[Anubys]

I'm not sure I believe that....it looked more to me that this wasn't the first phone call he had made to her since leaving. I think they just left out the big fight phone calls to move the story along. I don't think she had any clue.

I considered that...but you're a married guy; do you really think having a fight with your wife about being gay (in someone like Vito's demographics) is a one or two fight deal?

shoot, my wife still gives me the evil eye about fights we had 10 years ago

she talked about it like she had learned to live with it for many many years...I'll concede that they probably never talked about it with each other (one of those open secrets, like your wife knowing that you have p0rn or something)

 

[Todd]

BTW, what the hell is a "Johnny Cake"? I guess some kind of special pancake...

 

[jones07]

Ishe talked about it like she had learned to live with it for many many years...I'll concede that they probably never talked about it with each other (one of those open secrets, like your wife knowing that you have p0rn or something)

That was my take on it also

 

[rimler]

Pauly Walnuts arrested 28 times in real life???!!!

FWIW, John Ventimiglia who plays Artie Bucco was picked up for DWI and cocaine possession on Monday.

http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/67857.htm

 

[marksman]

Need I go on?

If you can accept all that, more power to you - I'm thrilled that there are some out there who are enjoying the story line. But me? I'm not buying any of it.

It is pretty clear you have a fairly high level of ignorance on the subject. If you want to believe all of that stuff is unplausible, that is your right. I think you might want to expand your horizons a bit, though, and educate yourself more on it, because clearly your exposure has been restricted.

But if one does that - sets the alarm and meets someone for a pre-work hummer at 5:30 in the morning, that's not exactly consistent with being "sexually confused" or "conflicted," is it? That's someone who knows exactly what they want and is willing to go to great lengths to make it happen.

I don't remember anyone setting an alarm. I don't remember any background to that whole scene at all. Finn didn't set an alarm and he was there. Why does it make sense for Finn to be there? Obviously Vito that it was a safe place to be at 5:30 in the morning.

How is that consistent with someone who once they are away from the mafia and are in what appears to be the gay capital of bucolic New Hampshire (is there anyone in that town who isn't gay!?!? and is this close to closing the deal with an attractive man, attacks the guy and grabs for a lead pipe to beat the living tar out of him?

This was CLEARLY explained in the show. Vito spoke as to why he did what he did. Because he is constantly on guard to protect himself and hide the fact that he is gay. The fact that he lives in a violent world doesn't help at all either. If someone called him gay in the city he might beat him to death. He was torn because he is so used to hiding who he is in public. Clearly at that moment he did not feel entirely safe, where might have at a night club.

Most of this stuff does not even have anything to do with Vito being gay, and does not take any kind of great understanding to catch on. His actions are clearly conflicted, but not the least bit out of line.

 

[Graymalkin]

BTW, what the hell is a "Johnny Cake"? I guess some kind of special pancake...

john·ny·cake also jon·ny·cake Pronunciation (jn-kk)
n. New England & Upper Midwest
Cornmeal bread usually shaped into a flat cake and baked or fried on a griddle. Also called regionally ashcake, batter bread, battercake, corn cake, cornpone, hoecake, journey cake, pone, Shawnee cake.

[Perhaps by folk etymology from jonakin.]
Regional Note: When the Native Americans showed the Pilgrims how to cook with maize, they must have taught them to make johnnycake, a dense cornmeal bread whose thick batter is shaped into a flat cake and baked or fried on a griddle. Johnnycake, also spelled jonnycake and also called journey cake and Shawnee cake, is a New England specialty, especially in Rhode Island, where it is celebrated by the Society for the Propagation of Johnny Cakes. The Usquepaugh, Rhode Island, Johnnycake Festival features johnnycakes made of white Indian corn called flint corn. Outside New England the name johnnycake is best known in the Upper Midwest, but the food itself is most popular in the South and South Midland states, where it is known as ashcake, batter bread, battercake, corn cake, cornpone, or hoecake. The color of the cornmeal, the consistency of the batter, the size of the cake, and the cooking method can vary from region to region. For example, an ashcake, according to a Georgia informant, is "made by wrapping cornbread batter in cabbage leaves and burying it gently at the back of the fireplace" (Dudley Clendinen).

More than you ever wanted to know.

 

[Joeg180]

Can I get a training credit for the Johnny Cake explanation

 

[Todd]

More than you ever wanted to know.

Yes it was.

 

[Bananfish]

It is pretty clear you have a fairly high level of ignorance on the subject. If you want to believe all of that stuff is unplausible, that is your right. I think you might want to expand your horizons a bit, though, and educate yourself more on it, because clearly your exposure has been restricted.

What exactly is "the subject" on which I'm ignorant? Do you mean being gay? I plead guilty .... I'm not gay. But the things I've made observations about don't require some grand "education" on being gay ... certainly not enough to warrant a personal attack about my background - and you don't know squat about my background to tell me about my horizons, education and exposure.

I am very gay-friendly. I have several gay friends. I had a gay roommate in college. I lived in the heart of the gay community in DC (Dupont Circle) for three years. I've spent a LOT of time in gay and lesbian bars (my wife -- then girfriend-- and I would meet and hang out at several gay bars halfway between our places, where we always had a very good time and were always warmly welcomed.) I have several gay colleagues at my place of work in San Francisco. What else do you suggest I do to "expand my horizons" ... blow a guy in a truck?

I don't remember anyone setting an alarm. I don't remember any background to that whole scene at all. Finn didn't set an alarm and he was there. Why does it make sense for Finn to be there? Obviously Vito that it was a safe place to be at 5:30 in the morning.

