Penultimate Sopranos spoily thing

[spatch]

Of all the things that happened in this week's Sopranos, what was the scene that shocked me the most?



Dr. Kupferberg revealing at the dinner party that Dr. Melfi was treating Tony Soprano.

Watching Bobby Bacala get his (and knowing his hit was coming as soon as we saw him in the train store without answering his cellphone) was sad but inevitable. Watching Sil and Patsy get hit was another inevitable surprise (the motorcyclist afterwards I think was added to help make the scene more visceral) and watching Tony stare at his door in the safe house, machine gun in hand, just sealed it all up. We knew the House of Soprano was going to fall eventually -- well, it started with Chris' death, didn't it? -- and this episode just hastened the fall.

But still. What got me the most worked up? Dr. K committing a serious breach of ethics and betraying two instances of doctor-patient confidentiality (Melfi/Soprano, Kupferberg/Melfi) ... though honestly, I'm not sure Melfi should've named her patient to Dr. K to begin with. Anyway.

Maybe they'll take the house falling metaphor to a literal extreme next week and Carm's spec house will fall over. (Maybe one side wall will topple over onto Buster Bluth.) Solid as a rock!

Comments

[ubiquity75.livejournal.com]

(I did not read this post because, for some reason, my OnDemand wasn't offering me the latest episode when I sat down to try to watch it last night. DAMN IT!)

[resk.livejournal.com]

Man, I watched the first 3 seasons of The Sopranos and then lost interest. Yeah, it's a really good show, but they've dragged out their seasons so much that I really don't care anymore.

[spatch]

Well, the third season was a serious turning point for the show.

Nancy Marchand died after the second season. Considering the focal point of the series was Tony versus his mother, the show suddenly had to take a different direction.

I actually liked the third season just because I wanted to see how they'd handle things after Livia went on. Didn't care for the fifth, though.

This year's set of shows has been incredible, though, considering that we know the end has been rapidly approaching. The set of shows we got last year, though, were pretty good up until it turned into the Vito Is Gay And In New Hampshire Show. We knew what was going to happen eventually, and then Vito had to go and make sure it happened anyway (just ditching mr johnny cakes and then killin that random guy and runnin back home.)

I'm glad I was able to regain my interest for the last few shows, if only so I can feel a bit of closure.

[spatch]

also, just in case I didn't type it enough up there, here are some more instances of the word 'though':


though
though
though
though

[resk.livejournal.com]

I overuse it, too. That and "actually."

[spatch]

I've had to hook up electrodes to my temples and give myself electric shocks every time I type a double-hyphen emdash. When you enjoy writing conversationally and you tend to make numerous asides during regular conversation anyway, it comes through in the form of the good ol' --OWJESUS

Actually, though . . .

[resk.livejournal.com]

I dunno of another option for an emdash. Not on a standard keyboard. Microsoft Word always formats them for you. And a single hyphen just won't do, cuz it's a hyphen.

Re: Actually, though . . .

[spatch]

The double-hypen emdash is the preferred ASCII emdash and technically with no spaces between words and double hyphens. I've also seen a triple-hyphen emdash in the wild, but that could have just been a jittery typer.

I just have to stop writing so many asides or at least when I do, I have to just use a variety of ways to digress without resorting to the emdash or an absurd amount of parentheses.

Re: Actually, though . . .

[resk.livejournal.com]

d00d, ain't nuthin' wrong with an emdash. They RULE. It's just unfortunate that we can't do 'em up propah on LJ.

And I'm all about AP STYLE, meself, having been a copy editor for so long.

Re: Actually, though . . .

[fancycwabs.livejournal.com]

I'm potentially the worlds worst emdasher.

Also, I loved where Kallen Esperian whacked Cynthia Lawrence in season 4.

Re: Actually, though . . .

[resk.livejournal.com]

Also, mad propz for using the word "Penultimate" in your subject line. I friggin' LOVE that word.

