This is a weekly feature. I'm reviewing The Sopranos episodes starting from the beginning. This is the sixth episode of the first season.
Past Episodes
Pilot
46 Long
Denial, Acceptance, Anger
This episode is all about Tony and the women in his life: his wife, his therapist, his harlot, and his mother. These women play a large role in the whole season, but it's emphasized especially so in this episode.
He is suffering the fall-out of not telling Carmela that his therapist was a women. Carmela, who had come to terms with Tony cheating on her, is hurt because she feels he is actually cheating on her. I guess she had accepted that Tony would be cheating on her with women who couldn't match her intellectual ability. Dr. Melfi is obviously a threat to her on an intellectual level.
Tony fantasizes about Dr. Melfi in this moment and makes a move on her. I really love the scene where Tony sings "What Time is It," which thankfully is on Youtube so you can see it yourself. His declaration of love for Dr. Melfi comes as a surprise and hilariously inaccurate. Dr. Melfi's answer that his love is a result of Tony projecting everything he wants from the women in his life onto her seems dead-on.
This is the first episode where Livia's negative influence on Tony's life starts to reach the surface. She encourages Junior to put a tax on Hesh when he wasn't even thinking about it. Tony and Junior are both aware of what Livia is capable of, but Tony doesn't realize Livia's the one to blame for his troubles yet.
A minor and small part of the episode is Tony trying to get Irina to dress like Dr. Melfi. This doesn't go over well to say the least as she throws a candle at him. Throughout the episode, Tony deals with fears of impotence, but it appears it's simply an inability to get turned on by anybody other than Dr. Melfi.
A Tony and Dr. Melfi romance seems very possible in this episode, but when Dr. Melfi asks to see Tony later that day, he says no. If he said yes, would this relationship have gone somewhere? Probably nowhere good, mind you, but I think it would have gone somewhere. I guess we'll never know.
I liked that when Hesh got taxed, he said "I said it was a reasonable request at an unreasonable amount." He ends up negotiating his way down to $200,000 if you include the fact that Tony gave him his own share. He is a shrewd businessman indeed.
Junior also killed a valuable asset to one of the other capos. He was giving a favor to his tailor, who believes his grandson died due to drugs that he sold him. A little too conveniently in my opinion, the guy also happens to be an expert salesman. A rare contrivance from The Sopranos that I've been able to spot.
The Junior conflict for the rest of the capos is momentarily dissolved, but it's pretty obvious it's a problem that won't go away. Tony giving Junior the boss position didn't help matters like he thought he would.
I guess I should also give a paragraph to expressing how terrible of a person Father Phil is. He openly encourages Carmela to stay in a marriage that is obviously not good for her. His idea of divorce as for quitters is kind of outdated (although true in the technical sense). Carmela's influence of Father Phil pretty much guarantees that she will never leave the marriage even if she's given many reasons to do so. (I haven't seen past the second season, so this could look stupid)
Surprise Guest Appearances
Sadly, no one appeared that I even remotely recognized that was in something other than The Sopranos.
Deaths
Drug dealer was thrown over the bridge into the water by Mikey
Quotes
"It was between two Jewish guys and a paesana like me, so I picked the paesana." - Tony, on why he picked a woman doctor
"Who ever heard of a Jew riding horses?" - Livia talking about Hesh
"If I wanted a fucking conversation around here, I might as well be a fucking dildo." "If you were a dildo, we wouldn't be fighting."
"You don't even know what you're apologizing for. Its our anniversery. Ours. Not mine, yours, and Johnny fucking Sack's."
"Hey, I don't even let anybody wag a finger in my face." - Tony, on possibly getting a prostate exam
"I never said fucked." - Hesh
"But your uncle, Madonna, does he eat alone? He doesn't even pass the salt." - Larry Boy
"She's a degenerate gambler." - Livia, talking about Milly
"Oh, I wish the Lord would take me." - Livia with her classic case of getting people to feel bad about her. (She's pretty good at it)
"For the first time, I feel like he's really cheating and I'm the one who's thirsty." - Carmela to Father Phil
"I'm in love with you." - Tony to Dr. Melfi
"You're not just in my life, you are my life." - Extremely cheesy although it seems in character for Tony to steal this and for Carmela to swoon over it.
Playlist
1. "Ain't No Thang" - Outkast
2. "Roscoe" - Midlake
3. "Bitter Sweet Symphony" - The Verve
4. "Get Lucky" - Daft Punk ft. Pharrell Williams
5. "Pretty Apollo" - Cyne
Monday, April 29, 2013
Friday, April 19, 2013
Rewind: The Walking Dead Season 1
Zombies in Hollywood have just about run their course. I don't have a fascination with zombies by themselves, which seems to make me one of the few who don't. So I'm late in watching this television show about zombies, because a show about zombies inherently does not interest me by itself.
The Walking Dead's first season is good television, if not perfectly written. This show has figured out how people react in dire situations, but in between those situations, it's not the strongest. Whereas they seem to nail scenes that are difficult to write, they hit as much as they miss in the "down time" scenes.
The pilot episode was about as perfect as a pilot episode can get written. Lost is the only other show I can think of that had such an engaging pilot that made you want to watch more. Unfortunately, it is far and away the best episode to date that I have watched.
The first scene sets the table about how awful the world has become when Rick needs to shoot a little girl zombie. The natural sound they had was amazing and the scene was extremely tense. Another thing they got right was skipping the part where the zombies overtake humans, which has been well-explored. This series deals with the aftermath. The way they accomplish this is by having Rick Grimes be our guide, with him jumping into the zombie world.
