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Post by LS on Dec 6, 2002 23:23:06 GMT -5
Here's a scenerio: we see Christopher's out. It's a black SUV that gets shot up, they probably found Christopher's, Adrianna was probably the one crying...maybe it's Christopher. Adrianna would definetely cry, and it would be something that we don't expect. Yeah, but it could also be something as dumb as them finding Christopher's SUV with the dirtballs that beat him up and robbed him in it...Just thinkin' about the one preview that looked like somebody got whacked that had Tony looking under a blanket- and that turned out to be the horse. Like I said, I blinked and missed the part about whoever was crying- so I can't say there. Could be something too that the Feds were forcing her into something... That seems the most logical scenario...When Carmine was grousing about Tony going behind his back to see Little Carmine...then LC said Tony was just going by "old school" protocol, but then turned around and started putting him down as being too big for his britches, and that the 40% was fair...the "compromise" being they wouldn't make it retroactive. Then he said the whole situation happened in the first place because Tony and Johnny were friends, and that Tony was taking advantage of the friendship aspect, instead of it being a business transaction, and made Johnny's asscociation with Tony look like a liability to the family. Little Carmine is just running things in FL. If Carmine gets whacked- Little Carmine comes to NY to take over as head of the entire family, and they just find a new underboss to look after their business in FL. Yeah, they ran over the hour...by various lengths- I think the longest was an hour and a half... Even the regular episodes aren't all the same length- some are 40-some minutes, some 50 minutes, some 55, some take the whole hour... Chase has always been true to his word...that's why everyone was pretty shocked when he agreed to two more seasons, and why the big delay between 3 & 4- he had no intention of going beyond 3 and needed time to make sure the writing stayed on the same level...so I'd say it's a pretty safe bet season 5 is it.
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Post by lmofle on Dec 8, 2002 22:21:46 GMT -5
What the...!!!!! They introduce another plot and don't close up anything (except Uncle Jr's trial and he was acting wierd at the end)!...and introduce the Johnny Sacks hate look at Tony because of the change in plans!!! I am sooo disappointed!!!!
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Post by LS on Dec 9, 2002 0:41:20 GMT -5
Aw, come on Larry- don't tell me you're one of those people that measure the series by the number of whacks...or worse...the ones that need instant gratification!! (LOL though...I just knew that preview with the SUV was gonna be another tease!! ) The house in Sea Bright really had me rolling though...That one really gives a whole new meaning to "sleeping with the fish." Lol!! (Unless of course that was this week's "in-joke" ;D ) Outside of that one really weird episode two weeks ago- I thought this season was really good...way better than last year. Chase spent the entire season carefully laying the groundwork for the big grand finale next year...so now we just have to wait for the fireworks to start exploding. It's classic soap opera style- like in the old days of Dallas and Dynasty (just with WAY better acting and scripts though)...instead of the junky shows on these days, that are aimed at short attention spans and are all wrapped up and tied with a bow at the end of a half hour or hour. With the way things have been set up this season...it's gonna be real interesting to see who survives when it's all over...
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Post by lmofle on Dec 9, 2002 7:40:20 GMT -5
I have no problem with leaving a few things hanging here and there, or even setting up a plot change...but at least clean up some of it...I'm not saying the season was bad but at least clean up a few loose ends here and there. They could have closed out a few more things last night and set up for the divorce plot for next year. That can run all next year (as it might) as to how Tony handles the direction his marriage is going as well as Carmela.
I see now why I stopped watching All My Children after Tad they blew up Jenny and Greg went away (now I am really dating myself)...the madness never stops!!
Oh believe me, I am sure next year will be a doozy...I just need to find something to do on Sun evening now!
Actually, I am a HUGE Six Feet Under fan so I am waiting with bated breath for their new season to start...they left alot of things hanging on their last episode as well!!
