As the title suggests - I was really looking forward to a tense last episode in the series, but it seemed to just fizzle out. Any news on dates for the next series ?
Plot lines always fizzle out in the Sopranos. For example: The cop he got fired in s3. Paulie and the Russians in s3. Adreana and the FBI in s4. Ralphies death in s4. They never seem to follow through. Also, season 4 hardly had Dr. Melfi in it
I posted this somewhere else, but I was really disappointed in Season 4 entirely. The snappy dialogue and brilliant scenes were all but nonexistant. The show has become an average soap. It's still better than a heck of a lot of shows on TV, but it used to be so much better. The storyline is still pretty good, but the show doesn't have the same quality of the first few seasons. I'll be stopping my DVD collection at season 3 by the looks of things.
A friend tells me that his dad, who lives close to Clearwater in Florida and who sends us tapes of the series from the states before they're shown here, says the next season is only weeks away in the States. But I find this hard to believe. I have to agree with the last episode though. I was more like a mid-season storyline.
Does anyone else think that the best character in the show is Svetlana (lady with 1 leg), she steals every scene she's in. Hope we see more of her in season 5. I must admit I thought season 4 was the weakest yet, the same thing happened with Buffy though, season 4 was quite poor but since then it's gone from strength to strength and is now better than the earlier seasons IMO.
Svetlana is indeed class - I love the fact that this 'plain' looking one legged russian woman just gives Tony back as much **** as she gets is great. The star for me this series was Ralph - I still can't get that image of him and janice with the vibro out of my head
I thought the fourth series was excellent. I was hoping the Russian episode would be developed this series, perhaps it will be in season 5. I didn't like that there were far less characters per episode than any other season. Dr Melfi, Meadow only appeared in a handful of episodes and Paulie hardly featured in the first half
I think this is wishful thinking there was an 18 month gap between seasons 3 and 4 in the states and the fourth season began September 15th I would be amazed if the fifth season appeared before this date this year The cop was just a one off, why would it need to be followed up The Russian episode surely will be developed further as will Adreana and the F.B.I. Ralphies death ??? I personally thought this was by far the best episode of the season. He will be missed though, a great character. My favourite moment of the season Adreana reaction to being questioned by the F.B.I.
Well I loved it all. The Sopranos is always a class act in every way. There was plenty in the final episode to keep me entertained. I think they are at the stage now where they have to produce storylines that'll run into next series, not just the next episode! I'll be buying the series on DVD when it comes out. One day I'll do a 'All The Sopranos Series in one Session!' and see how they all meld into each other.
The Sopranos is intelligently written, it would be so easy to have....(don't want to post spoilers ), everyone who watched will know.... The storylines are less artificial than most other series, subtle and poignant with it. Their lives evolve, look at the shots of Bada Bing!, remember the crack in the early series with Big Pussy and everyone, now it's so quiet. That's how life goes... The series was quieter but I enjoyed it every bit as much as the others, will miss it when the plug is pulled.
I thought it was excellent. The acting as brilliant as ever, especially the scenes between Soprano and his wife - You can't get any better than that. You're all being too picky.
But just go back and watch a couple eps from the 1st or 2nd season. Can you honestly tell me that the writing is as witty and entertaining as it was back then. The acting is still great, it's the writing that I'm disappointed in.
I think the quality of writing has been maintained true this season was in a different style I think on repeated viewings the fourth season will be appreciated
Maybe I'm in the minority but I watched all the episodes of the 4th season and didn't laugh once. The earlier seasons had quite a few scenes that made me laugh out loud. The 4th season eps had a few scenes that surprised me, but not in a good way. More of in a "why on earth would they do that?" kind of way. There were a couple of scenes that I actually fast-forwarded through! (I'm a huge fan of the Sopranos, so that's a pretty big insult) I'm thinking of the whole Ouija board angle which was painful to watch. Also, the characters' motivations seemed to waffle a lot. At the beginning of the season, Silvio was acting very contrary and causing a lot of chaos, but that seemed to just stop with no explanation. It was almost as if they took Silvio's plot and gave it to Paulie. I'm not sure exactly what's missing, but I know what I'm missing... that goofy grin that was on my face after each and every episode of the first 3 seasons. I watched the 4th season to keep up with the plot, but I honestly wasn't entertained like I was in the past. Course, maybe Six Feet Under has raised my expectations for a show and the Sopranos doesn't live up to it anymore.
This is a good point I think Silvio just got a Paddy on because Tony was putting Chris ahead of him I had forgotten about that The dark humour was less evident also than in previous seasons, perhaps the writers have been watching Eastenders A few that made me laugh that spring to mind Adrianna - The FBI scene Chris falling asleep on the dog Silvio and Paulie giving Chris a kicking
Similarly, some say SFU second series was poor compared to first. I liked it just as much, but again it evolved to a quieter style.
I thought the 2nd season of SFU was better than the first, but the style did change slightly between the two. In its defense, I did like the scenes with Svetlana in the 4th season of the Sopranos. But they were few and far between. So many of the ideas seemed to be wasted, however. I thought they could have done a much better job on Junior's "mental illness." There was some great potential for some of the plot points, but they seemed glossed over. Maybe they tried to cram too much into the plot, so everything seemed a little rushed. Again.. more like soaps than the 1 hour movies that the first few seasons seemed to be.
Funniest episode ever Totally agree . When he ties those rags around his feet and Christopher says "get Bruno Magli" I cracked up . I can`t walk past Bruno Magli shop now without thinking of it . I love the last series but must also agree the way it fizzled out . In the ads for the final one they showed loads of action and I thought many questions would be answered but it was the opposite.
It is dissappointing how the last two series have kind of "fizzled out". I came away more satisfied after the S4 finale than S3's last episode though. I was a bit stunned with the S3 finale as nothing really happened and the whacking Jackie Jnr - a character who had featured alot in the whole series lasted a mere 10 seconds! Plot lines are often getting forgotten and many events that get you hyped up and anxious to see the outcome are either a anti climax or never happen. But it's still the best thing on TV, my favourite series ever ( along with 24) I just hope if S5 is the last series things go off big time and they go out with a bang. Would love to see more mob violence and dark humour I think we all love!
dead on Splinter my fav programme as well . Svetlana is great but i was gutted Tony killed Ralph as he was hilarious . More Junior , more mob violence , oh and can someone kick Janices ass perhaps Svetlana can wipe her out with her plastic leg . I heard something about there being a film made about Tony cant remember where though
Since someone already mentioned the possible spoiler (for those who haven't seen all the latest season), I'll touch on it too. I was watching an interview with Joe Pantoliano (Ralph) and he was talking about how that scene with him and Tony is huge in the States, as if it was one of the most memorable scenes in TV history. Huh? Maybe I missed something, but the whole thing felt kinda flat to me. I definitely wasn't on the edge of my seat for the whole thing, because you could see it coming a mile away. When I think of the "Pine Barrens" episode (Paulie and the Russian), it shocks me to see how much more pedestrian the show seems nowadays.