|
Basebf555 posted:My favorite Sopranos memory is of the crew going to Italy and Paulie being so confused about why the food is so different haha Paulie taking Tony aside moments after Tony just got invited to the house of the big Boss/Don, in order to tell him,"Hey T, I'm going back to the hotel to take a poo poo!"
|
#
¿
Jan 17, 2019 03:32
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 10, 2024 17:47 |
|
|
He played the useless dropout son in season 2 of the Deuce who takes a liking to the hookers at his dad's massage parlor - he didn't really stand out to me but it was a pretty limited role so hopefully it isn't just gimmick casting.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 24, 2019 23:23
|
|
|
Adriana's mental and physical collapse under the stress and tension of being an FBI informant is really amazing, and her final couple of scenes on the show are among the most gutwrenching there is. I gotta admit I straight up brought into her fantasy about driving away which made the sudden cut back to reality all the more horrifying.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 21, 2019 00:56
|
|
|
Mahoning posted:Hugh at Livia's funeral. Thought you were talking about Christopher for a second! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdP7f4_YL8I
|
|
#
¿
Feb 21, 2019 23:41
|
|
|
The look on Adriana's face as she realizes that he's going nowhere with this is 
|
|
#
¿
Feb 22, 2019 02:28
|
|
|
Solice Kirsk posted:Angie also took over the autobody shop and started loan sharking and buying/selling stolen parts for the mob by the end. It got under Carmela's skin that she couldn't rub her nose into her Porsche because Angie worked and bought a Corvette for herself. I love that scene where one of the gangsters shows up to see her, and Carmella has to stand there and watch as they go off and talk together as equals while all she can do is stand there and wait.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 1, 2019 07:23
|
|
|
Carmella's ultimate reaction to that is amazing, but I also love during the scene itself as she keeps trying to twist what he's saying into something that makes her look good, and he keeps shutting her down and saying,"No. You are a bad person and you are at fault."
|
|
#
¿
Mar 2, 2019 00:57
|
|
|
The episode where Tony sizes up all his men and then beats the poo poo out of the big musclebound dude to prove to everybody he's still The Man (then goes and throws up immediately afterwards because what the gently caress Tony, you just got out of a loving coma!) is so great. Just the way he looks over everybody to try and figure out which guy is the best choice, the way everybody warns the big dude NOT to fight back, the poor bastard apologizing to Tony afterwards. Their hosed up idea of masculinity and leadership is so fascinating.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 4, 2019 08:45
|
|
|
Narzack posted:On a scale of one to ten, how sacrilegious is it to say that I think Sopranos is better than the Wire? Or that I at least like it more? The Wire is probably the best television show I've ever seen, but comparing it to The Sopranos feels foolish because they're such completely different shows. On the surface level they're both shows about crime with a large cast, but that's about it when it comes to comparing the two.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 4, 2019 22:12
|
|
|
Do I have the timeline right, the one murder Bobby commits is down to Tony flexing and forcing him to after Bobby beats him up in a fair fight after Tony wouldn't stop making fun of Janice?
|
|
#
¿
Mar 5, 2019 03:23
|
|
|
Mahoning posted:(But then freaks out for a second after Ralph leaves) This is my favorite part, the moment Ralph leaves he just completely loses his cool, it's fantastic.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 5, 2019 07:10
|
|
|
Eau de MacGowan posted:it wasn't a fair fight, tony had been shot and he slipped on a rug, so when you think about it tony won https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVX_dzEb3AM
|
|
#
¿
Mar 5, 2019 10:06
|
|
|
So over in The Wire thread, I did a bunch of write-ups of most of the episodes of the show. It was largely a way for me to organize my own thoughts as well as generate some discussion out of some of the themes, questions, speculations each episode arose, and for me at least it was a ton of fun to do. I've been thinking of doing something similar for The Sopranos for awhile, but wasn't sure if I should make a separate thread or just post them here? They'd be LOOOOOONG write-ups (though not as long as what I did for The Wire, which got ridiculous) so anybody disinterested would have to scroll past them, but I also wouldn't want to make a new thread and potentially pull discussion away from this one.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 7, 2019 02:50
|
|
|
I love the dreams in this show because they do a really good job of capturing dream logic. The Test Dream pushes it to its limit but it's still pretty incredible, especially when he completely hosed up in front of his old high school coach. Of course my favorite dream from the series is also the one that utterly terrifies me, at the end of Calling All Cars: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXi_mVNeIb4&t=53s
|
|
#
¿
Mar 7, 2019 07:14
|
|
|
Season 1, Episode 1 - Pilot/The SopranosTony Soprano posted:Lately, I'm getting the feeling that I came in at the end. A middle-aged man sits in a waiting room, framed between the legs of a nude statue he can't help staring at. He looks like any well-to-do middle class suburban Dad: a bit of a gut, thinning hair, but otherwise unremarkable. This is our first introduction to Tony Soprano, a normal looking guy in a normal if awkward situation. His family Doctor has sent him to see a psychiatrist to get to the root cause of a recent collapse they can find no physical reason for. Tony is married with two kids, has a well-paying job, the respect of his colleagues and takes simple pleasure in the fact that a family of ducks have made their home in his swimming pool. He's stand-offish about his emotions, unsure about sharing what's on his mind with a psychiatrist (particularly a lady psychiatrist) and his biggest source of stress seems to be dealing with aging relatives. Also he's a Caporegime in the DiMeo crime family, making his living from extortion, illegal gambling, prostitution and murder. Filmed in 1997, this pilot episode aired for the first time in early 1999, several months before the release of Analyze This, a movie with the hilarious and ridiculous concept of a.... get this... a Mafia boss.... undergoing therapy! The Sopranos, on the other hand, was always intended to be more serious, though it was often very comedic in its approach to some particularly dark themes. The therapy sessions between Tony and Dr. Melfi, which would continue on and off (mostly on) through most of the series' run gave an opportunity to explore deeper into the psyche of the type of man who could live simultaneously as both a feared mob boss and a family man. The interplay between the two was often fascinating, particularly in the way Tony sought to undermine and negate Melfi's status to deflect reflecting too deeply on his own issues. But while the series would go many interesting places with the relationship between Tony and Melfi in the episodes and seasons to follow, here it is largely used as a framing device. Tony tells her about himself, his family, his work etc which provides the excuse for Goodfellas like narration to showcase the disconnect between what Tony says and what really happens. He's somewhat open about his need to obfuscate at least, and Melfi quickly picks up what he means (his practiced pat answer of "Waste Management Consultant" when asked what he does really says it all), with her reaction leading to one of the frequently asked (in-world and outside) questions of this series: Why does she agree and continue to treat him? She even straight up tells him how to tell her about his crimes without crossing the line where she has to report him. What drove her even at this early point to allow a professional relationship? A sense of duty that ANYBODY deserves her help? Fascination with his illicit life? The chance to be a tourist, or just simple curiosity?   The most obvious and straightforward dichotomy is between Tony's family and The Family. At home, Tony happily clambers into his pool in his dressing gown to feed the ducks while his family roll their eyes and think he's being lame - he's dad, the beloved but slightly embarrassing patriarch. To Carmela he's a constant pain in the rear end whose many infidelities are an open secret between them. But at "work" he's the guy who runs people who owe him money down in his car and beats the poo poo out of them. He works out how best to deal with rival gangs trying to muscle in on his "garbage" territory, and talks openly about the planned murder of other connected guys. As we'll learn throughout the following seasons, there is no real divide in these two aspects of Tony's life, no matter how much he might tell himself there is. Members of his extended family are part of the same Crime Family he holds such a high position in. His "nephew" Christopher Moltisanti (actually a cousin), his Uncle Junior, both occupy spaces in both his lives and cause him any manner of headaches. Christopher is young and arrogant, lacking the work ethic and the toughness Tony lauds from a bygone (rose-tinted) era. He always has excuses for why he hasn't done as asked (I was nauseous, my mother said I shouldn't even come to work!), complains about the lack of respect he gets AND splashes out money he shouldn't have on expensive things like a Lexus. When he and Tony spot a deadbeat gambler who owes them money, Christopher fails to physically restrain him and is more concerned with the damage to his car, while Tony is the one who dishes out the (comically bad) physical violence for him. Meanwhile, Junior is from the old school and refuses to change with the times, leaving Tony caught between respect for his father's brother, the man who used to take him to Yankees games, but also the need to maintain equilibrium in his own life. Junior plans to murder an associate, which doesn't bother Tony, but he also plans to do it at a restaurant owned by Artie Bucco - a lifelong (unconnected) friend of Tony's.   But it is only here, 15 minutes into the first episode that the true magic really happens. If the beating of the gambler was the low point of the pilot, here comes the best part. The first introduction of Livia Soprano. Like her namesake, Livia is a monstrous figure who will loom large over her children long past death. Tony visits her dutifully to present her with a CD player and remind her to attend his son AJ's 13th Birthday tonight. But even before we see her the weight of her overbearing presence on Tony is clear just from the way he braces himself as he knocks on the door and she deliberately holds off from answering, then pretends not to recognize his voice. She demands he eat and ignores his protests, turns her nose up at his gift, sneers at his attempts to dance with her and growls at him to shut up when he tries to talk about her becoming more active now that his father ("A saint!" she faux-weeps) is dead. His forced cheer almost immediately breaks down as she grinds him down with practiced ease, leaving unspoken but clear her agreement when he snaps that she thinks he doesn't know what he is doing in his "business". He storms out in a rage but even this is obviously a well-run routine between them, as he stops at the threshold to talk about her attending the party tonight and bringing her baked ziti, and she counters with a demand to be picked up because she won't drive when it rains. The obvious simmering resentment and fury he holds (and the guilt that accompanies that) is fully formed, and it is no surprise that until Nancy Marchand's unfortunate death, this was a show primarily built around Tony and Livia's tortured relationship. Hell, after she was gone it still was, just in a very different way. Of course she does NOT come to the birthday party, instead leaving a message with AJ on the phone that he reports with characteristic idiocy ("no loving ziti?"), and shortly after while grilling at the BBQ, a seething Tony sees the ducks fly away and suddenly collapses in front of his horrified family. Rushed to hospital, he's put into an MRI as he and Carmela have an amazing conversation where she lashes out at his attempts to brush aside his infidelities and even put equal blame on her for her frequent visits from their local priest. Carmela snaps that the difference between the two is that he will go to hell when he dies, a line that will come back to haunt her, but even something as cruel as that is apparently old hat between them as she then stands at his side and holds his hand as long as she can. This is a marriage where arguments are passionate and cruel words are frequently spoken. As Tony waits for reports, life goes on. Or not, in one case. Christopher's handling of the rival garbage collectors is to invite round a young man called Emil on the pretense of a coke deal and then murder him right there in the pork store (in the pilot it was the real life Centanni's), evidently believing that dumping his