FLips's Sopranos watching thread

[TildeGuy~!]

16 minutes ago, FelatioLips said:

It was moreso frustrating because any time Chris fell off the wagon was usually because of Tony, Paulie, etc goading him. Tony kept him in a lifestyle he knew would kill him and then used it as justification to just kill him himself.

Sorry, for the double post but yea

The scene in which Chris ends up at Uncle Pats with Tony and Tony B and then leaves early as they keep taking the piss out of him which ends with the episode cutting to a scene of him driving home tearing up is the only time I think I ever felt sorry for him.

[FLips]

I’ll write more about it tomorrow but I have a photo that sums up my wife’s thoughts on the ending.

 

[69MeDon]

I happen to be towards the end of a re-watch myself, at the moment. Just finished Members Only. I will say it's amazing that they were able to make me feel bad for Eugene over the course of just one episode, given his violent history (and his violence in the same episode!)

[FLips]

So The Sopranos was pretty good!

In my personal opinion Season 6 should have been 12 episodes. It started strong but the longer it went the less we cared about it because it felt like it was building to nothing, and sure enough aside from laying all the cards on the table during The Blue Comet, the payoffs were poor.

In previous seasons it felt like the shorter season length meant nearly every episode had something going on and it was always building to a big end of season finale and they usually paid off. In fact a lot of the best episodes of the show were the season finales like Whitecaps, I Dream of Jeannie Cusomano and Funhouse. Season 6 was double the length, mostly filler episodes and even though I didn't mind the cut to black ending, the episode itself was poor and was completely one-upped by The Blue Comet before it.

Seasons 2 and 5 were the best, 4 was good but I had to look away every time Chris shot heroin which was fucking every five minutes it felt. Season 1 was good as far as first seasons go, Season 3 wasn't all that but had a couple of brilliant episodes including Pine Barrens.
Season 6 had a couple of good episodes like The Blue Comet and Soprano Home Movies but the season itself was a slog most the time with a few standout moments including Vito watching the clock, Artie standing up for himself, Vito Jr doing a shit in the shower, AJ parking on leaves and the completely fucked up Sack wedding. Would probably rank them 524316.

By the end of it I couldn't stand Tony and neither could anyone else in the show it seemed. I'm sure there are thousands of theories and studies on him as a character but if I had to sum him up having finished watching it it would be like this.
Tony was a complete failure in everything he did including his marraige, being a father, attending therapy, gambling, friendships, running his mafia family and being a varsity athlete. I'm sure it was him that said it himself "he's the reverse King Midas, everything he touches turns to shit".
He was lazy, stubborn, indecisive, spiteful, violent and incompetent. Almost everything bad that happened in this show was either directly or indirectly caused by him, and anything good that happened he went out of his way to ruin or profit off despite taking no part in it.

About halfway into the run of the show you do feel like he's just a flawed protagonist because of his fake "nice" moments. He's trying to get help in therapy, he's shown moments of kindness, etc. But by the end of it you can see right through him and he's a garbage person surrounded by equally garbage people, including his family. His mother is awful, his sister is awful, his wife and kids are entitled and completely willing to benefit from his crimes, though Meadow is leagues above the rest of them in terms of being likeable.

That being said, despite being a show about bad people, we both still liked a few by the end. We both liked Big Pussy, Sil, Bobby, Junior, Paulie (though Paulie had his rough spots), Adrianna, Furio and Artie and I liked Patsy Parisi. We hated AJ but like Livia before him, we came around to him finally when he set his car on fire by parking on leaves and on rewatch I think we'll enjoy them both more.

All in all we both really enjoyed it. Not every episode was a killer but the ones that are were some of the best TV we've seen, and none of the episodes were skippably bad. We'll be quoting it for months and I'm definitely going to buy a full FILA tracksuit at some point.

 

 

 

[wandshogun09]

36 minutes ago, FelatioLips said:

AJ parking on leaves…

We hated AJ but like Livia before him, we came around to him finally when he set his car on fire by parking on leaves and on rewatch I think we'll enjoy them both more.

 

[FLips]

10 minutes ago, wandshogun09 said:

 

“What if there was kids playing in those leaves? Would you have just drove over them?”

”I guess?”.

[69MeDon]

@FelatioLipsIf you'd like to see The Continuing Adventures of Silvio Dante, check out (the first season, anyway) of Lillehammer.

[Onyx2]

I really enjoyed you going through that Flip, thanks for sharing! Plus it's kicked off another watchthrough for me.

So a few more photos from my 2008 Sopranos tour. I have hundreds so here's just a select few. I have loads of random buildings, legs of Paul Bunyan, bridges etc but here you go:

Spoiler

We were led by someone who was an extra in a couple of episodes. He was a lot of fun but I can't say I've ever picked him up on the show. He did say he was a waiter for Edie Falco, who kept asking him questions on camera so he would have to respond and therefore be paid a higher rate as a speaking extra. Alas the lines were cut.

Going through the New Jersey Turnpike.

Continuing the credits theme, Pizzaland.

Meadow's school. In the show they put boxes over the real name - it's really blatant once you see it.

