The Sopranos 1x01 Reaction

Agreed, while i still love S1, S2 gets SO much better, and S3 onwards is just gold

leonthesleepy

For what it's worth the first episode was filmed like a year before the rest of season 1, which is much better. And then the show gets MUCH better after season 2, and season 1 is already quite good.

Arben

This takes me back to the days of Television Without Pity. The show lends itself to finely granular examination. It’s the Olympics of human corruptibility. By the time it was over I was left cross-eyed and exhausted. Oh well…

Thomas Fahey

looks like you have about 10 now. Idk girls I've tried this show 3 times and cant make it past the first episode but if you've watched 10 maybe i need to push through. here goes nothing

Justin Spencer

That show goes downhill so bad, couldn't even finish it.

Shivering King Banana

I would say Sons of Anarchy is a classic top 5 show. BUT I cant in good faith recommend it. That show is brutal. Your spirits my be crushed

PamRenea

I'd add Boardwalk Empire to that list too. A criminally underrated show. Also, written by a Sopranos staff writer.

Chidi.

Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in! Had to sign up for a membership again when I saw this one. Time to complete the Holy Trinity of Crime Shows... Breaking Bad, The Wire, and The Sopranos.

Michael M

I was thinking this. They always say that, lol well!

Karabo

Further to your conversation at the start, obviously people will have their own personal favourites, but the general consensus around the "Best Dramas of All Time" is The Sopranos, The Wire, Breaking Bad, and Mad Men. So you do have one left to cover after this! (Mad Men was created by a Sopranos staff writer, so it makes for a natural follow-up.)

Mike

I’m glad others already mentioned it but the music used in the sopranos is some of the best of any series and, for me, can rival any movie. It’s all very deliberate and helps shape each episode imo. It kinda gets lost in reactions because of copyright but I feel it’s important enough to bring up. Also being able to laugh at the show is a big part of the enjoyment. It’s supposed to be funny.

cheech

Just when you thought you were out... they pulled you back in.

SqueegeeMan

One of my favourites is coming up in episode 4

Darrach

“The beast in me Is caged by frail and fragile bars Restless by day and by night Rants and rages at the stars God help the beast in me.” 100% these lyrics and almost all lyrics from songs the sopranos uses especially in its outros are masterful. Chickentown is the best one imo.

Cole

Also, Milena is wrong about Carmela and Meadow being the two most hated characters on the list. Can’t say more without spoiling but wanted to clarify.

Darrach

Very excited to start this journey and rewatch the show alongside the girls! The Pilot is a great first episode but it does have inconsistencies with the rest of the show, as it was filmed nearly 2 years before the rest of Season 1. The tone is perhaps a little more absurdist and comedic than we would come to expect for the rest of the show (not that the Sopranos isn’t funny, it’s one of the funniest shows ever). Certain actors and character relationships were changed going forward., but the Pilot throws a lot at you so it’s hard to remember without rewatching. The song at the end is ‘The Beast In Me’ by Nick Lowe. This show really perfected the art of ending sequences accompanied by music, and this song, like the episode, is a fantastic introduction to Tony Soprano. The Sopranos reflects many aspects of American culture all throughout its run, but in this episode the focus is consumerism. Tony’s talk with Artie in front of a mountain of rubbish, the hiding of money in cans of food, Chris’s line “garbage is our bread and butter”. Consumer capitalism is very prevalent in this show, and it’s worth taking note of its appearance and critique here. Look forward to episode 2!

Darrach

“I don’t know if some scenes are supposed to be funny but they’re funny to me.” Don’t worry, most Sopranos fans will tell you it’s as much a comedy as it is a drama, a dramedy if you will.

Thomas De Peña

You finish Hunter x Hunter and almost as a way of making me stay you guys pick up this show, that I just happen to be rewatching for like the 5th time. Let’s go.

Thomas De Peña

Holy shit it's finally time for the gabagool. This is perfect to watch while eating some deli meat for lunch

Yarrow

Really happy you guys are watching this! My number 2 show after The Wire. What I will say though is that I actually expect you to struggle to enjoy this show, at least at first. My first watch I was borderline considering giving up on it at points and found it really underwhelming, but I stuck with it and it was worth it. If you are patient with this show there is a good chance it will stick with you for a very long time.

