The Sopranos: What Was Feech La Manna's Problem?

The Sopranos is a show full of memorable Side characters characters who while not around for a long time make a big impact with the screen time they do have and one of the most interesting of these characters is f lman now what the hell Fe man who the [ __ ] knows Fe is one of the oldest Mobsters in the Deo family he's a man of the past a vest mess of the Old Guard who's struggling to find his place in the modern world of the mafia he's a man who is both respected for his loyalty and dedication to the Mob code and feared for his violence in antagonistic ways though he was away in prison for most of the events of the show he's actually deeply involved in the backstory of Tony and Jackie aiel and though he was only around for a few episodes his story is important for the generational themes of the show so so in this video let's take a look at the man and the legend F lman right in the middle of my story there he is the man the Legends f l before we get started though I wanted to thank all the patrons who make these videos possible if you want to be a part of the crew get early access to my videos as well as a shout out in the credits check out my patreon Linked In the description that's nothing but a a racket for the Jews f lman is an old school member of the Deo family dating back to the time of Tony's father Johnny Boy and possibly all the way back to the origin of the family Ralph states that Fe was made in Italy before coming to America giving him even more legitimacy as a mobster he was made on the other side so you know he was uh an original g whatever as an early member of the family feech was involved in many historical events he was the the driver of Tommy Pinto another legendary mob figure in the family you drove Tommy Pinto I was at the Glam broth house the night he beat that long Shan to death over a corner table fech eventually became a high-ranking member of the mafia himself in addition to shylocking and other racketeering F also ran the executive card game that we see being continued even to the present day 11 years I ran it no fights no raids there is a slight continuity issue when it comes to the executive game in season 2 Junior states that he and Johnny Boy invented the executive card game themselves you know your father me started that game over 30 years ago however when F gets out of prison he says that he wants his game back and Tony says that the game now belongs to his uncle confirming that it once belonged to fech I came to ask for my game bag it's my uncle's game now Fe yeah right your uncles it's possible that Junior and Johnny started started the game but that fech took ownership of it as a captain this might imply that Junior and Johnny were underneath fech at one point but we just don't know either way this game would be an important part of Tony's backstory it's revealed that when they were young Tony and Jackie aiel senior robbed the card came though this was a clear Act of disrespect against fech Tony's father and Jackie's older brother Richie were able to get them off with a pass when you and my kid brother stuck up Fe On's card game Fu featur was made before the electric light if it wasn't for me you two kids would have caught a vicious beaten to say the least this action demonstrated that Tony and Jackie were rising stars in the family who had to be respected and within a few years they were both made eventually both would go on to become bosses of the family directly as a result of this action arrest this history your father an Tony was on a fast track to being made and I was still a little [ __ ] here like the two of you it's likely that fee harbored resentment against Tony because of this act but he wasn't around to challenge him in the 80s along with Tony blundetto and Phil leotardo fch was arrested and convicted for racketeering as part of the crackdowns on the mafia Fe would serve 20 years in prison however unlike some other characters he didn't feel the need to constantly remind people about it I did 20 [ __ ] years fee is an interesting character as he's mentioned as early as season two though he doesn't appear in the show until three seasons later some fans think that they were laying the groundwork for fech very early however Terrence winter revealed in an interview that F's appearance wasn't planned out ahead of time and that it was just created based on the existing references to him in the show you know we had always talked about this legendary mobster named fe lman uh and and at the beginning of the show at beginning of the season I said to the writer's assistant have have we ever said that f lman is alive or dead and she came back in she said no I went through all the scripts we've just just referenced him so I I said what if F Lamar is getting out of jail and he's an old guy let's meet him we like great so Robert loia who you and I talked about before stat played uh played F lman the legend you know this these guys idolized and got out of jail and we got to meet him over the course of however many episodes he was on but stuff like that where you know you go oh it looks like they were setting this up forever actually was an afterthought and we went back and retrofitted it and it worked perfectly I love that Fe finally appears in person in season 5 having been released along with the other Mobsters this season he immediately Springs back into action setting up his old businesses and starting to earn money Jesus you're on your feet already you hit the ground running you don't look back huh thank you this causes friction with some of the other Mobsters who feel that he's musling in on their territory and this sets up the recurring theme we see in the show of conflict with Mobsters getting out of prison they feel that because of their loyalty in staying quiet all those years they're entitled to a higher position we see this not only with fech but also Richie and Tony blendo you've been away 20 [ __ ] years which entitles me to earn which entitles you to [ __ ] in my book you get points for staying out of it can good thing for me then that your book don't mean a go to me and that definitely seems fair given the time that they served protecting the family and their oath however this creates conflict with the Mobsters who took their territory since then and don't want to give it up it highlights the selfishness of the mob world how despite all their talk of being a family at the end of the day everyone's out for themselves [ __ ] family [ __ ] loyalty it cost them a dime you're a [ __ ] paria however the problem with fech goes beyond just the money issues he also has a problem with Tony and as the boss before Fe went away Tony was just a young kid even setting aside the poker game it's hard for fech to respect Tony as his Superior given his age he constantly belittles him referring to him as the boy King and such got to remember Tony I still think he is a kid we saw the same thing happen with Richie aiio and due to the lessons that Tony learned in his conflict with Richie he decides to get rid of feech before he inevitably makes a move against him he has Christopher and Benny set him up with stolen goods and Fe is then busted and sent back to prison where he will stay for the rest of his life fun fact the parole officer who busts fech Jimmy Curran is confirmed to be corrupt and working for the Deo family in a later episode if your parole office is a problem give our guy Jimmy carnicle he's a supervisor some fans think that feech was originally meant to have been around longer but was written off the show because the actor Robert loia had trouble remembering the dialogue however according to Alan sepen wall famous TV critic and friend of David Chase Fe was always intended to be written off for thematic reasons fe's role in the story is twofold one was to show how Tony had evolved from his conflict with Richie aiio and learn how to deal with Old Timers though F was set up to be another potential antagonist Tony took him out before he became a serious problem did I learn nothing from MIT AI huh they it in a bud but another reason was to show the generational conflict that prison creates Mobsters at the top of their game get sent away and return to a world that has moved past them newer younger players take their place and this leaves them feeling threatened and lost in my day and that's another thing I don't want to hear no more about how it was in your day you just keep your antidotes local color like dinl or Maguire sisters or [ __ ] like that otherwise shut the [ __ ] up F's end is certainly a tragic one despite his disrespect of Tony fch was still a long-standing member of the family who had well earned his place his refusal to cow out to Tony is what ultimately led to his fate one he arguably doesn't deserve he's going to die alone in prison his years of loyalty and silence ultim meaningless in the face of an organization that only cares about tomorrow's profit Tony often complains about the state of the mafia and how almost everyone turns into an informant but it's hard to justify loyalty when this is the reward he may have challenged Tony's Authority at times but at least he never betrayed his oath if the mob focused more on people like Fe instead of just who was the best earner maybe the organization wouldn't be in the state that it is today day poor [ __ ] feat L Tony sent the wrong xcon back to Jet you don't work these patrons no more OBS racing media DZ jkit Sam cedarland Celery Man jenim Marie Johnson Brad Smith Studios Uncle Mike Matt Joyce ctis Von zarovich and Luke p

Channel: Pure Kino

Views: 338,314

Keywords: pure kino, kino

Id: sTIwV4wmVqg

Length: 10min 30sec (630 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 30 2023