Getting Old Sucks

Last night, we saw, once again, that the myth of the mob and the world of the Sopranos bear scant resemblance to one another. (SPOILERS.) While the Sopranos may aspire to be like Don Corleone (or Gary Cooper), they are faced with a much bleaker future as we saw the pathetic existence of numerous members of the Soprano (and NY) families:

• Uncle Junior--now suffering from dementia and incontinence and still trying to stay in the game with poker games out of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest or The Dream Team. His unstable "protege" ends up having major father issues, seemingly killing his real one before nearly doing so the same to Junior. And his former associates were even more pathetic with their plan to rescue Junior. (I forgot to initially mention the hilarious letter Junior sent to the Vice President; simply outstanding. I think we'll still be making jokes about the VP shooting someone in the face when I'm in a nursing home.)
• Beansie--Now in "retirement" thanks to his near killing by Richie Aprile. He may be in Miami with his loving wife, but he is in a wheelchair and impotent. Not exactly the Florida dream.
• Paulie--perhaps the most pathetic of the lot, stuck watching Three's Company reruns alone late at night and taking a whole lot of pastries from a breakfast buffet. His inability to keep his mouth shut may lead to his demise (as he rightly feared).
• And, of course, Tony. Last night, he was forced to run from his childhood, i.e., his initiation into the world of murder. He may live in his comfortable, suburban home, but he can't escape who he is and what he has done, and he sees more and more that his childhood heroes--his father, Paulie--have clay feet. He constantly is seeing signs of his own mortality as he is stuck driving to Florida with Paulie. (Btw, nice shout out to my home town while on the road.) Whether this means Tony definitely is toast in 6 more episodes, I don't know.

Okay, so not much happened last night with the NJ family although we learned not to eat the food off the plate of a mobster. The uncertainty and violence in NY has yet to spill over to NJ, but I can't imagine that will last (and based on scenes for next week, it looks like things are going to start to explode).