The Sopranos and The Shield
Link to a great discussion (from A.V. Club at The Onion) about these shows, the character of Tony and Vic, what we've learned in the past, and what's in store as these shows head toward their conclusions.
Both shows are running new episodes, and both are having excellent seasons.
Both shows are running new episodes, and both are having excellent seasons.
posted by Beukey @ 5:39 AM
3 Comments:
At 11:56 AM,
Bluey said…
I am totally annoyed with the Sopranos. The show has become incredibly dijointed where the characters have no flow and seem to be different personalities from week to week.
Of particular annoyance and in no particular order:
Johnny Sack goes from jailed to dying. Not that this bothered me, but Johnny was a linchpin character that should have been used to some end in the plot instead of wasting a half hour watching him die. Who cares.
Tony becomes a compulsive gambler seemingly out of nowhere.
Phil Leotardo goes from jackass to nice guy back to jackass in about 6 minutes. I like his character but he seems to be sufferring from some bipolar disorder. And no, the death of his brother and his own sickness doesn't explain the inconsistencies in his actions.
Did we really need to suffer through the Junior in the nursing home sequences?
Chrissy has had a total character change and there isn't enough to really explain it.
This split season has me reminiscing my favorite scene from Misery. "He never got out of the cockadoodie car!"
Chase seems to be introducing random events that are inconsistent to what we watched just a few episodes before.
It's driving me mad.
At 4:41 PM,
Beukey said…
I couldn't disagree more. The second half of the sixth season is outstanding, and in keeping with the overall tone of the show.
The characters are moving towards their day of reckoning. In Junior's cast, it's already come. He lived his life like a thug, getting by on muscle and intimidation. When the ravages of age made his a feeble old man who couldn't even avoid pissing his pants, someone put a smackdown on him. He goes out nacoticized, impotent, petting a cat. I loved the fact that not one character visited him during his last storyline. Shows how much "family" means.
Tony's pissy, vindictive nature has been on display all season. Whenver someone mildly displeases him, he overreacts and doesn't care who could get hurt. He sends Bobby to kill some guy just to save a few bucks on a deal, not ever concerned that it could go wrong, and Janice and her daughter would be screwed. He considers killing Paulie just because he talks too much. He kills Chrissy, and can't even be bothered to stick around. (Loved how Paulie was so concerned about the turnout for his mother/aunt's funeral, rather than mourning his death. The Sopranos has hundred of great moments like that.)
Speaking of Chrissy, his arc came full cirlce. Early in the show, Tony made him choose between Hollywood and The Mob. Chirssy chose The Mob, and the choice haunted him ever since. It (among other things) led to his substance abuse problems. Chrissy kicks the drugs and makes a movie, but all of his "friends" just give him shit and want him to continue to be a criminal. He falls off the wagon and goes to see the writer(the one guy whose live he envies). Chrissy blabs his secrets and the writer tells him that he's in The Mafia. Unable to deal with the truth so directly stated, Chrissy kills the writer.
I'm looking forward to the last two episodes. There is no "Redemptive Power Of Love" bullshit coming.
At 12:20 PM,
Bluey said…
Hey, I'm not looking for redemption or closure. I just want to see some consistency with how the characters react to their surroundings.
Sunday's episode with AJ's attempted suicide was the only decent episode of the year. Of course, I couldn't disagree with you more about the entire 2nd half of the 6th season. I think it's been playing out like David Chase was trying to remember ideas for episodes by retrieving old cocktail napkins with notes on them.
I really think that he's trying to do too much with not enough episodes remaining and the whole feel of the 6th season suffers because of it. I would argue that he's trying too hard to tie up loose ends.
You mentioned the death of Pauley's mother. That was extraneous nonsense. Ditto for Vito's son crapping in the high school shower. Last season it was Carmela's trip to Paris. Fucking enough already with the extraneous bullshit. I didn't need a full episode of Junior in a nursing home to realize that he ends up powerless and without family. Part of me thinks that Chase felt he owed the Johnny Sack and Junior characters some closure. I say, fuck that...i could give a shit, I'm smart enough to figure it out for myself.
On another note, I was watching the "classic", Logan's Run the other day and you know who plays a "confused man"? Danny from "Don't Look In the Basement". It's just a two second scene but I got a kick out of that.
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