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re: First time through The Sopranos. Pine barrens…
Posted on 1/14/25 at 7:44 am to Yesca11
Posted on 1/14/25 at 7:44 am to Yesca11
quote:
First time through The Sopranos
I envy you. I wished I could watch it again for the first time. There is nothing greater than The Sopranos.
It's like a hotel at Captain Teeb's. You know, the captain that owns luxury hotels or something.
0
Posted on 1/14/25 at 7:54 am to pevetohead
quote:
With that being said I think the very next episode, Amour Fou, is the superior episode.
Wow. I had to go look up that episode and it is the one w/ Annabella Sciorra as crazy Gloria AND the frickin' poker game heist. What a damn show to have those two episodes back to back. I think I liked Seasons 1 and 3 the best.
Posted on 1/14/25 at 3:29 pm to WG_Dawg
quote:
Pine barrens is not anywhere in the solar system of being the best sopranos episode.
Then the fact when that episode ended, that was the end of it. A highly respected foreign mobster suddenly disappears and NOBODY is held accountable in any way, shape or form.
It was one of the funnier episodes with the interactions of Christopher and Paulie coming off like 2 of the 3 stooges, but that's about it.
Posted on 1/15/25 at 12:02 am to WG_Dawg
quote:
Pine barrens is not anywhere in the solar system of being the best sopranos episode
Absolutely agree. But then again I couldn't stand Paulie as a character and didn't really like Tony Sirico that much to be honest so having him out front chewing the scenery all episode is one reason I was never crazy about it
Posted on 1/15/25 at 12:07 am to Yesca11
If you find out that an episode is supposed to be the best of the show before you watch it, you're going to pick it apart.
I watched soprano's years after it ended and had never heard of Pine Barrens. It caught me offguard how entertaining and different it was and it ended up as one of my favorite episodes of any show ever.
I watched soprano's years after it ended and had never heard of Pine Barrens. It caught me offguard how entertaining and different it was and it ended up as one of my favorite episodes of any show ever.
Posted on 1/15/25 at 8:25 am to Corso
quote:
But then again I couldn't stand Paulie as a character
Posted on 1/15/25 at 8:27 am to DirtyMikeandtheBoys
That Christopher intervention episode was funny as hell too.
Posted on 1/15/25 at 8:29 am to MasonTiger
The Sopranos is one of the overall funniest shows ever put out there. It's an incredible comedy
Posted on 1/15/25 at 9:02 am to MasonTiger
quote:
That Christopher intervention episode was funny as hell too.
So many amazing moments just in the intervention scene.
Paulie's facial reaction when Adriana tells Christopher "You can no longer function as a man."
Paulie's question after learning Chris killed Adriana's dog: "What was it, barking?"
Silvio's amazing monotone delivery: “When I came in to open up one morning there you were with your head half in the toilet. Your hair was in the toilet water. Disgusting.”
Chris: "I told you I had the flu."
Silvio: "I said my piece, Chrissy."
"Paul, you want to read your statement?"
"I don't write nothing down."
This post was edited on 1/15/25 at 9:05 am
Posted on 1/15/25 at 9:34 am to gumbo2176
quote:
Then the fact when that episode ended, that was the end of it. A highly respected foreign mobster suddenly disappears and NOBODY is held accountable in any way, shape or form.
It was one of the funnier episodes with the interactions of Christopher and Paulie coming off like 2 of the 3 stooges, but that's about it.
He was respected by the head of the Russian mob Slava who had fought with him in the war and was his friend. He told Toney how sad it was that Valery had fallen so low and that he employed him out of their past friendship. At the end of the episode, Toney has to take a large duffle bag of money to Slava to be laundered and Slava has a giant gold plated desert eagle on his desk. There is a ton of tension in that scene where we are wondering if Slava knows that Toney's henchmen killed his friend. I assumed he suspected as much but understood that Valery was an alcoholic mess and that was the nature of their business. The fact is that Chase left the episode open ended as he was want to do. Go back and rewatch it or at least the ending.
Posted on 1/15/25 at 10:46 am to Corso
quote:
I couldn't stand Paulie as a character
Posted on 1/15/25 at 11:16 am to MikeyFL
The best part of Paulie Walnuts was they say he kind of wasn't even acting. Tony Sirico was basically playing himself 
Posted on 1/15/25 at 11:43 am to WG_Dawg
#winning
Posted on 1/15/25 at 11:53 am to WG_Dawg
quote:
Pine barrens is not anywhere in the solar system of being the best sopranos episode.
