The Sopranos: Toodle Fucking-Doo

This is a returning weekly feature.  I cover each individual episode going from the beginning.  I've already covered Season 1 and will post a weekly post on the second season every Sunday.

Past Episodes

Season 1
Guy Walks Into a Psychiatrist's Office
Do Not Resuscitate

Tony Soprano gets a major headache in his life when Richie Aprile is paroled from prison.  He's former boss Jackie's brother, which makes it a little complicated when he gets out since Tony is now boss.  It's even more complicated because Richie does not give a single fuck that Tony is the boss.  He will do what he pleases, when he pleases, and with little regard for anybody but himself.

Richie is played by David Pravol.  Apparently he was considered for the role of Tony Soprano, but he was considered "too perfect."  I am glad they didn't go in that direction.  While's perfectly fine in this role, I cannot even imagine him being able to play Tony half as well as James Gandolfini.

He begins wrecking havoc by going to his old partner in crime, Beansie Gaeta.  He seems to be mostly out of crime and is a pretty good money maker for Tony with his pizzeria business.  Richie is pissed because Beansie never gave him respect and visited him in prison.  He wants his share of the business, which Richie seems to never have been a part of.  So he beats the shit out of Beansie.

Richie hasn't been in the game for 10 years so he feels disrespected that he has to talk with Tony's right-hand man, Silvio, and later in the mall.  Richie basically gets out of prison and wants everything he had before he was in prison NOW.  He also wants his old girlfriend back, Janice.  He seemingly stalks her by doing yoga and later meeting Livia at a very opportune time.  Janice is a fucking idiot so she falls for it.

There is an interesting parallel that's not exactly subtle, but still very evident.  (To be fair, if it was subtle I doubt I'd be able to spot it.  That's not my expertise.)  The show compares the behavior of Meadow and Tony's ability to control what she does to Richie Aprile.  Tony is basically powerless against both because he's restrained in his ability to enact punishments.

Meadow throws a party at her grandmother's house, gets caught, and then plays her parents like a fool.  I didn't like the extra, unnecessary scene of Meadow explaining that she was scamming her parents essentially.  That smile that spread across her face after she manipulates them into taking away her credit card for three weeks was really the only thing necessary.  (Then she gets money whenever she wants as she asks for a CD, which I think was for school maybe, but still she could be lying about that.)

Meanwhile, despite Tony's insistence on backing off, Richie runs over Beansie with a car.  He does this because he once again feels disrespected Beansie didn't come to his welcome home party thrown by Tony.  That was a pretty stupid thing to do.  If that's the custom, might as well go, contribute your money, and hope being around friends will save you.  Instead, he avoided the party and almost asked for Richie's beating.  (Surely he's aware Richie's a bit of a loose cannon.  Tony can only do so much.)

Janice at first supports Meadow as just a little teen rebellion as we get the sense that she's done her fair share of that.  But then she finds out she destroyed her little pet project.  We also find out she's getting money from disability checks I think meant for Livia.  After finding out that Meadow's actions affected her, she got righteous and questioned the parenting style of Tony and Carmela.  The scene where Tony flips his bowl and gets in her face is a masterclass in acting by Gandolfini.

It's pretty clear that Janice is deluding herself into believing she's better than the other Sopranos, because she got out.  When she tells Richie that she's a different person, she sounds like she's trying to convince herself more than she actually believes it.  Richie most certainly knows he's full of shit at least.  A constant theme in The Sopranos is that people never change and the conversation the two have at the hospital cafeteria is one of the best examples.  Two people saying they are different, but they are the exact same as before.

Then there's a little necessary plot for Melfi trying to show why she'll come back to Tony.  It's a bit forced, but there's certainly worse directions than having Melfi feel guilty Tony will kill himself.  She first meets Tony in the same restaurant and then frets about saying toodle doo to him as a goodbye.  She makes waaaay too big of a deal of it and it drags the episode down.

Then she dreams Tony crashed his car to "Optimistic Voices" from The Wizard of Oz.  I'm sure there's a symbolic reasoning for that decision, but I don't know what it is.  So if anybody knows that meaning, I encourage you to tell me.

This episode was written Sopranos veteran Frank Renzulli.  Interestingly enough, he was nominated for an Emmy in Outstanding Writing for two episodes on The Sopranos, but neither was in this second season.  The episode was directed by Lee Tamahori.  He had one visually cool shot that I noticed which was when the camera panned across the room when Janice and Richie did yoga.  Tamahori's career as a director went to shit after he directed this episode.  Before he directed three basically respectable films and afterwards he directed Along Came a Spider, Die Another Day, and xXx: State of Union, all of which were critically panned.  He was an interesting guest director at the time though.

Deaths
Nobody I believe

Quotes
"Let's not overplay our hand here, because if she finds out we're powerless, we're fucked." - Tony on parenting

"You want to raise your hand, you give her your last name." - Interesting philosophy from Richie Aprile on hitting women

"You come into town acting like the concerned daughter.  Who the fuck are you kidding?  You're just here to pick the friggin' bones." - slightly paraphrased, but you get the gist - Tony telling Janice off basically

"There's a lot that I could say right now that I am not gonna say." - This is practically Janice's catchphrase

"Oh, I wish the Lord would take me." - Livia's catchphrase

"Here's a rule you might remember: I'm the motherfucking fucking one who calls the shots." - Tony's threat to Richie

Playlist (First three are from this episode)
1. "No Scrubs" - TLC
2. "Optimistic Voices" - The Wizard of Oz
3. "Viking" - Los Lobos
4. "Leader" - Del Funky the Homosapien
5. "Cavalier" - James Vincent Morrow

Rewind: 24 S2

When I explained my reservations about the future of 24 in my first season, I had no idea they would come true so quickly.  This season is a mess.  A big, fat mess.  There are to be sure some good things in this season, but it's mostly just frustrating.  I'm frankly glad I'm getting at least a five month break from this show at this point.

Thankfully, going in, I knew this wasn't a great season.  I visited various sites and at best this was a middle-of-the-pack 24 season.  So I'm not stopping the show or anything, but this season just kind of sucked.

First off, the black hole of this season, Kim Bauer.  I didn't mind her in the first season, but she's just so useless and irrelevant in this season.  None of the things that happen to her matter.  Oh, she's accused of murder?  I'm sure that'll stick!  Oh, inconceivably rage-induced husband is after her?  That entire plot seemed cut from a different show; it was like a shitty horror movie)  What doesn't help is that this is a TV show so we know that her constant attempts to get out of LA are useless since there's no fucking way that nuclear bomb harms a single soul in LA.

