Sopranos 2nd Episode
Mar 20, 2006 at 4:27 AM Post #2 of 14
It was a good episode for multi-tasking.
rolleyes.gif

(good raisin-smuggling, though
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)
 
Mar 20, 2006 at 4:36 AM Post #4 of 14
What the hell did you expect though? Come on, you had to of saw this coming. The end the first episode with Tony lying on the floor bleeding to death from a gunshot wound. Of course the next step is the hospital...

I will admit that I was a bit bored, until AJ announced to Carmela at the end in his typical smooth fashion that he just failed out of college.

"With your father in a coma?!"

edit: The dream sequence must have been Tony's subconscience wondering what he could have been if he wouldn't have gotten tied up in his father's business...
 
Mar 20, 2006 at 5:18 AM Post #5 of 14
.........sucked! Dream sequences to me are just crap filler material, especially in a show of this caliber.
 
Mar 20, 2006 at 5:35 AM Post #6 of 14
Quote:

Originally Posted by Thaddy
What the hell did you expect though? Come on, you had to of saw this coming. The end the first episode with Tony lying on the floor bleeding to death from a gunshot wound. Of course the next step is the hospital...

I will admit that I was a bit bored, until AJ announced to Carmela at the end in his typical smooth fashion that he just failed out of college.

"With your father in a coma?!"

edit: The dream sequence must have been Tony's subconscience wondering what he could have been if he wouldn't have gotten tied up in his father's business...



The presence of the Monks are probably lending to a buddhist interpretation of reincarnation or an alternate life as you stated. The coma sequence wasn't simply about what his life could've been, but it's also a sort of limbo or purgatory with the flashing light outside his window being salvation or quite simply death/rebirth.
 
Mar 20, 2006 at 11:51 AM Post #7 of 14
Quote:

Originally Posted by Thaddy
What the hell did you expect though? Come on, you had to of saw this coming. The end the first episode with Tony lying on the floor bleeding to death from a gunshot wound. Of course the next step is the hospital...



Absolutely, and Mrs. Monkey said as much. Perhaps naively, I had hoped the show would focus on the power vacuum that is created when he's out of commission. I guess that's next week.
 
Mar 20, 2006 at 8:16 PM Post #9 of 14
AJ is going to join the mob, we all know it. Now that he wants to get junior, hes gonna become a gangster
 
Mar 20, 2006 at 8:55 PM Post #11 of 14
You people forget that the reason the Sopranos is such a hit isn't because it's a 72 hour long version of Goodfellas, but because of the deep psychological and symbolic meaning within Tony. The show is layered with several levels of subtext in every scene. The psychologically layered episodes are the best ones by far, especially if you start to dig deeper into the meaning of those scenes.

Even obvoius things can hold meaning. If you listen close to the opening song of the first episode and pay attention to the visuals behind it it actually shows a preview of what's to come, not only in that episode but likely for the rest of the season.

For example, I don't see the dreamworld as a 'what-if' scenario. It's deeper than that. He's lost without ID and unable to go home, which is where he really wants to be. He's trapped in that anonymous city without a way to come back to his family, especially his wife. He's confused and without an identity, I think because so much of who he is revolves around his being a mob boss - without that what is he, who is he? A father and husband. I think the alzheimers is a way of showing he's slipping away, as are the ever mounting obstacles to his return home.

Not only that the emotional heart and depth of the characters really starts to shine through in this episode. Excellent acting and great writing. I've been through a lot of deaths and those reactions are very real, the ups and downs of denial and rememberance vs. the fear and sorrow.

You want mobsters talking hard and gunshots? Go rent some Scorsese.

--Illah
 
Mar 20, 2006 at 11:58 PM Post #12 of 14
Come now, Illah, do give us some credit. I'm pretty well capable of understanding why The Sopranos works.

A dream-sequence episode is an example of lazy writing, something The Sopranos is guilty of far too often.
 
Mar 21, 2006 at 1:39 AM Post #13 of 14
Quote:

You people forget that the reason the Sopranos is such a hit isn't because it's a 72 hour long version of Goodfellas, but because of the deep psychological and symbolic meaning within Tony. The show is layered with several levels of subtext in every scene. The psychologically layered episodes are the best ones by far, especially if you start to dig deeper into the meaning of those scenes.


LOL, nobody in this thread said that it's a "72 hour Goodfellas", so I don't understand why you're going off on a rant...?
 
Mar 21, 2006 at 1:51 AM Post #14 of 14
The morning of the episode I read a short article in the paper by someone who had somehow already seen the episode. Without giving anything away, they raved about it to the point of saying it might be the single best 1 hour of television ever produced.

As often happens, with such high expectations it was doomed to unimpress. While I certainly don't think it was even close to being the best hour of TV ever, it was all right. Let's hope Tony pulls out of the coma, isn't brain damaged, and the show gets back to non-dream sequence story lines soon.
 

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