Television Review: Luxury Lounge (The Sopranos, S6X07, 2006)
Luxury Lounge (S06E07)
Airdate: April 23rd 2006
Written by: Matthew Weiner
Directed by: Danny Leiner
Running Time: 55 minutes
The seventh episode of The Sopranos’ sixth season, Luxury Lounge, exemplifies the show’s masterful use of episodic storytelling to counterbalance its grander narrative arcs. After the seismic revelations surrounding Vito Spatafore’s clandestine life in preceding episodes, David Chase resists the temptation to indulge in melodrama or cheap cliffhangers. Instead, he grounds the series in a mundanity that feels almost radical. Vito’s New Hampshire escapades—a thread ripe for sensationalism—are deliberately sidelined, relegated to off-screen whispers. This choice prioritises the quieter, more insidious tensions simmering within New Jersey’s underworld and its periphery. The episode thrives not on mob theatrics but on the suffocating banality of moral decay, whether in the form of petty fraud or self-destructive ambition. Chase’s restraint here is a testament to the series’ maturity, refusing to pander to audience cravings for operatic violence or tidy resolutions.
In a lesser series, the assassination of Lupertazzi family capo Rusty Millio would dominate the runtime, framed as a crescendo of tension. Yet The Sopranos treats the event with clinical detachment, mirroring the cold efficiency of Tony’s plan. For once, a scheme unfolds without hiccups: Corky Caporale (played by Edoardo Ballerini), despite his heroin addiction, proves a ruthlessly competent handler, directing Neapolitan hitmen with precision. The killers arrive, execute, and vanish—no grandiose shootouts, no moral hand-wringing. Even Tony’s feigned ignorance when Phil Leotardo thanks him for the hit underscores the banality of evil in this world. Murder is transactional, a bureaucratic necessity stripped of glamour. The sequence’s brevity is its brilliance, a reminder that in the mafia’s corporate structure, death is merely another item on the agenda.
The episode’s emotional core lies in Artie Bucco’s struggle to sustain his legitimacy in a world built on exploitation. His restaurant, Nuovo Vesuvio—a symbol of his aspiration for normalcy—becomes a battleground. The credit card fraud orchestrated by Ben Fazio (played by Max Sacella) and Martina (played by Manuela Ferris), an Albanian immigrant turned accomplice, dismantles Artie’s fragile equilibrium. American Express’s withdrawal of services pushes him to the brink, exposing the futility of his integrity. Artie’s violent outburst against Benny Fazio—a cathartic but futile act—highlights his impotence in a system rigged against him. Tony’s subsequent intervention is equally revealing: his advice to “stay in the kitchen” is both pragmatic and patronising, a mob boss dictating terms to a friend he pities but cannot truly respect. Artie’s decision to retreat into his culinary domain, abandoning his quixotic attempts to charm patrons, is a quiet tragedy. His surrender to the kitchen’s confines mirrors the broader theme of entrapment—a man cornered by his own decency in a world that rewards venality.
Less compelling is Christopher’s misadventure in Los Angeles, a subplot that recycles familiar beats from earlier seasons. His quest to finance Cleaver hinges on recruiting Sir Ben Kingsley, a premise straining credulity. The episode’s satire of Hollywood’s transactional excess—epitomised by the titular “luxury lounge”, where celebrities gorge on free designer goods—feels heavy-handed. Christopher’s relapse into substance abuse and petty theft (notably swiping Lauren Bacall’s gift bag) retreads ground already covered in D-Girl. Worse, the narrative strains plausibility: Tony, ever paranoid about exposure, permitting his protégé to court Hollywood’s spotlight defies logic. Kingsley’s cameo, while amusingly awkward, lacks bite, reducing the subplot to a caricature of industry cynicism. The attempt to juxtapose mob ethics with Hollywood’s moral vacuum falls flat, as both worlds are portrayed with equal superficiality.
Written by Matthew Weiner, “Luxury Lounge” suffers from a lack of cohesion. The episode’s dual focus—Artie’s existential crisis and Christopher’s self-sabotage—creates a tonal dissonance. While Artie’s narrative is steeped in pathos, Christopher’s exploits veer into farce, undermining the gravity of both threads. The decision to sideline Vito’s storyline, though bold, leaves the episode feeling oddly weightless, as if Chase and Weiner are marking time before the season’s endgame. Even the Rusty Millio hit, while executed with precision, lacks emotional stakes, its impact diluted by the episode’s scattered priorities. Weiner’s script, usually adept at weaving thematic resonance through multiple plots, here feels disjointed, as though unsure whether to critique ambition, corruption, or the banality of evil.
Luxury Lounge is a study in contrasts—between professionalism and incompetence, integrity and corruption, ambition and resignation. Its strengths lie in its quieter moments: Artie’s humiliating confrontation with Benny, Tony’s weary mentorship, the eerie efficiency of Rusty’s murder. Yet these are undermined by Christopher’s redundant subplot, which squanders runtime on a narrative dead-end. The episode’s refusal to indulge in spectacle is admirable, but its structural unevenness prevents it from reaching the heights of The Sopranos’ finest hours. It is, ultimately, a middling entry in a season otherwise defined by its audacity—a reminder that even television’s greatest dramas are not immune to the occasional misstep.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
Blog in Croatian https://draxblog.com
Blog in English https://draxreview.wordpress.com/
InLeo blog https://inleo.io/@drax.leo
InLeo: https://inleo.io/signup?referral=drax.leo
Hiveonboard: https://hiveonboard.com?ref=drax
Rising Star game: https://www.risingstargame.com?referrer=drax
1Inch: https://1inch.exchange/#/r/0x83823d8CCB74F828148258BB4457642124b1328e
BTC donations: 1EWxiMiP6iiG9rger3NuUSd6HByaxQWafG
ETH donations: 0xB305F144323b99e6f8b1d66f5D7DE78B498C32A7
BCH donations: qpvxw0jax79lhmvlgcldkzpqanf03r9cjv8y6gtmk9