Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

The Sopranos - Season Six (US and Canada only) (Spoilers!)

Page: 1(2)3 4 5 6

03:04 / 27.03.06

Third episode.

If Edie Falco does not get an Emmy for this season, there will be no justice in the world. The complex emotions that the woman can convey with simply a look is astonishing.

Not going to go into synopsis this time, but rather some musings.

I think Tony is misintrepreting the "real" world as an extension of his dream world. He imagines himself somewhat still as Anthony Soprano/Kevin Finnerty. He's still not quite sure of who he is. And I don't mean figuratively. Well, I do, but you know what I mean.

Why is Vito getting all these scenes, by the way? I never thought he was that interesting of a character or an actor. At least his storyline in this season is somewhat attractive.

Anyway... Barbeloids, do you think Tony is going to go back to a normal or regular mental state? Or will he confused forever?

13:03 / 27.03.06

Here is a neat article that theorizes that The Sopranos is actually a sitcom in drag as a drama.

Here is the Wikipedia article for the Sopranos, in case you're confused about the story or characters

18:43 / 27.03.06

i'm pretty sure that vito is out. i think he took the wrong path with his criticism of carm, and the fact that he tried to get paulie in on the scam was a bad move on the chance that tony survived, which appears to be the case, based on last nite's episode and previews for next week. i think tony's recovery, and the next scene showing vito, foreshadows a bad end for vito. he showed his hand way too early and to too many people.

it appears from previews (and her last look at a miserable paulie in the elevator) that carm is going to be tony's right-hand mind, reagan-esque, perhaps, depending on how he's able to recover. there is going to be lots of whacking coming up.

i wasnt impressed with sil's story line last nite. they coulda done without that whole thing, i think. most intriguing to me are the kids. will a.j. turn the corner in one direction or another or just continue to be a bystander? will meadow have a reason to get involved with the family and eventually become perhaps a stronger boss than tony? i dont think the finn/vito thing is going away, and it might be setting up a conflict for meadow down the road. she's gradually become more of an apologist for the family.

18:37 / 29.03.06

I wrote up the episode on my blog. I'm really loving this season. Season four was good, but not as strong as the previous years, and I think since then, Chase has been conscious of the need to shake up the status quo with each new season. So, year five has the Carmela/Tony separation, and now we've got Tony's potential disability as the inciting element for the rest of this year.

About Meadow, I've been struck by how involved she's been in caring for Tony, it seems like she's definitively chosen to stand by her family, passing on the chance to move away and start her own life. Assuming that the big power conflict will be between Tony and Vito, Finn's knowledge of Vito's homosexuality could be the ultimate weapon for Tony to use against him. Putting that out there would effectively destroy Vito's chances of being boss, and would potentially put Meadow in the line of fire.

If Vito was to claim that Finn is lying, he might get the go ahead from Phil to go after either Meadow or Finn, as retaliation for his own brother's death. So, it definitely seems like the kids are going to get more drawn into the mob world, which would be a great way to develop the generational conflict that's at the heart of the series. Tony would find himself helpless to prevent his kids from getting drawn into the world that he worked so hard for them to get out of, right at the time that everything seems to be completely falling apart.

Our Lady Has Left the Building

20:08 / 05.04.06

Cockpieces. All the torrents of episode four up at Torrentspy appear to be fakes and partial files, someone is now going round claiming HBO is seeding partial files, though how they are stopping the regular posters from putting up complete files is a mystery. Anyone having more luck elsewhere?

20:39 / 05.04.06

Does anybody think it's utter bollocks that Tony has no brain damage at all (as far as we can tell)? Even the doctor (Dr Greene from Friends) said that brain damage is inevitable and the real question is how much?

21:23 / 05.04.06

I had a lot of trouble getting this episode on torrent. However, this file eventually worked. I had a curious experience with the files, where it was continually downloading, but never made any progress. So, it claimed to have 700 megs on the 350 meg file, but still wasn't finished.

SPOILERS...

I did find it a bit weird that Tony had recovered so quickly. He's clearly been affected by the experience, but he doesn't seem particularly mentally handicapped in any way. I guess we'll have to wait and see if this new, mellow Tony lasts.

21:39 / 05.04.06

The best part of the episode for me was the end, when Tony comes out of the hospital and grabs Janice's hand. "Every day is a miracle" or something like that, and she looks utterly aghast. Like the hippie she claimed to be was merely a facade.

23:00 / 05.04.06

someone is now going round claiming HBO is seeding partial files, though how they are stopping the regular posters from putting up complete files is a mystery.

