Little Carmine has the brains to run it, but I think he is more of a pacifist than Phil, as he is always the first to offer a compromise. Hopefully something will happen to turn him, and he will align with NJ. I really hate Phil.

5/21/2007 1:12:36 PM

After last night's episode, I keep thinking there has to be more...a war with New York seems inevitable (esp. after Phil rejected the meeting with Carmine and Tony). I don't know how, short of Phil's death, David Chase could avoid that, but, on the other hand, I don't know how you do it in two episodes.

5/21/2007 1:57:19 PM

Quote :

"According to a reporter friend of mine who just e-mailed in, and who once covered the Russian mafia, curbing, or curb-stomping, is also known as the "Brighton Beach Special" and the "Russian Mouthwash," and it is generally meant to wound, not to kill. For those of you trying out for "Jackass Four," it all depends, apparently, on where the foot comes down: If it strikes the back of the neck, the patient dies; if the foot strikes the head, the jaw is separated from the skull, but death does not necessarily follow."

5/21/2007 2:38:36 PM

agreed, 2 episodes seems 2 too few to me! Anyways, Tony, meadow, and AJ all could be getting whacked here shortly. I don't know... War does seem inevitable and I hope that it ends with tony on top but I don't see anything to support that happening, just more self-destructive behavior.

5/21/2007 2:43:33 PM

mobsters don't go to war anymore. they cull out the weak and let things settle back down.

5/21/2007 2:57:08 PM

I got so excited when the guy said that to Meadow though, because I knew there was gonna be a good beating to follow.

5/21/2007 3:07:21 PM

So I was discussing this with a friend last night...and basically I was saying, "Chase can't effectively deal with this in two episodes--there are just too many loopholes."

Then, my friend's like..."well, it's a tv show...he could just fast forward to the end." I shrugged off the notion at first, thinking there's no way David Chase would do that, but I keep coming back to the idea.

Chase wouldn't do that, though, right?

5/21/2007 3:08:38 PM

i dont think alot of you realize how substantially this show has transcended beyond a show about a mob and refuse to acknowledge what it has become, and most of your prognostications about the end will be way off base in terms of what constitutes closure for the series

5/21/2007 3:13:08 PM

^^ The Six Feet Under ending where Meadow drives away and then they show everyone being whacked over the years?

[Edited on May 21, 2007 at 3:13 PM. Reason : .]

5/21/2007 3:13:40 PM

Quote :

"i dont think alot of you realize how substantially this show has transcended beyond a show about a mob and refuse to acknowledge what it has become, and most of your prognostications about the end will be way off base in terms of what constitutes closure for the series "

agreed

5/21/2007 3:15:01 PM

double agree.

One of favorite aspects of the show is when people contradict themselves. Meadow realizes she wants to go to law school and help fight for justice but knowing that when she tells Tony about what Coco said to her that daddy would "talk to somebody." Meadow isn't dumb.


Best lines of the night:
Carmella complaining to Tony
"You have any idea what it's like to spend day after day with somebody who is constantly complaining?"
And
Little Carmine to Tony on holding back when attacking Coco
"You were being prudent"

5/21/2007 3:30:52 PM

Quote :

"^^ The Six Feet Under ending where Meadow drives away and then they show everyone being whacked over the years? "

the thought of that crossed my mind at the beginning of the season, but I doubt it now.

this show hasn't transcended any boundaries about being a focus on the mob. This show is merely tearing away at the false assumptions many people had about the way the mob operates.

5/21/2007 3:55:00 PM

wheres last night's episode's blog like the one at the bottom of page 5? not the sepinwall column from nj.com but the followup to this http://mattzollerseitz.blogspot.com/2007/05/sopranos-mondays-season-six-ep-18-heidi.html ?

5/21/2007 4:13:16 PM

dunno man, but i've been checking back there all day...after his last one i really want to read his.

5/21/2007 4:24:09 PM

I am hoping for 2 outcomes.

Tony shows his intelligence again and makes a preemptive strike taking out a lot of key players enough to secure some security in NJ.

Or, they dont worry about a mob war, and The law comes in.

Or tony dies

O the FBI comes a-runnin

to many possibilities

5/21/2007 6:51:50 PM

I wanna see a war and Bobby go ape shit on someone.

Although I feel Bobby is going to get pinched for being sloppy in the laundry room killing.

5/21/2007 7:16:39 PM

Quote :

"Best lines of the night: Carmella complaining to Tony "You have any idea what it's like to spend day after day with somebody who is constantly complaining?" And Little Carmine to Tony on holding back when attacking Coco "You were being prudent""

No, Paulie talking about tripping on acid at the Copa with Tony's dad and lazerbeams coming out of Junior's eyes, YES.