What really sucks is most of this season was completely dragged down by that.  I'm not going to act like every other story worked, but without Kim's story, a good enough percentage of them worked to enjoy this story.  The problem is that Kim's plot took up too much of the episode.  I'm not sure how much actual time she was on the show, but anything greater than 0 was too much for what they gave her to do.

Jack's infiltration into a bomb group and the subsequent bombing of CTU worked great.  Most of President Palmer plots worked pretty well, but it became pretty tiresome and utterly ridiculous that almost everybody was working against him.  And they got Lynn out of the story... by having her fall like 10 flights of stairs?  Come on, that's clearly just writing her out of the show in an unrealistic way.  I didn't mind that they were trying to kick him off the presidency surprisingly as much as I was first annoyed by it.  So it's got that going for it.

What works amazingly, improbably well is the arc of George Mason.  This shouldn't have been as good as it was, but Xander Berkely put forth one of the finest performances I've seen on television.  He was so damn good.  When he left the show via his death, there was a hole the rest of the season.  His replacement, Ryan Chappelle, frankly didn't hold a candle to Mason.

I also mostly liked the Warner family plot.  Kate was kind of shoe-horned and forced into the show as it dragged on, but enough of it worked to enjoy it.  I don't expect realism in 24, but I do expect to not be annoyed by a storyline.  This one succeeded.

24's treatment of Middle Easters is somewhat surprisingly well-handled.  Reza Naiyeer is completely innocent, which seems to be the case for most of the season.  Yusuf Auda it turns out didn't have a hidden agenda and just wanted to keep his country safe.  But that does remind me of the obvious stalling technique when Yusuf and Kate are beat up by racists out of nowhere.  Man, just when I think of a reason to like this season, I've got another two of why I disliked it.

Overall, this was a bad season.  I'm not going to go as far as say this was bad television, but it was at the best a frustrating and prolonged experience.  I sincerely hope future seasons are much better, because this was a glorified piece of shit.

Playlist
1. "Annie You Save Me" - Graffiti6
2. "Constant Conversations" - Passion Pit
3. "Fuck Swag" - Rittz
4. "Lovely Day" - Bill Withers
5. "Don't Stop Me Now" - Queen

The Sopranos: Do Not Resuscitate

This is a returning weekly feature.  I cover each individual episode going from the beginning.  I've already covered Season 1 and will post a weekly post on the second season every Sunday.

Past Episodes
Season 1
Guy Walks Into a Psychiatrist's Office

I may make this point every episode, but I want to reiterate how much re-watching these episodes have helped me.  As strange as it may sound, the first time I watched these episodes I didn't really understand what was going on.  Whether that's a natural thing for a first-time viewer or if I am just paying really close attention on second viewing, I'm not sure.  But the important part is that I understand what's going on now.

There are three main plots in this episode, one that explores the awful business dealings of the mafioso life, one that explores how to be a rat, and the other played mostly for comedic effect.  A construction company owned by Junior is being protested by an all-black rally led by father and son reverends.  The workers are obviously unhappy and seek a way to stop this so they go to Tony.

At the end of the episode it's revealed that Tony paid the son for his services.  Now I'm not exactly sure if he's paying him to stop or if he's paying him for starting the rally and then stopping it.  I don't know if Tony is this smart, but there's a chance he paid for the rally to happen at all so he could seize Junior's business dealings.  It's either that or he's seized on the opportunity.

Usually, The Sopranos' attempts to portray African Americans is pretty bad especially in comparison to another HBO show The Wire.  However, in this episode, it's not that bad with the experienced actors Bill Cobbs playing the father and Gregory Alan Williams playing the son.  The protest scene itself I could give or take, but portraying individual characters are more important anyway and the scenes with Tony talking with the father and then the son are good.

Then, previously somewhat unknown, it's revealed that Big Pussy is actually talking with the feds.  From last episode, it was clear that Tony was suspicious of Big Pussy despite his story checking out.  Now, that suspicion is valid.  In this episode, we meet Skip, the likable detective.  We also find out why.  For one, the feds caught him on something and he will get to stay out of prison in return.  For two, he gets free rides and I think free care to repair his unfixable back.  Also, there's a sense that he has a bit of a resentment towards Tony that makes him feel ok with betraying his friend, or at least makes it easier.

The second story takes the most time. (The Big Pussy part is a really minor part of the episode)  A generous judge allows Junior to stay at home on house arrest because of a health condition that is clearly bullshit.  Ironically, he soon actually develops a health condition that makes the ruling valid. (Karma?)  But the judge is not generous enough to let him go home without an electronic monitoring device.  And for the next five seasons, Dominic Chianese had a pretty easy job going back to the same location every single episode.

This part of the story is almost entirely played for laughs.  Whether it's Attorney Melvoin's bullshitting, anything involving Bobby, or Junior's fall in the shower, I think each scene is meant to be funny (or pathetically funny).  This marks the first appearance of Bobby Baccalieri, who is pretty much the nicest guy ever so Tony's vitriol towards him seems meaner than the first time.  (For instance, when Bobby says he always liked Tony, I actually believe him because he doesn't seem to have an ounce of dislike in his body.)  I also liked Bobby saying what he wanted to say when he gives Tony the money but after Tony had left.

Lastly, Janice attempts to connive her way towards having the house that Tony wants to sell.  One problem: Janice is trying to play a game Livia practically invented.  So she doesn't fall for her shit.  She visits Livia the first time and realizes how bad she is.  So the second time she comes prepared, playing a song that she knows she likes (with the help of Meadow) and trying to play the good daughter card.  It works for a while (maybe) but then AJ does the one good thing he's ever done and tells Livia that Janice is planning to DNR her.

It's pretty funny when Janice suggest to Livia that she live in the old house with her.  Then Livia does something I'm sure Janice doesn't expect and says she wants to live in Green Grove. (because clean towels everyday!)  Then I'm sure Livia  thought about the idea of living with Janice and ended up having a coughing fit for about a minute.  I understand your pain Livia.  On second viewing, Janice is a pretty awful person from the start, but she's at least a realistic portrait.  She thinks she's above the Sopranos, but it's clear early on that she's about the same as the rest of them (except Tony's other sister who actually gets away from the mob life.)

