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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

UK Sopranos Season 4: "Trust only blood..."

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Goodness Gracious Meme

15:46 / 09.04.03

yeah. know what you mean about that. bah.

discipline, people.

Hve been avoiding going to Borders and burying meself in the Cookbook for weeks now.

(Flux, my happiness could also be due to the Sops Cookbook food A Total Sops experience.

)

See, I can see why people would like this series less but they're obviously morons. there's any no of TV progs that can do good action/fast-paced suspense...

I love the episodes where ostensibly 'nothing happens'. The psychic space is allowed space to develop and grow, and the Sopranos is one of the few things on TV that creates a world rounded and deep enough to be able to do this, and to have the confidence to allow it to happen. Its something that long-term TV series have the potential to do, something that's distinctive to the medium, and I love the way Chase has the skill and ambitition...Very few TV shows attempt it, and hardly any do it as well as the Sopranos...

That's what I get from episodes like Pie Oh My. The 'lack of action', or perhaps more accurately, metanomical detail, allows the metaphorical and pyschological/interpersonal dynamics to come to the fore. Which I guess, are a big chunk of what I like about The Sopranos.

And runce, welcome to the bandwagon.

Matthew Fluxington

22:35 / 16.04.03

Episode #6 "Everybody Hurts"

Talk about it!

21:49 / 22.04.03

I have avoided this thread because of the spoiler problem, so apolgies if this isn't fresh but the best line ever tonight from Christopher Moltisanti.

Adrianna: I had a medical procedure, long ago, before I met you. My uterus was pierced.
Christopher: What, both of them?

Unbeatable programme.

Matthew Fluxington

22:14 / 22.04.03

Keep watching. There's an even-better similarly-themed one-liner from Tony that definitely tops that Christopher line coming up in a few episodes.

The Natural Way

09:53 / 23.04.03

Well that was fucking excellent. Really nasty watching Tony go off the rails like that. What strange convolution of emotions brought that one on? Did he feel that his delicate little old flame was being exploited? Was he jealous? After all the events of the past few weeks, did he just really need to hit someone?

Guilt?

Love it.

Regrettable Juvenilia

10:01 / 23.04.03

Aaaaaaaaaarrrrrggggghhhhhhh.

Did anyone video last night's episode? I will swop my very soul for a copy.

Matthew Fluxington

11:26 / 23.04.03

You missed "Watching Too Much Television," right?

If it is any consolation, it is probably the episode that you can live without, but you'll need to be filled in on a couple things. If you were here, I'd be happy to let you watch my copy, but you'd probably break down and watch the rest of the season in one sitting!

Whatever you do, don't miss the next three episodes!

yawn - thing's buddy

12:11 / 24.04.03

Tony getting his belt out and smashing up the politician was the culmination of tony’s feeble attempts at controlling his temper. And wasn’t it impressive? The Russian doll certainly seemd to think so. It was an episode when we saw him hold and hold back. He was humiliated in front of his son by a cracked up ned on the street, his son was dismissive towards his talk of history and heritage, he had to accept an old squeeze of his was shacked up with his business partner and to top it off she was rubbed in his face when he went round to talk money matters with said politician. He was also given a little bit of cheek off paulie despite welcoming his prison release with a big wad of cash. Finally, he was upset at being left out of information regarding a suicide by his psychiatrist. So, all in all, we saw tony restrain himself, something he admitted himself during a session. And, yeah, in the end, that energy had to go somewhere, and it was directed at the oily politician who so likes to mix it with the hardmen and fancies himself as a player too. He was perhaps stepping on Tony’s feet a little too much in this episode. Shagging his ex, taking his cash and maybe most importantly, it was he who encouraged tony to engage in the real estate deal which was muddied by the presense of crack gangs within the properties. Something which the politician chap didn’t reveal. As a result, tony was dissed in front of his own son by the crackhead and so on, with the spiral of humiliations stemming from his interactions of the snidey politican.

