The biggest difference right now between the Soparnos and a Soap Opera, besides the acting, is in a Soap Opera, Tony would be dead shortly because nobody in a hospital ever lives. In the Sopranos, everyone knows Tony is going to live.

1. Season 2
2. Season 1
3. Season 5
4. Season 3
5. Season 4

I think it's pretty unfair to call non-crime plotlines a soap opera. People expect this to be a 24/7 Goodfellas.

You're entitled to your opinion. IMO, they've turned the Sopranos in a Soap Opera.

Yeah, but I don't understand the reasoning of it. The only thing I see is that it shows family drama mixed in with the mafia drama.

I love how Sopranos mixes crime plot lines with non-crime plot lines. Thats what makes it such an amazing show. It would probably be just mediocre if it was a "24/7 Goodfellas." However, I think there should be more crime then non-crime and as of Season 4, that generally has'nt been the case.

Somewhere along the line, the show changed from a story about a crime family with a little family drama thrown in, to a family drama with a little Mob drama thrown in.

I don't know, I really don't have a problem with that. In fact, I love Chase's new direction with the series, especially focusing on Tony more.

Wow...what an episode!!!

IMO the finest work The Sopranos has put out so far. Edie Falco gave a superb performance. Gandolfini, as the sales man guy, was also superb...the smallest detail was thought about...his tone of voice for example was totally different and more socially acceptable than the coloquial manner in which TS speaks. His demeanour was also a lot less threatening and forthcoming, he didn't lose his temper, he bit his tongue with his wife, he was a lot more caring...despite the adultery (i guess all of us men are weak). He only swore ONCE in the episode. Emmys are the TV oscars right? Well Gandolfini and Falco deserve them...NOW.

Re: the rest of the series.

I agree there is a chance that TS remains in the coma for the whole season...and that the Mob side of things is taken up by the power struggle over New jersey. Vito, with NY on his side vs Silvio and the old school of Paulie, Chrissie and Bobby Bacalieri.

We would see Finnerty (who, for all intents and purpose, Gandolfini now is) trying to get home (wake up from the coma) and reach his family (represented as the voices on the phone). I don't necessarily think that TS will ever wake up and make it home. Or indeed, maybe "home" is his death.

AJ will definitely get mixed up above his head i think...and he will be put in his place very rapidly. Finn and Meadow will split...they bicker alot it seems. Finn might get a smack in the mouth from someone maybe. Chrissie is a definite FBI target....little hints are being laid...the first episode Chrissie said "i hope that parasite kills him"...ok so he isnt their friends of course...but the fact the writers have written Chrissie talking about them...and then a convrsation in Episode 2 says to me that SOMETHING is definitely afoot. The mention of Ade is also pivotal. Also...love it..."Oh The Sheriff of Nottingham"...i am at The Uni of Nottingham in England. wooo. hahaha simple things...simple minds.

The two arab guys in the Bing...They will do something to Junior to score points.

The hints are being laid. Bobby vs Vito. The Arab guys in the Bing. Chrissier & the FBI (who must be desparate to flip someone now that Gene and Ray Curto is dead). The "homo" thing with Vito. "I could be boss"...Again Vito.

Whoever calls this a soap opera...well...i dont agree.

Aaaaaaanyway...long post...but whatever....what an amazing show. I cant wait till next week...and i am not even in the usa!

funny moment in the episode the no one has mentioned...the fbi agents questions carmela about tony and jfk's assassination "you serious? my husand was 3 years old!"

Yea that JFK comment was pretty funny.

I can't see Tony staying in the coma though. I think he'll awake next week. I don't know if maybe he'll be different (a new person), or maybe he'll have amnesia. I think most likely he'll be changed, even if temporarily to some degree, feeling a near death experience or something maybe. Or, consider this, when Tony does awake and "if" he is the least bit not "himself", the rest of his crew will consider him incapable of heading the family, causing further unrest within the group.

What I do like about this show however, is with all the guessing & analyzing we've done in the past, the false impressions we've gotten out of previews, and the surpises whackings we've seen, something totally unthought of happens.

TIS

I agree DV. On Monday morning when I go to work, I hear people saying things like " The show sucked last night" and "What the hell was that, where are the killings?"

If we saw killings every week then IMO the show wouldn't be more than a weekly shoot em up, non plot show.