body in their rival's dumpster will send the message that "Louis Brassi sleeps with the fishes". It is gently explained to him by enforcer Big Pussy that he both has the reference wrong AND the message it will send. Instead he advises that they dismember and bury the body to send a message that "nobody knows, but they know" what happened to Emil. This will come back to haunt Christopher later in the show, as will a surprising number of other things first introduced in this pilot episode. The Godfather references continue as Carmela watches a laser-disc (Good Lord we're old) with Father Intintola (played by a different actor in the pilot) and they discuss the Godfather movies, with Intintola's interest betraying that he too might be a bit of a tourist, enjoying a "safe" view of the mob lifestyle (he won't be the last throughout the series, including we the viewers). Unfortunately this leads to one of the more embarrassing missteps of the pilot, as Carmela overhears a noise and pulls out a ridiculous assault rifle thinking there is an intruder, only to discover Meadow had snuck out of the house. Furious, Carmela bans Meadow from her Aspen Ski Trip, which drives her insane with teen outrage. Tony, who of course is only in therapy because the tests came back negative, dismisses this as all stuff that will blow over. These dramas and problems are obviously common occurrences in his life, and of course the Carmela/Meadow stuff in particular is typical mother/daughter stuff. But when Melfi finally raises the specter of Depression, his immediate attempt to divert the subject is obvious and telling. He looks at her name, he establishes she is Italian, he attempts to turn her from a professional and an authority into - if not a sexual being, then a romantic figure. He posits that his mother would have loved them to get together, but she very smoothly stamps her status back down on him with a quiet reminder that she is DOCTOR Melfi, and then forces him to confront the very real and undeniable problems that Depression can cause. This sets Tony off, as he takes the chance to vent his frustration and stress out on an external source. People who have depression are weak. People who talk about their feelings are weak. Ergo he himself cannot have depression, or if he does he cannot talk about it, because that would make him - Tony Soprano! - weak too. Tony Soprano posted:Whatever happened to Gary Cooper? The strong, silent type. That was an American. He wasn't in touch with his feelings. See, they didn't realize that once they got Gary Cooper in touch with his feelings... they wouldn't be able to shut him up!   Melfi, a good psychiatrist, won't let him divert her or push her aside though. Clearly intimidated by his rage, she doesn't allow him to walk over her. When he rants that he understands Freud and therapy as a concept ("I had a semester and a half of college!") but that it doesn't work in his world, she calmly and firmly hauls him back on track by asking him again and again,"Do you have depression." When he finally admits it, and acknowledges it came from the ducks leaving, she sees the chance to push ahead but he rushes out instead, terrified by just how much she managed to get him to admit and unwilling to face up to what else she might pull out of him. It is this therapy session and the next one that stand out in the pilot, the model for most everything that would follow. Instead of being used as a framing device and a poor excuse for ill-advised narration (which can only cause negative comparisons to Goodfellas) it is Tony and Melfi going at it one-on-one and driving emotional reactions and exposing Tony to uncomfortable and perhaps unwelcome truths. Imagine if the Sopranos had continued in the vein of the pilot, with Melfi largely a cardboard cutout on a chair asking the odd question so Tony could narrate another story? Thank God we got more of this instead. After a disastrous trip to a retirement community he wants his mother to move into, Tony collapses again, once more in front of the rest of the family. Tony, obviously distraught at his percieved weakness, returns to therapy where he attempts to impress Melfi with that semester and a half of college intellect, before once again going on a rant about the weakness of modern society: particularly in regards to his "business", where nobody has "room for the penal experience" and everybody rats instead of maintaining their silence. He talks once again of a probably mythical past, obviously humiliated that he collapsed in front of his mother who lived through the Great Depression ("for her the Depression was a trip to Six Flags!") and is disgusted when Melfi offers him medication to help with his emotional issues. Thoughout the episode there has been a throughline of things not being what they once were, of everything running down and decaying. The garbage business isn't bringing in the money it used to, even young guys like Christopher are openly questioning whether Tony is "running things down". Things take a turn here, AFTER Tony starts therapy and medication, as he talks with an elderly loanshark/adviser who is a mentor to himself and an old friend of his father's, Hesh. Meeting with Christopher at the strip club run by Silvio Dante, Tony's second in charge, they discuss financial matters. Hesh is owed 250k on the gambling debts of Mahaffey, the deadbeat Tony and Christopher ran down earlier. He doesn't have the money, and after Hesh offers Tony a reasonable solution to his Junior/Artie problem (just get Artie out of town for 3 weeks so the restaurant isn't available), Tony comes up with a potential moneymaking idea. Mahaffey can start paying them money on fake claims from the HMO he works at, or pay back the money he doesn't have, or experience "a rainy night in Lyndhurst". While Carmela and Meadow continue to bicker, with Meadow devastating Carmela by refusing to take part in an annual tea tradition, Tony is so full of cheer that he doesn't bother to attend his next therapy session. Instead he takes Artie two cruise tickets and a bullshit story about getting them as comps. Artie of course takes it at face value and accepts the tickets, only for his wife later that night to tear him a new one for being such a naive idiot and demand he take them back. Meanwhile, Mahaffey has a VERY uncomfortable walk with Hesh and Big Pussy where he quickly realizes the dangers of saying no and agrees to help them fake HMO claims. Tony surreptitiously takes Prozac and plays golf before getting the good news that the Kolar Brothers withdrew their garbage bid, it seems everything is going his way after all, even the news that Artie is returning the tickets can't break his good mood. Tony and Melfi have their first meeting outside of her office (this will be a rarity throughout the series) as she gets a firsthand look at the status and power his role affords him. Waiting with her date to be seated at a popular restaurant (the hostess is played by Drea de Matteo, though this was not originally intended to be Adriana), she observes Tony and his girlfriend arrive and immediately be seated, though not before Tony happily greets her, thanks her for her "decorating tips" and displays his power by getting her and her date the seat they've been waiting for. It's an incredibly uncomfortable scene, if only for the way it shifts the power dynamic between Tony and Melfi. Their respective dates picks up on it too, as Irina later teases Tony on his boat The Stugots for the obvious intimate nature of his relationship with Melfi, while Melfi's date Nils recognizes Tony and presses her to reveal whether he is her patient (she is horrified of course, and refuses). More importantly though, let's not forget the dirtbag Maître d who helps Tony cheat on his wife!   Tony, convinced that his Prozac has cured all his woes, tells Carmela over dinner that he has to confess something. Her reaction is priceless, as she expects him to admit another affair, but she is delighted when she learns that not only is he on Prozac but he's on therapy. She gushes with pleasure, saying that while it doesn't address the soul it is a huge step forward and she is proud of him (though she still snorts when he says he is always completely honest with her). The two share a rather touching conversation about his parents (she doesn't like Livia!) and he assures her that Meadow doesn't hate her - it is a nice reminder that while he might be banging Irina, and sharing his hidden fears with his therapist, it is Carmela that he has the deepest, truest connection with. Sure would be nice if he wasn't banging Irina though! Even the news that Little Pussy is back in town and Junior's hit will happen soon won't bring him down, he's on top of the world now and knows how to deal with everything. At Meadow's volleyball game, he makes plans with Sil (who is there for his own daughter, Heather) and then walks with Meadow as she rants about how unfair Carmela is being not letting her go to Aspen. He gets sidetracked by the sight of a nearby Church and wonders inside, where in a rather beautiful, spontaneous moment he talks to her about how her Great Grandfather and his brother Frank helped build the Church they are currently sitting in. He admits they were on a crew of laborers, but they still had a hand in this: they couldn't design it, but they could build it, and it lasted. She actually stops to consider this, taking in the beauty of the place, and shares a moment with a father who is, for the first time in a long time, not wallowing so much in himself that he can actually be present. The beauty of this moment is its spontaneity. Tony will try to capture lightning in a bottle twice by having the same conversation years later with AJ, with hilarious results. Silvio blows up Artie's restaurant, because an emotionally healthy and positive Tony Soprano is still a Crime Boss and this seemed like a pretty reasonable idea to him. Tony returns to therapy for what he thinks will be the last time, telling Melfi that he is thinking clearly and is more present and open with his family. Her reply unbalances him, as she explains that prozac actually takes time to build up in the system to the point where it will actually affect emotions. He can't understand, then why is he feeling so much better? Because of the therapy, of course. He's actually opening up and talking about his issues and that helps. Pushing him further, she gets him to admit he really showed up to this session (remember he skipped the last) because of a dream he had the night before.  For a show that would capture dream logic better than almost any other show in history, the dream he recounts sounds like the amateurish scribblings of a hack. "I pushed my belly button and my penis fell off and a bird flew away with my penis", it sounds like something he is making up to try and impress her. But this surprisingly poor writing aside, Melfi takes the opportunity to push him on his fixation on the ducks that took up temporary residence in his swimming pool. She pushes him harder and harder, to the point where it almost feels like she is enforcing her own reading onto his. He grasps at that quickly - "I'm afraid I'm gonna lose my family!" - and when she asks what he is afraid of, he admits he doesn't know. That above scene feels like rather clumsy foreshadowing crammed into the end of the pilot to be paid off by Junior and Livia's conversation, but the benefit of hindsight allows me to give it a more forgiving reading. Melfi was so keen to push Tony to associate the ducks with his family, and he was so keen to understand what was wrong with himself, that they both embraced the idea haphazardly. One could argue (or not!) that the penultimate episode of the entire show finally reveals the lie of this, that Melfi overstepped and set herself on a path of aiding and ultimately enabling a sociopath to be better at covering up his many, many crimes. When first pressed as to why he was fixated on the ducks, Tony smiles and says it was a trip for these wild animals to come live in his pool. It's possible (or not!) that it really was as straightforward as this. That he was a monstrous humans being, a murderer and a thug who just so happened to really love wild animals and get a kick out of having them around. In any case, as the Sopranos gather once again to belatedly celebrate AJ's 13th birthday, things seem largely positive for Tony. He's back grilling meat, helping console a devastated Artie who can't believe a faulty stove burned down his restaurant, everybody around him saying it could have been worse. A furious Christopher loses his cool and, when pressed by Tony, complains that he hasn't gotten any thanks for his part in pushing back the Kolar Brothers. Tony, already demonstrating improved communication skills and anger management from his therapy, soothes his ego but then flies into a rage when Christopher admits that he's had offers to sell his story to Hollywood. Disturbingly, just as quickly as he's furious he's suddenly calm again, telling Christopher that he'd had offers too but those are distractions, and now they've opened up HMOs on top of the garbage business there is work to be done and money to be made for all of them. He walks Chris away, pointing out it's a beautiful day so what could be bad?  Tony has spent the episode complaining that things aren't like they were back in the day, that this new generation lacks the work ethic and strength of purpose of even his generation. But as he walks with one of those new generation kids looking to the future, Livia and Junior drive to the party echoing many of his same complaints. Or rather Junior does, as Livia carefully and purposefully allows him to drive the conversation himself. What starts initially as two old people complaining about the younger generation not valuing them quickly turns into Junior ranting about how he can't run his business the way he wants, with Tony sticking his nose in, and not paying the proper respect to New York! Things are down all across the board, alot of friends of theirs are complaining, and the mob is no longer recession proof. As he rants, Livia's face tightens as she ponders what is being said, especially as he - carefully eying her up from the side - lightly touches on the idea that maybe... just maybe something needs to be done about Tony. The episode ends on a cheerful note as the family gathers and heads inside to eat and celebrate AJ's birthday. But what I'll always remember is that horrible old man thinking he is being subtle as he suggests murdering his nephew to take his place, and Tony's own mother giving tacit approval in her silence, and that barest subtle smile that appears to trace over her lips.  It has been argued that Tony Soprano was an anti-hero, perhaps the first of the modern generation that birthed a renaissance in television drama. But while it is true he was a horrible, monstrous person, never let it be forgotten that the real villain of the piece, at least while Nancy Marchand was alive, was Livia Soprano. One of the most incredible, complex and horrific monsters in television history. We're just getting started on a wild loving ride. 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 13:17 on Apr 23, 2020 |
