Clearly, I was late to the party on The Sopranos. I didn't have HBO back then and just didn't get around to watching it until a month or two ago.

Obviously, it is one of the greatest shows ever... The character development is probably the best I've ever seen, the writing is phenomenal and most of the acting is fabulous... most of the actors didn't seem like they were acting at all.

The ending was, I remember, very controversial. I kinda knew how it ended from hearing about it back then, but the abruptness still had me checking to make sure my TV hadn't gone out. I'm still kinda reeling from it.

I typically try to remain as neutral as possible when I'm watching a show as to how much I "root for" or "against" a character. I think that helps in The Sopranos especially (and GoT, for instance) when the characters have so many shades of gray. So I never really found myself "rooting" for many guys.

It's hard watching a show 10 years late because there's nobody with which to talk about it... so I'm in need of discussion!

I am perhaps one of the few on this planet that loved the ending, I thought it was perfect. Yes, I think Tony died in that last moment and was pleased David Chase decided to stage it that way.

The Sopranos is still one of my favorite shows, along with Breaking Bad. The two shows were similar in that the two main characters, evil as they were, were so engaging and complex that one tended to root for the bad guy. Also the two series were the only ones where my friends and I would host viewing parties during their initial run.

The Sopranos did suffer from some inconsistent writing in some of the episodes; I remember back in the day in this forum, guys would throw their hands up, almost ready to give up on the series after viewing a particular pedestrian episode. But overall, a fantastic series, the one that trail blazed the path for others to follow.

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Originally posted by oddball:
I am perhaps one of the few on this planet that loved the ending, I thought it was perfect. Yes, I think Tony died in that last moment and was pleased David Chase decided to stage it that way.

The Sopranos is still one of my favorite shows, along with Breaking Bad. The two shows were similar in that the two main characters, evil as they were, were so engaging and complex that one tended to root for the bad guy. Also the two series were the only ones where my friends and I would host viewing parties during their initial run.

The Sopranos did suffer from some inconsistent writing in some of the episodes; I remember back in the day in this forum, guys would throw their hands up, almost ready to give up on the series after viewing a particular pedestrian episode. But overall, a fantastic series, the one that trail blazed the path for others to follow.

one of the major differences in watching it a week at a time vs binge watching it... if an episode was pedestrian, it hardly even registered because I'd just move on to the next one. I can imagine waiting around for a week only to have an episode that showed little AJ whining incessantly would be a big turn-off.

The Sopranos was one of the best ever on TV. And the soundtrack was great!

As nasty has he could get, I always rooted for Tony. He was the protagonist with a slew of antagonists including the FBI and the NY mob but usually came out on top... well except at the end where I think he took one in the ear.

I binge watched it, having never seen an episode nor reading any discussions on it, so I was able to experience it organically.

Yes, I liked it, and I found myself at one moment having a character grow on me, then being "disappointed" in some of their behavior, then back again, and again.

Much as I find real people.

Very well done, and the mundane and normal, mixed in with the evil and the culture of that world, it contrasted with the almost, overdone, of "mob movies".



I would be happy to discuss it.

I was a little surprised Dr. Melfi never broke down and told Tony about her rape.

also, watching a show like that about the mob makes you wonder if there aren't more sociopaths out there than we think. I think seeing a guy like Bobby Baccalieri get his button was big in showing that even a mild mannered guy like that was capable of doing atrocious things with little or no regard.

I think the only characters I really didn't like were Janice and AJ. I thought Janice was well-written and acted but I thought AJ was an over-the-top representation of a dumb, sniveling, pussy son.

Perhaps, in Melfi's mind, if she told Toni, he would ether have gone back and forth in defending her and ridiculing her in the sessions, as a retalitory tactic (cinsider his sociopathic tendacy) and if he did have the guy whacked, he could and would have held that over her head, that is my thinking. But as a "plot tool" to bring Melfi more into the "desparate split world" that Tony lives, on one side, the day to day Amercana, and the dark side of the Mob. That in the end, Tony is sort of a "violated person" at some point in his life, and no matter what, can never be anything but that going forward.

I grew up and saw a very dark side of the world, it was difficult to deal with for 40 some years. But over time, and after many of the most vile people of my past had died off, and no longer represented a threat, I realized, I survived it and them, and it has changed many things in the way I see and think. Yeah, there are more evil people than most people know.

And all of us have that potential to become evil, and in the end, we can choose not to be.

