Tip jar

If you like CaB and wish to support it, you can use PayPal or KoFi. Thank you, and I hope you continue to enjoy the site - Neil.

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

Support CaB

Recent

Welcome to Cook'd and Bomb'd. Please login or sign up.

March 28, 2024, 12:48:41 PM

Login with username, password and session length

whaddya hear, whaddya say? Sopranos Chat 21 years on

Started by paruses, April 10, 2018, 09:59:49 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

Blinder Data

Quote from: buttgammon on April 10, 2018, 12:29:36 PM
I actually think that episode is sound, it's the one that comes a couple of episodes before it that I have the problem with. I'm pretty sure this is the one.

Fake edit: it says on that Wikipedia page "This episode is unique in that it almost throughout its entirety employs the shaky camera style, with the exception of Dr. Melfi's scenes and scenes in Tony's car. The style may represent the episode's theme of Tony's feverish gambling and losing spree." - I think this was a lot of my issue; it reminds me a bit of the time Eastenders tried to go all cinéma vérité.

Ah right, is that the episode where he falls out with Hesh? I would say it's just a part of his excess plus about his financial insecurity. Over the course of the series he drinks more, eats more, shags more women, gambles more. Plus the last season he goes hard down that road.

Custard

I love that they left it unconfirmed whether Tony had anything to do with Hesh's girlfriend suddenly dying that episode. I've always thought no, but honestly with Tony at that point, who could really say? He was all over the shop, mentally

Loved his friendship with Artie, despite its ups and downs. Genuinely sweet moments where you can see what a good bloke Tony could be/could've been. His one true friend, maybe

Good timing on this thread, just started a rewatch. It's interesting how different it is to shows now. A lot of heavily-used tropes of dramas these days - bottle episodes, jumbled timeline, flashbacks (except the stuff with Johnny Soprano) aren't used at all. The plot and characters are allowed to develop at a timely pace, with episodes that have little relevance to the main story, but contribute to our knowledge of the character's disposition eg. "Meadows football coach is a nonce" episode. Shows today are so afraid you'll give up on them they throw the kitchen sink at you every other episode to keep your attention away from your phone, its getting old.


Oh and Buttgammon - don't write off cannolis till you've had one from Dolce Sicily on Dawson's street. Pricey, but gorgeous.

QDRPHNC

Quote from: Shameless Custard on April 10, 2018, 02:31:44 PM
Loved his friendship with Artie, despite its ups and downs. Genuinely sweet moments where you can see what a good bloke Tony could be/could've been. His one true friend, maybe

There's a great moment early on - could even be one of the first times we see Artie - when he gets pissed off at Tony at a dinner party and throws a slice of deli meat at him. For a moment we're sure we're going to see Artie get the shit beat out of him, but then Tony just starts throwing food back at him. Amazing how so much is said about the nature of their friendship with no words whatsoever.

Blinder Data

Quote from: Shameless Custard on April 10, 2018, 02:31:44 PM
I love that they left it unconfirmed whether Tony had anything to do with Hesh's girlfriend suddenly dying that episode. I've always thought no, but honestly with Tony at that point, who could really say? He was all over the shop, mentally

Eh?! Didn't she die while Hesh was speaking to her of an embolism or something? How could Tony have arranged that?

The more important bit is the follow-up when Tony visits him to pay his respects but it's clear their relationship has changed.

Custard

There was even a Sopranos cook book at one point. Was always quite tempted by it, but it felt like one step too far!

Food was a massive part of the show though, wasn't it? There's barely a scene without someone eating, or talking about food

paruses

Quote from: QDRPHNC on April 10, 2018, 02:35:11 PM
There's a great moment early on - could even be one of the first times we see Artie - when he gets pissed off at Tony at a dinner party and throws a slice of deli meat at him. For a moment we're sure we're going to see Artie get the shit beat out of him, but then Tony just starts throwing food back at him. Amazing how so much is said about the nature of their friendship with no words whatsoever.

Listening to "No Fuckin' Ziti" they mention the bit where Artie cries into the oven glove - must only be the second or third episode - and I'm really pleased someone else found it as funny as I did.

Artie is a great character and John Ventimigia (you will have to excuse all the spelling on these names) does a fantastic job. Love all the little things like him getting an earring, immediately investing in the Armagnac, throwing meat at Tony. He seems so vulnerable all the time with a façade of success and ambition.

I have got past where he and my massive Sopranos crush Charmaine and he separate but now they're back together. Is it just just left to us to infer that they reconcile or did I miss something?

Also, is the purpose of Artie just to humanize Tony?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Quote from: Shameless Custard on April 10, 2018, 02:39:06 PM
There was even a Sopranos cook book at one point. Was always quite tempted by it, but it felt like one step too far!

