|
But I never liked Columbus. In Napoli, a lot of people are not so happy for Columbus, because he was from Genova. The North of Italy always have the money and the power. They punish the South since hundreds of years. Even today, they put up their nose at us, like we're peasants. I hate the North.
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2019 22:20
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 20, 2024 21:10 |
|
|
"Well, you remember one thing - this you'd better hear! You want a talk of this old school bullshit about the rules? Well here's a rule you might remember. I'm the motherfucking loving one who calls the shots!"
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2019 23:35
|
|
|
"Cunnilingus and psychiatry brought us to this"
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2019 23:49
|
|
|
"Tell him to stick those Duncan sheik cds right up his rear end!"
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2019 01:34
|
|
|
Stay out of our way / And don’t be so gay / We’re coming to defile, defile you 
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2019 02:18
|
|
|
Good buddy of mine always says "oh yeah man, well I've recorded in Denmark" when he wants to jokingly one up someone. Good poo poo!
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2019 03:13
|
|
|
Hell yes Jerusalem, keep going. I just did a rewatch of all 86, and then rewatched some individual episodes/arcs yet again after that. I'm in the mood to discuss this wonderful show.
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2019 03:15
|
|
|
I know Vitos bottom was impacted if that's what you're referring to.
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2019 06:44
|
|
|
you fuckin hoo-er
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2019 07:41
|
|
|
Season 1, Episode 2 - 46 LongLivia Soprano posted:Then kill me now. Go on, go. Go into the ham and take the carving knife and stab me here. Here! Now! PLEASE! It would hurt me less than what you just said. In a first and last for the series, this episode opens with a pre-credits teaser. Tony Soprano and the inner circle of his crew - Silvio Dante, Christopher Moltisanti, Big Pussy Bonpensiero and Paulie Gualtieri - sit counting money in a back room as, on the television, talking heads discuss the collapse of the Mafia as a force in America. Filmed 10 months after the pilot, these characters all return with at most minor changes, with the most notable changes being Gandolfini's immediately noticeable weight gain, and the fact Tony Sirico is now getting to demonstrate some of the personality that will make Paulie such a beloved and pathetic character going forward. It's tempting to treat the disconnect between the discussion on the TV and the piles of money on the table as evidence that the experts are completely in the wrong and the Mafia is still going strong. I don't think that's the case though, especially given how much it obviously pains Tony and his crew (you can tell it pains them because they make such a big deal about how it doesn't). In the pilot, Tony said he felt like he'd come in at the end. This sense of decay and death, the rotton truth behind the veneer of gaudy, bad taste luxury will permeate the series (I love that the show is set in New Jersey, with grey skies and dull urban growth leaving behind only bare patches of sickly sites of nature). There is no doubt that this crime family, and Tony in particular, are still raking in the money. But the power and influence they once wielded is waning, the distinction they used to enjoy is fading. Hell, the fact that a former mob soldier is one of those experts on the news says it all. Yes he's right that as long as basic human desires like gambling, prostitution, drugs etc exist, there will be organized crime. But the fear is gone, the sense that the Mafia was a monolithic, impenetrable institution with fingers that extend everywhere is gone. All that is left is some middle-aged, overweight guys in a back room counting money, shooting the poo poo, making off-color jokes about each other's mothers (Paulie tells the same joke twice he likes it so much!) and quoting mob movies at each other as Silvio impersonates Al Pacino in Godfather III (not even one of the good ones!)   Late night/early morning, a truck is robbed by Christopher and his own smalltime crew, including Brendan Filone, who bears an unfortunately resemblance to a young Jerry Lewis/Jim Carrey in Dumb and Dumber. The truck driver accepts he is being hijacked, but insists they tie him up AND give him a beating so his boss doesn't think he was in on the deal. Brendan is only too happy to comply, smacking the driver around before Christopher himself puts a boot in. At the Soprano household, the family eats breakfast together at the kitchen counter, and AJ tells about his science teacher had his car stolen. Carmela is horrified, it happened right in the parking lot of the school. Tony pops down in a dressing gown to grab a glass of orange juice, an unusual sight as he normally isn't up early enough to see the kids before school. When Carmela suggests he help the teacher find his stolen car, he's indifferent (and jokes about with a happy AJ, who enjoys the attention) even when Carmela reminds him Pussy runs a Body Shop and might be able to ask around. When AJ tells him he's getting a D+ in science, Tony frowns and says he'll see what he can do, mortifying Carmela who had atruistic reasons in mind. She can't deny Tony's good mood though, as he sings and dances with her, AJ watching happily (and continually scoffing down food that Carmela - Italian mother through and through - won't stop shoveling onto his plate) as a pleasant but vaguely embarassed Meadow packs her bags for school. Tony heads back to bed, he had a late night and it's not like he actually has a real job to go to. At the Bada-Bing strip club (a sad, dark place on the side of a major road, full of pathetic guys watching women with bad boobjobs dance in their underwear), Christopher arrives to deliver DVD Players to Tony, Silvio, Big Pussy and Paulie as part of their taste for his recent truck hijacking. Tony tells the barman - a large man called Georgie - to take a message if somebody calls Serge calls, showing little patience for his inability to make use of the phone. This is the first of what will be a running joke throughout the series, as Georgie struggles with his giant fingers to push the buttons and navigate the internal menus. Outside, the older crew can't help but bitch about the free DVD players (a super expensive luxury item back in the day), comparing them unfavorably to laserdisc while Brendan desperately tries to curry favor with Tony by offering to install his. Tony heads back inside where Georgie fucks up transferring the call from Serge, hanging up on him which only leaves Tony more frustrated as Christopher takes the wrong opportunity to bitch about how he is treating Brendan, who came up with the hijack plan. Tony mentions that Brendan is on methamphetamine, but seems more concerned about how to deal with the Serge situation - will he call back? Does he think Tony hung up on him? Should he wait? Finally the stress gets too much for him so instead he... oh my God he calls his mother  "Oh, look who calls!" is her reply, despite the fact we soon learn that Tony calls her every day and SHE is the one who never calls back. The entire time she talks, Tony getting more frustrating along the way, Chekhov's mushrooms are in a pan in the background bubbling away, the sound getting louder. The obvious, expecting thing is that they will burst into flames as she sneers at him having a "fancy" answering machine which she mistook for an Operator. Instead, she cuts him off to tell him she needs to turn down the flames, only to be distracted by the postwoman (a black woman!) doing something suspicious like... leaving a package at the door of a neighbor's house. Busy snooping, she forgets the mushrooms which catch on fire, exacerbated when she throws water onto the pan. Grabbing the phone to call the fire department, she has completely forgotten Tony is on the line, but is quick to hit him with even more guilt when she demands he come over rather than use the fire extinguisher he bought her, and of course he can't because he's a 40 minute drive away. Meanwhile Serge has called back, Georgie doesn't know how to use the phone, the strippers have stopped dancing to come over and ask if his mother is okay, Big Pussy wants the plate number for the teacher's stolen car, Christopher wants him to appreciate his meth addict buddy.... you can see why Tony sleeps in each night, a real job would be less stressful than this.   