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****Sopranos Season 5 Season Guide (Spoilers)(Archive Copy) (1 Viewer)

Parris

Stunt Coordinator
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Dec 24, 2003
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86
Wasn't the Tony B and Carmela stories handled in one episode and not 3 or 4 as I just mentioned??? The NY mob and FBI stories are about to take center stage for the 2nd half of the season. I think the first half of the season have built them up nicely
 

Steve...O

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Hi Tony - No I didn't mean it literally. I was just quoting one of my all time favorite Tony lines.

This episode is definitely one of those "love it" or "hate it" ones.

For the graveside service in the previews, you know it's not going to be a "major" character. Assuming that it is someone we've seen before, my guess is either the older gentleman that stays with Junior or perhaps even Feech (with his temper, he's bound to have a heart attack).

Steve
 

Erik.Ha

Supporting Actor
Joined
Dec 24, 2003
Messages
697


I have no objection to the two plotlines... I find them just as interesting as anything else in the series. I just request that if they are going to start an adjunct plot line, that they do it justice... develop it... and end it naturally, rather than come up with a rushed literary solution, because next week we have to "get back to business"...

Thus, I would rather have seen the plots split up over a period of episodes and had them developed more... Maybe I need to watch the episode again, but both reactions (Tony B and the College Casanova) seemed forced, rushed and made up on the spot...
 

Jeff

Supporting Actor
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Jun 30, 1997
Messages
949
I haven't seen this mentioned yet and this is another aspect of the episode I hated...The fact that Christopher and Adriana were together like nothing happened last week. I was really looking forward to seeing how Christopher was going to handle things with her, since he really beat her up, but nope. I know the time frame is different with their lives than with the weekly schedule but that was ridiculous. It would have been better not to have them in it and on some occasions it almost seems like one writer doesn't know what the other writer is doing on the show.



Did anyone here really "love" this episode?


Jeff
 

Paul_Stachniak

Screenwriter
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Not only that, Tony doesn't seem to be bothered about whether his crew are really his friends anymore. Janis just seems to have dissapeared; is she still mad at Tony? What happened to her? There are other story threads which seems to be dangling... although we're only at the midseason point, so I'm going to give Chase and Co. the benefit of a doubt regarding the outcome of the rest of the season.
 

Andres Munoz

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I agree with those who did not like Tony B's transformation. Why make us care then that everything was going his way? :angry:

He gets a job offer doing something he really wanted (massage therapy). They show him studying hard for the exam, getting a place, being happy with his woman. Then he picks up the 12K and there I was fearing for his life, thinking that the drug dealers would show up later on to get their money back and wacking Tony B for spending. I cared about his life because he was a GOOD guy, trying to make an HONEST living.

Then he just goes nuts and throws everything out the window. When he fought the korean guy I just turned to my wife and uttered "WTF???". I re-iterate what others have said: Too abrupt!

I agree, they showed him getting a taste of the mafia life but why set him up as a nice guy in a few episodes only to crash him down real quick in a few minutes? My problem is not with him going back to the mob. My problem is how they handled it. They didn't have to concentrate 3 or 4 episodes just on his transformation but yeah, they could've taken a bit longer on it. My opinion.
 

Tina_H_V

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So far, so good on Year V of The Sopranos! :)

When A.J. told Tony to his face that "one of these days, I am going to kick your a**!!!!", I thought that showed some major cannoli!!!!!
:D

I was LOL!!!!! for ten minutes!!!!!! :D

If I had to choose one person to watch your back for and on, I would say, watch for A.J. to maybe give Tony his just deserts one of these days!

;)
 

Justin Bauer

Supporting Actor
Joined
Feb 19, 2003
Messages
553
AJ's too much of a coward and waste of space to ever do anything to Tony.

His crying in the first episode of the season exposed him for what he is. A p@$$y.
 

Jeremiah

Screenwriter
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Jun 22, 2001
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1,578
I liked last nights episode but never really thought Carm was using the School Teacher. I do not feel sorry for her character though, she knows that the Mob Boss will have women on the side, she knows that all made men will have women on the side.

I loved how Tony dealt with AJ, Tony wasn't going to play any games, he treated AJ like an adult and basically told AJ to go get f'ed. I would of liked it if AJ took a swing at Tony, but I am not surprised he didn't. "Now you got nothin." was great.

Tony B going nuts on Kim was a little surprising at first but he has been busting his @ss recently and started to get a taste of the Mob life again. Also, working 2 jobs and partying the rest of the time will wear a man down, the fact he is a Mob guy makes his temper even more volatile, and him finally snapping could be pretty accurate.

