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Human Tornada
Mar 4, 2005

I been wantin to see a honkey dance.
Meadow was engaged to Jason Patrick Parisi at the end of the show, even though I don't think we ever actually saw them together(?).

Edit: Nevermind, there were there at the awkward get-together with Patsy and his wife. Was that their only scene together?

Human Tornada fucked around with this message at 01:20 on Apr 16, 2020

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Human Tornada
Mar 4, 2005

I been wantin to see a honkey dance.
Could be bullshit but I heard somewhere that mobsters hate Goodfellas because the central character is a real life rat.

Edit: I don't think the meta aspect would really bother the creators because they had Frankie Valli play a mobster plus mentioned the real life Frankie Valli playing at that Indian casino.

Human Tornada fucked around with this message at 19:14 on Apr 27, 2020

Human Tornada
Mar 4, 2005

I been wantin to see a honkey dance.

Torquemada posted:

I watched Justified, but didn’t get much out of it apart from ‘this was a good entertaining show I enjoyed watching’. If J-Bone wants to have something simpler as a palate cleanser, Justified would do.

I mean yeah Justified was good for exchanges like this

:argh:"Aaah Raylan, you shot me in the back!?"
:clint:"Well if you wanted to get shot in the front you should have been running towards me"

but I don't know if it deserves a deep dive breakdown of each and every scene.

Human Tornada
Mar 4, 2005

I been wantin to see a honkey dance.

PostNouveau posted:

Just finished rewatching the first season. One of the things that intrigues me this go-around is the missing head of the family, Ercole DiMeo. There's this weird absence at the top that's not really dwelled on, and I'd think a viewer could be forgiven for thinking when Tony talks about the "old man" he's talking about his own father.

I read he's based on a real guy, but I still think they're saying something. Like him being a complete non-entity gives more weight to the looming indictments throughout Season 1 and Carmela's anxiety that Tony won't be able to do poo poo for her if he gets locked away; he'll disappear like DiMeo.

Yeah honestly the few times he gets mentioned it feels like the writers had forgotten about him up until then, compared to how richly realized the histories of the other characters were. Was there a DiMeo crew? Does he have any relatives? Tony doesn't even seem to recognize the name Ercole when Junior is talking about his other brother.

Human Tornada
Mar 4, 2005

I been wantin to see a honkey dance.

Solice Kirsk posted:

That's how I always read the scene. He was trying to explain to his girlfriend's son why he wasn't as "big" as his boss, so made up a story about how he was thiiiiiis close to being just as important.

Yeah same here, especially because his reason for bailing still makes him seem kinda cool (too much sex!).

Human Tornada
Mar 4, 2005

I been wantin to see a honkey dance.
DO NOT open your snapper DVD case for A Bronx Tale and read the chapter titles because they contain a big spoiler.

Human Tornada
Mar 4, 2005

I been wantin to see a honkey dance.
Paulie kneecapping Jason Barone always stuck with me. Yeah the guy's got some family money from the sale of the company and probably a decent income on top of that, but how many people could (or would) just fork over 48k a year to some rear end in a top hat in another state for no reason whatsoever?

Human Tornada
Mar 4, 2005

I been wantin to see a honkey dance.
Was it even a painting, I thought it was one of those tacky mixed-media/collage things you see at Bed Bath & Beyond and wonder who on Earth buys that crap.

Human Tornada
Mar 4, 2005

I been wantin to see a honkey dance.

Basebf555 posted:

I think there's something to be said about the distinction between what's inside a person, and what they actually do, the impact of their actions. And it can be tough to keep that in mind, because you'd probably be more inclined to want to hang out with someone like Chris or Silvio than someone like Janice. A lot of these guys, who are multiple murders, are able to maintain a very friendly or even charismatic mask when it comes to their day to day interactions. Janice isn't able to do that as much, her lovely personality is so strong that she can't contain it for more than a few minutes. But it doesn't make her more evil than the guys who are murdering young women in cold blood or killing randoms on the street over stupid petty offenses.