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Post by LS on Dec 9, 2002 17:11:57 GMT -5
I have no problem with leaving a few things hanging here and there, or even setting up a plot change...but at least clean up some of it...I'm not saying the season was bad but at least clean up a few loose ends here and there. They could have closed out a few more things last night and set up for the divorce plot for next year. That can run all next year (as it might) as to how Tony handles the direction his marriage is going as well as Carmela. I didn't think that's what you were saying, I was really referring more about all the articles in the papers yesterday morning- and everyone whining over on the Sopranos board- where they were all saying how boring this season was- that the only good one was where Ralphie got it...but they're the ones that go by the number of "whacks." Like enough whining already...if that's all they're interested in seeing and want "over the top"- go rent Goodfellas. Personally I thought it was pretty gripping drama, because of all the twists and turns- a lot of it was pretty unexpected. But hey...they did tie up a few loose ends...Uncle Junior got his aquittal, Christopher's clean (at least for now), and looks like Bobby's finished grieving for Karen by the way he & Janice were at it...Three out of 20 ain't bad. Yeesh- I ditched that stuff years ago..."evil" twins, clones, characters that've come back from the dead more times than Jason!! Yeah, know what you mean...I go through withdrawl for like 3 weeks after. That's pretty much the only time my TV goes on during the year- gave up on it years ago...Yeesh- what am I gonna do when the series ends?? Watched the first 1/2 season of that one...but for some reason just didn't get into it...so I don't watch that one.
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Post by lmofle on Dec 9, 2002 19:34:04 GMT -5
It took me almost 1/2 of the 1st season to get into it because the first few I did catch freaked me out!! Now, I'm majorly addicted!):
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Post by Roughneck on Dec 9, 2002 23:57:14 GMT -5
There were definetely loose ends in this one, and I also think they had the whole thing written out, both seasons 4 & 5, before they did any filming. This season definetely had less action than previous ones. Seems that the only reason they had Valantina, at least so far, was to give Carmella ammunition to throw at Tony. I was surprised that Carmella actually had the nerve to do this, but I guess the catalyst was the fact that now AJ is involved in the middle, along with Carmella now having a face to go with all of Tony's flings, along with Furio. With the details in the know, I really can't see reconciliation. I mean good for her and all, but this is irreversible. I think this will cause one of two opposite reactions. 1) the divorce proceedings and wrangling will take too much away from the mob aspect or b) with Carmella gone with AJ and Meadow believing Daddy's scum for what he's done all these years the show will be able to focus more on the mob aspect. This season definetely seemed to be almost exclusively about setting us up for season 5.
Either way, the "feel" of season 5 will be different from all others. I also believe maybe the reason for writing everything in advance and using two whole seasons to conclude things is because Chase wrote it in such a way that he can't have a season 6. It did seem to be that he was sort of throwing us a bone to make us happy. I'd have to see the finale of season 3, but the break seemed obvious; did the finale look like it was meant to be a series ender? This season seemed much less "connected" than the others. It did seem like the series was winding down, and that it was designed to lead us to the series finale.
