Is still good. I'm tending to agree with my husband: it's clear that the season we're watching now was written when negotiations were ongoing, and it wasn't clear whether this might be the last season. I'm wondering if subsequent shows will feel "tacked on." It feels like the overall story is peaking now.

As last season's climax drew near I was knocked over by the fact that Tony and Ralphie were tied together by a horse, and by two women. The horse appeared to symbolize women to a certain degree (and, for crying out loud, its name was "Pie Oh My").

This week's episode confirms it: the woman Tony "stole" from Ralphie, whom he first met at the stable, gets burned (just as Pie Oh My did last season). And in one dream sequence Tony is mounted on a horse in his wife's living room (see what I mean?). He tells Carmella he wants to move back in, and she says if he does that the horse has to stay out the house. In another dream sequence, Tony is screwing the wife of his childhood friend, the restaurateur, as the friend watches from the bedside and tells Tony to "stroke her muzzle."

Horses are women, and women are horses on this show. And women are animals in general: Tony is capable of displaying emotion when women are killed, as he usually cannot for men. (For instance, Tony strikes Ralphie repeatedly--and has to be pulled off--after Ralphie beats the stripper Traci to death behind the Bada Bing.)

Because animals--as with the ducks from the first season--are family (and Tony is reminded of Traci at one point, after her death, by his own daughter). And his family--his mob family in particular--are animals.

Posted by: Attila at 11:53 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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