The episode continues strongly as Rick realistically makes his way to his home while he and the viewers are taking in the destruction that has happened. I cannot praise Andrew Lincoln enough in this role. He really sells everything. The scene where he breaks down and cries when he can't find is family is heartbreaking.
He is saved by Morgan Jones, played by Lennie James, and his son. James was probably the best part of that first episode, which is a shame because we don't see him for the rest of the season. He can't bring himself to kill his wife, who is now zombified.
The ending of the episode was not as good as the first half. The farmhouse he visits has a bloodily written "God Forgive Us," which is purely for thematic value and doesn't really make sense if you think about it. Why would you take the time to write that as your life is winding down?
Then when he is escaping the zombies in the street in Atlanta at the end - which was well done - he crawls under the tank and it looks like he will shoot himself.... except no one would buy that the main character would commit suicide in the first episode so that was a cheap ploy. The ending with the "Hey you dumbass" and the last song finished the episode strongly though.
A part of the show I entirely dislike is the Lori and Shane relationship. It feels contrived to me to create drama. I buy that Shane would want to get with Lori, but I don't see the motive for Lori here. Yes, her husband is apparently dead, but we're still talking a month or so that's passed. I just don't buy that relationship and am not a fan whenever that gets brought up. (The first scene of "Guts" when Shane scares Lori is bullshit. Manufacturing tension, because in that world, nobody sneaks up on anybody ever or you might die.)
In the third episode, Rick reuniting with his family was well done. I am not sure how they pulled that off, but boy did they. I also liked the comment from Dale about how words can't accurately capture what's happening.
I mentioned the writing for the "in between" scenes before and an example is the "evil characters." It's in quotes mostly, because they aren't characters. They are caricatures. It's a joke. Ed, the wife-beating misogynist, is one of the most poorly written characters I've ever seen. There is nothing likable about him.
As far as characters that are well-written, I'd say that comprises the people who took most of the screen time in the last few episodes. Andrea and her sister share a touching moment in the boat that made us care about them. Jim's heartbreaking story about how he escaped only because his family was being eaten. Dale's story about how he was angry when his wife was taken away from him and now he had Andrea. Shane is a dick, but at least he's a human being. Glenn, Merle, T-Dog, and Daryl are not really that well-written, but the actors make the most out of it.
This season is just too rushed. I know that's AMC's fault, but I don't understand why. They could have easily stretched out this season while fleshing characters. We experienced the CDC for a single episode. (Speaking of which, Noah Emmerich is impressive in his short time). They just needed more time to make these storylines work better.
Overall, the season is rushed, which largely causes a lot of the character problems. They don't have enough time to make us care so they need to create some caricatures that are easy to kill off. They barely get enough time for us to even remember half of their names. (Do you know who Jacqui is, because I needed to look up that she was the one black woman?)
Season Grade: B+
Playlist
1. "What They Do" - The Roots
2. "Miracle Mile" - Cold War Kids
3. "Black Hole Sun" - Soundgarden
4. "Do You Realize?" - The Flaming Lips
5. "Immortal" - Kid Cudi
The Walking Dead's first season is good television, if not perfectly written. This show has figured out how people react in dire situations, but in between those situations, it's not the strongest. Whereas they seem to nail scenes that are difficult to write, they hit as much as they miss in the "down time" scenes.
The pilot episode was about as perfect as a pilot episode can get written. Lost is the only other show I can think of that had such an engaging pilot that made you want to watch more. Unfortunately, it is far and away the best episode to date that I have watched.
The first scene sets the table about how awful the world has become when Rick needs to shoot a little girl zombie. The natural sound they had was amazing and the scene was extremely tense. Another thing they got right was skipping the part where the zombies overtake humans, which has been well-explored. This series deals with the aftermath. The way they accomplish this is by having Rick Grimes be our guide, with him jumping into the zombie world.
The episode continues strongly as Rick realistically makes his way to his home while he and the viewers are taking in the destruction that has happened. I cannot praise Andrew Lincoln enough in this role. He really sells everything. The scene where he breaks down and cries when he can't find is family is heartbreaking.
He is saved by Morgan Jones, played by Lennie James, and his son. James was probably the best part of that first episode, which is a shame because we don't see him for the rest of the season. He can't bring himself to kill his wife, who is now zombified.
The ending of the episode was not as good as the first half. The farmhouse he visits has a bloodily written "God Forgive Us," which is purely for thematic value and doesn't really make sense if you think about it. Why would you take the time to write that as your life is winding down?
Then when he is escaping the zombies in the street in Atlanta at the end - which was well done - he crawls under the tank and it looks like he will shoot himself.... except no one would buy that the main character would commit suicide in the first episode so that was a cheap ploy. The ending with the "Hey you dumbass" and the last song finished the episode strongly though.
A part of the show I entirely dislike is the Lori and Shane relationship. It feels contrived to me to create drama. I buy that Shane would want to get with Lori, but I don't see the motive for Lori here. Yes, her husband is apparently dead, but we're still talking a month or so that's passed. I just don't buy that relationship and am not a fan whenever that gets brought up. (The first scene of "Guts" when Shane scares Lori is bullshit. Manufacturing tension, because in that world, nobody sneaks up on anybody ever or you might die.)
In the third episode, Rick reuniting with his family was well done. I am not sure how they pulled that off, but boy did they. I also liked the comment from Dale about how words can't accurately capture what's happening.