Food was a massive part of the show though, wasn't it? There's barely a scene without someone eating, or talking about food

Some friends bought it for me second hand several years ago as I'd banged on about the food in the Sopranos - it's written from Carmela's point of view so it quite jokey and grates a little but I will have a look at it when I get home at the weekend and see what gems there are.

buttgammon

Quote from: Blinder Data on April 10, 2018, 02:22:13 PM
Ah right, is that the episode where he falls out with Hesh? I would say it's just a part of his excess plus about his financial insecurity. Over the course of the series he drinks more, eats more, shags more women, gambles more. Plus the last season he goes hard down that road.

That's a fair explanation. Ah well, I might have to watch the entire series again to reconsider it (any excuse to watch this brilliant programme again!)

Quote from: Carpool Dragon on April 10, 2018, 02:34:26 PM
Oh and Buttgammon - don't write off cannolis till you've had one from Dolce Sicily on Dawson's street. Pricey, but gorgeous.

I've never been in there - must give it a go!

paruses

Quote from: buttgammon on April 10, 2018, 11:41:57 AM
Yes - they were from the one on Dame Street. I walk past there most days and have a theory that the nice-looking pastries in the window are all decoys. That said, I think cannolis in general are shit.

Seems a reasonable hypothesis - pretty much everything I have had from there has been surprisingly dry.

Will give the Dawson Street one a go too and report back.

Dr Rock

Greatest TV Show ever.

Memorable moments:

Adrienne's ending

More so, Anthony's ending.

Melfi nearly calling Tony to sort out her problem, but wisely not even though we really wanted her to.

All of them using a word or phrase wrongly, I'd say this happened once an episode, but never checked.

The ending.

paruses

Quote from: Dr Rock on April 10, 2018, 03:00:45 PM

All of them using a word or phrase wrongly, I'd say this happened once an episode, but never checked.


There was one as I was watching this morning but can't recall it exactly - pretty sure the word was "defecate". Made me laugh.

Also in the same way I like Tony, and others,  appropriating other people's ideas inaccurately. Captian Tebes, the guy who has the hotels is quite a well known one but I love spotting others. They have just seen the financial advisor in my current run and he or Carmela mention something about Zero Growth which then gets parroted back at the capos a little later by Tony asking why takings are down. I love that attention to detail of human behavior - you hear it all the time at work where someone picks some concept up from a meeting and then follow its trail.

bgmnts

Quote from: paruses on April 10, 2018, 02:08:31 PM
How so his morality?

Maybe I need to rewatch but he does seem to do a lot more heinous things the later the seasons go on.

Killing Christopher, killing Adriana, his random attacks on Georgie for no reason(to the point where he busts him up), being increasingly horrible to Carmella, even his relationships with his goomahs become less and less nice.

There is one amazing moment in the later season where he winds up Janice for literally no reason, just to make her angry, and he has a bastard grin on his face. That seems to sum him up as the series carries on. Maybe he was always that immoral, obviously as he is a gangster, but his impulse control is absent after a while.

Custard

Can't qoute at moment, as on phone and CaBing from work (hurrah modern life!), but didn't Hesh come back to bed to find Renata dead?

Something about it always made me wonder whether Tony was involved somehow. Maybe the suddenness of it, and the fact that he was pissed off with Hesh

Does seem a bit too much though, even for Tony!

Doesn't the episode end with him walking out of Hesh's house with a strange look on his face?

My all-time favourite episode ending though was the one where Tony couldn't stand Janice suddenly finding peace and calm in her life, and deliberately wound her up til she went mental at him. His joy as he leaves her house is fantastic

EDIT - Ah, just been mentioned above!

Blinder Data

If we're talking best hits, I admit I loved I Phil Leotardo's. So over the top but that bastard needed a big way out and it was grimly funny in that way only Sopranos managed.

I always had a soft spot for Tony B shoots that guy and he gets his foot run over - great use of music. Plus Frankie Valli by the paesanos on the driveway. Vito's was devastating and dark.

But for best overall, it has to be Adriana's. Especially as you realise what's happening the same time as her. The pit of your stomach dropping as the car gets deeper and deeper into the woods. Poor lovely Adriana.

colacentral

Quote from: paruses on April 10, 2018, 12:20:01 PM
Ha - yes - they make a really big thing about him being hit with the beef whereas that to me seemed really minor in the scheme of things.

It"s not that being hit with a steak is a big thing - it's that you know Tony is a fucking psycho and she has just embarrassed him.

Pebble_Mill

#45
Personal favourite moments...

Richie Aprile trying to get Albert "Ally Boy" Barese to go along with a hit on Tony

Feech & Paulie's prolonged set-to - P: "In my book, you get points for staying out of the can" F: "Good thing for me then, that your book means ugatz to me!"

And to my shame, I can't help but love the scene where Paulie kills that old lady when he's caught trying to find her money under her bed.

paruses

Quote from: bgmnts on April 10, 2018, 03:19:44 PM
Maybe I need to rewatch but he does seem to do a lot more heinous things the later the seasons go on.