This episode is written by three people, all of them with impressive resumes for this show.  The team of Mitchell Burgess and Robin Green, who later co-created Blue Boods, have been nominated 4 times for Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series and won two in that same category at the Emmy's.  They were nominated every season except the last season, but they wrote only a single episode in that season.  The other person, Frank Renzulli, has two nominations for Outstanding Writing (one he co-wrote with Chase, the other he wrote solo) which is impressive since he was only a member of The Sopranos writing team for two seasons.  This episode doesn't quite live up to that resume as none of those nominations were due to this episode.

Behind the chair of this episode was Martin Bruestle.  Interestingly enough, he was a producer for all six seasons of The Sopranos.  This was the only episode he directed.  I didn't notice anything particularly bad or good about this episode, but I guess he was satisfied with only directing one thing ever.

All in all, another solid episode of The Sopranos.  It's nothing special, but business as usual for The Sopranos.  And business as usual for The Sopranos is going to be the same grade every time.

Grade - A-

Surprise Guest Appearances
Gregory Alan Williams, most well-known for playing an assistant coach to Coach Boone (Denzel Washington) in Remember the Titans, plays a reverend protesting

Bill Cobbs plays his father - also a reverend.  Cobbs is probably best known for playing an old security guard in Night at the Museum, but he's has 168 credits on IMDB.

Deaths
Reverend James Sr, played by Cobbs, dies after a nice and peaceful conversation with Tony, of old age.

Quotes
"My nephew's visiting his uncle..... who loves him." - Gandolfini's delivery on this line makes this funny

"To the victor belongs the spoils" - Bobby makes a strong impression in his first scene on The Sopranos


"Sounds like Nazi Germany to me" - Junior's attempt to not wear an ankle bracelet

"You got something to say, little girl who's about to get her license might want to use one of those cars in the driveway in the next 100 years?" - That would shut any teenager up, Tony

"You were on TV?  Which show?" - Bobby really made a strong impression

"I mean get off my car before you flip it over you fat fuck" - Tony to Bobby

"Be careful with Janice.  She's a real snake in the grass" - Livia with words of wisdom for Carmela

"Anthony, don't let me go to the grave with this guilt." - I'm not sure if this is Junior's pride not allowing himself to be carried or about Tony's (justifiable) abandonment of his mother

Playlist (First two are from this episode)
1. "Mother and Child Reunion" - Paul Simon
2. "Goodnight My Love" - Ella Fitzgerald
3. "Pretender" - Miike Snow
4. "Counting" - Autre Ne Veut
5. "School Days" - Ryan Lewis & Symmetry

Rewind: Justified S4

If you haven't seen Justified, I encourage you to watch the show, but don't read this review.  If you must be convinced, read my first season review devoid of spoilers.

SPOILERS BELOW

The fourth season of Justified further cements itself as one of the premiere shows on television.  With that said, I'm apparently alone in thinking this season was somewhat of a let-down from previous seasons.  That's not to say I was disappointed by the season - far from it - but I do think it was its worst since season one.

The last three episodes very nearly absolve the season of any faults and make up for some clunky moments and way too much plot.  Too much plot was a common complaint in season three, but I thought it had never been more evident and clunky than this season.  Justified has never been a realistic show, but I've never found myself asking so many plausibility moments as I did throughout the first ten episodes.

However, I'm not sure the show has ever had an episode as action-packed and awesome as the eleventh episode.  Watching Boyd try to decipher where Raylan has decided to hide Drew Thompson was thrilling, exciting, and probably the reason many consider this to be the greatest season.  The show also had Tim play cat-and-mouse with Colton, which provided many great moments.

The last three episodes provide the height of what this show can be, but I do consider grading this season as a whole and not just the end.  I don't want to mislead you though.  I loved this season.  Claiming this season was a bit of a let-down in quality is purely a case of the standard Justified has already set for itself.

Oddly enough, this season did a lot of things that I complained about in previous reviews.  Winona was in two episodes and used expertly in the two of them.  Tim was given an actual arc this season with his mini-showdown with Colton.  And Rachel probably had more screen time she's had in the three previous seasons combined.  (I would like Rachel to get something resembling Tim's fantastic story with Colt, but her slowly becoming Raylan is interesting - Still I had no idea she was married until this season and then they act like that was a big character moment for her)

The "low points" of the season - and keep in mind with this dialogue, it's not like I'm saying it's still not a good episode - were the seventh episode when they brought back a seemingly one-off villain and the ninth episode when Raylan is allowed to transport former sheriff Mosley.  It's not like I didn't like Jody Adair, but the second time through was much less interesting and brought nothing new that Justified has already done before.  The ninth episode was the show cutting corners to get to certain plot points, something the show rarely does.  (Or at least as obviously)

This season did provide a great conclusion to Arlo's time on this show.  It's pretty clear his narrative purpose was reaching its end with him being in prison for life and I can't say I see a much better way to end his story than this.  I don't really understand why he had to kill a guy back in the first episode - for narrative purposes to raise the intrigue for the mystery, but killing that guy seemed pointless.  I know he wants no one to talk about that bag, but man that seemed to be going overboard.

Sheriff Shelby being Drew Thompson was a decent reveal - they made it pretty explicit the episode before - and somebody the audience knows is certainly more interesting than a random guy.  Shelby was about the most logical and big-name of a character to make the reveal meaningful.  Jim Beaver played his part in making the character's seemingly transformative character from his earlier days authentic and genuine.

I enjoyed Boyd's season-long arc.  A man who has seemed in control of what he's doing slowly saw everything fall apart.  At one point, he had Colton trying to hide Ellen Mae's disappearance, Johnny trying to betray him, Jimmy recovering from multiple snake bites, and Ava trying to deal with having Ellen Mae killed (or thinking she had him killed).  He was far from in control and everything seemed to go against him.  That's a much more interesting Boyd than one who gets his way all the time (although less fun if you're a Boyd fan, and who isn't a Boyd fan?)