As for Adriana, that moment when she watched afternoon television and had an epiphany of sorts is perhaps one of my favourite moments in any fiction ever!

Matthew Fluxington

12:38 / 24.04.03

He was humiliated in front of his son by a cracked up ned on the street,

This may be a lost-in-cultural-translation thing, but you seem to be interpreting that the opposite of how it went down. The crackheads scream at Tony, but Tony isn't the least bit intimidated, and Anthony Jr. is impressed by that.

Man. I was all excited for Flyboy to see this one, so that he could comment on the AJ/Devin Pilsbury thing...

yawn - thing's buddy

21:35 / 24.04.03

no, no. it was all part of what led to the belt job at the end.

I can asure you.

he told me.

regardless of whether his son was impressed, it affected tony enough to let it play on his mind. he brought it up in therapy.

he was upset alright.

Matthew Fluxington

21:44 / 24.04.03

Alright, whatever.

I bet you'll never guess in what way Tony's belt-whipping Zelman will come back to cause some serious chaos later in the season.

Don't even think about it. You won't see it coming.

yawn - thing's buddy

22:16 / 24.04.03

there certainly is a classy sheen to the plot dynamics season. I was worried after the woeful wobble that was the columbus day debacle, but then again it might work better in retrospect, once the full story is played out.

The Natural Way

09:22 / 25.04.03

"Lost in cultural translation"?

Yr just wrong, boyo.

Tony SAYS he had to restrain himself.

Regrettable Juvenilia

14:47 / 25.04.03

I've really run out of steam with trying to comment on every episode, good as thety've been - fortunately bengali has covered most of the stuff I wanted to say about Pie O My here. I'd just add that I loved the subtle difference in the way Tony and Ralphie cheered the horse on - Tony in almost parental, very supportive way; Ralphie very aggressively... bengali wrote about Everybody Hurts here, too.

Is the AJ/Pilsbury Dough-girl stuff you mention not in this episode, Flux? If so, then yeah, well done in spotting my favourite themes in this show - I loved it, more great stuff about the subtle intricacies of class anxiety, and AJ actually given the chance to be funny in a sense that wasn't us laughing *at* him so much...

Fave line of that ep - Christopher - "It's the 21st century already...!"

Matthew Fluxington

17:28 / 25.04.03

Oh, right - most of the Devin/AJ stuff is in Everybody Hurts. The middle of the season kind of blurs a bit in my memory, so I'm sorry for getting mixed up a little. Devin does appear in "Watching Too Much Television" - you get to see her house, and AJ's dorky friend gives him some sex advice that never fails to crack me up, not because it isn't true but because of the way that he says it. "You OWN that pussy!"

I don't know, man. The Devin/AJ stuff screams "Flyboy's kind of thing" to me.

yawn - thing's buddy

20:56 / 25.04.03

I'm reminded of that song, 'friends will be friends', by Queen.

Right till the end.

Can't remember if Bian May or Freddiw penned it though.

yawn - thing's buddy

21:01 / 25.04.03

sorry flux, 'freddie'.

yawn - thing's buddy

21:07 / 25.04.03

look, I'm stoned. okay.

Regrettable Juvenilia

23:29 / 25.04.03

Devin does appear in "Watching Too Much Television" - you get to see her house, and AJ's dorky friend gives him some sex advice that never fails to crack me up, not because it isn't true but because of the way that he says it. "You OWN that pussy!"

No no, this was all in 'Everybody Hurts' - where AJ finds out she's genuinely hugely wealthy and feels stupid for having that conversation where they talk about how hard it must be to be poor. (I've read a summary of 'WTMT' now and they don't appear in that one.) His friend with the mop-top and granny glasses is such an idiot, you're right. It's interesting how much we've seen some very different versions of AJ over the show's duration - I thnk that's very accurate considering his age...

09:34 / 07.05.03

Yip good again but more importantly, Robot Wars?? you don't have to suffer that shite in America too? Bloody hell!

