rip about the behaviour of his boss and says Tony can trust him and should not have backed out of the assassination and take over deal. Tony keeps repeating that Sacks should not be saying this now to him. It is possible to read from this how things might go in season six.
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