People are too niggardly with it.

Re: Actually, though . . .

[fancycwabs.livejournal.com]

Hey! I used that word just yesterday! Where are my mad propz?

Re: Actually, though . . .

[resk.livejournal.com]

By golly, you sure did. Of course, I didn't know that until now, cuz you weren't on my friends list. I've just remedied that.

*hands fancycwabs mad propz*

*LOLs at fancycwabs's username*

Re: Actually, though . . .

[fancycwabs.livejournal.com]

Pleased to officially make your acquaintance.

[minkrose]

ditto! I freaking love that word!

[beth47.livejournal.com]

also? "also." (me.)

[sdn.livejournal.com]

my ex was really into the show, and i watched a number of the seasons on dvd ... i'm reading the spoiler reviews of the last shows online just to see how it turns out, but otherwise ... meh.

[ilovehpl.livejournal.com]

Wasn't that horrible! "It's ok, we're all friends here!" I never understood why she would be his patient in the first place, he's always been annoying and inappropriate but that was too much.

It also kind of killed me that Bobby was about to spend $8,000 on a model train and Janice was begging for money to keep Uncle Junior out of the state institution. $8,000 wouldn't go far at a private hospital, but still.

It would be so wonderful to see Buster Bluth in the last episode.

[spatch]

Yeah, $8000 wouldn't go very far. Tony was complaining that AJ's treatment at the private facility was costing $2000 a day (I think he also said "4000" at one point.)

Hmm. Was Janice fronting any money for Uncle Ju herself? I thought she'd approached Tony only after speaking to Junior's accountant and got the news he was insolvent and that he couldn't afford to continue to live in the institution. Wonder what she'll do with Bobby's money and (presumable) life insurance payout.

Tony's parting words to her, though, must have stung and echoed pretty harsh back at him afterwards. Note how he didn't join Carm and Meadow to console Janice, though honestly that's excused by the fact that IT'S TIME TO GO ON THE LAM.

I loved his little fishing trip flashback at the end, too.

[ubiquity75.livejournal.com]

I actually like where the show has gone since Livia's demise. Sure, it was the major plot and focal point of the show in the early days and the Tony-Livia and Tony-Melfi interactions were key, but my GOD this season has made me remember why I LOVE this show. If the show had never evolved from those relationships, it wouldn't have been nearly as interesting and exciting.

It's just brilliant. There is nothing like it, before, and there won't be, after.

[beth47.livejournal.com]

heh. i was pretty much open-mouthed staring at the screen when Dr. K. went "oh, come on, we're among friends here!" wow. ethics? *what* ethics?

(also? seeing Sil fumbling around for a weapon when he, um, shoulda been pretty much going nowhere *without* a gun immediately at hand, seeing as how they all knew there was immediate shit going down? puh-lease.)

[spatch]

My only guess why Sil would've been unready was that he and Patsy were coming out of the Bing. The Bing is sacred ground; false sense of security, blah blah woof woof and all. Patsy running into the woods (that was also where Ralphie beat the stripper to death, wasn't it?) was pretty funny, tho.

[dcart.livejournal.com]

I was pretty disappointed at how they wrote Sil in that scene. He should've been armed.

[heathbar27.livejournal.com]

IIRC, Melfi naming Tony to Dr. K. was accidental. It wasn't that she went in and named him against ethics and was aware of it, it was more like -- and I just saw this ep on A&E the other day -- she was ranting and venting about her situation and then blurted out the name "Tony Soprano", immediately followed up with a hearty, "Oh, FUCK."

Of course, Dr. K.'s eyes lit up once he heard the name so it's not like this hasn't been coming since... whatever it was, season three or whatever, when she accidentally spilled the beans, but I too was surprised he'd go as far as to name names in front of other people, shrinks or no. Yecch.

[spatch]

Ah, ok. I forgot about that. Can't remember when it happened, either.