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Brett Weir
Citizen
Username: Brett_weir
Post Number: 1620
Registered: 4-2004
| | Posted on Monday, June 5, 2006 - 7:59 am: | 
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This episode capped off the whole season- all tease and no action. Just as Phil looked poised to finally strike at Tony's Family (Say, Christafuh?) he has a heart attack and gets way-laid. And they have the nerve to pimp the next 8 final episodes "Coming next year". They really have just run out of gas- sad! |
Brett
Citizen
Username: Bmalibashksa
Post Number: 2414
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Monday, June 5, 2006 - 8:27 am: |
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I thought it was strange that AJ gave up his bike to the thugs. I was getting the impression that he was moving toward a career with his dad, so I assumed he had a gun. |
MeAndTheBoys
Citizen
Username: Meandtheboys
Post Number: 3913
Registered: 12-2004
| | Posted on Monday, June 5, 2006 - 8:52 am: |
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Brett, I thought that was a clear indicator that A.J. doesn't have the cajones to go in to the family business. Rather than beat the crap out of the "thugs" like Tony would have, he gives away his expensive bike, the one his "parents gave him."
Funny and pathetic all at the same time. |
ess
Citizen
Username: Ess
Post Number: 2157
Registered: 11-2001
| | Posted on Monday, June 5, 2006 - 9:39 am: |
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I didn't see AJ's actions as lacking cojones. On the contrary, I thought he was even bolder by not using violence. Who said he has to go into the family business? In fact, remember when Tony told him he had a guy in the jewelry business, and AJ said, "I have a job"? Very revealing.
The AJ storyline was actually my favorite. He seemed to have grown up quite a bit. The interactions between him and the little boy were very sweet.
I agree that it looked as though Christopher would get whacked. Am getting tired of his repeated relapses into drug use, though.
Otherwise, yeah, a little slow. It also mirrored the season finales of the first and second seasons (and probably others) where there were scenes of the happy family (not Family). |
buzzsaw
Citizen
Username: Buzzsaw
Post Number: 4885
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, June 5, 2006 - 9:51 am: |
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I ran to bed as soon as the credits rolled. Did they show any clips from the "comming" soon season?
This season for me was like a slice of life kind of season. Some stuff happened, but mostly not too much. I still like the show but this was not the best season.
They'd really better crank up the action for the last season.
I don't know what this means, but this was my wife's favorite season. She said it beat out desperate housewives.......hmmmmm......... |
eliz
Supporter
Username: Eliz
Post Number: 1504
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, June 5, 2006 - 9:52 am: |
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Yawn.
I am so sick of Christopher, didn't believe the story line at all with Julianna Margolies. I was really hoping he was going to get whacked in the diner parking lot.
Didn't leave me anxious for the final episodes. |
eliz
Supporter
Username: Eliz
Post Number: 1505
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, June 5, 2006 - 9:58 am: |
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I remember how bummed I was when Big Pussy got killed. At this point they could pretty much knock off anyone and it wouldn't bother me - not because they are evil and get what they deserve but just because I don't feel caught up in it they I have in the past.
I'll watch the final episodes but it seems like it really is time to go (or maybe it was time to go at the end of last season when I still wanted more). |
Vincent the Dog
Citizen
Username: Howardt
Post Number: 2035
Registered: 11-2004
| | Posted on Monday, June 5, 2006 - 10:24 am: |
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Ah, it was like old home week for me! I used to eat at the V.I.P. Diner at Sip and Kennedy Blvd in Jersey City all the time. My kids went to school across the street for a few years. Never fukced in the parking lot, though. |
breal
Citizen
Username: Breal
Post Number: 918
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Monday, June 5, 2006 - 10:40 am: |
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I thought there was some really great diaglogue, and I'm watching this one again. I loved the scene at the hospital btw Tony and Phil, right from "I finally got you to come to Brooklyn, you fuk" to Tony's parting words, "Don't cry." (Remember Phil's disgust when his boss cried at the wedding?) I loved the scene where the Miami guy tried to broker a peace agreement and everything fell apart with the mention of Phil's cousin. And I loved ALL the scenes btw Christufuh and Juliana--because they had that signature Sopranos' "unspoken dialogue" thing going on. They read each other. They read situations. They share a certain purchase on things. I love that stuff. And the way Tony described his jealousy of Christufuh to Dr. Melfi just made me howl. And I liked Edie Falco's pitch perfect delivery of the plain-vanilla last line of the season, when AJ's girlfriend says that the Sopranos have a lovely house. Carmella responds, as if saying it could make it true, "Thank you. [beat] We do."
The Fall of the House of Soprano, coming soon. Stay tuned. |
Brett Weir
Citizen
Username: Brett_weir
Post Number: 1622
Registered: 4-2004
| | Posted on Monday, June 5, 2006 - 2:37 pm: |
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The whole season seemed devoted to avoiding the obvious or cliche. Whenever a plot seemed to be coming to a crescendo, some weird curve would derail the whole issue. Among these red herrings and misdirections were some great dialogue and fine moments but the season as a whole was very unsatisfying. It's starting to look like Chase just doesn't know how to wrap it up.