I think it would of been better if Tony B went legit. Oh, and that Asian girl was HOT.
 

clayton b

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Feb 12, 2003
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I'd just like to say that I wasn't trying to be critical of either Edie Falco or how well executed and developed the character of Carmela Soprano is. Edie Falco is a great actor, one of the best on the show. Second only to James Gandolfini if you ask me. And Carmela's character has been developed extremely well, again second only to Tony.

Just because I think that Carm is a slimeball, that doesn't mean that I don't always eagerly await seeing her on the showing and seeing what she's up to.
 

Ronald Epstein

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Tape delay guy here.

Decent episode, but one of the weaker ones in a
really terrific season.

I am also bothered by the fact that continuity
is being lost with these episodes as far as Chris
and Adrianne carrying on as if nothing happened
between them last week, or the fact that Tony had
begun to mistrust his compadres.

Best line of the night was the gay reference that
Carmella made to the priest: "At first I thought
he was gay. He reminded me of you."
I was
chuckling at that one.

Other than that, no big whoop-de-doo this week. I
can only hope that they slowly write A.J. out of
this series. I personally don't like his character
or him as a person after his brush with the law over
a year ago. The kid is receiving far too much screen
time these days.
 

PaulP

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Oct 22, 2001
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I did. It was as great as every other episode this season, and indeed each preceding season. I had the benifit of watching the first four seasons of the show on DVD in about 3-4 weeks, so it helps to see the overall picture, as opposed to weekly fragments. I think of the seasons as really long mini-series, so obviously you will have parts which are slow, but you need them. For me it's great watching these characters interact. I don't need massacre every 10 minutes. I'm certain David Chase et al know what they're doing, and I can't wait to see how the rest of this season unfolds. I bet the next and last season will be the best.
 

Jefferson Morris

Supporting Actor
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Jun 20, 2000
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826
Hoo-ah! My only real disappointment in this episode was that apparently she won't be returning.

I also noticed the apparent lack of continuity b/w Chris and Adrianna in this episode and the last episode ... but I blame last week's (overpraised, IMO) episode rather than this one. If anything I think it bolsters my hypothesis that at the end of the season, "Irregular Around the Margins" will prove to be superfluous.

I had no problem with Tony B's outburst, and thought it was set up well enough by the various scenes depicting his sleepless nights, gambling, etc. All it took was a little taste of the life to provoke a relapse. Going straight ain't easy, and I respect the fact that the writers are always willing to remind us that as likeable as these characters may sometimes seem, they're still violent, impulsive, dangerous men.

I guess the problems some people have with certain Sopranos episodes have to do with the way they're structured. The writers usually don't try to weave too many threads together at once, like you might see on a network drama such as ER. Episodes have a theme and usually focus on a small number of characters. Thus you'll only like the episode if you like the characters. When the show strays too far from Tony and his core of goons, some don't like it, and I understand. I'd be nuts if I had to watch a whole episode of AJ or Janis (unless they were being whacked, which I fervently pray for every day).

--Jefferson Morris

P.S. And what's with the slamming of Bogdanovich? Admittedly, his filmography has its ups and down, but doesn't anybody remember The Last Picture Show?
 

JakeR

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Jan 28, 2001
Messages
116
Guys,

Not that I have any first-hand experience with this (honest!), but it's fairly typical of battered women to go on with life as if nothing happened. They get caught in a cycle of abuse and denial is par for the course.

I doubt this is the first time Christopher got violent with her. Things were forgotten about the next morning. I found nothing abrupt about their genial demeanor. Besides, even if she were struggling with it, there's no way either one of them would act morose in mixed company.

Just my two bits.
 

Michael Reuben

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The more logical conclusion is that some period of time has passed since the last episode.

I'm baffled by people wanting some sort of follow-up with Christopher and Adrianna. We've had it already, at the conclusion of "Irregular Around the Margins". That dinner with Tony and Carmela was a public statement -- to the world and to each other -- that nothing happened and we're moving on. The story's done. From a dramatic point of view, there's nothing more to say.

Now if The Sopranos really were a soap opera (as participants in these threads often inaccurately claim), it would probably spend weeks picking at the scabs left by the incident with Tony and Adrianna. But it's not soap opera; it's more like a series of short stories, with common characters and themes. Each episode is intended to be a complete, self-contained experience, but they're richer when you experience them together.

M.
 

Jim J

Second Unit
Joined
Mar 28, 1999
Messages
290
what, no shout out for "Gina"?

(Tony B's Wife? GF?)
Where does anybody know here from?
 

PaulP

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Oct 22, 2001
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Amen! I realize she's got a separate life now, but they need to include her more somehow...
 

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