He tells her to call 911, then calls Carmela and asks her to rush over and check, apologizing because he knows she is busy (she was doing her nails). She heads over, standing by a seated, distraught Livia as the firemen leave the house having put out the fire which did surprisingly little damage. Carmela is at her finest here, despite Livia maintaining an influence over her husband she can never break, she plays her own hand beautifully. After making nice and trying to push Livia to accept having a housemaid at their cost to help her clean up, she takes Livia's rejection to smoothly transition into pushing the retirement community idea on her. When Livia rejects that, Carmela very carefully and (I'd argue) deliberately invites her to come and live with them, something she has done many times in the past. Livia immediately rejects the charity/pity, of course, which gives Carmela her own out as she regally proclaims that she has just invited Livia to share her home but she will NOT beg. This is important stuff to remember for later in the episode. Having gotten that out of the way, they talk about their only real connection: Tony. Livia believes he has been having fits, and is clearly disgusted to hear he is on medication now. The last is a fact Carmela should be careful about putting out there, but for all her earlier nous there are some things Livia is capable of that even Carmela is unaware of. At the Body Shop, Pussy betrays how little time he actually puts in at HIS business as he is shocked to discover the escalated costs of paint from BMW. One of his workers has been calling around Chop Shops and putting out the word that any Saturn that comes in must be kept in one piece. He's just been informed that a guy was shopping one around recently, and wears the uniform of a local coffee shop. Pussy makes an allusion to The Rockford Files, a show that series creator David Chase was a writer/producer on. Pussy and Paulie, a doomed double-act, go to the coffee shop where some of Paulie's wonderful character begins to emerge. As Pussy not too subtly attempts to find out the identity of the car thief, Paulie fumes at the overly complicated menu and especially the clear massive profitability of a product that Italian people invented, the latest in a long line. They gave the world the gift of their cuisine, and now everybody else is making money from it. Tony attends a therapy session, where he bemoans the guilt he feels for his mother's situation, even after finally convincing her to get in a maid. When he mentions that she can't live with them and Melfi agrees it doesn't sound practical, that same guilt causes him to hesitate before throwing his wife under the table, claiming Carmela will not allow it.   So who is lying, who is telling the truth? Neither and both, of course. Carmela doesn't want Livia to live with them, and Tony doesn't either. Tony is wracked with guilt about it, and claims Carmela is to blame. Carmela knows her family duty but also knows how to turn the blame around onto somebody else. Part of Tony's guilt for not being a "good" son and taking in his mother is that he probably feels huge relief that he knows Carmela doesn't want her there either. But where Carmela presented a united front - "Tony has offered, and so have I, many times" - Tony foists all the blame onto her, and that just adds to his own guilt for screwing over both the women he is supposed to love and cherish more than anyone in the world. For the first time, Tony's sisters are mentioned. Neither is named, but he says that both cut it off with Livia a long time ago, leaving him to carry the burden (more guilt, for thinking it is a burden). Both will return to the show, with one in particular - Janice - being an extraordinary character in her own right. For now it is just Tony, and after openly contradicting himself to Melfi as he simultaneously derides his mother and claims she is a sweetie-pie, he happily tells a horrifying story of his only positive childhood memory of her. In 69, the whole family went to the beach together and his father fell down the stairs, and everybody including Livia laughed at him. The pleasure in Tony's face says it all, even at that young an age he was getting all the wrong moral messages. This, along with his twisted ideas of masculinity, has resulted in his current condition, as he rages at himself to Melfi for being an ungrateful gently caress who comes to therapy to complain about his mother AND lets his wife exclude her from HIS home. To assuage his guilt he brings flowers to Livia's home, where he meets Perrilyn the housemaid and makes an immediate charming impression on her:  Livia wanders in glowering, ignoring Tony's flowers and his frustrated attempts to cheer her up by explaining he bought them from the same florist that Frankie Valli does. Perrilyn, trying to keep things positive, offers to put the flowers in a vase and get Tony a drink. She sings as she moves about the house, clearly irritating Livia who complains that she steals and can't be trusted, begging Tony to let her look after herself. It's easy to side with the clearly frustrated Tony on Livia's actions, but to be fair one should consider things from Livia's point of view. Though she has her moments, she's clearly still lucid and mostly physically capable. This IS the home she has lived in for decades, where she raised a family and spent a lifetime with her (now) dearly departed husband. Now a stranger is in the house and her son is trying to move her into a rest home. The conversation moves to Livia constantly giving away possessions when she gets into depressed moods and assumes she is soon going to die. Tony can feel the walls closing in again, and her next line only adds to his woes: Uncle Junior called and urgently needs to meet with him. Here marks an important deviation from the pilot which will have repercussions through the season and beyond. Junior has called a sitdown between himself and Tony, mediated by Jackie Aprile Senior. In The Pilot, Tony was clearly intended to be the Boss of the DiMeo Crime Family. In this episode we see that Tony and Junior are both equal ranked caporegimes, responsible for their own chunk of territory but kicking up to their Boss: Jackie. A peer and close friend of Tony's, the "Acting" Boss as Ercole DiMeo is in prison, he is also suffering from stomach cancer but insists on doing his duty by mediating this beef between the two Sopranos. What beef? The truck that Christopher and Brendan hijacked belonged to Comley Trucking, which is supposed to be under the protection of Junior's crew. Tony claims ignorance, on his behalf as well as Christopher's. Junior doesn't buy it, but Jackie makes a ruling: Christopher has to pay restitution to Junior. Tony is quick to accept and Junior can't exactly complain about a ruling in his favor even if he clearly isn't satisfied. Their talk turns quickly to Jackie's condition, and he quietly "jokes" about naming a successor. The reactions of the two capos is interesting. Tony dismisses the notion by saying in this day and age nobody would want it. Junior... just sits quietly and doesn't comment. They part with a hug after Junior compliments Tony on hiring a maid to help Livia, though of course the moment Tony is gone Junior complains to Jackie that Tony hired a "smoke". Meanwhile, Tony takes delight in needling the poo poo out of Mikey Palmice, Junior's driver/soldier, who grits his teeth and bears it as Tony viciously insults him with a smile while insisting all the while that he's just kidding. Paulie steals a decanter from another coffee franchise as Pussy gets info on the car thief, because of course he does. Carmela visits Livia with some snacks, only to pass a furious Perrilyn who has quit. Inside, Livia says she knows how to talk to people and did nothing wrong, but "these blacks, who knows what they're going to take the wrong way" and shrugs. As she turns away - and this is oh so important - she smiles in satisfaction and she makes sure that Carmela can see it for just an instant as she does.   