|
#
¿
Mar 10, 2019 09:26
|
|
|
I wrote and rewrote the above several times trying to keep it down to a somewhat reasonable size, so hopefully in amongst the rewrites I didn't lose a chunk of stuff that renders the rest of it a mess. I'm trying not to just do a straight recap but also avoid veering off into lengthy sidetracked discussions of what I think the ducks represent or anything. Anyway, just a few things that stood out to me most on rewatch: - What do you think of Tony's narration? Personally I hated it, and felt it was trying way too hard to ape Goodfellas/Henry Hill. I know Gandolfini had some speech therapy between the pilot and the next episode, but it really did feel like he was channeling Ray Liotta in parts. - Do you think Melfi pushed too hard her interpretation of the ducks on Tony? It really did feel forced to me but that really might just have been that they wanted some form of closure/resolution in the pilot - It's remarkable how fully formed a lot of the characters already are, how much is in place for stuff that will come to fruition many episodes or even many seasons down the track. How much I wonder was planned from the beginning and how much was worked back from or just turned out that way by lucky coincidence. Particularly stuff like Big Pussy and Christopher dumping Emil's body, Christopher commenting on his cousin's girlfriend being a development girl in Hollywood, or Carmella's in-depth knowledge of Tony's infidelities. - Is there anything quite as embarrassing in the series as Carmella whipping out the assault rifle? Maybe Carmella walking in slow-mo from that teacher she was having sex with? - Has there ever been a more monstrous character than Livia Soprano? Is Livia smiling at the end there when Junior suggests murdering Tony?
|
|
#
¿
Mar 10, 2019 09:33
|
|
|
Yeah, it wasn’t like he was a small guy either, he just got so much bigger. There was over a year between the pilot and episode 2 but even so he put on 60 pounds between those episodes, which is nuts.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 10, 2019 10:34
|
|
|
Oh yeah, the writing of the kids' dialogue definitely feels forced at times. I actually like it in regards to Meadow because it often sounds like somebody trying their best to sound older, as opposed to an old person trying to sound young. I always feel odd complaining about the show so heavily aping Scorcese because, after all, it is a mob show AND Scorcese is pretty loving amazing, but it's the same reason I was underwhelmed by American Hustle. Somebody trying to ape Scorcese just highlights how much better he is at it than anybody else. Coming to the Sopranos 20 years later, when the show is itself a cultural touchstone, it's fun to get back into the mindset that this was a pretty new and weird thing on television, and it is no surprise that it hadn't fully formed its own identity just yet.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 10, 2019 21:01
|
|
|
Something I actually dig about the two Pussys bit is that Hesh is kind of indifferent to the idea that Big Pussy might be getting whacked, but a couple scenes later he and Big Pussy are hanging out all buddy buddy to pull their friendly threatening act against Mahaffey. Good reminder I guess that people in the life are family right up to the second that they have to go, at which point... eh, whatever. Also goddamn I love that shot of the ice cream truck driving away and the kid speeding after it on his bike as Mahaffey realizes just how utterly hosed he is.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 11, 2019 01:38
|
|
|
Yeah, I think they try to justify it as Tony was such a good earner that they gave him a lot more leeway than normal and set him up with a phony job that could justify his income enough to afford his McMansion/put his kids into high end schools etc. That does have a neat parallel later in the show's run when Ralph shows up and he also generates so much money that he's given a lot more rope than everybody else (still lives in a pretty normal suburban house though), though obviously that doesn't end so well for him.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 11, 2019 03:23
|
|
|
There's a scene where Junior snaps at Tony and asks who the hell he thinks he is, and Tony replies,"I'm the guy who says what's what." At the end of the episode, Junior tells Livia that some "friends of ours" in New York are saying maybe Junior should be in charge rather than Tony, which implies that Tony is the top guy in Jersey. There's enough wiggle room in what is portrayed plus the back story of Jackie Aprile to make it work okay, but I do think the fact that random dudes in some upmarket restaurant know Tony from the newspapers show he was meant to be a pretty prominent mobster as opposed to just some capo.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 11, 2019 06:31
|
|
|
It was never quite the same once she was gone, as the mother/son dynamic gives it something special that otherwise can't be emulated. But goddamn if Janice didn't give it the old college try when it came to filling that void.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 12, 2019 04:27
|
|
|
I'm sure after they killed 3 people including a preacher accidentally, Jax sat on the roof and read his dad's journal and happened to find an entry that started,"Well this one time I accidentally killed 3 people including a preacher, and here's how I came through that okay...." I still say season 2 of that show was excellent. But oooooh boy everything after that was loving madness and I gave up on the last 2-3 seasons entirely.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 13, 2019 06:12
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
That moment of realization from Tony of,"They're here for him" is so great, the mental arithmetic he is doing before cheesing the gently caress out of there is is great.JethroMcB posted:These are fantastic and make me want to start a rewatch that much more. Treat yourself! We all know it is a great show but even after all the times I've seen it I'm still blown away by how enjoyable each individual episode is.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 19, 2019 00:26
|
|
|
crispix posted:I have different kinds of favourites but what amazed me about the Sopranos was how awful I felt for finding some parts of it incredibly funny, like when the scene in Curb your Enthusiasm with Larry flouncing around in the bra was on Junior's TV and he thought it was him. Then he thought Geoff from CYE was Bobby. Yeah, it's actually pretty devastating if you think about what is going on, but,"...what's this? My trial?" always cracks me up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUdZhMsSZcA
|
|
#
¿
Mar 19, 2019 02:01
|
|
|
Jose Oquendo posted:What do you all think of the episode with Jon Favreau, Janeane Garofalo, and Sandra Bernhard all playing themselves? Was it a little too much or did it feel earned? I liked it, but I probably enjoyed the episode where they try to pitch to Ben Kingsley even more 
|
|
#
¿
Mar 19, 2019 23:23
|
|
|
Season 1, Episode 4 - MeadowlandsDr. Melfi posted:Sometimes it's important to let them have the illusion of being in control. Tony sits in therapy with Melfi, not speaking, staring her up and down, particularly her legs. She is being oddly flirtatious with him, but his good mood vanishes when he spots Hesh walking (actually, more gliding) past the windows. Panicked when Melfi (who hasn't looked) says "Heshie" is her 3pm appointment, he rushes out to the waiting room where he spots AJ peering at him through a crack in the door, Silvio seated in a chair winking at him as a stripper rides him, Paulie intently reading a Chinese newspaper and Big Pussy keeping a close eye on Paulie. Turning back around, Tony sees Melfi has turned her back to him, and reenters the office to try and talk to her, but is cut off by Jackie who is lying on her table hooked up to machines, muttering about thunderstorms. He twists Melfi around and she is, of course, his mother, which causes him to sit bolt upright in bed at his gumar Irina's apartment. Upset but relieved to have only been dreaming, he tells Irina to go back to sleep and gets up to head home. This is the first of what will be many dream sequences in the show (I don't count the one he recounts to Melfi in The Pilot), and already we're getting a glimpse of how well the show captures dream sequences, so much better than almost every other show that either goes too far or restrains itself too much. The weird gaps in logic that the dreamer understands but also glosses over, the weird collection of familiar faces in unfamiliar roles, the lack of control as events unfold often without any input or control from the dreamer etc. The root cause seems likely enough, Tony is worried about his therapy secret being found out by his Family, while also feeling ongoing guilt about his actual family - the concern of what his son might find out about him, and the uncomfortable mix of sexual attraction and submission (of a sort) to a powerful female figure which manifests in the form of his mother. Tony returns home where he finds AJ up playing video games. He offers a lame excuse about a compactor being down at Barone Sanitation, then settles down beside AJ to play Mario Kart. He's no good at it, and his attempts to bond with his son and find out more about what is going on with him as school hit a brick wall. Things go better when he blocks AJ's view and beats him at the race, and he offers a "lesson" (focus through distractions) then makes it clear he wants him in bed in 10 minutes. The two share a little smile at each other which makes Tony feel happier with himself, he's being a good dad... who just got home from banging the girlfriend he keeps on the side. The next day, Adriana picks up Christopher (in a neckbrace) from the hospital and obviously isn't taking his paranoia seriously when he worries she may have been followed. Christopher still has no idea who it was who set up the fake execution, though he suspects it might have been Tony. He still hasn't even considered the notion that it might have been Junior, the guy whose face he effectively spat in twice in the course of a week recently. He's furious when he hears from Adriana that she heard one of the nurses saying he poo poo himself during the mock execution, and demands she just go get the car so they can go see Brendan and get high. What's waiting for them at Brendan's apartment is not a pleasant sight, his corpse still in the bathtub he was executed in. Even now, though, Christopher still hasn't figured things out. At AJ's school, he and a friend prank call another student's beeper from the school payphone - my God this show really is 20 years old - mocking his mother, which causes a physical confrontation. The other student, Jeremy Piocosta, reminds AJ that he cried on her shoulder when he was homesick at Summer Camp, and they start scuffling with AJ surprisingly holding his own against the much bigger boy. A teacher breaks them up and warns them they need a 5 minute cooldown period, a pretty lax punishment considering AJ at least had his shirt collar all torn up in the "fight".   