Wow. That was as good as anything from the earlier seasons (I thought the last season was not very good).
WHAT AN EPISODE!
This season is going to be good, I can tell.
Reader Interactions
22Comments
Comments are closed.
Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
The revolution will be supervised.
Peak wingnut was a lie.
A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires
Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard
rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius
They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!
You cannot shame the shameless.
Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.
If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.
I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.
Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.
And we’re all out of bubblegum.
Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.
The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.
Americans barely caring about Afghanistan is so last month.
A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.
When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.
“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”
Good lord, these people are nuts.
All your base are belong to Tunch.
Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll
It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.
I really should read my own blog.
Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.
Kyle
I’d heard that the ep wound up with a shocker. Yet the shock was still a shock, even after perfectly fair, in-plain-sight ground-laying to prepare for it.
On the other hand it’s hard to see this leading to any further complications except for the big man spending a lot of time in a hospital bed.
Mean Gene
Leave it to “The Sopranos” to have a shocker after a shocker. The scene with Gene was meant to horrify, and it did, especially as it went on and on and on. It reminded me of when Dr. Melfi was raped, you thought there was no way they were going to show this, that they would cut away, soon, any second now…and instead they showed you the whole horrible event.
But a fantastic first episode. Note to self–never become an FBI informant. They don’t come to happy ends.
Keith
Reminds me of Deadwood S2 starting with Al getting f’ed up royally. The end result of that one was a diminished role for Al, where it took about 5 eps for him to get his rhythm back. I hope it won’t happen here.
Carpbasman
Wow. That was as good as anything from the earlier seasons (I thought the last season was not very good).
Season 4 was miles above season 3. And even season 3 only sucked because of the standard set by the first two seasons.
I’d heard that the ep wound up with a shocker. Yet the shock was still a shock, even after perfectly fair, in-plain-sight ground-laying to prepare for it.
When the scene with Gene happend, I turned to my wife and said “Well, I saw the shocking scene coming about a mile down the road.” When the real shocker happened I said “Now that’s shocking!”
jaime
What was that opening music? Odd song choice.
Dave Ryan
Excellent use of Adrianna to throw us off the scent. I immediately began to wonder what was going on. Carmela’s dream shows she’s going to be more dominant in this series than she has been for a while.
Uncle Jun is progressing nicely. A breath of fresh air in his character.
Everything about the episode worked well. Can’t wait for more. Even though WVU’s cable doesn’t provide HBO. Gonna have to order that, or wait till weekends-after-airing after Spring Break’s done to see them.
This should be good.
Marcus Wellby
Maybe having to wait 2 years for a new episode left me expecting more? I don’t know, but I was hardly blown away. Don’t get me wrong, it is an AMAZING show, but I was a little let down by this episode.
Carmella showing off her new car was fantastic. First, rubbing it in the nose of John’s wife, then having her bubble burst by Pussy’s widow who bought her own car. Edie Falco is a superb actress.
Vlad
“What was that opening music? Odd song choice.”
From what I’ve read, it was a recording by William S. Burroughs.
Anybody feel like a quick recap? Due to events beyond my control, I missed it last night.
Chris P
Here is a nice recap: http://www.tvsquad.com/2006/03/13/the-sopranos-season-premiere-members-only/
Tony Alva
Sunday night TV is back and my wife and I couldn’t be happier. Great opener in my mind. I’m betting Phil makes a quick exit at some point soon.
How’d everybody like Big Love? Looks promising to me.
Bob In Pacifica
This doesn’t have anything to do with the Sopranos. I grew up in NJ, but I don’t have HBO.
What’s up with the people at JustOneMinute? It’s a parallel universe. Everything’s A-OK in the Bush World: Joe and Val are lying traitors who work for Clinton. My retirement investments are doing fine and the Dow is over 11000. What ski resorts are your favorites? Fitz is a lying, deluded hack and I’m donating to Scooter’s Defense Fund.