Tony takes his Prozac in the bathroom, then heads to Satriale's (replacing Centanni's from The Pilot) where Christopher and Brendan are upset that Junior's restitution is 15k, an exorbitant amount. Tony is enjoying how uncomfortable they are, even making light when Christopher fires up and claims he won't pay. With chilling good humor he reminds them that serious is what will happen to them by HIS hands if they don't pay what Junior is owed. He reminds Christopher that his reputation for immaturity does him no favors, especially when he complains about not being Made over the Triborough Towers deal (the assassination of Emil) despite knowing the "books are closed". Refusing a direct order from the Acting Boss would only compound that perception. Unfortunately for Christopher, Brendan isn't a master of reading the room, and laughs that everybody knows Tony runs things now that Jackie has gone from Kemosabe to "Chemo-sabe". Tony immediately pitches him out of the room and into a trolley of pork in a scene straight out of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, with Christopher making no move to question or lament his friend's treatment. He agrees that restitution must be paid, but 15k? Tony promises to at least ask Junior to be more lenient, but Christopher - as he soon tells Brendan - is smart enough to know that Junior probably only asked for 10, and that Tony will be keeping at least 2-3k for himself leaving them with barely $500 each but having to pretend to be grateful for it. Pussy and Paulie break into the home of the car thieves, who mistake them for cops (or Jim Rockford) until Pussy jams a gun into one of their mouths. They take them to the Chop Shop they sold the Saturn to, where Pussy is furious to discover it has already been stripped down. Spotting the original plates on a Dodge inside, he tells the thieves that one of them will climb in and get those plates off, while the other goes and finds an identical Saturn to steal. This scene is notable for the fact the thieves are gay lovers. Surprisingly, especially given all the casual racism in this episode, Pussy and Paulie never directly insult or demonstrate disgust at them for their sexuality outside of referring to them as Desi and Lucy. However, the portrayal of "gays" is so 1999 that it hurts, and reminds me that even a forward thinking and revolutionary show like The Sopranos had its fair share of problems. The next day, Tony sighs as he looks at his empty pool. Meadow picks up on what he is doing as she helps set the table, and Tony sparks up with life as he speaks about how special it was (Meadow wasn't into it). Tony is in fact basking in family love, as Livia is coming around for dinner and will be joined by Carmela's own parents. Livia is in fact picking them up, and for all the issues she's had recently he beams with pride about how she is also so willing to drive her older friends around. This part of her makes him happy, it gives him hope.  Welp. Melfi winces in therapy as a despondent Tony explains that she broke her wrist and got a concussion, while the other woman broke her hip. The hospital doctors told Tony that she can't live alone any more, with her wrist broken she can't pick up the phone which is the only point of contact she often has with the outside world. Melfi suggests gently to Tony that Livia's accident with the car may have been the result of depression, as she is mentally and physically healthy otherwise, but depression can cause poor performance or simple mistakes in every day tasks. Tony does not take this well, but Melfi smooths it over by telling him what he wants to hear (and what is also right), that Livia needs to be around other people and she can't be left alone for extended periods of time. When Tony hopefully mentions Green Grove, Melfi aids his desperation to offload his guilt when she genuinely comments on how lovely it is and compares it to a Cap d'Antibes resort-hotel. Tony is like a drowning man who sees a life-raft, as for once he and Melfi are in perfect concert and everything she tells him is exactly what he wants (and needs) to hear. It's not a rest home, it's an exciting new chapter in her life, and his mother has the chance to be an inspired and inspiring figure. As Tony clings to a desperate if foolish hope, so does Christopher. He and Brendan have taken their girlfriends (Drea de Matteo returns, this time explicitly as Adriana) to a nightclub, but their names and their inside contacts aren't getting them past the velvet rope, even as Martin Scorsese (played by a lookalike, obviously) slips past with his girlfriend ignoring the calls from those around, including Christopher who assures him HE liked Kundun. When they finally get inside, high on meth they moan and sit upstairs as their girlfriends dance downstairs, complaining about the lack of respect they get and how much they were hosed over by their restitution to Junior. To his credit, Christopher shuts down Brendan's complaints about nobody getting "Made" and accurately points out the current issues with their organization. With DiMeo in prison and Jackie Aprile on his deathbed, nobody really knows who is in charge anymore, who gets what kickbacks, how much to shave off in tribute etc. On the cusp of the millennium, a high Christopher is thinking about the future of the mob while Brendan is thinking about robbing another Comley Truck as a gently caress you to Junior Soprano. Tony visits his mother who is lying on the couch resting her broken wrist. Dressed up nicely, he compliments her on her ham and she laments that he (60 pounds heavier than he was in The Pilot) never lets her feed him. Still high from his recent session with Melfi, he at first smilingly dismisses her insisting he take her lamp and barcalounger or else the junkman will have to haul it all away to the dump when she dies. But she has a way of getting under his skin, and when he tries to charm her with the thought of wearing her finest jewellery to Meadow's Graduation, she takes savage pleasure in telling him she gave it away to his cousin Josephine, making sure to point out it was because Carmela never complimented her on it. Tony snaps yet again, the pressures proving too much as he dismays that her black cloud of poison is killing him. He desperately tries to ape Dr. Melfi, saying Green Grove is like "Captain Teeb's hotel" and throwing back the "be inspiring" line about seniors, but she is adamant she will NOT go to the Nursing Home, and the only reason a corner suite is available is because somebody died. When Tony threatens to get power of attorney over her and place her there, she puts on the tears and insists he just murder her now as that would hurt less, and Tony is left completely flummoxed. As Melfi warned him earlier, this little old lady "sweetie pie" has enormous power over him and there is little he can do to stop that.   Thursday morning, Brendan comes to Christopher's house to pick him up to rob another Comley Truck, but an introspective (and presumably sober) Christopher has changed his mind. Still musing on the organizational issues prevalent in the modern day mob, he notes that part of the problem is lower level crews like his own running off and doing their own thing. Brendan is furious, responding to Christopher's (admittedly condescending) pep-talk with a "suck my dick". Come 6am, Brendan and the other two crew members (Antjuan and Special K, the latter played by J.D Williams, best known as Bodie in The Wire) hijack the Comley Truck. The driver is happy to cooperate, he's a friend of Brendan's inside man, but when Special K climbs in to drive and ends up only thrashing the gears, he climbs back out and the gun falls out of his waistband, going off... and killing the driver. Special K and Antjuan make a run for it as Brendan freaks out, realizing that if Junior wanted 15k restitution for a simple robbery, what is he going to do about a murder of a driver under his protection? Livia is brought to Green Grove by Tony and Carmela. The family and the administrator, Bonnie, or do their best to talk about how lovely this all is, all of Livia's belongs have even been delivered by truck to be moved into her suite. Livia simply sits and glares at Bonnie, looking almost smug: she's not going to play along and pretend she is happy about this. Bonnie doesn't seem daunted, she's obviously dealt with her fair share of stubborn older women. As Tony signs the papers, a call comes through from Uncle Junior but he refuses to take it even when Junior insists, he has other things to do. Tony and Carmela return home where he thanks her for coming along to be moral support, and as they will so often in the future, turn to food for comfort. At least the toughest part of his day is over, things can't get much worse. Which is when Christopher calls to tell him to reach him from an outside line, where he explains Brendan - by himself! - hit another Comley Truck and, uhhh... the driver got shot.  After venting his rage, Tony drives out and meets Silvio at one of the lots where their garbage trucks are stored. Paulie and Pussy are also there, and they look over the racks of Italian suits that were in the truck: beautiful suits, but also a lot of trouble. Brendan desperately tries to explain himself but Tony shuts him up, and shuts down Christopher when he tries to insist he wasn't involved, pointing out that as head of that street crew he should have prevented this or provided Brendan with better guidance. Brendan blames the crank he is on but insists he is going into detox, and Tony smirks when Christopher tells him to shut the gently caress up before he get clipped as well: at least Christopher seems to be figuring out how things work. He isn't going to defend him though, he hosed up after getting caught once before, so now he has to face the music. He will return the truck and the suits to Comley Trucking and they will hand themselves over to Junior, and pray that he doesn't decide to kill them for the transgression. Still, they're mobsters and they can't help themselves, so when Silvio notes that one of the suits fits him pretty well (a 46 long, perhaps?), Tony makes it clear that one of the racks will NOT be going back, and he, Paulie and Pussy quickly begin picking out suits for themselves as Silvio once again quotes Pacino in Godfather III. At AJ's school, his science teacher is amazed to