***OFFICIAL SOPRANOS THREAD***

[Descartes]

Originally posted by: purbeast0
what a worthless episode, and a worthless season. Here is a summary of the whole season ...

- Tony gets shot and is a coma for 3 episodes in la la land with some stupid dream sequences that had no point in the show.
- Vito is gay and gets offed for it.

Other than that, pretty much nothing happened. I am so damn disappointed that I waited 2 years for this season to come out and it was overall absolute garbage.

I thought the dream sequences were the most telling of the entire season, or perhaps any season.

 

[Red Dawn]

Originally posted by: purbeast0
what a worthless episode, and a worthless season. Here is a summary of the whole season ...

- Tony gets shot and is a coma for 3 episodes in la la land with some stupid dream sequences that had no point in the show.
- Vito is gay and gets offed for it.

Other than that, pretty much nothing happened. I am so damn disappointed that I waited 2 years for this season to come out and it was overall absolute garbage.

Sucks for you, I enjoyed it.

 

[SirFshAlot]

Originally posted by: eits
i thought it was gonna spice up when aj walked outside to handle the situation with those thug white guys..... instead, his pussy-ass gives them a bike? wtf?

i'm sorry... i thought i was watching 'the sopranos' and not 'sesame street'

AJ isn't Tony, that was the whole point.


My gripe with this last episode is that they spent too much time with the real estate agent, instead of the main players like Sylvio and Paulie. Those guys always have the best scenes throughout the series.

Tony to Chris; "quit hogging all the ice"
omh that was funny in context with what is going through Tony's head

I was happy to finally see Junior make a mini appearance.


lot's left hanging, though:
Paulie pounding the yuppie kid.
Paulie's cancer. (he called the urologist)
Bobby shooting the rapper in the butt.
The Czech interior designer that Paulie and Chris let get away how many seasons ago.

 

[Descartes]

Originally posted by: SirFshAlot

Originally posted by: eits
i thought it was gonna spice up when aj walked outside to handle the situation with those thug white guys..... instead, his pussy-ass gives them a bike? wtf?

i'm sorry... i thought i was watching 'the sopranos' and not 'sesame street'

AJ isn't Tony, that was the whole point.


My gripe with this last episode is that they spent too much time with the real estate agent, instead of the main players like Sylvio and Paulie. Those guys always have the best scenes throughout the series.

Tony to Chris; "quit hogging all the ice"
omh that was funny in context with what is going through Tony's head

See man, THAT is what I'm talking about. It's subtle things like that that make this show great (I think I say that a lot). I laughed when I heard that, because in one little statement they pretty summarized everything between those two at that moment.

 

[Ilmater]

Originally posted by: purbeast0
what a worthless episode, and a worthless season. Here is a summary of the whole season ...

- Tony gets shot and is a coma for 3 episodes in la la land with some stupid dream sequences that had no point in the show.
- Vito is gay and gets offed for it.

Other than that, pretty much nothing happened. I am so damn disappointed that I waited 2 years for this season to come out and it was overall absolute garbage.

Ridiculous.

- Johnny plead guilty, which basically guaranteed he'll be nothing when he gets out.
- Vito situation obviously was a big deal. But, not only did it show that they were intolerant (big surprise), it also showed how much they love that life, and how hard (impossible?) it was for him to give it up.
- Christopher clearly will never banish his demons, and cannot take over the family. He also will never have enough... anything. He has all that he has, and he still robs Lauren Bacall (sp?).
- Paulie has cancer, and likely won't last too long, making his rise to power unlikely.
- Silvio can't - or won't - take the responsibility of being boss, so he won't take over.
- AJ is absolutely incapable of taking over after his father. You can say that was clear before this season, but it was not.
- Tony, after being in a coma and basically being in a position to realize the error of his ways, is completely back to the man he once was. Still has a gumar (sp?), etc. He will never change.

Yes, it's more of a setup for the ending, and not enough happened, that's clear. However, it was still a good season. Many people didn't like the dream sequences, but I think that it was important to really display how close Tony was to death and how the afterlife looks for him. He now has a chance to repent, but it's clear from this season that he's not going to do that. I also loved the line from Dr. Melfi (as best as I can remember it): "I find it interesting that you're getting mad at Carmella for doing exactly what you wished your mother had done for you."

So where does it leave us? For one, things are coming to an end quickly for the entire family. When Tony falls, NOBODY will take his place. Christopher is the most likely successor, but he won't have the respect of anyone because of his using and because of his age; he doesn't have enough respect if Tony isn't in the picture. Silvio would have been the most likely except he made it clear this season that he doesn't want that job. AJ can't do it - period.

I agree completely that David Chase could have gone about all of this while killing more people and making bigger splashes with the characters, but I still think that he's going for a great ending, and I can't wait for the last 8 episodes.

