Sopranos 3/19/06

[Puffy]

I was thinking the same thing. She was outstanding last night.

So that California thing was a dream sequence? I thought that took place sometime in the future and the hospital stuff were flashbacks.

If they ever make AJ someone important in The Family, I am declaring shenanigans on David Chase.

Didn't you notice that the voice on the phone was not Carmela and that the children were young - much younger than Meadow and AJ?

[Johnny Footstool]

Didn't you notice that the voice on the phone was not Carmela and that the children were young - much younger than Meadow and AJ?

Yep, I noticed it. I thought his wife sounded like Charmain Bucco, but a friend of mine thought it was Gloria (the suicide girl, played by the lovely Annabella Sciorra). I'll have to do some research and figure that out.

[Chip R]

Didn't you notice that the voice on the phone was not Carmela and that the children were young - much younger than Meadow and AJ?

I guess I didn't.

So you're thinking that Tony and Carm get the "witness protection" treatment at some point, or they just go into hiding on their own, and Tony becomes a terrific award-winning salesman and develops morals...like worrying about using another man's credit card? I read somewhere about it being an alternate path his life might have taken if he hadn't been born into the wrong family. But, who knows.

Not necessarily that. I guess I just took it at face value. I know he's into military stuff so I thought he just went to that conference just because he was a buff. Witness protection didn't enter my mind since he said he was registered as Anthony Soprano. The things that struck me as odd were that he not only had that guy's briefcase but his wallet. I could see accidentally taking someone's briefcase but his wallet? Also, like Caveat said, if he needed cash, why not call Christopher or someone else and have them get him cash? I just thought he was BSing about that salesman crap. He certainly isn't going to tell them he's a mob boss. I just thought it was too detailed to be a dream.

[GIK]

I liked the reference to this:

[Red Leader]

Yep, I noticed it. I thought his wife sounded like Charmain Bucco, but a friend of mine thought it was Gloria (the suicide girl, played by the lovely Annabella Sciorra). I'll have to do some research and figure that out.

I thought it was Gloria as well. I even thought for a second that they showed her in a scene in the dream sequence, indicating possibly that Tony was "near death"?

[Sweetstop]

I see it as a "coma-vision"...because in both, he's trying to get back to his family. While he's at it the viewer gets to see what he'd have been like if he had taken another fork in his life's road PLUS how the "family" manages w/o him. David Chase is doing a twisted remake of "It's A Wonderful Life"!

[WMR]

Tony is definitely in a dream sequence right now. He's envisioning what his life might have been w/o the mob. He never marries Carmela, for one, and his life is totally different.

[top6]

POSSIBLE SPOILERS (BUT PRETTY MINOR)

Not even sure if anything in this post is a spoiler, but you can never be too careful!

This article is really interesting, and includes an interview with David Chase.

A few tidbits:

Chase says he would not call the Episode 2 scenes dreams.

The woman on the phone was not Carmella, Gloria or anyone else that we know. It was a generic woman's voice, apparently.

AJ says during the episode "poor you" - exactly what Tony's mother used to say.

All in all a pretty interesting article.

I think I agree with the writer that Tony is in Purgatory of some kind. (Lots of references to this: Tony sees flames (sort of like hell) on the TV screen, the bar tender says Costa Mesa is "dead", Tony sees the sign "are sin and death real?", and the whole monk scene struck me as a little after-life-esque.) Not sure what to make of Chase's comment that Tony isn't having a dream - is it more like a hallucination, are we literally seeing Tony in the afterlife, is this taking place in someone else's head? I don't know.

All in all, I think this is the best show on TV, and it's not even close.

[Johnny Footstool]

AJ says during the episode "poor you" - exactly what Tony's mother used to say.

Tony has said it a number of times throughout the run of the series.

Great article, top6!

[Chip R]

Good article. I especially liked this part:

"Meanwhile, you have AJ trying to have his Michael Corleone moment with his plan to murder Junior, but the kid's still too dumb and weak to even pass for Fredo."



I suppose that all makes sense but how are they going to keep Tony/Kevin In Costa Mesa interesting for however many episodes he's going to be there?

[WMR]

aj will do something really really really insane and when tony comes out of this sleep, he'll hafta kill his own kid. he\ll be forcd