This church is used so often in the show it's absurd.

The diner where Chrissy is shot at the end of series 1.

The Bada Bing externals. The state of New Jersey does not allow stripping where alcohol is consumed, so all interiors were a set.

And the back of the Bing where Ralf did his hoo-er in.

And Holsten's is the diner where the final scene is filmed. Note the plaque behind.

And as a bonus: we went to watch a Knicks game at MSG the same holiday. Called out over the Tannoy was the presence of courtside regulars, Steve Schirrpa and Michael Imperioli. I have drawn arrows but they're very small!

 

 

[LaGoosh]

On 2/12/2023 at 4:51 PM, FelatioLips said:

In my personal opinion Season 6 should have been 12 episodes. It started strong but the longer it went the less we cared about it because it felt like it was building to nothing, and sure enough aside from laying all the cards on the table during The Blue Comet, the payoffs were poor.

I think this was my opinion on my first watch, however on subsequent re-watches I think season 6 is pretty excellent. It's almost relentless grim and sad, stories being wrapped up in intentionally underwhelming ways to show how low the characters have gotten. The way it's shot and lit too, in comparison to the brighter summery early seasons, is just oppressive and dark, giving the whole thing a sense of dread and drudgery. The AJ depression stuff is a massive highlight, Tony rescuing him when he's drowning in the pool, wrapping him in his arms saying "it's ok, baby" is heartbreaking.

The final episode again, on repeat viewings, is a masterpiece. The main theme of it is everything in Tony's life returning to normal, except everyone in his life is either dead or hates him and he either doesn't notice or doesn't even care. All his loyal friends (and fans favorite characters) are gone, the remaining guys in his crew are all completely unrecognisable to the audience and for the most part don't even have names.  Tony realising that Meadow, his one ray of hope of someone escaping the family, is marrying the son of one of his capos (not even one of the ones he likes) and dedicating her career to essentially defending mafia guys is a really sad moment. That devastating shot of Paulie sat outside the Bada Bing on his own, the last one left, as a wind blows past and the only other thing with him is a cat representing the ghost of Christopher...masterful. And of course that final scene with Uncle Junior, probably the one character outside his immediate family that Tony genuinely loves and he doesn't even know who he is and everything he (and therefore Tony's dad) accomplished is just a forgotten memory.

As for the final moments, I've never really thought of it as "does Tony live or die?". It's pretty irrelevant, as the finale in subtle ways has basically told us that Tony's life is probably all about to crumble soon anyway. Carlo is going to testify, his lawyer is an idiot who gets distracted by ketchup bottles and tits, the situation in New York is unstable and he's at risk, he's not going to therapy anymore and hasn't learned anything from it, Silvio is in a coma, Paulie hates him, all his old crew are gone, his mother has been replaced exactly by his sister, AJ is still as idiotic and prone to depression...there's nothing good left in his life, it's basically already over. And for that one scene you get to feel like what it actually feels like to be Tony Soprano, you're trying to do something normal like have dinner with your family but everything is wrapped in constant tension and threat.

Edited February 14, 2023 by LaGoosh

[Guest]

Im Mid season 2 of my annual rewatch just now, this show just never seems to age at all. Read mentions of The Shield earlier in the thread, even The Wire both just look forever ago. 
liked the point made about we rarely see the income generating crimes, i guess creatively you don’t have to explain how they get away with them. 
 

best thing about this thread is no love for Pine Barrens, find it massively over rated due to a few funny lines 

[LaGoosh]

Pine Barrens is great and funny but everyone forgets the Tony and Gloria storyline in that episode which is excellent. 

Fun tidbit from that episode - when Bobby comes out in his hunting gear Tony's massive laugh is a genuine James Gandolfini laugh as the actor who played Bobby came out wearing a massive strap-on.

[FLips]

10 hours ago, LaGoosh said:

Pine Barrens is great and funny but everyone forgets the Tony and Gloria storyline in that episode which is excellent. 

Fun tidbit from that episode - when Bobby comes out in his hunting gear Tony's massive laugh is a genuine James Gandolfini laugh as the actor who played Bobby came out wearing a massive strap-on.

In regards to your earlier post we figured the cat ghost was Adrianna!

Is Pine Barrens the one where she throws a whole slab of beef at his head?

[TildeGuy~!]

14 hours ago, FelatioLips said:

Is Pine Barrens the one where she throws a whole slab of beef at his head?

It is. 

Gloria was great in her role.

[LaGoosh]

On 2/15/2023 at 8:11 AM, FelatioLips said:

In regards to your earlier post we figured the cat ghost was Adrianna!

There's a bit in the episode where they talk about Paulie drowning a cat because it kept staring at a photo of Christopher even when he moved it. Then when he's on his own a cat turns up.

Absolutely love that there's a few moments in the show where ghosts seem to turn up and it never gets commented on. For such a realistic show to throw in a handful of lowkey supernatural moments is absolutely brilliant.

[SuperBacon]

I always saw it as a good representation of their Catholicism/faith and the fact that they all knew ultimately that they were all going to burn in hell for eternity and it "confirming" that. 

"You went to purgatory my friend"