5/21/2007 9:36:04 PM

either tony gets killed or shit just falls apart entirely.

anthony jr is gonna be there for a long time, families life might just fall apart

5/21/2007 10:05:33 PM

Matt Zoller Seitz's blog

http://mattzollerseitz.blogspot.com/2007/05/sopranos-mondays-season-6-ep-18-second.html

too long to post in a quote.

5/21/2007 10:09:33 PM

Man...I'm watching some of the earlier episodes of "The Sopranos" on A&E now and I can't believe how drastically Chase's changed Tony.

5/22/2007 2:26:05 AM

Quote :

"Best lines of the night:"

Melfi: "On some level he may have known the rope was too long to keep him submerged"
Toni: "Or he could just be a fucking idiot, historically thats been the case"

5/22/2007 11:32:45 AM

I'd like to see a deranged Junior Soprano run up and yell "Cazzata Malanga!" and shoot Phil in the gut

5/22/2007 12:08:06 PM

Little Carmine was entertaining as always:

- re tony and coco: "this alteration you had with him"

- predicament with phil: "you're at the precipice of an enormous crossroad"

5/22/2007 12:50:25 PM

this is a great and insightful post from that blog of a guy that agrees with me!!

A few weeks ago I stated the belief that, if one of the Soprano children was to be the target of some form of retaliation, AJ rather than Meadow was likely to be on the receiving end, simply because his rekindled friendship with the Jasons put him on a collision course with mob life and, it would follow, with mobsters, while Meadow, while accepting that crime paid for her education and her lifestyle, still kept it quite compartmentalized and at arm's length, much like Carmela. Now suddenly, the tables have turned. AJ is locked away and probably safe, even if somebody did overtly target him. In fact, wouldn't that be the ultimate irony? If Tony's "putrid genes" ended up saving AJ rather than dooming him. Meadow, on the other hand, suddenly has the life that will put her on a collision course with Tony's "other Family". She is dating the son of one of Tony's soldiers, who apparently lives and/or works in New York City, and, while I am not clear on what his job is, it apparently has something to do with law because he convinced Meadow to go to law school with his talk about the Justice System. If she ends up back at Columbia or working at the Legal Aid in the city, both she and her boyfriend will both be living their lives on Phil's turf. They already "accidentally" ran into one of Phil's soldiers and Meadow got harassed. More "accidental meetings" might be on the way.

If you really reach (and, yes, these all go in the category of extreme overthinking), there has been other potential foreshadowing that Meadow may be in danger. I am not sure if it was this blog or Alan Sepinwall's, but somebody made the point that perhaps the smashed baby seat in Christopher's car last week represented Christopher's daughter or Janice's daughter being in danger. Could it not actually be pointing to Tony's own daughter being in danger?? Moreover, I still believe that the dumping of asbestos in New Jersey's meadowlands also foreshadows something just as insidious for Tony's Meadow. Finally, whereas many have pointed out that death for Tony before he has to reap what he's sown would be the ultimate escape, I think the flip side, the ultimate punishment for Tony, would be his witnessing something happening to Meadow. His reaction to Coco's harassment this week seems to bear this out and Phil has undoubtedly noticed. Phil, who still clearly carries a major grudge for the death of his brother, Joey Peeps, and holds Tony personally responsible, would probably be more likely and willing to target Meadow to get his revenge. I can't imagine that she would be killed, but perhaps kidnapped? ....or raped? ....or something similarly awful? Any of these would certainly break Tony, although your guess is as good as mine as to what might happen if Tony "breaks". It could well be anything from a nervous breakdown to a murderous rampage or all of the above. Suffice to say, no matter where things go from here, things have been set up brilliantly for something big.

5/22/2007 1:00:28 PM

if they go after meadow and there's even thirty minutes of episode left, i hope tony and his crew unleash a fury of hell on phil like he's never seen. just for the hell of it.

5/22/2007 5:09:52 PM

I think I will be let down if there is no gun battle royal or assassinations.

Just will

5/22/2007 5:15:20 PM

Tony's gonna get whacked.

Just watch.

5/22/2007 5:17:45 PM

nothing crazy is going to happen and all YOU PEOPLE are going to sit in the corner and cry while i LOL

5/22/2007 5:53:15 PM

Dr. Melfi is more likely to die than Tony before season's end.

