“The Sopranos” premiered 20 years ago today (January 10, 1999).

Technically the final season (6) lasted for two seasons as 6 part 1 and 6 part 2. The worst thing about it in my opinion was the brokeback Vito subplot, but even that was well done, and timely, difficult as it was to watch. I'm not sure what you mean by Tony's dream. Do you mean the coma? I found the alternate ego shown in the coma provocative. Interesting how Buscemi was cast as the eternal footman in front of the house, not letting Tony go in with his briefcase. I also liked the themes of Eastern influence, the row with the Buddhist monks and the "who am I, where am I going" theme. As Tony regained consciousness, we get the "all is one" philosophy voiced by the patient admitted to the hospital for larangeal cancer. And the complementary saying, "sometimes I go about in self-pity and all the while a great wind carries me across the sky." One can argue that season 6 is the strongest and most meaningful in the entire series.

 

Very well said. You have a way with words that I lack, but I agree with all of what you say.

 

Yeah the johnniecakes chronicles is the one pock on the series.

 

I agree. The coma subplot is one of my favorites. I actually looked forward to seeing it a couple of weeks ago while watching the series on HBO.

 

I don’t think it was bad. It gave us a perspective on the Mafia’s views on homosexuality. While I didn’t particularly enjoy the subplot, I didn’t think it took away from the series as a whole.

 

I don't disagree. But consider that this was done at a time when even US leaders were having trouble choosing whether to support gay marriage and would continue flip-flopping on the issue. So seeing how Tony's crew and Phil's crew dealt with it was enlightening. But yeah, I don't see why so much time needed to be spent with the subplot in New England and Johnny cakes. I guess just to show that Tony really had no solid choices in who to trust as his best earner was someone that no one else in the organization could look up to.

It was really interesting in terms of the choices Chase made. Do you realize the voice of the wife in Tony's coma reality was the voice of Gloria, the Melfi patient who killed herself after Tony broke off the affair? There are so many things to trip on in that alter ego.

 

Re-watching the series last week, bingeing, made me realize something. The gay/Vito storyline in New England, in reality, only lasted a few episodes. Originally, watching them from week to week, one at a time, definitely made it seem like a longer period of time!

 

Didn’t like the coma subplot. It felt to me like Chase was getting bored of his own show And wanted to experiment.

 

some many other great characters in the show with amazing acting .
David Proval : Ritchie " Veal Parmigiana sandwich ? **** you ! "
Frank Vincent : Phil , " I compromised ; i jerked off in a tissue "
Vincent Curatola : Johnny Sack " Poor thing , its her back "
lets not forget Ralph , many creepy characters around Tony
But , eventhough i love the actor , i think Steve Buscemi did not fit in

 

True. Many seem to use that as the reason for 6a being not that strong overall, but I don't think so. Tony's slow recovery from the coma was naturally going to be a slow burn and I honestly think they did one season too many (if we consider 6a and 6b separate seasons which they really were). Johnny Sack getting arrested at the end of 5 should have started the sprint towards the finale instead of slowing things down with the coma and then Tony's slow recovery.

Fortunately, 6b was mostly really good (outside of the Chasing It episode which felt weird and mostly isolated from the rest of the season). Stage 5 was pretty awesome.

I don't agree that season 6 was the strongest season, but I loved the coma episodes. The "coma dream" where Tony was Kevin Finnerty was sheer brilliance, even if I thought the pacing of 6a was slowed down too much following the end of 5.

 

That was his role, to not fit in. At first he snubbed Tony by wanting to go straight. Then when going straight didn't work for him, he went rogue. Chase was needing Buscemi for a gifted underachiever, and to play into Tony's guilt about missing the heist that got Buscemi's character arrested. It was a tough role, and Buscemi did a good job with it.

 

i get that but the character was uninteresting and did not bring anything new to the story in my opinion . Furio was an outsider too but different input .

 

I don’t have much to say about the ending of the series. It is what it is and I accept the idea that Tony is dead. What I do wonder about though are the reasons behind the hit. Who set it up? Why? I thought Tony had made peace with Phil’s crew. Was there another player I’m not thinking about?

 

I actually enjoyed the Tony dream sequence. In his dream there was an interminable and irritating muffled sound that seemed to come from all directions. In reality it was Paulie at his bedside, droning on and on about his problems. Agree that Season 6 was one of the strongest, if not the strongest.

 

Furio contibuted more to the character dev of Carm. Tony B contributed more to Tony S's breakthrough (with Melfi) about his own feelings of guilt ruling him, and the origins of his panic attacks. Beyond that I thought it was interesting how Tony B spiralled downward while looking so many gift horses in the mouth.

Even if the New York figures sponsored the hit, they would need someone inside Tony's crew to identify Holstein's and endorse it. There was a finite list of people who knew about Holstein's. The main figure people point to was Paulie, who was totally freaked out after going down to Florida with Tony and had felt unappreciated for years. He was also going through his own identity crisis. There was also Patsie, who was now connected to Tony through their children dating. But Patsie never got over the death of his twin brother who Tony ordered killed at the beginning of season 2 in the aftermath of the hit attempted by Junior. I tend to look suspiciously at Patsie, but I think Chase is on record hinting strongly that it's Paulie.

