Just watched The Sopranos

[GobbleDog 816]

Definitely shows it's age (late 90's) with flip-phones and tube TV's. It's a cool show with lots of Italian gangster stuff and hot naked chicks, but.... a few things.

What's with all the therapy? It starts with Tony Soprano seeing a therapist - that's fine, he's the main character.  But throughout the show his son, daughter, sister and wife start going to therapy.  Even Tony's therapist sees her therapist.  Therapy must have been booming in the 90's.

The bartender at the Bing gets the living crap beat out of him by Tony on several occasions over nothing, but keeps showing up for work. "You gotta take things one day at a time."  "Oh yeah?  How do like this one day at time you mother-f*cker! #$@%@!"  Shows up the next day like nothing happened. 

Half the show is filmed in a hospital. Either from elderly people, cancer patients, car wrecks, gun shots, etc.

Lots of long drawn out dream sequences.  Who doesn't love watching a show and thinking "holy crap, I can't believe that just happened!?! Oh wait, it didn't happen. It was a dream."

In one show Tony's friend - "P*ssy" is wearing a wire for the Feds.  How does Tony find out about this? Catch him in the act? Did a friend tip Tony off? Did the Feds tell him?  No. Tony has a dream where he's talking to a dead fish and the fish (who's voice sounds like P*ssy) says "Sorry Tony, I've been wearing a wire for the Feds."  The next morning Tony searches his house, finds the wire, and kills him.  What the f*ck? 

The ending was odd.... cut to black in the middle of the final scene. I assume Tony was about to get assassinated, but who the hell knows.

Overall, decent.  There were a lot of nice t*tties.

[Djgb13 2,338]

People were about the same level of pissed about that ending as they are the GOT ending 

[5-Points 2,726]

2 hours ago, GobbleDog said:

The ending was odd.... cut to black in the middle of the final scene. I assume Tony was about to get assassinated, but who the hell knows.

Spoiler alert!

[RLLD 3,455]

Regarding the ending, in a few episodes earlier T was out on the boat with one of the shmucks on some pond and they were talking about death, wondering what it might be like, and they decided that maybe things just go black....which was the setup for Tony getting offed in the diner

[shorepatrol 1,737]

I've yet to watch it. Dog days of summer coming up so I'll binge it with the wife finally

[GobbleDog 816]

5 hours ago, GobbleDog said:

Tony has a dream where he's talking to a dead fish and the fish (who's voice sounds like P*ssy) says "Sorry Tony, I've been wearing a wire for the Feds."  The next morning Tony searches his house, finds the wire, and kills him.  What the f*ck?

Nobody else thought this was totally ridiculous?  Tony's dream told him who was wearing a wire?  Might as well add magic spells and wizards in the show. 

[SUXBNME 1,324]

33 minutes ago, shorepatrol said:

I've yet to watch it. Dog days of summer coming up so I'll binge it with the wife finally

I remember binging your wife once....once

[shorepatrol 1,737]

22 minutes ago, SUXBNME said:

I remember binging your wife once....once

She said you binged her better than anybody. She's still pissed you wiped your d!ck on the drapes 

[wiffleball 4,636]

I thought Joey Pants kinda roont it. Just didn't fit in.

It'd be like adding Pesci to Breaking Bad. 

 

[wiffleball 4,636]

And yeah, every time they tried to get artistic and or psychological and or metaphorical and or symbolic, the show just suck. But if you cut those parts out, most of it was pretty darn good.

 and Tony's mother, Wife, and Kids could have all died in the first episode.

Best actor to come out of that show was Drea de Matteo. She's about the only one that successfully spun up her career after that.

[Hardcore troubadour 12,619]

4 hours ago, wiffleball said:

And yeah, every time they tried to get artistic and or psychological and or metaphorical and or symbolic, the show just suck. But if you cut those parts out, most of it was pretty darn good.

 and Tony's mother, Wife, and Kids could have all died in the first episode.

Best actor to come out of that show was Drea de Matteo. She's about the only one that successfully spun up her career after that.

Yes. She was great in that one show/movie with that guy. What's the name of it again? 

[TimmySmith 2,782]

8 hours ago, GobbleDog said:

Nobody else thought this was totally ridiculous?  Tony's dream told him who was wearing a wire?  Might as well add magic spells and wizards in the show. 

His dream confirmed a suspicion that he refused to acknowledge because puzzy was a friend.  

[sderk 1,040]

This thread totally makes me never want to watch this show. I only enjoy entertainment therapy sessions when they involve Monk, or early years Woody Allen. And dream sequences ruin every moment of every show ever made except for in Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

[Mike Honcho 4,014]

9 hours ago, Ray Lewis's Limo Driver said:

Regarding the ending, in a few episodes earlier T was out on the boat with one of the shmucks on some pond and they were talking about death, wondering what it might be like, and they decided that maybe things just go black....which was the setup for Tony getting offed in the diner

This 1000%.  The talk with Bobby B and Bobby wonders about it all going black.   David Chase is explaining his ending right here...and he was big into his layering, foreshadowing, imagery and storytelling.   He really knew how to craft a story. 

