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

[LaMarcus]

I've seen this in many mob movies, which leads you to believe it's true. But then again it's just more stereotyping of a group of people. If your Italian and in the mob your a racist. But I find Italians are more offended by the mob part than the racist part instead of the other way around. Not that being called a racist won't offend a person who is not, but they get more ticked off by the thought that all Italians are in the mob or have family in the mob (at least the ones I know).

 

[Parris]

You guys are taking my comments out of context. Im just making an observation from the show and being an African American who has been a victim of racism I know those type of situations do happen.

So please save your eye rolls for someone else because while it is a small percentage it does in fact happen.

 

[Mike Broadman]

Vito called Finn his "arch enemy." Half-jokingly, but not really. And he practically threatened the kid into going to the game. This is a man who intends harm.

 

[CharlesD]

I think the point was that they blame "Unidentified Black Males" (the title of the episode) for their own screw ups, from Tony not making the hiest with Tony B. to the beating at the construction site and IIRC Tony trying to blame the hit on "Peeps" (love the grave stone bit) on "UBMs". Its happened a couple of times before in the show I think. Its got nothing to with "PC" (and IMO the only thing more boring than PC is people whining about it) or implying that everyone in the mob is a racist. Its real-life "gangsters" using imaginary "gangstas" as a scape goat. I'm sure Dr. Melfi would have a few things to say regarding the phenomonem.

 

[Allen Hirsch]

Another one: Meadow explaining to Finn that Jackie Jr. was killed by "drug dealers who were black" - what she was "told" happened, of course.

 

[Lew Crippen]

And as long as the bad guys are black, Meadow can’t blame the mob. Same with the rest of the mob—black puts it squarely out of their influence.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Was Vito's love for sausage ever hinted at in previous episodes? It seemed to come out of left field.

 

[Tino]

I suggest that we keep the current state of race relations in America out of this thread because discussion of said subject will only lead to this thread being closed.

As usual, another well written, well directed and well acted episode. Looks as though there will be lot's of thunder in the great storm coming.

 

[Tino]

And for you non-Italians out there, a more suitable word is Vito's love for braciole(bra-jole).

If you have ever seen braciole, you'd know what I mean!

 

[Andrew Bunk]

Great episode. BTW, HBO episode guide confirms Vito was playng the skin flute.

Also, this may be common knowledge, but HBO has all the episode titles listed in the upcoming schedule.

I found the last two episode titles intriguing:

The second to last episode is called "Long Term Parking", and the finale is called "All Due Respect".


These sound interesting to me...

 

[RobertW]

not meaning this to be a debate about race relations.

but i have to raise this. when meadow was telling finn that jackie jr. was killed over drugs by black guys, you could see finn putting the real story together. cause he'd already seen at the construction site that mob violence would be covered by blaming it on a "couple of black guys". and now, here's meadow telling him that jackie had been killed by a couple of black guys. maybe i was imagining it, but it seemed he sort of snapped up at that, or was paying particular attention to what she said.

 

[Parris]

Well let me for apologize for brining race into the thread. I just didn't explain myself well enough and it was taken out of context.

 

[Chris]

Oh, I think when they said it in the show it was racist.. and true to how thier characters would act. I think it goes part of the way to helping you realize that none of these people are "good guys"

 

[BrianKR]

I watched this episode again lastnight and I enjoyed it even more than the first time. After watching it over there is no doubt in my mind what Vito was doing in the vehicle. I cant wait for Sunday night!

 

[JonZ]

In Goodfellas, when the truck went missing it was blamed on black guys.
Tony S blamed his missing the holdup that landed Tony B on jail on black guys. Tony B blamed his hurt foot on black guys. They were gonna blame the guys bottle injury on black guys.

Also, Tony S said to Johnny Sack that they were looking for Tony Bs daughter in Monticello NY. I live about 30 minutes from there and its known for...poor blacks.

Its simply a excuse for them. Sure, its racism on their part, and its also hypocritial since they are offended by Italian stereotypes (which has been a topic of past episodes).

Its also ignorantfor Sicilians to say it,as anyone whos read some history books or seen True Romance can tell u

 

[Jason Boucher]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't they actually hire 2 black guys to do the hit on Meadow's boyfriend?

 

[JohnnyN]

I'd say Meadow herself is aware of racial prejudices, doesn't try to deny them, but doesn't exploit them or harbor them as much as some of the others when she says "if you really want to know, it was two african american guys" not two "black guys".

At any rate, yes, bravo for this episode... Someone gets tossed into the river, and while my initial hunch is that it's finn, it could just as well be some unidentified other male... There's nothing like a good killing to restore some sense of order to the NJ family... In fact, I'm gonna go out in left field here and say it's somebody from the lil carm side of the NY family that gets shot up and it brings to all to a cooling point on the Jersey side...

Meanwhile, Tony's got a bunch of other little problems that should they cool down for a minute, won't stay cool. Leave it to Chris to make a childish mistake, but leave it to some tragedy to make things right with he and Tony again.

Then now that the feds know about Tony B's (tony uncle al) casino, it's only a matter of time before Tony B takes center stage, just don't ever question Tony B's loyalty to Tony S.

As for Protein Popsicle Vito, he just may end up being a scapegoat for some sort of blame shift if he doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut.

 

[Tino]

Tony Soprano is NOT Sicilian. He is from Avellino, Italy where I happen to have been born. It's near Naples so we refer to ourselves as Napolitano's.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

Yep, that was a big theme during the episode in Italy. I think it was AJ who was questioning what the difference is between the different towns and what was so special about being Napolitanos. If I remember, most of Tony's crew are not Sicilian, including Paulie and Sil.

 

[Sean A]

I think the racism displayed by the characters in this episode is used to point up their general ignorance. Most of the characters are uneducated (except for Meadow), and usually the most virulent prejudices exist in those who are near the bottom rung of society and they direct those feelings towards those that they feel are beneath them. (Of course, this is a generalization, but I think it has validity : look at the type of people who join the Klan, or the Aryan nation. ) People like the Sopranos crew know how they're viewed by "polite" society, and need to bolster themselves by feeling superior to minorities.

BTW- Meadow's boyfriend Jackie Jr was hiding out with a black family while he was on the lam . It was Vito who shot him in the back of the head