Jacob Douglas

Woke up this morning, bought myself a sub

Mark M

exited about this one! been on my watchlist for years and just now a friend from work who sometimes wears a shirt about the show is constantly recommending it. i told him i would start it soon, so can't wait to discuss the first episode with him tomorrow. this was way more interesting than i expected and i did not know about the therapy part, so it makes it more interesting.

sand_fl

I don’t like that kinda talk. Now just stop it, it upsets me.

Cole

I don't know if what I said would be categorized as spoilers but I'll delete my comment just in case your incessant whining draws up any unnecessary drama.

BNJ

Why the spoilers mate? It's good that they forgot the names, let them discover these characters for themselves.

Rynsen

BNJ

Will I ever get my Mad Men wish come true?

bondbond53

100%. We think culture gets progressively better but sometimes it gets worse, like before 2004 there were little online freaks who hated women but they weren't proud of it and had to hide on the dregs of 4chan and elsewhere. Toxic masculinity, incel-dom and the right-wing radicalisation grift became big business, in line with media becoming more algorithmic (e.g your kid watches 3 youtube videos and suddenly they're being served "Skyler White Sucks And Walt Is The Ideal Man" videos)

Kara

Only good thing about this show is Tony, everything else was so subpar

Swaybez

The wire is my number one as well but the sopranos is a very close second.

Cole

Totally agree with everything you've said here great comment. Tony Soprano is one of the best characters ever put to screen. Both the writing and Gandolfini's performance are next level

Max Carter

Can someone put me in a coma until they've finished this show? I'm not sure I can wait to go episode by episode with you two, I need it all now. I just know your discussions on this truly masterful piece of television are going to be so so good as they have been with Breaking Bad, BCS, The Wire, Black Sails and more. While I personally have The Wire on top of the list for me I think perhaps the highs of The Sopranos go even higher if that's even possible, it's just so insanely well written and acted. All the characters are flawed, some are extremely unpleasant but you still want to watch them. Without James Gandolfini and his absolutely mind blowing performance of Tony Soprano in this show I'm not sure you get Walter White and the other anti hero type characters that we love watching do things we hate. Strap in ladies this show one hell of an enjoyable ride

Max Carter

Yeah there's actually a very specific episode in the first season that directly applies to and confirms what you're saying. There were anti-heroes before but they weren't like Tony. This can be explained more once we get to that episode though.

Veya

Yeah it's definitely tonally and visually lighter. The later seasons start becoming darker in both respects.

Veya

This was a good pilot episode and it really cemented that this is the most layering of a single character I've seen in a first episode of a show. The push and pull Tony has with the therapy showcased a lot of nuance and internal struggle in his character and practically every one of his core relationship is fleshed out and established. The only one missing is a key scene with his son, but that gets rectified in future episodes. This show goes beyond being a classic btw, it legitimately changed american TV post 2000s (this aired in 1999). It wasn't just another show on HBO, it made HBO what it is today. It's because of this show that HBO first started to build it's reputation for cinematic TV with less crowd-pleasing and riskier storytelling (Oz came before but it wasn't as popular and didn't innovate as much). It was the first to do a lot of what's more common now in modern dramas and also directly influenced shows like Breaking Bad, Mad Men, The Shield and other crime dramas, but also indirectly it allowed other types of shows that prior to this show being a success, wouldn't have been greenlit by studios. It showed that more complex/arthouse type of tv can be popular.

Veya

The Sopranos precedes the incel-age hyper-accelerated by social media. Yes, there are sexist opinions against the women in the show, but it is not nearly as vile or strident as the Walt-cels.

Michael Kang-Beats

Ah yes, you're right! I think that falls under wider worldbuilding I was talking about though, like how it's not clear what Tony's exact position is in this episode. The core relationships aren't changed. The worldbuilding was never the most polished in this show though. Remember an important character in season 5? The other aspects of the writing is what carries the show.

Veya

This. Meadow especially is really well liked. I think the hate is deserved here to be honest.

Farbod

For Sync Issues on the full length: Just like with The Wire, for the people having sync issues due to the differences between US and Europe frame rates, here's a solution: 1. Open their video in vimeo instead of playing it directly on Patreon (just click the video title) 2. In Chrome, press F12 to open the Dev tools 3. Click the Console tab 4. Paste the following command and press Enter: document.querySelector('video').playbackRate = 0.9591; 5. You'll know this worked if the console then displays 0.9591. This will make LM's video speed match the episode. You can close the Dev Tools panel, you don't need to keep it open. You'll have to run that command for every video.