True, there was no scene showing him setting an alarm - I took a bit of artistic license there. (Full disclosure: I made up the time too .... but I think it's a very close guess considering that Finn was there early for work and it was still dark outside).

This was CLEARLY explained in the show. Vito spoke as to why he did what he did. Because he is constantly on guard to protect himself and hide the fact that he is gay. The fact that he lives in a violent world doesn't help at all either. If someone called him gay in the city he might beat him to death. He was torn because he is so used to hiding who he is in public. Clearly at that moment he did not feel entirely safe, where might have at a night club.

In the episode where Fonzie jumped over the shark tank, it was CLEARLY explained in the show why he was doing it. It doesn't mean that it came off as plausibly written or acted.

I got his speech - I understood what the writers were going for. What can I say ... it didn't work for me .. I didn't find any of it convincing.

There's just too many contradictions of when Vito felt "safe" to me. He felt "safe" giving oral pleasures to a man in a truck in the middle of a mafia construction site just before work started, but didn't feel "safe" when a gay man kissed him in a bucolic New Hampshire town with no mafia within a hundred miles and no other person to be seen? (Yeah, I get the whole "but he's having to accept that he can live an openly gay lifestyle here, so it's a leap for him" thing. It still doesn't work for me.)

Most of this stuff does not even have anything to do with Vito being gay, and does not take any kind of great understanding to catch on. His actions are clearly conflicted, but not the least bit out of line.

The fact that you agree that most of this stuff doesn't have anything to do with Vito being gay is even more reason why I'm confused as to why you felt compelled to personally attack me for being "ignorant," needing education and having "restricted" exposure (and now for not having being able to understand something that "does not take any kind of great understanding to catch on").

I'm not suffering from a lack of "catching on" - I get all the subtleties the writers put into the script. And I'm thrilled you find it all perfectly plausible - that's great for you. But I don't. C'est la vie.

 

[pex]

A couple of theories: The whole "bear" thing in gay circles seems to be composed largely of hefty guys who apparently find each other attractive. Also, didn't he have some guy on a leash in the gay bar? Isn't the edge there mostly about dominance and submission rather than conventional physical attraction?

I was thinking the same thing. At least in Tony's case, some women are attracted to power and money. I'm not sure what the attraction to Vito would be.

 

[pex]

I don't find the whole gay Vito angle is implausible as some here do, but that meadow scene was somehow jarring. It made me laugh. What next, hand in hand, running in slow-motion through the wildflowers?!

Couldn't really tell as Vito took his position in the field...

 

[RangersRBack]

There's just too many contradictions of when Vito felt "safe" to me. He felt "safe" giving oral pleasures to a man in a truck in the middle of a mafia construction site just before work started, but didn't feel "safe" when a gay man kissed him in a bucolic New Hampshire town with no mafia within a hundred miles and no other person to be seen? (Yeah, I get the whole "but he's having to accept that he can live an openly gay lifestyle here, so it's a leap for him" thing. It still doesn't work for me.)

It wasn't 'just before work started', it was while the parking lot was still deserted, or so he thought. You make it sound like there were a bunch of workers walking around and they jumped into the truck for a quickie.

Like someone said earlier, it's just as implausable for Finn to be there at 5:30 AM, but he was, and nobody said 'Finn showing up for work an hour and a half early doesn't make sense to me.' As a person who values sleep very highly that really doesn't make sense to me, but hey, that's what Finn decided to do, and Vito did what he decided to do. Maybe he was doing it every morning, who knows, and Finn just happened to show up early once.

 

[TiVo'Brien]

Construction work often starts *very* early in the morning. Being as Vito was in charge of the Soprano's construction graft, it's very possible he might show up even earlier if he and the security guard had something going previously.

 

[frombhto323]

I don't find the whole gay Vito angle is implausible as some here do, but that meadow scene was somehow jarring. It made me laugh. What next, hand in hand, running in slow-motion through the wildflowers?!

As noted above:

http://www.americanmafia.com/Feature_Articles_249.html

 

[pmyers]

Construction work often starts *very* early in the morning. Being as Vito was in charge of the Soprano's construction graft, it's very possible he might show up even earlier if he and the security guard had something going previously.

c'mon now...mobsters don't get up that early Besides...it's not like he was actually in charge of any construction.

IIRC Finn got there early and planned on sleeping in the car until everybody else showed up.

 

[bigrig]

Originally Posted by RangersRBack
...Did you notice the scene when AJ and his friend are in the VIP room? The blonde they brought into the room is blowing someone, I guess his friend, right in front of everyone in the room. Nobody questions that!...

wow...I missed that

Damn...I missed that too!

 

[busyba]

It was slightly in the background and only for the first few seconds of the scene.

If you blinked, you'd miss it.

 

[ClutchBrake]

If you blinked, you'd miss it.

I was glad I didn't blink.

 

[cheesesteak]

Sometimes I look at some of Tony's captains and wonder "Who the f*** is that guy?". Like, where'd Benny come from? And the guy who hung himself in the first episode. It's like a kung fu movie. Bad guys come out of the woodwork.

Since he walks like Charlie Chaplin, they should have given Vito a derby and a cane.

 

[Steveknj]

Sometimes I look at some of Tony's captains and wonder "Who the f*** is that guy?". Like, where'd Benny come from? And the guy who hung himself in the first episode. It's like a kung fu movie. Bad guys come out of the woodwork.

Since he walks like Charlie Chaplin, they should have given Vito a derby and a cane.

That's true!! Outside of Chris, Paulie and Syl, it seems like they have the random Captain of the year. I'm not sure, but HBO used to have the chart with all the characters on it on their website. It used to show all the Captains and when they joined the cast. It would be interesting to see if mention the genesis of all these captains.