5/22/2007 6:29:02 PM

shananigins

5/22/2007 8:54:58 PM

i think anthony jr gets targeted by phil

but i dont care what happens as long as its good

5/22/2007 9:50:43 PM

fyi

Sopranos will not be on this Sunday...I guess they want people to be able to do whatever they want for Memorial Day weekend without having to worry about missing Sopranos since so many people are off work on Monday

returns next Sunday

5/24/2007 11:58:10 AM

i'm going to be in hawaii during the finale and there is just about no way i'll be watching it - doh

5/24/2007 11:59:36 AM

if you have either HBO OnDemand or digital cable or satellite with the HBO package, you should have a good dozen or so chances to watch it later that week

5/24/2007 12:13:27 PM

Quote :

"Family Guy by David Remnick June 4, 2007 In the pilot episode of “The Sopranos,” which Home Box Office first aired on January 10, 1999, a thickening son of Essex County, New Jersey, reluctantly visits Jennifer Melfi, a psychiatrist, at her office in Montclair. His name is Anthony Soprano and he has been depressed. Tony lives in a “French provincial” McMansion in North Caldwell with his wife, Carmela, and their children, Meadow and A.J. He works as a “waste-management consultant,” as he all too modestly informs his doctor; in fact, his interests extend to the docks, “no show” construction jobs, paving and joint-fitting unions, an “executive card game,” a sports book in Roseville, loan-sharking, coffee-shop and pizza-place protection rackets, truck hijacking, HUD scams, fell-off-the-back-of-a-truck consumer goods, a strip club in Lodi, and extensive holdings in real estate, vinegar peppers, and gabagool. Tony Soprano, as everyone in north Jersey and beyond has come to know, is the head of the Di Meo crime family. He has been suffering from panic attacks. Business is uneven. His associates and his children lack focus. His uncle resents his authority. His wife resents his late-night romps with yet another goomah. And his mother, the Medea of Bloomfield Avenue, never loved him (and may yet give the signal to have him whacked). The pressure is really something. Just recently, he tells Dr. Melfi, he was short of breath, tingly inside—“It felt like ginger ale in my skull.” He collapsed while grilling pork sausages on the barbecue: TONY: The morning of the day I got sick, I been thinking. It’s good to be in something from the ground floor. I came in too late for that, I know. But lately, I’m getting the feeling that I came in at the end. The best is over. DR. MELFI: Many Americans, I think, feel that way. TONY: I think about my father. He never reached the heights like me. But in a lotta ways he had it better. He had his people. They had their standards. They had pride. Today, whadda we got? And so began Tony’s quest for a renewed sense of family, heritage, coherent truths, mental health, and a prime cut of the Esplanade construction projects. “The Sopranos,” the richest achievement in the history of television, comes to an end June 10th, after eighty-six episodes. It has been with us a long time—longer than the Bush Administration (and nothing seems more interminable than that). In his first hour onscreen, Tony, played by James Gandolfini, still had a modest shock of hair and a Gleasonesque lightness to his step. He had not yet achieved the menacing rhino plod that would come with time, anxiety, and fifteen thousand buttered bialys. We’d yet to glimpse his rages, and his accent was less mobbed up, almost refined. He sounded more Summit than Newark. Nevertheless, to an astonishing degree the characters and the ideas––comic, dramatic, and social––in “The Sopranos” were in place from the start. Even though its creator, David Chase, never had the luxury of a novelist’s control of length and narrative destiny, he has rarely faltered. The show evolved in the manner of a sprawling social novel of the nineteenth century, constantly sprouting new plotlines, developing recurring jokes, images, and characters. Dickens would have seen a kinsman in the creator of “Paulie Walnuts” Gualtieri. Besides, there are fewer dull patches in “The Sopranos” than there are in “The Mystery of Edwin Drood”––all due respect. Like John Updike’s Rabbit series or Philip Roth’s novels of the past decade, “The Sopranos” teems with the mindless commerce and consumption of modern America. The drama and the comedy are rooted in the particulars of life as it is lived from the Pulaski Skyway to Bergen Avenue, and yet the larger events of the world are never completely sealed from view. There are always televisions playing in the background––the local news in offices and hospital rooms, the “Hitler channel” in Tony’s living room—and so world politics is the undercurrent rumbling beneath the ordinary nights in New Jersey. History echoes the domestic catastrophes. As Bobby “Bacala” Baccalieri put it with dire resignation, “Quasimodo predicted all of this.” No matter how funny or blatantly cartoonish some of the supporting players are (Steve Van Zandt’s Silvio Dante seems less like a human being than an animated Fellini figure), the mobsters and their families in “The Sopranos” are a recognizable reflection of all of us. The epic is peopled with every variety of twenty-first-century character imaginable: mobsters, yes, but also shadow communities of smug and equally troubled psychiatrists, disillusioned F.B.I. agents and cops, neurotic priests, immigrant “caregivers,” screen-addled teen-agers, earnestly self-indulgent Columbia students. It is an Essex County of Italians, Irish, blacks, and Jews, but also of new immigrants: Koreans, Russians, Ukrainians, and Arabs. Other television series have guests, character types who make a purposeful one-night stand and are then replaced with new types in new situations. In “The Sopranos,” characters arrive and take full human shape; children grow into adults—and sometimes, without explanation, like a Russian mobster fleeing through the snowy woods of the Pine Barrens, they inexplicably disappear and frustrate our TV-shaped need for lessons and resolution. It doesn’t matter that we come to “like” Adriana La Cerva. Chase has no use for our sentiment. He kills it off with a .38. “The Sopranos,” like its predecessor, Martin Scorsese’s “Goodfellas,” is about the ruthlessness of petty lying crooks, but the beat-downs, strangulations, and shootings are the least of the violence. Chase is merciless with his exposure of the ordinary disappointments and tragedies. He has immersed us for years in an examination of addiction, twelve-step recoveries, teen-age depression, modern pharmacology, suicides, sexual indulgence, family betrayals, financial manipulation, accidents, heart attacks, strokes, death and dying––and always, afterward, the inability to summon a language to equal the emotion. “Whaddya gonna do?” is the shrugging motif. A young, healthy thug dies reading a magazine on the toilet. An S.U.V. flips over on a rain-slick road. “Whaddya gonna do?” Michael Corleone almost convinces us, in his autumnal walk with Kay Adams, that he is the moral superior of a senator. Chase’s vision is darker, and as we descend into the death spiral of the final episodes it only gets worse. Just when we begin to grow too fond of Tony, when we get all gooey about his plight as a misunderstood son and overextended executive and father, Chase has him do something to undercut our sympathy. After his son, A.J., has tried to kill himself by pulling a plastic bag over his head, tying a cinder block to his foot, and jumping into the family’s back-yard swimming pool, Tony explains to Dr. Melfi (Lorraine Bracco) that A.J. survived because the rope was too long. Maybe he’s just “an idiot,” he declares offhandedly, his paternal grief mixing with loveless dismissal. “Historically, that’s been the case.” Even Tony’s clear-eyed and maternal wife, Carmela, played by Edie Falco, is willing to set aside her occasional outbursts of umbrage for the price of an Hermès scarf. “They say it’s the best,” Tony informs her, as the marital storm passes. Everyone in “The Sopranos” has grown older (and we along with them). One after another, the made men and crew members disappear from the stage—an accelerated version of what happens naturally. “Hope comes in many forms,” Dr. Melfi tells Tony in one of their first sessions. “Well, who’s got the time for that?” he replies. The end is a mystery, but we know one thing: “The Sopranos” defied Aristotelian conventions. It is a comedy that ends with a litany of the dead and missing. Whaddya gonna do?"