As for the performances, Goggins and Olyphant of course deliver.  Olyphant is never better than when he has to deal with hearing about his father's death as contradicting emotions flood over him.  Goggins was on fire all season as a man who keeps finding himself caught off-guard from Duffy shooting his own man to the preacher getting bit by the snake.  I feel like a redemptive arc for Boyd will be coming, although it'll probably be too late and also not any time soon. (Also, I could be way off; his second season attempt at being good could indicate he's never going good again)

Among the supporting players, David Meunier and Joelle Carter are at their best this season.  Meunier as Johnny Crowder is a backstabbing, terrible person, but yet you feel sympathy for him with his pathetic "I love you" to Ava.  Carter has a tough job, acting-wise, to have Ava try and cross the line into "bad guy," but she can't quite do it and sleep at night.

Then of course Mike O'Malley, known for his work on Yes Dear, switches up and plays a pretty menacing figure who's a little too cocky and unpredictable.  I'll never get tired of Jere Burns and his reaction shots, which this season provided plenty of for me.  Lastly, Ron Eldrard does such a good job with his role as Colton that, even after he's brutally murdered many people, you kind of are sad when he basically commits suicide.

In all, this was a weird season for me.  The highs were the best the show has ever been and the lows were the worst the show has ever been.  I'm not really sure how exactly that evens out, but for me, it lands below the more consistent second and third seasons.  I want to emphasize how high the bar is for Justified and that's the only reason for my consternation.

Playlist - My Top 50 tracks for the year finishes; 1-10; 11-20; 21-30; 31-40)
41. "Sticks and Stones" - Arlissa
42. "Animals" - Martin Garrix
43. "Clarity" - Zedd ft. Foxes!
44. "John Doe" - B.O.B. ft. Priscilla
45. "Rip Your Heart Out" - Hopsin ft. Tech N9ne
46. "Waste of Paint" - Peace
47. "Love Game" - Eminem ft. Kendrick Lamar
48. "Contact" - Daft Punk
49. "I Sat by the Ocean" - Queens of the Stone Age
50. "Alive" - Empire of the Sun

The Sopranos: Guy Walks...

This is a returning weekly feature.  I cover each individual episode going from the beginning.  I've already covered Season 1 and will post a weekly post on the second season every Sunday.

Past Episodes
Season 1

With the first episode of season two, I have realized how great these posts are for me to fully enjoy The Sopranos.  Not only does this show get better on multiple viewings, but it allows me to grasp every plot point and where it's headed.  That's something I'd argue that's near impossible to do the first time.

This season begins with my very favorite music montage on The Sopranos up to the point where I'm at (Season 5) and I don't think it will be beat.  Set to "This Was a Very Good Year" by Frank Sinatra, they pretty much set up the series long conflicts, ones that won't really even be truly addressed this season.  Everything is going good.  The men are spending money on wealthy excesses that they don't need.  Chris is doing drugs and trying to get elevated in the business without really doing the work.  It also does a nice job updating us for the future season by showing Junior in jail, Livia in the hospital, and Dr. Melfi holding therapy sessions in a hotel.

It also ends it on a sad note as Tony cheats on his wife, makes sure he doesn't smell like he cheated, and then gets into bed.  Carmela turns in bed, sees Tony, and then turns back around.  Then Tony turns around too seeing Carmela almost change her position because she saw Tony.  It was a good way to show that their marriage isn't really going good even if it appears good on the surface.  Then of course the immediate conclusion is when Tony is eating leftovers and Carmela checks the mail.  They sit in silence not communicating.  It's a very understated way to show the Sopranos' marriage is not working, but neither will do anything about it.

Then the shuffling for the season storylines begin.  Big Pussy comes by the house to make good with Tony.  He has a flimsy excuse for leaving although he appears to convince Tony.  I didn't notice this for the first time somehow, but Tony is not truly convinced, but he's lying to himself.  At the barbecue later, he looks at Big Pussy with a look that could only mean he knows he ratted.  This explains how Big Pussy is slowly phased out of the main operations.  Oddly enough, they don't yet reveal that Big Pussy will spend the rest of this season talking with the feds, but I think Tony's silent stare was supposed to say all that we needed to know.  (Although it could be argued Chase wanted us to know Tony wasn't buying Big Pussy's story, but the question of him ratting was still in doubt)

The fallout from last season is seen in this episode.  Tony told Dr. Melfi to leave and naturally when Tony tells her she can come back, she doesn't take it so well.  He then sees her in person which she really doesn't take very well.  They needed to slowly integrate her back into Tony's life in order to keep the character consistent.  But still this part of the story is a bit of a drag, because it was just a matter of time before she came back.  But so far, so good, it's the next few episodes that are repetitive.

How dumb is Philly Parisi?  He's just chatting away talking shit about Tony willy nilly.  By the way I loved how Gigi walks out of the car, grabs a suitcase, and then gets picked up by Philly.  They did cut it a little close, but frankly the sight gag of that was worth it.  But anyway, the takeaway from this scene is that Tony makes sure that people aren't going to be talking shit about him.  He also lies to Dr. Melfi when he swears no one is dying because of her.

Livia Soprano is in a hospital and really taking advantage of appearing weak.  She easily manipulates Meadow by playing the victim of her showdown with Tony.  It's really too bad Nancy Merchand died before the end of her run on the show was supposed to come.

And the introduction of the most hated character in a show about mobsters, Janice.  She appears innocent enough at first.  But it becomes clear really early on - earlier than I remember - that she just comes to get money and the house from Livia.  She is the one character I don't really think they even tried for the audience to sympathize with.

Lastly, we are introduced to bumbling morons, Matt and Sean.  They are incompetent fools who worship the ground Tony walks on and are way too desperate to get in Tony's inner circle.  The problem is they have no patience and are idiots.  Here they beat the shit out of a poor guy for being helpful to a customer (and not so helpful for the business).  That's kind of out of line.  Anyway, it's clear from that scene and the later one in a club with Christopher and Adriana that they are both stupid and eager to be involved.  That's not a great combination.  Their deaths were inevitable.  The fact that they were unlikable pricks certainly made their impending doom enjoyable.

Fun fact: The actor who plays Matt was Lillo Brancato.  He's famous for playing the lead opposite Robert Deniro in A Bronx Tale.  "The saddest thing in life is wasted talent" turned out to be prophetic.  He was convicted of armed burglary in 2005 to 10 years in prison.  The other guy who plays Sean, Chris Tardio, has led a decent if unimpressive career with 43 credits including a part in Analyze That, a sequel to Analyze This which was referenced in this episode.  Weird how that worked out.

