On today’s episode of Walt Right Perspective I sit down with a longstanding collaborator: everyone’s favorite post-left midwestern auntie
.You may remember Lirpa from her last appearance on the pod, in which she discussed her controversial tract advocating a “sexless escort service.” She also played a vital role in our scene’s initial discourse over early puberty in girls, both contributing to my article on the topic and penning a fantastically creative follow-up.
A few days ago Lirpa published an article about the attractiveness of Tony Soprano, specifically in response to a far smoother-brained treatise that had recently gone viral in these parts. I was intrigued to learn that in the weeks leading up to her article she’d also binge watched the entire series for the very first time, and as a longtime Sopranos superfan whose watch count is likely nearing double digits at this point I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to have her on the pod to share her thoughts in further detail.
In this discussion we also reference Lirpa’s essay What Do Women Really Want?, as well as the short piece she published earlier today on the 2024 election.
Topics include (be warned—spoilers for The Sopranos below!):
Lirpa’s politically divided household (she voted for Madame Coconut while her hubby supported Blumpf)
Does she agree with Walt that this election wasn’t that significant?
Lirpa explains the low turnout in her locale (D.C. exurbs of NoVa)
The pronounced rightward shift in Lirpa’s family back in Minnesota
Is Lirpa still activated by Dobbs or is abortion just a state issue at this point?
The Reaganification of Trump—it’s no longer low status to support him
The similarity of Trump to Andrew Jackson and Teddy Roosevelt
Recent trends towards political freedom and cultural libertarianism
Will Greasy Gavin repeat the Clinton strategy of triangulation in the 2030s and pivot away from Wokeism like Clinton distanced himself from McGovern etc.?
It’s silly to treat abortion as a gendered issue—single men benefit most from its legality and staunchest pro-life advocates are all women.
Why Catherine Shannon’s piece doesn’t understand Tony Soprano
Is Tony a better or worse person in Season 6 vs. Season 1?
Lirpa is less attracted to Tony because of her artsy and midwestern background
Every woman is most turned on by men at the top of the status hierarchy they personally find coolest
How Tony and Ralph Cifaretto are perfect narrative foils
Melfi is initially attracted to Tony when he maintains his hard mafia edge but immediately loses interest when he tries to approach her on her own terms
The likely fate of Meadow / AJ / Carmela after Tony’s death at Holsten’s
How Tony’s romantic script with goomahs like Irina is similar to the sugaring dynamics Walter is familiar with
How Tony’s goomahs, Carmela, love interests like Gloria/Valentina, and Dr. Melfi compare to Tony in the broad societal status hierarchy
Tony and Carm have ascended as far as they can in their own status hierarchy… to ascend any further would force them to give up everything
Tony getting patientzoned by Melfi is like Carm getting fuckzoned by Wegler
Was Tony actually a sociopath?
How Meadow, Livia, and Gloria/Melfi are all manifestations of Tony’s anima
Check out the Sopranos Autopsy blog
Tony is right to be insecure because his position in life very literally isn’t safe
Tony is attractive to women because he mediates his insecurity and is agentic about fixing it, not because he “isn’t insecure”
Lirpa finds Chris the most compelling character because of his conflicted nature
High status women will pump and dump men who optimize around more gauche and brutish status hierarchies (Lirpa recommends Morgan Wallen’s cowgirl song)
It’s interesting Chris is abusive when his father Dickie wasn’t
Tony doesn’t slap Carmela when he would IRL (Italian girls like to be slapped)
Cultural differences for mean vs. kind—i.e. direct conflict vs. sterile HR talk
How intractable cultural differences promote a criminal lifestyle
Why Walt hates Dr. Melfi
All relationships have a transactional element, but upper middle class white women demand a lot more mediation / obscurantism in their romance
Lirpa judges Tony more harshly because of her Minnesota Nice sensibilities
How Tony taught Walt how to sell fatness
The relative egalitarianism of the Midwest vs. the hierarchical South / Northeast
How women went from calling JD Vance an incel to thirsting after him
Tony was doing everything right when he was dating Gloria
Tony’s primary transgression with Carmela was letting his infidelity impact her
Silvio’s wife was a Lady Macbeth leading him to doom
The need for men to flex their nuts to deter threats
Accepting a man’s anima projection with grace is female chivalry
Was Adriana going to cheat on Chris with Tony?
How did Tony actually feel about Christofa?
Janice’s predatory behavior toward Bobby was hugely beneficial to him
Was Ralphie irredeemably evil? Did he have any affection for Jackie Jr. or Janice?
The episode with Junior whistling through the wheatfields
Johnny and Ginny Sack
The sycophantic nature of Mafia culture vs. the performative niceness of Omaha
Washington D.C. as a city of northern charm and southern efficiency
Meadow’s family sees law as less prestigious/honorable than medicine because they’re mostly familiar with mob lawyers and prosecutors
Steve Buscemi feels out of place on the show
Having just escaped his six year internet deplatforming, Walt strongly relates to all the characters who come back from prison
How The Sopranos compares to The Wire
The crackpot big brain theory that Tony was actually killed by Paulie Walnuts after falling asleep in the penultimate episode
Why Tony Soprano and JD Vance are hot