20 responses to “Sopranos”

  1. Ed Avatar

    The dream sequence lasted for 18-20 minutes. I wouldn’t have minded if there was better payoff. But it was weak, very weak.

  2. hen Avatar

    The most over-rated show in television history. Bar none.

  3. shark Avatar

    It takes Chase over a year to come up with this claptrap?

  4. Werner Avatar

    I am no fan of dream episodes either, but I can tolerate them if they are of the kind of Twin Peak dream episodes, where for days you’ll be trying to figure out the puzzle.
    Maybe David Lynch should produce a few Soprano episodes, that would give some real interesting material.
    This season really appears to be the weakests.

  5. tony Avatar

    they’ve done this type of thing better. theyve done it far more surreal.
    i agree the payoff wasnt as good.
    but it’s still the best show on tv.
    i have a feeling that they do this when they’re not sure what to do with the plot. it’s easy. it’s trippy, and it throws the critics off into thinking it’s “arty” and therefore good.

  6. Citizen Keith Avatar

    Best episode of the season. This will be the one you return to and re-examine after the season ends. They’ve been driving towards this all season… I for one am happy to see the show shift BACK to Tony’s therapy and his inner struggles.

  7. hen Avatar

    Tony – To say this is the best show on TV means that everything else is completely and totally unwatchable – this season has been awful – they have 2 more shows to tie everything up; no way, no how.
    I’ll repeat: worse.episode.ever.

  8. eric Avatar

    gave me a headache…

  9. JimR Avatar

    My reaction was bad Fellini, and I didn’t like him much. Where was Anita Eckberg when we needed her?

  10. Tim Avatar

    I agree, it was atrociously bad… I would have minded less if there weren’t only 2 episodes left in the season. Huge letdown.

  11. shark Avatar

    Best show on TV?
    UGH.
    TV is worse than we thought.
    I want the final 2 episodes to happen so I can be done with this and not bother with next season.
    I have never seen a TV show have such great talent and waste it. Look at the guys they have had to play against Tony Soprano- Buscemi, Pantoliano, the guy who played Richie Aprile, Robert Loggia- these are guys with serious chops. And they were all wasted and discarded.
    The first season was genius. The rest……feh

  12. Mike Avatar

    1) There aren’t any good television shows, so saying its the best show isn’t saying much, perhaps its the only one almost worth watching.
    2) The producer’s theories are give as little as possible and keep people hoping/wanting for more.
    3) The show hasn’t been good in 3 years. It had 1 or 2 really good seasons and that has strung people along, while everyone grumbles its not that good.
    4) Last year they said the season sucked too except the last 3 episodes. This year doesn’t look like we’ll get those last 3 even.
    5) The whole transformation of Tony’s cousin from do-gooder to bad guy in 1 week was so quick and lame it was like watching a Melrose Place 3 week plot. And its on a show where plots are slow and never finish.
    6) The bottom line is the luster of this show wore off seasons ago and people are just watching hoping it will get back to it. The luster of mob movies and shows may have worn off altogether as well. The society is changing and these movies and interest may be waning now.
    Mike

  13. hen Avatar

    Mike – Your point #5 is spot on – i missed the show where he went “bad” and so i went from seeing him working his ass off to do his massage thing to whacking people left and right – what a joke.
    Best show on HBO? CYE – Soprano’s isn’t even in the running.

  14. shark Avatar

    while we’re at it, how about the Simpsons? One of the weakest entries in years. They don’t do politics well for an extended period…..they’re better with quick sarcastic jabs that cut to the chase

  15. wheezy joe Avatar

    The conceit of the dream sequence is clich

  16. Tom Villars Avatar

    Mike – Your point #5 is 100% WRONG! The whole point of showing Tony B. working his ass off, getting a girlfriend, being given a chance to start his own business and finally finding $12,000 in the street was to show that no matter how many chances you gave this guy, he was, at his core, a gangster. The writers must have been laughing their asses off when they had him hit his boss with 2×4 to finally make the point that Tony B was simply no good. How could they possibly make it any clearer?

  17. thickeye Avatar

    On dream sequences- I think they are worthwhile in The Sopranos; if only because Tony has often had premonitions and insights during these dreams dreams/blackouts/etc (ie- big pussy’s squealing in season II). By finding knowledge in less than ordinary ways, in a manner which is not given credence in the male, evidentiary, “rational” world that TS inhabits Tony is acting to work against traditional patriarchal modes of epistemology and knowing. He is gaining from what have traditionally been “female” ways of knowing in the world (intuition etc). By acting in this transgressive manner TS and The Sopranos, in my eye, act as a cultural node which displaces tradional binary modes of being. This, I feel, is a good thing.
    That being said, this season has been _mad_ _weak_. The motivations of the characters, and the actions that are taken are rarely resolved. The only good episode was the one that ended with MS announcing her engagement to Finn.

  18. tony Avatar

    just watched it again
    when he’s on the horse in the living room, he asks to come back.
    carmella says only under these terms… and the first one is, “dont bring your horse in this house…”
    but when she says it it sounds like dont bring your *whores* in the house…
    very subtle.
    i think one of the problems that many of you have about this season of the sopranos is there isnt a ghoulish murder in every episode, there arent a ton of “whores”… everything is more subtle, symbolic, and deeper.
    ive seen that friggin bear sniffing around the pool area as much as ive seen naked chicks, but that doesnt make it a bad season, just a different one.
    and i couldnt care less about it being two episodes until the end of the season. the sopranos have never pandered to “tying” everything up before a season ended.
    still the best show on tv.

  19. hen Avatar

    Tom – Please. He goes from working his ass off, passing a test to do massage therapy, getting a gf, etc to whacking people left and right? A change of character that occurred in a heartbeat? Come on man. Not only that but his character is drawn so shallow it is laughable. Does he hate Tony? Does he love Tony? With two episodes left is he trying to become the boss or is he happy to handle the casino? The guy spends a long stretch in jail, comes out to go straight and i miss a show and he is like Al Capone crossed with Charles Manson – awful.
    Tony – “Whores/Horses”? Is that the best you can do? The show is practically unwatchable and that entire sequence, how subtle(?), was awful.
    I think people are so desperate to love this show that they will overlook anything.
    The show stinks. Just my opinion.

  20. Amy Langfield Avatar

    I thought the dream sequence was great, though it did go on too long. I was definitely thinking “Twin Peaks” while I was watching it. Loved it that they could bring back what’s-her-name who killed herself — and then had Tony confusing her with the shrink as the same woman. There was some clever stuff in there.