I mentioned the writing for the "in between" scenes before and an example is the "evil characters." It's in quotes mostly, because they aren't characters. They are caricatures. It's a joke. Ed, the wife-beating misogynist, is one of the most poorly written characters I've ever seen. There is nothing likable about him.
As far as characters that are well-written, I'd say that comprises the people who took most of the screen time in the last few episodes. Andrea and her sister share a touching moment in the boat that made us care about them. Jim's heartbreaking story about how he escaped only because his family was being eaten. Dale's story about how he was angry when his wife was taken away from him and now he had Andrea. Shane is a dick, but at least he's a human being. Glenn, Merle, T-Dog, and Daryl are not really that well-written, but the actors make the most out of it.
This season is just too rushed. I know that's AMC's fault, but I don't understand why. They could have easily stretched out this season while fleshing characters. We experienced the CDC for a single episode. (Speaking of which, Noah Emmerich is impressive in his short time). They just needed more time to make these storylines work better.
Overall, the season is rushed, which largely causes a lot of the character problems. They don't have enough time to make us care so they need to create some caricatures that are easy to kill off. They barely get enough time for us to even remember half of their names. (Do you know who Jacqui is, because I needed to look up that she was the one black woman?)
Season Grade: B+
Playlist
1. "What They Do" - The Roots
2. "Miracle Mile" - Cold War Kids
3. "Black Hole Sun" - Soundgarden
4. "Do You Realize?" - The Flaming Lips
5. "Immortal" - Kid Cudi
Sunday, April 14, 2013
The Sopranos: "College"
This is a weekly feature. I'm reviewing The Sopranos episodes starting from the beginning. This is the fifth episode of the first season.
Past Episodes
Pilot
46 Long
Denial, Acceptance, Anger
I knew this was a great episode, but I forgot it was THIS GOOD. This is kind of an atypical Sopranos episode in that it's basically just two story lines stretched out over a full hour. Not a lot of important things happen in the long-run, but a lot of important things happen with the way the audience views the characters.
This is the first episode where we are exposed to Tony. It kind of slaps the audience in the face. "Oh, wow, yeah he is a bad guy." He's not just misunderstood. He's genuinely not a good person. I don't know if the strangling scene was accurate time-wise in that that is how long it takes to kill someone, but it felt like forever. That scene was painful. It's not particularly pleasant to watch someone die like that on screen, even if it's fake.
The other sad thing about this episode is that Tony kind of seems to derail what appeared to be a strengthening relationship between him and his daughter. Not like I blame him for not saying "Oh yeah, I had to kill that guy, he was a rat," but it's pretty clear that Meadow has lost faith in confiding in her dad. She knows he did something bad, but is frustrated he won't tell her.
Also, Tony kind of left Meadow to get drunk in the bar, which is hugely irresponsible. He had to know she was going to get drunk, right? That's some material for "How to be a Bad Parent."
The other story, amazingly, was just as impressive. In fact, I knew the Meadow/Tony story was gold before I watched this episode. I didn't realize the Carmela/Father Phil story was this good. I basically copied her confession word-for-word in the quotes, because it's truly remarkable writing.
We get into the reason that Carmela is with Tony and why she more importantly stays with him. We see how much of an internal struggle she has gone through knowing that Tony is a pretty bad person. I'm not sure they could have found a more effective way of showing the audience this. Any other way to convey that message would have seemed forced. This seemed natural.
It might just be me, but Father Phil seems like kind of a dick. He is kind of complicit in all of this too. He is getting the rewards of Tony's evil deeds by watching DVDs and eating great Italian food. He wants Tony to turn to religion, but I'm also pretty sure he wants to be able to go into that house without worrying about his conscience.
That's pretty much the only characters who made it on the show. Chris gets to talk on a payphone for the entirety of the episode. A.J. brings his mom some food and then goes to play Nintendo (HEY IT'S THE 90s moment!). Also, Dr. Melfi gets bitched at in a short phone conversation with Carmela.
Oh, and some serious foreshadowing in this episode with regards to Tony's relationship with Irina Peltsin. She mentions how her cousin is in town for two weeks and she already found her "knight in white satin armor," a phrase she repeats in the episode "Knight in white satin armor." That was a short scene, but it really shows these guys knew what the hell they were doing.
Surprise Guest Appearances
Well, Sarah Thompson is hardly famous, but when she appeared on screen, I recognized her immediately. Sure enough, she was Eve on "Angel." (Other credits include Boston Public and 7th Heaven)
Emma Thompson is Father Phil's crush. Who doesn't like Emma Thompson though?
Deaths
Fabian Petrulio, the rat
Quotes
"What do you study in India - how not to get diarrhea?" - Tony, who gets a big kick out of his own joke
"Are you in the mafia?" - Tony
"Maybe being a rebel in my family is selling patio furniture on Route 22?" - Tony's weird obsession with selling patio furniture
"I lost my pencil - up his ass." - Carmela to Dr. Melfi
"It means hopefully someday we will learn to tolerate, accept, and forgive those that are different." - Father Phil, something the Church would be smart to actually follow themselves.