My friend was busted by HBO when he downloaded one of their decoys. He got some kind of cease and desist, "this is your first and last warning" email from HBO.

Re. Matt's question, I was not so much dubious as confused about Tony's lack of brain damage. I didn't understand why that element (the doctors' certainty of damage) was introduced other than for short-term suspense, which doesn't really seem like the kind of gimmick the show normally goes for. All I can guess is that it was a way to introduce a new ongoing theme of other people questioning his mental competence if/when he pursues a kindler, gentler handling of family business, as it seems he will.

02:24 / 06.04.06

One of the things that this show does best is convey a ton of character information in very small moments. The Janice one is a great example of that because it shows how much her priorities have changed since her first appearances back in season two. Janice has basically become her mother, and as a result is uninterested in everything she indulged in while she was rebelling.

Another really interesting moment was when Tony is talking about how human history is a postage stamp on top of the Empire State Building in the Earth's time scale and Christopher says "I don't feel that way." We haven't gotten that much insight into what's going on with him this season, and I'd love to find out more about how he's dealing with Adrianna's death. Clearly, he's got a lot of negative feeling towards Tony as a result of it, but how and when that will be expressed remains to be seen.

18:53 / 12.04.06

Any thoughts on the new one? I thought the final scene was excellent, showing Tony's uneasy feelings about returning to the mob world, and putting on the persona of the tough boss when it's clearly not something he's feeling, or is physically capable of sustaining. The way that the Johnny plot, Tony plot and Vito plot all showed different sides of the same dilemma was one of the best things here.

Though the thing that has stuck with me is that "High ho the merry-o" song, which at first was awful, but as it kept playing, on some level I started to enjoy it, that guy's enthusiasm made it seem like he really was discovering this new "merry-o" with each verse he snag.

19:19 / 12.04.06

RE the song: maybe an additional g'father one nod, recalling "pop goes the weasel"?

other notes: we're seeing strife between meadow and fin, and now that new york is all in a mess because of johnny's breakdown...also interesting how meadow keeps taking baby steps towards the bad side ("the govt DID that?")...

will frankie valli's death reflect on johnny or on tony? the thing with christopher and tony, where christopher was disagreeing with tony's way to handle rusty, that didnt seem plausible. unless theyre trying to show chris as someone who doesnt have good ideas.

i would have believed vito walking right outside and shooting those two soldiers who caught him at the club more than i believed him stealing out in the middle of the nite to go to the club in the first place.

19:21 / 12.04.06

I certainly liked the episode except for the end of the wedding scene. I don't quite get what the point of showing Johnny Sack cry and Ginny fainting and cops moving in. It seemed overly dramatic to me. Maybe it's some form of intense foreshadowing. Secondly, I didn't much care for Phil gossiping about Johnny to Tony. It didn't seem to keep with Phil's character, who is loyal to Sack. Well, loyal enough not to kill Tony over Tony B.

However, it's good to see Melfi back. There hasn't been enough of her, if you ask me.

19:23 / 12.04.06

X-post there with SS.

I had forgotten about Vito. Is he dead by his own hand? Has he gone into hiding? I don't know.

Our Lady Has Left the Building

05:49 / 13.04.06

I presume it's important that we didn't see Vito shoot himself, unless that was Steve Buscemi being arty. What got me was that Vito is a closetted gay who has his own special gay uniform that he dresses up in when he goes out to be gay, doing so in a town where it would be terrible if anyone found out he was gay. He also goes to a gay mobbed up gay bar. He didn't really think that through did he?

Did Phil's opinion really plummet because of Jonnie crying, or was that an excuse? Running his empire while he's inside, is Phil going to de facto start running the place like his own, because I imagine that if he's ignoring Jonnie that's not good for Tony.

What do people think about that fight at the end of the episode? Do people think that Tony succesfully reestablished himself as alpha male of the group or beat a guy up for no good purpose? No-one seemed particularly convinced, it just looked like any other occasion Tony's done something unpopular.

06:15 / 13.04.06

Ginny fainting was a bit over the top, but Johnny crying was critical to the themes of the episode. This is a guy who's watching his daughter driving away, knowing that he'll probably never see her outside of prison again, that the one thing he had to look forward to is over and it's all down hill from here. And then to have the wedding ruined at the last moment, attention called to the fact that he's in prison, he's going to break down.

As for the Phil scene after, I think it was meant to show that these guys won't accept any show of weakness. It's that scene that ultimately drives Tony to beat up the guy, because he's aware of what they're probably saying behind his back. They've done similar things in earlier episodes, showing that the mobsters are just as catty and gossipy as any women.