Tony is heading to his session when he hears a voice right out of his dream, Silvio's. He hides in a nearby office (confusing the poor Doctor inside) as Silvio chats up a nurse and leaves, it seems his dental office is right across the hall from Melfi's office. One inside he tells her he's worried about security, he doesn't know how safe things are. It doesn't matter if she says anything about what he tells her, just the fact he's there is enough to "incriminate" him. She gently puts him down by noting that she thought they'd made progress on his narcissism, and unwittingly quips she'd have to take the 5th if he asked her about her personal life. When he laughs, she breaks out into shocked laughter herself, she hadn't even considered what she was saying. Tony enjoys seeing that side of her though, even if he's still unsure about continuing these sessions. At Meadow's school, Adriana comes to pick her up, saying Christopher asked her. Meadow is confused but assumes it must be something to do with her dad, and laughs it is probably the "Federal Bureau of Annoying Bullshit" showing up with another search warrant. Hunter is more interested in knowing if Brendan got her poem, because apparently she found the creepy dude interesting, but gets no answer. Inside the car, Meadow is shocked when Christopher appears from the backseat, shaking her arm and demanding to know if she told her father about the crystal meth. As Christopher and Meadow yell at each other, Hunter jams her oblivious head in to ask if Brendan asked about her, and Adriana pulls away as they continue yelling until Meadow snaps that Tony has been worried about him. Christopher, realizing Tony probably wouldn't mention looking for him to his daughter if he was behind the mock execution, apologizes and even throws in a completely inappropriate attempt to be a role model when she complains about how much she hates her life. When he suggests he'll buy Meadow a happy meal like when they were kids, Adriana shows open contempt for how bad he is at this and, to be frank, he deserves it. Carmela comes looking for AJ in his room, angry to have found his new shirt torn up and dumped in the trash, even angrier when he grunts that the shirt - a gift from his grandmother - is not even cool anymore. He admits he got into a fight and she is astonished to learn it was with Jeremy Piocosta, who she thought he was friends with. He freaks out when she says she is going to call Mrs. Piocosta, and pleads with her to let him earn the money to replace the shirt by washing her car, which she finally accepts. Meanwhile at Green Grove, something magical happens. Tony comes to visit Livia, and she is of course still upset with him. Which makes her reaction when he offers her a gift so wonderful. He's stopped by a pastry place called Ferrara's and picked her up some macaroons that he knows she enjoys. Watch her face when he mentions the name, the way she lights up. Look at her eyes and hands when he mentions the macaroons, as they involuntarily lift greedily towards the box he is holding. Then watch as she FORCES herself to stop, sneers and grunts that they're too sweet. Then for the REST of the scene, as Tony talks to her about being more active and getting social with the other residents, as she complains about how in the city mothers throw their babies out of the window, as she moans for the Lord to take her now, as he calmly reminds her that she COULD be happy here if she chose to be... those macaroons are never far from her mind. They have an uncomfortable silence and he prepares to leave with them, but she tells him to leave some out for "the lunatics", and just STARES as he shakes a few out and takes the rest away. It's an incredibly beautiful, maddening and wonderful piece of passive-aggressive nonsense as she denies herself of a true pleasure for no other reason than to get back at Tony, and I love it so goddamn much.   Outside, we see Tony was killing two birds with one stone, as he meets with Vin Makazian outside. Makazian, a corrupt detective with serious gambling problems is pissing on the lawn outside as he waits to meet Tony. Tony wants him to do a background check on Dr. Melfi, without touching her or bothering her. Makazian expects to get paid for this, but he's $2000 in the hole on gambling debts so Tony isn't planning on paying him anything, though he admits he might consider laying off the vig (interest) if Makazian does a good job. Hands up who thinks he is going to do a good job! Tony, Silvio, Paulie and Big Pussy go to visit Jackie in hospital, but he's out of it so all they can do is commiserate together on the cruelty of his fate while he lies sleeping fitfully. Christopher shows up, much to Tony's surprise and relief, and the second Christopher tells him that Brendan has been shot through the eye, Tony IMMEDIATELY correctly guesses this is Junior's work. Christopher seems to have figured it out too, as he pulls out a gun and says he's going after Mikey Palmice, who would have done the hit. As Paulie and Pussy argue about the way Moe Greene was killed in The Godfather, Jackie pipes in a few times with drugged rambling about a fish in his pocket and the World Trade Center, so Tony and Christopher head outside. Tony doesn't want Christopher going about Mikey, who is a Made guy, but Christopher wants his revenge. Paulie steps out and says he (a Made guy himself) can handle it, he knows exactly where Mikey lives. Tony considers for a second then insists Paulie keep Christopher there, and stomps off himself breathing heavily through the nose (what will become a familiar sign of his rage), stopping only to grab a stapler gun on the way. Mikey is sitting in a car outside the little restaurant where Junior dines - Sit Tite - waiting to drive him where he needs to go next. He spots Tony pulling up behind him and watches as Tony walks by and picks up a ticket on his windshield, waiting to see how Tony will be breaking his balls today. He gets out to say hello... and Tony punches him in the face, knocking him to the ground where he bashes him several more times before stapling the ticket to Mikey's chest while offering to get the wrinkles out of his suit. He cleans off the stapler gun and dumps it on the ground, leaving a groaning Mikey bleeding on the floor before striding into the tiny corner restaurant. Inside, Junior is cracking racist jokes to his crew when Tony arrives and confronts him, saying he's here out of love and respect but immediately put on the back foot when Junior snaps that Tony knows nothing of respect after abandoning his mother in a rest home. Tony is furious but trying his best to keep his temper (which he why he beat the poo poo out of Mikey, to alleviate some of his anger) as he warns Junior he was out of line and has no right to come after his guys, especially after what they did was made good. Junior responds that Tony is failing to discipline his crew and Junior won't live with being disrespected, and warns him that he answers to bigger people than Tony. Now it is Tony's turn to put Junior on the backfoot when he asks if he wants to haul Jackie off of his deathbed again to settle what should be a minor grievance. Wanting to humiliate and insult Tony without making it look like he is being aggressive, Junior takes great pleasure in informing Tony that Christopher Moltisanti, who is a good earner, will now be working for HIM! Tony is flabbergasted and tells him there is no way that is happening, demanding to know why they can't talk like adults. To Junior, who still sees Tony as "my little nephew", there is nothing more ridiculous than having to treat him like an equal (or worse, a minor superior) and he lays down a chilling warning to his own flesh and blood:  Makazian and his poor, poor partner Lewis follow Melfi and a date(?) as they drive through the city, Makazian clearly drunk enough that even his partner can tell. In Melfi's car, she's telling her date Randall about a recent breakup and commiserating with him that sometimes men get mixed messages from women... but also that men tend to overreact. As their flirting increases, a siren gets their attention and they pull over, confused, assuming they must have been speeding without realizing it. Makazian, a crumpled, sweating, drunken mess, approaches, having told Lewis the car is the same make and model as one spotting leaving a recent triple homicide. He has Randall get out of the car to do a field sobriety test after learning he had a wine at dinner, making him walk the line and demanding he open the trunk. Randall, a lawyer, refuses, so Makazian declares he is resisting arrest and punches him, then kicks him on the ground. Horrified, Melfi gets out of the car as Lewis - pleading with Makazian to stop - turns his attention to her and insists she get back into the car. Makazian claims he thought Randall was going for a weapon, and insists Lewis cuff Randall and take him in for DUI, resisting arrest and assaulting an officer. Melfi approaches Makazian and he leers at her, saying she has prime rib at home and doesn't have to go out for hamburger, apparently having assumed she is one of Tony's girlfriends. The next day Makazian meets with Tony and tells him what he learned, that Melfi works from 8am - 6pm, eats a tuna sub and diet coke for lunch, then goes home and doesn't go out much apart from a few recent dates with a schmuck tax lawyer called Randall. Tony isn't interested in Randall, he wants to know about Melfi, and in particular the disturbing news that Melfi herself sees a psychiatrist called Elliot Kupferburg. Makazian, one of New Jersey's finest, offers to give Tony some snaps he took of Melfi with the blinds up in some "Victoria's Secret" style gear but Tony isn't interested in his sleazy photographs (not any that come from him, anyway) and starts heading away. Makazian asks about betting on another upcoming game and Tony can't hide his disgust for the hungover mess. That said, at least he knows where he stands with this drunk degenerate: he still doesn't know what to make of Melfi, especially the fact she sees a psychiatrist herself. Happier times come soon after, as he and the other DiMeo capos (sans Junior) share a lobster lunch at Silvio's Bada Bing strip club, joking about Tony's assault on Mikey Palmice who'd had it coming for a long time. The other capos are Larry Boy Barese, Jimmy Altieri and Ray Curto, and the reason Junior isn't there is that they've gathered to consider the Junior problem... and more importantly, what to do about the Jackie situation. None of them think even Junior is going to go to war, there hasn't been one since "The Colombo thing", but they acknowledge they need strong leadership at the top to keep things in line. Tony butters up Ray, the oldest of the Capos present, saying that Jackie or old man DiMeo (currently in prison) would want him to take charge. Ray isn't interested though, he's got an 18-year-old with MS to think about, at his age he wants to take on less responsibilities, not more. Besides, Jackie and even DiMeo before him always had Tony on the fast-track for promotion and now shouldn't be any different. Jimmy agrees, shutting down Larry's suggestion of running things like a council, saying the old guys set it up like a paramilitary organization and that's how it works best. Ray lays out the truth, that it's going to be down to Junior and Tony duking it out to see who becomes the new Boss. Tony thinks that Junior's New York backing gives him the edge, but now Larry is the one to correct him: New York wants somebody for the new Century, not the old, and Jimmy agrees, if Tony wants the role, he can have it and New York will back him. Tony says he doesn't want a disturbance... but he sits quietly afterwards considering it.   At school, AJ bumps into Jeremy and they have an awkward conversation that lightens up as they remember blowing up some frogs with some M-80s on 4th of July. AJ wants to get the money to replace his shirt from Jeremy though, and they end up arguing again which breaks into yet another surprisingly even fight, though this time AJ's nose is left bleeding. Other boys haul them apart and they argue over who kicked whose rear end, and decide to settle it in the time-honored way, by meeting after school tomorrow to have a real fight. At a local garden center, Tony is buying an axe and trying to convince the poor minimum wage worker to sell him some DDT when he spots a familiar face. It's Mr. Piocosta, Jeremy's dad, and Tony is pleased to see him and wants to catch up and bond over their sons. Mr. Piocosta, who knows EXACTLY who Tony is, can't take his eyes off the axe that Tony is holding, and timidly asks if AJ has said anything to him as Tony enthusiastically tries to invite him around to grill some hot dogs while the boys hangs out. Finally he all but turns tail and runs away (he jogs instead), sweating and nervous, leaving an utterly confused Tony behind. Tony returns home with the groceries he bought, but as he is putting them away he starts to feel lightheaded, and collapses to the ground momentarily. Carmela hears and rushes down, helping him up and sitting him down at the counter. He says the medication has been helping him as this is his first one in awhile, and was clearly much milder than ones in the past. He's more concerned when Carmela starts questioning what his therapist is doing, refering to him as a man and leaving Tony to once again openly lie by calling Melfi a man himself. Seeing an opening, Carmela can't help but to ask him for more details on the therapy, what do they talk about? Do they talk about the marriage? About personal feelings? Tony complains that all they do is talk, then puts out there that he is thinking about quitting to see how she reacts. He asks her to get his Prozac, remembering he forgot to take one this morning. She attempts to be supportive, telling him that he may be under stress what with Jackie's condition but she's sure that the therapy wouldn't be hurting if it wasn't helping. Irritated, he falls back on the excuse (a pretty good one!) about how the nature of his "work" leaves him exposed, but she won't have any of that. Warning him that leaving therapy would be a step back, she ominously notes that if he leaves, she might have to consider her own situation re: their marriage. The situation having escalated, Tony demands to know if that is a threat.  