Damn I was on pins and needles during that final five minutes. What a great series. Instantly in my holy trinity alongside The Wire and Breaking Bad.
Yeah you’re getting ready to bang this gorgeous girl (I feel okay saying that since the actress was way older than her supposed age of 17) and then your Xterra randomly catches on fire because you parked it on some leaves. Poor guy. At least he ended up getting a Beamer.
oh, shit! *waddles away* the catalytic converter and dry vegetation! you can grill steaks on that converter!
Underrated line: Phil looking for Chris: We’re form alcholics anonymous Chris’ mom: What’s your name? Phil: We’ll, we’re anonymous
oh, you don't wanna know! I do like how Tony will occasionally say some hilariously dumb shit like saying Captain Teebs instead of Cap d'Antibes but then uses a phrase like "mired in her bullshit". they did such a fantastic job writing him. he wasn't a genius but still plenty smart and eloquent when he had to be, part of that was why he was good at leading the crew.
There's no reason for Paulie to assault the Russian And we have to assume he's dead but we don't know. He took out 25 czeks and he was a part of the interior ministry
I envy someone watching it for the first time even though there's just going to be pain The best people just die. Ade, Bobby, Vito, Eugene. At least Phil got his head run over
He was gay in that life and hid it for years Phil shoved a pool cue into his ass He was annoying but he didn't deserve that
well I can definitely agree he didn't deserve his fate. but I found him annoying. the thing where he kept acting like the lost so much weight was very funny though.
I buy capicola and eat it just like Tony did. Haven’t worked up to dipping it in mayonnaise yet though.
Vito and Ralph were the top earners with construction, so Tony killing them was really bad for business. The show does show that a lot of the rank and file mob guys are just bums doing petty crimes to get by. Tony had the big house but he he had legit businesses and real estate from his father and was into stuff like medicare and stock fraud. Paulie was boosting power tools like it was the 50's.
which pretty well mimics real life. you needed to be a capo or better to actually have a shot at living a decent life. but the other side of it is you're only limited by your own motivation. if you were motivated and ruthless you could go a long way and that often was how you ended up as a captain was making your bosses enough money. but worth mentioning that Tony really didn't want to whack Vito, Phil being emotionally attached because Vito was family was what caused Tony to eventually call for the hit. Phil's decisions cost Tony more money and headache than Vito would have brought in working "abroad" so Tony eventually made the call, although Phil beat him to the punch. Tony absolutely would have let Vito run his little AC scheme if Phil hadn't been a jerkoff about it all.
In the mob there are usually money makers and leg breakers, and obviously there's a whole lot more dumb muscle than guys who know how to earn bigtime money outside of stuff like bookmaking, loansharking,etc. In the show there was never anyone who was truly broke, the real life Lefty Ruggiero from Donnie Brasco had no money which is pretty common.
but worth explaining that it was still a huge insult to Tony as a boss that Phil did it first. part of the reason Phil ultimately gets clipped himself, he was a busybody as a boss. neither Carmine nor John would have ever interceded in such a way even if they were pissed at Tony for not getting it done sooner.
Yeah I forgot about that but I don't recall if it was ever truly in motion. Even though Carlo and others talked up killing him, like was posted itt Tony never really fully committed with all his contacts. Compared to tracking Matt Bevilaqua I don't think the Soprano family did much to locate Vito. The Decavalcante family (real life NJ mafia the Sopranos was based on) killed the acting boss of the family because he was supposedly gay, everyone wanting to whack Vito was pretty realistic in that sense. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D'Amato When Carlo gets handed Vito's construction rackets he refers to being gay as a "sin", obviously robbing, murdering, adultery, etc are okay in their Catholic Church.
I mean, this was as definite as it gets. Phil literally catches Vito the next day (Tony was due to meet Vito at the mall again the morning of Vito's death). that clip is way after all the Vito stuff happened, not at the beginning. Vito was absolutely getting clipped. I explained above that Tony was initially nonplussed about the whole thing. he didn't like gay people but he acknowledged that they exist and that pretending otherwise is stupid ("it's 2006, there's pillowbiters in the special forces"). he was much more interested in running his business and making scratch than what his guys do on their own time which is surprisingly modern for the mafia but ultimately people like Phil and Paulie and Carlo were too old school and Tony couldn't value juggling their appeasement with the money he'd make from keeping Vito alive.