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Post by Roughneck on Mar 3, 2004 17:36:54 GMT -5
OK, after a hiatus of over a year, we finally get to see more Sopranos! I like the way this one appears to be headed, definitely not the overt doom and gloom suspense that the last season had. This oughta be good! Tony's cousin should be a good addition, although is he gonna be weird, like all his other roles? Sis, don't ruin it for me. I have to figure out how to ge the digital cable let me record. I'm gonna be in New York visiting the whole side of the family I haven't met yet, or at least in a very long time...the Italian side...the irony is not lost to me. ;D
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Post by LS on Mar 5, 2004 13:45:59 GMT -5
OK, after a hiatus of over a year, we finally get to see more Sopranos! I like the way this one appears to be headed, definitely not the overt doom and gloom suspense that the last season had. This oughta be good! Tony's cousin should be a good addition, although is he gonna be weird, like all his other roles? Sis, don't ruin it for me. I have to figure out how to ge the digital cable let me record. I'm gonna be in New York visiting the whole side of the family I haven't met yet, or at least in a very long time...the Italian side...the irony is not lost to me. ;D LOL!! My lips are zipped. ;D (But I'm sure if ya can't figure out the recording thing- you can catch one of the re-broadcasts... ) Yep, finally a reason to dust off the old TV. ;D The teasers & the leaks sound promising...and since my lips are zipped- I won't say anything about Tony's cousin...and Robert Loggia's character looks like a definite plus. (So far the oddsmakers have Johnny as being the first casualty, followed by Little Carmine and then Adriana...) Bad news is- everyone thought the break between last season and this one was long?? We don't get the final season till 2006!! (This has gotta be the longest 6 season show in history )
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Post by Mr._Shooter on Mar 5, 2004 20:09:54 GMT -5
The ads I've seen look good. 'Round my watercooler, there's been a lot of talk about who'll be pushin' up daisies. Someone suggested that Carmela might get whacked, but that doesn't add up. After all, the "code" dictates that Tony cannot kill the mother of his children. Johnny seems like a good possibility, although I wouldn't rule out Christopher. Ah, the intrigue.
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DRL
Full Member
Posts: 495
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Post by DRL on Mar 7, 2004 20:08:04 GMT -5
Just wanted to share this with y'all 'Sopranos' Finally Back, Depressing As Country Song
By CARINA CHOCANO The Los Angeles Times
The animals in Tony Soprano's back yard have always had much to teach us.
So, naturally, as "The Sopranos" enters its fifth and next-to-last season tonight following a 15-month hiatus, more fauna emerges from the woods to foreshadow the themes of Tony Soprano's life.
This time -- with the ducks, the squirrels and Tony himself gone -- a big black bear lumbers in to try out the lawn furniture and terrorize the remaining residents of casa Soprano.
This particular beast brings more to mind than the ursine quality of Tony's current troubles.
An emblem of power and protection (not to mention a dead ringer for James Gandolfini in all his menacing cuddliness) the bear steps into the power vacuum created after Tony's apocalyptic split from Carmela at the conclusion of Season 4, attracted by the sacks of duck food in which Tony stashes his cash.
With Tony gone, wife Carmela (Edie Falco) is having trouble managing a sullen and angry son A.J. (Robert Iler), who is courting trouble like a gentleman caller at Tara plantation.
She's also finding it hard to keep the bear off the property. It ambles back in broad daylight, prompting Tony to station an armed guard by the pool. Even Tony's newspaper is vulnerable -- unless the thing Meadow (Jamie-Lynn DiScala) blithely crushes under the tires of her car is intended to represent its subscriber.
Creator David Chase has a knack for setting the mood for the season in one sequence flat, and this one, which kicks off with a series of mug-shot-like angles on the house as Emmylou Harris' desperately up-tempo "Heaven Only Knows" plays in the background, is no exception.
Dried-up leaves are falling. Lonesome winds are blowing. Colleagues are flipping. Tony's life has turned into a country song.
Increasingly, it's the tone that sets the seasons of "The Sopranos" apart from each another, and the pokey listlessness of the first few episodes seems fitting. Everything seems cast in sepia, but the mood feels less nostalgic than it does just drained. Tony's panic of early seasons has mellowed into a sort of weary disenchantment and battle fatigue.
Now living alone in his dead mother's house, handing out pricey love tokens all over town (but taking them away from Carmela) and trading fear for the toadying of his crew, it's only just starting to dawn on him how alone he really is.
All Tony's attempts -- and there are many -- to reach out and connect to somebody on a human level fail, or worse.
His friends laugh too loudly and too long at his jokes. His son's love is becoming increasingly expensive. Uncle Junior suffers a minor stroke and starts repeating an old insult like a broken record.
Subtract three-odd decades and the thuggish resume, and Tony is still a kid on the first day of school, besieged on all sides by bullies, inflexible authorities and terrifying girls.