Tony meets with Melfi and they discuss the panic attack, and he explains he didn't lose consciousness. She says she'll write him a short-term script for Xanax to get over the current stress, and he admits that Uncle Junior has him in a position he doesn't want to be in, forcing him to do something he doesn't want to do. On top of that is his mother (always his mother) who is treating him like an Eskimo who pushed her out to sea. Melfi explains they're both testing him and he correctly points out it is a lot like dealing with little kids. She wants him to read a book (he's aghast), Strategies for Coping with Elder Family, and tells him it wouldn't hurt to let his mother think she's still in charge, that like with children it is sometimes important to let them have the illusion of being in control. It's good advice, and the right advice to give, but Melfi has just arguably for the first time since Tony first came to her created a situation where his therapy is a direct device for being a more effective mobster. It will not be the last. Christopher is doing his collections, stopping to see a black guy called Yo Yo Mendez (he has a Yo Yo and everything!) who sells dope for him. It seems stories about Christopher's "tour of the Meadowlands" has gotten out even this far, including the fact he poo poo his pants during the mock execution. Christopher doesn't want to talk about that, he just wants his cut, and is shocked to learn that Junior Soprano's boys already came around and picked it up, telling him that Christopher was out and it was their corner now. Christopher is even more vexed when Yo Yo explains he didn't beep him because word on the street is that he was out of commission and that's just a fact of business. Christopher says he understands, then kicks Yo Yo in the balls, slaps him around the ears, kicks him while he was down and starts choking him with his Yo Yo cord (that think is so goddamn contrived) while warning him that no matter who comes at him, this is Christopher's corner and he'll take his thumbs if he pays anybody else.... also he didn't poo poo his pants! He takes money from Yo Yo's pocket, his "cut", and heads off. Outside the school, AJ is waiting for the fight, offered useless advice by his buddy as other kids are gathered around excited for some blood. Jeremy shows up looking utterly miserable, meekly reaching into his wallet and pulling out a couple of 20s and timidly offering them. AJ doesn't want to take it, he wants to fight him for it, but Jeremy miserably mumbles he can't and insists he take it. AJ does and Jeremy leaves, with AJ's confusion turning to happiness at the fact the much bigger boy chickened out and was scared of him. "Oh yeah, he's real scared of you  " mocks another kid, Phil Litto, and AJ has no idea what he could possibly mean.  Consider Tony's two "sons" here. Christopher shows up and is disrespected by a guy who clearly thinks he's pathetic and out of the game, not somebody to be feared. So Christopher beats the poo poo out of him, takes the money from him and warns him of worse to come if he crosses him again. Meanwhile, Tony's actual son shows up with no idea of the considerable power and fear his father wields and mistakes the timid handing over of cash by his opponent as a sign of his own strength. Yo Yo groaned that he would kill Christopher but that's empty rhetoric from a guy who will be paying up like clockwork from now on. Jeremy says nothing other than demanding AJ take the cash, obviously having been told by his father not to screw with Tony Soprano's kid even though he could have easily overpowered or beaten him (even if AJ did hold his own in their previous altercations). Both Christopher and AJ's power comes from their connections, but one if aware of them and knows what he must do to hold his own in that power structure, while the other is blissfully unaware and mistakes that power as something intrinsic to himself. It's no wonder the kid ends up such a basketcase, even if Christopher doesn't fare much better. At the Bada Bing, strippers dance as Tony reads the book Melfi suggested and takes his pills. Paulie and Pussy are playing cards, it's a standard and unremarkable day... until Tony overhears something on the news and shouts at them to turn the music off. The strippers came to a standstill and Tony, Silvio, Paulie and Pussy look at at the television as they're informed that Jackie Aprile, acting Boss of the DiMeo Crime family, has died. Tony is in tears, he visited Jackie earlier who had assured him he wasn't going to "go today". The gangsters gather and hug, drinking a toast to Jackie's memory while in a moment of black comedy, one of the strippers stands tearfully on the stage, topless, and weeps that she'll never forget where she was this day. With utterly horrible timing, Christopher shows up to complain about Junior's move on his corner and won't stop rabbiting on as the others silently mouth and motion at him to shut the gently caress up. Christopher won't hear it though, ranting about going to Defcon 4 and reenacting the end segment of Scarface. "Always with the scenarios" sighs Silvio, and then Christopher proclaims that if Tony does nothing, he has to question his leadership. Silvio's wince here is fantastic. Christopher grabs him by the neck and shoves him against the bar, calling him an ungrateful little gently caress and demanding to know where he gets the balls to say that. Christopher apologizes, saying he's just saying what is going on out there, and Tony demands the others keep him in place and goes storming out. Pussy and Silvio think they know what is happening next, with Pussy saying the War of 99 is about to start and Silvio muttering that it's goodbye to Junior, while Paulie warns Christopher to stay exactly where he is when he suggests they go back Tony up. At Sit Tite, Tony arrives and checks his gun is loaded, remembering what Junior told him the last time he was there. The moment has finally arrived, the confrontation between the two Sopranos for control of the DiMeo Crime Family. So he storms in and... puts his hands up and tells Junior he just wants to talk, he came in heavy like Junior said but doesn't want to use it. The rest of Junior's crew make way and Tony settles down at the table across from him to lay it all out: Jackie is dead, the family needs a leader and Tony wants no confusion as to who that will be. Suspicious, Junior sips his drink and offers the briefest of responses, affecting disinterest as Tony talks about how long the Sopranos have been waiting to take the reins. The two stare at each other in silence, and then Tony says the last thing Junior ever expected to hear.   Dominic Chianese is just great in this section. For just a moment Junior can't believe it, his eyes jump up and down from tabletop to Tony, he fights back a smile and he asks the pertinent questions. Is this really Tony's decision? Can he speak for the other Captains? It is and Tony says he can, and Junior finally allows himself to believe it. After decades of waiting, of seeing his younger brother and then his nephew move faster and earlier than him, he has finally achieved his dream of acceptance and respect and power: Junior Soprano is the Boss of the DiMeo Crime Family. They embrace, all their previous animosity forgotten, loving Uncle and Nephew once more. Tony jokes but also compliments by talking about Junior's strength and virility, but as they embrace he pulls his beaming Uncle in tight as the camera draws in close, and whispers in his ear that he cannot be perceived as losing face, so his asking price for his support is Bloomfield and the Paving Union. Junior can understand that, hell he can respect it, and it is a small price to pay for all his dreams coming true, in fact it gives him the chance to appear benevolent. They embrace again, the Soprano Family stronger than ever. That night, AJ visits Meadow in her room to tell her about the weirdness of today's almost fight, trying to figure out what it all means. Meadow, who has the ordinary disdain any sister would have for their little brother, mocks him at first but soon takes pity on him. She attempts to get the not particularly bright boy to connect the dots: how many people working in waste management have homes like theirs? Just their dad and Uncle Jackie, right? And why is he Uncle Jackie if they aren't related? They're members of a different "Family". Loading up an adorably archaic looking website on her computer's CRT monitor, she shows him megamob.com, a website with MEGABYTES OF BAD GUY. Because it's 1999, she prints out pages of the website for him to look at it in his room. He does, before settling down to sleep while unable to take his eyes from the picture of him and Tony taken on a fishing trip. Dr. Melfi goes to Randall's house for their date, being careful to present a little cleavage before he answers the door in jeans and a white shirt. He hasn't answered her calls despite their dinner date, and he admits the phone is off the hook and he feels like he is losing it, he's getting paranoid and thinking people are watching him or that he's being followed, and he's scared to go outside. She suggests he goes to see a friend of hers who specializes in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and when he asks if she can prescribe something she reminds him she's his date, not his doctor. The next day, Tony - in a happy mood following the Junior situation - is chatting about the first dead body he saw at 15-years-old when he notices Melfi is distracted. She apologizes, saying she has been musing on how sheltered her own life is, and the climate of violence and rage in modern America. She brings up her friend being beaten up by a policeman, who was either crazy and drunk. Tony's good mood is gone as he figures out it was Makazian, while she talks about how it has wrecked their relationship. But it returns when she asks if he still has his doubts. Quite the contrary, even if he isn't explicitly thinking it, Tony has already realized even this early in the season just how effective therapy can be at helping him be a more effective mobster.  The funeral of Jackie Aprile is both a cause for sadness and celebration. As Rosalie sits numbly in place, Junior Soprano and his sister-in-law Livia sit in pride of place beside her, Junior basking in his new status as Boss. Tony and the other Capos, along with Hesh and Silvio, discuss his decision. Because, of course, Junior Soprano is NOT the Boss, or at least is Boss in name only. What Tony has done is given him the illusion of control, but he is the true Boss that they will all be working through, especially since Junior never knew how much they were kicking up to Jackie in the first place. The DiMeo house is secure, and now they have a brand-new lightning rod in place to take the hits. They joke together about how Tony not only has the power but also got concessions from Junior for a title he doesn't know is largely ceremonial, but Tony shuts down Jimmy Altieri's snider comments, warning him that he still loves the man. He points out Junior and Livia and notes that they went through World War II - he respects them, but he also believe he knows how to handle them now. As the funeral continues, he and others drop dirt on Jackie's coffin after it has been lowered into the ground. For a moment, Tony lingers as he looks down at the final resting place of one of his closest and most beloved friends, but then moves on. Christopher points out that they're being watched, the FBI are taking photographs and noting down license plate numbers, knowing that the death of Jackie will have brought any number of high ranking mobsters out into the open. As they comment on it, they don't notice who else is watching them. AJ rests against a headstone looking at his father in a new light. Now the people around him, the way they lean in to whisper, his Uncle Junior's smug expression as he is attended to by the mourners (belatedly noticing Rosalie weeping beside him), it all has a fresh context he can only understand through the medium of the mob movies he has seen on television. Meadow casts a knowing look his way, but as he looks at Tony and sees him smile back at him, he's left to ponder how a high ranking member of the Mafia can also be the loving father who takes him fishing and plays (and cheats at) Mario Kart with him.   AJ was late to the party, but he's quickly figuring out that things aren't always what they seem. 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 20, 2019 11:41
|
|
|
Threw a link into the write-up, thanks!