"I have forsaken what is right, for what is easy. Allowing what is evil in my house, allowing my children - Oh my God, my sweet children, to be a part of it, because I wanted things for them, wanted a better life, good schools, I wanted this house, wanted money in my hands, money to buy anything I ever wanted. I'm so ashamed." - Carmela in her confession
"My husband - I think he has committed horrible acts... I'm the same, I've said nothing, I've done nothing about it. I got a bad feeling it's just a matter of time before God compensates me with outrage for my sins." *gun clicks meant for Tony on next scene* - more confession
"Want to know something about us wise guys? The hustle never ends?" - Tony to Fabian
"No man can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude without finally getting bewildered as to which may be true" - Hawthorne
"This is too fucked up for me to even think about about." - Tony, about Father Phil staying over
"What did you do for 12 hours - play name that pope?" - Tony
Playlist
"Life's a Bitch" - Nas ft. AZ
"Oxford Comma" - Vampire Weekend
"One Headlight" - The Wallflowers
"Let the Drummer Kick" - Citizen Cope
"Juice" - Ces Cru ft. Tech N9ne - This song is so awesome. Listen to this if you can.
Past Episodes
Pilot
46 Long
Denial, Acceptance, Anger
I knew this was a great episode, but I forgot it was THIS GOOD. This is kind of an atypical Sopranos episode in that it's basically just two story lines stretched out over a full hour. Not a lot of important things happen in the long-run, but a lot of important things happen with the way the audience views the characters.
This is the first episode where we are exposed to Tony. It kind of slaps the audience in the face. "Oh, wow, yeah he is a bad guy." He's not just misunderstood. He's genuinely not a good person. I don't know if the strangling scene was accurate time-wise in that that is how long it takes to kill someone, but it felt like forever. That scene was painful. It's not particularly pleasant to watch someone die like that on screen, even if it's fake.
The other sad thing about this episode is that Tony kind of seems to derail what appeared to be a strengthening relationship between him and his daughter. Not like I blame him for not saying "Oh yeah, I had to kill that guy, he was a rat," but it's pretty clear that Meadow has lost faith in confiding in her dad. She knows he did something bad, but is frustrated he won't tell her.
Also, Tony kind of left Meadow to get drunk in the bar, which is hugely irresponsible. He had to know she was going to get drunk, right? That's some material for "How to be a Bad Parent."
The other story, amazingly, was just as impressive. In fact, I knew the Meadow/Tony story was gold before I watched this episode. I didn't realize the Carmela/Father Phil story was this good. I basically copied her confession word-for-word in the quotes, because it's truly remarkable writing.
We get into the reason that Carmela is with Tony and why she more importantly stays with him. We see how much of an internal struggle she has gone through knowing that Tony is a pretty bad person. I'm not sure they could have found a more effective way of showing the audience this. Any other way to convey that message would have seemed forced. This seemed natural.
It might just be me, but Father Phil seems like kind of a dick. He is kind of complicit in all of this too. He is getting the rewards of Tony's evil deeds by watching DVDs and eating great Italian food. He wants Tony to turn to religion, but I'm also pretty sure he wants to be able to go into that house without worrying about his conscience.
That's pretty much the only characters who made it on the show. Chris gets to talk on a payphone for the entirety of the episode. A.J. brings his mom some food and then goes to play Nintendo (HEY IT'S THE 90s moment!). Also, Dr. Melfi gets bitched at in a short phone conversation with Carmela.
Oh, and some serious foreshadowing in this episode with regards to Tony's relationship with Irina Peltsin. She mentions how her cousin is in town for two weeks and she already found her "knight in white satin armor," a phrase she repeats in the episode "Knight in white satin armor." That was a short scene, but it really shows these guys knew what the hell they were doing.
Surprise Guest Appearances
Well, Sarah Thompson is hardly famous, but when she appeared on screen, I recognized her immediately. Sure enough, she was Eve on "Angel." (Other credits include Boston Public and 7th Heaven)
Emma Thompson is Father Phil's crush. Who doesn't like Emma Thompson though?
Deaths
Fabian Petrulio, the rat
Quotes
"What do you study in India - how not to get diarrhea?" - Tony, who gets a big kick out of his own joke
"Are you in the mafia?" - Tony
"Maybe being a rebel in my family is selling patio furniture on Route 22?" - Tony's weird obsession with selling patio furniture
"I lost my pencil - up his ass." - Carmela to Dr. Melfi
"It means hopefully someday we will learn to tolerate, accept, and forgive those that are different." - Father Phil, something the Church would be smart to actually follow themselves.
"I have forsaken what is right, for what is easy. Allowing what is evil in my house, allowing my children - Oh my God, my sweet children, to be a part of it, because I wanted things for them, wanted a better life, good schools, I wanted this house, wanted money in my hands, money to buy anything I ever wanted. I'm so ashamed." - Carmela in her confession
"My husband - I think he has committed horrible acts... I'm the same, I've said nothing, I've done nothing about it. I got a bad feeling it's just a matter of time before God compensates me with outrage for my sins." *gun clicks meant for Tony on next scene* - more confession
"Want to know something about us wise guys? The hustle never ends?" - Tony to Fabian
"No man can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude without finally getting bewildered as to which may be true" - Hawthorne
"This is too fucked up for me to even think about about." - Tony, about Father Phil staying over
"What did you do for 12 hours - play name that pope?" - Tony
Playlist
"Life's a Bitch" - Nas ft. AZ
"Oxford Comma" - Vampire Weekend
"One Headlight" - The Wallflowers
"Let the Drummer Kick" - Citizen Cope
"Juice" - Ces Cru ft. Tech N9ne - This song is so awesome. Listen to this if you can.
Friday, April 12, 2013
The Simpsons Season 1 Review
I decided to tackle the "greatest television show" as defined by some people. I'm coming into this basically having seen zero Simpsons episodes. I was pretty skeptical though. I mean I saw The Simpsons Movie and I didn't think it was that good and apparently everyone else did. (That was a while ago and maybe my opinion on the movie has changed, but I remember absolutely nothing about it.)
