Posted on 03/10/2006 10:52:47 AM PST by misterrob
I didn't see one had been started for the show so I thought I'd create one.
Last season left us with Tony having to exercise some leadership within his own organization in order to save them from a war with the larger and more powerful NY families. His nemesis is picked up during a sweep leaving a void in the mob heirarchy. Meanwhile Tony and his wife have reconciled (badly done mind you), Meadow is now engaged to her confused, brow beaten and somewhat afraid boyfriend. Initial reviews point to a good season with new cast members Ben Kingsley, Tim Daley and Juliana Margulies joining the show.
It is still too soon in the show for this to go down. I'll give Chase some room on this but they got greedy in doing an extra set of episodes at year end.
I disagree...I thought tonight's episode was brilliant and thought provoking....excellent performances by every character.
I think AJ is a waste and not credible as a threat to go into the mob. I could see Carmella's denial about everything rear its head and while I do consider Edie Falco a great actress, making the focus about her is boring.
Daughter caught the first showing tonight at 9:00 eastern - says she's not so sure "the theory" is going to hold up.....
Agreed about Falco...I mean she isn't the next Hepburn or anything...however...the emotions of a mob wife...you noticed she said to him he was a good father and a good friend...but left out good husband...she knows the misery she has lived but also knows deep inside...she knew what she was getting into when they first met.
I expect a lot of people to like the way this will turn out...I don't think Tony dies until well after the January episodes air.
No chance. The previews for next week are already showing people's designs on power.
"Carmella came off as phony to me, all the dramatics, etc"
Yeah, but I think that the character *is* a phony, so it just fit into her path. Carmella is a polarizing character, because she embodies some of the most annoying traits in human nature. Which is probably the point. She's a phony, but she doesn't know it, and there are moments of clarity that ellicit some sympathy in the audience which prevents us from genuinely hating her--such as the moment in the Jewish shrink's office, when he gives her an ultimatum to leave her husband, because she has taken part in Tony's crimes just by tolerating them, or the time she broke down in tears when she was eating lunch with Meadow at the start of the fifth season. She's a woman who compromised her conscience for prosperity and a better life for her children, and she'll have to live (and suffer) those consequences in the final season. She won't have a happy ending, and as Aristotle said (paraphrasing), tragedy works best when its the result of a fatal flaw in the character. Carmella's just human enough to ellicit sympathy, but obviously her hypocrisy is going to destroy her and she'll get her just deserts. Which is why tragedy is so powerful.
I used to hate Carmella, but after rewatching the entire series twice (thanks to Netflix and later, ebay), she's become one of the more interesting characters. Probably more due to Edie Falco's acting, much in the same way Drea De Matteo turned a rather dim-witted and whiny Jersey girl into one of the more sympathetic (and thus tragic) characters in recent television series--just by conveying guilt and fear so effectively.
"I think AJ is a waste and not credible as a threat to go into the mob"
Yeah, but he's a square peg trying to cram himself into a round hole. But that's been the M.O. of the show, people trying to be who they aren't. Chris thinks he's a screenwriter. Tony pretends he's a general. Carmella fantasizes about being the paramour of Furio and later the wife of an artsy fartsy high school advisor. And now some realtor, or bed and breakfast owner, whatever she's building. Big P wants to go into crime fighting at the end of his service to the state. AJ as a college student. And of course Aj's predecesor, Jackie Jr., thinking he's the next Goodfella. Now its AJ's turn to try his hand at mafioso, and he'll fail, miserably. It'll be pathetic, funny, and sad, like two clown cars in a car accident!
I thought it had one of the better dream sequences, given that I usually can't stand them and find them pretentious. This one was interesting, with Tony basically in purgatory, "it's dead out here", w/ heaven and hell both just around the corner (the scene on the television in the bar, of the wildfire = hell). The "Karma slap" from the Buddhists, the different voices, the question of identity (both his own, but didn't he say he voiced as a bio-optical recognition engineer, or something?), the phone at the end--calling back to his old life, or calling God to take him up for judgement?
I agree completely! I thought tonights ep was great. I loved the helicopter flying overhead and you could see the doctor flashina pin light down. Really good stuff. This also sets up lots of storylines and people begin to position themselves for taking over for Tony and for AJ to maybe get into the "business".
Please. Sopranos is one of the best written shows on tv. Maybe you'd be happier watching "According to Jim" or some fluff like that.
Anyone notice Christopher holding hands with Meadow at the hospital? They could do a lot with a possible Meadow/Christopher relationship.
Don't go there....
Yeah the lighthouse in the background as well...he looked at it twice..."follow the light" was the theme but he seems to be doing his own thing...the costa mesa fire on TV representing hell and asking the bartender later..."so what's it like in costa mesa?" and the bartender says "it's dead in costa mesa".
The doubters need to realize the importance of tonight's show and look at the big picture...it was a very telling and moving performance which is doing nothing but setting you up for usually something huge in the next 2-3 episodes.
This is a mafia family and the mafia in general here. This big deal about Tony's health is really for the viewers...the actual characters don't care. They have all feared Tony all along and loved him for what he could get them material wise.
The kids are embarassed by him, AJ didn't give a crap until he sat in the room with him and talked and then all of a sudden grew angry,Carm wouldn't call him a good husband or man...just a good father and friend and that he wasn't going to hell...she has hated him for years,and his crew is lining up their moves and money for what they will do as soon as Tony goes to the light.
They joke at funerals and make their deals and move on.
Tony has always been afraid of being alone and being himself...hence what is happening to him in the dream sequence....he is on his own and nobody cares what his name is.
In that thought then yes, the writers have introduced something interesting and revealing. Right now he is caught in a form of pergatory because of his choice in briefcases (aka, his life). He cannot escape and he can see the light from above or the fires of hell on the TV set. He is also a nobody and for a wise guy, that is a form of hell for him. The stairway scene is representative of his life in that he sought short cuts and hurt himself by doing so. But, it was that short cut on the stairs that allowed him to see that he was dying.
I don't know if it was really necessary for Chase and company to have to lay it on so thick with his family though. Yes, we have seen Carmella in all her vanity and shallowness but it is a road we have travelled far too often in the past. AJ is also shallow and vain and again, it is wasted time.
The seeds have been planted for the mafia family to come apart and that seems to be where the good action will be found.
Agreed 100%. You can just watch the show and when his loser sister walked in with the fake tears you could just feel the B.S. in the room. Nobody cares...they all see their meal tickets on life support.
When is the likeness of Furio coming in to save the day and take Carm away?
The whole lot of them are shallow, dispicable people. They are the epitomy of self centeredness. I recall after Janice plugged her fiance after he popped her she calls Tony to help her out and then after the body is disposed of she cries at the bus stop professing love. And, that was after having come back to care for her mother who had been nothing but a corrosive force in her life so that she could get her money.
In the Mob there is a love/hate/fear culture. Yes, the love Tony but in a perverse way. They fear him, they hate him for his greed and yet, the "old school" ways mean you love the boss. There is also that family love that means you take care of one another which in Tony and Junior's case was so toxic that it lead to Tony's demise.
Was it just me, or did the "wife's" voice over the telephone line sound like Charmaine? I also noticed that Tony lost his Jersey Italian accent. I kept wondering if this is Tony imagining what his life would have been like if he hadn't been in the mob.
Notice that even in a dream sequence, he's still up for cheatin' on the missus.
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