The Sheila Variations

Sopranos have been a bummer for a few years now. They are in the same kind of malaise that Six Feet Under went through. Flashes of brilliance on occasion but no consistency. SFU managed to save the series with maybe the best last few episodes I've ever seen. The final episode was a killer. I hope Sopranos can do the same.

Yeah - I agree about the feeling over the last couple of years - but the first three episodes of this season blew me AWAY and got my hopes up again.

I really felt like ... oh man ... something big is coming - and not just plot-wise, but in an existential almost spiritual way.

Like - it is time to pay the freakin' piper.

And then .... nothin'!!

And holy shit - the finale of 6 Feet Under.

I can barely think about it. Now THAT'S a way to end a show.

I didn't like the finale, either. I think in fact, that much like Kill Bill, it was split into parts, and is therefore anticlimactic because its incredible ending was supposed to be on a long run of shows.

Of course I dunno anything about broadcast television and timeslots, but that still seems to be how it appears to me.

wutzizname - yeah, that's totally what it felt like. LIke the middle of the season - calm before the storm.

You should always end a season right as the storm is breaking so people come back for more.

Oh - and I totally knew that they were watching Vertigo - during the montage-sequence when Christopher and Juliana started doing drugs again.

The music was completely recognizable - even though you didn't see any shots of Vertigo.

I thought that was actually a nice touch, if you caught it. Thinking about how James Stewart is trying to make a dead woman come back to life again in the form of this new woman, etc. etc.

Jeanne Tripplehorn is one of those "what-if" actors; very good at what she does, but plagued with lousy decisons ("Waterworld"?)

I saw her in, of all things, a Hallmark show about the 1922 floods in the Mississippi Delta. Not sure why, but she played the role (a woman floating about the bayoux) so well. Loved it.

mitch - yeah, nothing I have ever seen her do (uhm - basic instinct??) prepared me for her last couple of moments in this week's Big Love finale.

Truly amazing work.

http://wutzizname.livejournal.com/48886.html

in case any of you want my opinion on what'll happen. I figured it was too long for a comment. :D

I totally agree with you! The Sopranos finale was, at best, anti-climactic. Nothing happened that left me wanting more, although with David Chase, you never know.

Living Northern NJ, and living so close to where they film, I am expecting the final 8 episodes to be eaerth-shattering. A few months ago, they filmed near my home - it was late at night on one of the coldest nights of the year - what I think will be a death scene. Of course, it's my prediction, and it's possible that it may have been edited out, but on a night like that, death is expected.

About Big Love, I also agree. I became drawn to the show during the first episode. I think it's one its way to becoming a huge hit for HBO.

Also, wanted to share that I love your page. Have never commented, but do read faithfully. Congratulations!

Wutzizname - very nice!!

Annie - thanks for reading me, as well as commenting!

Yeah, I found most of the season of Big Love kind of tedious - I just don't find financial trouble all that compelling, although I get that it is an issue, etc. ... But I was always like: "Uhm, you guys are POLYGAMISTS. You have bigger issues than credit card debt!!"

Having the family be exposed like that might jumpstart the show into the place it needs to be - with some real dramatic potential!

Tony's the man, as usual, and I think his character arc is the big thing - and skip me lest I accidentally spoil something:

He has this near-fatal experience. (And Sheila, I may come around to your point of view on Gandolfini - he was wonderful as Finnerty, and has kept it up all season.) He comes out feeling liberated, almost reborn. But it highlights exactly how screwed up the rest of his world is: AJ is useless, his captains can't manage their own crews, much less the whole operation, his wife is asking questions, Dr. Melfi is finally challenging him on his crap, Janice is Janice, and the only guy who could possibly handle taking over the family is Vito - and even before his situation went bad he was working to undermine Tony. He's the keystone, and without him it all collapses.

It's changed him. I think he's always been aware of what a monster he is, but now may be the first time that he sees that he doesn't have to be, but those he cares for will be ruined if he doesn't keep on. That's why he's riding herd on AJ (and it may actually work!). Phil's given him a bit of a reprieve but I will be amazed if this ends with them around a Christmas tree in the Witness Protection Program.