As for Tony's fight, if you look at earlier in the episode, he's really passive, and his crew was treating him with respect, but with the sense that he's on the way out, as Tony did with Junior back in the early years. If Tony had kept behaving like that, it wouldn't be long before there was more out and out insolence towards his rule. So, by beating up this guy he establishes that everyone has to be on guard and that he's still a physical threat. It'll certainly put him back in the game, but I'm not sure how long he can stay there, considering what poor shape he seems to be in.

And I doubt Vito has killed himself. The show might subvert your expectations sometimes, but I don't think they'd skip over that event completely. If he hadn't made the call to Sil, we could probably assume that he'd killed himself, but considering he hadn't been revealed yet, I would guess that he didn't end up killing himself. I was figuring he'd go after those two guys, so maybe that's what he did after he called Sil. But, that's unclear, we'll have to wait until next week to find out.

12:58 / 13.04.06

tony's fight i put into the box that holds the things like tony humiliating janice at her dinner table for no good reason as she was making progress with anger management, and alongside his endless attacks, for no good reason, of the former bartender at the bing. we have to remember that, regardless of the various rationalizations of his wife and kids, tony soprano is basically a sociopath. he spent a few minutes looking for the biggest biceps in the room, and went after them.

i dont think vito is dead. he wouldnt have called sil to check in if he was going to then kill himself, and sil only had neutral news for him.

we've seen a lot of people try to make their "move" so far this season. for most, it hasnt worked out, including christopher at the wedding, paulie, vito, the guy who hung himself in the season opener. now we saw phil's move. i think phil's was the best, actually. he waited until an obviously advantageous time to move in. whats interesting is that he talked about it around tony, who he had previously seemed aligned against. but in some way phil seemed to be distancing himself from johnny while dealing with tony, taking on the role of messenger and not really fighting for johnny's interests with tony.

i think johnny has been shown as having a serious case of the hubrisitis this season, so it's predictable that the wedding was a chance to really be put at risk with his crew.

Murray Hamhandler

22:10 / 13.04.06

Tony's brutality at the end of the episode is qualitatively different from those previous displays of sociopathy in that it was premeditated rather than reactive. I think the distinction is worth noting. Those previous instances were somewhat instinctual, the actions of a mob boss who was more or less comfortable in his violent element. The attack on the driver was an attempt on Tony's part to show that he's still the same old sociopath, even though we've seen that he's changing and moving away from that. I think it's definitely worth noting that everyone seemed to react as if Tony were out of line. The increasing discrepency between Tony's masks will result in more errors in judgement, and the respect he gets from his guys will be increasingly more akin to the illusion of respect.

01:17 / 14.04.06

Sudnam, I'd definitely agree. The thing I'm interested in seeing is if by playing the role of who he used to be, Tony will revert to that guy, or if pretending to be like that will actually drive him further away. Judging from the way the episode ends, not with the triumphant smile, but with him throwing up again, I'm guessing he'll likely end up unable to continue the charade.

03:23 / 14.04.06

I'm going through seasons one to five at the moment, and it is amazing how much the show refers to or bring sup old themes. Tony beating up the toughest biggest guy there is a direct lift from one of the Class of '04's stories about his first day in prison, how he searched out the biggest guy and went for him just to send the message that no one messes with him.

Our Lady Has Left the Building

19:35 / 17.04.06

Really, no-one has anything to say about the latest episode? So Vito didn't kill himself and Tony and co have to deal with issues of sexuality. As New York is involved this is probably not going to do well for their relationship, I wonder if this will finally tip over into open warfare, what with Paulie being so outspoken all the time and his close relationship with Johnny Sack, or whether the producers will just tease us again and then back off?

20:31 / 17.04.06

I was aghast that Paulie stood up and said, "Fuck that!" even when Tony tells him to sit down. Shocking.

Yotsuba & Benjamin!

00:15 / 18.04.06

the producers will just tease us again and then back off?

The Producers have always been pretty overt with the way they put the show together so I don't get how anyone could be legitimately "teased" by the prospect of anything having longlasting repercussions past the one hour thematic point being made.

So, yeah, I don't see this as being that enormous of a deal going forward, but I've been wrong before. About other things.

Our Lady Has Left the Building

06:09 / 18.04.06

Having seen everything except the last few episodes of series 4, I don't know whether the Paulie issue has been sorted, I also don't know what relationship he has with Phil rather than Jonnie Sack, but after Jonnie breaking down at the funeral last week I can see Phil taking over New York and then going after the New Jersey crew.

