Sopranos

Thru 4 episodes, the therapy scenes are my least favorite. Too "on the nose." also Lorraine Bracco's diction/line readings are weird.

It moves beyond that format more in later seasons

i would imagine so

Yeah that becomes less of a focus

i like that this series makes room in its cast for the two least famous members of the main foursome from 'mean streets'. though proval has a huge role as opposed to richard romanus' minor appearances.

i need to rewatch this ASAP. my wife has only seen a few episodes here and there, and the last half of season 6. i wonder if i'd like it more, maybe the relatively dead episodes that pop up in the middle of the series (season 3 has a few iirc?) wouldn't bother me as much.

I figure Morbz would at least appreciate kindred spirit nancy marchand

you strike me as more of a depressed panicky old lady

I am watching this for the first time. Is one of the kids that chases Tony in the flashback scene at the fair the same actor who would go on to play Wallace from the Wire? I liked the Mehlfi family therapist, then realized that he also had a bit part in season 4 of The Wire.

yes

Bodie is in the second episode

i pretty much know all the final-season resolutions and think it's kind of YV-hilarious that they didnt take care of Christopher in the fourth episode of the first year.

TV-hilarious that is

wtf r u even talking abt man get ahold of yrself

Chrissie's character arc is so great and sad

spoilers!

that's like doing spoilers for Psycho at this point

lol I know. It truly was a spoiler, which is amazing, but I'm not actually mad.

I am almost through season 5. Started 2 or 3 weeks ago.

Season 5 has been a drag. Just had a good dream episode though.

I feel like this will never match season 2 level good again

haha i love season 2 but alot of ppl were kinda disappointed by it at the time. richie aprile definitely my fave tony antagonist though.

"I'm OLD SCHOOL, Janice!"

Richie vs tony was great!

I look fwd to the deepening of Christopher's character then, as you can't have tragedy centered on pure vermin.

I can give Chase a pass for making Tony a WC Fields fan, but "I screened The Bank Dick last night"? Tony Sotosyn!

The ellipses are crafty in some of the episodes, like you don't know what made Livia's Jamaican maid stomp out -- well you do, but you don't hear it. (Also savvy bcz even tho Ma is clearly a gorgon, the direct evidence is elided in this case.) Also you don't see the Hasidic guy whose father-in-law wants him zotzed beg for his testicles in the basement of the meat store.

Season 5 has been a drag. Just had a good dream episode though.

"Irregular Around The Margins" (Season 5) is my favorite episode of any. One storyline, no subplots, who knows if Chrissy will get out alive.

yeah, season 5 became good in the end. That was a good ep. Everyone seemed to be off doing their own thing for the beginning and middle though.

all of the abuse was just tough to sit through. The cover art kinda says it all.

I look fwd to the deepening of Christopher's character then, as you can't have tragedy centered on pure vermin.

they're all vermin to varying degrees but aspects of his character come to the fore that make him more sympathetic, esp when set in contrast with some of the others

yeah, he's not just a ziggy

he is ziggy for maybe all of season 1 though. but i guess he can back it up better than ziggy.

Oh, and season 5 has that great last scene of Tony walking out of Janice's house and down the street to "I'm Not Like Everybody Else."

not sure if Camille Paglia's critical thoughts have been linked on these threads. in due time.

xpost Oh, and season five has f-in "In Camelot" which Morbs should skip to if he ends up considering quitting the show for good.

camille paglia is never necessary

very little is necessary

i chuckled when i saw the final count on this series was 27 actors in common w/ Goodfellas.

it's weird that Chase's movie was so hated around here when y'all are crazy for the needledrops on the show

needledrops are a little less obvious/60s cliche here, given that the show is not set in the 60s. altho I liked that movie fine.

this show does have some of my all-time music placement moments though - Dirty Work, Gotta Serve Somebody, Moonlight Mile

i miss ralph and janice

that reminds me, how could I forget Janice's "Mother and Child Reunion" moment

god this show

my two fave musical moments are "Oh Girl" and "Glad Tidings"

Fred Neil's "Dolphins" w/Christopher a fave of mine.

the two that i still think about sometimes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmd-RJUO_RY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBcbc8eWz6U

also-christopher was a huge fuckup and junkie and liability and obviously should have been killed in season one. he wasn't because tony has a sentimental streak and he saw chris as his surrogate son. this narrative tension drove a large part of the show! like why did fredo last so long, etc. family and Family get all intertwined..it's a pretty common trope in crime fiction.

"World Destruction" much too hip for the milieu

I'm kinda glad Chase didn't have the power to pop Plastic Bertrand into The Rockford Files.

'world destruction' is too hip, so is 'evidently chickentown'. using them is powerful to me because it feels like the narrative zooms out for a bit, it's like a little aside from the palm of god/the author. i totally get that it could take people out of the narrative though. it's a risk.

That's an interesting take, connecting it with that Burroughs-y voiceover.

music choices in the soprano are tops, and the non-diegetic music is allowed to be whatever chase wants it to be.

unless you are ridiculously literal-minded about wanting film music to just set the scene and nothing else, in which case, go watch forrest gump.