discover his Saturn back in the parking lot. AJ explains his Uncle Pussy helped find it, and the teacher obviously knows enough not to question further when the plates match but he now has different keys, his papers aren't in the back and the interior paint is a different color to the (still wet) exterior. AJ Soprano posted:My Dad's a hero! Tony visits Livia's now empty home to pick up a few last knick-knacks and photos to go to Green Grove or into storage. Standing in the hollowed out husk of what was once his family home, looking at pictures of the mother of his youth in pictures with the child she still makes him feel like... he feels a panic attack coming on. He manages to grab a seat on the coffee table. In therapy, Melfi tells a disbelieving Tony that this is good. She explains that feeling sad is not only fine, but healthy, the important thing is that he felt that without passing out. He wants to wallow in his guilt though, what he did as far as he is concerned is an unforgiveable act, and his mother refusing to talk to him is just proof of that. When Melfi pushes him to acknowledge the genuineness of his anger and rage towards Livia, he shuts down, insisting their time is up and he must leave. She almost pleads with him, acknowledging this would be a big step in addressing his own mental and emotional health, but he won't have it. He storms out and returns to the Bada Bing, where he sits seething as Georgie struggles with his paw-like hands at the telephone and struggles to figure out the internal menu. When he unknowingly echoes Livia by not knowing the difference between the operator and an answering machine, Tony snaps and lets out his aggression towards his mother in an entirely unhealthy and unproductive way. He grabs the handset and smashes Georgie in the face with it twice, dropping him to the floor. Lurching away, he clearly understands on some level why he just did what he did, and the guilt and self-loathing will only continue to build in him as a result. If he thought putting Livia into Green Grove would solve HIS issues, he was sorely mistaken.  In another example of the black comedy the show so often wonderfully employed (sometimes it crossed the line), the scene holds for roughly 10 seconds on three strippers in the background who had stopped to stare after Tony. The music continues to play as they stand stock still, Georgie off-frame on the ground, and then one stripper begins to slowly gyrate to the music again, then the other two join in, and then they go right back to dancing again as the credits roll. So the show has launched! Already a big improvement on the already solid Pilot, the show is finding a strong balance between Tony's family drama and Tony's Family drama. Supporting characters are getting a chance to shine and develop, and the seeds are being planted for the overarching plot of the season. There's also a lot going on where the 20 year age is showing on a revolutionary show. "Wow there are a lot of coffee shops around now!" is a particular "things are different now!" old man complaint, the writing and performance of the gay car thieves was pretty sad. In particular the extraordinarily casual racism feels a bit too much like the writers enjoying the freedom of thinking,"Well this is how people like this would act/talk!" to get away with things like Antjuan holding his gun sideways, Special K's gun falling out of his belt (because black guys won't wear belts, dangnabbit!) or Tony, Livia and Junior's derogatory comments towards Perrilyn. I would argue however that Perrilyn as a character is making a point about the way the characters' racism is intended to undercut them. Junior and Livia are old, and while not forgiveable their racism is to be expected. But it is specially shown to us that Tony - forward thinking younger generation - is just as openly racist, with his "ganja" line directly to her face. Perrilyn herself is shown as kindhearted, hardworking, and more to the point she is EXACTLY the type of strong-willed immigrant that Tony lauded in The Pilot when talking about his ancestors building the Church. Livia accuses her of stealing, Junior is disgusted that she is there at all, Tony assumes that she smokes marijuana constantly and needs to be reined in at work etc. Meanwhile she is doing a job nobody else can or will, and doing it all with a smile, a spring in her step and a song in her heart. That Livia could make somebody like that break in such a short amount of time says a lot more about Livia than anything else. Season 1: The Pilot | 46 Long | Denial, Anger, Acceptance | Meadowlands | College | Pax Soprana | Down Neck | The Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti | Boca | A Hit Is a Hit | Nobody Knows Anything | Isabella | I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano Season 1 | Season 2 | Season 3 | Season 4 | Season 5 | Season 6.1 | Season 6.2 Jerusalem fucked around with this message at 13:18 on Apr 23, 2020 |
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2019 10:16
|
|
|
The fact that you're doing these in depth write ups for The Sopranos the way you did them for The Wire is blowing my mind, they're absolutely fantastic. Those Wire write-ups were a major highlight of the last several years on this forum as far as I'm concerned.
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2019 14:12
|
|
|
It's interesting going back to watch the seed for Pussy flipping being laid here with being made to play P.I. for no particular benefit to himself.* While Paulie doesn't care, it's also because Paulie doesn't think about things as much. Or to paraphrase One, "Pussy was always smarter." *Yeah, I know it gets retconned for him having been informing for a lot longer, but that never sat so well with me.
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2019 15:58
|
|
|
I enjoy these write ups almost as much as the episodes themselves!
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2019 16:35
|
|
|
The whole "gift of our cuisine" is so much better when you get to the part in Italy where Paulie cant even stomach actual Italian food and instead orders some noodles and tomato sauce like the "classless piece of poo poo" he is.Midgetskydiver posted:I enjoy these write ups almost as much as the episodes themselves! Same
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2019 20:44
|
|
|
banned from Starbucks posted:The whole "gift of our cuisine" is so much better when you get to the part in Italy where Paulie cant even stomach actual Italian food and instead orders some noodles and tomato sauce like the "classless piece of poo poo" he is. Absolutely! I love that Paulie refers to everybody else as "these people" as if he isn't fully American himself. The lip service they pay to their culture without really understanding or engaging in it, while hardly unique, really contrasts nicely with their fierce pride. It's part of why I dig the Colombus episode so much, because they have a literal Italian with them who doesn't give a gently caress about Colombus (in fact he hates him) and they try to workaround the Native Americans by... going to a casino run by some white dude claiming Native American heritage for the tax benefits.
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2019 21:27
|
|
|
The worst part is, that aspect of Italian American culture is not exaggerated one bit. People are truly so proud of their heritage and all that comes with it and have absolutely no clue that it bears little resemblance to actual Italian culture.
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2019 22:33
|
|
|
Some relevant book tips: Killer by "Joey the Hitman" (actually mostly written by Dave Fisher) is the autobiography of Max Kurschner, a New York-born minor gangster. Kurschner is a self-aggrandizing dork, who got killed in 1982, probably at least to some degree relating to the fact that he was writing books about the mob. While you should take Kurschner's stuff about himself with a hefty helping of salt, Killer is nice because it actually tells you how the various old-school mob businesses worked, from the numbers game to the loan sharking part. The Outfit by Gus Russo is a good history of the Chicago-based criminal organization. Compared to the East Coast families, the Outfit was characterized by being less obsessed with being Italian as hell, and evolved into something far bigger than the East Coast families over time, because the Chicago mob essentially ran Vegas and made a shitload of cash doing it. They also helped various presidents get elected. A good look at how the old gangs collapsed during the era of Al Capone, how the end of Prohibition led into the Outfit evolving fast, and so on.
|
|
#
?
Mar 15, 2019 06:30
|
|
|
Another good one is Boss of Bosses: The Fall of the Godfather: The FBI and Paul Castellano which details what it was like in the Gambino crime family and how the FBI went about building their case against him. The two agents going into detail bugging Castellano's house reminded me a lot of the season three premiere.
|
|
#
?
