Best ' Whack ' on The Sopranos.

I'm pretty cynical but I can't lie, it was tastefully done and warmed my heart for a millisecond...although I agree with Tony that "remember when is the lowest form of conversation" (or in this case, advertising).

 

Maybe but Chase directed it and as I’ve read numerous times here, EVERYTHING he does has meaning. So I’m sure he wouldn’t frivolously have these two appear in a commercial together with the sopranos theme and not have it mean anything. They live.

 

How many "whacks" were chalked up to flipping or moving away? Richie, Adriana, Big P...? It was too neat that everyone who was not in the know just swallowed these tales with little thought.

 

Bobby Bacala in the model train shop. It was as much a visual work of art as it was heartbreaking--a dramatic and visual high point.

Second place goes to Phil Leotardo. That needed to be paid off. The interior shot of the kids as the SUV ran over his head was so grotesque that I will admit that I laughed, but Phil had to go out BIG.



Dan

 

First of all, there was not "little thought" or just swallowing the tales. Jackie Jr disputed Tony's story about Richie being a rat and that was a big part of Jackie being rebellious to the point where he was whacked too (that death also was a matter of dispute among members of the fam). Likewise, Adriana became a matter of contention, with Carm wanting to hire a private detective to investigate Adriana's disappearance. No one questioned Salvatore vanishing because his family was pretty happy he was gone and in fact he actually was an informant.

Nothing was "neat" about the show...you got the feeling that all these loose ends dragging on for years could unravel the whole thing at any time, and that was part of the brilliance of it. Even Tony's first kill ever became a potential liability as late as S6, and Tony had to get out of state for a while with Paulie. Compared to Sopranos, every other show has perfect resolutions and rapidly ties up loose ends. Sopranos was revolutionary in letting some conflict drag on for several seasons, or the entire without resolution.

It means he didn't want to leave us with that bad taste of Many Saints.

 

The commercial is indeed superior to Many Saints.

 

Sounds like I need to adjust my expectations for Many Saints, which I haven’t seen yet.

 

i just finished re-watching the entire series and the two murders i enjoyed the most were Philly Parisi and Adriana.
The worst was Bobby.

 

Rewatching the last couple of episodes really underlined for me that Paulie and probably Patsy had been in contact with NY about Tony even before Phil started hitting the NJ 'management'. Paulie was specifically left off of the list as you probably remember. When Carlo flipped, Tony was too big of a liability for NY and of course Paulie had seen Tony talking to the FBI.
The dialogue with Tony and Paulie outside concerning Tony offering Aprile's big money job and the conversation about the 'cat' is important,- the rats in the wall- as well as the scene with the families, Patsy and his belligerent expressions behind Tony's back with the wine. It's not appropriate considering the context of their getting together. This is shortly after the scene in the club where Paulie tells Patsy that everything is ok, he has nothing to worry about. At the urinal he tells Patsy something like "it's all yours."

I also noticed that Paulie seemed to see Phil's car at the gas station and didn't say anything to Tony. Maybe.

 

I agree with most of the above. But I don't think Patsy had any sway with New York. He himself is almost killed in the attack that puts Sil in a coma. If he really had been coordinating with Paulie and New York, it seems like he would have been miles away by that point. He definitely was instrumental in the hit at Holsten's though. Paulie had been trying to switch families and get in with New York for years.

 

Good point, I was thinking that maybe Paulie brought him in after he was almost shot with Syl. You know how Paulies face went white and he quickly agreed to take the jinxed business when Tony mentioned giving it to Patsy, he was probably thinking that Patsy might take the promotion and give up the hit or that Tony might skate again and the hit fall through leaving Patsy above him in the hierarchy. It's interesting that a 14 yo show is still fun to discuss. That's quality I suppose.

 

drea dematteo in the woods

 

We must never forget the great Nancy Marchand as Livia!

 

Sure, but she wasn't whacked.

"Go on now, go into the ham, and take the carving knife and stab me, here, here, now, please! It would hurt me less than what you just said."

 

R.I.P. Paulie Walnuts.

 

As a screenwriter, I always admired the Sopranos. Top notch ringing dialogue. Tight Scripts. Now I realize what made “the sopranos” such a good show. I was just reading and found this

“The Sopranos had two strict rules; no improv and no script changes. Most shows allow their actors to be creative and add their own flair to the script. While they still have to follow their lines, they're often allowed to improvize or go a little off script, not saying everything word for word. However, this was not allowed on the set of The Sopranos. “


I hate it when actors think they know better than writers. I’ll rewrite a single line of dialogue 10 times to get it exactly how I want a sentence to sound. And then half these actors think it’s just a “springboard” for them to come up with something better in a scene than you worked on for days. Long live keeping actors in their place. Change one word of my dialogue and you get whacked!

 

Just for posterity’s sake I’m gonna tell a joke I learned in USC screenwriting program. It’s the only screenwriting Joke I know except for the one from “ The player.“ About the Polish actress. Lol. So here it is the great screenwriters joke here put down on paper:

There was once a struggling Hollywood screenwriter. Broke and about to be fired from his studio he climbs onto his balcony about to end it all when he suddenly turns, hearing a typing sound. The writer runs Into his living room and is astonished to see a leprechaun sitting at his typewriter. The writer says “who are you?” And the leprechaun says “I’m here to help Make your dreams come true..” The Leprechaun tears off a sheet of paper and hands the writer a script. The writer reads it and quickly realizes the gold he holds his hand. He dashes the script to the studio the next morning and the chief goes wild for it and immediately puts it into production. The same with the next script written by the leprechaun. It goes on like this for the next two years. The leprechaun bangs away at the typewriters and The writer Becomes the hottest thing in Hollywood. Everything he hands in is a sure sale. Finally, scoring The greatest accomplishment of his life, an Oscar nomination, the writer runs into his house and says “Leprechaun, you turned me from a failure into a success - the biggest name in films. Given me everything I ever dreamed of. And yet you ask for nothing. What can I do for you? Is there anything I can do for you? Anything at all!“ The little leprechaun looks up meekly from the typewriter and says “well, do you think, maybe next time, could you give me shared screenwriting credit?“ And the writer looks at the leprechaun and says, “F**k you!”






Ha. That should give you insight into what the trade is like.

 

dude on Coronation Street has murdered 3 people, of the 20 who hang around the last few months.

 

What does this have to do with the Sopranos?