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So, I just finished The Sopranos for the first time...

TTOOLL

Member
Great great show! Of course much has already been said about it and I'll not keep repeating things. I would just like to say a couple of things about some of the characters.

Tony is a very good one, but he's too all over the place imo. Of course you have that love/hate relationship with him, it was meant to be that way.

This is the one I loved the most. His arc is amazing and enjoyed every single second he was on.
Corrado Soprano:
cq5dam.web.768.432.jpeg



Another great arc and the only family man there was, my man Johnny Sack. I teared up when he passed.
maxresdefault.jpg




Sil: ok guy, 100% trustworthy.
Paulie: started ok, became an annoying prick throughout the show.
Chris: trash, trash, trash. Should've died much sooner.
Bob: I liked him better when he was just Junior's driver.
Carmela: gimme that money
Meadow: who cares
Adriana: poor girl, suffered a lot and her end was sad

Fucking A. J. Soprano, ladies and gentleman. This is the worst character I've ever seen in any show. The writers must have really hated his guts. He has zero redeeming qualities. A whiny little bitch 90% of the time, the other 10% was him watching TV. Tony should have hit him a few times at least.
aj-soprano-picture.jpg



Concerning the ending: lazy, I hate when they do it. "Oh, just imagine what happened". Fuck off, I'm not the showrunner.

Concerning the comparisons with The Wire as the best TV show ever: unfair, The Wire is a much better show, there's no comparison.
 

DogofWar

Member
Disliking the ending to The Sopranos?

Booo Wendy Testaburger Booo!

It is the ultimate ending there is and there is nothing left to the imagination.

Bobby said it a few episodes before:

"You probably never hear it coming". When they talked about getting whacked. When the guy who enters the bathroom comes out and shoot Tony, the series end. He never heard it coming. The director of the show accidentially even said it once "in the end when Tony dies". So it was how they meant it to happen.
I guess you just stopped believing huh?

The Wire is great as well and I have seen the entire thing twice, but The Sopranos is my favorite series and I hold it in even higher esteem. Having watched the whole thing 3 times.
 

TTOOLL

Member
Disliking the ending to The Sopranos?

Booo Wendy Testaburger Booo!

It is the ultimate ending there is and there is nothing left to the imagination.

Bobby said it a few episodes before:

"You probably never hear it coming". When they talked about getting whacked. When the guy who enters the bathroom comes out and shoot Tony, the series end. He never heard it coming. The director of the show accidentially even said it once "in the end when Tony dies". So it was how they meant it to happen.
I guess you just stopped believing huh?

The Wire is great as well and I have seen the entire thing twice, but The Sopranos is my favorite series and I hold it in even higher esteem. Having watched the whole thing 3 times.

I read about it and Chase kinda retracted himself later, no?

You never see it coming, ok. But on that scene Tony is highly alert as we see everybody who enters the diner.
They edit in a way that it cuts when Meadow goes in and we hear the bell. Surely Tony looked at the door the rest is up to you. I found it lazy.

We know he would have problems because of Carlo or he would end up dead. Just show it. Whatever it is.
 
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cryptoadam

Banned
AJ did suck and I think they kind of lost the plot with him at the end. Also wonder if they hoped he would grow in a different way instead of staying a little weenie which kind of made it hard to take his character seriously. Tony is this huge imposing guy and AJ is a little shrimp. But I think that was kind of the point of his chracter that he was all fucked up but a bitch which knawed at Tony. He didn't want his son in the life but he kind of did and he always felt guilt for letting Carm baby him and thats why he was a screw up.

ending is great if you look at it that it was the audience that got whacked. I know chase plays it off differently but thats not how I interpret it. and my interpretation is the best and correct. Like Bobby said it just goes blank. Thats what happened to us as an audience. One minute were watching it next thing BAM were dead. Sopranos go on and life their live but we were "whacked". It fits in with the show.