Mar 15, 2019 13:57
|
|
|
Season 1, Episode 3 - Denial, Anger, AcceptanceCharmaine Bucco posted:Really. I mean, we both made our choices. I'm fine with mine. Christopher and Brendan pull up to Comley Trucking with the truck of Italian Suits they hijacked last episode, Brendan blasting the horn repeatedly until two workers come out to see what the ruckus is. Christopher shouts out that they found the truck on the side of the road, mumbling something about "some kids" and transmission trouble. The two workers know this is some bullshit, and when they realize it is the stolen truck they approach furiously until Christopher shoots his gun into the air. They jump into the car and peel out, Christopher stupidly joking,"It's a gift from Tony Soprano!" as they go, both laughing, two laughing assholes who the truckers can only assume killed their co-worker Hector. In the car, both Brendan and Christopher snort some drug (presumably meth, but possibly coke) while Brendan complains about his biggest score of the year being turned over. Christopher, in spite of his own stupid actions, reminds Brendan that he's lucky Tony didn't ram the cab up his rear end for causing trouble between him and Junior, who Christopher himself clearly doesn't take seriously, which is a big mistake. Junior and Mikey Palmice share dinner together some time afterwards, where Palmice passes on to a satisfied Junior that Comley recieved his truck back. While the missing suits were noted, Comley's bigger concern was that the truck was returned (Hector is acceptable losses, apparently) so he's happy, which makes Junior happy. What doesn't make him happy is when he finds out that Comley is crediting Tony for this, and not Junior. Infuriated, Junior bitches about Tony's junkies causing the problem, him fixing it and Tony getting the credit, but quickly shuts down Mikey when he suggests that Christopher should have been wiped out after the first hijacking to send a clear signal. Grunting that they're not making a Western here, Junior bemoans having to deal with family, and complains that he brought AJ a $400 surfboard for his birthday (Tony literally told him not to buy anything expensive in the first episode!). In therapy, Tony is reading the paper as he waits for his session, but becomes fascinated with a painting on the wall. Melfi brings him inside where he questions if this was a "trick picture", becoming extremely smug as he tries to show off that Melfi and her little psychological tricks aren't fooling HIM  - he claims that it is clearly something akin to a "Korschach test". Melfi of course is intrigued, because it is absolutely NOT a trick picture and Tony is getting himself wrapped up in something entirely in his own head. So what does he see when he looks at it? What makes him think it is a trick? He points out that the picture - a completely benign landscape of a barn - is a "depressing barn" with a "rotted-out tree" and this too-clever for its own good Harvard elitist nonsense doesn't work on HIM, he can see right through it. Melfi lets that hang for a second and then moves on, and they discuss Jackie Aprile's cancer, which has him back in the hospital after briefly being out and about again.  In the hospital, Jackie is not exactly enjoying being visited by Mikey Palmice, who is fascinated by the possibility of air bubbles in Jackie's IV possibly killing him. Jackie's wife, Rosalie (a good friend of Carmela's) assures Jackie things like that don't happen in this hospital, casually slapping Mikey (hard!) on the back of the head as she walks by. Mikey starts talking about another person with cancer ("eating his brain away!") so it is no surprise when Jackie is relieved to hear Tony's voice, and to see Tony, Silvio, Paulie and Hesh show up to visit. Tony, of course, can't help but break Mikey's balls but isn't pleased when Mikey hits back with a smartass comment of his own about Artie's restaraunt "spontaneously combusting". Rosalie breaks the tension by offering to get something from the cafeteria (and diplomatically leaving Jackie to talk business if needed/give herself a break), and Mikey takes the cue to say his goodbyes too. Jackie is relieved to see him gone, though he is at pains to say Mikey is a nice enough guy in spite of his cancer fascination. Paulie - always an expert at reading a room - immediately starts talking about stem cell therapies and Silvio has to shut him up. Instead they start talking business, which cheers Jackie up no end, a chance to feel like everything is normal again. It seems a Hasidic Jew who owns a motel down the road from Silvio's strip club has come to him asking for help with a problem - he wants his daughter to divorce her husband, but he won't go without getting 50% of the motel. Hesh quickly warns them off, saying the Hasidim are not people you want to get involved with, even if they are offering 25k for Silvio to take care of the issue (without murdering the son-in-law). Jackie unfortunately has been drained by the activity and tells them he needs rest, and the reality of the cancer brings the mood briefly down again as they say goodbyes and head to the cafeteria to finish the conversation.   At Meadow's high school, she and her friend Hunter Scangarelo are attending choir practise, which is an extra-curricular activity which looks extremely good on the college applications they are currently obsessing over. Unfortunately for all of the students, the SATs are scheduled for the same day as the college recital, and they are utterly exhausted from all the study prep they have been doing. They're complaining but they're also obsessed, because acceptance to Berkeley is ot only a chance to go to an excellent college, but to put the entire North American landmass between themselves and their parents. Hunter hates New Jersey, Meadow is desperate to get away from Tony and Carmela, so the only answer is that they just forego sleep till after the SATs. As two schoolfriends look to escape New Jersey, four other old schoolfriends are trying to keep their old relationship strong. Tony and Carmela are visiting Artie Bucco and his wife Charmaine in their new home, a regular sized and perfectly nice home that is roughly in the same neighborhood as the Sopranos (same school district at least) and their ludicrous McMansion. The move is presumably the result of downsizing after the loss of Artie's restaurant. Tony goes out to visit Artie in the garage where he is distressed and wracked with guilt when he learns there is going to be a second arson investigation and Artie is still waiting on the insurance payout, with Artie unknowingly insulting Tony when he says the idea of burning down a perfectly good restaurant is stupid and insane. Inside, Carmela offers unintentionally backhands compliments about how "cozy" the house is to Charmaine, and stresses to her that though they barely see each other in spite of their close friendship back in their youth, she wants to rekindle that friendship. Later at Satriale's Pork Store, Tony, Silvio and Paulie meet with the Hasidic Jew who owns the motel (Teittleman) and his son, Hillel. The son is not happy about getting the mob involved, warning his father he is creating a "golem", but Teittleman is desperate: his son-in-law is abusing his wife and mocking their laws of marriage. Tony lays things out very clearly though, he's not interested in a payment for dealing with this issue. The Rabbi goon squads who used to put a beating on husbands have been broken up by the D.A's Office, so they are their only option. So he wants 25% of the motel business. The son-in-law wants 50%, Tony will make him go away for half of that. Hillel is horrified, telling Teittleman as they leave that once these people get in, you can never get them out. "That's a commercial, isn't it?" quips Paulie, a joke so nice he didn't even have to tell it twice. It's not quite as funny when Paulie and Silvio go to the motel to meet this son-in-law, Ariel. They explain in as friendly a menacing way possible that they're friends of Teittleman's here to discuss this problem, but Ariel is having none of it. Cracking jokes all the way, he explains he put blood, sweat and tears into building this motel up and making it a success, and he's not going to walk away from that now. When he won't take the hint, Paulie smacks him around and they ram him into the reception counter, telling him he will leave and do so with nothing. Silvio tells Paulie to say "bupkes" since that is their word for nothing, but Paulie doesn't give a poo poo about cross-cultural learning and just grabs the reception bell, smacking Ariel in the back of the head with it while insisting this is how HE says nothing. That night, Tony and Carmela have an enjoyable "argument" about Carmela's plan to hold a fundraiser for a pediatric hospital in their house, and they can get Artie and Charmaine to cater it. Tony doesn't want strangers in the house, but is clearly in a good mood as she happily mocks him and suggests they move to Italy to a tiny village town and put walls around the house and throw burning oil on travelers who come knocking. Their cheerful mood is hampered by the loud music blasting from Meadow's bedroom however, and they discuss Artie and Charmaine's new house and the lack of insurance payout. Carmela is horrified by how tiny and rundown the place was (it was an ordinary house!), while Tony's guilt returns when she muses whether maybe it WAS arson after all? He thumps on the wall to yell at Meadow, and Carmela goes in to warn her to keep it down AND go to bed, not pleased to discover Hunter is there because Meadow decided she was staying the night. Even now, for Carmela this is all kind of amusing schoolkid stuff: kids staying up late, studying for tests etc. What she doesn't know is that Meadow is also on the phone with friends complaining that they bought meth for themselves but not enough for Meadow and Hunter to use to keep them awake and alert enough to study.   