Posted on 03/11/2019 11:40:39 AM PDT by Coleus
If Catherine Sakai had gone to Zahadum and returned later instead of Melissa Gilbert, it would have had a much more powerful impact on the audience, since we knew the character, would have seen their wedding, etc.
And if O'Hare had stayed, the show would have neatly closed the loop with Sinclair and Valen, instead of that idea being an incidental cool thing to do with a character who had left the show earlier.
Probably so!
That more or less applies to all central Florida, not just the Tampa Bay area. The shallow water of the bay generates lots of warm, moist air that in summer readily builds thunderstorms that mature and grow as they move inland. A similar mechanism is at work on the Indian River behind Cape Canaveral and is responsible for many ferocious thunderstorms that hit the Orlando area.
Astute comments. This filth is everywhere.
When I moved to Canada in 1970, guys wouldn’t curse around women. When I moved back to the States a decade later, the change in culture was a shock.
Not only did guys curse around girls, but girls had the dirtiest mouths of the two. Tattoos, piercing, and earrings were everywhere.
But the dogs bark and the caravan moves on. What is filth to you is standard fare among those not much younger than us. I’m glad cable TV is relatively uncensored, for the sake of believability.
By all means, you fill your mind with all the filth you want. It apparently agrees with you.
They should’ve started playing “Heidi.”
And with his young son right there with him. Ugh.
I saw that movie. Gandolfini’s character (the military prison commandant) put me in mind of McHale’s Navy’s Cpt. Wallace B. “Lead Bottom” Binghamton.
“The Sopranos” had many scenes that showed the misery and sudden death of “the life they chose”.
In the first year, recall the episode where Uncle Junior arranged a hit on Tony. The hit failed, and the guy with the contract to kill Tony was himself whacked. Then Tony figured out who might be responsible, and he suddenly shot Chucky Signore to death, pulling the gun out of the mouth of a large fish on the bank of the Raritan River; later, Paulie and Christopher chased down Mikey “Grab Bag” Palmice and shot him to death in the woods. The season ended when Tony tried to suffocate Livia with a pillow in the hospital, and by him warning Dr. Melfi to “lam it”.
Tony arranged to burn down Artie Bucco’s “New Vesuvio”, and he never really got over it.
The misery endured by Christopher’s girlfriend Adrianna, who suffered severe ulcers, and then was mercilessly gunned down by Silvio when Christopher told Tony that she had been flipped by the FBI.
Or consider the wretched end of Vito Spatafore, who escaped to New Hampshire after he was observed in a gay bar by a fellow mobster. The misery that he put his wife (Lorraine Bracco’s sister played her) and family through. His death caused by Philly Leotardo, who famously emerged from a closet in Vito’s motel room.
Another story in misery was that of Eugene Pontacervo (sp), who was made in the same ceremony as Christopher. He was the mobster who inherited $2m and wanted to retire, but Tony and Silvio wouldn’t let him. As it turned out, he too was flipped by the FBI; realizing he was between a rock and a hard place, he hanged himself.
Another episode of abject misery was Tracy, the exotic dancer at the Bing who was the girlfriend of Ralphie Cifarretto (sp). Ralphie ended up beating her to death outside the Bing.
Ralphie’s son taking an arrow to the throat. Ralphie committing arson at a racetrack stable and killing the racehorse Pie-O-My. Tony killing Ralphie with his bare hands.
Consider Annabella Sciorra’s character Gloria, the Mercedes Benz saleswoman. She suffered from mental illness, and she too took her own life. Likewise, Tony’s old friend that owned the Ramsey Outdoor sporting goods store and had the store blown out because of the gambling debts he couldn’t repay.
The suicide of Vin, the corrupt policeman who provided law enforcement intelligence to Tony in exchange for bribes.
The arrest, imprisonment and death of Johnny Sacrimoni.
Tony having to find and blow away with a shotgun his cousin Tony Blundetto (Steve Buscemi’s character) so that he would not fall into the hands of Philly Leotardo.
Also, the attempt by Carmela to leave Tony.
The Sopranos was at the same time brilliant television and a sordid journey from one calamity to another.
In that sense, it was no different from Goodfellas or Casino, where the principal characters in both movies had an arc which went down and down and down.
I sure like the cut of your jib!
Here’s to eternal life!
You betcha!
Making a character out of Springsteen’s guitarist was the most outrageous thing they did.
They never really covered how you get out of the business. You get out by leaving and never coming back. I knew someone who did it. They knew where he was because he was still buying products from them.You have to pay tribute. But he never went back to NY. Outa sight, outa mind
That was done to degrade Bush and the war. An example was even suggesting the puss son joining the military. What an insult to the military but in Hollywood eyes the military is a step down in life.
No. Tony and his family got whacked by the Members Only dude and the Carhartt dude, who were waiting for Meadow to show up before doing the deed.
At least that’s how it was on TV.
I now defer to DP.
Now way the family gets whacked.
No way, honestly, anyone was whacked.
Mob hit men don’t hang around so everyone can know exactly how to describe them to the police in great detail.
it is UNDERSTOOD in the US mob that civilians are OFF limits.
In reality, the NJ family would be dealing with mostly one of the five families and do favors for others.
NO WAY the heads of these families would approve a hit and the wife and child.
IT JUST DOES NOT HAPPEN.
Too bad the last episode was the least realistic.
You want to hit tony in a public place? You go in, shoot him and leave.
How did Gotti whack Castellano? By having the killers hang around him for 10 minutes?
How was Galante killed? Three MASKED gunmen in and out.
They DID kill two others, a Bonnano soldier and capo, so not civilians.
This is not Sicily. No civilian death are tolerated.
The outcry from the PUBLIC and demands for the FBI to go CRAZY on them would be deafening.
I have known guys that were killed by mobsters.
They all had a connection somehow.
Do women get killed by mobsters? Sure!!
But not because of business.
Just the same reasons every other a@@hole kills a woman.
If there is a woman involved in the business, then she is taking her chances.
Tony’s wife was NOT involved.
tony went out of his WAY to make sure she could never be an accessory after the fact.
He says it in one episode.
Those who say differently that what I have written here, with all due respect, or no due respect, are wrong :)
You didn’t get enough credit for that. Very good!
I never watched the series when it was on, but I have watched some of the YouTube compilations of various aspects of the series. It looked good, and once I would have gotten into it I'm sure, but I just don't get entertained by stories except for "true crime" stories on YT.
One of the things I did find appealing about The Sopranos is that took place in exactly the area in North Jersey I used to live in, around Hackensack, Lodi, Hasbrouck Heights, Teterboro, etc. There were little Italian places I used to go to to get take-out spaghetti, ziti, things like that, so I didn't have to cook. It never occurred to me that those places were possibly Family owned. They just seemed like nice places, but not luxurious at all. I did learn the hard way that you have to let it cool off before you try to eat the take-out food. This was 40 years ago, I don't know how it is now.
I never saw anything sketchy happen in any of them, but who knows what was going on in back.
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