Regrettable Juvenilia

10:14 / 07.05.03

Man, Mergers & Aquisitions - what a cracking episode.

Janice has never sunk so low. Okay, so it's only Ralphie she's doing it too, and he's been spreading rumours about her first, but still... Taking money to give up the details of his sexual preferences, knowing full well what Tony will think of this, and the potentially serious consequences it could have (as has been seen before, by Tony first hand, no less, if people in "this thing of ours" think you've shown any sign of weirdness or weakness, they may decide to take you out). What makes it even worse in my eyes is that the terminology Janice uses ("he tops from the bottom") suggests she's quite familiar with BDSM - somehow it seems more of a betrayal this way...

I'm not convinced that half-Cuban lady isn't exaggerating quite how rough Ralphie likes to play - he does scream 'sub' to me, but not really someone who'd want his cock cheese-grated and be into gimp-masks and not engage in *any* more vanilla activities. I could be wrong, I just think it's telling that she's so descriptive about things we don't have confirmed, when she clearly has the agenda of getting Tony to forget his reservations and start seeing her on a regular basis. Looks a fair bit like Gloria (R.I.P.), doesn't she?

I'm not very impressed with Dr Melfi's views on the subject of BDSM, either. Tony's got a point when he asks if everything can really be traced back to the way your parents treated you...

The "penissary contact" line has to be one of Tony's best malapropisms to date.

But the best line, and one that made me laugh more guiltily than I have in a while, is Silvios's after Tony asks him whether Ralph is weird with women.

"He did beat that girl to death for... I forget."

Lots of questions: would Furio really dare to make a move against Tony? Has Tony and Carmela's relationship ever been so fucked-up, and can their marriage recover? And when did Tony buy Pie-O-My, exactly?

I know I say this every time, but the next episode looks nine kinds of unmissable.

The Natural Way

10:30 / 07.05.03

I'm not sure Ralphie's sexual preferences will have any serious repercussions. Thay might, but for now Tony's just looking for a way to assuage any potential guilt before he gets his end away. It's a crap excuse, I know (up there with 'Did you call my Mum a slag?'), but I think that's all it is...

But this is the Sopranos and who knows where this'll all lead.

Matthew Fluxington

12:37 / 07.05.03

penissary contact

Dude! Penissary contact with her volvo!

Regrettable Juvenilia

07:33 / 14.05.03

Oh my God! They killed Ralphie!

There's so many unanswered questions about this episode - the most obvious being, did Ralphie actually torch the stables? In some ways I think it'll be more effective if we never find out, maddening as it may be.

But there's also a couple of other questions, like whether Tony shouting "She was just a beautiful, innocent creature!" as he killed Ralphie was supposed to be him subconsciously thinking of the girl Ralph killed, or just dramatic irony. Or whether Tony telling Ralphie that he's seeing his ex was just very clumsy timing or him wanting to twist the knife.

The way that Pye-O-My had served as a substitute for Tony's parental affection now that Meadow and AJ are growing up was really driven home this week. All that "you don't understand until it happens to your kid" stuff.

Funny that Tony is now in a very similar position with Christopher as he was with Carmela at the end of last week. Chris surely knows Tony didn't just find Ralph like that, and Tony knows he knows, but they have to keep up the pretence...

Alas, poor Ralphie. I'm kinda disappointed that after the Fourth Wall breaking Fugitive reference last week (how *was* that supposed to work - Tony watches the movie and thinks "hey, that film's got a guy in looks a bit like Ralph, I best go shag his girlfriend"?), they didn't sneak in some reference to one of the many, many ways that Joe Pantoliano has died on screen. Like maybe Tony could have knocked over a tin of paint while he was strangling him to death, because I always thought there was very little to choose from between Ralphie and Caesar from Bound...

But the one amazing little in-joke, the one that makes me think that I ought to pay more attention to every bit of dialogue in the show, was the priest asking Ralph:

"Were you there when Jesus Christ had his moment of doubt and pain?"

Sympathy for the Ralphie.