06:28 / 18.04.06

The Producers have always been pretty overt with the way they put the show together so I don't get how anyone could be legitimately "teased" by the prospect of anything having longlasting repercussions past the one hour thematic point being made.

I don't know about that, certainly there's some plot points that crop up and never return, but there's never the sense that they forget anything that happens. For example, the stuff with Eugene in the first episode of this season seemed like a solid standalone story, but it's actually set the thematic tone for the entire season, the idea of whether you can retire and leave the mob is the major question in play.

And this season in particular is notable in keeping nearly all the plot strands developing as the episodes progress. Yes, they do play with our expectations surrounding future storylines, but it's not like things just happen with no consequences.

As for the episode in general, I think Tony's effort to stay positive is fascinating, he's clearly conflicted between what he believes and what he needs to do to lead. His basic problem now is that his life in the mob is always going to create issues, but he's got no easy way out.

For now, it seems that Vito is the only person to actually leave the mob and find some kind of happiness. Will it last? I'm not sure, but he definitely remains an issue, episode eight is called "Johnny Cakes." There's more stuff in my review of the episode, which you can find here.

As for Paulie, IIRC, Johnny Sack led him to believe that Carmine was looking out for him, but when he went to potentially jump to New York, he found out that Johnny was lying and Carmine didn't even know who he was. But considering what's up with him this season, I wouldn't be shocked to see Paulie make a move towards New York.

15:44 / 18.04.06

regarding tony's more than one reference to gay mobsters in the past, the most pointed of which was directed at the captain he promoted, where it sounded like they both knew exactly who they were talking about, any ideas about who theyre talking about?

if vito comes back, fin is as good as dead, having told everyone about the time he caught vito in the parking lot.

and does phil now have a good idea of where vito is? they cut the scene right before vito's wife (phil's cousin) would have told phil that vito has a cousin in new hampshire.

02:55 / 19.04.06

Carmella has said often in the past "everyone's gay to you" to Tony, in particular when she started seeing AJ's teacher. As for Vito - do you think it was a character decission from the start? The frist reference to him being gay being when Finn witnesses him and the security guard, but before that he is prone to commenting on women a little too quickly almost as if to fit in, and does go on about Adrianna a lot.

Murray Hamhandler

03:00 / 19.04.06

Nothing's going to happen to Finn. Not by Vito's hand, anyway. Vito outed himself, for all intents and purposes. If anything, he has Finn to thank for not outing him before now.

Finn probably will be flying the coop, though. Protection from Vito was the only thing keeping him around. Now that Vito's out of the picture, his shaky relationship with Meadow doesn't stand much of a chance. Especially given Finn's growing discomfort with the Family's activities (as opposed to Meadow's slow decent into the Dark Side).

Vito's dead. But when? And by who's hand? And is he gonna take someone down with him?

03:23 / 19.04.06

I read that Vito being gay was a suggestion from the actor, after he read a book about a gay mobster. He made the suggestion a few years before it was put into place, so I don't think he was gay from the start, but it's possible it was at least in play for a few seasons.

I can't see Vito actively hunting anyone down at this point. He seemed to have found a sort of peace up in New Hampshire. If I had to guess, he'll have started up his own life up there, only to have it punctured when Paulie or someone else shows up. I don't think he'll be in lookout mode, so he'll probably either be killed then or captured, and taken back to New Jersey.

The big issue at play will be whether Tony can go along with condemning him to death just because he's gay. Clearly he doesn't want to, but will this be another case where he does something he doesn't really want to do just to protect his leadership, as with the fight last week, or will it be a case where he makes a stand and says that they can't kill Vito. It would be pretty ironic to see Tony fall because of a stand for gay rights, but for him it's more about this live and let live attitude he has since coming back from the coma.

And I'd agree that Meadow is definitely going over to the dark side. I think she could find herself having some trouble finding working as a lawyer considering her father is Tony Soprano, and that hardship could be what pushes her further and further into the family business.

12:17 / 19.04.06

I'm certainly tired of Meadow and Finn fighting over social issues and ethical issues. I get it, Sopranos, they fight. Let's move on.

I was extremely pleased to see Melfi (in a smart suit, no less) talk to Tony about Vito's homosexuality. Not that Melfi tricked him into it, but she prodded him until he could say "I don't give a shit". I've always thought Tony was more progressive than he let on (more progressive being relative; he's still homophobic).

