Author Topic: The Sopranos official thread  (Read 27782 times)

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Offline KevShmev

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Re: The Sopranos official thread
« Reply #70 on: September 04, 2015, 06:58:55 PM »




I have one episode left in season three. The one I finished last night was the one where Jackie and his two friends jacked Christopher's poker game. Man, that was so intense.

Jackie = idiot

And how awesome was "Pine Barrens"??

Offline cramx3

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Re: The Sopranos official thread
« Reply #71 on: September 05, 2015, 03:08:27 AM »




I have one episode left in season three. The one I finished last night was the one where Jackie and his two friends jacked Christopher's poker game. Man, that was so intense.

Jackie = idiot

And how awesome was "Pine Barrens"??

What happened to the Russian?

Offline KevShmev

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Re: The Sopranos official thread
« Reply #72 on: September 05, 2015, 07:40:41 AM »
He was an interior decorator who loved his universal remote.

Offline mrrct

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Re: The Sopranos official thread
« Reply #73 on: September 05, 2015, 03:33:42 PM »
My ranking of the seasons:

1. 1 (which is the case for the vast majority of shows)
2. 2 (although realistic, the killing off of Big Pussy was the point where the show jumped the shark)
3. 3 (at this point, the show became decent, no longer great)
4. 5 (a slight return to form after the hugely disappointing season 4)
5. 4 (I remember being very pissed at the quality of the season after it having been off a year and a half with Gandolfini's holdout)
6. 6A (disgusted me so much that I didn't even watch all of the second half of the season)

Offline KevShmev

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Re: The Sopranos official thread
« Reply #74 on: September 05, 2015, 06:35:18 PM »
 ??? ???

The Sopranos never jumped the shark.

If anything, they lost something when Nancy Marchand died, but even still, Livia wasn't nearly the presence in Season 2 that she was in Season 1, yet S2 was still totally awesome.

To me, the 6-episode run of Marco Polo through All Due Respect, at the end of Season 5, is one of the best 6-episode runs of any television show ever.

Offline mrrct

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Re: The Sopranos official thread
« Reply #75 on: September 05, 2015, 08:06:13 PM »
You can disagree about whether the show jumped the shark or not, but you have to admit that it was never as good after Big Pussy (and Livia) died.

Admittedly, I am not as big a fan of the series as you are, at least as far as knowing episode titles and such, so I did look up the last six episodes of 5, and you are right, that was an excellent string of episodes, and I must now amend my order and place season 5 above 3 now.

Season 5 ended so strongly that I had a renewed enthusiasm about the show, but then when season 6 became the AJ and Vito show, I lost all interest in the show.  I did see parts of the second half with Tony offing his heir apparent (whom my friends stupidly thought was a mercy killing) and the finale  where New York and New Jersey were offing each other's capos, and I enjoyed the last scene of Phil at the gas station, but was expecting a little more, at least for Tony.

Offline KevShmev

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Re: The Sopranos official thread
« Reply #76 on: September 05, 2015, 10:58:16 PM »
Well, Seasons 1 and 2 were the best, but the show was still excellent more often than not after that.  It's not like it went downhill and sucked after Sal and Livia were gone.

I think many were expecting more from the ending.  The last scene aside, the last episode was very underwhelming.  One problem was that so many major characters had died (or in Silvio's case, were in a coma), that many of the core characters over the years simply weren't there for the last episode. 

I also didn't like how they changed Tony's accent at the end.  They supposedly brought in a voice coach, who made his accent more "New Jersey," but it was so different than the way he had talked for most of the series that it was just kind of odd.

Offline mrrct

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Re: The Sopranos official thread
« Reply #77 on: September 06, 2015, 10:23:22 AM »
I was not saying that the absence of Livia and Pussy were the sole reason the show went downhill, it could have been mere coincidence.  Other than Furio, they failed to introduce likable (or hateable in a good way) new characters, with maybe the exception of the expansion of Phil's character, to pick up the slack.  Plus, I think most shows only have a few good seasons in them before they start to go stale, and very few have good ones late in their run.

I never noticed the accent change in Tony for season 6.  Now I'm going to have to go on On Demand and do a compare and contrast.

I think part of the reason the show went downhill in my eyes is because Chase went out of his way to make the characters less likable.  Who didn't enjoy when Tony took care of the informant on Meadow's college visit, or when Paulie and Christopher took care of Palmice while he was jogging.  When Tony whipped the city councilor because he was banging his ex-goomah after it was he who called it off in the first place, or when Paulie snuffed out the old lady, or when Paulie and Christopher killed the waiter, they were no longer cool.  Your avatar, despite being a serial killer, remained cool for almost the entirety of the series.  Deb, on the other hand, went from being very likable to detestable (almost as much as Rita) the last two seasons.
« Last Edit: September 06, 2015, 12:57:50 PM by mrrct »

Offline KevShmev

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Re: The Sopranos official thread
« Reply #78 on: September 06, 2015, 11:56:45 AM »
They did become less likable, I agree, but they were way more likable early on that they should have been.  Call it glorifying the mafia life, but we shouldn't be liking characters like Tony or Paulie, yet we did, which was a testament to the excellent writing, and quite frankly, the acting.  Gandolfini did an awesome job of making Tony likable at times, because of his natural charisma and that boyish grin. It was hard to not like Tony more often than not, especially when pitted against antagonists who were far worse than he  was (Richie, Ralphie, Phil, etc.), in relative terms.