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2007/06/04/070604taco_talk_remnick

5/29/2007 5:30:58 PM

This week, the allegiance of those closest to Tony is put to the test. Meanwhile, a case of mistaken identity has serious ramifications in Episode 85: "The Blue Comet."

6/1/2007 2:04:15 PM

and then on June 10:

Made in America - "The sixth and final season ends. Written and directed by series creator David Chase."

6/1/2007 2:25:19 PM

and then I go off and cry

my favorite series...kaput!

6/1/2007 2:43:30 PM

^Whaddya gonna do?

6/1/2007 4:10:47 PM

^just get a new favorite show...like this

message_topic.aspx?topic=393107

6/1/2007 4:47:38 PM

I'm starting Battlestar Galactica in a few days because this is over.

6/1/2007 5:26:01 PM

you are lucky you have so much material to watch

6/1/2007 7:17:44 PM

Riches and Sopranos are about to end so this summer I'll watch On The Lot (this takes about an hour to watch two hours worth of programming), Pirate Master, Rescue Me, Always Sunny In Philadelphia, and Battlestar.

6/1/2007 7:52:28 PM

~6 hours 45 minutes away

6/3/2007 2:15:57 PM

todays episode and next weeks are the last two correct?

6/3/2007 5:04:24 PM

yeah

6/3/2007 5:11:08 PM

finally

I was worried we were gonna get "Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee 2: Secret of the Sioux"

6/3/2007 8:41:22 PM

place your bets:

which two characters would you say have the best chance of getting whacked?



AJ

SIL.

6/3/2007 8:44:58 PM

there has to be some focus on Sil in one of these episodes

He really hasn't had any storylines around him this season

As far as my 2 guesses:

Carlo

Carmela

6/3/2007 8:47:25 PM

Sil has ever had a storyline around him???

6/3/2007 8:49:19 PM