The Sopranos 2x09 Reaction
Added 2024-10-28 23:41:55 +0000 UTC
Comments
They have finally reached this point, welcome to the Church of Paulie hahaha. Definitely my favorite character in the crew. He's hilarious.
Karabo
2024-11-05 06:27:00 +0000 UTCLol I think there is a standing recommendation too watch Part I & II on this channel at this point.
Mike
2024-10-31 01:47:40 +0000 UTCYes he's an excellent writer. He's written a few notable episodes throughout the series actually.
daron85
2024-10-30 04:07:16 +0000 UTCYeah I never knew but then I saw written by Michael Imperioli right now and I gotta say, I was impressed. Christopher in another life really became a writer.
Teddy S
2024-10-30 03:54:17 +0000 UTCThere's a world of difference between simply saying "well, you gotta study more if you want to go into a school like that" and "yeah right, as if. You gotta study more if you want to go into a school like that". Imagine if your parents said the latter in response to you saying you want to go to your dream college.
IanJ
2024-10-30 00:04:31 +0000 UTCThat's what I thought they were saying too, but I think they were referring to Arcane, which has a new season coming up in November.
Marcus Cato
2024-10-29 23:54:32 +0000 UTCThe second part is telling him he needs to study more.
Veya
2024-10-29 23:44:06 +0000 UTCI appreciate seeing Paulie be good to his girlfriend's(?) two kids when he woke them both up at 3am
Yarrow
2024-10-29 23:30:48 +0000 UTCIf anyone wants a bit better understanding of what Tony and Melfi mean by poor Italian immigrants, I'd highly recommend watching The Godfather 2. It depicts what life was like in the late 1910s, New York City, with a focus on the hardships of poor immigrants, and of taking the justice into your own hands because absolutley no one else will...which is something I don't think Tony can say when he defends himself with certain historical injustices or when he alludes to himself taking justice into his own hands.
Ben G
2024-10-29 21:33:41 +0000 UTCWhat Tony said was “you might see them on television but that’s as close as you’ll get. To get into a school like that you gotta crack the books.” The implication being that he never will and can’t go there. If he really wants to be encouraging he'll leave out that first part.
IanJ
2024-10-29 18:22:02 +0000 UTCMikey’s relevance to the vision is important, if Tony had chosen to leave the mob life when the FBI offered him a chance then Mikey would’ve been Junior’s successor. Tony always hated him for receiving Junior’s favor and Christopher hated him for killing his best friend
space colon
2024-10-29 16:43:38 +0000 UTCwhat do you mean, "when your kng comes?"
Hammad Syed
2024-10-29 15:15:47 +0000 UTCI wish there was a scene with Adriana and Chris, but we already know Adriana loves him as long as he's not acting insane and she'll be on his side with whatever he wants to do - whether he starts his scripture studies with Father Tintola, writes movies, or stays mobbed up. It's interesting that we get the same sentiment at the end of the episode when Carmela says she just wants Tony. In my opinion, it shows that Carmela's deepest alligence is to Tony, then the family, then her religious faiths comes after.
Ben G
2024-10-29 09:26:27 +0000 UTCOn second thought maybe "favorite" is too strong of a word for how he feels about Meadow. I do still believe at the end of the day that he "favors" her a lot more than AJ, even though he loves them both. . Tony hates himself and in Meadow he sees someone so completely opposite of him while in AJ he sees a lot of himself. That does affect how he talks and treats both of them. I also think that his love of Meadow is actually genuine based on a future episode, somewhat related to his love of animals. On that note, I just realized how hard it is to discuss this show without going in to future episodes, so I have to be always mindful of it lol.
IanJ
2024-10-29 06:48:07 +0000 UTCYeah but that's specifically Melfi's interpretation and Tony expressed some incredulity towards it. We know he's angry and likes lashing out at "happy wanderers" and given his treatment of Meadow was literally in that episode, I saw it more as another target for him to lash out at. I don't disagree that he treats her more as an adult but I don't think that implies a less or more love. He really loves animals but doesn't necessarily treat them as adults. Carmella is an adult and he cheats on her regularly. I think it's more multi-faceted than him having favorites. If anything his love is just too twisted. I'm also basing how Tony feels about both of them in a very pivotal episode in the future, doesn't involve a church but (**SPOILERS** don't read on if first time watching) involves a pool and both kids. It was pure emotion at his most loss of control.
Veya
2024-10-29 06:35:09 +0000 UTCMelfi did imply that Tony giving Eric's car to Meadow is, in his twisted way, to prepare her for the real world and to make her confront the moral ambiguities of their life. To me it shows that Tony "respects" Meadow and treats her like an adult in some way. I'm also basing my interpretation of how Tony feels about AJ and Meadow from a conversation in a future episode as well, so we can't discuss it here just yet. Let's just say it involves a church.
IanJ
2024-10-29 06:09:31 +0000 UTCI disagree that his apology is hollow. I think we can argue about it's effectiveness or if AJ was really comforted by it, but the intent and sincerity appears to be there and we're not given any indication that he doesn't mean it. I can't really expand on this without discussing future parts of the show. And I think the inference is premature as well. He may have higher standards for AJ than Meadow but that in of itself doesn't imply his emotions towards him are any weaker. We see him lash out at Meadow when given the opportunity (the friend's car) and he lashed out at AJ here because he happened to drop some plates and he's nearby. In fact, Meadow's may be more insidious because he floated the idea that he gave her Eric's car on purpose.