ODIS

By relationships I was kinda just referring to Silvio not knowing who Artie is, whereas in other episodes it’s like him, tony, and Artie are all the same friend group. Your right and everything else is the exact same in terms of the relationships and how characters interact with each other. I was mainly meaning the style of how the show is presented is different.

Cole

Huh? The relationships are exactly the same from pilot to following episodes. He still has his marriage problem with his wife, his conflict and dynamics with his mother and uncle are the exact same, and his tenderness towards artie is the same. The only difference is the narrative structure (the goodfellas voiceover style doesn't stay) and there's some ambiguity in the worldbuilding regarding his exact status that gets fleshed out in the second episode. You are right that the "feel" is a bit off but it's more tonal and structural rather than the specific relationship dynamics. Even the priest stuff directly carries over (though they do recast).

Veya

your reactions and reviews of The Sopranos are going to be insane, I can't believe this moment has come. I definitely feel at peace!!!

ashton

Those hated characters from the list you read are not the mom and daughter. They are two characters that deserve to be on that list. I don’t know anyone who hated Carmella or meadow.

Cole

I've been dying for you guys to watch this show (I've been recommending it here from time to time for at least 2 years) and finally we're here!! Personally this is THE best show ever made. As everybody says, it revolutionized TV. This show was also chosen as the best written TV show ever made few years ago by the Writers Guild of America (which consists of writers that made all the US TV shows we've seen and liked including BrBa). But ngl I was kinda afraid if you may not get into it, especially on earlier episodes, but I'm glad you already liked and got really intrigued by the first episode. Needless to say this show gets progressively better, so you're in for a ride. Don't get stuck on which characters are hated the most, they are all incredibly flawed which is why this show is so interesting. So any list of "most annoying characters" is meaningless here. In fact, I'd safely say the daughter is generally considered the most normal and sane character in the show. Also yes, this show is intentionally hilarious at parts. While it's a brilliantly crafted dark and deep drama, it's also one of the funniest shows to me. Btw since it's an extremely thought-provoking show filled with deeply layered character studies, symbolisms and metaphors, I'm really looking forward to your post episode discussions, so don't shy away from making them long.

enchantertim

The main difference from the pilot to the second episode onwards that might confuse you guys is that tony is not the boss. He is a captain which he runs his own crew.

Cole

Carmella and Christopher are some of my favourite characters I’ve ever seen, and I’ll bet my bank account they’ll be your guys too.

Cole

WooooooOOOOOOOO! I am ready for this ride! I'm saddened to hear just how bad the comments were in your Breaking Bad reactions, but I can't say I'm surprised. Hopefully it's a much better experience for you this time around. There's going to be a lot of cultural disconnect with this series -- moreso than BB -- because a lot of it is steeped in the specific subculture of New Jersey (And more specifically north-east NJ). BB could have been set in Arizona instead of New Mexico without changing the story, but they could not have set 'The Sopranos' in New York unless they made a different show. Throughout the series there are references to local celebrities, famous regional attractions, etc. You can pick up most of it through context clues (It is a very well-made show), but some of it is inevitably going to fly by under the radar. To give you the broadest of broad-strokes, NJ is the state that immediately borders New York City to the west. Northern NJ is frequently described as being in the "shadow" of NYC, and American pop-culture is absolutely FILLED with jokes at its expense. If Tony is The Boss of NJ, then he's a big fish in a small pond...at least, that's what people say... One of the stereotypes of NJ is that it's filled with nothing but Italian gangsters -- the other is that it's filled with nothing but oil refineries and toxic waste. As with all stereotypes, neither are accurate, but NJ was one of the major destinations of Italian immigration to the United States in the early/mid-20th century. 15-20% of the population still claims Italian descent, so much like New York City it's impossible to extract Italian-American culture from the resultant society.

JBK405

It's not really arguably at this point. It's well documented by not only critics or tv writers but other industry showrunners and writers. Both vince gilligan and bryan cranston have directly stated there is no walter white without tony soprano. I've watched some actor round tables from time to time and the same thing was repeated there and I think the shields showrunner has stated the college episode directly lead to the development of his pilot episode. The creation of mad men and broadwalk empire goes without saying as well. The are entire books on the influence of this show.

Veya

Finally I’ve been wanting to watch this for a while, it’s time!

fe de

Yeah, I feel like some of the best dramas on HBO are also really funny, like Succession.