07:02 / 23.04.06

Just going over the past five seasons before delving into six. The last episode of five, which sees the New Jersey family/crew voice some concerns over Tony's handling of the Tony B situation, when Tony returns from Uncle Pat's farm, the three men that are at the Bing to greet him, Bobby, Sil and Pat, seems to suggest that these three over all are the most loyal to him. I'm about to start season six, so will write more once I'm up to speed, but as for questions of who will cause Tony problems, I kind of feel that these three are ruled out.

19:31 / 23.04.06

Just watched "Live Free or Die" - Brilliant, brilliant episode. Vito has always seemed, to me, one of the most unsympathetic characters and I love how the writers are really fleshing him out (no pun intended) as a character. I never expected to feel sympathy for Vito - but how could you not, as he walked toward the b&b in the rain with that ridiculous poncho on?

And all great insight into how homosexuality is viewed in the Soprano world... Paulie ready to beat his ass, Vito's replacement telling Tony that many of the guys viewed homosexuality "as a sin" (apparently without irony). And of course we see Vito struggling with what being "outed" means for him and his family.

Lots of other great insights as well. LOVED finding out that Carmella is (unsurprisingly) a Bush voter. Meadow certainly does seem to be edging closer and closer to the conclusion that what her father does isn't "all that bad," and I think we saw from Tony's hospital stay, and actually from the Sack Wedding last week that she is, definitively "Daddy's Little Girl."

Meadow doesn't seem to be content to live in the shadow of her man (as Carmella has learned to do), and if she went into the business I suspect she would be In, like Angie. LOVED Rosalie Pria's comment about Ange - "She's like us. Now she's like them."

And does anyone else think Tony seems a lot more vulnerable this season? I mean, obviously from the gunshot wound but with every episode I worry someone's gonna doublecross him or try to take him out. Silvio gave him some great advice in terms of what to do about Vito - even if Tony doesn't want to follow it (but he probably will).

So do you think Vito has found happiness? Maybe. I doubt it will be that simple. With The Sopranos it never is!

10:23 / 26.04.06

I kind of think that Vito has found happiness, and that may well be the end for him - it's a nice spin on the Goodfellas ending, schmuck with egg noodles and tomato sauce idea.

Episode seven was great fun. It seems that Tony is becoming more vunerable, with those arounding taking on his traits that he seems to have sheded post shooting (body guard/driver beating aside - but even that, he seemed to need to "apologise" to the guy at the begining of six)

With Artie becoming his rage this week, and Benny being set up as another loyal soldier that may have a grudge (nothing has been said about Paulie, who will no doubt feel agreieved that Carlo (?) has been pushed up as head of construction - although he probably has a fear that Vito may try to use their conspiring as leverage if he ever is found).

As for Christopher punching Lauren Bacall, is it right that I found this laugh out loud funny?

12:26 / 26.04.06

I laughed out loud, sure. I was also stunned to hear her swear. That was shocking.

I thought it was an extremely funny episode, but I didn't feel that it accomplished anything. I knew from Season 2 that Chris found Hollywood (ie Favreau) to be frustrating. I knew from Season 4 or 5 that Artie was nuts. I didn't think that it put anything forward. It's the same old ground, but rather funny.

I'd like to see the arc being developed a little bit further. Perhaps we're in the downtime in the season when things are being set up very carefully and very miniscul.

18:47 / 26.04.06

I'm sort of torn on the episode because the Artie stuff was really strong, and the Christopher stuff was hilarious, but it just didn't measure up to the first six of the season. It's a combination of ridiculously heightened expectations, and the fact that we're getting to that point where the end is in sight, and even a nice diversion like this feels a bit unneccessary, particularly when all the really interesting developing plots (Tony, Vito, Meadow) were put on hold.

That said, I think this was a nice followup to the David Scatino stuff from season two, where you see the mob completely ruin a guy's life, with no concern for what they're doing. Benny is still in that mindset, but Tony has changed a lot, and even though he usually does make an exception for Artie, he definitely seemed warmer than he was before. Artie was basically provoking Tony into finally turning on him, but Tony wouldn't do it, and Tony ended up giving him some really helpful advice by the end.

Now, Tony's clearly still got some big issues to deal with, but there's been a consistent development of his new outlook over the course of the season. It's clear that he's by far the smartest guy in his circle, and it seems like the major conflict with Vito is going to be his tolerance vs. Phil/Paulie and the rest of the crew's desire to kill him.

Ben Kingsley was hilarious, but I would agree that in some respects the storyline was self indulgent. Still, I think it's effective in showing Christopher a world where he's essentially powerless, no matter what he does he can't attain the perks that Kingsley has, and again, his temper messes up his chances to get into the Hollywood world.

Page: 1(2)3 4 5 6