Several characters I found I did not like, but I think that goes a long way to the credit of those playing the parts.

Sad, that AJ could not have been scripted with some real change, but sometimes life presents us with losers, with many opportunities, but they simply will not sieze them. There are "real AJ's" that are over-the-top and not caricatures.

I really think most of the actors wore the parts very well.

Season 4 is the business.

Great show, overall.

favorite episode ( I know it may be hard to remember if you watched it on original airing.)

season 2 finale when Tony was having the fever dreams and they whacked Pussy. Incredible episode and, for me, where the show really took the step to being an all-time great.

I think one of the biggest things about the cast is that almost every one of them was legit Italian-American.

One of the best shows ever created, Ive watched them all many times.

I loved the ending of one episode where Tony is at sunday dinner with Janice and brings up her son Harpo and she attacks him.

YellowJacket,
Don't feel bad about being "late to the party." I still haven't watched any of it yet.

Last couple seasons were weak, it seemed like a different show compared to the first couple seasons. Don't even get me started on the ending either. Overall it was a good series and still worth watching, especially seasons 1-4.

I have all the season's in box sets on dvd. I'm currently watching it through for about the fourth time I guess. I wait a few years in between, so I can forget parts of it...

Needless to say I really like the series. There are a few dud episodes, but overall - a great piece of work.

Tony's mother really makes me cringe and get angry. She's a horrible person for sure. AJ get's tiring. Seems like he never does try to grow up or do anything - just drifts through life being a douchebag.

Lot's of good women that Tony ends up meeting over the years. The dental student in the neighbor's yard; The italian mob boss; the woman he takes peyote with; the crazy car sales lady; couple of russian chicks

Enjoy all the hits/whacks. Like Adrianna getting drug out of the car by her hair...Tony's cousin the massage therapist at the cabin...Janice accidently blowing Richy's brains out..Old man with asthma or cancer killing mustang sally or whoever and then driving off with blood everywhere...

I enjoyed the ending also.

To me it just meant : whether he was killed or not killed, life in organized crime would go on and nothing would really change. Just the cast of characters - it all comes back full circle or 'what goes around comes around...'.

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re. the ending. I just look at it from the standpoint of you probably never know it when it happens. and whether or not it happened right then, it was most likely going to happen at some point. most guys don't make it all the way through that life and die old men. hopefully, for tony, he goes quickly surrounded by the people he loves.

re. tony's women... the car saleswoman (Gloria) was crazy hot. the peyote girl who was really chris' woman was also super hot. and honorable mention to julianna margulies looking hotter than I'd ever seen her.

I loved the series, like someone else mentioned it up there with Breaking Bad. You can tell when the writers had nothing...it seemed like filler episodes at times.

One of the best episodes ever "Pine Barrens"

Tony Soprano: [over the phone] "It's a bad connection so I'm gonna talk fast! The guy you're looking for is an ex-commando! He killed 16 Chechen rebels single-handed!"
Paulie Gualtieri: "Get the f--- outta here."
Tony Soprano: "Yeah. Nice, huh? He was with the Interior Ministry. Guy's like a Russian green beret. He can not come back and tell this story. You understand?"
Paulie Gualtieri: "I hear you." [hangs up] Paulie Gualtieri: "You're not gonna believe this. He killed 16 Czechoslovakians. Guy was an interior decorator."
Christopher Moltisanti: "His house looked like shit."

David Chase worships Goodfellas and used as many of it's cast (>20 IIRC) in The Sopranos.

Lorraine Bracco was given her choice of roles, including the Carmella one. She chose Dr. Melphi. I was a great choice for her and for Chase. A lot was elicited about Tony from those therapy sessions that would have been very difficult to introduce in any other way.

And if there is one thing that David Chase should know about it's psychotherapy, having spent more of his live horizontal on the couch than vertical walking around.

Paulie- "How about the Cuban missile crisis? Cocksucka's moved nuclear warheads into Cuba, pointed em' right at us."

Chris- "That was real? I saw that movie I thought it was bullshit."

Above quotes from the same episode. Loved the series.

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And if there is one thing that David Chase should know about it's psychotherapy, having spent more of his live horizontal on the couch than vertical walking around.

That is for sure. There were a lot of inside jokes regarding managed care, and professional boundary issues in psychotherapy. They had some top notch clinical psychologists and experts in psychoanalytic therapy consult with the show.