Offline mrrct

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Re: The Sopranos official thread
« Reply #79 on: September 06, 2015, 12:16:52 PM »
Well, if we can't see eye to eye in football, I'm glad we can when it comes to other topics.

Offline KevShmev

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Re: The Sopranos official thread
« Reply #80 on: September 06, 2015, 12:18:17 PM »
LOL, well, I don't look at this or the other thread as arguing; I see them as friendly discussions, and those can sometimes be friendly disagreements. :biggrin:

Offline mrrct

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Re: The Sopranos official thread
« Reply #81 on: September 06, 2015, 01:12:20 PM »
How could I have possibly forgotten about the time Tony stapled Palmice's suit to his body.  That was the funniest thing I had ever seen on TV up to that point, maybe only replaced by the Al Swearengen/Mr. Wu "CS" conversation on the first year of Deadwood.

Offline KevShmev

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Re: The Sopranos official thread
« Reply #82 on: September 06, 2015, 01:41:23 PM »
Poor Mikey.  First, he gets diagnosed with Fuckfaceitis, and then he gets shot to death when the poor guy was just going for a nice jog in the country.

Offline mrrct

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Re: The Sopranos official thread
« Reply #83 on: September 06, 2015, 01:58:42 PM »
But at least he told his wife he loved her before he left.  At least that's the story she told the press.

Offline KevShmev

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Re: The Sopranos official thread
« Reply #84 on: September 06, 2015, 02:03:31 PM »
I'm still wondering what is more comical with the death scene of...

CHINO, DO NOT READ




...Jackie Jr.:

a) Jackie somehow missing Vito's on the side of the road when he walked by him (immediately prior to be gunned down)

or

b) Vito taking 27 minutes to get in the car

I am going with b. Nothing screams GREAT HIT like the killer taking forever to get into the getaway car because he's too fat. :rollin :rollin

Offline mrrct

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Re: The Sopranos official thread
« Reply #85 on: September 06, 2015, 02:52:33 PM »
"O-bli-kay?! (Oblique) Hey, no Spanish words!" - Jackie Jr., playing Scrabble with Meadow.

I forgot about Vito's drastic weight loss.  Either, A) he realized that it was a detriment when he had to make a quick getaway after a hit, or more likely, B) he had outgrown his leather man outfit and wanted to fit back into it.

Glenn Hughes, the original Village People leather man, was one of the three straight members (along with the policeman/admiral and the soldier) of the group, yet became one of the biggest gay stereotypes known to man.
« Last Edit: September 07, 2015, 08:31:11 AM by mrrct »

Offline KevShmev

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Re: The Sopranos official thread
« Reply #86 on: September 06, 2015, 09:42:14 PM »
I doubt Vito's weight loss was part of the original script, but once the actor who played Vito lost a ton of weight, they worked it in.

Offline mrrct

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Re: The Sopranos official thread
« Reply #87 on: September 06, 2015, 09:52:48 PM »
Just trying to maintain kayfabe, KevShmev.

Offline KevShmev

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Re: The Sopranos official thread
« Reply #88 on: September 06, 2015, 09:55:41 PM »
Heh, understand.

And mad props to whoever made Joseph Gannascoli's main pic on IMDB what it is:

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0304430/

 :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol

Offline orcus116

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Re: The Sopranos official thread
« Reply #89 on: May 28, 2016, 10:57:38 AM »
I just started watching this. Three episodes in and I'm really enjoying it.

Offline KevShmev

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Re: The Sopranos official thread
« Reply #90 on: May 30, 2016, 09:47:50 AM »
Nice.  I still say the first two seasons of the Sopranos are arguably the best two seasons of television ever.  Not that the rest isn't great - most of it is, especially most of 3 and 4, all of 5 (except for one bad episode) and some of 6a and 6b - but those first two are just something else.

Man, I wish I could watch them for the first time again.

Offline orcus116

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Re: The Sopranos official thread
« Reply #91 on: May 30, 2016, 09:58:04 AM »
Tony's mother's personality really irritates me. The sooner something happens to her the better.

Offline KevShmev

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Re: The Sopranos official thread
« Reply #92 on: May 30, 2016, 10:22:24 AM »
Her personality is why she was awesome.  She is a major reason why Season 1 in particular was so great.