I could just watch the best episodes, but that's not really how I like to watch TV. Anyway, when I watch episodes, I read recaps of individual episodes on AV Club. Usually those are helpful in getting me to think about the show. But apparently they decided to hire the biggest fanboy on the planet who refuses to say a single bad word about the show. He gave the show's first season a cumulative A. He should be fired.
The first season wasn't that good. I'm judging this by today's standard not how it would have been in 1989, since The Simpsons is always called a "classic show." By definition, it should be timeless. So I don't know how good it was back then, but it wasn't that good now.
Now, I can see seeds of what makes the show great and it's really really not hard to see how this show became what it became. Besides the finale, which was awful, the show basically got progressively better and better.
The show suffered the worst crime of all for a comedy: I didn't laugh a lot. Like I could see this was more intelligent than your typical cartoon (or really comedy in general), but it didn't elicit actual laughter. The later episodes I remember laughing a few times, but the early ones I remember distinctly not laughing at all.
This is somewhat to be expected in a show searching for an identity in its first season, but the characters are somewhat inconsistent. Some of the episodes Homer desperately wants to be a good father and husband, and others he's so bad at it it seems a least a little intentional.
The best episodes to me where Life on the Fast Lane, just because Albert Brooks is hilarious, and Krusty Gets Busted, the first of apparently many Krusty-themed episodes. I also thoroughly enjoyed The Crepes of Wrath, which has Bart going to France as a foreign exchange student, and The Telltale Head, which has Bart cutting off the head of a statue for approval of "cool kids."
Some Enchanted Evening, which has a bandit babysitter, is just not good at all. The less said about it, the better. Homer's Night Out is hilariously outdated, as Homer gets in trouble with the whole town for dancing with another woman? At a bachelor party? And they celebrate their bachelor party at the same place that Marge and the kids go out to eat? That episode didn't work for me.
Overall, this season shows obvious promise, but it's not very good. I'm sure Simpsons fanatics will enjoy this season, but as a newcomer, there's no nostalgic factor to make it seem good for me.
Season Grade - C-
Playlist
1. "Definition" - Black Star
2. "Rawnald Gregory Erickson the Second" - Starfucker
3. "Song 2" - Blur
4. "Next" - The Weeknd
5. "Razor Blades and Steak Knives" - Jarren Benton
Playlist
1. "Definition" - Black Star
2. "Rawnald Gregory Erickson the Second" - Starfucker
3. "Song 2" - Blur
4. "Next" - The Weeknd
5. "Razor Blades and Steak Knives" - Jarren Benton
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Rewind: Sons of Anarchy Season 2
(Obviously this post contains spoilers. Don't read if you ever plan to watch the show)
I'm going to do this post a little different than my typical season reviews. This is the first show where I review a show's second season (all mine up to this point have been season one reviews). Sons of Anarchy is a show that has a ton of characters, most of them the writers pay their due diligence by the finale of the second season. So I'm going to devote at least a paragraph to each of the characters starting with Jackson Teller, the protagonist of the show.
Jax spent the first season reading his father's prose and wondering if the club is heading the wrong direction. In the finale, he decides he wants to deviate from Clay Morrow and eventually head the club in a direction other than selling guns. Unfortunately, he typically lets his hate and disgust for Clay get in the way of doing things for the good of the club and only manages to nearly destroy the club (with help from Clay as well)
I thought the show perfectly displayed the growing tensions between Clay and Jax. It slowly escalated until it seemed one of the two would have to kill the other. I like however that the show essentially shelved their conflict for next season by having them focus on a common goal. It allows this storyline to go into next season.
Opie's storyline was more of a backburner storyline, but it was ready to burst on the surface. As he is depressed by his wife's death, he becomes a suicidal maniac unable to connect with his kids and slowly going closer and closer to Clay. His development into his former self begins with his relationship with Lyla giving him a closer relationship with his kids and more of his sanity. Then, he finds out Clay and Tig are responsible for Donna's death, causing him to become friends with Jax and go back to his normal self.
His dad, Piney, sort of disappeared and reappeared, but that was kind of true to his character anyway and he seems extremely unstable. He is clearly hurting knowing Clay and Tig killed Donna and killing not telling Opie about it. Then when he finds out Opie was told about Donna's death, he tried to kill Clay thinking Opie would do that. I fear Piney is not much longer for this world as he is just the sort of fringe character that the audience cares about enough to warrant killing off.
In the first season, Tig, Chibs, and Juice all were essentially comedic relief with not much character development. Kim Coates did his thing and made Tig deeply interesting, but he wasn't really given a whole lot. Half-Sack suffered this same fate in the first season, and they didn't really do anything with him this season either. Not a huge surprise he decided he wanted off the show, so they resolved that somewhat abruptly and suddenly.
Anyway, Tig suffers through the guilt of having killed an innocent person - not only an innocent person, but the wife of a club member. (I sort of suspect he's killed an innocent person before.) His development is consistent and his spiral downward culminates when he's on shrooms crying to a doll (?).
Chibs comes out of nowhere, becoming an important and deep character organically through the story. In the last half of season two, he gets blown up, momentarily becomes a rat, and is clearly destroyed by his actions. It's pretty impressive what Kurt Sutter and the writers do with Chibs and Tommy Flanagan for his acting ability.
Juice is stabbed in prison, and is still mostly comedic relief, but his speech to Jax in the hospital after Jax told him he was going nomad was powerful and added a dimension to his character. It made him human.
