The Sopranos (HBO) TV Show • Page 88

the mcnulty homeless serial killer plot line is a bit out there but I generally think Marlo’s rise and fall is beautifully done throughout season 4 and 5

 

The Mcnulty serial killer stuff is a bit wild but so was Hamsterdam. Last season also has Bubbles’ recovery and the extremely prescient shit about dishonest journalism. We also see Omar’s downfall and Dukie becoming homeless. A lot of really powerful stuff in s5 that’s taken for granted.

To say the domestic scenes dragged is a hot take (did you enjoy spending time with those characters or just want to get through the story?), and the performances are unbelievable throughout the show. Yeah, some side characters were amateur actors, but on the other hand I think it’s amazing they got real Baltimoreans to act on the show. Enough so that it feels authentic. The show goes so deep and its production touched many lives.

 

Y'all have convinced me to do another rewatch.

Whenever the theme song comes on we sing to each other "you got a poo-poo in your eye"

 

Hamsterdam is actually extremely realistic and what Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood basically looks like only way worse. As a recovering addict who spent a lot of time in neighborhoods like the ones depicted in the show they get that side of it right. It’s a very accurate portrayal of the drug trade and addiction itself. One of the reasons why it’s my favorite show because it has a sympathetic portrayal of addiction at a time where that was not the norm

 

I also don’t think there was much noticeable amateur acting in the wire, certainly not anymore so than the sopranos

 

man Rectify came out of nowhere and nearly broke me at the beginning of the pandemic, such a beautiful show

 

Carmila looks and sounds so much like a coworker of mine it's uncanny

 

Man, I really liked Melfi as a character in the beginning, but the writers just kinda gave up on her toward the end

 

"You'd think I was Hannibal Lecture before."

 

I found her exit from the story to be really unsatisfying and if that’s the route they were going to take it feels like that’s a conclusion she would’ve come to years ago, that criminals/sociopaths don’t actually benefit from therapy and use it to be better criminals

 

I did notice right up until the end Tony still didn’t buy into the concept of therapy when speaking to AJs therapist he says “you know I gotta tell ya, this whole therapy thing…” just goes to show how little the man learned and changed throughout the course of the show and why it doesn’t matter what actually happens in the final scene the ending is the same for Tony no matter what. If he doesn’t die then he’s gonna die sometime because that’s the bed he made for himself and he refused to walk away or make any meaningful changes to his life

 

Obviously this finale has been talked about to death online for years and years so there’s nothing new I could add to the conversation surrounding it but I do have to wonder what it would have been like to experience it live. In 2024 I have the benefit of being able to hop on Reddit after the credits roll to see some opinions and within no time I “got it” or pieced together my own thoughts and conclusions based on the information I was given. So my experience is not the norm when I say that final scene was very well executed and a great way to end the show. I can imagine the frustration at the time but it just makes too much sense.

 

Oh yeah agreed. I live in Philly and I just kept thinking of Kensington throughout that plotline. When i say wild, I don’t mean unrealistic. Just wild in that it’s similar to Mcnulty’s killer thing how they are both individual officers taking matters into their own hands regardless of consequences. I 100% agree it’s one of the most sympathetic portrayals of addiction around and feel like the show as a whole should be required viewing for some people, because some of it could really radicalize a person and how they view society overall.

 

The arguments were really dumb for months after it aired. People were treating it like the Zapruder film in trying to find details that he is alive or dead.

The Sopranos was a cultural milestone, and with that you get a range of fans. There were those who liked it for the killing and the nudity and really only focused on the main plot, and they were alienated over time as the show became more introspective. The show gives you every piece you need to think that Tony was killed at the end; they even reminded you of the conversation with Bobby in the previous episode.

However, on a broader level what is so interesting is so powerful is the idea that Tony has to think like that and live like that the rest of his life. What does he have to look forward to? All of his top men are dead or comatose. He is left with lackeys like Paulie and Patsy, not the kind of people you want to groom to succeed you. Butch in charge of the New York Family is not going to be very easy to deal with. Carlo Gervasi is testifying, who can point to some very serious crimes. Chase is trying, for the thousandth time, to remind people what fate awaits people who make these choices.

 

I know it’s not as good really, but I adore Friday Night Lights

 

Loved s1 of Twin Peaks but the back half of s2 stinks and brings it all down a bit for me. Have not watched The Return yet.

 

Friday Night Lights is really silly and cheap in parts but it has some of the best emotional storytelling of any show.

 

Friday Night Lights is super cozy

 

Recently finished a FNL re-watch with my gf (her first time watching) and she loved it

 

Tony Soprano, Al Swearengen, Don Draper, and Walter White are all iconic characters and deservedly so, but Coach Eric Taylor belongs in that category as well. He does so much with his eyes in a way of communicating with young people, especially since as a high school coach he is more limited in his options than someone like a crime boss or drug dealer. He is both forced to be shrewd and illusive while at times forced into those extreme emotional states. The way he delivers the speeches is so inspiring even though you know in the end it is just a meaningless game.

 

I like the couple seasons of Friday night lights that I’ve seen but it’s been over ten years since I watched it. I recently rewatched the movie though and it still holds up

 

FNL is a beautiful show. Love that one too.

 

It’s a stretch to put FNL in the same category as the sopranos or the wire but it is really good, season 2 excluded.

twin peaks is such a hard show to rank that I think it deserves to be set off on its own. It’s so different but the best parts of seasons 1 and 2 and pretty much all of the return is as good as anything I’ve seen.

 

I would even say The Return’s high points surpass The Sopranos and The Wire at times, but I also would totally understand someone saying it’s not their thing at all. It’s def its own animal.

 

I don't really consider the original run of Twin Peaks and the Return to be part of the same show. It isn't an additional season in the traditional sense, and stylistically it is much closer to Fire Walk With Me than the original show.