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

Steven Simon

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Tino,

I don't think the hostility has anything to do with her great acting. She is one of the best actors on th show. I tend to agree with the above that Carm is a big bag of hot air. She knows the lifestyle, wears the expensive cloths, and jewlery, yet denounces Tony... I bit hypocritical if you ask me????

Again, were talking about Carmella Soprano here, not the actor that plays her.. :D She was manipultaing him, and it was all about the kid... That's what pissed him off... BUUUT... Look out dude...... If Tony Finds out, your ass is grass!!!!
 

Dave Scarpa

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I have'nt read this thread but I expect most will bash this non action episode. I knew when I saw this was directed by Bogdonovich we'd get a character piece and so it was. Advancing both Carmella's Stroyline and Cousin Tony's.

I loved how the teacher had Carm pegged to a tee. How she can manipulate without even knowing she is doing so to get what she wants. He nailed it when he said she was a user. And so is Tony, who also got what he wanted by getting Cousin Tony back in with the Mob. Carm blames this on living with Tony for so many years that people only see his personality. Carm won't admit to having that personality as well.

Steve Buscemi is a hell of an actor. Despite wanting to go striaight he does'nt want to have to answer to anyone, so he beats the hell out of his boss at the time he was about to be subserviant to him.

A good episode that I'm sure the mainstream audience will label Boring.
 

Jeff

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To me, this is the worst Sopranos episode I've ever seen. The writing was terrible with regards to Tony B making his "transition" back to the mob; it just wasn't believable. I'm hoping that later in the season we'll find out that the money he found was a setup to help rope him back in. If that's what was intended, then I'll at least give this a 3 out of 10. I think a lot of people here are being kind in praising this episode, IMO.


Jeff
 

PaulP

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Could someone clue me in as to what prompted this? I was distracted and missed it, only to see Tony B go mental on Kim.
 

Scott Van Dyke

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Hook me up with some of that Kung-Pow Coochie! :emoji_thumbsup: :emoji_thumbsup:

Not too bad of an episode. I suppose I never thought of the $12K all being part of a plan to give B a taste of the life again. Good call!

And yes, I'll say it. I didn't need to see Falco's bare ass. The ONLY this that could have been worse would be to see her saggy-assed banana-titties. Blech.
 

JonZ

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Im with those saying this was a bad episode.
There was very little to like here:

- Paulie's "Remember Pearl Harbor" comment
- Tony S comment to Tony B about a dog gloomer being next door in case they want lunch(funny Chris made the same joke when he walked in)
- Tony confronting AJ - Ajs comment about beating his dad up and Tony dumping his cereal "Now youve got nothing" which led to AJ to go running home to mommy.
- The Korean guys block and punch when Tony B hit him with teh 2x4
- Carms threat to of "you better watch yourself" before leaving the guys house.

But I feel that Tony Bs "turn" came out of nowhere and found the Carmella romance to be uninteresting. I would have preferred focus on the NY Johny Sack/Carmine Jr problems.


"And yes, I'll say it. I didn't need to see Falco's bare ass. The ONLY this that could have been worse would be to see her saggy-assed banana-titties. Blech."

Actually shes in pretty good shape. She usually has to gain weight for the show. Theres a episode in I think the second season where Carm is wearing workout clothes and her stomach is exposed and she nearly had abs there. Shes in great shape I think.
 

Erik.Ha

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Thats the problem. Nothing really seemed to prompt it, unless you say he pissed away 12K and his wife was harping on him... What that has to do with suddenly beating the snot out of the one guy who has given you a break, I dunno... Other than that, it was completely out of character for the "new & improved" Tony B... Seems like the writers needed to "pull him back in" and they decided they only had a page left to do it, so they had him wig out... Not too creative in my book... However, it wasn't the only forced plot change... I thought the college advisor wigging out on Carmela was completely out of left field, and completely out of character for him as well... Again, the writers realized they were running out of time, and had to wrap the affair up in a page or two so they drop the "you used the only leverage you had, your pussy" line. HUH??? WHAT??? Where the hell did that come from???This guy wouldn't say "pussy" if he had a mouthful of it... It seemed forced, and rushed, and reminded me of every episode LAST season (which all sucked in my opinion).

If they wanted to end the relationship that quickly, it would have made as much sense to have a piano fall on his head, or have her get a phonecall that he contracted Ebola and bled to death in the middle of the night... A complete cop out... tony Bs transformation was handled only slightly better, which is to say, NOT GOOD AT ALL...
 

Michael Henry

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Guys - just like with anything else:

- Movies
- Wrestling PPV's
- Heck, even going to a church service

They "bring you way up" in the beginning, then "bring you down" in the middle to give you some breathing room, then they "hit you over the top" for an incredible ending...

Whenever I see something lull a bit, I always think of this...seriously, if it was "turned up to 11" for every episode, it would not be good...

All of this is done for a reason...

HA! "Remember Pearl Harbor!!!"
 

Michael Reuben

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Carmela has never faulted Tony for being a mobster. Indeed, when a psychiatrist recommended by Melfi put the issue to her in the strongest possible terms by advising that she leave him because he's in the mob (season 3, "Second Opinion"), Carmela made a conscious decision to stay.

The unjustly reviled season 4 charted the ups and downs of the Soprano marriage after Carmela made that decision. While there were numerous factors, the short answer to what broke up the marriage is Tony's constant cheating. And that has very little to do with Tony's being a mobster.