As far as the female characters go, Gemma's storyline was clearly the most season-long of arcs. She gets gang-raped in the first episode, spends time dealing with that rape for most of the episode, realizes she needs to tell Jax and Clay about it, and then at the end finds God and gets her swagger back. It's pretty amazing how she thinks God wants Gemma to kill Ethan Zobelle's daughter.
Tara gets a nice arc as well as throughout the season she gradually starts accepting the violence and becomes a sort of protege for Gemma. In the last episode, it appears that all that "progress" towards violence will dissipate as she will see the effects of violence on her. She'll probably regress from violence in season three and I'm guessing break up with Jax.
Dayton Callie was excellent as the Chief as his connection to the Sons appears to be completely rooted in her interest in Gemma. He was there for her the whole season and it gives a corrupt cop a much more interesting character. It was satisfying to see him smile driving away at the end of the season with Gemma.
My favorite scenes were probably the two voting scenes - they created as much tension as any possible death could. The first - you could see the dynamics of the group changing from Clay to Jax and how much it killed Clay to see it. The second - the one to vote out Jax was terrifying because the whole time I wondered if they would go through with it. (Another great moment when Clay told Jax he wanted him gone)
The third season ends with the show very much in flux. Gemma is a fugitive on the run without a knowledge of where to go. Jax's baby is stolen by the Irishman. I bet Tara is deeply conflicted about her involvement with the club after that incident. The club needs to re-adjust to the events of the finale (especially Half-Sack's death).
This season was well done. I applaud its quality. It wasn't perfect, but it was pretty damn close. I'm honestly afraid the show will drop in quality. In fact, I think it'd be hard not to have a least a little of a drop. This show is fantastic - well-written, great actors, and compelling characters.
I'd put this show up there with the best of them after two seasons. It remains to be seen if he can keep it up, but so far it's been excellent.
Playlist (Sons of Anarchy Edition)
1. "This Life" - Curtis Stigers (Theme Song)
2. "Hard Row" - The Black Keys
3. "John the Revelator" - Curtis Stigers & The Forest Rangers
4. "Forever Young" - Audra Mae & The Forest Rangers
5. "Later this Year" - Straylight Run
I'm going to do this post a little different than my typical season reviews. This is the first show where I review a show's second season (all mine up to this point have been season one reviews). Sons of Anarchy is a show that has a ton of characters, most of them the writers pay their due diligence by the finale of the second season. So I'm going to devote at least a paragraph to each of the characters starting with Jackson Teller, the protagonist of the show.
Jax spent the first season reading his father's prose and wondering if the club is heading the wrong direction. In the finale, he decides he wants to deviate from Clay Morrow and eventually head the club in a direction other than selling guns. Unfortunately, he typically lets his hate and disgust for Clay get in the way of doing things for the good of the club and only manages to nearly destroy the club (with help from Clay as well)
I thought the show perfectly displayed the growing tensions between Clay and Jax. It slowly escalated until it seemed one of the two would have to kill the other. I like however that the show essentially shelved their conflict for next season by having them focus on a common goal. It allows this storyline to go into next season.
Opie's storyline was more of a backburner storyline, but it was ready to burst on the surface. As he is depressed by his wife's death, he becomes a suicidal maniac unable to connect with his kids and slowly going closer and closer to Clay. His development into his former self begins with his relationship with Lyla giving him a closer relationship with his kids and more of his sanity. Then, he finds out Clay and Tig are responsible for Donna's death, causing him to become friends with Jax and go back to his normal self.
His dad, Piney, sort of disappeared and reappeared, but that was kind of true to his character anyway and he seems extremely unstable. He is clearly hurting knowing Clay and Tig killed Donna and killing not telling Opie about it. Then when he finds out Opie was told about Donna's death, he tried to kill Clay thinking Opie would do that. I fear Piney is not much longer for this world as he is just the sort of fringe character that the audience cares about enough to warrant killing off.
In the first season, Tig, Chibs, and Juice all were essentially comedic relief with not much character development. Kim Coates did his thing and made Tig deeply interesting, but he wasn't really given a whole lot. Half-Sack suffered this same fate in the first season, and they didn't really do anything with him this season either. Not a huge surprise he decided he wanted off the show, so they resolved that somewhat abruptly and suddenly.
Anyway, Tig suffers through the guilt of having killed an innocent person - not only an innocent person, but the wife of a club member. (I sort of suspect he's killed an innocent person before.) His development is consistent and his spiral downward culminates when he's on shrooms crying to a doll (?).
Chibs comes out of nowhere, becoming an important and deep character organically through the story. In the last half of season two, he gets blown up, momentarily becomes a rat, and is clearly destroyed by his actions. It's pretty impressive what Kurt Sutter and the writers do with Chibs and Tommy Flanagan for his acting ability.
Juice is stabbed in prison, and is still mostly comedic relief, but his speech to Jax in the hospital after Jax told him he was going nomad was powerful and added a dimension to his character. It made him human.
As far as the female characters go, Gemma's storyline was clearly the most season-long of arcs. She gets gang-raped in the first episode, spends time dealing with that rape for most of the episode, realizes she needs to tell Jax and Clay about it, and then at the end finds God and gets her swagger back. It's pretty amazing how she thinks God wants Gemma to kill Ethan Zobelle's daughter.
Tara gets a nice arc as well as throughout the season she gradually starts accepting the violence and becomes a sort of protege for Gemma. In the last episode, it appears that all that "progress" towards violence will dissipate as she will see the effects of violence on her. She'll probably regress from violence in season three and I'm guessing break up with Jax.
