The Sopranos

[The Cat]

Order, Money, Rules, Civilization, Culture, Social Status, Codes of Conduct.
These things are like real magic. Manifestations of will and intent through ritual and action producing something bigger and more dramatic than the sum of its parts which is most often focused towards a directed outcome or desired goal.
The magic only works if you believe it does.
That is what makes it magic.
Faith in practice.
Without it... it all begins to fall apart and unravel.

​

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I watched the pilot episode of the Sopranos. I don't know if I'll do individual recaps of these, but I might do a season recap. I have seen a few episodes in the later seasons, so it was interesting to observe that AJ was always kind of pudgy.

That was so good, and I had no idea it was so funny. Like, "Oh, sorry we burned down your restaurant, but look, you got insurance money!" That was great.

I wonder if that priest is gonna get whacked?

 

[The Cat]

I watched the pilot episode of the Sopranos. I don't know if I'll do individual recaps of these, but I might do a season recap. I have seen a few episodes in the later seasons, so it was interesting to observe that AJ was always kind of pudgy.

That was so good, and I had no idea it was so funny. Like, "Oh, sorry we burned down your restaurant, but look, you got insurance money!" That was great.

I wonder if that priest is gonna get whacked?

When you finish Sopranos, check out Boardwalk Empire.

 

[The Cat]

I think one of my favorite things about the sopranos, is how well it illustrates the value of gentleman's agreements, considering how much of everything relies on them, one would hope everyone takes them seriously, and no one gets delusions of being able to take refuge within them, while trying to sneak around them. Trust. It's a hell of a thing. So is professionalism.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I think one of my favorite things about the sopranos, is how well it illustrates the value of gentleman's agreements, considering how much of everything relies on them, one would hope everyone takes them seriously, and no one gets delusions of being able to take refuge within them, while trying to sneak around them. Trust. It's a hell of a thing. So is professionalism.

I could imagine these guys breaking them all the time, but I haven't seen enough of the show.

 

[The Cat]

I could imagine these guys breaking them all the time, but I haven't seen enough of the show.

A lie is just a lie, but if you can get your friends and family in on it, it ceases to be just a lie, and instead by technical metamorphosis becomes a commonly held belief.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

The Sopranos, Season 1, Episode 2.

I'm doing these because I feel like it; I can make no promise as to their regularity. I'm not Metamucil.

First off, there were a few things that I found to be charming indicators of the time the series was made. The most charming of these is the presence of the World Trade Center in the opening credits. I'm glad they didn't do something inane like digitally remove it after 2001; that was all the rage at the time, for reasons I could never understand. That's probably a different thread, though.

Christopher and some associates of his steal DVD players from a truck. Everyone seems unfamiliar with them and is trying to determine the advantage over laser discs. I think by high school, which was a year after this, I was already watching DVDs because I remember picking them up from Blockbuster and watching them on my laptop.

A phone kiosk at an outside location (presumably to avoid potential wiretaps) plays a relatively pivotal role in the story. I should note that earlier in the episode, they talk about cloning cell phones, though.

Livia Soprano is extremely annoying. But, she was responsible for my favorite comedic moment of the episode: her complaining about the home aide stealing the plate that they "took" from the restaurant in Rome. All in the same sentence, more or less.

I do like that car of hers, though that she accidentally runs over her friend with. It's my favorite color, too.

Christopher's friend/associate steals Italian suits from a truck that belongs to Uncle Jr. Tony chews out Christopher and his friend for stealing from Uncle Jr. Immediately after this, Silvio makes a suggestion, and Tony decides to steal some of Uncle Jr's suit racks for himself.

"Just when I think I'm out, they pull me back in." Perhaps I should watch Godfather III.

As for the final scene at the Bada Bing, you know, I think this Tony chap might have some anger issues.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

The Sopranos, Episode 4, Season 1

This episode had John Heard as a skeezy crooked cop. How did I not know about this?

I did see the episode (in a much later season) where Christopher killed Adriana because she wearing a wire for the feds, so it's tragically ironic to see her blow off the idea of followed and spied on. The way I remember it, she was in a bind because the feds got ahold of her and she essentially had no choice but to wear a wire.

