Soprano's Season 6 discussion.........

[Kylo Ren]

My wife and I are excited about the upcoming season of Sopranos. We've been waiting for about 2 years for this next season. This show is addictive.

Originally, I missed the first few episodes of season one. I've never seen them. But HBO has been showing all of the Sopranos episodes in order lately. I started watching every episode, starting with season one, episode one about a month and a half ago. It's been great. I watch it every weekday night at 7pm. I'm picking up allot of stuff that I missed the first time around. Also, seeing the entire series from the beginning, in order, episode after episode is really making things more clear. There were some things that I was foggy about. There's such a long offseason between seasons that you can forget important details sometimes. The timing will be just right. I should finish the final episode just prior to March when the new season starts. I can't wait.

Discuss.......










After reading another Soprano's thread, the topic of SPOILERS came up. So I thought there should be some RULES about spoilers for this thread.

I would say that one should read and post at your own risk. We will bump this thread to the top after each episode and have a discussion of that episode. I don't know how you can have a discussion without revealing spoilers. I don't even know why they'd be considered spoilers if the episode has already aired and most of America has seen it. So, if you want to post a "spoiler warning" in your post, that's fine. But if you don't, no one should complain. If you haven't see the current episode, you should not read this thread until you have.

With that said, if you have some inside information about an upcoming episode that would be a spoiler, you SHOULD NOT post that on this thread. I can't imagine that happening, because the Soprano's producers gaurd their secrets like Fort Knox. But, if you know something about an upcoming episode, keep it to yourself until after the episode airs. This is really common sense stuff, but I thought it should be spelled out just to keep arguments to a minimum.

[FD]

I thought the ending scene was a fantastic one, and really rewarding for the people who have watched the show intently over the whole run. Yeah it sucked if you watch occasionally and like it when people get killed but theres so much more to the show then that.

One of the best parts of the Sopranos is the subtle use of visual cues rather than stating things outright. It respects the audience's intelligence. The last scene was all visual cues. The two black guys who came in that Tony looked at were the same two guys that attempted the initial hit on Tony in Season 1. The trucker was involved somehow in the plot of Season 2, I forget how. And most importantly, the guy who went into the bathroom at the end was credited as Nikki Leotardo.

NIKKI LEOTARDO - cousin or nephew of Phil who briefly appeared in an episode a season or two back.

Three sets of people were shown in that diner that could have been there to kill Tony, but probably weren't. Tony chose the final song in this episode, and showed again that he's a hopeless romantic. He had his family together again and things looked pretty good, but he still has to constantly look over his shoulder because the spectre of death is over his head at all times. At any point it could come, and like Bobby said in the first episode of this season, you dont even get to hear the gunshot.

It was an ambiguous ending, but appropriately and meaningfully so I think. It wasn't literal closure, but the ending made a damn good closing point about Tony and his life via the ambiguity.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by Baby Lee

You'd have preferred what? 3 seconds? 10? Direct to credits?

I would have prefered it ended 5 mintues earlier............

Tony was out in the back yard looking up at the sky.........why not have the ducks fly in and land in the pool.......Talk about full circle. Getting some closure.....

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by ChiefPote

Man you've got issues, see somebody for help.

[Baby Lee]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

Tony was out in the back yard looking up at the sky.........why not have the ducks fly in and land in the pool.......Talk about full circle. Getting some closure.....

You did hear the ducks flying overhead, and Tony looked up expectantly. Again playing with our expectations.

Other small beats I liked.

Opening the episode with ambiguity if Tony was sleeping in the safe house or lying in state.

Paulie going to whack the cat with the broom, then changing to pretend he was sweeping when Tony came in.

AJ getting a little female attention and snapping out of his funk, down to the new M3 [23 MPG highway, so that's pretty good.].

Tony peeling the orange at the piss house.

Tony making the meet with AJ's new physchiatrist all about him [with Carmela's eye roll].

Bug eyed toady on the phone with Phil not noticing that, as he walked, he had gone from the safety of 'Little Italy,' now just a block, into Chinatown, out of his element and he knew it.

[Mr. Plow]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

I would have prefered it ended 5 mintues earlier............

Tony was out in the back yard looking up at the sky.........why not have the ducks fly in and land in the pool.......Talk about full circle. Getting some closure.....

That would have been a pretty good ending.

[Braincase]

Originally Posted by Mr. Plow

Maybe they wanted to generate some buzz with the ending.....which they did quite well.

They ended it the way Tony has to live his life... which guy in the room might be the guy there to fulfill a contract. The trucker? The solo leather jacket guy going to the bathroom? The two black guys walking in, looking a bit out of context?

Yeah... I wouldn't want to be him.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by Baby Lee

Paulie going to whack the cat with the broom, then changing to pretend he was sweeping when Tony came in.

