TV: The Sopranos Discussion Thread

[the squared circle]

Retiring? What are you, a hockey player?

 

[Randy Butternubs]

Season 4 Episode 9 Whoever Did This

Spoiler

FINALLY! Ralphie is dead. And is in a few pieces here and there. Great episode. Making us feel for Ralphie and then again reminding us how terrible he is.

Junior's act that may not be an act.

 

[the squared circle]

These “baby” videos are annoying but this sopranos one popped up in my feed and I think I watched it fifty times. I can’t stop laughing when baby Tony gets hit with the phone.

 

[Voodoo Child]

Season 4 Episode 9 Whoever Did This

Spoiler

FINALLY! Ralphie is dead. And is in a few pieces here and there. Great episode. Making us feel for Ralphie and then again reminding us how terrible he is.

Junior's act that may not be an act.

He was a greasy evil piece of shit but I missed the humor that Ralphie brought to the show, buon anima!

I'm rewatching again (for like the 15th time) and nothing comes close, just finished S1. Even if it's a little 'rocky' and doesn't quite know what to do with itself, hard to match the comfort and easy late '90's vibes of the first few seasons.

Yeah the later seasons have their obvious merits, but I dig the smaller, more intimate episodes of the first few seasons, that and David Chase not feeling the need to remind us every 2 seconds that these are bad people and not to be idolized.

I rank the seasons as 3 = 6B > 2 > 4 =1 > 5 > 6A. The first 3 are essentially perfect television but I have some issues with the rest. 4 has a long, drawn out middle, 1 I alluded to, 5 sorry, Tony Uncle Al didn't ring true and it takes too long to get moving and 6A is just depressing, the Vito gay arc is like 5 episodes when it should have been 2, the dream sequences feel self-indulgent and they again recycle the 'Chrissy relapses and AJ is a moron!' Storylines.

Favorite episodes are Amour Fou, Funhouse, Sopranos Home Movies, Cold Cuts and Long Term Parking. The dreams in Funhouse are imo a million times better than Kevin Finnerty.

I've said my piece, Chrissy!

 

[the valiant effort]

hard to match the comfort and easy late '90's vibes of the first few seasons.

 

[Shockmaster]

That scene in the pilot episode where Tony chases the guy down with Chrissy's car in broad daylight with a ton of witness and beats him up afterwards - I know the idea was to establish Tony's character, but how are we supposed to believe he gets away with that?

 

[Randy Butternubs]

That scene in the pilot episode where Tony chases the guy down with Chrissy's car in broad daylight with a ton of witness and beats him up afterwards - I know the idea was to establish Tony's character, but how are we supposed to believe he gets away with that?

Maybe the witnesses figure the same could happen to them?

 

[Raging Bull]

That scene in the pilot episode where Tony chases the guy down with Chrissy's car in broad daylight with a ton of witness and beats him up afterwards - I know the idea was to establish Tony's character, but how are we supposed to believe he gets away with that?

The pilot is one of the worst episodes. Doesn't it have Tony narrating that part of it?

 

[koyvoo]

The pilot is one of the worst episodes. Doesn't it have Tony narrating that part of it?

Sort of. He’s describing it to Melfi.

 

[Shockmaster]

Sort of. He’s describing it to Melfi.

Yep, it's from his first therapy session with her.

I tend to chalk that whole sequence up to 90's quirkiness that aged poorly and comes off as really corny to a more modern audience.

 

[Voodoo Child]

The first season as a whole had a bunch of weird shit that doesn't resonate with the rest of the show.

- The car chase sequence in the pilot.

- Pulling a gun out of a fish.

- The entirety of 'A Hit is a Hit'. I like the episode but big parts feel like a different show, no offense, dude, but I've recorded in Denmark!

- Some cringe line readings, such as 'You talkin' to me? I don't see anyone else but Barabas here...', 'If I wanted to break up card games I'd have a donut in my mouth.' And 'You got prime rib at home, whaddya doing going out for hamburgers!?'

-'Blowing up my friend's restaurant is totally the proper way to go about all this...'

- 'Maybe I should get my teenage cousin some smack!'

- Junior getting hot enough to go to war about 'c**t lapping'.

- Puss and Paulie chasing down a teacher's Saturn.

- Chrissy shoots Pop N'Fresh in the foot in the middle of the day after being in the presence of at least 10 people who could identify him to the cops.

Doesn't take away from the moments of brilliance - the end of College, Young Tony flashbacks, Tennessee Moltisanti and all of Isabella and the finale, but they for the most part had those zany, Goodfellas-esque moments that were off-kilter, askew, ironed out by the middle of the 2nd season...but again, not like a fat joke didn't almost set off a major war (S4), a major earner wasn't killed over a horse (S4) or Tony didn't demand a piece of some guy's lawn business (S5).

 

[Randy Butternubs]

Junior watching Curb

 

[Mr Fahrenheit]

Junior watching Curb

Thats Bobby...the f*** is this

 

[the squared circle]