I don’t understand. What weird kind of crack are they smoking? I’ve gone there to try to figure out what the other side is thinking, but they are so out of touch I can barely suss out their deluded ramblings.
I know DougJ has been there, and Paul Lukasiak. Somebody explain to me… Confused… where is pipe… must smoke more… to understand… clarice and maybee…
ppGaz
They are just singing songs while President Koresh sets fire to the buildings around them.
Not quite the same thing as “thinking.”
VidaLoca
Bob,
I used to read JustOneMinute because I thought that Tom Maguire’s stuff was well-thought out and intelligently written even though I didn’t always agree with it. He did seem to be more concerned with figuring out the truth than grinding an ideological axe on behalf of the Bushies.
That was a while ago. I don’t go there so much any more, for exactly the reasons you noted.
Yep.
Michael Demmons
Hmmmm, I didn’t think it was a great episode. Granted though, because a shitty Sopranos episode is still 10x as good as any other show, I wasn’t disappointed.
Stormy70
I just love Christophuh! When he said how morbid it was, while at a funeral: genius. Uncle Jun scurrying away in his bathrobe to hide in the closet: perfect.
Phil needs a good whacking, stat.
The opening montage was Burroughs reading from Egypt’s Book of the Dead.
I missed you, Sopranos. {sniff}
Krista
Stormy –
Christopher. Sayid.
You like ’em with that “ting!” touch of danger, don’t you? :)
Doesn’t surprise me. I can’t see a ballsy chick like you getting hot over a guy who couldn’t hold his own with you.
Stephen
“Isn’t it ironic how Lou Gherig died of Lou Gherig’s disease?”
I was rolling for a few minutes.
jg
Kind of creepy how that guy pissed himself after the hanging. I was hoping they’d spend a few episodes having Tony slowly bleed the guys inheritance from him though.
Clark
I don’t think he has ever cared about civil liberties – he sees his job as protecting us, not protecting our liberties.
We are a church made up of individuals who Welcome Everyone. Doesn’t matter what you wear, look like, the color of your hear, your orientation or identification. What matters to us is that want to share in our community!
google
jaime
OK…it was William Boroughs reading from “The Western Lands”
shark
Sorry, but this ep. SUCKED. First of all, we spend an entire episode focusing on someone we never really saw before and won’t see again. THE FUCKING SHOW WAS OFF FOR TWO YEARS, CAN YOU PLEASE DEAL WITH THE MAIN CHARACTERS FOR THE MAJORITY OF THE SHOW PLEASE??? And the “shock” ending…gimme a fricking break. Gee, will Tony live or die? I don’t know but seeing as it’s the season opener I HAVE A GOOD GUESS! And that shooting was a comedy shooting. All that was missing was Yakkety Sax playing in the background and Benny Hill chasing Uncle Jun around after he shot the gun.
After 2 years, what do we get? Tony is a fat pig (more bloated than ever) and Carmella is a greedy whore. Oh yeah, and they both can’t stop scarfing down the sushi every 2 minutes. The gay mobster lost weight (guess Tony got it all) Meadow looks GREAT dancing in her panties, and AJ has the most laughable haircut on TV outside of an episode of Springer.
All that, plus product placements galore, and the irrelevent Dr. Melfhi.
Wow….comon, are you people just so invested in the show that you’re afraid to admit it was subpar, especially for something 2 years in the works? Or has Sopranos reached that critical mass where it’s golden no matter what it does, and the lemming hoardes fall all over themselves to praise dreck?
Kyle
Hey, she does!
Not the greatest episode, but the wind-up was no joke. Black humor, yes, laughable no.
Thinking about what comes next, it seems likely Vito will push to become acting boss and his gayness will somehow become a factor in the power struggle. Which seems promising. Not exactly a situation built into the show’s premise, more of a twist imported from the outside, but quite possibly very interesting.
Michael Demmons said up above that even non-amazing Sopranos is 10 times better than most TV. I couldn’t agree more. Call that being invested in the show or call it a simple appreciation of good stuff even when the good stuff isn’t great.