I think the last 2 seasons got a little weak. The whole gay sub plot was really unnecessary and they spent to much too much time on it for some bit character. Still great TV but compared to the first 4 seasons it was a bit of a drop off. I really did not care about Vitos petulant child or man lover.
 

Goro Majima

Kitty Genovese Member
AJ sounds like a Reeee poster towards the end of the series. It's really insufferable.

Also having Bobby go out and kill someone in cold blood in the last season felt like a way to make the audience feel a little less bad when he gets gunned down later.

Great series though with a lot of dark humor and compelling characters.

"The Wire" hits way harder but I don't have a lot of desire to descend back down into that depressing muck. "The Sopranos" can be depressing at times but never in the same way nor does it attempt to be a pseudo-documentary of actual problems.
 

Jon Neu

Banned
AJ did suck and I think they kind of lost the plot with him at the end. Also wonder if they hoped he would grow in a different way instead of staying a little weenie which kind of made it hard to take his character seriously. Tony is this huge imposing guy and AJ is a little shrimp. But I think that was kind of the point of his chracter that he was all fucked up but a bitch which knawed at Tony. He didn't want his son in the life but he kind of did and he always felt guilt for letting Carm baby him and thats why he was a screw up.

AJ was one of the most believable characters in the show. The fact that he is so pathetic and hateable it's what makes him so human. Plenty of kids who are literally like him.

The Wire is amazing, but the Sopranos has so many layers of witty, clever writting it's not even funny. It's characters are most of the time cartoony as fuck, and yet they are so incredibly human and show aspects of real life like no other show has ever portrayed.
 

DogofWar

Member
I read about it and Chase kinda retracted himself later, no?

You never see it coming, ok. But on that scene Tony is highly alert as we see everybody who enters the diner.
They edit in a way that it cuts when Meadow goes in and we hear the bell. Surely Tony looked at the door the rest is up to you. I found it lazy.

We know he would have problems because of Carlo or he would end up dead. Just show it. Whatever it is.

And because he looks up when Meadow enters he does not look to his right. Where the bathroom door is. :messenger_grinning:

I had to rewatch the ending once the first time I saw it to understand it and it is indeed a controversial choice of an ending.

Regarding your comments about characters I, to simplify it extremely as I could write nerdier stuff about The Sopranos than any video game, agree for the most part.

"But..."

AJ is a poorly executed character, agreed, and I want to slap him around some myself. But the character idea itself is really good.

The Sopranos showcase both with humour and melancholy what worthless slobs the mob has become. No classy Godfather-antics. They are a bunch of overweight slobs with tracksuits who spend their time at a strip club. Tony Soprano is depressed and goes to a shrink where he (under denial) whines about his mother who is a mean bitch.

When they visit Italy they are so overwhelmed by Italian culture that Paulie has to order Spaghetti with fucking ketchup because he can't stand proper Italian food hahaha!

AJ being a complete twat just shows that the mob is completely doomed within a generation.

Meadow was a bore the first time through but I appreciated her arc the next times. She is a typical teenager, upset at her dads racist remarks, an SJW before that became a term. Slowly however, she goes from being that to becoming the de facto heir of the mob lifestyle in the family. Becoming a lawyer focusing on "discrimination against Italian Americans". That to her is composed of the mob. She never knew any other side of the Italian American community after all.
 

Joe T.

Member
Still my all time favorite series with The Wire a close second. My Italian background might have something to do with that. Pine Barrens is burned into memory and often one of the first things that pops into mind when the show comes up.

Sopranos_ep311.jpg


I rewatched the series a couple of years ago and it's just as great now as it was when it first aired, superb character development from start to finish. The secondary and tertiary characters in Sopranos had more depth to them than the main characters in many of today's shows.
 

Roufianos

Member
Yea AJ fucking sucks. He was completely miscast too, complete immersion breaker expecting us to believe some freckled Irishman is the son of two Italians.