08:41 / 14.05.03

A wig!

Matthew Fluxington

09:34 / 14.05.03

I've been waiting for you all to see that episode. It's one of the Big Moments of the season. It changes everything.

I'm very glad that you were clever enough to catch the "Sympathy For The Devil" references, there's more than just one. There's a scene early on in which Ralph says "please allow me to introduce myself...", for example.

When I first saw that episode, I was shaken for hours. I felt sick - the whole cleaning up/disposal scene was really rough on me, particularly with Christopher being so high and Tony with the bugspray. It all feels like a horrible nightmare, and before that, Ralph's death comes so suddenly and unexpected after you finally start feeling some sympathy for the guy. The episode is fucking brutal.

Regrettable Juvenilia

14:39 / 21.05.03

How's about that "care-frontation", huh? I have seldom loved Silvio more than when he did his little piece in that monotone: "You had your head in the toilet, with your hair in the toilet water. Disgusting." I love the way Steve Van Zandt makes looking slightly put-upon into such a great character trait.

And how well cast was Elias Koteas? He's so believable as a guy who used to be really seedy and is now just a little bit too smug...

Also: Tony and the one-legged Russian lady. Better than slash. I can see why he did it (I've always had a sneaky crush on the one-legged Russian lady), btu it's just one more example of how out of control he is this season - whether it's spending money, eating, ill-advised sex, or beating people to death with his bare hands. And now he's willing to risk starting a war with New York to cover up the latter? Oh, Tony, you are so fucked.

I don't think therapy is helping him much these days: Melfi just doesn't seem to be getting through anymore, although I don't think that reflects badly on her as a professional. I think Tony's just set to self-destruct now, and there's no "pulling the nose up", as he put it.

Regrettable Juvenilia

11:47 / 11.06.03

Woah.

That season finale has got to be one of the most satisfying hour and a half's worth of TV I've seen in a long while. Not to mention one of the most emotionally gruelling - I nearly lost it completely when AJ burst out with that "Is it because I wanted to move in with you?"... And TV never makes me lose my shit, but... God, I wanted to hug that kid, little git that he is.

What I loved most about this episode was the way it played with the conventions of Sopranos season finales - in every previous one there's been some kind of change of status quo in Tony's 'business' life, usually involving a hit. This time, what would be a very major change and a big hit in terms of business structure (but would have little emotional impact really) doesn't happen, and instead it's Tony's homelife, which has previously always somehow stayed intact despite everything, and is in fact the core of the show, that suffers a massive upset. Something you thought might never happen, happens - Carmela finally snaps and calls Tony on all his shit (and he calls her on hers, sometimes correctly - yes, she has sacrified morality for money) - and it's all just so incredibly, tragically irreversible. Things you'd never thought would be said aloud get said - I couldn't believe that Carmela told Tony about fancying Furio, or the way she told him...

And it's all because of a couple of 'little' things. (Although personally I think Svetlana is the best girl Tony's ever been involved with, Carmela aside.)

God, the finale seals for me that I love season 4. All that sneaky foreshadowing, making us think it was Tony's life or hold on power that was being stalked by a scythe-wielding spectre - "Everything comes to an end", "You had a good run, T, but now it's over" - it was his marriage they were talking about all along. And that dream of an empty house was definitely prophetic...

Johnny Sack is a fucking snake, and one of my favourite characters this season. I will be very surprised if he's still breathing by, oooh, episode 5 of the next series.

Look, some other people talk about this episode, I have lunch to eat and too much to say.

Matthew Fluxington

12:27 / 11.06.03

One of my favorite parts from that last episode is when Christopher comes back from rehab, and he looks so much more healthy and vital. It's a great display of Michael Imperioli's acting chops - if you go back over the previous episodes you can see just how sickly his Christopher had become, all through nuances and details.

Matthew Fluxington

15:34 / 11.06.03

I need to know: what did you think of the Carmella/Meadow scenes in the previous episode, "Eloise"?

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