[wiffleball 4,636]

1 hour ago, Hardcore troubadour said:

Yes. She was great in that one show/movie with that guy. What's the name of it again? 

Top of head, she went on to SOA and Shades of Blue.

 

[bostonlager 2,462]

16 hours ago, GobbleDog said:

Definitely shows it's age (late 90's) with flip-phones and tube TV's. It's a cool show with lots of Italian gangster stuff and hot naked chicks, but.... a few things.

What's with all the therapy? It starts with Tony Soprano seeing a therapist - that's fine, he's the main character.  But throughout the show his son, daughter, sister and wife start going to therapy.  Even Tony's therapist sees her therapist.  Therapy must have been booming in the 90's.

The bartender at the Bing gets the living crap beat out of him by Tony on several occasions over nothing, but keeps showing up for work. "You gotta take things one day at a time."  "Oh yeah?  How do like this one day at time you mother-f*cker! #$@%@!"  Shows up the next day like nothing happened. 

Half the show is filmed in a hospital. Either from elderly people, cancer patients, car wrecks, gun shots, etc.

Lots of long drawn out dream sequences.  Who doesn't love watching a show and thinking "holy crap, I can't believe that just happened!?! Oh wait, it didn't happen. It was a dream."

In one show Tony's friend - "P*ssy" is wearing a wire for the Feds.  How does Tony find out about this? Catch him in the act? Did a friend tip Tony off? Did the Feds tell him?  No. Tony has a dream where he's talking to a dead fish and the fish (who's voice sounds like P*ssy) says "Sorry Tony, I've been wearing a wire for the Feds."  The next morning Tony searches his house, finds the wire, and kills him.  What the f*ck? 

The ending was odd.... cut to black in the middle of the final scene. I assume Tony was about to get assassinated, but who the hell knows.

Overall, decent.  There were a lot of nice t*tties.

GOT showed its age as well, torches, no electric, or cars 

[TimmySmith 2,782]

1 hour ago, sderk said:

This thread totally makes me never want to watch this show. I only enjoy entertainment therapy sessions when they involve Monk, or early years Woody Allen. And dream sequences ruin every moment of every show ever made except for in Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

You will be missing out.  Like every show, it had ups and downs.  The ups were stuff that had never been seen before, and still play well today.  The characters were all brilliant. 

[sderk 1,040]

44 minutes ago, TimmySmith said:

You will be missing out.  Like every show, it had ups and downs.  The ups were stuff that had never been seen before, and still play well today.  The characters were all brilliant. 

You're right. I guess I should pick it up at some point.

[Cruzer 1,992]

* Great show, but I think most have it overrated.

* Could of seen more (college years) naked Meadow.  

 * Janis was annoying AF.

* Not only did the ending suck, but left way too many unanswered questions.

[Mike Honcho 4,014]

7 minutes ago, Cruzer said:

* Great show, but I think most have it overrated.

* Could of seen more (college years) naked Meadow.  

 * Janis  & AJ were annoying AF.

* Not only did the ending suck, but left way too many unanswered questions.

fixed

[wiffleball 4,636]

The ending of The sopranos suffer the same fate as true detective. Sometimes a director gets too cutesy. It's fine to build in Easter eggs and extra things to look for. In fact, it's kind of fun for the super fans. But when you add in all sorts of so-called Easter eggs that lead to nothing? When you purposely try to make something meaningful that isn't meaningful? Then you just wasting time. And you're being way too cute for your own good. That's why the end of sopranos pissed off so many people. And that's why true detective was so disappointing. Other than the fantastic nudity scenes.

Every futher mucker out there thinks he's David Lynch now.

[Cruzer 1,992]

14 minutes ago, Mike Honcho said:

fixed

Oh yea, no doubt. Felt like punching him in the face many times.

[Mike Honcho 4,014]

Just now, wiffleball said:

The ending of The sopranos suffer the same fate as true detective. Sometimes a director gets too cutesy. It's fine to build in Easter eggs and extra things to look for. In fact, it's kind of fun for the super fans. But when you add in all sorts of so-called Easter eggs that lead to nothing? When you purposely try to make something meaningful that isn't meaningful? Then you just wasting time. And you're being way too cute for your own good. That's why the end of sopranos pissed off so many people. And that's why true detective was so disappointing. Other than the fantastic nudity scenes.

Every futher mucker out there thinks he's David Lynch now.

Disagree strongly.   From episode 1 -David Chase worked the story on multiple levels, the surface story level and then his deeper more philosophical level---that often takes a little more effort and viewings to fully get, sometimes not.   These weren't Easter eggs, but sometimes full-blown seasons where Tony is in a coma, entire dream episodes, not items for super fans to find, but an intrinsic part of his storytelling and auteur-ship.   It wasn't about trying to make something more meaningful by injecting something here or there, but something that was always part of the entire story.   

