Rivers of Exile

Sopranos develop a socio-political angle (spoilers alert) April 19, 2006

Posted by Delilah in : Entertainment, US Congress , trackback

vito

Pic from HBO

You guys in Europe waiting for the DVD, and not wanting to know anything, pls skip right through this post.

As hooked as I am on the series itself, all the characters in the Sopranos are detestable, with zero redeeming traits, but I’ve always found this guy, Vito, to be among the most repulsive. I especially disliked the slimy way he had of intimidating Meadow’s boyfriend after he saw him giving a blow job. Poor kid was obviously terrified of him.

Anywho - dude was outed and, given the supermacho BS associated with the lifestyle, that sent a shockwave through the famiglia. Shock, denial, anger, acceptance, etc - the dialogue was pricelessly funny at times and definitely pointed to fit the endless, backward “values debate” that has taken hold of this country in the past few years.

Each character goes through the stages in their own way. At some point, discussing this with his shrink, T goes:

I agree with that senator … eh… Sanatorium, if we let this [gay] stuff go too far, pretty soon we’ll be f***ing dogs

I couldn’t believe he said that!!! Of course, he was referring to Sen Rick Santorum (R-PA) - a hateful zealot and bigot, out to take this country back to the dark ages, that Sen Sanatorium! So brave a guy, he said he wouldn’t dignify T’s support of him with a comment when asked about this. What’s a matter, can’t defend your views anymore? I mean, sure, the religious freaks are much better than the mafia at keeping their filthy vices secret and the Senator may not have used T’s flowery language, not publicly anyway, but T was really only repeating the admonition of the Senator. So, be the man, Senator, and expand a little on your views about how gay sex leads to whatever disgusting fantasies you come up with, come on.
Anyway, the whole episode was just full of politico-social jabs of one sort of another. We learn, for example, that Carmela voted for Bush. Vito runs for his life, his car breaks down in NH [”Live free or die”] and he ends up in a little town where gays are not hiding from public view, quite the contrary: they are happy and florishing. He is shocked, pleasantly surprised and completely out of his element.

I found myself empathizing with him on some level, despite all his criminal record, but I still want him in jail. Him finding happiness in an open minded NH town doesn’t cut it. Even Tony doesn’t want him wacked - and that’s new, a result of his more forgiving attitude since his near-death experience, I suppose. Still, he can’t be seen as going soft - so, we’ll keep watching. Excellent stuff all around.