Junior's awesome, loved his 'Hello Ladies' joke.

Bobby's definitely lovable, poor guy.
 

jufonuk

not tag worthy
Great great show! Of course much has already been said about it and I'll not keep repeating things. I would just like to say a couple of things about some of the characters.

Tony is a very good one, but he's too all over the place imo. Of course you have that love/hate relationship with him, it was meant to be that way.

This is the one I loved the most. His arc is amazing and enjoyed every single second he was on.
Corrado Soprano:
cq5dam.web.768.432.jpeg



Another great arc and the only family man there was, my man Johnny Sack. I teared up when he passed.
maxresdefault.jpg




Sil: ok guy, 100% trustworthy.
Paulie: started ok, became an annoying prick throughout the show.
Chris: trash, trash, trash. Should've died much sooner.
Bob: I liked him better when he was just Junior's driver.
Carmela: gimme that money
Meadow: who cares
Adriana: poor girl, suffered a lot and her end was sad

Fucking A. J. Soprano, ladies and gentleman. This is the worst character I've ever seen in any show. The writers must have really hated his guts. He has zero redeeming qualities. A whiny little bitch 90% of the time, the other 10% was him watching TV. Tony should have hit him a few times at least.
aj-soprano-picture.jpg



Concerning the ending: lazy, I hate when they do it. "Oh, just imagine what happened". Fuck off, I'm not the showrunner.

Concerning the comparisons with The Wire as the best TV show ever: unfair, The Wire is a much better show, there's no comparison.
The wires ending just fit the show so much. Love love the wire
 

Jon Neu

Banned
Yea AJ fucking sucks. He was completely miscast too, complete immersion breaker expecting us to believe some freckled Irishman is the son of two Italians.

c8101818-988c-4491-9aa9-1a54ce8c6052_text_hi.gif


AJ, as Tony said, took out of his mother side of the family.

And we all know irish and italians never mixed.
 

TTOOLL

Member
And because he looks up when Meadow enters he does not look to his right. Where the bathroom door is. :messenger_grinning:

I had to rewatch the ending once the first time I saw it to understand it and it is indeed a controversial choice of an ending.

Regarding your comments about characters I, to simplify it extremely as I could write nerdier stuff about The Sopranos than any video game, agree for the most part.

"But..."

AJ is a poorly executed character, agreed, and I want to slap him around some myself. But the character idea itself is really good.

The Sopranos showcase both with humour and melancholy what worthless slobs the mob has become. No classy Godfather-antics. They are a bunch of overweight slobs with tracksuits who spend their time at a strip club. Tony Soprano is depressed and goes to a shrink where he (under denial) whines about his mother who is a mean bitch.

When they visit Italy they are so overwhelmed by Italian culture that Paulie has to order Spaghetti with fucking ketchup because he can't stand proper Italian food hahaha!

AJ being a complete twat just shows that the mob is completely doomed within a generation.

Meadow was a bore the first time through but I appreciated her arc the next times. She is a typical teenager, upset at her dads racist remarks, an SJW before that became a term. Slowly however, she goes from being that to becoming the de facto heir of the mob lifestyle in the family. Becoming a lawyer focusing on "discrimination against Italian Americans". That to her is composed of the mob. She never knew any other side of the Italian American community after all.

But this bathroom theory, which makes sense, needed a bit of a setup, who knew Tony was going to be there? Who would have the balls to off him after Phil?

Being killed in an ambush would be fitting, but something was missing for this to happen at that time I think.


Wish they'd handled this better but The Soprano's is GOAT and nothing comes close imo.

That CG was so weird lol, but of course, things were different back then. I was expecting the same happening to Junior. I’m so glad he survived till the end.
 
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Foamy

Unconfirmed Member
The writer slipped up in an interview a couple years ago and basically said yeah Tony got wacked the last episode.
 