James Long

The sopranos is probably the funniest show I’ve seen. At times it’ll feel more like a comedy and then you’ll be reminded why it’s not.

Cole

One of the best shows ever made! Couple things - Yeah, James Gandolfini, Tony’s actor, was very magnetic/charismatic. It’s the story that’s told by all the actors who worked with him, particularly Edie Falco who plays his wife Carmela. It definitely helps make the character more likeable. And yeah, the show is absolutely meant to be funny. It’s definitely going for it intentionally. Looking forward to the reactions!

Jay Craig

breaking bad is my favourite live action show and i genuinely feel like i'm fighting demons every time i run into the fandom online. you gotta completely disconnect from them to have a good time with it. i'm sad you guys didn't get to experience that.

jweher

Can we stop suggesting One Piece..? Doesn’t matter if is another remake.. it will still be long.

Jack SV

I remember binging this show when I got sick from covid and just loving it. Happy to see you guys finally watching it

mundanelotus

Thus began the TV genre of character studies featuring unfulfilled middle-aged American white men who engage in morally dubious acts while displaying sympathetic qualities (Don Draper in Mad Men, Nucky in Boardwalk Empire, BoJack in BoJack Horseman, Saul and Walter White in Breaking Bad, etc) Psychoanalytic therapy and Freudian symbology are prominent in the show but nowadays both are considered outdated clinically and in research. Argentina and Austria are the only countries where they’re prominent. They still work great as a framework for the show!

space colon

First of all he made a single comment that he had a good time working with him SEVEN YEARS ago. he's not defending him. And I dont care about it because it has nothing to do with One piece.

Korin

Yup

Jonathan baez

Besides the Melfi scenes the pilot is very different than the rest of the show. The pilot was made over a year before the second episode and you can tell. A lot of relationships and character are a bit different, and the feel of the show is a bit off imo compared to the rest. But the melfi scenes are excellent. The melfi scenes in the pilot are some of my favourite in the show and they clearly knew what they wanted that part of the story to be from the beginning.

Cole

whos the guy? ODA?

Korin

I love how different the earlier episodes feel

Alberto Almeida

So it can suck but with good animation, and the money can go to the guy who happens to be friends with pedophiles and sexual assaulters. Great.

Eric

It’s been a few years since i watched this show in full. Excited to see their reactions now 😄

Aglio Olio

bro as soon as i got an email notification i knew its gonna be sopranos lmao youre watching the goat show (with aot and the wire), later seasons get much darker tho

Josip

That's why LM is goated. Absolute banger show, wanted you to react to it for a LONG time. Never thought it would actually happen though, it's like 2 worlds colliding for me ahah, very happy about this ~~

Mathias Lorétan

weirdly never thought the day would come where they’d tackle this show. arguably the forefather to prestige tv with so many rich characters, im sure they’ll like it. (also fwiw i think the experience will be closer to the wire than breaking bad)

Sebastian

He was one of the first I believe. The people at HBO told the creator he would ruin his character by making him “complex” because before this for a stable show you had to have a very likeable lead that people would want to tune in to see him do basically the same stuff every week.

Cole

lmaooo it’s actually here, that’s huge

KC

Fuck I can’t believe I’m alive to see the girls react to this show but here we are…This show is in my top 5 tv shows tbh. I’m a bit bias as well because 95% of the show takes place on my home state of New Jersey, and most of us who are from Jersey are assholes lol .. now I usually don’t say this but in the case of this show is ok to ask some questions because sometimes the show uses lingo that you wouldn’t understand if you haven’t consumed any mafia related content. Also there are some stuff that the characters mentioned that might be a bit confusing but we gonna see how you girls do with this show. Idk if Tony was the first TV anti hero but he is definitely the blueprint for any of your favorite bad guys on TV ;)

Jack SV

WOOO time for a new show for me to watch.!!! BTW GIRLS!!! the new one piece remake is being animated by WIT studio, who made AOT seasons 1-3 and Vinland Season 1. Several Directors and Producers are from AOT seasons 1-3.

Korin

There's been so many specific shows, arcs, episodes I've been so hyped for you two to start. This is peak television!

Riff Michaels

Well I’m really glad I started watching this as well a few months ago

Unholy

You no when you watch a show and go "I wish the characters would just go to therapy", well here you go.

Brandonsuplex

This is going to do numbers once it hits the public YouTube channel

Vincent Smith