This episode was written by Jason Cahill, which isn't a name you should know or anything, but his career is strange.  He wrote three episodes for ER, one episode for NYPD Blue, and four episodes of a show called Profiler (ran for four seasons) before becoming a Sopranos writer.  He wrote two episodes in the first season and one episode this season and then didn't write anything for five years.  He wrote a single episode of unsuccessful TV show called Surface, disappeared for three years, and then wrote two episodes of Fringe.  He hasn't written anything since.

The episode is directed by Allen Coulter, who you should know.  He directed "College," which is considered one of the best episodes in the Sopranos series.  This is his third directorial effort for the show and he does a pretty good job.  I have to give him a lot of credit for the opening music montage because no words are said and the scenes flow pretty seamlessly from scene to scene.

This was a shorter episode at 49 minutes, but honestly I kind of like how some of the episodes are fit to what's necessary and not.  An extra 10 minutes of useless crap would have been excessive.  This episode has only vital scenes and sets up the season and the rest of the series well.  This was a very good premiere episode.

Deaths
Philly Parisi, for having a big mouth

Quotes (Low on quotes today)
"Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in" - Always appreciate Silvio imitating Pacino in The Godfather

"Dad, how do you stay so hip?" - Hilarious line by Meadow when Tony says not to bring any grunge from Seattle

"I watch the news.  I know who you are.  I saw Analyze This." - Tony attempts a new psychiatrist

"I hate you, you fucking pig, get off of me."
"You fucking whore" - the loving relationship of Chris and Adriana

"I swear to Jesus Christ nobody got killed because of you." - That's not exactly true Tony

Grade - A-

Playlist (First three are from this episode - good episode soundtrack wise)
1. "It was a Very Good Year" - Frank Sinatra
2. "Smoke on the Water" - Deep Purple
3. "Time is on My Side" - Irma Thomas
4. "Bavarian #1 (Say You Will)" - Miike Snow
5. "Dreams" - Fleetwood Mac

Rewind: The Simpsons S4

The fourth season of The Simpsons is widely regarded as one of the best seasons on television ever.  It's consistent from Episode 1 to Episode 22 and it even makes the most out of a lame clip show.  I've seen 22 of these episodes one time through so I'm not going to pretend I was able to get every gag, reference, or joke that the show threw at me.  Therefore, I can't pretend I consider this one of the all-time greatest seasons ever.  I'm not sure I ever will.  The problem is that The Simpsons paved ground for shows I've already seen so some of the writing doesn't appear so revolutionary as it happened to be.

True to its reputation, the fourth season is shockingly consistent.  Some of the episodes are more memorable than the others and some of them I need to read a quick plot review to remember, but I definitely didn't finish any of the episodes thinking it was bad.

The season begins with the students led by Principal Skinner destroying Springfield Elementary after school ends.  Granted, it was Bart's dream, but that pretty much indicates what to expect from this season - anything and everything.  The show then proceeds to have episodes dedicated to making fun of religion, beauty pageants, 80s action movies, labor disputes, cartoon television writers, long-standing practices in the name of tradition, and the phenomenon of mobs.   It also parodies such classic movies as "A Streetcar Named Desire," "The Great Escape," "A Clockwork Orange," "The Music Man," and many other movies I've never seen.

In previous seasons, my lone complaint was that the show wasn't as funny as I was expecting given its reputation.  While it still kind of falls short in that department honestly, it made me laugh considerably more than in previous seasons.  But really I've learned not to watch this show to laugh as odd as that may sound.  I do know there are people who exist - a good number of them in fact - who find this show gut-bustingly hilarious.  I'm not one of those people.  That's not to say I don't laugh a lot at these episodes - and probably more on subsequent visits - it's just that if I find myself in the mood to laugh, I'm probably not going to be watching The Simpsons.  I hope you can understand the distinction.

The first four episodes set the standard for the season.  "Kamp Krusty" particularly stands out for me.  The show has kids destructing a school, followed by child abuse by camp counselors, and the implication that Homer and Marge are being dragged down by having kids.  Even by today's standards, that's daring.  The second episode makes me want to go watch "The Great Escape" and "A Streetcar Named Desire."  I mean even if the episode was bad, that's definitely a good thing.  The third episode just absolutely destroys organized religion.  I'm not going to say my opinions on this one way or the other, but everything it says is absolutely spot-on.  The fourth does a spectacular job on the admittedly easy target that is a beauty pageant, more relevant today than then I'd argue.

The Treehouse of Horror underwhelmed me.  It's not that it was bad, but I actually like the previous two better which surprised me.  I don't want to go through every episode, so I'll just name a few that stood out to me.  "Marge vs the Monorail" was one of my favorites of the season with a random appearance from Leonard Nimoy (and hilarious).  "Selma's Choice" provides me with the funniest laughs of the season when Lisa trips out at Duff Gardens.  "I Love Lisa" is a showcase for Ralph Wiggums and Bart's willingness to do just about anything to get to a Krusty show.  "Last Exit to Springfield" of course which is considered the greatest of the series by many.  Lastly, I really liked "Whacking Day" for how it shows how stupid certain traditions are (and apparently this specific tradition is actually based on a real life tradition similar to this amazingly).

Hell, in the mandatory clip show, the writers poke fun at at the fact that it's a clip show (my favorite bit is Bart talking about that one Itchy & Scratchy episode completely unrelated to anything).  This was before anybody even had the audacity to do this.

Overall, the fourth season doesn't quite live up to its reputation for me, you know, because its reputation is greatest of all-time of any show ever.  But I liked it a lot and will definitely re-watch a few times before I move on to the fifth season at an undetermined date.

Since I'm a newbie to this show, I wanted to give the perspective of a veteran.  So I asked twitter friend John to write his opinion on this season as well.  Here is what he had to say.

The fourth season of The Simpsons is the make or break season as far as fandom goes. If at some point in the fourth season (or before) you have not enjoyed the show, it probably won’t happen. Season 4 is the point at which the show most sublimely combines its more heartfelt elements (most noticeable and perhaps most over-done in the first two seasons, in which it shouldn’t be that hard to believe that the guy who wrote and directed Terms of Endearment was the de facto show runner) and its most asinine (the show becomes sillier, for better or worse, under David Mirkin for Seasons 5-6).

