That's Two Times

I've been watching Sopranos for writing inspiration and distraction and there were two references touched me personally.

A reference to Marin County in a season 5 episode when Carmela's father has a bday and her mother is concerned with how her "decent Italian" friends will perceive Tony. Well, her decent Italian friend is a pompous douche and used to live in Marin County. Hmmm. All right, one dig at Marin is acceptable, especially in light of John Walker Lindh and the general reputation. It's almost even flattering to get a mention.

BUT in another season 5 episode, Meadow and her boyfriend are at a beach bonfire and one of their friends says, "I've figure out what to do with my life."

"Join the CIA to fight the war on terror?"

"No, go to film school."

Those mutherfuckers. Whoever came up with those ideas for the show, if they are the same person, is frightingly similar to me. Goddamn it. Is there a doppledanger who has part of my mind? Who could come up with those references other than me? This is freaking me out a little bit for a couple reasons.

a) The decent Italian spent years in the foreign service. I know that there is a cadre of people who work for the foreign service that end up living in Marin for one reason or another. I'm not sure exactly why, but we had family friends growing up who did so. There are also a couple of CIA operatives who live in Tiburon, including Joe Wilson, the guy outed by the Bush admin. His kids went to my high school. But who knows this stuff other than me? It's such a specific detail to a specific place at a specific time. I suppose other people could make the connection, but who would incorporate it? Especially to a New Jersey show. Goddamn it.

b) The CIA war on terror or film school is an odd connnection, I think, but one that is right up my alley. I don't know anyone else who thinks along those lines.

c) Not to mention the obscure use of Tim Daly (an actor I like who was in Wings and Diner) as a TV writer who uses a reference to Pulp Fiction when Chris comes over to beat him up.

d) Also not to mention Vinnie Del Pino from Doogie Howser.

Goddmmit, someone on the Sopranos writing staff is downloading items swirling around in my head. I find this utterly annoying.

And to test the extent...my major prediction about how the Sopranos will end....TONY will die. At it's heart, this show will have a tragic ending. The question is who will kill him? Options: Carmela, Johnny Sack, Christopher, the Feds, and get this...AJ. The show is steeped in freudian psychology and what is more fundamentally freudian than the Oedipus complex. Season 5 has spent a lot of time devoted to developing AJ as a troubled teenager.

I can almost guarantee that NO ONE else sees why AJ could possibly, at this point, be involved with his father's death. But read it here first, folks, and we'll see whether the Sopranos is stealing my thoughts....