|
|
#
¿
Mar 20, 2019 13:36
|
|
|
Mahoning posted:Also, in case anyone missed it in the news, the boss (acting boss, really, as Peter Gotti is still the boss behind bars) of the Gambino family, Franky Boy Cali, was murdered a week ago. The 2010s have been such a bizarre loving decade. Kevyn posted:And AJ hits reset on the console to start a new race. I think that scene was written by somebody who hasn’t seen a video game since the Atari 2600. At least it didn't include boops and beeps sound effects like most tv shows would have done.  I didn't specifically mention it in the write-up, but the earlier discussion about dialogue being unconvincing for anything not involving middle-aged men was on display in this episode, most notably with the kids (and Yo Yo somewhat) with lines like,"You fat fartknocker!"
|
|
#
¿
Mar 20, 2019 22:33
|
|
|
Solice Kirsk posted:Beating up the dude that messed with Meadow is what started the end game war. I love that little dude that is constantly all,"Yeah we're gonna gently caress you up, we're tough guys, we ain't scared of ya!" and pushing Phil to gently caress with Tony... then the moment the war kicks into high gear he basically tells Tony,"So what do we gotta do to stop the war we started?  "
|
|
#
¿
Mar 21, 2019 22:14
|
|
|
In terms of Mikey taking a beating from Tony, I believe a large part of why that was overlooked was a combination of: - Jackie being on his deathbed meant nobody really knew who was in charge/what could be gotten away with - Junior had overstepped by killing Brendan and kidnapping Christopher - Nobody liked Mikey anyway - A war was brewing between Junior and Tony and nobody wanted to spark it off so they let the beating slide Of course as the show continues, we see more and more that basically all the talk about respect and doing things the proper way also only really applies to those lower on the totem pole, and the Bosses can basically do whatever the gently caress they want.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 21, 2019 23:46
|
|
|
Season 1, Episode 5 - CollegeFather Intintola posted:What? To take in through the eyes a beautiful woman? Is that so different than a sunset, a Douglas Fir, or any of God's handiwork? The first four episodes of Sopranos have been good, in some cases really good. It helps to remember them in the context of the time, when probably the most notable drama series otherwise were NYPD Blue or Law & Order, and this new cable drama was really something special. Sure, Oz was around but that was weird experimental stuff with a tiny audience, while Sopranos - despite the nudity, swearing and outrageous violence - was still at heart a traditional television drama, just one that engaged in season arcs rather than an episode of the week feel. But this episode, only the 5th in the series, is something special beyond that. Probably the best single episode of the entire first season, and arguably one of the best episodes of ALL the seasons of the show. This episode elevates The Sopranos to something more, it more than any of the episodes that preceded it reminds me of the prestige drama we have today. It is tightly focused, with the A and B subplot sticking mostly with 2 characters at a time and cutting out most of the (wonderful) supporting cast. It builds on what has come before, sets a direction for what is to come, and ends with an utterly spectacular resolution as the two subplots crash together. The episode opens to the sound of bells, as Tony stands somewhat uncomfortably outside on a College campus in Maine: Bates College. Meadow exits the building and they begin discussing the College, they're currently touring her prospective Colleges in Maine. Her SATs have been sat and perhaps thanks to all that meth-fueled study she achieved high marks which give her a lot of options. Tony is alarmed to hear her mention study abroad programs in China and India, but more alarmed when she makes a joke about contraception. Mobster or no, while this is a proud time in any parent's life, Tony is like everybody else when it comes to being surprised and a little dismayed to realize their child is becoming an adult. Tony himself is no stranger to College, as mentioned smugly to Melfi he had a "semester-and-a-half" at Seton Hall. When Meadow presses him for an answer for why he dropped out, he notes his parents were working class and didn't stress College, but defends them by admitting he was largely to blame, he "got into a little trouble" when he was a kid. They leave Bates and start heading towards Colby, listening to the radio in silence for a bit until Meadow gets bored of station-surfing and decides to take the rare opportunity/isolation to ask a question that has obviously been bothering her for years now, and something Tony wants to hear less than talk of traveling overseas or having sex.   Tony is gobsmacked, horrified at the sheer openness of the question, let alone who it is coming from. At first her tries to laugh it off, playing off that his late nights and frequent disappearances are no different from Doctor Cusamano who lives next door. But she keeps pressing, reminding him of finding stacks of money and a gun while hunting for Easter Eggs, and is unimpressed by his efforts to claim he is a victim of stereotyping just because he's an Italian in the "Waste Management Business". They sit in uncomfortable silence, Tony's only other line a grumpy proclamation that there isn't even a Mafia in the first place... but finally he can't take it any longer. Gently, begrudgingly, he admits that some of his money comes from illegal gambling.... "and whatnot". That might as well be a full on admission though, which is what she takes it as, and he doesn't "correct" her. She's just happy that he didn't deny it like Carmela always does, and apparently it's a subject of conversation at her school where they all think Tony's status is cool. Proving just how uncool he is, he assumes they think of him in terms of The Godfather, but she explains 70s is in right now and they're thinking more in terms of Casino. The important thing is that this (kinda) open conversation between father and daughter actually proves a bonding opportunity, a chance for her to talk to her father openly as an adult (which she thinks she is and he doesn't want to accept). Her friends' fathers aren't exactly moral either despite having what are considered legitimate jobs, they're all full of poo poo but at least he told her the truth. He tries to downplay things again by saying part of his money does come from legitimate sources like the stockmarket, which is probably true, but that isn't what she wants to hear. She wants to be self-satisfied with getting her father to be open with her. They stop at a roadside gas station and Tony uses the payphone to make a call. You'd presume it is Carmela, but of course he's called Irina first. Irina isn't in a good mood though, raging because her amputee cousin Svetlana (wonderful, wonderful Svetlana) has only been in America 2 months but is already engaged to be married. Tony reminds her that she knew the score when they got together, but she won't stop moaning about how romantic Svetlana's fiance was (he carried her out of a Gap Store when her leg fell off!) and he makes an excuse to hang up and call Carmela instead. She's in a bad way, extremely sick which is why she isn't on this trip with the both of them. As Carmela asks how Meadow likes Bates, desperate to keep her from going to Berkeley, Tony frowns to see Meadow flirting with a couple of boys... but then frowns harder when he spots what seems to be a familiar face at the pumps. He hangs up on Carmela and approaches the man, who notices him coming and quickly drives away. Tony forces Meadow to get into their car and tears off down the road after the mystery man, freaking out Meadow as he puts on forced cheer and insists he maybe saw an old friend while weaving through traffic at speed and takes a right towards Waterville instead of a left towards Colby (the camera shaking here is laughably bad), blaming Meadow yelling for "confusing" him. Finally he forces himself to stop as Meadow gets more and more upset, as their motel is right nearby and he can't continue making excuses for his chase. Meanwhile, AJ's "bonding" with Carmela isn't going as well as Meadow and Tony's was earlier. He's made her a meal in bed and she's thrilled... until she breaks open the egg and sees it has gone beyond hardboiled into rubber. She pretends like she is feeling nauseous while he complains about all the hard work he put in, and when she sees how bored he is she cheers him up by telling him he can go over to Jason's and play Nintendo. He assures her he will be back in an hour and leaves her all alone in the house... for now. Christopher gets a call at the Bada-Bing and is forced to rush out in the rain to call Tony back at the payphone outside the motel (remember, it's 1999!). Tony tells him that the mystery man he saw MAY have been Fabian Petrulio, a Made guy who got busted for dealing heroin 10 years earlier, flipped and sent a lot of people to prison - a fact that Tony claims exacerbated the health problems his father was having at the time. While Fabian and Tony hung out a couple of times, he was really friends with Jackie who he did some brief jail-time with, even making him a bust once of Frank Sinatra with bad lips (Christopher thought it was Shaquille O'Neal). So what's he doing in Maine? Well if he's who Tony thinks he is, then he was kicked out of Witness Protection and now does College Speaking Tours to discuss the Mafia (they probably wanna know more about Casino and Goodfellas than The Godfather, too). Hanging up, he tells Meadow he just felt like taking a walk and gave Christopher a call on a whim, and quickly allays her suspicions by joking around with her about a leak in their roof. That evening at the Soprano home, a still sick Carmela hears the doorbell ring and is horrified when she hears it is Father Phil Intintola. Quickly rushing to do herself up from the sickly mess she is, brushes her hair and changes into a silken nightgown before letting him in out of the rain. That bad camerawork from earlier must have been because their best operator was busy on this scene, because the camera panning 360 around them as Carmela helps Father Phil out of his wet raincoat and pushing in closer and closer on them standing together does a fantastic job of already establishing the obvious sexual tension between the two. As she feeds Father Phil (which as always is her way of demonstrating affection), Tony and Meadow eat at a restaurant where Tony obvious pride in her leaves Meadow happy if somewhat unsettled. She is on that awkward line between being a kid and an adult, and Tony's own desire to have her remain a child and the pride he takes in the adult she has become (or is becoming) is difficult for both of them.   