Interesting cameo at the Brooklyn hospital; that mouthy little Leotardo henchman who seemed ready to square off with Tony looked real familiar but I couldn't place him until Alan Sepinwell tipped it off in today's Ledger. He appeared in several episodes of "The Rockford Files" in the 70's as a character named Eugene Conigliaro, a small-time New Jersey hood who crosses paths with Jim Rockford on a trip east to Short Hills and then out in L.A. The connection between the two series is David Chase, who was a writer on "Rockford" and penned the Eugene episodes entitled "Just a Coupla Guys" and "The Jersey Bounce". |
Guy
Supporter
Username: Vandalay
Post Number: 1722
Registered: 8-2004
| | Posted on Monday, June 5, 2006 - 2:42 pm: |
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Vincent , I had to laugh when Julianna Marguiles told Christopher to meet her at that place on Sip and JFK . Except nobody I knew called it JFK. It would have felt like old times if they beat the check. |
Vincent the Dog
Citizen
Username: Howardt
Post Number: 2039
Registered: 11-2004
| | Posted on Monday, June 5, 2006 - 2:44 pm: |
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...and if it was dark inside and the food was lousy and their car got robbed while they were inside. |
greenetree
Supporter
Username: Greenetree
Post Number: 7928
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, June 5, 2006 - 2:47 pm: |
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Brett just summed up my feelings nicely. I like that the obvious was avoided; but the curves kind of coasted to a stop rather than going over a cliff. There were no "whoa, baby" moments for me. I did love the dialogue, tho.
This season was kind of like eating a bowl of Count Chocula for breakfast: it tastes great but leaves me completely unsatisfied. |
greenetree
Supporter
Username: Greenetree
Post Number: 7929
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, June 5, 2006 - 2:53 pm: |
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Guy - right! It was "Kennedy", not JFK. We called it the "Vip". TS ordered a glass of wine there once and it came with a head on it. It was the first time that we realized that wine came in a box. Our car never got broken into. Then again, we always walked because we lived a couple blocks away. Why else would anyone eat there more than once?
I find that I have impressive street cred with my friends from the city because I know all the spots in the opening credits and usually during the episode.
That's probably not much to be proud of, right? |
Joe R.
Citizen
Username: Ragnatela
Post Number: 460
Registered: 6-2004
| | Posted on Monday, June 5, 2006 - 3:25 pm: |
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"Vincent , I had to laugh when Julianna Marguiles told Christopher to meet her at that place on Sip and JFK . Except nobody I knew called it JFK. It would have felt like old times if they beat the check."
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"Guy - right! It was "Kennedy", not JFK. We called it the "Vip". TS ordered a glass of wine there once and it came with a head on it. It was the first time that we realized that wine came in a box. Our car never got broken into. Then again, we always walked because we lived a couple blocks away. Why else would anyone eat there more than once? "
Greentree, I'm guessing you didn't grow up in Jersey City. Nobody I knew called it either "JFK" or "Kennedy". It was "up the Boulevard" or just plain "the Boulevard". Hell, it was years before people stopped calling it "Hudson Boulevard" the name it bore before it was renamed for St. John. As for the comment about why would anybody eat there more than once, it was reputed to be a pretty good diner in its day. Sorry you weren't impressed with the wine list!
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Joe R.
Citizen
Username: Ragnatela
Post Number: 461
Registered: 6-2004
| | Posted on Monday, June 5, 2006 - 3:30 pm: |
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By the way, Chris is an Essex County boy and who knows where Julianna is from. They might very well refer to the corner in question by the proper street names just as we might call the Portuguese neighborhood "Ironbound" rather than "Down Neck". |
Guy
Supporter
Username: Vandalay
Post Number: 1723
Registered: 8-2004
| | Posted on Monday, June 5, 2006 - 4:04 pm: |
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greentree, In Jersey City, The Vip was the place of choice for after hours dining after attending a place called The Soap Creek/Pops/Foxes in the 1980's. When going to a bar called The Showboat the Colonette was the diner of choice. Other notables for after hours dining were Al's Diner , The Coach House, and of course White Castle. The reason you would eat at these places more than once is called alcohol. Joe is right. It was " the boulevard ". |
greenetree
Supporter
Username: Greenetree
Post Number: 7931
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, June 5, 2006 - 4:37 pm: |
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True enough; I wasn't there all that long & it was the early 90s. It was a transition time. When I moved in with TS, she'd been in her apartment 10 years (come to think of it, she called it "the boulevard"; I don't think that I ever did).
At the time, her apartment was in a fairly nice building. Over the next 3 years, it went rapidly down hill. JSQ was an interesting place, to say the least. It was a convenient place to be young and the apartment was rent controlled.
I think that the clean-up & restoration efforts of the area started a couple years after we moved.
As for the Vip, I always liked the burgers, but never ventured further than that. And it wasn't that the "wine list" was a problem; it was the foam on top! |
Joe R.