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Dacon

Banned
AJ did suck and I think they kind of lost the plot with him at the end. Also wonder if they hoped he would grow in a different way instead of staying a little weenie which kind of made it hard to take his character seriously. Tony is this huge imposing guy and AJ is a little shrimp. But I think that was kind of the point of his chracter that he was all fucked up but a bitch which knawed at Tony. He didn't want his son in the life but he kind of did and he always felt guilt for letting Carm baby him and thats why he was a screw up.
AJ sounds like a Reeee poster towards the end of the series. It's really insufferable.

I thought AJ was a fitting, well done character. Not everyone is going to be likeable in a tv show. AJ is a perfect foil for Tony, and a good device to show how times change over the course of the show.

He's meant to be an annoying little shit out of touch with reality who failed to mature due to being spoiled most of his life.

Also having Bobby go out and kill someone in cold blood in the last season felt like a way to make the audience feel a little less bad when he gets gunned down later.

Anyone who watches the Sopranos and enjoys these characters wouldn't feel any better about Bobby being killed because he killed someone else.

I hate hyperbole but there's really no other show like the sopranos.

We won't be getting anything as good in the current political climate. Part of what's so great about The Sopranos and shows from its time is how raw it is. It doesn't hide the ugly side of people, their biases, their selfishness, and their self destructiveness. Even characters who are removed from the mob side show the ugly motives behind what they do, like the Priest hanging out with all the lonely women.
 

UncleMeat

Member
I'm re-watching it right now for the first time since my first watch several years ago; currently in season 4. It really is the best show. I love when Paulie proudly repeats his jokes in case someone didn't hear him.
 
Amazing show. I watch random clips on Youtube all the time.
I dont think you could make a similar show today, even if you had the acting and writing talent around. The attitudes the characters have towards women, gays and blacks etc would upset too many people.
 

bender

What time is it?
The later seasons really peter out. Janice, AJ, Meadow and anything having to do with Carmela's would-be infidelities plot lines are a drag.
 

Jon Neu

Banned
You do realise Carm is meant to be fully Italian so what the hell is your post even about?

Carmela's parents don't "look italian" neither.

The point is that italians, like everybody else, have different looks and different types of DNA's in their blood.

The later seasons really peter out. Janice, AJ, Meadow and anything having to do with Carmela's would-be infidelities plot lines are a drag.

I loved to watch Meadows entitled liberal bullshit hypocrisy. And the struggles of Tony and Carmela with AJ were super entertaining too, with some of the funniest and most dramatic moments of the show.

Carmela's infidelitities were ok when there wasn't too much of a focus and they were just little scenes here and there, but when the entire pov changed to her with that teacher dude, that was boring.

But at the end, all of that (and Tony's infidelities) brought some of the best scenes in the show with the fights between Tony and Carmela. They were so real life like and believable. State of the art acting and script.
 

DogofWar

Member
The supernatural stuff in the Sopranos is some of my favorite stuff from the show.

Not to mention the beautifully executed dreams!

I dream a lot, so much that even when it isn't nightmares I can sometimes be completely exhausted when waking up due to all the impressions and thoughts. The weirdness of the dreams in The Sopranos, how there is always that uncanny silence or weird gazes from everyone present, and how characters can simply turn into someone else when looking back at them, is something only The Sopranos managed to capture in a good way.

Not to mention that very funny scene in a dream when Pussy talks about his exercising haha!
 

Dacon

Banned
Not to mention the beautifully executed dreams!

I dream a lot, so much that even when it isn't nightmares I can sometimes be completely exhausted when waking up due to all the impressions and thoughts. The weirdness of the dreams in The Sopranos, how there is always that uncanny silence or weird gazes from everyone present, and how characters can simply turn into someone else when looking back at them, is something only The Sopranos managed to capture in a good way.

Not to mention that very funny scene in a dream when Pussy talks about his exercising haha!


When I say supernatural I include the dreams.
 
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