Yeah money is all that matters and earners are so much more valuable than dumb muscle. Ralph was probably the only guy (outside of Tony) who could actually make the complicated scams happen.
Bobby was "less bad". He murdered someone in cold blood at the behest of a mob boss, I'm not sure I'd quantify him as legit good. I will at least mention that Tony essentially corrupted him on this matter (though Bobby gave no pushback). he specifically mentions Bobby hadn't made his bones yet while they were out fishing and, after the big fight during game night, uses his power as boss to make sure Bobby wasn't sparkly clean anymore, at least not for a mobster. that's really a business where your hands have to get dirty or people look at you differently and don't necessarily trust you. Phil, for example, mentions Tony's lack of real time in the can as a big negative on the idea of him as a true boss.
just finished the first season again (wife and I watch it once every year or two), such a masterpiece. little rough around the edges in the acting with so many first timers but they all hit their stride quickly and besides, it gave the show a bit of charm with that lack of polish early on. love the last scene with the Cheers-esque vibes as everyone is inside Vesuvio during that big storm. looking forward to starting season two tomorrow.
Getting in the weeds but while he could run it I seriously doubt he came up with it. Patsy mentioning his son Jason's computer skills (assuming it's legit and not just boomer cluelessness) is pretty accurate about the next generation of the mob. They're a few years behind but those became (and still are) a moneymaker. https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna6928696 Again in the weeds and it's not real life but would've liked more specifics on Carlo's son getting busted for drugs (which ultimately caused Carlo to flip). Assume it would've been enough for a distribution charge wherein lies the risk of directly getting involved with drugs.
yea, if I had any complaints about the show it would be that we didn't get some characters as fleshed out as I wanted. Larry Boy, Gigi, Carlo, Ray, all of them could have stood to at least get a really solid B-plot to an episode like they gave to Patsi Parisi to kind of expand on them a bit, give some motive that can then always just be hanging around. honestly, my biggest one was Barbara, Tony's other sister. should have had her more involved even just as a "my brother and sister are nuts, I'm the normal one" option. Tony never showed any ill will towards her and seemed to genuinely love her and I like that he had some people like that in his life (best example is Artie).
To your first point it's kinda acknowledged throughout the show there are guys in the family never shown. In real life the very rough estimate is 10-15 guys per crew, the show is extremely top heavy in terms of capos and the administration. It'd be impossible to show that many characters plus associates and have anything coherent. General estimates are also 10+ associates per made guy but there are different definitions about what actually counts as an associate. Chris becoming a capo due to nepotism is very real, John Gotti made his son a capo and subsequent acting boss (when John was locked up) solely because of nepotism.
Janice is dangerously close to Tony as far as scumbaggery goes but I'd completely forgotten this great scene between her and Carmela. completely nails mafioso and Carmela essentially can't argue because she knows deep down it's true.
Psychiatrist telling it like it is. All the religion stuff in the show is absolutely hilarious showing how truly out of touch everyone is, Carlo talking about Vito being gay "it's a sin" while wanting to murder Vito is the cherry on top.
the whole Italy trip there's the discussion there and back home about the men in the mafia, their obedience to a matriarchal figure (Maddona/whore). I love that after Tony fights with Annalisa and is up on the balcony declaring he wants to leave that she just silently makes a gesture at him and he instantly reverts to childhood and obeys. you can really feel Chase's fingerprints all over the early stuff whenever Tony has his mother issues bubble to the surface. poor guy must have gone through hell with his own mom.
Other aspect is that the Sicilians ultimately have way more power than the American mob types. Outside of the Cleveland fiascos car bombs were virtually never used for mob hits in the states. The murder of John Gotti lieutant Frank Decicco was the 1 exception (other person getting in the car with Decicco supposedly looked like Gotti and the hit itself wa supposed to be on Gotti.