AJ wants another student (Peter?) to give him $40 for ruining his shirt in a previous fight; he refuses, and so they schedule a time and place to fight. Peter's Dad finds out about the fight and encounters Tony at a garden supply store; the axe in Tony's hand gives Peter's Dad some reservations. After AJ arrives at the fighting grounds, the Peter backs down and hands him the $40. AJ has no idea why this happened but assumed it was because Peter was afraid of him; one of the other students makes a sarcastic comment along the lines of , "Oh, he was really scared of you." AJ speaks about this to Meadow and Meadow reveals what their father really does for a living. She hands him a printout of a hilariously late 90s website about the Mob (complete with cheesy bullet sound effects) so he can learn more.

The last shot of the episode is of AJ trying to process it all at the funeral of the previous boss of the criminal organization. I was a little confused by the significance of the death of that character. I thought the Sopranos as a family were already in charge, but apparently I was mistaken. It may have been a thing where this guy was the de jure boss, but the de facto boss was Tony. Uncle Jr. was active in New York, I think, but now Tony let him have the title of boss. However, it seems like Tony still wants to have control. We'll see how this goes.

So good!

 

[The Cat]

The Sopranos, Episode 4, Season 1

This episode had John Heard as a skeezy crooked cop. How did I not know about this?

I did see the episode (in a much later season) where Christopher killed Adriana because she wearing a wire for the feds, so it's tragically ironic to see her blow off the idea of followed and spied on. The way I remember it, she was in a bind because the feds got ahold of her and she essentially had no choice but to wear a wire.

AJ wants another student (Peter?) to give him $40 for ruining his shirt in a previous fight; he refuses, and so they schedule a time and place to fight. Peter's Dad finds out about the fight and encounters Tony at a garden supply store; the axe in Tony's hand gives Peter's Dad some reservations. After AJ arrives at the fighting grounds, the Peter backs down and hands him the $40. AJ has no idea why this happened but assumed it was because Peter was afraid of him; one of the other students makes a sarcastic comment along the lines of , "Oh, he was really scared of you." AJ speaks about this to Meadow and Meadow reveals what their father really does for a living. She hands him a printout of a hilariously late 90s website about the Mob (complete with cheesy bullet sound effects) so he can learn more.

The last shot of the episode is of AJ trying to process it all at the funeral of the previous boss of the criminal organization. I was a little confused by the significance of the death of that character. I thought the Sopranos as a family were already in charge, but apparently I was mistaken. It may have been a thing where this guy was the de jure boss, but the de facto boss was Tony. Uncle Jr. was active in New York, I think, but now Tony let him have the title of boss. However, it seems like Tony still wants to have control. We'll see how this goes.

So good!

You are mistaken on a point here. Adriana takes a ride with Silvio to see Christopher in the Hospital, before she wanders off into the woods...presumably to own her own MLM business.

 

[ceecee]

When you finish Sopranos, check out Boardwalk Empire.

Yep. So good. Edited to add: John Dunn did the costume design for the show and it is almost my favorite thing about the entire series.

 

[The Cat]

One of my favorite scenes of the entire series is when Tony starts whipping Assemblyman Zellman with a belt. Granted it's for other reasons - not just that he was a slime and politician but frankly that should be enough.

Arguably if the Assemblyman had been whipped with a belt more in their life, they wouldn't be in the position to get whipped by a belt by a Waste Management Specialist.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Episode 5, Season 1

This almost felt a little like a horror movie with the thunderstorm. On the whole, it was extremely tense and reminded me of Twin Peaks at times.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

The Sopranos Episode 6, Season 1

This signals a return to the more comedic style of the first few episodes in the season. I found all of Tony's fantasies about Melfi amusing. I am convinced bad things are going to happen to his mistress, though.

I loved that ending montage, set to a rendition of Faure's Pavane with a hip-hop beat, when the undercover agent is taking photographs for the FBI (?).

This piece is just so sad and beautiful. There's another Pavane, called Pavane for a Dead Princess, but I don't like it as much. I feel like the titles should be reversed.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I may not get to the space wizards today.

I will talk about the episode of the Sopranos I watched last night, which I actually had seen before.

This episode kicks off with AJ and his friends stealing communion wine and imbibing. Hilariously, one of his friends tries to downplay what they are doing by resorting to a theological argument that it's "only blessed wine, not sacramental wine." I don't know what the difference is but I would imagine that this is probably a real distinction that exists that may or may not be relevant. Regardless, it made me laugh.

I think the best part of this episode was that we delved into Tony's psychology and what he believes about who he is and what he does. He's proud of his father and what he was. He is probably proud to have taken over the family business, but he also wishes he could have been on a different path, a more respectable path. He doesn't want AJ to be like him, but he doesn't think it's fair that AJ is being punished for what he did and treats him to ice cream sundaes.