I don't disagree with your basic premise, but we need a lot of context.
Sopranos is (for many) the GOAT television series. Even if a person didn't agree with that, it is indisputable that the quality of the Sopranos, the combination of popularity and critical acclaim brought a lot of money and talent to cable series in the following decade or so.
And it is reasonably serial and threaded - characters have an arc and storylines take significant stretches, sometimes more than a season to complete. So, you either watch "the show" or you don't.
Pine Barrens is one of the more self-contained episodes (ETA: Frankly, another favorite, University, also fits this category). It is also both very fun and highly rewatchable. A fan who has completed that episode can cue up that single episode and enjoy it without the need to watch the whole season, much less the entire series.
So, it follows that it is a commonly recommended, "Just watch this episode and if you like it, you'll like the entire show." Because, for many of these shows, it is a slow burn and the pilot may not grab everyone. I mean, some shows knock it out of the park with the pilot (The Shield, The Wire, even GoT). Others are more slow burn and do require that you invest some in the characters and stories (Sopranos, Mad Men, Breaking Bad).
With that context, Pine Barrens is perfectly valid as a "best" (best for the purposes above).
Depending on what sort of story you like, University, College, White Caps, Employee of the Month, etc.
I mean, I see folks turned off by The Test Dream (which is certainly polarizing), but at the same time, it has many similarities with probably most folks' favorite episode of another great HBO series, The Leftovers, International Assassin.
So, there is all of that.
This post was edited on 1/15/25 at 11:55 am
Posted on 1/15/25 at 12:07 pm to Ace Midnight
I will say Paulie was a bitch arse in that episode. Dude was straight up trying to throw Christopher under the bus when the whole situation was his fault.
quote:
Sometimes your nephew don't think before he acts. That's all I'll say.
Posted on 1/15/25 at 12:19 pm to Ace Midnight
quote:
Others are more slow burn and do require that you invest some in the characters and stories (Sopranos, Mad Men, Breaking Bad).
You might want to re-watch BB. The pilot is no slow burn. You get Walt taken from HS chem teacher to battling Mexican gangsters in the desert there.
Posted on 1/15/25 at 1:17 pm to Jack Ruby
quote:
"Long Term Parking"
Posted on 1/15/25 at 1:47 pm to Marciano1
Tarantino recently on JRE stated that he considered films still to be superior to TV shows because films had "moments" that stood out and stood the test of time because of the compacted nature of the medium.
And while I agree with his sentiments, and consider movies a better experience overall, The Sopranos is the only show I can ever think of that had "moments" that still are as vivid as the first time I saw them... And the scenes in "Long Term Parking" is one of those.l, especially The airport parking lot PA announcer saying "Long Term Parking" over the lot with Adrianna's car either there empty.... Damn.
It's just another reason the show is the best ever.
And while I agree with his sentiments, and consider movies a better experience overall, The Sopranos is the only show I can ever think of that had "moments" that still are as vivid as the first time I saw them... And the scenes in "Long Term Parking" is one of those.l, especially The airport parking lot PA announcer saying "Long Term Parking" over the lot with Adrianna's car either there empty.... Damn.
It's just another reason the show is the best ever.
This post was edited on 1/15/25 at 1:50 pm
Posted on 1/15/25 at 1:50 pm to Jack Ruby
When Tony and Christopher had the car crash.
Christopher telling Tony "I'll never pass a drug test." We all know what happened next. I'll never forget it. The Sopranos had a lot of of monumental moments.
Christopher telling Tony "I'll never pass a drug test." We all know what happened next. I'll never forget it. The Sopranos had a lot of of monumental moments.
Posted on 1/15/25 at 1:58 pm to wesfau
quote:
You might want to re-watch BB. The pilot is no slow burn. You get Walt taken from HS chem teacher to battling Mexican gangsters in the desert there.
Fair enough, now that I think about it. All the same, the show didn't really turn for me until Crawlspace. I guess "slow burn" is a lazy term. It took some time for the switch to go on for me with BB and Sopranos. Less so for Mad Men, but still and I consider them on the shortlist for GOAT series.
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