A Sopranos Chistmas "To Save Us All From Satan's Power"

 

 


Ah the Christmas specials we watch year after year. You know all the classics like Rudolph, all the animated shows Christmas episodes, Eyes Wide Shut. But did you know that you should be watching your favorite mobsters on Christmas? Seriously, they can play a mean Santa. And I mean “mean.”

Episode 10 of Season 3 of the Sopranos, “To Save Us All From Satan's power” opens with the ghost of Christmas past in the form of memories of Big Pussy Bonpensiero who currently sleeps with the fishes, and how Tony tries to figure when it was exactly he was turned FBI informant when we are shown some flashbacks to 1995. Jackie Aprile Sr is still alive and boss of the family, and a sit down is brokered by Big Pussy between them and Uncle Junior's crew. Except Pussy is mysteriously MIA from the sit down. Fast forward and Tony and Silvio are kicking themselves for not realizing what was wrong.

Whenever someone is found out to be a rat, it was prudent to try to figure out how much information was given and which conversations may have been recorded. It turns out the feds had a sense of humor and some holiday cheer when they came up with the idea to have Pussy wear a wire while dressed as Santa. Try to picture in your mind that conversation at the FBI headquarters when they knew Puss was going to dress up as the big guy, and a perfect time and place to hide a wire. Tony figures this out when Pussy gets exceptionally upset at the suit being touched. His drunkenness points to the guilt he must have felt for betraying his mafia family to save himself from being convicted and jailed for selling heroin, for which Tony had warned Pussy about in the flashback. Unlike other well known drunken Santas, [twilight zone] who were cheerful and emotional drunks, Pussy is an angry drunken Santa and throws an ashtray into the jukebox, leading Tony to almost deck him. Talk about deck the halls.

During Christmas present, the episode ingeniously goes through a list of side plots by having Tony use an actual list of things to get done by Christmas. You know, like the rest of us may have, pick up some presents for this family member or that, deliver some “canolis”, break a guy's legs.

This is the episode directly preceding Pine Barrens, widely considered the best and most popular episode of the series. Click above to see my video on what I think happens to the Russian guy, Valery, who we meet in this episode as Tony delivers the canolis, aka a bag full of money, to the Russian mobster Slava.

This may be the one and only time we see Janice truly appreciate her brother. It was Russians who assaulted her, not for no reason, as Janice had stolen the prosthetic leg of her mother's Russian caretaker. Nonetheless, Tony couldn't stand for that and got info from Slava on the name and whereabouts of her assailants. For as much of a pain she is and how much Tony and her bicker, she is still family and he takes care of her by getting revenge. It's a shame he wasn't there to see her tear up when she talks about how her songwriting should include a brotherly love concept.

Tony also indirectly takes care of his daughter Meadow when he sees her boyfriend, Jackie Junior, son of the late mob boss Jackie Aprile Sr, getting a lap dance at a strip club essentially cheating on her, for which he gets thrown a beatin' and has Ralphie's gun taken from him, for fear he may shoot his eye out.

We find out that shyness is a curse, but when the boss of the family sees how when you laugh your belly shakes like a bowl full of jelly, you better suit up and play Santa even if you play a mean one. The giving out of Christmas presents to the local families is reminiscent of real life mobsters like Al Capone giving out Turkeys at Thanksgiving as a show of charitable goodwill, and some excellent PR as well.

This episode is filled with Christmas imagery including antique decorations like the wooden nativity set Tony glues, the old Santa outfits and a wonderfully idyllic scene when Carmela enjoys her beautiful tree, the Christmas lights, and some old Christmas music, one of the few times she can sit and clear her head and be truly thankful for what she had, and that the family survived to see another holiday season despite all their problems and dangers on several different fronts by way of rival mobsters who were always gunning each other down, and the federal authorities who, though they don't appear personally in the episode, are ever present lurking in the shadows in the form of wire taps and informants as the main plot of the episode shows. Those tidings of comfort and joy, however fleeting, are a message to us all to enjoy those moments and even for a brief moment, sit, and let nothing you dismay.

To Save Us all from Satan's power, or is it Santa's, or in this case two in one, as Santa betrays the family and risks indictment and prison terms for all his brothers. Even though these are what most people would agree “bad” people, not just criminal but murderous sinners, they are sympathetic and likable characters who we want to see succeed. Satan's power, from the point of view of the Soprano family and their cohorts, is the power of the authorities to nab someone breaking the law, and press him into their service as an informant, aka a rat.

Anyway, this whole video was merely to point out that Tony getting the Big Bass Billy Mouth that reminds him of Big Pussy proves that Tony Soprano is just as much human and relatable as the rest of us, as he has to pretend to like a Christmas present that he absolutely hates.

So God rest you merry gentlemen, and ladies, and if you go out drinking, whether dressed as Santa or not, don't forget to figure out who is the desiganated driver. 

Full video: https://youtu.be/qPMjs1S7sHo 


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