I can understand not enjoying or wanting to watch something like that because of the extra effort it takes---but i don't think it had anything to do with being cutesy.  This was David Chase's story, his vision and he absolutely can craft it the way he sees fit.  I personally enjoyed the extra layers of nuisance & thought he inserted into the story, it added more to the journey. 

To me a well crafted show/movie is art, akin to painting or writing, but in mass entertainment it's often even trickier.   The artist has to find the balance between being commercially viable and still achieving his vision.   I actually appreciate Chase more than Lynch Malick because i often find that while thought-provoking their stuff doesn't succeed in being entertaining or accessible enough to wide audience.

*again, I"m a huge cinema fan who works sort of in this field---so I spend way way way too much of my time thinking about this stuff.  

[wiffleball 4,636]

...blows raspberry...

[Mike Honcho 4,014]

2 minutes ago, wiffleball said:

...blows raspberry...

 

[edjr 5,555]

I have watched Sopranos all the way through 3 times, I skipped season 6 the 2nd time and skipped season 5 and 6 the 3rd.

 

I have watched OZ no less than 4 times all the way through, never skipped a single episode.

[RLLD 3,455]

13 hours ago, GobbleDog said:

Nobody else thought this was totally ridiculous?  Tony's dream told him who was wearing a wire?  Might as well add magic spells and wizards in the show. 

If you watch earlier episodes, Tony was suspicious for a long time.  He never fully accepted P's excuse for missing the meeting with Jackie. Every so often you can see Tony look at him with disdain, he knew something wasn't right for a while, his dreams were the push from his subconscious to end the stress it was causing him

[edjr 5,555]

50 minutes ago, wiffleball said:

...blows raspberry...

tranny with a big d1ck?

[dain11279 927]

Just finished the series. Been kind of on a run of all-time great series since the pandemic began. Breaking bad, the wire, now sopranos. Very, very good. Not as good as BB but close. Wonderful writing, great characters.

 

Favs: Tony (obviously)

Paulie

Uncle Junior

Worst: AJ

Janice

 

What series should I go to next?

 

 

[frank 2,144]

24 minutes ago, dain11279 said:

Just finished the series. Been kind of on a run of all-time great series since the pandemic began. Breaking bad, the wire, now sopranos. Very, very good. Not as good as BB but close. Wonderful writing, great characters.

 

Favs: Tony (obviously)

Paulie

Uncle Junior

Worst: AJ

Janice

 

What series should I go to next?

 

 

We recently watched Ozark and Stranger Things. Both excellent. Also, seasons 1 and 3 of True Detective. 

[TimmySmith 2,782]

30 minutes ago, dain11279 said:

Just finished the series. Been kind of on a run of all-time great series since the pandemic began. Breaking bad, the wire, now sopranos. Very, very good. Not as good as BB but close. Wonderful writing, great characters.

 

Favs: Tony (obviously)

Paulie

Uncle Junior

Worst: AJ

Janice

 

What series should I go to next?

 

 

All the non mob tertiary characters sucked. Which is on line with all mob shows and films. I did love Janice, though, left on the bus. What a lib failure of a human being.

[Hardcore troubadour 12,619]

33 minutes ago, dain11279 said:

Just finished the series. Been kind of on a run of all-time great series since the pandemic began. Breaking bad, the wire, now sopranos. Very, very good. Not as good as BB but close. Wonderful writing, great characters.

 

Favs: Tony (obviously)

Paulie

Uncle Junior

Worst: AJ

Janice

 

What series should I go to next?

 

 

Narcos

[kutulu 1,545]

12 hours ago, Hardcore troubadour said:

Narcos

For you narcos fans, if you have AP, check out The Last Narc, doc about the Kiki murder, pretty interesting imo...I think it was 3 or 4 episodes

[kutulu 1,545]

Plan on doing a rewatch sometime, maybe this winter, along with the podcast Talking Sopranos:

Sopranos co-stars Michael Imperioli and Steve Schirripa host the definitive Sopranos re-watch podcast. Michael and Steve follow the Sopranos series episode by episode giving fans all the inside info, behind the scenes stories and little-known facts that could only come from someone on the inside.

[avoiding injuries 1,220]

I rewatched a season or two on Prime recently. It’s amazing how many scenes I fast forwarded through. 
All therapy sessions, most Carmella scenes, anything Janice was in, I skipped episodes with Tony’s mom, and much more. You’re lucky to get 15 good minutes out of an episode during a rewatch. 

[Hardcore troubadour 12,619]

3 hours ago, avoiding injuries said:

I rewatched a season or two on Prime recently. It’s amazing how many scenes I fast forwarded through. 
All therapy sessions, most Carmella scenes, anything Janice was in, I skipped episodes with Tony’s mom, and much more. You’re lucky to get 15 good minutes out of an episode during a rewatch. 

Pretty much what I do. Though the mother could be funny sometimes. “Go, go in there and take the knife out of the Virginia Ham and kill me now”. And when she runs over her friend In the driveway.