A new crop of mobsters Uncle Junior (Dominic Chianese) dubs the "Class of '04" gets released from prison, among them Tony's cousin Tony Blundetto (Steve Buscemi) and onetime big cheese Feech LaManna (Robert Loggia), and once again, Tony finds himself in the cross-hairs of everybody's simmering resentment.
Feech can't adjust to the idea of the kid he used to know being the boss of the family. Tony B. has trouble with the notion that it could have been Tony, not him, who wound up serving 15 years. (Tony should have been with Tony B. on the night he was arrested but was saved by a well-timed blow to the head.)
Weakness has always been "The Sopranos' " stock-in-trade, which is why even the most vicious lowlife on the show has always been a symphony of complexity, poignancy and depth. As always, variations on the big themes of trust, betrayal, strength and vulnerability are as abundant on "The Sopranos" as dead guys stuffed in trunks. But it's the perspicaciously observed soft spots that are the source of all of its humor and pathos.
As Dr. Melfi (Lorraine Bracco) tells her therapist, Elliott (Peter Bogdanovich), "There's a mutual sympathy there." To which the supercilious, cold-fish Elliott shrugs, "Maybe it's an Italian thing."
Probably not.
Even though the ultra-violence (violence that, mercifully, will never be compared to a ballet or a cartoon) continues unabated, Chase knows that what really keeps pulling us back in is the even more painful stuff: Carmela's heart-rending attempts to cultivate herself and attract weaselly anti-Tonys; Adriana's (Drea DiMatteo) desperate attempts to connect with anyone who will have her, even the FBI agent assigned to her case; Tony's impassioned attempts to express his emotional depth; a Mafia eminence keeling over dead with a mouthful of egg salad.
What makes "The Sopranos" a singular joy to watch is its perspective.
It's like Tony tells Silvio (Steve Van Zandt), describing the newfound joys of bachelorhood. He can stay out late, drink as much as he wants, spend the night with whomever he wants.
"Yeah," Silvio shrugs. "So what's the difference?"
"I don't know," the ever-philosophical Tony replies. "It's a mind-set."
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Post by Roughneck on Mar 7, 2004 20:35:25 GMT -5
OK sis, I got home, so I'll be able to catch it along with everyone else. Aparently everyone else there wanted to catch it too. ;D Nice to see my family isn't part of that group known as professional victims, as Alice termed it.
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Post by LS on Mar 7, 2004 22:14:31 GMT -5
OK sis, I got home, so I'll be able to catch it along with everyone else. Aparently everyone else there wanted to catch it too. ;D Nice to see my family isn't part of that group known as professional victims, as Alice termed it. Lol...figured even if you didn't get home in time- somebody there'd have it on. ;D Thanks for sharing DRL...that's one thing that's never changed and as always- a first rate song selection... Off to a pretty good start...this one was almost as funny as the 'lost in the woods' episode. The (mis)adventures of Paulie & Christopher might make for a good spin off- lol!!
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Post by Roughneck on Mar 8, 2004 0:37:43 GMT -5
I'm already liking this season better than season 4. this one looks more than just plodding along with no real purpose. Partly from the episode, partly from the teasers, you know things are going to change and be shaken up. but for a spin-off, they both have to survive the season. ;D Has Tony forgotten what Paulie was like last season?
I wonder if the Slate shrinks will be back this season being that Tony is no longer "in therepy."
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Post by Mr._Shooter on Mar 8, 2004 17:30:04 GMT -5
Interesting episode. It finished stronger than it started. Loved the final image of Tony sitting in the pool chair, armed and ready for the marauding bear. Also, got a big kick out of Tony's "old school Catholic" line. Anyhow, this show is the only reason I allow myself to be raked over the proverbial coals by Cablevision. Paying $13 a month for the "privilege" of having HBO is easier to take when there's actually something on other than ANOTHER re-run of the same inane Adam Sandler movie.
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