 

Gotta say, I enjoyed Furio as much as anybody but he (Frederico Casteluccio) should never be compared to Steve Buscemi! Furio was cool but pretty much a one-trick pony as portrayed by FC, not terribly deep. Where as Buscemi....let's just say he went through quite the story arc, and let's face it, Buscemi's a beast! Talent-wise, I'd rank him among the top 5 actors of the entire series! "Put me in Coach!", indeed!

 

But didn’t Paulie, just a few minutes before the hit tell Tony, “I live to serve you my liege”? I understand he’s probably the last guy left but I have a hard time pinning it on him. Oof marone !

 

While Paulie had a history of not being loyal, I am not sure he would go as far as telling NY where Tony was going to be so he could get whacked. Then again, we saw how he reacted near the end of Season 3 when he felt that Tony disrespected him (following the Pine Barrens fiasco, where Tony ruled against him in the sit down with Ralphie), so it is possible that Tony guilt tripping him into taking over the Aprile crew was the last straw for him.

Patsie seems more plausible, but despite his certainty that Tony was the one who ordered the murder of his twin brother, I'm not sure he'd want to rock the boat given the circumstances at the time, with his son about to marry Meadow, and he saw first hand how relatives of Tony got preferential treatment (Chris, then Bobby), so I don't think he'd do it. Patsie always seemed, if nothing else, to be pragmatic.

All that said, Patsie could have known where Tony was going to be that night (Holsten's), while Paulie would not have known. Then again, Tony could have easily been tailed from his house once he and Carmela left for Holsten's (if Tony noticed, he would likely assume it was the feds).

 

I completely agree. I like just about everything I've seen him do except the Sopranos. I felt the same way about Robert Loggia, although his part was a little more effective (short as it was).

Maybe it was just too difficult to bring in an already known actor and make them part of the Sopranos. With one big exception.

Frank Vincent

 

Patsy has motive, means and opportunity. Motive: he knows Tony killed his twin brother and believes he’s leading the family to disaster. He might think he has the chance for upward mobility because of his son’s pending marriage. But he might also think that this will simply lash him to Tony’s mast as the ship goes down. Means and opportunity: he can be presumed to have special knowledge of Tony’s whereabouts through his son. Patsy’s palpable discomfort at Tony and Carmela’s house suggests he’s nervous about something particular, and points towards his general awareness of what awaits Tony.

Paulie has motive, but not so clearly means or opportunity. Motive: Paulie is a survivor. He wants to live and earn. He’s historically been good at both. He knows that, in a war between Tony and New York, New York will win. And he feels he’s been treated poorly by Tony. Means and opportunity: Unlike with Patsy, it’s not implied that Paulie would or should know where Tony will be. Contrast the Holsteins dinner with Tony’s visit to Melfi in “Isabella.” The hitmen in “Isabella” know where to find Tony because they know he’s been seeing Melfi, and because they’ve surveilled him.

The dialogue among Phil, Albie and Butchie at the beginning of “Blue Comet” can be taken to suggest an understanding between New York and Paulie: “Three pops within a tight time frame, for them to hit back. Top three guys.” “Paulie Gaultieri? “No, management.” But the more logical read is that New York simply understands Paulie. From Paulie’s dealings with Johnny Sack, they know that he’s unhappy. They also know that Paulie is old school, and a survivor, and would defer to New York. Finally, to borrow a phrase from Debbie in “Nobody Knows Anything,” New York surely knows that Paulie’s a “psycho.” A more logical conclusion about Paulie is that, when he met privately with Butchie after the sitdown, Butchie somehow made clear to him that he should stay out of the way, and all would ultimately be well.

 

Also, there’s sort of a neat symmetry between what Butchie did — and didn’t do — at the sitdown, and how Paulie might have acted with the hit on Tony. Butchie would consent to Phil’s death, but he wouldn’t actively participate. Paulie might have done the same thing. Both are “old school,” and both would have seen that as a line that shouldn’t be crossed.

 

I agree with all that and I'd add that the captains weren't stupid. As Ralphie, Ritchie and Christopher disappeared/died under mysterious circumstances, the other captains probably realized Tony would just as soon kill them on a whim. Paulie clearly felt threatened on the boat in Florida, and Tony had said to Beansie and others that Paulie was a liability. Tony was certainly considering whether to make fish food out of Paulie and both of them knew it.

 

Haha. The only other bit of celluloid that has inspired this much contemplate is The Godfather movies! Love it!

 

Yeah, but you can interpret it as sarcastic because Paulie really had his reservations about running the Aprile crew. He was a superstitious guy and was freaked out how evey previous captain in that position had died. Tony only got Paulie to agree to it by threatening to give the responsibility to Patsy, who was eclipsing Paulie in other ways.

 

Don't forget Tony ripped into Patsy about how Vito used to bring 3x as much with the construction business. Hadda get Patsy thinking!

As long as we're fantasizing about coulda/shoulda/woulda....in MY fantasy, Paulie avenges Tony by whacking Patsy!