This was a season in which episodes about Homer’s mortality (Homer’s Triple Bypass) and Marge’s sister’s loneliness and general lack of life fulfillment (Selma’s Choice) were sandwiched by Marge vs. the Monorail—a goofy, hilarious episode filled with countless, oft-repeated lines and gags which has become legendary as one of three episodes written by Conan O’Brien, certainly the most famous Simpsons staff writer. The stranger episodes and the most earnest episodes alternate with seemingly no pattern, but this is never really a problem—it’s not like the show has linear storytelling anyway.

There are no truly bad episodes in the season (even the clip show is pretty good in comparison to your typical TV clip show). One of my favorite elements of the season is that the movie references go from common to borderline overwhelming. As somebody who doesn’t really watch a ton of TV that isn’t sports or news—it’s probably not a coincidence that my two favorite series post-Simpsons were King of the Hill and The Office, which were both co-created by a former Simpsons writer—I compensate with film.  And the references are EVERYWHERE here. There are the overwhelmingly obvious (with an episode named A Streetcar Named Marge, even people who haven’t seen A Streetcar Named Desire probably have a decent idea of what’s going on); there are the old favorites (I don’t quite like Duffless’s parody of A Clockwork Orange as much as the extensive parody in Season 3’s Dog of Death, but I still laughed); and there are the smaller references that not everybody’s going to remember (Lisa the Beauty Queen has a scene which parodies Apocalypse Now that I had no idea was parodying it until years after having seen both the episode and the movie; the “Eureka!” moment was rather satisfying).

There are too many terrific episodes to focus on every single one so I’ll go to the greatest-episode-by-acclamation-of-the-internet: Last Exit to Springfield. I have never compiled a list of my favorite episodes because my opinions change too frequently, though there is little question that Last Exit would be near, if not at, the top of my list, as it tends to rank very highly on fan and critic lists. It was the final episode written by the underrated team of Jay Kogen and Wally Wolodarsky and one of the final episodes run by Al Jean and Mike Reiss, and it comes across as an episode constructed by people who were bored and felt like going for broke. There are a number of classic scenes that I think about/reference a lot in my life. The classic “Lisa needs braces/dental plan” exchange in Homer’s head might as well be the password to Simpsons fandom initiation—it would be impossible to explain to somebody who hasn’t seen the episode, yet it’ll bring a smile (or loud laugh) to the face of anyone who has. Homer’s bizarre Don Fanucci in The Godfather Part II fantasy of his union leadership leading to ties to organized crime (which, because it’s The Simpsons, seems to have transported him to 1920s New York). Lisa’s Beatles-esque dream while under anesthesia. The entire segment in which Homer meets with Mr. Burns at the latter’s mansion—ALL of it. The montage of Mr. Burns and Smithers running the plant by themselves. A truly great Simpsons episode needs not to have an air-tight plot (I would actually probably just sum up this episode as “Lisa needs braces/dental plan”); it just needs to make you laugh. And it does, even after having seen it countless times.

In Season 5, things get weird. This isn’t to say that they get worse (or better, really)—they just get…different. It’s not that the show becomes utterly vacant emotionally (Family Guy, a show which I don’t hate, is to some extent what The Simpsons probably would have been had they abandoned any sense of decency or emotion—often funny, sporadically intelligent, but nowhere near as good as peak-era Simpsons), but it isn’t the same type of show as it was during Seasons 1-4. Season 2 represented a noticeable jump in quality over Season 1, and Season 3 represented a quantum leap over Season 2. Season 4 represents a much milder jump in quality—this is a show which had hit its stride around the midpoint of Season 3 and at this point was just reveling in it. The rise of the show is almost like that of The Beatles—the Beatles probably needed to go through its “Love Me Do” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand” phase in order to pave the way for its great mid-to-late 60s work. And Season 4 is its Rubber Soul—a terrific sign of the frantic experimentation to come, but still very much grounded in the genius which had come before.

So there you have it.  I hope you enjoyed both perspectives.  The weight of writing about this season is finally going to be removed.  I wanted to share the writing duties to someone who could appropriately compliment the show that The Simpsons fanatics would desire and my words just couldn't do that.

Playlist (Part of Top 50 tracks of 2013; 1-10; 11-20; 21-30)
31. "Nuclear Seasons" - Charli XCX (Not 2013, but in was in her 2013-released album)
32. "Savagely Attack" - CZARFACE ft. Ghostface Killah
33. "Latch" - Disclosure ft. Sam Smith
34. "While I'm Alive" - STRFKR
35. "This Ladder is Ours" - The Joy Formidable
36. "Ab-Soul's Intro" - Terrace Martin ft. Ab-Soul
37. "Fast in My Car" - Paramore
38. "John Doe" - B.O.B. ft. Priscilla
39. "The Stars (Are Out Tonight)" - David Bowie
40. "Villuminati" - J. Cole

Friends: Finale & Season 1 Thoughts

Well, today ends the first season of Friends.  In this post, I'll talk about the finale and then talk about the first season as a whole.  I apologize ahead of time for Joey fans, because I mostly neglect his insignificant storyline in service of Ross-Rachel (which takes up most of the episode anyway).  Anyway, enjoy.

"The One Where Rachel Finds Out"
This is Friends firing on all cylinders.  Every joke seemed to hit.  The way Rachel found out about Ross' love for her was hilarious.  Joey's plot about preventing a woman from having sex with him was decently funny, but ultimately forgettable.  But I did feel I laughed more than normal.

The opening scene quickly transitions the audience from last week's birth episode to what is clear will be the main plot of this one.  Ross shows off his baby's picture to all of his friends.  Rachel comments on the picture on Ross' shoulder while she says a bunch of stuff that also applies to Ross' feelings for her.  Then Chandler scoffs at him.  *FORESHADOWING*

Ross has to go to China for a week before her birthday.  They don't really explain much, but he's a paleontologist and they need a bone so it works fine enough.  Somewhat conveniently he has to go right before Rachel's birthday so he has enough time to give her the present but not enough to actually see her.  That's just one of those things you have to accept in a show like this.

Rachel opens her presents.  The guys give her pretty awful gifts.  Travel Scrabble, really?  I do understand gifts for her would be difficult, but that's like a kid gift.  (Also Rachel doesn't travel)  Granted, it's somewhat in character for Chandler to be the one who gives that gift.  Joey gives her a Dr. Seuss book.  Well, that's just making the character stupider than he is for the sake of a laugh.  All's I'm saying is the writers could have come up with better gifts instead of things that would never happen.