The next day, Carmela has evidently set things in action as she walks Charmaine through her obviously far, far, far larger than Charmaine's home to talk about what they can do with the budget for the fundraiser. Carmela is distracted when she notices fingerprints on the breakfront and summons over her maid Oona with an imperious hand gesture. Charmaine is horrified to see the way Carmela talks down to this woman, treating her like a servant, and talks about her like a status symbol/pet ("she's usually very good. From Poland!"). At Christopher's place, Brendan is doing pull-ups in the doorway to the bedroom while Christopher watches COPS on television and Adriana prepares to go to work (she's a restaurant hostess, so presumably she IS the same hostess from The Pilot) when the doorbell rings. It's Meadow and Hunter, who have come to see Christopher in hopes they can score meth from him. He's horrified, while Brendan is more than willing to get them some (and particularly interested in getting some from Meadow OR Hunter, much to Meadow's disgust, though Hunter seems intrigued). Christopher wants nothing to do with it of course, not least of all because if her father ever found out he'd put a bullet through his head. Meadow pulls the old bullshit about going somewhere more dangerous to cop instead and he warns her they'll rob and rape her if she goes to Jefferson Avenue, but after she's left he waves it off as her just trying to put a scare into him so he'd give her the drugs himself. Surprisingly, Adriana suggests maybe he should. After all, maybe it is better she gets good quality from him rather than risking getting poisoned by the junk they sell elsewhere? Brendan of all people offers the sage advice that you may think you can protect kids, but you can't. Which is a pretty great line until you realize he's talking about giving meth to teenagers, one or both of whom he wants to bang. At the hospital later that night, Jackie is watching TV when Tony pops in to see him with a story about AJ having stood on a nail and being down in the Emergency Room with Carmela. Jackie asks about the Hasidim and Tony says Silvio and Paulie will be going back to visit him again. A nurse in a surprisingly lowcut top pops in to find her "nurse's pen" and begins reaching around under the sheets as a confused Jackie attempts to explain she has the wrong room. She clambers over him, breasts shoved into his face as Tony looks over the flower arrangements and compliments "New York" for such a nice gift. Clambering off of him, she is shocked to discover her breasts have popped out of her bra and her top is fully open, and she asks if she can borrow his gown. A different nurse tries to enter the room and Tony quickly ushers her out, explaining this is a private party, and the other shoe finally drops for Jackie. Tony roars with laughter that he got him, the now topless stripper from Silvio's club laughing along with him. She clambers up onto him again as Tony heads out to give them some privacy. At his next therapy session, Tony is glowing as he recounts a sanitized version of the story for Melfi. But underlying the happiness is the awareness of the reality of Jackie's condition. Looking at her degree, he asks her for her medical opinion, pushing for it even after she reminds him that she doesn't know anything about his condition beyond what he has told her secondhand. When she learns that it's cancer in the intestine, that he is NOT getting surgery because the tumor is near something vital etc she admits that it doe not sound good. Tony is instantly on the defensive, in spite of pushing her to give her opinion. He seethes as he explains/brags that Jackie didn't lose a single hair from the chemo and will be able to beat this. Melfi, uncomfortable but professional, pushes him to confront and expose his true feelings about Jackie's cancer, and brings up the fact he saw rot in the tree in the painting. Tony is instantly furious, so the painting IS a scam? It's not of course, but she wants him to acknowledge that there is nothing in the painting to indicate rot so why did he see it in there? In denial and full of anger (consider the source of the episode title) he storms out of the room with a gently caress YOU!   As Carmela continues prepping for her fundraiser, she notices Christopher creeping up the steps without making any effort to greet her. She heads upstairs, disturbed by the fact that Christopher is sitting with Meadow on her bed in her room with the door closed. Obviously 1000 different horrible scenarios might be going through her head (the fact he's given her meth probably not in there) so she is relieved if a little upset by Meadow's excuse that Christopher came to ask her if Hunter would go out with his friend Brendan. That's high school stuff, creepy high school stuff but high school stuff nonetheless. She warns Christopher that Brendan isn't to go anywhere near "that child" and he moans that he was just doing his buddy a favor, and he and Carmela leave while Meadow excitedly calls Hunter to give her the "good" news, probably having already forgotten Christopher's exhortations that she never let anybody else know about this and reminder that Tony would literally kill Christopher if he found out. Amusingly at the Bucco household, for once it is Artie mocking the Sopranos and their higher aspirations while Charmaine (amused, certainly) is defending them. But when the subject turns to money (she thinks he is jealous) he points out the hypocrisy of her rejecting the cruise tickets but happily taking a catering job. Interestingly, Charmaine's argument is that SHE is the one doing a favor for Carmela and not the other way around, and that she clearly sees them as equals in this as they BOTH work together for a good cause. She's going to get a rude awakening on that front very soon. Artie quietly brings up that Tony offered to front him some money/maybe go in on a partnership and she shuts that down immediately, saying it would be the end of them as legitimate businesspeople. It seems neither is under any illusion about what the Sopranos are, but they both see their respective counterparts as being genuine and true friends while the other has some ulterior motive. Come the night of the fundraiser, the moment of truth also comes for Charmaine at least. As Carmela schmoozes with other wealthy notables, Charmaine is having a wonderful time until Carmela wants her to come over... and repeats the exact same summoning gesture she gave to Oona earlier. For Charmaine it is devastating even if she quickly puts the mask of professionalism up, her "friend", genuine as her intentions might be, can't help but consider (and perhaps enjoy) Charmaine as being beneath her. By contrast, Tony - who gets pissed at Artie complaining about the fire - ends up getting into a schoolboy foodfight with his old buddy as they hang out together in the kitchen and their resentment towards each other gets forgotten in the fun of their juvenile anger. Carmela sees them acting up like this and smiles happily over them, and it's interesting that even here there is an air of condescension/self congratulation - look what SHE has accomplished for poor Artie and Charmaine - while Charmaine is in the background completely out of focus.  Ariel is also having a bad night, as he is tossed into the back of a car by Paulie and Silvio and hauled over to Satriale's so they can beat him into submission. The trouble is, Ariel won't loving submit and he also won't shut up. He complains about everything he has done and put into the motel and his wife and he should walk away with nothing!?! Paulie has reached the end of his rope and punches him in the gut, only for Ariel to jump him and try to strangle him until Silvio beats him down with a meat hammer. Frustrated but impressed, Silvio muses that if they don't end up killing him, maybe they should put him to work FOR them! Reluctantly, they give Tony a call as he is trying to enjoy a post-fundraiser tryst with his girlfriend Irina (now played by Oksana Lada) and tell him they can't break Ariel. Tony's mood ruined, he is preparing to leave when he notices a David Hockney ripoff on the wall and asks her what it means to her, and she says it reminds her of "David Hockey". It's a simple painting of a swimming pool with a splash in it, but he's reading too much into it again. Tony shows up at Satriale's where he insults the battered Ariel who still insists that he won't give them the divorce unless he gets restitution. Tony is disgusted that he would rather die than give his wife the divorce they all want, and Ariel proudly recounts the Siege of Masada and asks where the romans are now. "You're looking at them, rear end in a top