May Day 10 Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 1st 2 seasons of Sopranos was great, among the best. The rest was garbage filled with poor plotting, loose/untied ends, and a disappointing end to most characters as well as the show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffaloBillsForever Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 (edited) I always think how much better of a show Sopranos could have turned out if they scraped Tony getting shot and the whole Vito story lines in favour of the Pine Barrens episode actually meaning something to this series That's what gets me about the Sopranos is that some of its better episodes weren't explored enough to mean anything to the overall plot. There was a lot of filler in the Sopranos...good show though. Edited June 10, 2014 by BuffaloBillsForever Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KD in CA Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 (edited) I always think how much better of a show Sopranos could have turned out if they scraped Tony getting shot and the whole Vito story lines in favour of the Pine Barrens episode actually meaning something to this series That's what gets me about the Sopranos is that some of its better episodes weren't explored enough to mean anything to the overall plot. There was a lot of filler in Sopranos...good show though. Whaddya mean? That episode meant that Paulie and Chris were rash dumbasses who would stab each other in the back without a second thought and who couldn't tie their own shoes without Tony. It highlighted how stupid the people around Tony were; not to mention it was all great comedy. I never understood why people were so obsessed with some dead/not-dead Russian guy we had never seen before. IMO, Sopranos didn't even hit its stride until the 3d season. Edited June 10, 2014 by KD in CT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buftex Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 1st 2 seasons of Sopranos was great, among the best. The rest was garbage filled with poor plotting, loose/untied ends, and a disappointing end to most characters as well as the show. Oh...poor you! Whaddya mean? That episode meant that Paulie and Chris were rash dumbasses who would stab each other in the back without a second thought and who couldn't tie their own shoes without Tony. It highlighted how stupid the people around Tony were; not to mention it was all great comedy. I never understood why people were so obsessed with some dead/not-dead Russian guy we had never seen before. IMO, Sopranos didn't even hit its stride until the 3d season. Such a great show wasted on the unwashed masses.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffaloBillsForever Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 (edited) Whaddya mean? That episode meant that Paulie and Chris were rash dumbasses who would stab each other in the back without a second thought and who couldn't tie their own shoes without Tony. I This was a common theme and the hostility between them was throughout the series and was well established before Pine Barrens. Edited June 10, 2014 by BuffaloBillsForever Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
May Day 10 Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 (edited) The thing that I took away was that many middle to late main plot issues such as ralph, steve buscemi, Jackie Jr season, gay guy, marriage split (then back together)? The feds, Christopher's ambition, the nyc family, etc all kind of faded away or ended abruptly and unsatisfactorily. The main thing I kept tuning in for was to see how it all would be wound together at the shows terminal and how Tony would be done in by all this in the end (or prevail). But instead we got a tepid final season and the grand finale was Tony ordering onion rings and getting randomly shot by some guy in a members only jacket? And the only way to figure that out was to read people discussing and arguing theories on the internet. Edited June 10, 2014 by May Day 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffaloBillsForever Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 (edited) The thing that I took away was that many middle to late main plot issues such as ralph, steve buscemi, Jackie Jr season, gay guy, marriage split (then back together)? The feds, Christopher's ambition, the nyc family, etc all kind of faded away or ended abruptly and unsatisfactorily. The main thing I kept tuning in for was to see how it all would be wound together at the end and how Tony would be done in by all this in the end (or prevail). But instead we got a tepid final season and the grand finale was Tony ordering onion rings and getting randomly shot by some guy in a members only jacket? And the only way to figure that out was to read people discussing and arguing theories on the internet. I agree with you for the most part except for the fact that Ralphies demise was one of the best episodes of the series and wrapped up his storyline quite nicely. However, I agree there was a lot of plot holes in the series. There was some foreshadowing in season 6 part 1 about when you die "seeing black" or something to that nature. Forget who said it but that's how I know he got killed in the restaurant. Edited June 10, 2014 by BuffaloBillsForever Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
May Day 10 Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 I hesitated to include ralph as it was a good arc. That was decent... but I really expected a new "villian" to show and he was never really replaced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KD in CA Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 This was a common theme and the hostility between them was throughout the series and was well established before Pine Barrens. Oh, of course. Pine Barrens was one of the highlights of the Paulie/Chris relationship, but there were several others. Their relationship was a big part of Chris going back to alcohol/drugs at the end, which of course was the reason Tony finally decided enough was enough with Chris. I hesitated to include ralph as it was a good arc. That was decent... but I really expected a new "villian" to show and he was never really replaced. But what made it a great show was they were all villains to some extent; and they all had their redeeming qualities. There were no two-dimensional characters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Big Cat Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 Dean's profile says he's lurked as recently as last Friday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boyst Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 I guess I am among the few that never ever saw an episode. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffaloBillsForever Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 (edited) 1st 2 seasons of Sopranos was great, among the best. The rest was garbage filled with poor plotting, loose/untied ends, and a disappointing end to most characters as well as the show. The writing got sloppy in the end as well. I still couldn't believe they had Silvio reach for his gun in the backseat of his car when he got shot. In a full out war with New York and he isn't even armed. Doesn't even have a gun within arms distance (say glovebox). I still think The Wire's ending was more dissapointing than The Sopranos. Edited June 11, 2014 by BuffaloBillsForever Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buftex Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 (edited) Eh....what made "The Sopranos" great was that they didn't feel the need to tie up every loose end... it was as real and as random as it could be... just like life. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could have closure on everything? It was a beautiful show... like a great, nuanced novel. There have been some great tv shows on since the Sopranos, but nothing comes as close, except, perhaps "Mad Men" for the first 5 seasons. Telling stories that haven't been told, with quiet endings, and shocking turns... " Yet in the end, all the stories are small...life goes on. Edited June 11, 2014 by Buftex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buftex Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 (edited) IIRC The Dean left a short while after it ended. I remember discussing with him David Chase's music selections - which he was extremely deliberate and careful about making. The Dean was a bit crest fallen because he had a hard time reconciling the end of his favorite show of all time with the choice of the ending song which was one of his all time worst bands. And he would always have to relate the two together... Which was abhorrent to him. That is hilarious. I saw some dvd "extra" or something like that, where David Chase and Steven Van Zandt were talking about the music for the show... Little Steven had a huge role in helping Chase find the music that would be so important to the show...when it came time for the final season, like The Dean, Van Zandt was "crestfallen" by having to use such an awful song as the shows swan song...Van Zandt wanted to have the show go out on a much hipper note than Steve Perry screeching "don't stop believing".... but Chase had to reel him in, on this one rare occasion, and remind him that Journey "Don't Stop Believing" would be the kind of song that Tony and Carmella would play on a juke-box... for me, that song owes a lot to the show... it gave it a certain amount of "street cred". Dean's profile says he's lurked as recently as last Friday. If The Dean is still out there, I wish he would show his face....one of my favorite posters over the years...good guy. I used to enjoy giving him **** about his love of Steely Dan. Edited June 11, 2014 by Buftex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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