Ross gives her a ring that reminds Rachel of her grandmother's ring.  Ross remembers some specific moment when she wanted it.  It's in character and it's a good gift.  Then Chandler blurts out that Ross is in love with Rachel.  Then Matthew Perry helps make the next four minutes or so hilarious as he tries desperately to backtrack his statement.  If you don't laugh at Chandler fumbling his words and trying to convince Rachel what he said wasn't true or didn't happen, I don't understand you.

Rachel quickly tries to catch up to Ross in the airport.  This wasn't a bad way to delay their meeting.  Ross is understandably learning Chinese on the go.  Although, in my opinion, if he's listening to a foreign language tape, he would probably have heard Rachel scream Ross.  Music on a headphone?  Yeah, that's hard to hear anyone.  But an instructional tape with people speaking in relatively calm voices?  Kind of a stretch.

She tells the airline attendant to pass a message to.... an old gentleman.  I guess her message was vague enough that it wasn't clear she was a potential dating partner of this special message.  I did chuckle at the older man trying to convince his wife that there is no Rachel though.  Really, considering that this type of show was going to do end up delaying Ross-Rachel, I'm nitpicking.  This is about as good as a contrivance in delaying a romance as you can get.  The timing is going to be way too convenient.  It's just a fact really.

So she goes back, thinks over it, and decides she doesn't want to pursue it.  Monica wants her to be with Ross, which I guess makes sense.  She rationally thinks about what it would mean for her friendship to start dating Ross.  Then she goes on a date with Carl, who's sitcom obnoxious.  I'm sure people like him exist, but what in the heck was Rachel interested in him for anyway the first time?  It's not like it was a blind date.

Naturally, her thought bubble convinces her to try it with Ross.  With the help of an imaginary Ross and her real, less than ideal date, she's convincingly sold.  Only when she goes to the airport, Ross will be meeting her with Julie.  And cliffhanger to end the season.

In hindsight, this doesn't look as bad because Julie is a perfectly nice woman.  It's easy to see why Ross begins dating her.  Rachel's hatred of her takes on funny levels because of how harmless and nice she is.  She's Homer Simpson to Julie's Flanders.  I'm sure at the time, this was immensely frustrating, but again the character of Julie significantly redeems this.

This episode was written surprisingly not by the creators.  Usually, season finales, and especially so for debut seasons, are written by the creators.  This is written by Chris Brown, who barely wrote anything else on television or movies.  The episode sheds some light on his talent, and he wrote two more episodes, both of which I'd have to re-watch, but I remember being good.  It's just a little strange.

The episode was directed by Kevin Bright, his first directorial effort for Friends.  He went on to direct 54 episodes of the series including the finale of the entire series.  He's an important executive producer for the show, who didn't write anything for it, but was involved in all 10 seasons.  (I think only the creators were involved for that long)

Overall, I did spend a lot of time nitpicking the episode, but most of these are really small things and things you have to expect.  So most of those won't affect my grade.  There's also a subplot about Joey working for a fertility clinic and having to hold off on sex for him, but it's mildly memorable and his partner barely qualifies as an actual character.

Grade - A

Season 1 Review
The first season was a good start to a classic sitcom.  Friends hasn't suffered yet from some of the issues that plague them later and the characters are all still sympathetic and relatable (to a point).  They still can access people's hearts and make you care for the characters, something they lose in the later seasons.  Obviously, a sitcom doesn't NEED that, but frankly it's better if it has it.

There are only a couple season-long arcs that the show did.  First, Rachel needs to adjust and accept her newfound life, something that was resolved a few episodes ago.  It was a complete arc to where she finally knew she was in the place was wanted to be.  Her character still has a ways to go to future seasons, but it's certainly a good start.

Ross tries to date Rachel for the entirety of the season.  First, they both need to wait, because Ross is going through a divorce and a future son while Rachel just walked out of a wedding.  Just when the time began to make sense, Rachel found plot device Paolo which the writers fully acknowledged was a plot device.  It worked ok and Paolo was in less episodes than I thought, but each successive episode was more frustrating.

Rachel then broke up with Paolo when he tried to cheat on her, which caused her to shun all men.  I thought this made sense and was a nice way to delay the future relationship.  Then they play in a poker game, Rachel misses out on a job, and Ross lets Rachel win a bunch of money.  That helped the audience root for this sort of annoying inevitability.  Then Rachel has a minor detour with Barry, which while it made little sense, helped close off the season-long arc I mentioned above.  Then this episode happened and delayed it even further.  So this is a season-long arc that is somewhat incomplete, but at least Rachel did find out about it and that's a new development.

The other characters don't really get season-long arcs unfortunately.  Matthew Perry steals the season as Chandler making nearly every Chandler story funny and creating a unique and compelling individual.  While Phoebe probably gets the least screen time, Lisa Kudrow I've noticed makes the most of her little time by the end and probably is MVP of the girls.

Monica and Joey, for better or worse, are still a little on the short end of the stick.  Joey obviously a little bit more developed than your regular womanizer, but he's not exactly fully defined.  Monica, while still consistent, is still kind of a clean-freak, obsessive friend.  Both Matt Le Blanc and Courtney Cox still make the characters into... characters, but both of them are clearly on the bottom of the pole at least.  (While I've never paid attention to it, there's a lot of people that think Le Blanc helped salvage the latter seasons so he does get his time.  I'm not sure Cox ever gets hers)

So Friends first season gets four characters who stand out of an ensemble of six and complete one of two season-long arcs while adding to another arc that could have grown stale.  I personally laugh at every episode so I'm going to raise this grade a little higher and I end up with a ....

Season 1 Grade - B+

Quotes
"What you think I'm going to tell a girl I like that I'm also seeing a cup?" - Joey

"The tough thing is that she really wants to have sex with me." - Joey
"Crazy bitch" - Chandler

"That book got me through some tough times." - Joey about Dr. Seuss

"That's good.  Keep rubbing your head.  That'll turn back time." - Joey to Chandler

"Maybe I'll know when I see him." - Rachel
"Does this help?" - Phoebe holds up picture of Ross

Playlist (Part of my Top 50 tracks of 2013; 1-10; 11-20)
21. "Inhaler" - Foals
22. "Rose Quartz" - Toro y Moi
23. "Ode to Sleep" - Twenty One Pilots
24. "Just Make it Stop" - Low
25. "Primetime" - Janelle Monae ft. Miguel
26. "Radioactive" - Imagine Dragons (I'm somehow not tired of this song)
27. "Sacrilege" - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
28. "Retrograde" - James Blake
29. "Hold On We're Going Home" - Drake ft. Majid Jordan
30. "The Mother We Share" - Chvrces

Programming note: Thus ends my Friends recaps on Sundays.  In its place, I will be doing The Sopranos Season 2.  I found that doing Sopranos recaps significantly increased my appreciation of this show so I will continue those.