// I will be amazed if this ends with them around a Christmas tree in the Witness Protection Program.//

Me too. I think everything will fall apart. For everyone.

I will most certainly be tuning in!! I can't stop now!

I find it very difficult to discuss this season of the Sopranos without beoming angry and cursing wildly, so I'll exercise some restraint here.

I will say this about the finale:

1. I wanted Christopher to die.

Every time the camera lingered on him, I kept waiting for the squib to go off and for Chris to fall down. Then the last eight episodes could be the all-out bloodbath a lot of people (myself included) are craving.

2. We are eight episodes from the end of the series, and David Chase wastes time introducing a love interest for AJ. Nobody cares. Like much of the filler that padded the last three seasons, thuis was a complete waste of everyone's time.

3. Phil's heart attack scared me, because I was afraid they'd croak Phil, leaving almost no reason at all to bother re-ordering HBO in January. Phil has been the strongest, most interesting, and laugh-out-loud funniest character this season. Every time he utters the phrase, "It's a f**king disgrace," I pretend in my mind that he's talking about the show. For all the show's crappiness this season, however, the scene where he comes out of the closet (literally) to confront Vito is one of the great Moments in television History. (Even if it was another example of the producers annoying and overused habit of painting the word "METAPHOR" on an anvil and dropping it on our heads.

4. Tony's beret: cue Phil's line...

I'll think of more. But yeah, I'll be there in January, too. Like a big sucker.

"like a big sucker" hahahaha I know!!! I HAVE to finish this thing out now!!

Yeah, and I guess I kind of don't care about AJ either. I'm not invested in his journey at all.

To me - it's all about Tony Soprano looking in the mirror now - FINALLY. But the ending of this season kind of dodged that issue. It started out that way - and it was amazing, I thought - but then ...

why do I care that AJ is partying like a crazy person? He's 18. So??

I don't care about Meadow and Finian's Wake or whatever his name is. I don't care.

Now I am all about: this one man, who has finally realized he has a soul, maybe a conscience ... How will he live with his life? How will he face up to it? Or will he??

Oh and yeah - Phil is great!

"Finian's Wake"

LOL. Gee Sheila, you mean you aren't dying to know how dental school works out?

Oh God - really! who gives a crap??

I realize I am not in charge of ANYTHING but it seems clear to me that ... at least the way the show started: Mob guy gets panic attacks - goes to see psychiatrist ... sets up an expectation. Will he ever face himself? Can you be self-aware and also be a killer? hahaha

I think that needs to be the only issue on the plate right now - all this other plot stuff is just stupid. I resented the whole Vito sub-plot, too. First of all - that guy can't act. Second of all - what did that have to do with anything??

We're about to wrap up this entire show ... get rid of peripheral stuff - all anyone really cares about is Tony.

Or ... uhm ... all I really care about is Tony. Yeah, that's right.

The Vito subplot was emblematic of the last few seasons: extraneous storylines appear to have an impact on the overall mythology but, in fact, lead nowhere.

It's like the last few years of the X-Files. I get the distionct impression that the creative team has had no idea where this is going to ultimately end, and now here we are with eight episodes left to throw together a conclusion.

I am 99% sure that it will be a massive disappointment.

Also - and here's what I feel they don't "get":

(And also, I may be in a minority here - maybe most of the fans really dig all the gore and murder - and that's cool, whatever) - but for ME - it's about Tony's soul now.

If they try to wrap it up with PLOT it won't satisfy me. Or ... it needs to be PLOT in service of the overall theme of the entire show: Tony's character, personality, life.

I really would love to see the show go really really existential - and mythical - like it did in the beginning of this season.

A bloodbath would not be a satisfying ending at all (for me).

It's worse - to be a man who knows now that there is right and wrong, knows that he wants to be good ... but there is no way he can ever EVER get all that blood off of his hands.

That is horrifying to contemplate - and I hope it goes in THAT direction. Not the busy-plot-wrap-up direction.

You remember him from True Romance! Yay!

One of my most favoritest movies of all time!

Jon F - I love True Romance!!

That scene between Chris Walken and Dennis Hopper - so much fun!!

"You....you're a cantaloupe!"