This episode was a bit disappointing to me, but all Artie Buco story arcs ultimately end up reinforcing something we already know about Tony–he’s loyal to his friends. I will say that it was nice to see Artie get some of his manhood back after getting the shizz kicked out of him by that French scam artist back in season 5. Outside of that, Artie storylines bore me.

It’s obvious that there is going to be a build up to some Al Queda subplot but if someone out there missed the obvious, the writers showed us money changing hands from the douche bag Arab terrorist to the douche bag thug to the douche bag Jew hotel owner (I couldn’t tell if this was Schlomo’s Son-in-Law from the first and second seasons or not, but I don’t think it was). It’s all about the money, regardless of what race, sect, or particular thuggish ruggish terrorist organization one happens to belong to. The dollar is the common denominator and, as the two Italian assassins said at the end, the American dollar ain’t what it used to be.

There wasn’t anything too deep in this episode but I would like to make one point about Tony’s transformation of character. If you consider The Police song “Wrapped Around Your Finger,” there is a student who comes to a teacher with a magnetic personality and becomes totally absorbed in the teacher, actually becoming the teacher’s slave. But in the last stanza of that song, the servant becomes the master by disappearing from the master’s life, reinforcing the image the teacher had constructed of himself as a dominating power.

Now, if we were to apply this scenario to Tony’s relationship with those in his family or organization during seasons 1-5, I think we would say it was valid–his self-worth was validated through what others thought about him. Tony was defined by his reflection and saw his life as a passive observer, an image that would not exist without the mirror to see it in. This is purely a metaphysical issue and one which affects each of us as individuals–it touches on the difference between true power and the ephemeral illusion of power that mortal men often fall for; it’s the Faust conundrum and it is still playing out in Tony’s head. This is the same character arc that the Vampire Lestat took from his relationship with Louis in Interview with a Vampire to the legend he became after Queen of the Damned and on through Memnoch the Devil.

Kevin Finnerty is not gone from the picture and I have a feeling he’s much stronger than anyone in Tony’s family or his crew.

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