Rewind: Justified S3

If you haven't seen Justified, I encourage you to watch the show, but don't read this review.  If you must be convinced, read my first season review devoid of spoilers.

SPOILERS BELOW

Justified continued it's abnormally long streak of great television in season three, with the exception of a single misstep.  This is ridiculously entertaining television, good enough that it's quickly making it's way onto my favorite of all-time.

The theme of this season appeared to be fathers and sons, whether in blood or in practice.  Raylan is having a kid, which I don't think we know the sex of yet, but I'd bet good money it's a boy.  Limehouse seemed to have taken over the mantle of Errol's father.  Raylan's father, Arlo, is a constant thorn in Raylan's side.  Then, a sneaky father-son type relationship occurred between Arlo and Boyd.  And lastly, Robert Quarles has a possibly imaginary connection to his surrogate father in Theo Tonin.  (Mags Bennet, while not a father, was an authority figure who certainly hovered over Dickie's actions and would fit the theme)

And I got to say, the writers of this show must have been abandoned as children, because they do not think very highly of fathers - according to this show at least.  With the exception of Arlo's protection of Boyd, every father disappoints their son.  I guess Raylan hasn't really had the chance to yet, but I'm going bet that's as surefire thing to happen as Raylan remaining trigger-happy in season four.

To replace of the towering figure that is Mags Bennet from season two, the writers went for the quantity of villains, but certainly didn't lack for quality thankfully.  There's Robert Quarles, who slowly reveals himself to be a madman.  There's Ellstin Limehouse, who slowly begins to seem like a practical man and not really a villain.  The narrative arc of these two characters, who seemed to switch positions from the beginning of the season towards the end, was an unexpected delight.

While Neal McDonough does not quite match the performance of Margo Martindale, he steals every scene he's in.  He relishes every moment he's able to be on screen and chews the scenery.  It straddles the line between caricature and real person, but I think he manages to do it quite effectively.  Mykelti Williamson, most famous for Bubba in Forrest Gump, manages to make you forget all about the shrimp business and fear his ability to burn your hand.

Justified is one of those shows that's so incredibly well-acted that I find I will have less space to praise everyone who deserves such praise.  It's a crime that I will only spend one sentence on Walton Goggins and Timothy Olyphant, but I can't really say anything new that I haven't said already about them.  Nick Searcy is criminally underrated in his role as Art Mullen.  Jeremy Davies has sometimes a little too much fun playing Dickie Bennett, nonetheless he does his Davies thing but with enough variation to separate Dickie from his Lost and Saving Private Ryan characters.  Lastly, Jere Burns as Wynn Duffy basically spent this season reacting to whatever Quarles did and created a compelling and funny character out of that.  (And his scene where Raylan plays Russian Roulette with him is hilarious)

The show also has an amazing ability to create compelling characters with so little time.  Trooper Tom Bergen had more personality than any character in the two seasons I watched of The Walking Dead.  Jim Beaver was so good in his clearly designed one-off role that they found a way to bring him back.  Hell, Desmond Harrington provided a more interesting character in one episode than his character on Dexter in 72 episodes.  And don't even get me started on the greatness of Dewey Crowe, who gets his own, glorious standalone episode in this season.

If there's a weakness to this show, it's that Winona is kind of an awful character (not person).  It's the show's lone character who is terribly written.  One moment she's in support of Raylan, the next she leaves the house without a moment's notice.  She is literally unpredictable, but not in any way that makes sense to the character.  It seems they are basically writing her out of this show, which is fine by me.  And it's not really a female problem either because Joelle Carter as Ava really steps up as a character in this season.  (Also, Helen was well-written and Lindsay in her one or two episodes is a character I want to see again hopefully)

The other weakness, but it seems unfair to call it a weakness, is that they still don't really give Tim or Rachel anything to do.  It's unfair to call it a weakness, because when they get things to do, they are awesome.  Tim's sarcastic one-liners plus general annoyance with Raylan are always a highlight.  Rachel's a little less well-defined, but she's far from a drag on the series.  I sort of hope they find a more prominent way to integrate them into the story, but if they keep doing what they have been, I won't be too bothered by it.

I mentioned above that this season has a single misstep and that misstep is "Coalition," the twelfth episode of this season.  First, Boyd leaves Quarles to be guarded by two low-life hookers and a single, dim-witted bodyguard while keeping him so loosely tied up that it was hardly a surprise when he got free.  Then Boyd leaves Errol and Dickie with a wheelchair-bound Johnny.  It was an uncharacteristically unrealistic episode that was purely to move the plot along.

Otherwise, Justified hit on every other episode.  Whether it was a standalone plot that was extremely satisfying such as "Thick of Mud" with Dewey Crowe, a plot-moving episode such as "Measure," or an episode that pays off your patience such as "Slaughterhouse," they all at the least were immensely entertaining.

Even on episodes designed to get the pieces moving for a later date, the dialogue crackles with such spark that it's impossible not to be enraptured at the screen every minute.  This is the best-written dialogue of any show ever.  I've never been as entertained watching two people talking to each other as I am when Boyd and Raylan have a conversation.  Olyphant and Goggins have so much chemistry, there's a semi-plausible way they could get the two characters to start fucking.  (If both weren't clearly heterosexuals, I'd say it'd be downright likely)

Overall, if you aren't watching Justified, you are really missing out on a great show.  (Actually if you aren't watching it and have read it this far, what the hell is wrong with you?  Stop reading spoilers and watch the show!)

Playlist (Part of my Top 50 tracks for year; no particular order; 1-10 are here)

11. "Hurricane" - MS MR
12. "Indian Summer" - Stereophonics
13. "Burn" - Ellie Goulding
14. "400 Lux" - Lorde
15. "Timber" Ke$ha ft. Pitbull (Guilty pleasure)
16. "Pompeii" - Bastille
17. "Soothe My Soul" - Depeche Mode
18. "Kemosabe" - Everything Everything
19. "Needle" - Born Ruffians
20. "Lost that Easy" - Cold War Kids