Yeah, Janice is for sure one of the most purely annoying characters. It's easy to think of her as the worst person because most people have experience dealing with an insufferable, toxic, narcissistic liar, whereas things like murder and extortion aren't things most people deal with. It's the same reason people have a worse reaction to a character getting a papercut than a machete to the face.

Splitting hairs over which murderer is worse seems a little silly but I guess I'd say Ralphie too because he was the most sadistic. And he was obnoxious to boot.

Human Tornada
Mar 4, 2005

I been wantin to see a honkey dance.

Open Source Idiom posted:

Maybe it's a generational thing -- I suspect I'm a bit younger than some of the other posters ITT -- or it's just coming to the a lot later than the rest of you, or whatever, but this whole "the mobsters are actually psychopaths" revelation that you guys talk about continually being reminded of, I dunno, that's so completely different to my experience of the show?

I mean, maybe that's why I could never make it past the third season, but everyone is blatantly repulsive, there's just no arc to the show for me. Or, at least, it's not the same kind of arc as you guys seem to have experienced.

I just don't find anyone remotely charming, I think. It's obviously wonderfully cast, well performed, clever, all the rest, but it feels, I dunno, dated. The stuff that's the best about the show is the comedy.

(I also have no understanding of the Italian American stuff; I'd never even heard of Columbus Day before reading about the episode on the show. It's operating on a completely different frame of reference to what I'm used to).

It's not a "revelation" to any of us that mobsters are "actually psychopaths" like it's the end of The Sixth Sense or something. When people say "the show is reminding us that they're psychopaths" the key word here is reminding. In other words, you get used to spending time with well drawn (i.e. realistically human) characters who face many of the same issues that real people do. The characters are funny and charismatic and relatable in their own ways, it's not just this thread. If the show was just a sober look at the ugly realities of life in and around the mafia, it wouldn't have become one of the most beloved and acclaimed shows of all time. Gaining affection for the characters was such a common experience that the creator of the show addressed it by putting more intentionally shocking acts of violence into the show and publicly stated his reason for doing that.

Dealing with someone who's a bully that you love and hate at the same time, or having a disappointing gently caress-up kid, for example, are things that a lot of people can relate to so when we watch the characters dealing with things like that the mafia stuff gets temporarily pushed aside in our brains. It's the human drama that makes it all so compelling. Nobody is actually forgetting that people who commit murder are bad.

Human Tornada fucked around with this message at 01:29 on Nov 13, 2020

Human Tornada
Mar 4, 2005

I been wantin to see a honkey dance.
Honestly even without his addiction issues Christopher was just a major pill most of the time and really liked to pushed his luck. Also any sober person will tell you that plenty of people will pressure you to "just have one and be normal for once", you don't have to be a mob boss for that one.

Human Tornada
Mar 4, 2005

I been wantin to see a honkey dance.
I don't think we should infer too much about their financial situations based on them living in "crappy" houses. I'm not saying they could all afford McMansions like Tony's, but not everyone wants a big fancy house. They could like the neighborhood or are comfortable in a house like they grew up in or want to maintain a low profile or just plain prefer something simple. Junior probably lived in his dusty old house for like 60 years and doesn't want or need to upgrade. I'm sure he spent hundreds of thousands on lawyers (edit: and doctors) over the course of the show so it's not like he couldn't move if he wanted to.

Human Tornada fucked around with this message at 20:56 on Nov 21, 2020

Human Tornada
Mar 4, 2005

I been wantin to see a honkey dance.

Pope Corky the IX posted:

They got really loving cocky and straight up admitted during that one panel that they didn’t know what they were doing most of the time and relied on others to get poo poo done. They also gave the impression that they raced through the last season of Game of Thrones so they could start on their other projects, particularly Star Wars. It was after that idiotic display that all their deals started falling through.

Haha yeah that was wild. They decided to start feeling themselves right when everyone else was turning on them and just like that everybody was sick of them and their crummy show.

Human Tornada
Mar 4, 2005

I been wantin to see a honkey dance.

Pope Corky the IX posted:

Yeah, I've realized the same thing. poo poo, they're not even doing porn with characters from the show anymore.

