If you’re one of the many people throughout the world proudly addicted to HBO’s The Sopranos, arguably the best series drama to ever appear on television, this past Sunday night was a milestone…the fruition of a story line that has been slowly simmering for a year:
Now the question for viewers of “The Sopranos” is: Will Vito eat the barrel of his gun? Or will he lack the guts, then get whacked by his appalled paisans? Fans could be overheard waging bets Monday outside Manhattan buildings.
“Five bucks, he doesn’t have another line,” said one.
“Not counting flashbacks?” wondered another.
Wearing appropriate leather-bar attire, Vito Spatafore — the heretofore closeted gay mobster — was sighted in Sunday night’s episode (stop reading now if you want to watch it later) by a couple of wiseguys who came by the sweaty S&M joint to collect their protection money.
“It’s a joke,” Vito tries to explain to the duo. Finally he begs: “Don’t say nothin’!”
It was quite a moment for Sopranos fans (as you can see from the AP story) who’ve have had their theories about where the Sopranos’ story line is going about Vito, one of the series’ least appealing characters if you judge by fan’s comments on various websites. His lack of appeal is precisely due to the skilled actor playing him.
By the end of the show, the crestfallen Vito — played by Joseph R. Gannascoli — has checked into a motel, looking suicidally at his gun on the nightstand.
Fans of the HBO series were stunned last season when Meadow’s boyfriend, Finn, saw a security guard sitting in the driver’s seat of a truck — and then Vito’s head popped up.
This season, Vito has hung around the hospital while Tony Soprano was recovering from a gunshot wound, trying to ingratiate himself with Tony’s wife while plotting with Paulie Walnuts to grab her cut of a big score. And he’s chomped on carrots while prattling on about all the weight he’s losing. (In real life, he’s down to 260 from a high of 400 pounds.)
Note the “before” and “after” photo (also showing his wife) on this post.
Now that the gay story line is heating up, Gannascoli is immensely pleased, in part because it was his idea to make Vito homosexual.
“I saw him as, like, a cross between Mike Tyson and Liberace,” the 47-year-old Brooklyn-born actor told The Associated Press in an interview at his home. “I wanted to make him sort of in self-denial, self-loathing, a real gay hater.
Gannascoli’s suggestion was inspired by the book “Murder Machine,” about the Gambino family, which had an openly gay member also named Vito.
It was quite a moment for the Sopranos. Tony’s wife had warned him about Vito the week before. And then there’s that loose strand involving Meadow’s boyfriend, Finn….is Finn fated to suffer something at the hands of Vito for knowing too much?
This is what makes The Sopranos so satisfying: it’s one of the few programs on television that is truly not predictable. The fact that Gannascoli’s suggestion was used by Chase, shows why the program is such a gem.
Characters are multi-layered. You may hate them, yet at times feel for them. You may like them, and at other times truly detest them. The acting is impeccable which is why The Sopranos may prove to be one of the most satisfying TV dramas ever to watch and rewatch on DVD: each time you view it, you discover something new lurking in the background, or see something new about a character due to a line or the performance.
Is Vito finito? If you took bets, with the boss’ wife warning her husband about him, the boss’ son-in-law avoiding him due to a spurned advance and seeing him in the parking lot, and the wiseguys spotting him in a gay bar you have to figure more is in store for Vito.
Gannascoli the actor is now slimmer — but perhaps Tony will consider Vito dead weight.
UPDATE: Note this commment from Melissa Rayworth of the AP:
… Vito was spotted at a gay bar by two wiseguys who were there making collections. He panicked, knowing his hope of one day running the family had vanished, then hurried home to pack a bag. He wound up in a motel room staring at his gun — it’s hard to tell whether he’ll use it for suicide, self-defense or silencing someone.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.