Veya
2024-10-29 05:59:58 +0000 UTChere's a philosophical exercise- if a man kills an innocent man with no justifiable reason and gets away with it his whole life, if murder is inherently bad (it either is or isn't), for it to be bad it would mean that there is a standard upon actions for human beings because we are conscious of our decisions for most mentally capable people. So if this man gets away with it in this life, and its inherently wrong, then there would be some sort of existence in the after life in order to receive punishment for his wrong. The whole premise of Christianity is that the Christ the Son is the interceder for that punishment that the guilty would be set to receive from God the Father, for those that believe upon the Son as their savior. In Catholicism there's a bit more to it, and so Paulie goes to the priest because they see priest as a sort of sub-mediator to Christ, and he is upset because he did not receive the "protection" he felt due, by way of financial donation.
Robert
2024-10-29 05:55:16 +0000 UTCI think saying "you gotta crack the books" IS encouraging, he's conveying AJ should study more for the schools he's mentioning, he's just clumsy about it. And the show is more nuanced about AJ's attitude towards school than 'Tony = bad parent'. We're also meant to contrast how he treats his own kids vs his own parent's treatment. I'm just cautioning against treating it too simplistically given what we see in the show.
Veya
2024-10-29 05:44:40 +0000 UTCMaybe not really dismissive but not really encouraging either. We do see how it affects AJ regarding college in the future.
IanJ
2024-10-29 04:04:28 +0000 UTCOne of the best season 2 episodes, and there will be more to come as well. Michael Imperioli (Christopher) wrote this episode, and I find it funny that Imperioli is basically the polar opposite of Christopher in personality and writing talent in real life, ha. "Male heir" is definitely one of the worst thing to say to your son, and along with Tony's slight dismissal of him going to college, this will affect AJ's future character arc in a big way. You girls alluded to the fact that Tony's apology, despite being better than we thought, is ultimately hollow. We can infer that Tony has a favorite child, and deep down AJ probably knew it wasn't him. That male heir comment probably confirmed it so. Thematically, this episode is actually more significant than I thought after re-visiting it. You two discussed the significance of "three o'clock" in the discussion and I'm not gonna say much, but do look out for it in the coming episodes. I'm just gonna say this since you've already watched it. In the previous episode's therapy session, Tony revealed to us that his weekly appointment with Melfi were Tuesdays at 3:00.
IanJ
2024-10-29 03:52:22 +0000 UTCTony is such a well-realized character that it's just as interesting to wonder if or when he's on an arc and when we're just seeing another facet of him that's always been there (and always will be).
Mike
2024-10-29 03:43:20 +0000 UTCI think it's inarguable that the walls -- of reality, between life and death, whatever you want to call it -- can sometimes get *thin* on the show. There will be more opportunities to discuss this across the series, but Chase is obviously interested in teasing out whether religion and/or the supernatural is "real" -- and especially what that would mean for these characters who grapple so much with morality.
Mike
2024-10-29 03:41:38 +0000 UTCEven though Tony kills people and torture them I think that male heir line is one of the worst things he’s done. It’s just so cruel to your own son.
the chosen one
2024-10-29 02:50:44 +0000 UTCI personally lean towards the view that the supernatural (or the divine) exists in the Sopranos universe. I'm sure this topic will come up again.
Marcus Cato
2024-10-29 02:25:52 +0000 UTCTony’s family didn’t arrive in America 200 years ago, I believe it was his grandfather who came to America in the early 1900’s. So while the point still stands that he is removed from the immigration directly, he still isn’t that far removed. If his grandfather was alive when he was young he easily could have heard directly from him what it was like. Tony and his family represent how values and culture change starting from immigration to present day. It’s a pretty huge theme in the Sopranos.
ThaDoubleB
2024-10-29 02:04:16 +0000 UTCThis episode has a lot of Tony behaving like his mother, whether it be hurting his children like the interaction with AJ or espousing her Nihilism when he’s talking to Paulie about how he doesn’t truly believe in anything, his line ‘none of this shit means a goddamn thing’ is almost bar for bar Livia telling AJ that ‘it’s all a big nothing.’ Tony often likes to act like Meadow is similar to him, because he wishes to take credit for all of her good qualities, but he’s far more like AJ which I think makes him uncomfortable- he even had AJ’s existential awakening earlier in the season to give him even more of a foreboding of who is taking after him.
Jay Craig
2024-10-29 01:54:29 +0000 UTCThe actor who plays Christopher actually wrote this episode.
daron85
2024-10-29 01:28:20 +0000 UTCLove the supernatural (?) elements of the show, I can see why people say the psychic is faking
space colon
2024-10-29 00:56:19 +0000 UTCThe sun shines on the righteous
Tall Paul
2024-10-29 00:53:37 +0000 UTCThis is the right episode to mention it. Over the years the fans have debated whether Catholicism is "real" in the Soprano Universe. It never becomes a central topic but it's always there under the surface. Did God intervene for Christopher or was it a coincidence? This isn't the only time this gray area shows up in the show.
Edward Lewis
2024-10-29 00:44:06 +0000 UTCTony dismissed AJ’s college comment but he also said exactly: “if you want to get in a college like that you gotta crack the books” right after. It wasn’t really dismissive with that extra context.
Veya
2024-10-29 00:37:48 +0000 UTCI don't know why but the scene where Tony shoots Matthew while he's crying for his mother made me think of that interaction Tony had with Carmella back in season one, that gut wrenching line "I didn't hurt nobody". I feel like Tony really loses a piece of himself after killing that poor dumb kid the way he did.
Patrick Stanton
2024-10-29 00:35:53 +0000 UTC