They talk like equals, or rather Tony affords her the respect to not treat her like a kid as they talk a little more about his "job" and he notes the trap his father and grandfather were in, and how it was perhaps laziness on his part not to have taken the opportunities he had to get out of it, opportunities that she now has and is taking. He tells her about his interests, how the only thing that truly interested in him in College was History (getting in a dad-joke along the way). it a nice, wholesome and bonding moment between them... and that all disappears in a second where Meadow takes it too far and misjudges/forgets the moment, opening up to him about her own secret: she was on Meth while studying for the SATs. Tony's reaction is about what you'd expect, he's furious and she's instantly a child again to him, as he demands to know where she got it. She's not going to tell him based on his reaction (more pique from her than an acknowledgement that Christopher was right and Tony would kill him if he found out he dealt to her) and he quite rightly asks her just how the hell did she think he was going to react? It's all well and good to think about how a reaction like this will cause your son/daughter to shut down, but you can't blame Tony for reacting emotionally at this news. They both manage to calm down and she assures him that it got too scary for her and she gave up on it, smart enough and not so far in that she was able to actually make that choice. Tony, meanwhile, his initial shock over, ponders how this could have been going on right under his nose. He mutters that he'd have thought he would know this was happening, and Meadow's answer is sad in just how accurate it is,"No, Dad. You won't." Remarkably, whether as a result of the therapy or the public environment they're in or because he genuinely feels that way, he maintains his temper and tells her that he is happy she felt she could tell him. She's happy too, after years of feeling alienated now that she (thinks she) is an adult, she's pleased to have such an open and honest relationship with him. Carmela could tell her all about how that would work out. Father Phil has built a fire (Carmela can't help but compare the two, Tony hates building fires) and sits on the couch with her to give her a copy of a book on various religions he had told her about at an earlier date. He appreciates the Buddhists and feels Islam has gotten a bad rap (they had no idea how bad things were going to get) though of course he doesn't want her converting. They drink wine and laugh together, just a man and a woman on a cold, rainy night in front of the fire while her husband and children are out of the house, what could possibly go wrong? At the restaurant, Meadow introduces Tony to two of the girls she saw laughing with some guys at the bar earlier. They're all College kids, the two girls go to Colby. Tony is thrilled, suggesting warmly (and somewhat desperately) that Meadow hang out with him (and not drink!) so they can tell her about the College. Giving her a big kiss on the cheek as she is mortified by how forward he is being, he tells her he'll be back in an hour and a half to pick her up and races out the door, eager to take the chance. He gets to lobby payphone and calls Christopher, who gives him the address of the plates he gave him earlier. They belong to Fredrick Peters who lives right there in Waterville, and the name sounds like a match to Fabian Petrulio to Tony. Christopher offers to fly up to take care of it, but Tony - waving to Meadow at the bar - says it is a job for Pussy or Paulie, their friend Jimmy died in prison because of Fabian flipping. Tony wants to be sure first though, he's going to go take a closer look himself before making a decision. Carmela and Father Phil continue to bond, as he helps her prepare more food in the kitchen and they discuss his upbringing in a mixed Jewish/Italian neighborhood. It's all very pleasant, until the phone rings and Carmela answers to discover Dr. Melfi on the other end, calling to let Tony know that she's sick and will have to cancel their next appointment. Dr. Jennifer Melfi. She asks a fuming Carmela if she can take down her number in case Tony doesn't have it.  Hanging up on a bewildered Dr. Melfi, she laments to a clearly concerned Father Phil that the only reason Tony wouldn't have told her his therapist is a woman is because he's screwing her. That this is her first thought says a lot about Carmela herself, even if Tony is openly unfaithful to her. Father Phil tries to defuse the situation but she wants to vent, not helped by Father Phil quickly absolving himself of any responsibility and dumping it back onto her as his wife to find a way to fix his soul and his unhappiness. She wails that SHE is unhappy but then cuts herself off, obviously considering it inappropriate or in some way irresponsible (Un-Christian?) to put her own needs over her husband's. All Father Phil can do is offer a wary pat of the shoulder. Tony intrudes on another marriage, sneaking up on "Fredrick's" home where the man himself and his wife are fooling around in the hot tub outside. Their daughter comes out, tired and upset after having a bad dream, and Fredrick's clearly not too happy at having to get up and join his wife in putting their kid to bed instead of having sex in the tub. They get out and head upstairs, till a barking dog scares Tony off and Fredrick comes out to see what the noise is about, hearing Tony's car and rushing out onto the street to see it pulling down the street. Obviously he was unsure about who he saw at the gas station earlier too, but now he is wondering. Carmela and Father Phil eat (and drink), having moved onto the safe conversational topic of movies. Carmela is still confused by The Last Temptation of Christ and the casting of Willem Dafoe in particular. Father Phil explains Robert DeNiro was originally going to be cast and does an awful impersonation, including a line that shocks (in a fun way) Carmela for being near-blasphemous. They continue to make awkward small-talk punctuated by uneasy silences, with Carmela getting fired up as they start talking about contradictions in Jesus' teaching. Father Phil is on safer ground here, as he pushes the message behind Jesus' teaching over the words themselves, which resonate with Carmela in the way they apply to her and her marriage: change comes through love, does that mean she is responsible for Tony becoming (or not becoming) a better person? His meal finished and quickly running out of safe conversation, Father Phil prepares to leave, but she - bored, lonely and angry at Tony - insists he stay given the weather conditions, and tempts him with the news that she just got Remains of the Day on DVD. He admits he is a sucker for Emma Thompson, and she drinks in his words greedily as he admits to being able to enjoy the beauty of a woman.   Tony wanders the streets of Waterville checking out closed local businesses that might be owned by "Fred", while the man himself goes and visits other still open local businesses to see if anybody was looking for him. Everybody obviously knows and likes him, as he spins a bullshit story about a "big guy" who hit his boat while out on the lake and tried to blame him, and he is just trying to get the insurance sorted out. He spots a mother and daughter who are obviously in the area scouting Colleges as well and quickly rushes back to his car to hide the gun he is bringing with him. He's obviously made a nice little life for himself here, and isn't comfortable with his old life intruding. He visits the restaurant next, where Meadow is drinking heavily with the College students in spite of Tony's warning, while Tony himself figures out that Fred runs the little travel agency "Peters' Travel" that specializes in tours of Italy, confirmed by a bust of Ronald Reagan with bad lips on the desk of his little office/cabin outside of town. Meanwhile Fred has figured out that whoever he spotted is probably staying at the only motel in town, and takes advantage of an unattended room service trolley to check the occupancy list. The name Soprano on the checklist confirms his worst fears, the man he saw was from the DiMeo Crime Family, that's the name of one of Jackie Aprile's friends. Back in New Jersey, a scene from Remains of the Day particularly rife with sexual tension proves too much for Carmela, who begs Father Phil to turn it off, she can't handle it. The two are now sitting firmly in the middle of the couch after occupying opposite sides earlier in the episode, and whether she recognizes what is happening between them or it is subconscious, she can't forgive herself for what she considers a sin. She bursts into tears, telling him she is a terrible person, but she needs to unburden herself. Father Phil wants to help, and she asks how. The two stare with pregnant anticipation at each other, and finally he breaks the silence by offering her relief in the only way he can: by hearing her Confession - the world is God's House after all. They sit back to back on the couch, as close as before but now separated. Carmela unburdens her grief and guilt and self-loathing, the way she has allowed evil into her house, into the home where her poor, sweet, innocent children live. She has turned herself away from the truth of what Tony is and what he does, the horrible acts he has committed, and that makes her complicit because she did it all for the convenience, the status, the money, the things. But she knows that there is a price to pay for this luxury, this overlooking of right and wrong for the sake of convenience, and that God will punish her in some way. Simultaneously with Carmela's outpouring of her fears, the former Fabian Petrulio waits with his gun at the motel for Tony to return. Tony does arrive, but with his daughter, so drunk that she can barely stand, mumbling apologies as Tony helps her back to their room. Pointedly, we see that Fred doesn't even blink at the notion of shooting Tony with his daughter right there beside him, hesitation doesn't even occur to him. No, what stops him is when he hears two other guests arguing over who has their keys as they prepare to enter their own room. He looks back and forth between these guests and Tony/Meadow, wanting no witnesses or complications. But there isn't time, they're still fumbling about as Tony - unaware he is a perfectly framed target as he stands in the doorway - closes the door and Fred loses his shot. In New Jersey, Father Phil gives an exhausted Carmela her penance, telling her exactly what she must do and how she must atone in order to achieve God's forgiveness. She promises to try, but now that she's released some of that inner tension and expelled some of the bile building up inside of her via Confession, she is already starting to make excuses: she does love Tony, after all, she does think she can make him a better person etc. Father Phil tells her that in that case she must make a real effort to change him, and that will be the good she can do to offset the bad. He offers to give her Communion, explaining that he has a travel kit with him from performing the mass for somebody in intensive care. In another of those neat juxtapositions, Tony puts his adult daughter to bed, kissing her softly like he probably did 1000 times when she was little girl, while back home in New Jersey his always faithful wife commits a different kind of infidelity as she engages in one of the most powerfully erotic scenes you are ever likely to see on television. Father Phil presents the host to her, the body and blood of Christ in the form of a wafer and wine. But the way it is shot, their positions, the extreme close ups, the lighting, the fire in the background, the narrow depth of field: this is their sex. There is nothing prurient, no lust or double-entendres. On the surface it is exactly what it says it is, her Priest giving her Communion. But this is their release, their bonding on a spiritual/emotional level in place of the physical they both clearly desire. Already a few glasses of wine in, Father Phil finishes the last of the Communion Wine and places his hand firmly on the kneeling Carmela's head to "finish it off", and the two laugh in shared relief/satisfaction to have completed this. Dropping to his knees, Father Phil hugs her and they press each other close, Carmela warmly adjusting his collar, filled with what she assumes is a pure love for this man.   Tony is back on the payphone with Christopher, telling him not to fly up and kill Fabian because he wants to deal with it himself. Christopher is upset, not only would killing Fabian give him major credit and help towards getting him Made, but as Tony's soldier this IS supposed to be a job he does. Tony explains that he thinks Fabian might have spotted him at the gas station too, and quickly has to hang up when Meadow stumbles out the door looking for him, demanding to know why he is on the payphone AGAIN. His explanation is pretty reasonable, he didn't want to wake her by talking on the phone in the room, but even in her half-drunk state she knows he's lying. The phone rings in New Jersey, waking Carmela and Father Phil who had dozed off seated side by side on the floor. It's AJ, who has spent far more than an hour at Jason's and now wants to stay the night. She agrees (note how she casts a sidelong look Phil's way, and he also takes note of what has been said) and then rejoins him at his side. Tired and a little drunk, they talk briefly about AJ as they draw closer and closer to each other, their voices trailing off, their heads tilting, mouths barely a few inches apart... and then Father Phil staggers up with a groan and staggers to the bathroom where he vomits profusely. Apparently Carmella wasn't quite as over her sickness as she thought. Left alone for a moment having come within seconds of "cheating" on her husband, Carmela picks up the phone and calls Tony at the motel. He answers but she doesn't speak, hanging up and leaving him considering: was that Fabian? She, meanwhile, sits in her giant, empty house as a storm thunders outside and considers the way her life has turned out.  