And then the cat coming outside to sit by him and look in his direction. Classic.

[keg in kc]

It wasn't so much the ending that I thought was lame, but the whole episode. Maybe I was having an mtv-generation day, but that's the first series finale I've ever watched where I fast-forwarded through half of it because I was falling asleep.

Perfectly representative of season 6.

[BIG_DADDY]

I thought it was a lame ending obviously setting up a movie.

[Swanman]

Originally Posted by keg in kc

It wasn't so much the ending that I thought was lame, but the whole episode. Maybe I was having an mtv-generation day, but that's the first series finale I've ever watched where I fast-forwarded through half of it because I was falling asleep.

Perfectly representative of season 6.

That's my main gripe with the last 2.5 seasons of the show. Almost every show had 20-30 minutes of stuff that I couldn't care less about, and I would routinely change the channel during those moments. With other HBO shows that I liked (Rome, Deadwood, The Wire), I wouldn't think about changing the channel at any point. Sopranos had some great scenes, but the crap in between really defined the show for me the last couple seasons.

[Chiefs_Mike_Topeka]

Originally Posted by Forward Dante

I thought the ending scene was a fantastic one, and really rewarding for the people who have watched the show intently over the whole run. Yeah it sucked if you watch occasionally and like it when people get killed but theres so much more to the show then that.

One of the best parts of the Sopranos is the subtle use of visual cues rather than stating things outright. It respects the audience's intelligence. The last scene was all visual cues. The two black guys who came in that Tony looked at were the same two guys that attempted the initial hit on Tony in Season 1. The trucker was involved somehow in the plot of Season 2, I forget how. And most importantly, the guy who went into the bathroom at the end was credited as Nikki Leotardo.
NIKKI LEOTARDO - cousin or nephew of Phil who briefly appeared in an episode a season or two back.

Three sets of people were shown in that diner that could have been there to kill Tony, but probably weren't. Tony chose the final song in this episode, and showed again that he's a hopeless romantic. He had his family together again and things looked pretty good, but he still has to constantly look over his shoulder because the spectre of death is over his head at all times. At any point it could come, and like Bobby said in the first episode of this season, you dont even get to hear the gunshot.

It was an ambiguous ending, but appropriately and meaningfully so I think. It wasn't literal closure, but the ending made a damn good closing point about Tony and his life via the ambiguity.

Your wrong..... see post #690. They guy was credited as "Guy in members only jacket" And those 2 black guys were not the same guys that tried to kill Tony.

http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/ne...7-1360360.html

[eazyb81]

Originally Posted by Chiefs_Mike_Topeka

Your wrong..... see post #690. They guy was credited as "Guy in members only jacket" And those 2 black guys were not the same guys that tried to kill Tony.

http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/ne...7-1360360.html

Exactly, people need to stop spreading this rumor.

This show was great when it tried to be a great mafia series, rather than a wanna-be Donnie Darko.

It's too bad everyone will remember this series for the awful finale, rather than the totality of the series. David Chase is a tool.

[noa]

Originally Posted by eazyb81

Exactly, people need to stop spreading this rumor.

This show was great when it tried to be a great mafia series, rather than a wanna-be Donnie Darko.

It's too bad everyone will remember this series for the awful finale, rather than the totality of the series. David Chase is a tool.

I'm not trying to change your mind, because you are perfectly entitled to your opinion, but I thought that the show was always about much more than a mafia series. Sure it centers around a mob family, and there's always crime and death in the background, but I always thought the show was just using that as a conduit to examine life, death, fear, and family issues. This is why we sat through Tony's therapy sessions and witnessed his family struggles throughout. Many episodes focus on Tony's psychological state, with his anxiety attacks and fear of death (always looking over his shoulder). Also, in the finale, Tony criticizes Paulie for always living in fear of death, which is exactly what Chase was trying to examine IMO. A.J. sucks in many ways, but partly because he is depressed from fear of terrorists. To me, that was the running theme of the series, and of course, its pretty easy to examine fear when your main character is a mafioso.

From reading the responses on the Planet, my sense is that the people who liked the last couple seasons were okay with the ending, but those who only liked it as a mafia series and were disappointed with the last couple seasons were very upset with this ending. Like I said, not trying to change your mind, just trying to give my take on the show. If you didn't like what the show became, that's perfectly fair.

[Pushead2]

I've watched the show from the beginning and I think th show was much more then meets the eye and title. But the series finale blowed.

[Anyong Bluth]

Originally Posted by Pushead2

I've watched the show from the beginning and I think th show was much more then meets the eye and title. But the series finale blowed.

Was the use of "blowed" a humble homage of Tony's muddled vernacular?

I will totally understand if some thought the finale blew, but after I took some time to let it gestate, I have a different take than my initial reaction.