The Sopranos (contains spoilers)

[TheTornado]

I just finished it and need people to discuss it with. I'm still processing it. Holy shit. Might top The Wire for me... I don't know.

[noam]

two very different shows, hard to compare them

i PREFER the Soprano's tho

what did you make of the ending?

[TheTornado]

I thought it was brilliant. For so long we'd been inside his head, and to experience getting killed firsthand... it blew me away.

[Terpit]

At first I felt violated, then I thought about it and realized they couldn't have ended it any other way, it's open but it's kind of not

[TheTornado]

IMO it's definitely not open - he clearly got killed, I think. Guy in Member's Only Jacket did it. Now both families have had a boss taken out and they can resume business.

[Terpit]

Ok it certainly leans towards that but they didnt show it, and 'dont stop believing' have faith, big T doesn't go down without a fight haha

[TheTornado]

lol that's true. season 6 smashes it... that dream episode ("join the club") is unreal. amazing. I don't know if anyone's seen this, but an interesting interpretation of the ending...

http://masterofsopranos.wordpress.com/t ... f-the-end/

[Terpit]

Ills give that a read, does it talk about the symbolism of the number 3? I read one about that but didn't really get it.

[TheTornado]

Yeah, if you remember when Chrissy got shot, he woke up from his coma and was talking about "3 O'Clock". Paulie got his cancer diagnosis at 3 o'clock, and Tony's shooter (guy in Member's Only jacket) comes out of the bathroom with a gun (a la Michael in The Godfather) and shoots him (theoretically) at his "3 o'clock" in relation to him.

[joeki]

The last two seasons are very much flawed. Deffo not on par with The Wire.

[noam]

The last two seasons are very much flawed. Deffo not on par with The Wire.

lol you're off your head

the soprano's doesn't experience any drop in writing quality or plausability, its the most consistent show thats ever been made!

compare that with the final season of the Wire where we have two cops inventing a serial killer in order to pursue a drug case that ties in a phony journalist who makes up stories and you think THATS not a drop in writing quality from the first 3 or 4 seasons that stick rigidly to real life through all socio-economic levels of society?!

this is like how on facebook the other week some dumbell claimed Breaking Bad was better than Soprano's because it showed more character development

oh and Tony was definitely capped. 100%

david chase even says thats the case several times over.

[joeki]

Breaking Bad has more character development than Soprano's.
Any series that goes on for more than three seasons has experienced drops, indeed including the wire. Breaking Bad being the possible exception.

[Terpit]

^lol

What do you guys think the turning point was in Chris and Paulies relationship? I can't decide
Started it again the other week (5th time I think), gets better and better

[joeki]

Don't get me wrong, I really think the first 4 seasons are some of the best television I've ever seen. But I really can't agree with you on the last two seasons. Some of the decisions were in fact piss poor imho.

[Terpit]

Don't get me wrong, I really think the first 4 seasons are some of the best television I've ever seen. But I really can't agree with you on the last two seasons. Some of the decisions were in fact piss poor imho.

I find that quite strange, I can't really remember all of the chronology of the seasons but it's the last seasons where things start to REALLY intense with the New Yorkers right? Hence the finale, I was in the edge of my seat for the last seasons

[Terpit]

Yeah, if you remember when Chrissy got shot, he woke up from his coma and was talking about "3 O'Clock". Paulie got his cancer diagnosis at 3 o'clock, and Tony's shooter (guy in Member's Only jacket) comes out of the bathroom with a gun (a la Michael in The Godfather) and shoots him (theoretically) at his "3 o'clock" in relation to him.

Yeah meadows late coz her car stalls/fails mat parking 3 times but what is it linked to? I recognize that the number 3 appears probably more times than most people notice but whats the significance? Danger approaching?

[joeki]

Fine, I'll come out and say it:

SPOILERS :

In the fifth season, a string of brand new characters are introduced to the show. Some of which I don't like. It marked the end of Furio and Ralph.
The Junior thing starts getting out of hand. They kill off christopher in season 6 in an absolutely lame way. One of the strongest characters in the show but he was dwindling already during the previous season.
By then the psychiatry thing had become tedious and unnecessary. All in all, several decisions were made with which I personally didn't agree at the time.

On the positive side, the episode in which they kill Adriana (which I believe is season 5?) was one of the best of the entire series.

[Terpit]

There are so many good parts of the show, dream series might be my favorite.
I thought Chris's death was really emotional man! He confessed he's still been using, tree branch where the baby would have been sitting, big T breathing loudly and thinking as he does, thenBAM strangulation. Dark shit.
But yeah he was an incredible character, looks good when he fucked up as well.
Ha yeah the Adriana bit, might be the cleverest method they use in the show to lure someone IMO
Paulie Walnuts is the one for me tho. 100% mfavourite

[noam]

did you really just say breaking bad has more character development than the soprano's??

weird view

the junior thing is him battling dementia... i dont see how thats out of hand, he's an 80-odd year old male, its not exactly far-fetched is it

surprised you didn't mention Vito's sexuality as the main query tbf, even thats handled superbly though

christophers death was loooooong overdue and the reason was the character himself, Tony couldn't let go, Christopher should probably have been dead by series 3 if Tony had made the right decisions. the beauty of the show is that over a long period of time he makes just as many flawed decisions as he does great ones, when do you see Walter White fuck up in that way? his one fuck up might actually end up just being made by hank, thats it, otherwise its been SUPERWALT for 4 seasons

the psychiatry was the basis of the show, its the reason it was written in the first place - the idea of a mobster in therapy, to stray from that would have been ridiculous

it allowed the writers to experiment with a complex intelligent character in a way that has never been done before on tv or really even in film, we probably sat through 50 sessions, maybe more, comparing that with breaking bad we have a back story of Walter White that he's jealous of his former best friend and business partner for their success and his ego has overtaken his fight for survival, hardly groundbreaking character development is it?

i have a pet-peeve about shows relying on cliff-hangers tho so breaking bad irritates me as much as it entertains me

[Terpit]

Noam, hopefully you'll have an informative answer to this,m obvs not the stuck in the car chasing the Russian episode. They were shitty with each other for before that I think but they got on really at the beginning.

What do you guys think the turning point was in Chris and Paulies relationship? I can't decide
Started it again the other week (5th time I think), gets better and better