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

[Brent M]

I don't know. I think he will end up dead or in the can, but there's really no way to know how Chase will finish this thing off. It just sucks that we have to wait almost two years to find out!


Edit: You know, I just re-watched the finale on HBO2 and I am still in amazement at how big Gandolfini is getting. I seriously wonder if this guy can avoid a heart attack in the next 2 years to film the final season. He's eating in practically every scene and it looks like he's becoming a ticking time bomb. It reminds me of some advice he gave to Bacala way back in Season 2: "I think it's time for you to seriously consider salads. Now get away from my car before you tip it over you fat f**k".

 

[Todd Terwilliger]

I think Tony had to take out Tony B. regardless of the NY crew. Tony B. continually disobeyed Tony's orders. If it wasn't this incident, it would surely have been something else. Tony B. couldn't get out of his own way. I think the failed massage parlor was the definitive symbol of Tony B.'s existence.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Tape delay guy here.

Have been reading all your individual input
throughout these four pages. Great reading.
I want to thank all of you for making The
Sopranos one of the hottest discussions on
this forum. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading
all your thoughts posted here week after week.

I think Steve Simon has also done a really nice
job of maintaining these threads as well.

My thoughts....

I agree with many of you that the finale episode
was quite good. I think that Gandolfini's acting
was superb. I also feel that this was the absolute
best season outside of Season One. It took a while
for The Sopranos to come out of its slump,
but Season Five proved to be a strong contendor all
around. I thought the writing and acting was solid
throughout. I thought this season proved that
The Sopranos can succeed at being more than
just violent mob action week after week. This
season's stories concentrated on family and inner
character struggles rather than violence -- and
it proved to be a winning decision to go this route.

I felt it was also very important for the absense
of Adriane to be questioned. One of the biggest
flaws of this series is the fact that characters
are killed and nobody questions it, or when they
do, the absence is forgotten a few episodes later.
The biggest fault I have found with The Sopranos
all these years is its inability to tie up loose
ends. Characters are introduced and then disappear
without a trace. For example -- Uncle Junior's
girlfriend or the Russian guy from the Pine Barrens.
Then there are killings of characters that go
unquestioned. This is the kind of stuff that irks
Sopranos fans because it interrupts the realism
of the show.

For a while it seemed The Sopranos was doomed.
Season Four seemed to suffer from badly
written episodes that were so disjointed from one
another that it became god-awful to watch. I stopped
watching last season right after Ralphie was killed.
I couldn't watch the show anymore and had lost all
faith in Chase's vision.

I was happy to see that this season made such
a strong comeback and did a better job of tying
up its loose ends.

As a Sopranos fan I am very pleased with Season Five
and I am also looking forward to what Chase has in
store for us in another 18 months.

Thank you all for making The Sopranos discussion
here the best anywhere!

 

[Dave Scarpa]

Chase's Style and that of his staff writers is open ended. He's mentioned that in all the interviews he has ever done about the series. He believes that life is open ended and does not inherently tie up all its loose storylines. THe Sopranos follows this vision. He's been asked innumerous times when will the russian reappear, when will Tony Find out about Melfi's Rape, when when when when... and his answer is always the Same, they won't.

The Sopranos is not a program that follows conventional storytelling, alot relies on Metaphor and Symbolism i.e. last weeks Painting, the Bear references, and the numerous Dreams Tony's had thruout the series. Things will be implied and not said. To expect the series to alter this
method of storytelling to fill a convention genre i.e. the typical mob mold, is setting oneself up to be dissapointed.

Alot of viewers lament when the Sopranos does'nt live up to their expectation of conventional television storytelling, instead of sitting back and enjoying the ride. These shortcomings that they envision is what actually endears the Sopranos to me and what rises it above the typical tv fare.

In all the 5 years of the show there's been alot of unconventional storytelling but none of the episodes have been a victim of Bad Writing. IMHO

 

[John_VI]

MikeKaz - Thanks for the correct spelling of consigliere. I knew it had a silent "g". I find it amusing that everyone on the Sopranos mispronounces the word. The "g" is silent and the emphasis is on the first syllable, so it's actually pronounced CON-sil-e-AIR-e. But everyone on the Sopranos mispronounces it as con-SIG-lee-AIR-e. Of course, that is the difference between real Italians and NJ (or NY) Goombahs (no offense!!).

 

[Justin Bauer]

After a few days to think about the finale and Season 5 overall I would say that the finale was very solid. It was not the flashy, explosive finale that we all expected but it leaves the door open for a very interesting final season.

I also watched seasons 1-4 in the weeks leading up to 5 and I rank season 5 behind 1&2. IMO nothing can come close to matching season 1. Season 1 had a special feel to that none of the other seasons had. Seasons 1&2 juggled both family lives very well and it is sad they the writers cannot seem to match that past balance.

