RE: The Sopranos (Full Version)

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Lordandmaster -> RE: The Sopranos (3/27/2006 10:38:50 PM)

The only problem with that is he keeps talking to his wife on the cell phone, and she's as confused by the story as he is.  She was going to wire him money, but he wouldn't have been able to pick it up without his ID.  And she even offered to come out when she heard that he had a concussion.  Also, he had dinner the first night with a bunch of salespeople who recognized him.

So he is definitely not Kevin Finnerty.

Either that's a fuck-up in their master plot, or some future dream sequence is going to explain it all.  Personally, I hope it's just a fuck-up, because I don't want to see another one of those dream sequences, even if it is intended to clear everything up.  Or maybe their Alzheimer's bullshit is supposed to account for the fact that the whole dream makes no sense.

quote:

ORIGINAL: cloudboy

Well you have Anthony Soprano & bizarro Anthony.

Bizarro Anthony has Kevin Finnerty.




cloudboy -> RE: The Sopranos (4/3/2006 8:42:49 AM)


The last episode was particularly brutal. When violence is what you do to make a living, we can only pity the poor soul who may waywardly stumble in front of your bad mood. I'm now waiting hopefully to see one of these sociopaths locked up.

On another theme: the writers seemed biased towards quantumn mechanics or some such other theory over Born Again Christianity. Ironically or predictably, the eloquent, thoughtful scientist was silenced --- having his larnyx removed --- whereas brother-whatever-his-name-was is still out proselytizing.




champagnewishes -> RE: The Sopranos (4/3/2006 8:17:29 PM)

Paulie, what ARE you thinking?




cloudboy -> RE: The Sopranos (4/9/2006 6:02:13 AM)


How does the RUBBER HIT THE ROAD with Tony out of the hospital?

The FBI is lurking.
The ranks are less than unified.
Pauly has become unglued.
Fatty is too ambitious to be mob boss, and I'm curious how his closet gay self emerges.
Will everyone turn on and abandon Junior?
Will the kids be lured into the MOB somehow?

As for the story arc, I see the arc as one of decline. No matter what happens, I think I see Silvio coming out alive and holding onto the BING while all else is a complete crapshoot. (Although there is some good chance Christopher produces a hit horror movie.)




Lordandmaster -> RE: The Sopranos (4/9/2006 9:11:43 AM)

I just want to see another dream scene with Annabella Sciorra.




Lordandmaster -> RE: The Sopranos (4/9/2006 7:26:21 PM)

I'm positive Tony set up that final scene with Penne Arrabbiata.




stef -> RE: The Sopranos (4/9/2006 7:59:27 PM)

If you mean that they planned the altercation before they showed up at Satriales, I think you're wrong.  In the last scene, Tony was pretty clearly sizing people up to see who he should throw down with to show he wasn't weak and was still the pack Alpha.

~stef 




Lordandmaster -> RE: The Sopranos (4/9/2006 8:18:26 PM)

I thought about that too, but I find it hard to believe that an overweight 50-year-old man who has just gotten out of the hospital for a near-fatal gunshot wound to the belly could really kick the ass of some 20-year-old weightlifter.  And without any obvious fighting skills.  The day before, Tony couldn't even take off his shoes without collapsing.  Anyway, we'll see.  If they never mention it again, I'll have to agree that it was spontaneous after all.




Sensualips -> RE: The Sopranos (4/9/2006 8:56:57 PM)

Hahahaha at Sal sneaking off to the gay leather bar.

Obviously muscle man let Tony kick his ass, but I don't think it was a set up.  He just let him because he was Tony.




Lordandmaster -> RE: The Sopranos (4/9/2006 9:03:01 PM)

That was Vito, not Sal.  I think Sal was the name of one of the guys making a routine collection.




cloudboy -> RE: The Sopranos (4/9/2006 9:22:48 PM)


What LAM doesn't realize is that Tony sucker punched him and then used his weight and leverage to do the old arm-clamp-pin and punches to the stomach.

Other notes:

Johhny's gang being so ready to turn on him and Tony backing him up. These two could really use one another going down the pike --- so I think Tony made a good decision.

Tony's conversation with Christopher about movies, Johnny, and wedding promises was priceless.

Johhny's family planning the wedding in his prison's visiting center heated family arguments about who sat with whom at what table --- it just doesn't get more comedic than that.

Tony struggling up the steps of his home.....

Vito bagging the wedding early to get GAY afterward.

What a claustrophobic, inescapable world they all live in. During the wedding and its "tender moments" I kept thinking of Paulie beating up the poor, defenseless, innocent son who was just trying to cash out of his father's business.




cloudboy -> RE: The Sopranos (4/10/2006 5:02:57 PM)

My wife said the theme of the last episode was "perceptions." In the case of Tony and Johnny, they cannot be seen as weak or vulerable, else their groups begin to fragment. In the case of Vito, being perceived as a fag was a death sentence. Everyone operates on a rather touchy divide between power, money-making, and intimidation on the one hand and sentimentality, family, and sexual abnormality on the other (being gay, eating pussy, or some such other thing).

No matter what the realities, its of tantamount importance to cast the right image --- and to keep all vulnerabilities locked up tight.

This need to project the right image adds to everyone's claustrophobia. It kills Vito and the guy who wanted to retire to Florida, and it sends Fiorio into hiding (guys erring on the side of sentimentality), and it promotes the sociopaths (Paulie who cursed the aunt that raised him and Christopher who has yet to mention Adrianna's name this season).

