currently re watching season 4 for the 4th time maybe,,

chris just went into rehab great episode,,,

realy miss the Sopranos gota watch 2 episodes a day

best show ever

His name was Gino in that episode. I'm sure everyone knows that though.lol

But it is the character in his entirity. It mirror images the scene when Tony helps Beansie blow his nose after getting run over by Ritchie. Tony is both good and evil. Imagine him before theropy!!! I doubt they would have allowed it to be shown on t.v.
We all forget just what this person is and all he is capable of. Shocking because its unexpected, but why??? Thats the brilliance of this show.

A stroke o genius. Very funny indeed.

In the very first episode of the series,the pilot,when Cristohper is whacking Emil Kolar at the porkstore,they show 3 shots of some old timers...assuming they are real-life mobsters,does anybody know who they are?

The cut-aways are of Humphrey Bogart, Dean Martin and Edward G. Robinson.

Bogart and Robinson are actors, who made their name by playing tough guys. Martin is an Italian American singer, and a member of the Rat Pack, alongside Frank Sinatra.

Thanks...

Thanks to a local blockbuster closing down I got 2 seasons of the Sopranos (5 and 6a) for $10 each!

James should have went as Tony for halloween instead of Homer IMO.

I just watched Uncle Junior smash his gumata in the face with a cream pie. That scene never ceases to make me fall on the floor laughing .

That episode, Boca, is one of my favorites. I felt really sorry for Junior there.

"South of the border, down Mexico way. South of the border, where the tunafish play. "

"Uncle Jun's in the muff. Wha did I say muff? I meant rough!"

Merry Christmas Sopranos style:

I just started watching the whole thing in order since I found a website where you can download every episode (with portuguese subtitles ). I could never watch it on a regular basis before since it aired at sunday 1 AM last time I recall.

near the end of the 1st episode - the pilot -, Chris is acting like a spoiled brat in AJ's party at Tony's house for not gaining recognition for the Kolar job and then he mentions that he "could have sold his lifestory to a Hollywood script in order to get big money", to what Tony explodes and says "do you know how many mobsters ruined it all for selling a script? do you think I didn't receive an offer?"

what exactly are they talking about? is there a Hollywood tellstory involving mobsters lifestories or is he just reacting to the Henry Hill type? anyway that episode seems a little dull overall; I can't wait to get to the real action!

Now, in the 4th episode - "Meadowlands" - Mikey Palmice takes a beating from Tony and that reminded me of something...

before I started watching every episode in order I caught most of the 3rd season - Pine Barrens, Jackie Jr, the rise and fall of Ralph Cifaretto... - and of course there was an episode when Ralphie takes a beating from Tony for killing a Bada Bing stripper, and then everybody including Tony became worried that a bloodshed could happen, because Tony went way out of line and that he should've whacked Ralphie then if he was all that upset, because "you should never put your hands on a made guy" and so. Tony himself says "Mikey Palmice is a made guy" in "Meadowlands" and then he beats the crap out of the guy.

is the big difference that Mikey Palmice was a regular soldier while Ralphie was a capo? the "don't fist fight a made guy" rule is worth only among high ranking members?

more: Tony's plan to let Junior feel like he's in control and use him as a lightning rod to the FBI may seem perfect but how long would it take to Junior's guys on the streets hear the word that Juniot is a puppet for the other capos? and how healthy is it for the DiMeo Family to have an old school capo used as a puppet-doll for the younger guys?

bonus: given the fact that the show is brilliant, what stands out are the mistakes - "The Pilot" is very very dull. that car pursuit action scene is lame! and the music playing in the lobsters scene with all the capos too.. (episode #3 I believe) it basically ruined the scene.

plus, what's the background on Jimmy Altieri? don't he look too young to be capo? I kept thinking he was the driver to one of them... he really looks like a giant guy from Junior's crew who keeps confrontating Tony as he busts into the restaurant where Junior seems to be all the time surrounded by his guys in "Meadowlands". even with the tense situation at the time between Tony and Junior, isn't it too offensive?

well I guess that's it...

The Sopranos is my favorite TV show, but it does have it's flaws. New characters are introduced every season without any build up from the previous seasons. It also ruins the reality of the show when they have different or the same actors portraying the same character. Like then Vito is "Gino" when Chris shoots that man in the foot or when Father Intantola is portrayed by a different actor in the pilot. Also Tony's voice is way different in the pilot compared to the rest of the series. Minor things like this ruin the illusion for me.

I agree that the show has its flaws but I don't think these are the ones you brought up.

I actually like that new characters are introduced and I just accept that they were out of people's minds while they were in jail. the large ammount of characters added to the depth of the show I believe, and most of their stories and backgrounds fit with the ongoing action;

and more important, you shouldn't give "The Pilot" that much credit - I learned that it was made about 9-10 months before the rest of Season 1 and David Chase didn't even know if it would be picked up and he even wanted it to be made into a movie. it amazes me that HBO didn't free up the cash to reshoot it once it was picked up and I learned from message boards folks that when The Sopranos first aired they aired "The Pilot" and "46 Long" back-to-back, probably to make the viewer forget about the "flaws" (if you want) of the Pilot, mostly because it was dull and silly and it obviously didn't even fit with the plot of Season 1 - Tony is referred to as "the Don of New Jersey" several times and Sil doesn't even know who Artie Bucco is. plus, I always wonder that he is received as a surprise guest at the pork shop, which is named differently...

