The Morning After on TSE: Redux

Back to sports soon, I promise... but just a little more on the finale of The Sopranos. One thing that Kopech failed to mention in his thorough examination of the last five minutes of the show and the fall out thereafter, is one interesting point that I noticed only after watching the show a second time. This is thinly veiled, I will grant you that, and I'm sure this is something someone else has picked up on... but did you catch the one line that Tony said in defense of the cat when they brought him back to the Bing? Tony said something to the degree that in his short time here, he had already eaten a rat. Go back and watch it, that line is there.

If you are aware of that line, you are most certainly aware of the relationship that Paulie and the cat had as the episode progressed, it seemed like he was the only one that didn't like the cat, and he was also the only one that noticed the cat's odd tendencies.

I'm aware, and if you are an avid Deadspinner, I'm sure you are as well, that Tony Sirico has an interesting clause in his contract that stipulates that he never be a rat in the show. This was a way, in my opinion, for David Chase to make him the rat without ever really having to do so. The questions could go from here that if Chase wanted a rat to be present within Tony's inner circle, why wouldn't he have made it Bobby, or Syl, or anyone who didn't have a clause in their contract that didn't have that stipulation--which would have been ANYONE ELSE IN THE CAST-- the answer is that David Chase may be more genius and detail oriented than we could ever give him credit for. I'm going to need to watch that episode (I don't recall the number, but it was in this half of season six) where Tony almost killed Paulie on the boat. Right before that seemingly was going to happen, Tony mentioned that Paulie had some interesting quirks, one being his little laugh that Tony said may be tourettes... in the finale last night Paulie and that other dude were talking about quirky cat behavior... more on this in a second.

Another Paulie line is that Itialians will tell you that you can't put cats next to babies, because they suck the life out of them. The next line someone says, "well Paulie, you're the only baby here so we're fine." Thats another reference to him being the rat. But, in Paulie's own words "cats suck the life out of babies"... how many times throughout the course of the show has Paulie referred to Tony as his kid or baby brother? Several.

Now, about the cat's tendencies... the one guy in the back of the store with Paulie says that his Aunt's cat "would sit at the corner of the table staring out, or at the intersection of two walls staring in." Doing just a tad bit of research, Paulie was in the corner--at the intersection of two walls-- when Pussy was killed in season two. Does Paulie then represent the cat, the rat the cat ate, or nothing at all? And, did David Chase really subvertly make a reference to the death of Pussy in season two through a cat? I could just be crazy, and just trying to notice things that I want to see, but I will say that the series finale of the Sopranos needs a little further examination from everyone.