Dayton Callie was excellent as the Chief as his connection to the Sons appears to be completely rooted in her interest in Gemma. He was there for her the whole season and it gives a corrupt cop a much more interesting character. It was satisfying to see him smile driving away at the end of the season with Gemma.
My favorite scenes were probably the two voting scenes - they created as much tension as any possible death could. The first - you could see the dynamics of the group changing from Clay to Jax and how much it killed Clay to see it. The second - the one to vote out Jax was terrifying because the whole time I wondered if they would go through with it. (Another great moment when Clay told Jax he wanted him gone)
The third season ends with the show very much in flux. Gemma is a fugitive on the run without a knowledge of where to go. Jax's baby is stolen by the Irishman. I bet Tara is deeply conflicted about her involvement with the club after that incident. The club needs to re-adjust to the events of the finale (especially Half-Sack's death).
This season was well done. I applaud its quality. It wasn't perfect, but it was pretty damn close. I'm honestly afraid the show will drop in quality. In fact, I think it'd be hard not to have a least a little of a drop. This show is fantastic - well-written, great actors, and compelling characters.
I'd put this show up there with the best of them after two seasons. It remains to be seen if he can keep it up, but so far it's been excellent.
Playlist (Sons of Anarchy Edition)
1. "This Life" - Curtis Stigers (Theme Song)
2. "Hard Row" - The Black Keys
3. "John the Revelator" - Curtis Stigers & The Forest Rangers
4. "Forever Young" - Audra Mae & The Forest Rangers
5. "Later this Year" - Straylight Run
Monday, April 1, 2013
The Sopranos: "Meadowlands"
This is a weekly feature. I'm reviewing The Sopranos episodes starting from the beginning. This is the fourth episode of the first season.
Past Episodes
Pilot
46 Long
Denial, Acceptance, Anger
Meadowlands starts off with a dream sequence that really highlights Tony's fear of being found out in therapy. This is cleverly done as at first it appears to be a real session and then quickly it becomes obvious that it's a dream when everyone starts appearing by her office. It accurately portrays a dream in that it's crazy and disorderly yet it seems to be real at the time.
These doubts manifest and make Tony question therapy. He is able to appease his wife, who really wants Tony in therapy, and appease himself by having Dr. Melfi followed. It's quite devilish in fact. While we've seen Tony beat up people before (in fact it happens this very episode), this is probably the worst thing he's done, only because Dr. Melfi is as innocent as people come. Usually in a show like this, we rationalize Tony's actions, because the person he is doing it to is also a bad person. But in this case, that is not the case.
Also in this episode, the aftermath of Junior's actions (if you need a reminder, he beat up Chris and killed Brendan; although Chris completely missed the message) occur. Chris is still not sure who was responsible for his beating, thinking Tony could be the reason. This is quickly removed when he picks up Meadow from school and talks with Tony himself.
He also sees Brendan was shot in the eye. This leads to kind of a funny sequence in Jackie Aprile's hospital bed if watching Jackie wasn't so sad. The funny part of the sequence is that Big Pussy, Silvio, and Paulie are all discussing when Mo Greene was shot in the eye in The Godfather. There's just something funny about mobsters idolizing The Godfather as much as normal people, putting it in a mythical light. (Also, I think something fairly unique at the time happened as three conversations are mixed at once effectively.)
Tony retaliates by stapling Mikey Palmice in the chest with a stapler gun he picked up in the hospital. It's pretty clear when Tony has the dinner with the captains that Mikey is not well-liked. (Though I wish there was an alternate universe where Mikey was working for Tony) Also, from that dinner, Tony is almost unanimously favored to become the next acting boss. It's also clear Tony doesn't want it.
So Jackie dies in this episode and everyone assumes Tony will become the new acting boss. Tony doesn't really want it and knows Junior wants it so he gives him the job. Tony wrongly assumes he will still be making the calls. Thus begins the reign of Junior, a not very smart or good acting boss.
On a lighter note, Anthony gets in a fight with a fellow student. Through this storyline, he finds out Tony is in the mob. It's kind of remarkable and sad how naive Anthony seems. Anyway, this is the first episode where he gets any kind of story and it was a good and necessary one. One suspects Meadow had a similar experience (without the fighting; probably the sarcastic comment though).
A couple of complaints: who plays Nintendo 64 like that?! Tony's doing it wrong. Not only he is doing it wrong, but I looked closely and I don't see how it's physically possible he was able to play Mario Kart holding it like that. Also, the website Meadow visited to see Anthony was similarly lame. I didn't see much of anything about Tony when I looked closely and it wasn't really convincing. Maybe that's more of a 1999 thing though.
Deaths
Jackie Aprile dies of cancer (Not the typical death of The Sopranos I suppose)
Surprising Guest Appearances
Guillermo Diaz, who isn't famous or anything, but I just watched Half Baked and when I saw his face, I did a double take. (He's only in a few episodes of Chappele's Show and Weeds and is in the movie The Terminal)
Quotes
"That's Heshie. He's got a 3:00." - Dr. Melfi in Tony's nightmare
"I heard the nurse said you made number two in your pants. Is that what happened?" - Adrianna to Chris in the hospital
"In the city, grown men are soiling themselves." "Mothers throw their babies out of skyscraper windows" - Livia Soprano
"You know, I come here to get cheered up. You think that's a mistake?" - Tony to Livia
"Not for anything, God bless your uncle, but he's living in the wrong century and New York knows it." - Larry Boy Barese
"If you don't do something, I got to question your leadership." - Chris, with the worst timing in the world
"Fucking moron" - Tony whispering to himself, perhaps revealing to Dr. Melfi who was the cause of her misfortune
Playlist (New Feature)
New feature on every post! I'm really interested in sharing my musical tastes, but don't think making a new blog is necessary. So I'll end the posts with five songs with as much variety as I can manage. Don't expect any country though (or electronic) (or dub step) (or heavy metal).