So you see, they fine tuned the plot once the show was picked up and in my opinion the first episodes do a good job overall as to introduce Tony and wrap up enough things about his job and personal life to make him likeable and interesting.

seriously, that is still bugging me...

the show is famous for lines of a given season popping up years later and everything matching and fitting but I believe there is a tiny-little-mini plot hole in there as they wanted to assure the viewer that Tony was really brave and powerful and didn't care that a made guy wouldn't just take a beating and sit tight. not that Mikey Palmice would provoke an all out mob war but he could get back at Tony before getting whacked.

PS: I know Tony kills Mikey Palmice later and that they did share a tense relationship but they even went playing golf together - of course Mikey was just escorting Junior but what I mean is, wouldn't a made guy jump at whoever's neck that beat him up? I have the feeling I'm absolutely nit-picking with that though, and I'm asking questions before the movie ends just like an annoying girlfriend

buuut, unless there is a line explaining exactly my question in the last 2 episodes of Season 1, I say they just wanted to make Tony look all brave and powerful.

Always annoyed me how Tony in season2 just ignores the fact Junior tried to have him whacked!!! It's like he forgives him.

On one level it didn't make any sense but on a different level it was perfect for that character. As wicked and greedy and heartless as Tony is and despite the fact that he was on the verge of smothering his mother, he still had some familial love for Junior and recognized that Junior had been manipulated by Livia. Junior was a father figure for Tony.

That aside, keeping Junior around as bait for law enforcement and having Junior realize that he was just a front and that there was nothing he could do about it, was both good business for Tony and in some ways a greater revenge on Junior than getting rid of him.

True. Makes more sense when you look at it that way.

The second episode of the 2nd season is supposed to clear that Junior is no longer a threat to Tony at all. it opens with them confronting each other and ends with Tony carrying Junior. the old guy is fading fast and Mikey P was the real threat. he even agrees that Junior just did what he had to do and more important, Tony was convinced by his lawyer in the previous episode that it's good business to let Junior live.

plus he is one of the trademark characters and they couldn't afford to have Tony whack him - the audience must have something to like about Tony - why do you think Chris gets away with so much shit?

one thing that I was about to post is what the fuck happened in the last episode of the 1st season?

I hope I never stumble into a worse episode than that one. it provided the usual wrap ups and was indeed a good watch but there are so many silly things and out of character moments that you just can't get over

Tony literally telling his wife and shrink that he is going to have people killed? Melfi giving diagnosis on someone she never met? and how many leaps of logic did she take to be so sure that Livia planned to have Tony killed? and how many did Livia take to be so sure that Tony ordered the firing of Vesuvio? and why wiseguys kept walking all by themselves when they knew their fellow mobsters wanted to whack them? - and dating back to the previous episode "Isabella", which was great, how stupid are Junior and his crew? the head of the DiMeo Family relies on a junkie-looking middle man who hired "two girls with 9mm"??? and then kills the middleman and the guys are still up for the job?

I don't think Mikey would have garnered much support from other members to go after a higher ranking guy like Tony, who was still next in line to taker over Joisey. Tony supported the other members' interests much more than low-ranking guy such as Mikey. Ralphie on the other hand could have caused Tony lots of problems--which he did, if I recall.

someone asked this exact same question in the imdb.com boards.

the Mike Palmice beating is supposed to be less harming than Ralphie's because it was a time of great tension between Tony and Junior and the best way to look at it is that Mikey did get angry and was planning to have Tony killed all along.

I haven't watched those early episodes in ages, but I think any notions Mikey had of whacking Tony were mostly predicated on the fact that Junior and Tony were having conflict, and Mikey thought he might be able to parlay that into his own gains. I don't think Mikey's motivations for wanting to kill Tony were personal, as you say, but for reasons of business. Mikey is clearly a notch or two below Tony in terms of earning power and rank, but he has strong ambition of rising in rank, and eliminating Tony might help facilitate that.

Mikey certainly had ambitions of being Junior's right-hand and displacing Tony, but I don't see how this could be accomplished without Junior's support. If I remember correctly, Mikey tells his wife that Junior has plans to remove Tony, and this will help his own rise in the family. But then Junior begins to back-off on the idea and at that point I don't see how Mikey could be strong enough to go at it alone against Tony, and if he did, would that not anger Junior who had reconciled with Tony at that point?

yes you are right and I didn't oppose it. when I say that "Mikey was planning to have Tony killed all along" I mean he was doing it through Junior, trying to turn him against Tony and eventually helping to manipulate Junior into the attempted hit.

as for Mikey P's motivations, Michael Corleone told us - in the novel, not in the movie - that they had to be personal as much as business. at least he wasn't beaten up over a civillian and in front of other made guys, like Ralphie was, but Mikey a made man himself would never sit with that and would always hold a vendetta feeling towards Tony.