The next morning, Fabian watches as Tony and Meadow leave their room, Tony enjoying teasing the hungover Meadow as they load up the car and drive away. He knows where they're going, it's clear that is Tony's daughter and they're looking at Colleges. So he doesn't bother following, meaning that he misses that Tony purely just drops her off and then leaves, telling her he left his watch at the motel. In New Jersey, an ill (and hungover) Father Phil awakens on the couch as Carmela drinks coffee and reads her paper, far too used to this type of thing happening with Tony. He is very inexperienced in this type of thing though, unsure why she seems so brusque with him and terrified that he can't remember a lot of what happened the previous night... did they... do anything out of line? Of course not, she assures him, almost sarcastically poo-pooing the idea that his car being outside in plain sight the whole night would be considered scandalous. She tells him to take a shower before he goes, but also pointedly notes that AJ will be home soon, leaving him to twist in the wind over what the perception might be should AJ find him in the house so early in the morning. Of course AJ just walks in the door and straight up the stairs to his room with a,"I'M HOME!" without noticing anything. Father Phil can't leave it alone though, desperate to clear the air between them while also absolving himself of any guilt. He explains that while of course he has desire for her, last night was a difficult test from God. She waves that off, what is he talking about, they're friends! Unused to these types of interactions with a woman, he stumbles about blindly for what to say or how to interpret what she is saying, and so she makes a joke about Casablanca. It breaks the tension somewhat, but despite their shared smiles, Father Phil's walk away still feels like a walk of shame. In Maine, Fabian explains to a clearly drugged up couple (they're pretty heavily overacting) that he wants them to kill Tony after he gets at least an hour out of town with his daughter, just drive up alongside them and blow him away. Importantly, he notes that he would have done it himself last night but a couple other people got in the way. The junkies consider for a moment then make it clear they have no interest in murder. Fabian warns them they'll never get another bag of him, it seems that even in his "civilian" life as Fred he's still dealing drugs and involved with crime. He threatens to let the cops know the one junkie was the one who burned down the Historical House, revealing the two were volunteer firefighters together, but they still aren't having it, getting the gently caress out of there as fast as possible and leaving Fabian feeling trapped. He tries another call, but as he is waiting for "Dougy" to answer, he hears the sound of a breaking twig outside. Grabbing his gun, he carefully heads outside and looks around, but there is no sign of anybody. Again he hears the sound of movement, walking with gun at the ready around the side of his office cabin until to his great relief he spots a deer and realizes that is what he heard... which is when Tony Soprano lurches out of nowhere behind him and wraps a wire around his neck.   Fabian tries desperately to escape his fate, at first pleading ignorance but then quickly begging "Teddy" to make a deal, it has been so long that he didn't even remember Tony's name. Tony seethes with hate as he pulls the wire tight, bemused and disgusted when Fabian tells him he could have killed him last night but chose not to because he was with his daughter. Tony doesn't believe it, though not because he knows Fabian only didn't do it because another couple showed up at an inopportune time. Tony correctly points out that if Fabian had killed him at the motel it would have ended the cushy life he'd made for himself here in Maine. In a previous episode we saw three of the signs of grief, in this we see a fourth as Fabian desperately bargains, begging Tony not to kill him. Tony uses Jimmy's name, somebody that Fabian probably doesn't really remember either, pulling the wire even tighter and dropping Fabian to the ground, strangling the life out of him as he lets out a guttural, almost sexual roar as he wraps up long outstanding business. With Fabian dead, he checks his pulse and tends to his own cut fingers where the wire was pulled tight. In what I'd almost call a post-coital daze he staggers away from the body, and the sound of ducks catches his ear. Looking up, he sees the birds he associates with family and happiness once more... but just like the ones in his pool, these ones are flying away from him.  He returns to Colby to pick up Meadow, spinning her a series of bullshit stories about how he recovered his watch, explanations for the dirt on his shoes and the cut on his hand. Every single story, smoothly offered, is clearly a lie and she knows it. She demands to know if he went to see the man he claimed not to know, did they get into a fight? Why was he on the payphone at 1am in the morning? He retreats into the old father/daughter dynamic, admonishing her for drinking, reminding her he told her not to do it. Her own retort is a quiet, almost pleading desire to return to the open back-and-forth they established the previous day - is he lying to her? They have an honest relationship right so he can tell her truth? He puts the onus on her, essentially laying out to her that if she won't accept his story then SHE is the one putting that honest relationship at risk. Which makes it all the sadder that the next thing both say to the other is,"I love you." At Bowdoin, they sit in yet another awkward silence together until Meadow is called in for her interview, leaving Tony alone to stare at a quote from Nathaniel Hawthorne sitting above the opposite door, one that speaks directly to his events in this episode, to his decision to lie to his daughter, to the murder of Fabian while that same daughter was sitting a College interview, to the chaotic mixture of his double life. From the look on his face I'd say he understands the significance, but also that even this early in the series he feels resigned that this is his fate. Nathaniel Hawthorne posted:No man can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which one may be true. When I first saw this episode I felt that this would be the perfect place to have ended the episode. So you should all be very glad I don't write The Sopranos, as the scene that follows is a master class in manipulation and self-destruction. Tony and Meadow return home where Meadow boils down the entire trip to "It was good" before heading upstairs to call Hunter on the phone. Tony goes straight to the fridge for the baked zitti, disgusted to discover it's all gone and correctly blaming Father Phil for eating it. Carmela agrees this is true, and then like a Master Strategist/General she begins her attack. Father Phil stayed the night, you know? Tony laughs it off until he realizes she is serious, and gets even more upset when he learns AJ wasn't there so it was just his wife and another man in the house all alone. Why is she telling him this? Well maybe he might hear about it someway and get the wrong idea, wouldn't that be terrible? Tony again tries to laugh it off but can't let it go, asking for more details, so she explains he gave her Communion. He turns that into an off-color joke, pointing out that a guy spends the night with her and all he slips her is a wafer? She asks him why she would tell him about it if something happened, clearly laying the groundwork that the only reason to NOT tell him about having a man around would be if something DID happen. Tony blunders right into that, guessing that Father Phil must be a "fag" because if he isn't, then he is perfectly within his rights to get mad about their spouse spending time with a member of the opposite sex. With that, the trap is set and sprung.   Tony is completely caught, he races after her as she walks away, trying to explain that he didn't tell her because he thought she would misunderstand if his therapist was a woman. But how can he justify this now, having just established what the correct reaction would be in the opposite situation. Carmela has essentially torn into him and ripped him a new one without having to raise her voice or get angry or do anything other than let him hang himself with the rope he gladly accepted from her as she kept handing it over. Yes it is passive-aggressive manipulation, but Tony does deserve it, and now he has to deal with the consequences of his actions. The same guy who just strangled an ex-mobster to death while ranting about broken oaths is now left a hapless dope in the wake of his wife's smooth manipulation - an upbeat, almost sitcom ending to one of the best episodes of Sopranos ever made. 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 22, 2019 08:05
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 10, 2024 17:47 |
|
|
Pedro De Heredia posted:College is good, but all the stuff with Fabian selling drugs and trying to go after Tony is clearly something the show would not have done even in season 2. Thanks, this is really neat and I had no idea, though I guess it explains why that scene feels so odd, which I'd put down to the not particularly great acting/writing of the junkies. I don't know how many of you remember it as the first season was airing (maybe some of you weren't even alive!) but there was a real moral "panic" at the time about the show, with people claiming it was glorifying violence and misogyny and in particular that it was stereotyping Italians (oh boy does the show get mad about that particular one). I remember the triumphant heralding of the launch of some piece of poo poo NBC (I think) drama at the time that claimed it was like The Sopranos but "done right" where the gang was some multi-ethnic bullshit and the lead character was an undercover cop tortured by his dual lives (you knew because he wore a leather jacket and would drink a lot). They had a Crime Boss who was supposed to be some mastermind criminal genius keeping a low profile (there's an episode where he does Jury Duty which is hilarious in trying to demonstrate what a master manipulator he is) and it was loving awful.... but it kept within Network guidelines of being a "safe" way to portray organized crime. The Sopranos, while it made plenty of missteps, wasn't afraid to get a bit more complicated, and I don't think the show can be blamed for the people who only watched it on the surface level and thought people like Paulie, Christopher and even Tony were supposed to be role models or cool guys to aspire to be. Flipping things back to Scorcese, he suffered the same issue with Wolf of Wall Street (and probably Casino and Goodfellas before it), where the gaudy excess of a shallow piece of exploitative poo poo is pointed out over and over again throughout the film as being a horrible and ultimately empty thing, but there were plenty of people who just looked at all the sex and money and went,"That's so cool, I wish I could be like that guy!" Tangentially, I always find it interesting how the characters in the show reference their understanding of the mob via media representations. Meadow and her friends think it is kinda cool Tony is in the mafia, because they dug the aesthetic of Casino. Christopher was like Henry Hill in Goodfellas (which Michael Imperioli was in!), as long as he can remember he always wanted to be a gangster, and when he thought a war was brewing he thought of it in terms of Scarface. AJ likens Uncle Jackie's funeral to The Godfather, a movie that Tony and his Crew frequently reference. Even Tony himself spends an evening watching The Public Enemy when trying to reconcile the film relationship between a mother and her gangster son with his own relationship with Livia. I think part of that is shorthand for viewers for whom their connection with the mob (hopefully) is via film, but it says a lot about the characters too in that they mythologize the past and apply it to the present through the lens of dramatized and meticulously constructed fantasies. Jerusalem fucked around with this message at 23:29 on Mar 22, 2019 |
|
#
¿
Mar 22, 2019 23:23
|
|