Citizen
Username: Ragnatela
Post Number: 462
Registered: 6-2004
| | Posted on Monday, June 5, 2006 - 10:22 pm: |
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Ah, Mother Jersey City. Back to the Sopranos, one of the best parts of this episode was the choice of "Moonlight Mile". There is something so haunting about that tune. Excellent score. One of my secret favorites from my favorite Stones album. |
Gregor Samsa
Citizen
Username: Oldsctls67
Post Number: 526
Registered: 11-2002
| | Posted on Monday, June 5, 2006 - 11:34 pm: |
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We always called Jersey City State "Harvard on the Boulevard" |
Joe R.
Citizen
Username: Ragnatela
Post Number: 463
Registered: 6-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 6, 2006 - 11:56 am: |
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We called it "State Teachers" College or, if you were in a hurry, just "Teachers". To use it in a sentence.... Pete: "Hey Sal, did you hear that my nephew Anthony is graduating St Al's on Friday?"
Sal: "Oh yeah? Jeez, time flies. Whaddya gonne do, get him a job at Western?" (this is a reference to Western Electric in Kearny where 35 % of the men in my neighborhood worked when I was a kid).
Pete: "Nah. He's a smart kid. I think he gonna go up "Teachers" in the Fall".
Sal: "Great! He'll do good there". |
Lydia
Supporter
Username: Lydial
Post Number: 1924
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 6, 2006 - 8:21 pm: |
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Joe R -
Loved "Moonlight Mile" - the background music for the Sopranos is so right.
Last season they played Otis Redding and it was so spot on.
While the last episode was a disappointment in some respects, I liked that AJ is in a relationship that works for him and Carmella can accept that "As least she's Catholic" - OK, those are Tony's words, but AJ is not going to be a mobster.
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vermontgolfer
Supporter
Username: Vermontgolfer
Post Number: 450
Registered: 12-2002
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 6, 2006 - 9:04 pm: |
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Joe R.
Great comments about JC. What section of town did you live in? I grew up in Greenville by Roosevelt Stadium, in fact my folks still live there. |
Brett Weir
Citizen
Username: Brett_weir
Post Number: 1628
Registered: 4-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 7, 2006 - 10:06 am: |
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Back to the Thread- Two episodes of "Rescue Me" have had more story, laughs, drama and all-around riveting entertainment than this whole Sopranos season. Pity. "The Sopranos" were long the Gold Standard for made-for-cable series. |
Joe R.
Citizen
Username: Ragnatela
Post Number: 467
Registered: 6-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 7, 2006 - 11:09 am: |
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Vermontgolfer: I also grew up in Greenville-355 danforth, 210 Fowler and Delmar Rd in Country Village. PS 34, Ps 30 and Our Lady of Mercy. As you know, sometimes its more relevant to talk about what Parish you grew up in. What about you? |
vermontgolfer
Supporter
Username: Vermontgolfer
Post Number: 451
Registered: 12-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 7, 2006 - 2:11 pm: |
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Terhune Avenue, PS 34, class 65, not Catholic, but Zion Lutheran on the Boulevard and McAdoo. Snyder HS.
Sorry for the thread drift folks. |
vermontgolfer
Supporter
Username: Vermontgolfer
Post Number: 452
Registered: 12-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 7, 2006 - 2:18 pm: |
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Terhune Avenue, PS 34, class 65, not Catholic, but Zion Lutheran on the Boulevard and McAdoo. Snyder HS.
Sorry for the thread drift folks. |
Joe R.
Citizen
Username: Ragnatela
Post Number: 469
Registered: 6-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 7, 2006 - 10:09 pm: |
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Vermont: My father's family lived at 19 Terhune for years (just sold the house last year) and my Aunt Mary (his sister)got married at Zion because she married a divorced guy. See, there is no thread drift here, it's just like a Soprano's episode. Now the only question is age. I graduated from HS in '72. If you were about the same, I bet we know some of the same "wise guys" (I had to slip that in to avoid the accusation of thread drift). I'll drop one more name..."Laico's". |
vermontgolfer
Supporter
Username: Vermontgolfer
Post Number: 453
Registered: 12-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, June 8, 2006 - 8:50 am: |
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Graduated Synder in 69, so I've got a few years on you. Don't mention Laico's or else I'll have to send the 'wise guys' back to get you, since the damn place is crowded enough, though haven't been there lately, my folks are regulars.
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Joe R.
Citizen
Username: Ragnatela
Post Number: 470
Registered: 6-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, June 8, 2006 - 11:41 am: |
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HA,HA. Still no credit cards? |
vermontgolfer
Supporter
Username: Vermontgolfer
Post Number: 454
Registered: 12-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, June 8, 2006 - 1:16 pm: |
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YEs, they now take credit cards. In fact, the more I think about it, this would make a great location for a scene in the season finale. Could you just see Tony and the boys being served by Irene? What a hoot that would be. |
Joe R.
Citizen
Username: Ragnatela
Post Number: 472
Registered: 6-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, June 8, 2006 - 4:20 pm: |
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Paulie makes fun of her topknot and she chases him around with a knife. |
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