We flash back to young Tony (with White Rabbit to remind you it's the late 60s), and we don't see any kind of big major traumatic incident that explains anything. We see his father beat somebody up and his father led off by the police, but Tony never seems that bothered by this. (Indeed, he admires his father for this).

The only incident that seems traumatic in all of this is the argument between Tony's mother and father. Tony seemed perturbed by this, and I was confused about why. There is no sign of them getting violent towards him or anyone else. Then I realized that he was horrified by was the fact that his mother was bossing his father around. This suggests to me that the root for all of this is really all these codes of masculinity.

There are things that seem a little like cliches or odd products of their time. The use of "white rabbit" to refer to the 60s, the weird second-long flashes of Meadow from the college episode, which might have been influenced by MTV, and the idea of ADD (which is not called ADHD; ADD had become mainstream by the end of the decade and there was also an episode of the Simpsons around this time where Bart had it). The rest of the episode is excellent but these things I found distracting and I think the episode would have been better if they weren't there.

AJ is getting tested for ADD. I think this storyline is maybe trying to suggest that Tony has it and if he had been diagnosed and given Adderall as a kid he wouldn't have been a gangster, which I'm not convinced of. I think much of it is the family dynamic he was born into. There is some weird stuff Tony has going on with his Mom, but I don't want to say it's just that, because even if she wasn't in the picture, his father was still a violent man. Would he have been better off if his father had married someone more compliant? That doesn't make sense. Maybe I'm reading the ADD thing wrong, and this is part of the theme of this episode is suggesting that it's extremely complex and is not just one thing. Maybe Tony did need those pills, but he also has a messed up family dynamic going on and I don't think Ritalln would have prevented that kind of damage. Like I said, I don't understand the point of this ADD storyline.

While getting tested, AJ expresses his excitement about South Park, and watching the "first one, where Cartman gets an anal probe". (Ah, the late 90s) But anyway, when I heard that, I knew I'd seen this, because I remembered AJ saying that.

 

[The Cat]

Consecration in the strict sense is distinguished from blessing, benediction, or dedication in that consecration effects an intimate transformation in the essence of the object and that it is permanent and can be neither revoked nor repeated. The ordinary minister of a consecration is a bishop, while the ordinary minister of a blessing is a Priest. At a consecration, holy oils are normally used; at blessings, customarily holy water. Consecration is the process by which a sacrament is made.
A sacrament is a religious ceremony or ritual regarded as imparting divine grace, such as baptism, the Eucharist and (in the Roman Catholic and many Orthodox Churches) penance and the anointing of the sick. In Roman Catholicism a Sacrament also refers to the consecrated elements of the Eucharist especially the bread, or host.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Tony Soprano must hate Goodfellas for glorifying a rat. Especially given the rat's oddly familiar wife...

 

[The Cat]

Tony Soprano must hate Goodfellas for glorifying a rat. Especially given the rat's wife...

What season you on friendo?

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

What season you on friendo?

Still the first one. In one episode, he goes on a rant about guys just like Henry Hill, complete with disparaging remarks about their work in Hollywood.

 

[The Cat]

Still the first one. In one episode, he goes on a rant about guys just like Henry Hill, complete with disparaging remarks about their work in Hollywood.

Remember this moment

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

The Sopranos, Season 1, Episode 8:

Six things:

1. Adriana seems a lot smarter than Christopher.
2. Christopher Moltisanti is an idiot, lol.
3. Christopher needs to listen to his colleague (Paulie?) who tells him that arcs are make-believe, and that people don't have story arcs in real life.
4. I think I've said this before, but I've been pleasantly delighted to discover how hilarious this show can be at times, especially if you're up for black comedy. Other episodes are more dramatic or suspenseful.
5. There is a comedian performing a show at the nursing home Livia is staying at whose comedy consists more of bizarre comments than actual jokes. It had this awesome Adult Swim vibe to it.
6. This episode was directed by Timothy Van Patten, the star of Master Ninja, a series of "movies" featured on MST3K that is in fact cobbled together from episodes of a one-season TV series called The Master. Van Patten's character is an apprentice to a ninja master, played by Lee Van Cliff. MST3K did two episodes based on "movies" made of this series; I feel the first one is the stronger comedic effort. Timothy Van Patten has actually had a very successful career as a television director, doing many high-prestige HBO shoes like this one.