It's interesting that so many people are focusing on Carmela's manipulation of Bob Wegler, and no one seems to be offended by Wegler's manipulation of Carmela. It's not like he had a gun to his head when he barged in to get AJ's grade changed; he did it for his own agenda, and when he felt guilty about it, he turned around and blamed Carmela. And you have to wonder how many other copies of Madame Bovary he's given to mothers who've come to see him about their kids with academic troubles -- vulnerable, concerned women who are oh-so-grateful for this nice, intellectual man who takes their problems seriously.

My own favorite line is from Wegler: "It's a first edition. (pause) Well, a Modern Library first edition."

M.
 

LewB

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Any one notice that scene where Carm was eating a chocoltae bon-bon at his house ? She said that they were the same chocolates that were brought to a school function by some other mother (can't remember the name). I think Bob is playing a game similar to the one the priest is/was playing on the women in the church (season 2?). Except Bob is 'closing the deal'.
 
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It was building up, albeit subtlely and somewhat abruptly.

It was a combination of:
-finding what it was like to have to do legitimate work for a living (issues with the laundry truck)
-Being just outside "the life" and not being able to join in (everyone he knew was into it)

Then, with the money he found, he gets an updated taste of the life of the mobsters, and it culminates with him snapping because the Korean guy comes in to prod him while he's doing all the work by himself.

Granted, he did seem a bit docile for that type of eruption, but we have to remember that he spent a long time in jail for a reason. If you think about it, there's a point where pretty much every character is pretty light-hearted, as long as he's away from the wise-guy stuff. You have Junior's musings, Tony when he's out of his element, and Pauly when someone talks about something he doesn't understand. It's not to far fetched for one of these guys to just explode.
 

PhilipG

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This was a so-so episode, straight out of season 4. :thumbsdown:

Nice to see Father Chappelle back though. ;)

Paulie again has the best line ("Pearl Harbor"). :laugh:
 

Dave Scarpa

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Exactly alot of this is very subtle. Chase and his writers don't fall into the trap where character mechinizations has to be spelled out to the viewer. Tony B keeps saying he's a "Civilian" outside the life, yet last week he was going to at the whacking of Chrissy, and he played a big part in that. He's always around "The Guys" alot of his motivation was that he was basically trying to lead a double life, studying and working all day long and then partying and gambling all night. After the all night gambling Paulie says he's going home for 12 hours of sleep, tony has to go to work a menial job. After all that and being Dead tired, and having been given "A Taste" of the life again, he snapped, beat the Hell out of his last connection to the Straight Life, severing that connection, and running back to Tony S.

Tony's half Smile at the end is telling as the vulture got his prey. Did Tony S set Tony B up with that Cash. Very Likely.

I love the episode of the Sopranos that really deal with not only the Mob Related stuff, but how that effects the characters attempt at a normal life. Many just like the Mob stuff and anything that deviates from it they label Boring or Besides the point.

But the point of the Sopranos was never just the Mob. It is a story of A family influenced by its participation in the Mob.
 

GlennBGB

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Did anyone else notice the hand grenade was missing from the Sopranos home security stash...it was promenantly shown in the Bear episode but was gone last night when Carmilla got the gun to put under her pillow.???
 

Matt Stone

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That's certainly what I was thinking.

Cound me in as another person who things that Carm deserved the treatment she got. It's hard to act like you're on the up-and-up and then leave with a "...watch your back."

As a fan of Season 4, I liked this episode...but I still think it's the worst of the season so far.
 

Andrew Pezzo

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I am on the fence with this episode. Not that I disliked season 4 but it seemed just like one of the episodes. I was shocKed that Carm actually slept with another guy, her loyalty to Tony always seemed to win.

I got a kick out of when she was in confession saying she had sex with that guy. I loved how she ws made out to be the bad one in Gods eye because she had sex with one person after her and Tony split yet Tony sleeps with anything that walks while they were married.
 

Erik.Ha

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I hear that... But I didn't buy it from Tony B. THAT character clearly HAD it in him at one time to break heads... But the new, post prison guy, DIDNT... HE SAVED chrissy from execution, and was only really there because chrissy is a member of his extended family (small F).

Perhaps they will build on this episode... Maybe it will foreshadow some future episodes, but Season 4 had a lot of episodes like this that didnt really foreshadow anything... and that's why Im skeptical...

I dont think the money was sent from T. I could see him giving Tony B 12K for "time served", but I dont think he would include a dozen viles of crack or have it thrown at him from a passing car... it seems too flashy for T... Maybe Im wrong... We shall see...
 

Dave_Brown

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While it seemed a pretty slow episode last night, I was glad to see the school counsellor wait until after he got his rocks off to bring up his reason for dumping Carm. At least they were able to portray that aspect of the relationship correctly. :D
 

Tino

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It seems to me that whenever an episode strays from the "mob" aspect and concentrates on character development, that show is labeled by some as "boring", "it sucked", "a season four episode". Sense a pattern here? I'm sure the next violence filled Mob episode will have them praising the show as excellent again.

The great thing about The Sopranos is that it is about everything. Mob life, home life, fidelity, infedelities, etc..
If the show constantly focused on the "mob" aspect, it would become ordinary very quickly.

And David Chase has said many times that everything will not be resolved, just as in real life, yet people still complain endlessly about storylines that went "nowhere". Does everything have to be wrapped up neatly with a bow??

Michael Reuben, as usual, nailed it perfectly in his post. I agree with him completely (especially regarding his thoughts on S4).
 

Tino

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Steve

Reread my post. I said I was surprised at the hostilities being leveled at the Carmela character, NOT Edie Falco and her great acting.

She may be partly to blame for the situation she's in, but some of the ugly comments directed towards her, and sadly even Edie Falco, are unwarranted imo.
 

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