Killing Christopher, killing Adriana, his random attacks on Georgie for no reason(to the point where he busts him up), being increasingly horrible to Carmella, even his relationships with his goomahs become less and less nice.

There is one amazing moment in the later season where he winds up Janice for literally no reason, just to make her angry, and he has a bastard grin on his face. That seems to sum him up as the series carries on. Maybe he was always that immoral, obviously as he is a gangster, but his impulse control is absent after a while.

Yea - I think it's that his impulse control becomes weaker and weaker rather than his moral outlook changes.

Someone must have made a compilation of the attacks on Georgie, surely. Ralphie and the chain is particularly bad - but Georgie does seem to heal quickly (have to say I can't remember his final fate).

I like how they fit Georgie into the hierarchy with a very simple device - he's obvs way below the made men and associates but when he lets the girls into the parties for "$50 plus a blowjob later" it show's he's not really that nice and does have some standing.


colacentral

I love Artie's over the top body language when he's talking, which gets more pronounced when he's talking to particular people, eg customers and women. There's one scene in particular where I piss myself laughing at it every time, but I can't think which episode it is. I want to memorise it all.

A great quote from Richie when Tony is chastising him for running over Beansie:

Tony: I told you to back off Beansie.

Richie: I did. Then I put it into drive.

bgmnts

Quote from: colacentral on April 10, 2018, 05:56:36 PM
I love Artie's over the top body language when he's talking, which gets more pronounced when he's talking to particular people, eg customers and women. There's one scene in particular where I piss myself laughing at it every time, but I can't think which episode it is. I want to memorise it all.

A great quote from Richie when Tony is chastising him for running over Beansie:

Tony: I told you to back off Beansie.

Richie: I did. Then I put it into drive.


"Word to the wise; remember Pearl Harbour" might be my favourite line in the whole show.

Custard

The death of a favourite character in The Sopranos would be legit devastating. I've never been so invested in a show before that, or since

I remember watching the final episode, literally sat on the edge of my seat. Stomach churning, the lot. That's how much it meant to me

Wadda show!

colacentral

Another under-appreciated line: when Tony, Ralph and Paulie are having a sit-down over some dispute between Ralph and Paulie, Tony rules in Ralph's favour:

Paulie: I don't fucking believe this!

Ralph: Why not? Last week you believed there was a UFO over East Rutherford.

Apparently that year there was actually a tabloid story about a UFO being seen in New Jersey.


Custard

Ralphie's romance with Janice was beautiful, too

"Mummy's little hoo-er"

colacentral

Also can't forget Christopher turning up late to a meeting with Tony:

Tony: You're late.

Chris: Sorry. The highway was jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive.

Tony: And you're gonna get cute now?

Custard

Chris was amazing comic relief at times. The intervention episode is hysterical

Silvio: "You had your hair in the toilet water. Disgusting"

It ending with everyone giving him a kicking is pure Sopranos. Just beautiful

paruses

"Suppose you couldn't reach me and I come over to your house to find you dead! How am I supposed to feel?"

And then when Artie asks how is supposed to pay back $50,000:

"Well, it's 51-5, vig-wise, Artie, and technically you already missed a payment"

thraxx

Fuck you lot, you made me start again from the beginning.  3rd watch through.

First impressions.

How young and fit Tony is looking.
Same for Melfi.
Meadow looks like one the the engineers from Prometheus with a spray tan and a wig.
Meadow's lippy mate is as ugly as sin.
AnTHHHHony junior be a plump little mofo.
Bollocks to Tony's fucking ducks.  I know that it's all deep and an allegory and a metaphor and an insight to Tony's contrary character and life. But bollocks to them.

Custard

Meadow's mate is played by none other than David Chase's daughter

(She is pretty rough)

thraxx

#58
And some more... things...

I had forgotten how much I Tony's mother.  I know we're supposed to, but her scenes grate like fuck.
The chef character gets right on my tits too, but I had forgotten how much I fancy his wife.
The priest!  I had forgotten him completely what a wet and sappy fuck he is - can't wait to see him get his comeuppance.
Some of the filtering on the first episode is really dated.  Lots of pink washes over everything.

What a rich and lush world The Soprano is.  Never realised in the first 2 watch throughs.

paruses

Quote from: thraxx on April 10, 2018, 09:49:19 PM
Fuck you lot, you made me start again from the beginning.  3rd watch through.

Meadow's lippy mate is as ugly as sin.


That would be David Chase's daughter.

[Edit: as just pointed out above]

I said somewhere else that I'm now the same age as Melfi and now she seems even hotter.

Have just laughed for a good minute when Paulie goes to go and see his old classmate-now-a-principle  (principal?) talking about the old lady in the home: "...she's a malignant cunt! [hand up. pause] 'scuse me for saying"

Also found Tony going to buy the painting of him and the horse a gem when they discuss if the setting should be pastoral etc: "And it comes in a frame?"

I'd not realised how annoying Ralph's prankster goomar is.