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: Ilmater
- Johnny plead guilty, which basically guaranteed he'll be nothing when he gets out.
- Vito situation obviously was a big deal. But, not only did it show that they were intolerant (big surprise), it also showed how much they love that life, and how hard (impossible?) it was for him to give it up.
- Christopher clearly will never banish his demons, and cannot take over the family. He also will never have enough... anything. He has all that he has, and he still robs Lauren Bacall (sp?).
- Paulie has cancer, and likely won't last too long, making his rise to power unlikely.
- Silvio can't - or won't - take the responsibility of being boss, so he won't take over.
- AJ is absolutely incapable of taking over after his father. You can say that was clear before this season, but it was not.
- Tony, after being in a coma and basically being in a position to realize the error of his ways, is completely back to the man he once was. Still has a gumar (sp?), etc. He will never change.

-Okay about Johnny pleading guilty.
-They took WWAAYY much time to explain vito's situation and his gay soap opera. They could have not shown him for the 4-5 episodes that focused on his "new" life since we knew where he was and what he was doing. Also, with Chris not leaving and killing Adriana instead, we already know they don't want to live "normal" lives.
-We know chris can't give it up, it's been that way ever since he got out. He's been doing stuff behind everyone's back since he's been out of rehab.
-We don't know for sure about Paulie, but you are right in that it looks no one can take Tony's place when/if he goes down.
-The coma = waste of episodes IMO other than the point above about us finding out about no one really being able to take over his spot when/if he goes.

All in all it just seems like these major points could have been done in a lot fewer episodes instead of having so much filler. i mean when Carmella went to Paris, they focused like half the episode on her over in paris. It played absolutely no part in the story other than filler. We know she was there in paris! We don't have to see every spot she goes to visit on her trip! The only thing in that whole paris trip that could have any relevance is her dream about Adriana.

 

[Ilmater]

Originally posted by: purbeast0
-They took WWAAYY much time to explain vito's situation and his gay soap opera. They could have not shown him for the 4-5 episodes that focused on his "new" life since we knew where he was and what he was doing.

Not true. It could have gone a little faster (his issues with kissing Johnny Cakes were unnecessary, as were Johnny's jealousy when Vito turned off the power), but those were just a few scenes. It takes time to show that Vito has moved to a great, quiet town, show how quickly he's accepted and is being allowed to be himself. Then show how, despite all of that, he can't stay away from "the life."

Also, with Chris not leaving and killing Adriana instead, we already know they don't want to live "normal" lives.

That was Chris' fear of being hunted the rest of his life, giving up his family, and leaving his plush lifestyle. Vito had no fear of being caught, and while he had to leave his kids, he knew they were alright. Plus, it was clear that it was the gangster life he was missing most of all. That was not Chris' major problem. In fact, Vito faced far more hunting and persecution if he came back than he would have if he had just stayed away.

-We know chris can't give it up, it's been that way ever since he got out. He's been doing stuff behind everyone's back since he's been out of rehab.

Totally true, but the episode where he has the kid on the way and talks about how great it's going to be to have a family and such and how that's his rock that keeps him off the stuff... and then he shoots up. Great stuff there. That guy is utterly hooked.

-The coma = waste of episodes IMO other than the point above about us finding out about no one really being able to take over his spot when/if he goes.

It was big for Carmella, because she sees how wives are treated without their husbands in the business. But I still contend that the biggest deal was showing how Tony came out with this profound new view on life after a major, possibly life-altering event, and he hasn't changed one bit. The visit with Phil in the hospital (in last night's episode) had nothing to do with his coma situation and everything to do with not letting the current situation escalate out of hand.

All in all it just seems like these major points could have been done in a lot fewer episodes instead of having so much filler.

I completely agree, but not to the degree that you do. I'm not writing it, but I'm going to give Chase the benefit of the doubt until I see the end.

i mean when Carmella went to Paris, they focused like half the episode on her over in paris. It played absolutely no part in the story other than filler. We know she was there in paris! We don't have to see every spot she goes to visit on her trip! The only thing in that whole paris trip that could have any relevance is her dream about Adriana.

No, no, no. That was all about her obsession with her own mortality and the mortality of those around her. This season has shown a lot of that (add in her issues with Ade's mom). However, I do think that there was too much of that, it was very slow, and I don't see its significance in the grand scheme of things. This is another area that might develop into something special, but has been nothing but boring so far. Not saying unimportant, but boring.

BTW, you did notice the light spinning on the Eiffel Tower that looked just like the light in the distance in Tony's dream, didn't you?

 

[SirFshAlot]

Originally posted by: purbeast0
i mean when Carmella went to Paris, they focused like half the episode on her over in paris. It played absolutely no part in the story other than filler. We know she was there in paris! We don't have to see every spot she goes to visit on her trip! The only thing in that whole paris trip that could have any relevance is her dream about Adriana.

I consider Carmella to be a top player in this series. I loved the air time they gave her in that sequence.

What I have missed this season is the stupid conversations between the main crew about androgenous snakes, shoelaces at the urinal, etc.