I personally enjoy the depth that the writers inject in the storyline and the sub plots. It makes the viewer have to use their head a little. IMO, after only two episodes, the writing has just been brilliant. This storyline can go a million different ways from here.

Is it Sunday yet?


Don Cardi

Interesting episode and article from the link on the last page.

Purgatory, will he return, can he return. Remember Chris went to the Irish Bar when he flat lined in hospital for a minute. Tony is in a different world unlike his dreams and seems like he going to be there a while.

People he knows are always in his dreams, the only thing he brought with him here is his name, and he may forget that by next week.

A couple of things.

You need a Federal ID to get in. That was said twice. Does it mean anything.

Some of the conversation in the Bar was hard to figure out and understand. Did anyone else experience that and was that the intention.

Only Tony Soprano would find a way to cheat on his wife even in Purgatory.

So far I like this season. This episode makes you really think. It's interesting.

Boy i just checked the message boards on HBO.com and they are lambasting "Join the club". I can't believe how they are ripping it apart. I thought it was fantastic and I went over there to try and find a little insight.

Tough Group.

Btw, if Tony really is in purgatory then I feel real good about my chances of getting into heaven. If someone like Tony doesnt go to hell then I think were all pretty safe.

From what I can tell from the previews, there seems to be alot of internecine struggle in store with Tony near death. Also, I can't figure out the FBI showing up twice now at Satriale's just for the food. I also wonder at what point Dr. Melfi will reappear. Certainly she's heard about Tony getting shot. And what was that scene about with AJ coming into Meadow's room and talking about the environment. Didn't that seem kind of off the wall?

On those forums, all those posters care about is how many people get "whacked" in a single episode. However, here, we are deep, intellectual thinkers, and we enjoy episodes which require a whole level of understanding deep, intricate foreshadowings and whatnot (insert literary term here ).

These two episodes are clearly the best two episodes ever back to back in a season of The Sopranos. Can't wait for Sunday!

I'll disagree with that.

How old is Tony? Actually 46? I wonder because in his induced coma he is hearing the voice of a Meadow that sounds much younger than she is; Carmela's voice also.

Tony, like his alter-ego, Kevin, is 46. Kevin states that when he's talking about his life with the salemen/woman. Tony was three years old when Kennedy was shot (1963), so we know he was born in 1960.

The family's voices on the phone aren't those of Meadow and Carmela.... they're of some imagined family.

Actually Tony's official birth I read is 1959, so it still applies to JFK's assassination.

I'll disagree with that. [/b][/quote]"The Sopranos" and "46 Long"

When Tony rings his family from the bar...before he realises he has lost his wallet and briefcase...the answermachine comes on. "Hi...this is the .........'s"

it isnt soprano they say!!!

anyone catch the name?!

Might this be important?!

No, they do say Soprano. Check it again.

oh my bad.

apologies.

reading the sopranos chat board over on hbo makes me think the majority of the posters are 12. They didn't get their fix of violence and all they can say is "its carp...big crap" or my favourite "Syl is fat..why is he fat?"

I really wonder if Tony will come out of the coma and if he does will he be the same. If this show is paralleling GF remember Vito after the attempted assasination. He never fully recovered. A.J with the long hair reminds me of John Cazale in Dog Day Afternoon.

No SC, the voices on the other end of the phone are Meadow's and Carmela's. As another member posted, the answering machine says Sopranos. Also, Tony asks Meadow about her brother and she says he puked. The voices sound much younger and the conversation indicates he's gone back in time to when everyone was younger. So, that's why I asked about his age.

Someone else posted about his recovery. As I previously posted, a stomach shot is almost always fatal. For Tony to recover, it will take a while meaning that the rest of his mob family should have plenty of time to do whatever it is that they will do. Also, it means that Tony may never be the same and therefore out of the Don business. Vito's recovery in GFI was from non-near fatal wounds.

Paulie had a great line when told AJ: "Van Helsing, let's go."

They're different voices, and IMO they represent different characters.

Finnerty's driver's license lists his date of birth as Feb. 25, 1959. Now, following Vercetti's correction (about Tony's year of birth) if that was supposed to be Tony's birthdate, too, it would have meant that Tony was 4½ years old when JFK was killed, not three as was stated by Carmela. (All websites I have found list the birthyear as 1959, as well).

Regardless, instead of splitting hairs about his exact age, I'm suggesting that Kevin Finnerty is Tony's coma-induced way of showing how is life may have been different (and somewhat boring) including having a different family.