i've gone through almost the entire series again, i think this is the third time, in the last few weeks. with traveling its been an easy distraction to load up the ipad and watch in bulk.

you can tell the definite drop in quality after the end of the 4th season. some of the season 5 storylines were kind of weak, and season 6 goes off the rails quite a bit. there are a few great season 6 episodes, but it feels like a lot of filler. if they'd have tightened the story up and done the usual 13 episodes instead of splitting the season and churning out 21 episodes.

the wire still ranks #1 for me

Tony's managerial skills were so on point in season 5 where he nips the Feech situation in the bud. Christopher's acting skills were not to be diminished either.

Just started watching the series last week, on Season 2. So fucking good I can't imagine what it's going to be like in the later seasons.

I haven't watched it in ~ 10 years. I watched Season 1 & 2 back then and then didn't have cable for years until recently and other shows took priority. I started back up with season 5 a week ago and maybe I'm a bit premature, but this might be my favorite show ever.

Edie Falco is so great in Season 5. I was a little bit disturbed and confused by the freeze frame they used after she told the guidance counselor she was getting back by Tony, but it did make me notice her facial expression, and she had a look that very accurately portrayed fear and helplessness. That was likely the only man she ever slept with outside of Tony, and definitely the first man since their separation. Instead of approaching it with some sense of normalcy she tried to manipulate the guy and use whatever leverage she could to help AJ. In that moment you can read into her seeing no real future except actually letting Tony back into her life and spending the rest of her life in lonely misery.

I would like to forget it all and watch it again. Seen each episode a few times by now and really I don't think I will ever be that captivated by a show again. It was a perfect show. Watching it again is still better than anything though.

I say that though as a person who has not watched Breaking Bad, The Wire and a lot of shows that people fall all over.

WilliamC wrote:I would like to forget it all and watch it again. Seen each episode a few times by now and really I don't think I will ever be that captivated by a show again. It was a perfect show. Watching it again is still better than anything though.

I say that though as a person who has not watched Breaking Bad, The Wire and a lot of shows that people fall all over.

Can't speak to Breaking Bad, but The Wire can't hold the Sopranos' jock, imo.

I'm three episodes into the most recent season of BB, and so far the Sopranos is better. BB is excellent, and if the show continues at the same quality of the last episodes it could challenge Sopranos. But there were a lot of slow moments in the earlier seasons. The 5th season has been among the best TV I've seen, but the Sopranos was more consistent all the way through(to this point at least).

The finale was on last night. The more I think about the ending, the more perfect it seems.

PhillieMooDo wrote:

WilliamC wrote:I would like to forget it all and watch it again. Seen each episode a few times by now and really I don't think I will ever be that captivated by a show again. It was a perfect show. Watching it again is still better than anything though.

I say that though as a person who has not watched Breaking Bad, The Wire and a lot of shows that people fall all over.

Can't speak to Breaking Bad, but The Wire can't hold the Sopranos' jock, imo.

I agree - The Wire has a lot of depth to it, but The Sopranos is the richest show I've ever seen. It's a compelling drama and it's extremely humorous, it's surreal, it's very much about popular culture and popular media - an homage to it's predecessors in many ways, it's a very honest look at psychoanalysis, it's musical choices are on par with Scorsese, it's shadowed by world politics, it's about the American experience, the Italian American experience, stereotypes, etc., family dynamics, the nature of rage & depression. It's really cool.

+1

Sopranos is the king of em all

i just hate how it's bred a bunch of idiots that misunderstood what chase was doing and look at it as some 'italian pride' thing. if the columbus day parade episode didnt spell it out for those dopes, nothing will. WHY DO YOU HAVE 'PRIDE' AND ASCRIBE ANYTHING THESE CRIMINALS ARE DOING TO YOURSELVES?'


i will say i looked forward to the sopranos more than the wire episode to episode, but i can binge watch the wire much easier.

i wonder if chase will finally tell is if he lived or died now that there's no chance of a sequel

well, definitely dead now

Bucky wrote:i wonder if chase will finally tell is if he lived or died now that there's no chance of a sequel

The "Masters of Sopranos" essay that concluded Tony died is correct, imo. Chase claims to have never read it, which I don't buy -- he's notoriously obsessed with what people are saying about his show. Plausible deniability?

(he neither lived nor died; he wants us to be uncomfortably conflicted as to how we feel about the fate of this mostly evil man)

Grotewold wrote:

Bucky wrote:i wonder if chase will finally tell is if he lived or died now that there's no chance of a sequel

The "Masters of Sopranos" essay that concluded Tony died is correct, imo. Chase claims to have never read it, which I don't buy -- he's notoriously obsessed with what people are saying about his show. Plausible deniability?

In case anyone wants to read it...

http://masterofsopranos.wordpress.com/t ... f-the-end/

Bucky wrote:he neither lived nor died

Take it to my tombstone

PhillieMooDo wrote:

WilliamC wrote:I would like to forget it all and watch it again. Seen each episode a few times by now and really I don't think I will ever be that captivated by a show again. It was a perfect show. Watching it again is still better than anything though.

I say that though as a person who has not watched Breaking Bad, The Wire and a lot of shows that people fall all over.

Can't speak to Breaking Bad, but The Wire can't hold the Sopranos' jock, imo.

Is this the consensus 3 best shows ever? Certainly is for me.

PTOITWCFTPP wrote:Is this the consensus 3 best shows ever? Certainly is for me.

That's the most common grouping among the critics and TV-commentary sites I read, yeah.

Really hard to compare them, since we all have different criteria and reasons for connecting to a show. I have Breaking Bad a step below the other two but you could make a strong argument they had the tightest and best arc if they stick the landing

the more and more i think about the final scene of the sopranos is one of the best things i've ever seen.