hat" from Tony isn't a bad retort, to be fair. He calls Hesh who can't help reminding him that he warned him not to get involved, but he does have an idea. Ariel might be willing to die, but is he willing to live under the wrong circumstances? Basically, threaten to cut off his dick and see what he thinks about that? Tony is delighted, and tells Paulie to get the boltcutters. The next day, Carmela is gushing over the success of the fundraiser, and now that it is just the two of them she's all about treating Charmaine like an equal. She talks about all the requests she has gotten from various important people to have Charmaine cater events, but Charmaine is still seething about her realization the night before. When Carmela once again offers a maddeningly genuine but also condescending assurance that Charmaine and Artie will soon be "back on their feet" she has to find some way to get her own back. So how does she get back at Carmela for unknowingly insulting her? In an incredibly catty way that also serves to showcase she knows EXACTLY how to get under Carmela's skin. Affecting a blase air, she says that something has been bothering her and as silly as it is she needs to get it off her chest. Evidently many, many years ago when Carmela and Tony were "on the outs" and Carmela was at the shore vacationing with her family, Tony asked Charmaine out and she agreed, one thing led to another and they slept together. Then with brutal honesty, she says,"Really, it wasn't for me" and assures her friend Carmela that she doesn't need to worry about her, she's happy with Artie and has no regrets.   It's beautiful in its simplicity and savageness. In a few simple words she essentially tells Carmela she could have just as easily been in her place in the giant McMansion with all the money in the world to burn. That she could have been the mob wife, that Carmela's husband wanted HER, that she had him and SHE choose not to take part in it. Carmela is nothing special, Carmela can't lord it over her, and more to the point the statement that Charmaine is fine with how things turned out also has an underlying idea that Carmela either is not or should not be. All couched in such a way that Charmaine comes across as friendly and even supportive, in just the same way that the friendly and supportive Carmela was using Charmaine as a prop to make herself feel better. In an episode that features a guy getting beaten with a meat hammer and threatened with having his dick cut off, this scene is by far the more brutal to me. Speaking of Ariel, he's done. Tony visits Teittleman at the motel where he has been paged by an irritated Silvio, it seems that he (Teittleman) doesn't think he has to give them the 25%. With incredibly naivety he explains happily to a disbelieving Tony that yes they threatened Ariel, but it was his own business sense that brought Ariel around. Ariel wanted 50%, they wanted 25%, so he split the difference and offered Ariel 15% and got the divorce for his daughter he wanted. How wonderful, all obviously completely incidental to the beating and forced castration that the mobsters threatened his son-in-law with! Now he's trying to offer them a cash payment to go away because he doesn't need them anymore. Unlike Charmaine, Tony doesn't need words to hurt people, he smacks Teittleman's hat off and slams him against the wall, telling him if he wants to give 15% to Ariel it comes out of his end, because they are still going to get the 25% they were promised. Horrified and somehow surprised, Teittleman gasps that his son was right, Tony IS a golem. Tony has no idea what the gently caress that means, but he understands "Frankenstein" and that infuriates him more. He shoves Teittleman off down the hall and warns him he will shove "your rear end in a top hat son up your rear end!" if they don't get theirs. Once he is gone, Tony and Silvio share a look, finally understanding Hesh's warning not to get involved. To cheer himself up, Tony heads to the hospital to give Jackie the good news that they're now in the motel business. He is disconcerted to find a very different Jackie in place though. Truly looking sick for the first time, Jackie barely acknowledges him as he obsesses over reading his temperature and tries to call a nurse. Tony tries to tell a funny story about threatening to cut Ariel's dick off but Jackie clearly isn't listening, leaving Tony to really face up to the truth. Apparently he wasn't the only one to visit Jackie on this bad day, as Junior visits with Livia at Green Grove and fills her in on Jackie's condition. As he helps put up family pictures on the wall, Livia commiserates over Jackie's condition but is fully aware that there is some ulterior motive for Junior's visit. When he mentions Christopher Moltisanti and his "little friend", he wants to vent about how they have insulted him. Livia, no fool, immediately shuts that down, as she reminds him that Tony thinks of Christopher like a son... and pointedly states that she does too. Junior knows exactly what she means and clearly shifts gears, knowing he'll find no warm welcome here. He knows how to come at it from a different angle though, as he lays out the problem: how long can he take these insults before he has no choice but to snap, which would mean a confrontation with Tony himself. Livia acknowledges that maybe Christopher could use "a talking to", then without saying anything specific makes it clear that while Christopher is beloved... nobody gives a poo poo about Brendan. Junior is thrilled and impressed, she's pretty smart for an old gal. "No," she grunts,"I'm a babbling idiot. That's why my son put me in a nursing home." Her son is wallowing in self-pity too, as he talks to Melfi in therapy about Jackie's decline. For the first time he is facing up front to the reality that Jackie is dying, that in some ways he is already gone. He mentions being called Frankenstein, and considers the steadfast belief of Ariel in the face of certain death. He can understand that, he himself is unafraid of death if it is for the right reason. But seeing Jackie wither away to nothing has no meaning, no nobility, and Tony can't do anything about it. He envies the Jews their beliefs, because if everything has no meaning then what is the point of anything? And why does he have to think and feel about it? This is something that Melfi can sink her teeth into, and she presses Tony to explore them more. Does he feel like Frankenstein? Does he think of himself as a thing, incapable of human emotion?   The question goes unanswered, at least verbally, but perhaps can be found in the remarkable scene that follows. The first montage of the series, it follows Meadow's performance for the choir watched by a proud Tony and Carmela, intercut by scenes of Christopher abducted by Russians to undergo a fake execution while Mikey Palmice does the real deal to Brendan under the supervision of happy Uncle Junior. It is absolutely dripping with hidden meanings and fascinating, if you haven't watched it recently (or at all) please do! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICgm3kq1pcM There is so much to unpack here. Christopher's immediate first thought is that Tony has sent these guys, connected through Irina perhaps, and that it is as a result of giving meth to Meadow. He never even thinks it might have been Junior, which also tells us that Christopher did not truly appreciate the depth of trouble he was in or that Junior was somebody to take seriously. Meanwhile Palmice fulfills Jackie's earlier premonition that he was the Grim Reaper, and reminds us that he is far from the comedic figure of fun he has been shown to be so far. Tony and Carmela glow with pride for Meadow, but Carmela pulls away from his grip to his confusion, because she is furious at him (and herself) after Charmaine's precisely targeted revelation. Tony looks on the verge of tears, but why? Is it because of the beauty of the song? Pride in Meadow? An opportunity to let the weight of Jackie's condition finally be realized? Or has he found meaning at last in the song/performance? Melfi asked if he felt like an empty vessel/incapable of emotion or humanity, and has the song shown him that he is capable? Plus all this beauty is, of course, thrown into an entirely new context with the knowledge that Meadow and Hunter are both using meth, which means there is a better than even chance that they're high or at least feeling the effects even as they're up there singing so wonderfully. There is something rotten beneath the surface, a sickness, a cancer that has settled in. As Hillel warned, as Charmaine fears, as Jackie knows: once it gets in, you never get it out. Season 1: The Pilot | 46 Long | Denial, Anger, Acceptance | Meadowlands | College | Pax Soprana | Down Neck | The Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti | Boca | A Hit Is a Hit | Nobody Knows Anything | Isabella | I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano Season 1 | Season 2 | Season 3 | Season 4 | Season 5 | Season 6.1 | Season 6.2 Jerusalem fucked around with this message at 13:19 on Apr 23, 2020 |
|
#
?
Mar 17, 2019 08:59
|
|
|
Nancy Marchand could convey a sentiment worth a thousand words with just a look and a wave of her hand. She was so good. And really, Livia Soprano was the ultimate criminal mastermind in the show.
|
|
#
?