By the way, I've found it really interesting that "Christopher" basically went through a complete reassessment after the events of this past year. It used to be seen as arguably the worst episode of the series, particularly because people found it far-fetched. Now it's eerily prescient.

When I got to college and had HBO for the first time, I thought I'd give Sopranos a shot on Sunday night, and this was the first episode I ever saw. I definitely thought huh, so that's the Mafia show everyone's talking about. Weird.

Human Tornada
Mar 4, 2005

I been wantin to see a honkey dance.

Pope Corky the IX posted:

It’s a little disturbing how much that woman reminds me of my ex-wife.

In other news, is there a greater “gently caress you” moment than Angie declaring that she bought a brand new Corvette Z06 outright with cash when Carmela is trying to show off the Porsche Cayenne (like the pepper) that Tony bought her?

There's probably a million of them but Tony throwing away AJ's cereal ("now you got nothing") was pretty great.



Human Tornada fucked around with this message at 23:29 on Dec 8, 2020

Human Tornada
Mar 4, 2005

I been wantin to see a honkey dance.
Southbeach Strumpets good team name for Sopranos pub trivia night.

Human Tornada
Mar 4, 2005

I been wantin to see a honkey dance.

Vichan posted:

Ralph wanted Tony to give the order, Tony wasn't about to give him the satisfaction.

This is such a masterful scene. From the moment they sit down they're both subtly (at first) trying to push the responsibility on the other one without directly stating it. It's easy to miss the first time through but then after you understand what's going on it's as clear as day.

Human Tornada
Mar 4, 2005

I been wantin to see a honkey dance.

codo27 posted:

I was so excited for JW3 then I watched 2 and didn't bother to see the new one

I can't get over how much D'Angelos voice and speech patterns are like Patrice O'Neal. Thought they had to be brothers but I guess it's just a regional thing. Boy is it hard keeping track of everybody

John Wick 3 is great, possibly even the best of the three, you should give it a shot.

Human Tornada
Mar 4, 2005

I been wantin to see a honkey dance.
The emails! Listen to yourself you sound demented!

Human Tornada fucked around with this message at 15:45 on Mar 6, 2021

Human Tornada
Mar 4, 2005

I been wantin to see a honkey dance.

Mokelumne Trekka posted:

Weren't there 'ACTUALLY THE SOPRANOS ISN'T THAT GREAT IT WAS JUST GROUNDBREAKING FOR ITS TIME' takes circulating around for a bit? I'm re-watching and can say it is still great.

It is also much funnier than I remember. With one huge exception: having gotten older, Tony's mom is horrifying to me whereas my younger self found her much more comical.

Does anyone know what Monsignor Jughead means? The delivery of that line was hilarious but never understood the reference.

Monsignor is a fancy-pants honorific used in the church or something, and Jughead is a famously gluttonous character from Archie Comics.

Human Tornada
Mar 4, 2005

I been wantin to see a honkey dance.
"I didn't do it... but so what if I did?" is a classic dead giveaway, same as when Tony warned Ralphie to not apologize to Johnny Sack for not insulting Ginny. Tony, Johnny Sack, and David Chase all know this, it only seems like a good idea when you're the one caught in the lie. Any other show would have the actors "stage lying" with lots of stammering and "uhh"s and "umm"s.

Human Tornada
Mar 4, 2005

I been wantin to see a honkey dance.

Eau de MacGowan posted:

I refuse to believe that in the 21st century two six packs have ever been sold for five dollars

There's a grocery store near me that will have closeout prices on alcohol where craft sixers are as low as 2.99 and four packs as low as .99. It's a massive specialty store that has to be seen to be believed so not remotely the same type of store as in the clip but it could happen.

Human Tornada fucked around with this message at 17:09 on Apr 17, 2021

Human Tornada
Mar 4, 2005

I been wantin to see a honkey dance.
I like that they gave Michael Gandolfi his dad's teeth somehow.

Edit: Paulie at 1:10

Edit: Also the cover of the Bob Dylan song from the show.