Offline cramx3

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Re: The Sopranos official thread
« Reply #93 on: June 02, 2016, 10:05:04 AM »
Her personality is why she was awesome.  She is a major reason why Season 1 in particular was so great.

Yup, the mother effect on Tony had a huge impact on him.  Those early seasons when Tony would see Dr. Melfi were great TV.

Offline orcus116

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Re: The Sopranos official thread
« Reply #94 on: June 04, 2016, 01:53:48 PM »
Just started Season 3. I'm totally hooked.

Tony's mother died. YEEESSSSSSSSSSSSS!
« Last Edit: June 04, 2016, 02:03:16 PM by orcus116 »

Offline Dave_Manchester

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Re: The Sopranos official thread
« Reply #95 on: June 04, 2016, 02:55:58 PM »
Great show, let down only by the absolutely dreadful acting 'abilities' of Robert Iler, who plays A.J. It often happens in TV shows where a child gets a part because he has the 'look' they want, but as they grow up it becomes clear they actually can't act (Jake in Two and a Half Men for example).

In Season 6, that preposterous story-line which sees him engaged to a woman ten years his senior who promptly breaks up with him, was intolerable. Yet another run of episodes for A.J to behave like a miserable, moaning, whiny, boring little prick. The writers clearly didn't know what to write for him, given his limited talent, so just kept thinking up ways to make him depressed and sullen.

Aside from that though, it's one of the great shows. Commendatori (my favourite episode, where they all realise the world 'back home in the old country' which they've idealised is in fact grim bullshit), College, Pine Barrens and the 2 episodes with Tony in a coma (Kevin Finnity!) are some of the highest quality writing on tv. 

 

Offline orcus116

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Re: The Sopranos official thread
« Reply #96 on: June 11, 2016, 10:00:08 AM »
Most of the way through Season 4. Kev, I see what you mean when you said 3 and 4 were pretty good but not on the level of 1 and 2. The whole Furio/Carmella thing is one of those storyline tropes I hate seeing because it's a typical later season "we need to develop this character" blah blah thing that shows do.

Looking ahead I saw that Season 6 is 21 episodes. Was this during the writers strike where they had to split up the season?

Offline KevShmev

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Re: The Sopranos official thread
« Reply #97 on: June 11, 2016, 11:15:45 PM »
No, I just think they decided to call it seasons 6a and 6b for God knows what reason.  Not sure why they didn't just call the last season the 7th one. 

The Furio/Carmela storyline seems nearly universally hated by Sopranos fans, for obvious reasons.  They turned Furio from a bad ass into a whimpering wus who is lusting after the boss' wife.  The presence of Ralph in seasons 3 and 4 more than made up for it, however.

Offline orcus116

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Re: The Sopranos official thread
« Reply #98 on: June 11, 2016, 11:40:47 PM »
Ralph went almost a season later than I thought he would but looking at how the story played out it makes sense. I wanted him and his stupid McDonalds arch haircut out of the show the second I saw him.

Offline KevShmev

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Re: The Sopranos official thread
« Reply #99 on: June 12, 2016, 01:42:16 PM »
I had a similar reaction to Ralphie than I did to Richie: the first time through, I couldn't wait for Tony or someone to take him out, but the second time through, since I already knew their eventual fates, I was able to enjoy how awesome, well written and brilliantly acted both characters were.

Offline orcus116

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Re: The Sopranos official thread
« Reply #100 on: June 13, 2016, 06:50:36 PM »
Season 6 here we go.

Offline KevShmev

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Re: The Sopranos official thread
« Reply #101 on: June 14, 2016, 08:12:07 PM »
Curious to see what you think of it.

Offline orcus116

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Re: The Sopranos official thread
« Reply #102 on: June 14, 2016, 08:16:04 PM »
In the middle of the 5th episode. It's been great so far and you can see the empire starting to crumble.

Also it was probably the music but the end of the second episode where Tony's coma self was just sitting in that hotel room at night all alone with that lighthouse/beacon in the background made me really sad. I just wanted to give ol' Tone a hug.

Offline KevShmev

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Re: The Sopranos official thread
« Reply #103 on: June 14, 2016, 08:20:48 PM »


Also it was probably the music but the end of the second episode where Tony's coma self was just sitting in that hotel room at night all alone with that lighthouse/beacon in the background made me really sad. I just wanted to give ol' Tone a hug.

Yep, that is easily one of the best endings they ever did.  And the song they picked for it couldn't have been more perfect.  I am a little iffy on certain aspects of Season 6a, but that moment alone is terrific. :hefdaddy :hefdaddy

Offline axeman90210

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Re: The Sopranos official thread
« Reply #104 on: June 15, 2016, 07:59:11 AM »
Keep an eye out for my dad and grandma when you get to the finale  :biggrin:
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