It's my last date with Tony Soprano tonight

[lighthousekeeping]

I know I'm god knows how many years behind you all but, I've been good and watched it faithfully week by week from the beginning. I think it's the best thing I've ever watched. Ever. I will mids that family.

I remember now. I hated Christopher too. They were all such parasites and stupid too. It made me laugh that they were obsessed with The Godfather - the most mawkish, sanitised portrayal of the Mafia ever. And the fact that Christopher thought he could make it as a scriptwriter and director.

Tony and Sil weren't stupid though they were horrible - though I still sneakily like Sil for diligently clearing up everyone's mess.

Do you remember when Tony burned down Artie's restaurant? Artie's wife hated him. And the childhood friend whose hardware business Tony drove into the ground. And what about Meadow's boyfriend who had the misfortune to see one of Tony's gang getting a blowjob from a man?

The only small sympathy I ever had for Tony was when he was having to cope with all the leeches and incompetent lazy bastards in his life.

Sorry, Patsy, superbof?

I told you I'd forgotten loads.

Who was the man in prison married to the fat woman who everyone kept insulting? Johnny Sac, wasn't it? There were some very funny parts.

The humbling of Sir Ben Kingsley was great. Not quite so good that they threatened a 90 year old woiman.

The other reason that it's interesting that Meadow will marry Patrick, son of Patsy, is that it shows how hard it is, ultimately, to escape 'The Family'.

The whole theme of The Sopranos is family: both kinds. Can you keep both, will one destroy the other? It all begins with Tony's grief at seeing the ducks in his pool fly away: he realises with Melfi's help that he is scared of losing his family.

He talks throughout about getting his kids as far away from him as possible, of wanting a different life for them. It looks like he is close to achieving this- AJ was aiming for a military career, Meadow was off to college. But by the final episode, both of them have symbolically returned to the nest: AJ is in an entry level job after his Tony-like panic attacks stop his army ambitions, and Meadow is engaged to the son of another mobster. And of course, literally- they all come together for a last supper, only to witness Tony's murder.

There is a sense of being unable to escape Fate, I think, or perhaps it is just that Tony is ultimately weak and passes up every opportunity for redemption he is offered.

God, I am such a ponce

Ah, Johnny Sac and his wife. What a fat suit!! he really loved her, didnt he? and then they forced her to move out so that Janice could move in?

I loved Artie. He seemed so very nice, compared to them. I could see why his wife hated them all.

I loved the season with the Russians. The cleaner with one leg? I have to say, I liked it when he had a woman on the go nothing to do with me secretly fancying him

The actress who played Ginny Sack died a few years ago.

She was only in her 40's

limitedperiodonly- . It is hard to recall who is who and what happens after a while: I've been on a big google quest myself to remember lots of the minor characters.

I thought it was all about the fact you can't escape, that things always come around. Junior has forgotten everything, even his childhood; he's gone from being the most powerful man in North Jersey to a symbolic baby. The tour guide on the tour bus talks about how Little Italy has gone from 40 blocks to one row - and it turns into Chinatown. Janice talks about getting away from their mother then does a dramatic "and do I get any thanks?" which is just like her. AJ is pulling up outside the high school - a big fish in a small pond. Paulie is still maudlin and mired in the past, and not really taken seriously.

But what was with the cat?

The cat was definitely symbolic of Adrianna- we saw her in leopard print an awful lot . Paulie is freaked out by the way it gazes at the photograph of Christopher, her one true love. Even in that awful scene where she is killed, she is shown as feline, crawling on all fours trying to escape Sil .

Oh yes I meant it was awful when she died. She thought Christopher loved her, the way she loved him.
:(

They were on Sky Atlantic from when the channel first started. So glad we stuck with the whole thing.

I was dreading Paulie doing something to that cat. He was a strange one, when he talked about his ma being dead and going to her funeral was he talking about his real ma or the one who brought him up who he was loathsome to when he found out? did you know that the actor practically was Pauly? he used to go to the shoot wondering which part of his life he would be filming that day. A proper ganster.

I bought a box set, having lost track after about season four. They are about fifty quid on eBay, I think.

There's more about the cat, and the ending generally in this fairly succinct blog post.

Korma, I think they are all on Netflix too, which you can get a free trial for, if you think you can watch them all in a month!

That Sky demand, what i that all about? I think its been the most overhyped thing ever. Thats what I thought it was, I thought you could watch all of them from the beginning as thats how they show it. I never bother using it.

How weird there's a new comedy just starting now on BBC 4 lily hammer with Sil in it about a mafia man relocated to Norway. Interesting.

In Lilyhammer Steven Van Zandt plays exactly the same character as he did in The Sopranos, except he's not Sil

I love him. Did you know he was originally supposed to be Tony Soprano but turned it down?

Brilliant series, real shame it had to end. The Wire is really good, The Shield is watchable. Watched Stevie Van Zandt (Paulie) backing Bruce Springsteen on the Isle of wight in June, great actor and great showman.

I found this in a magazine when I was on holiday. I cried!!

m.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2012/04/sopranos-oral-history

I loved Sil too.and also the preposterous Lillyhammer...it helps with my withdrawal effects from Borgen and The Bridge [as does this thread]

He loved Christopher that much that he shagged half his girlfriends. Ive just remember that Julliana Marguiles was in it. I love her. His women all looked pretty similiar didnt they?

It was Tony's macho aversion to cunnilingus that put me off even more than the idea of him drowning over me down there. He didn't even have enough hair for me to yank him to safety.