Human Tornada fucked around with this message at 23:24 on Jun 29, 2021

Human Tornada
Mar 4, 2005

I been wantin to see a honkey dance.
This is probably one of those Inglourious Bastards type situations where the trailers were all Brad Pitt and machine guns and then everybody was like "WTF it's about some French woman or something."

Human Tornada
Mar 4, 2005

I been wantin to see a honkey dance.

Gaius Marius posted:

You guys are vastly underestimating the amount of intelligence and canny required to run a multimillion dollar illegal enterprise for any length of time.

Yes but you see they sometimes made bad decisions, so that makes them morons, like plummers. Duh!

Human Tornada
Mar 4, 2005

I been wantin to see a honkey dance.

CharlestheHammer posted:

Eh it still just feels like a plot point of convience. They were ending so time to wrap they up

Well... yeah, it's still a work of narrative fiction. Usually the end of the story is when things get wrapped up.

Human Tornada
Mar 4, 2005

I been wantin to see a honkey dance.
The Statue of Liberty line was part of a whole play Johnny, Hesh, and Tony were putting on to try to get Junior to lower the tax on Hesh without it looking like it was Tony's idea. It was just after Jersey made Junior think he was the boss while Tony actually ran things, so the three of them did some acting to make Junior feel powerful and help sell it to him.

Human Tornada
Mar 4, 2005

I been wantin to see a honkey dance.
Paulie was the one having the affair with Karen Hill. Tommy attempted to rape her on one occasion.

Human Tornada
Mar 4, 2005

I been wantin to see a honkey dance.
I'm so tired of the "everyone but me was too stupid to realize that murderers are bad people" lectures that pop up with this show. It's a work of fiction, Tony was our guy and sometimes we wanted to see him come out on top. That's not nearly the same thing as rooting for real life bad guys.

If you hated Tony and wanted to see him get iced, that's fine too, but the sanctimony over fictional characters has been driving me crazy for years lol. I partially blame David Chase for this, for someone who's praised as a genius and credited with creating the best TV show of all time, he sure seems pretty cranky about it.

Human Tornada
Mar 4, 2005

I been wantin to see a honkey dance.
I guess I don't see how it's "a real issue" that people think Walter White was cool. He was evil, sure, but he was also a perpetual underdog who toppled giants again and again using mostly his wits and force of will. If we're not supposed to think he's badass the show shouldn't have had him doing badass stuff every season.

Walt took down the guy who took down an entire cartel, I appreciate that Vince Gilligan isn't out here wagging his finger at all of us for liking it.

Human Tornada fucked around with this message at 03:02 on Jan 3, 2023

Human Tornada
Mar 4, 2005

I been wantin to see a honkey dance.
A woman I work with has been watching for the first time she told me she's on the last season so she's been rationing episodes now. I asked her like three times if she was on the last season and she kept saying yes so I asked her what she thought of Adriana's death and she just looked at me like I had two heads.

Turns out she was only up to the first episode of season 5 Two Tonys. Sorry lady but I really tried :shrug:

Human Tornada fucked around with this message at 01:44 on Mar 26, 2023

Human Tornada
Mar 4, 2005

I been wantin to see a honkey dance.
I thought the storyline with David Strathairn was appropriately nuanced. She maybe didn't feel like she was manipulating him but if you're dating someone you hope they might give you the benefit of the doubt and do you a little favor even if that's not exactly why you're dating them, and if they instead decide to be a stickler it's not unreasonable that your feelings towards them might sour a little bit.

Like most things with The Sopranos they understand that life is complicated and there are two sides to every story.

Human Tornada
Mar 4, 2005

I been wantin to see a honkey dance.
People talk about Massive Genius and the rapper in the hospital being bad, but even the names they come up with for off-screen black characters are hilariously bad. The first two that spring to mind are Fast Fatty and Swifty G.

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Human Tornada
Mar 4, 2005

I been wantin to see a honkey dance.

Pope Corky the IX posted:

Both of those people are only named, not seen, so…

Given hip-hop style nicknames by someone who's famously out of touch when writing black characters, but you're right, them being black is an inference on my part.

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