Mar 17, 2019 09:52
|
|
|
I find it really fascinating how Junior keeps going to her for guidance. Part of it is that he's considering going up against Tony and wants to test the waters as to how "my brother's wife" would react, but he also seems to be looking for actual, genuine advice. After all, his initial plan was to kill Christopher and Brendan, it was her who made it clear that Brendan was the target of opportunity but also made the suggestion that Christopher "should get a talking to". Oddly enough, I never really got the sense on any rewatch that Livia was any kind of guide/wisdom for Tony's dad when it came to crime, and in fact future episodes will show flashbacks where we see that Livia wasn't the overwhelming force that Tony remembers in that relationship, or at least she took a LOOOONG time to work on him and wear him down. That Junior - the older brother - is so willing to look to Livia for instruction makes me wonder if Junior was ever suited to anything beyond the capo level. On the flip side, maybe he and Tony are two peas in a pod and it's just that Livia is Junior's Melfi.
|
|
#
?
Mar 17, 2019 11:01
|
|
|
^Excellent summary. It's worth pointing out that Schlomo Teittleman is played by Chuck Low who played Morrie from Goodfellas, one of the many crossover actors
|
|
#
?
Mar 17, 2019 12:35
|
|
|
gently caress, I knew I recognized him. If he'd just constantly been harping to Robert DeNiro about his cut I would have figured out who it was.
|
|
#
?
Mar 17, 2019 12:41
|
|
|
Mikey Palmice is such a useless moron and I love it.
|
|
#
?
Mar 17, 2019 13:43
|
|
|
The montage is also a Godfather reference, no?
|
|
#
?
Mar 17, 2019 13:52
|
|
|
I know as fans of the show we've concentrated on its successes, but I'd like to offer a short tribute to the user-researched content of IMDb's Goofs page. Due warning: your appreciation of the series may be forever tainted by these revelations.IMDb Goofs: Character Errors posted:- None of the characters based or from New York speak with a New York accent.
|
|
#
?
Mar 17, 2019 17:21
|
|
|
Re-reading the the AV Club's retrospective on this episode, they pointed out what neat thing is that Charmaine gets established as kind of a nag but at the same time she doesn't ever get compromised. And in fact made her choice to not be such a long time ago. Edit: Another interesting bit which I'm sure was just re-casting but at the same time could absolutely be something more if you want it to be is how in the pilot Tony's dating a blonde girl on the side and then the next time we see his cumare she's a brunette... like Melfi. Dawgstar fucked around with this message at 19:53 on Mar 17, 2019 |
|
#
?
Mar 17, 2019 17:44
|
|
|
One overarching theme in The Sopranos that still comes to mind to this day is how disingenuous almost every character was. It was a story full of horrible lovely people who went to great lengths to maintain their various images but were really only interested in getting what they wanted out of others, some of them to such an extent that it's a challenge to even call them truly human.
|
|
#
?
Mar 17, 2019 18:52
|
|
|
UNRULY_HOUSEGUEST posted:I know as fans of the show we've concentrated on its successes, but I'd like to offer a short tribute to the user-researched content of IMDb's Goofs page. Due warning: your appreciation of the series may be forever tainted by these revelations. This is loving incredible  Dawgstar posted:Re-reading the the AV Club's retrospective on this episode, they pointed out what neat thing is that Charmaine gets established as kind of a nag but at the same time she doesn't ever get compromised. And in fact made her choice to not be such a long time ago. Yeah, it's tempting to think she is mean and overly aggressive to Artie but she's absolutely 100% in the right every single time and it's clear that without her around, Artie is going to do impossibly stupid things that will come back to bite him on the rear end.
|
|
#
?
Mar 18, 2019 04:38
|
|
|
well, actually, tony literally saves artie's life and livelihood several times in the show, so when you think about it tony's a better spouse to artie than charmaine ever was, she's just a bitch like skyler tony even came up with the two for one coupon idea too
|
|
#
?
Mar 18, 2019 04:47
|
|
|
Jerusalem posted:This is loving incredible Him going after Adriana is near the top of the list. He's got like 15+ years on her, she's dating a mafia associate, etc. If it was set in 2019 he'd be posting those dumb ideas on reddit asking for advice on how to make it work next time.
|
|
#
?
Mar 18, 2019 04:58
|
|
|
I'm pretty sure Artie has a death wish what with pointing a rifle at Tony, rustling Christopher's hair and beating the poo poo out of Benny. It's like suicide by cop turned up to 11. He reminds me of Gloria Trillo. Clearly depressed, just kinda walking through mine fields and not giving a poo poo. banned from Starbucks fucked around with this message at 05:47 on Mar 18, 2019 |
|
#
?
Mar 18, 2019 05:44
|
|
|
Jean-Philippe, you're home. I called you five times, qu'est-ce que c'est? Message machine broken? banned from Starbucks posted:He reminds me of Gloria Trillo. Clearly depressed, just kinda walking through mine fields and not giving a poo poo. I love that Gloria is basically walking around with a flashing neon sign saying,"I'M YOUR MOTHER, TONY!" the entire time he's gushing about how great it is to finally meet a strong, independent, take-no-poo poo woman who isn't like anybody else he knows.
|
|
#
?
Mar 18, 2019 06:21
|
|
|
Jerusalem posted:Jean-Philippe, you're home. I called you five times, qu'est-ce que c'est? Message machine broken? I love that brief scene with Melfi at the end of Pine Barrens. "Depressive personality, unstable, impossible to please. Does that remind you of any other woman?"
|
|
#
?
Mar 18, 2019 08:30
|
|
|
One thing I always remember with Gloria is that last scene with Patsy, where he tells her if she comes near Tony or his family ever again its his face she'll see and it won't be cinematic.
|
|
#
?
Mar 18, 2019 13:30
|
|
|
Dawgstar posted:One thing I always remember with Gloria is that last scene with Patsy, where he tells her if she comes near Tony or his family ever again its his face she'll see and it won't be cinematic. “They’ll be scraping your nipples off these fine leather seats.”
|
|
#
?
Mar 18, 2019 15:01
|
|
|
I forgot all about Brendan from S1. When I rewatched the show with my roommate, he pointed out the actor who played Brendan's also the rear end in a top hat antagonist from Beer League.
|
|
#
?
Mar 18, 2019 17:16
|
|
|
Very few of the show's characters aren't disingenuous pieces of poo poo: Charmaine, as has been pointed out. Melfi, who I think is probably the only heroic figure in the whole story, and maybe Furio. Furio was an rear end in a top hat and did awful poo poo but I don't think he was lying when he tells the story of how he was happiest working on a farm. What's your favorite scene from the whole series? For me I think it's from Fleshy Part of the Thigh where Hal Holbrook's character is telling Tony about how consciousness is just a mirage and you can clearly tell Tony is interested in what he's saying, but it's just a spark of curiosity that fades as his attention turns to something else. It's a nice microcosm of the show as a whole.
|
|
#
?
Mar 18, 2019 18:42
|
|
|
"The Bevilaqua Kid" would make a pretty good band name. These are fantastic and make me want to start a rewatch that much more. Midgetskydiver posted:What's your favorite scene from the whole series? I don't know if the whole scene counts, but I think this is my favorite moment:  Just look at the ACTING Gandolfini does in like 3 seconds with just his eyes. It's phenomenal. (Also, I think about it every time I want to end a conversation with somebody. Just turn tail and run.)
|
|
#
?
Mar 18, 2019 19:46
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 20, 2024 21:10 |
|
|
JethroMcB posted:I don't know if the whole scene counts, but I think this is my favorite moment: From a massive legacy of great acting that is still one of his best moments. As the viewer before the camera turns you immediately know this is major endgame level stuff going down and you have no idea how far its reaching.
|
|
#
?
Mar 18, 2019 19:54
|
|