1. "Can I Kick It" - A Tribe Called Quest
2. "The Ghost Inside" - Broken Bells
3. "All Star" - Smash Mouth
4. Lights - Ellie Goulding
5. "Fame is for Assholes" - Hoodie Allen ft. Chiddy Bang
That's pretty much what you can expect on my playlists. Classic rap, indie rock, 90s Rock, a poppy song I like, and a newer rap song. Been listening to a lot of 60s and 70s music as well so that may make some appearances.
Past Episodes
Pilot
46 Long
Denial, Acceptance, Anger
Meadowlands starts off with a dream sequence that really highlights Tony's fear of being found out in therapy. This is cleverly done as at first it appears to be a real session and then quickly it becomes obvious that it's a dream when everyone starts appearing by her office. It accurately portrays a dream in that it's crazy and disorderly yet it seems to be real at the time.
These doubts manifest and make Tony question therapy. He is able to appease his wife, who really wants Tony in therapy, and appease himself by having Dr. Melfi followed. It's quite devilish in fact. While we've seen Tony beat up people before (in fact it happens this very episode), this is probably the worst thing he's done, only because Dr. Melfi is as innocent as people come. Usually in a show like this, we rationalize Tony's actions, because the person he is doing it to is also a bad person. But in this case, that is not the case.
Also in this episode, the aftermath of Junior's actions (if you need a reminder, he beat up Chris and killed Brendan; although Chris completely missed the message) occur. Chris is still not sure who was responsible for his beating, thinking Tony could be the reason. This is quickly removed when he picks up Meadow from school and talks with Tony himself.
He also sees Brendan was shot in the eye. This leads to kind of a funny sequence in Jackie Aprile's hospital bed if watching Jackie wasn't so sad. The funny part of the sequence is that Big Pussy, Silvio, and Paulie are all discussing when Mo Greene was shot in the eye in The Godfather. There's just something funny about mobsters idolizing The Godfather as much as normal people, putting it in a mythical light. (Also, I think something fairly unique at the time happened as three conversations are mixed at once effectively.)
Tony retaliates by stapling Mikey Palmice in the chest with a stapler gun he picked up in the hospital. It's pretty clear when Tony has the dinner with the captains that Mikey is not well-liked. (Though I wish there was an alternate universe where Mikey was working for Tony) Also, from that dinner, Tony is almost unanimously favored to become the next acting boss. It's also clear Tony doesn't want it.
So Jackie dies in this episode and everyone assumes Tony will become the new acting boss. Tony doesn't really want it and knows Junior wants it so he gives him the job. Tony wrongly assumes he will still be making the calls. Thus begins the reign of Junior, a not very smart or good acting boss.
On a lighter note, Anthony gets in a fight with a fellow student. Through this storyline, he finds out Tony is in the mob. It's kind of remarkable and sad how naive Anthony seems. Anyway, this is the first episode where he gets any kind of story and it was a good and necessary one. One suspects Meadow had a similar experience (without the fighting; probably the sarcastic comment though).
A couple of complaints: who plays Nintendo 64 like that?! Tony's doing it wrong. Not only he is doing it wrong, but I looked closely and I don't see how it's physically possible he was able to play Mario Kart holding it like that. Also, the website Meadow visited to see Anthony was similarly lame. I didn't see much of anything about Tony when I looked closely and it wasn't really convincing. Maybe that's more of a 1999 thing though.
Deaths
Jackie Aprile dies of cancer (Not the typical death of The Sopranos I suppose)
Surprising Guest Appearances
Guillermo Diaz, who isn't famous or anything, but I just watched Half Baked and when I saw his face, I did a double take. (He's only in a few episodes of Chappele's Show and Weeds and is in the movie The Terminal)
Quotes
"That's Heshie. He's got a 3:00." - Dr. Melfi in Tony's nightmare
"I heard the nurse said you made number two in your pants. Is that what happened?" - Adrianna to Chris in the hospital
"In the city, grown men are soiling themselves." "Mothers throw their babies out of skyscraper windows" - Livia Soprano
"You know, I come here to get cheered up. You think that's a mistake?" - Tony to Livia
"Not for anything, God bless your uncle, but he's living in the wrong century and New York knows it." - Larry Boy Barese
"If you don't do something, I got to question your leadership." - Chris, with the worst timing in the world
"Fucking moron" - Tony whispering to himself, perhaps revealing to Dr. Melfi who was the cause of her misfortune
Playlist (New Feature)
New feature on every post! I'm really interested in sharing my musical tastes, but don't think making a new blog is necessary. So I'll end the posts with five songs with as much variety as I can manage. Don't expect any country though (or electronic) (or dub step) (or heavy metal).
1. "Can I Kick It" - A Tribe Called Quest
2. "The Ghost Inside" - Broken Bells
3. "All Star" - Smash Mouth
4. Lights - Ellie Goulding
5. "Fame is for Assholes" - Hoodie Allen ft. Chiddy Bang
That's pretty much what you can expect on my playlists. Classic rap, indie rock, 90s Rock, a poppy song I like, and a newer rap song. Been listening to a lot of 60s and 70s music as well so that may make some appearances.
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