I enjoyed season 4 when it aired and I loved it even more when the DVDs came out in late Oct. But, after watching season 4 right after the first 3 seasons, it was obvious how weak it is compared to them (but still better than most tv shows). Season 5 started out strong and to me, at least now, there were no episodes I did not enjoy. One of my favorite episodes was the dream episode which everyone seems to like to shit all over.

I just hope that Chase and co. can recapture some of that feeling the first 2 seasons had for the 6th season.

Does anyone else think that the quality of music on the show has gone down hill?

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Dave, very interesting point-of-view.

Something to think about. Thanks for sharing it.

 

[Brent M]

Justin,

I agree with you about the music on the show not being as good as it used to be. Season one had the best soundtrack by far and no season since has really been as great in that department. I just didn't think the Van Morrison song that kept playing through the finale fit the "mood" of the episode. I thought the episode itself was fantastic, but I wouldn't have minded a different song choice.

 

[Richard Travale]

and it seems like Bobby took his advice. He looked a lot leaner (still big mind you) in the Bada Bing office scenes.

 

[Brent M]

Richard,

I noticed that too. Bacala looks a lot slimmer this year than he ever has. Back in season two he looked like he was going to explode! Now it seems as if Tony is heading down that path. I guess all those eating scenes finally catch up to you.

 

[Dave Scarpa]

Ron, my views on the Sopranos might be totally different if television as a whole was'nt vastly crappy and drowning in the stagmire that is reality TV. There are some exceptions, Deadwood, THe Shield, Dead Zone, but for the most part television is decidely Mediocre, so that when I unique show like the Sopranos comes along I can appreciate it's quirkiness even more.

 

[Todd.Martin]

Caught part of TRUE ROMANCE on TV last night- Gandolfini plays a mob hit man in it as I'm sure most of you know- he was a lot thinner back in "93 or so when the movie was made. Back when Brad Pitt was a nobody too.

 

[Tino]

No offense to Dave but some of us having been saying the same thing in every episode that was accused of being "terrible".

Being unconventonal is one of the many things that makes The Sopranos televisions best drama series!

Not much to ponder there.

 

[Garrett Adams]

During a TV interview Steve Schirripa said Chase didn't think he was fat enough so he wore padding to enhance immensity. When Bobby started to look thinner the padding was gone. Although he didn't say so he might have lost some weight as well.

 

[JonZ]

"Ron, my views on the Sopranos might be totally different if television as a whole was'nt vastly crappy and drowning in the stagmire that is reality TV. There are some exceptions, Deadwood, THe Shield, Dead Zone, but for the most part television is decidely Mediocre, so that when I unique show like the Sopranos comes along I can appreciate it's quirkiness even more."

AMEN.

Besides Sopranos,Deadwood and The Simpsons, all I watch is Discovery,Science and The Food Channels

 

[todbnla]

For you guys that saw the entire cast on Letterman some time back doing the top 10, I thought James looked good, leaner as well. I though the scene with Tony on the couch eating ice cream was VERY realistic, I've done that! Keep in mind guys, A LOT of us are big..I am italian and I luv to eat, luckily for me, I love my family so I go to the gym and walk 2-4 miles a day 5 days a week. The shots of the family eating is classic italian. Chase captures the importance of this very well, IMHO.

The Top ten w/ the entire Soprano cast...
http://video.cgi.cbs.com/video/video...n=1&proto=rtsp

 

[Everlasting Gobstopper]

As a rabid Van Morrison fan, I gotta take offense to that. Anyone else notice the disproportionate amount of Dylan on the show? "Serve Somebody" in season 2, "Return To Me" in season 4 and last night's "Hey Mr. Tambourine Man" chorus.

 

[Colin-H]

There were some clues in this episode reaffirming my belief that Carmela is building the spec house with the intention of ditching Tony and moving into it. (Specifically, when Carm referred to their current house as "this old house".) Tony's always tied to that house, so she can't really separate from him without separating from the house. But we all know that can only end badly for her. I'm surprised she doesn't.

 

[Jason_Els]

[c]Jason's Crystal Ball Presents[/c]

The FUTURE!!

"Remember my friends, future events such as these will affect YOU in the future!"

Meadow Soprano: Has a rude awakening when she gets a job in the local FBI office and Tony and Carmela try to talk her out of it.

AJ Soprano: Takes over running the Crazy Horse now that it's without a manager. He turns it into the hottest club in New Jersey and begins to work his way into the crew.

Carmela Soprano: Builds her house and gives the old one to Meadow and Finn for a wedding present. Unaware of the move, the NY crew puts a hit on Tony and mistakenly takes out Meadow and Finn. She loses it and gets locked-up in the loony bin.

Tony Soprano: Dies old, rich, and alone on a hot summer day in Sicily with no one but a small dog around to care. Oh wait...

 

[Rob Gardiner]

Jason,

What does your crystal ball have to say about the black musician trying to collect old royalties from Hesh? (episode 1.10 A Hit Is a Hit)