Violence and fear, therefore, remain the enduring trump cards. Leadership is all about playing the trump cards wisely and controlling violence so as to avoid mob cannibablization / warfare / and police crackdowns.

The antithesis to prudent control and mindful sentimentality is Junior, who mindlessly shoots his Nephew Tony. Old age, paranoia, and alzheimers have just fried his brain --- suggesting Mob bosses are ill suited toward retirement.

No wonder Carmela tells Tony "we're lucky." She's right, but Tony can only tip toe around in the minefield for so long..... Something MR SUICIDE grasped in spades.




Sensualips -> RE: The Sopranos (4/10/2006 5:48:35 PM)

Right, Vito.  I was still giggling over the visual and got all confused.

Cloudboy, Christopher DID mention Adrian though.  The episode before this he sat and talked with a then upright but vacant Tony.  He told him about his movie plans and then lowered his voice and said confidentially, "I think you owe me this...because I came to you about Adrian."  Tony drooled in response.

Now wait...Vito didn't die yet, did he?  I thought he was along in the hotel contemplating suicide -- but was waiting it out.  Did I miss him pulling the trigger?




sweetbbwsub31 -> RE: The Sopranos (4/10/2006 7:00:05 PM)

I think Tony totally set up that fight just to prove he was still in charge.
 
Vito is not officially dead yet.




Lordandmaster -> RE: The Sopranos (4/10/2006 7:02:31 PM)

Paramount importance, not tantamount importance.

At this point there are a ton of loose ends, and I'm starting to doubt they're really going to tie them all together by the end of the season.  I'm sure Vito isn't dead, but who the hell knows.




stef -> RE: The Sopranos (4/10/2006 9:29:00 PM)

They have a habit of not tying up loose ends.  Remember the story arc with the Russians that ended badly for Chris and Paulie in the Pine Barrens?  I kept waiting for the 'Czechoslovakian interior decorator' to rear his ugly head and make things difficult for the gang but that one just faded into nothingness.  I think the end of the series is going to leave us with more questions than answers.

~stef




Lordandmaster -> RE: The Sopranos (4/10/2006 9:40:19 PM)

Well, it's common in soap operas to have the script left open-ended, so that they can always come back to various sub-plots if it suits them.  But since everyone knows that this is the last year of the series, they really need to get around to tying up the loose ends.

Did anyone notice the name of the actress (well, sort of) who played Allegra Sacrimoni?  Her last name was Van Zandt.  I wonder if she's really Sil's daughter and the two families are going to destroy each other defending their honor...  That would be a nice Reservoir-Dogs way to end it all.




cloudboy -> RE: The Sopranos (4/11/2006 5:27:15 AM)


Yes, paramount, sorry.




cloudboy -> RE: The Sopranos (4/11/2006 5:34:35 AM)


HBO has a strong history of bringing its series home strongly and concluding them on sound notes. David Chase is the wild card, but I imagine the Sopranos will conclude more along the lines of Six Feet Under, The Wire, and Sex in the City --- than the spurious, scattered story telling of a show like LOST or the nutty, unfufillable buildups in the X Files.

Your example of the lost Russian pertains to a peripheral character --- the show only needs to deliver its main characters home.




cloudboy -> RE: The Sopranos -- Meadow - Vito (4/18/2006 7:10:13 AM)

This is a question about Meadow Soprano. Do you see her as a postive character or negative one?

What I liked about the last episode was how it skewered her for being the self centered brat I've always considered her to be.

Here's my take:

Meadow ratted out VITO without one iota of a clue or a care as to the ramifications of her actions. Why? So she could get into the gossip circle with her mom and friends. Her boyfriend, FIN, is then forced to go before the inquisition to give his own incriminating testimony about Vito and the erstwhile Security guy at the Construction site. Fin is mortified by what he has to do, mortified by the reaction of Tony's crew, and of course otherwise dreading his very association to these monsters.

So, later on in the episode, Fin is getting high trying to shake off the feelings he has about the situation. Meadow, on the other hand, instead of talking about the ramifications as to what might happen to VITO or how maybe she erred in opening her big mouth, goes on and on about issues and injustices that are remote to her own life. She's outraged at the US Gov't and the justice system, she feels kinship for an Afghan family, and she's picking a fight with FIN to enlist his own moral support behind her own abstract concerns. In retort, FIN basically says, "How can you talk about all that when we just ratted out your uncle for being a homo. What is going to happen to him? What are they going to do?"

Meadow basically returns a blank look. On one level she is a self centered child. On another level, she's a budding Caddillac liberal who cares about the great causes but who on a personal level is uncaring and indifferent to the actual people around her. She can casually hand Vito over to the Mob with an offhand, ill thought, never-should-have-been-made-comment and to compensate she she imports kinship to an Afghan family she's trying to help at the law center.

At least FIN had some inkling about what happened and what it meant, and getting high was a way for him to cope with that. Meadow?? She didn't feel one thing.

-----

The actor who plays Vito just strikes all the right notes with him, professing to wanting to play the role somewhere between Liberace and Mike Tyson. I'm curious to see how a character like him can "Live Free or Die." His non mob-like rapport with the B&B owner, short order cook, and Antique dealer were ever so suggestive of his humanity --- while is selection of the pot was suggestive of his business eye. One can only wonder what fate awaits him.




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