Blondie
~*~*~*~<br><font color=blue>This TF always enjoys
- Joined
- Aug 18, 1999
- Messages
- 17,306
'The Sopranos' Top 10 Moments
Looking back on some killer times
By Don Kaye
MSN Entertainment
With the final 20 episodes of "The Sopranos" upon us, it's time to settle down with a huge bowl of Artie Bucco's gravy and pasta, a nice bottle of wine and a smoking automatic to reflect back on five previous seasons of one of the greatest series ever to hit television. To determine the 10 greatest moments in the series is like trying to bookmark the 10 best pages in "Crime and Punishment," but we've done our best, starting from the bottom up. Oddly enough, some of them involve murder ...
10. "Kill Me"
The women in Tony Soprano's (James Gandolfini) life have always driven him crazy, so when his affair with dark seductress Gloria Trillo (Annabella Sciorra) goes south, it's no coincidence that she bears some of the same character traits as his dear, departed mother Livia (Nancy Marchand) -- namely, a bottomless well of self-pity and a vindictive streak as wide as the Hudson. Gloria makes the near-fatal mistake of telling Tony she'll call his wife Carmela (Edie Falco), and before she knows it, Tony's hands are locked around her throat amid the wreckage of her dining room. "Kill me," she hisses into his face, but Tony stops short -- because he knows that's just what she wants.
9. Janice Shows She's A Soprano
We learned pretty quickly after Tony's sister, Janice (Aida Turturro), came home from Seattle that underneath all her new-age crap beat the heart of a true Soprano. But we never knew she had the trigger finger of one too. While Tony plotted to whack nemesis Richie Aprile (David Proval) -- who also happened to be Janice's fiancé -- little did he know that one punch from Richie would send Janice to the cupboard for a handy gun to put her hubby-to-be on the fast track to hell. Incidentally, Tony's reaction when he enters the kitchen to see Richie dead on the floor -- a mixture of shock, relief and "I can't believe what I'm seeing" -- is acting of the highest caliber by Gandolfini.
8. "I Heard The Tapes, Ma"
The first season finale of "The Sopranos" is when Tony's relationship with his elders -- namely Uncle Junior (Dominic Chianese) and his mother -- doesn't just take a turn for the worse but goes down in a flaming crash. Hearing the tapes on which Livia and Junior discuss whacking him, Tony heads to the hospital where his mother has just had a stroke. Bending over her stretcher, he whispers sweetly, "I heard the tapes, Ma," and is answered by a hideous smile that only a Gorgon could love. Even at her lowest, Livia somehow gets the upper hand.
7. Big ***** Goes Overboard
"Why'd you do it, *****?" That's what Tony asks lifelong friend Sal "Big *****" Bonpensiero (Vincent Pastore) aboard his new boat when he, Paulie (Tony Sirico) and Silvio (Steve Van Zandt) confront ***** with the truth about his rathood. Everyone's got problems, and *****'s no exception: Aside from one of the most unfortunate mob nicknames in history, he has money issues that drive him into the arms of the FBI and, ultimately, a watery final resting place after his best friends in the world shoot him down.
6. Melfi's Choice
The irony of Dr. Jennifer Melfi's (Lorraine Bracco) rape -- by a punk in a deserted stairwell -- is that when violence does enter her life, it's not because she's had a mob boss as a patient for years, but purely through a random act of brutality. But when the kid gets off on a technicality, Melfi doesn't seek out the kind of justice she could easily get from her ready-to-rumble patient. In other words, she doesn't go over to the dark side, and her attacker goes un-whacked.
5. Ralph Cifaretto Comes Apart
Ralph Cifaretto (Joe Pantoliano) was a thorn in Tony's side for the better part of two seasons, with his random violence and not-so-random insubordination. But mess with an animal? When the stable housing Tony's beloved racehorse, Pie-O-My, burns down, killing the horse, Ralph's attitude about it -- "This is a hundred grand apiece (of insurance money)" -- sends Tony over the edge and Ralph to an early grave. Or rather, graves: His piecemeal disposition remains possibly the show's grisliest moment.
4. Goodbye Adriana
After five long-suffering years as Christopher's girlfriend, with the last two even more agonizing as the FBI forced her to wear a wire, Adriana (Drea de Matteo) finally met a lonely and undignified death, crawling on her hands and knees somewhere in the swamps (OK, the woods) of Jersey with Silvio in hot pursuit. More importantly than just the end of the series' rock-and-roll Jersey bad girl, this scene showed just how cold-blooded the often-goofy Silvio could really be.
3. Christopher's Intervention
Does Christopher Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli) have a fear of success? Every time he's handed more responsibility in the business, it seems like he hits the big "H" in equal measure. Finally an intervention is staged, but like anything to do with the Sopranos, the situation turns both nasty and grimly hilarious. We don't know what's more bizarre, Paulie's beatdown of "Chrissy" halfway through the session, or Silvio's contribution: "You had your head in the toilet, your hair touching the toilet water. Disgusting."
2. The Big Showdown
Carmela's put up with Tony's wandering ways for years, but when an ex-goomara calls to say that Tony still loves her, that's enough. They've fought before, but this time it's for keeps. Tony comes as close as he ever has to actually hitting Carmela (he doesn't, but he puts a nice-sized hole in the wall not too far from her head) and the two of them go at it with as much intensity as any full-scale going-to-the-mattresses mob war. Years of resentment and anger boil over, with Tony leaving home as a result. But as we all know, Carmela is no Kay Corleone -- nothing can ultimately keep her and her husband apart.
1. "College"
Picking the single best moment in the history of "The Sopranos" is almost as difficult as getting the drop on Tony himself. "College" -- the fifth aired episode of the show -- is a compendium of them. Tony's daughter (Jamie-Lynn Sigler) confronts him about his business, Carmela confesses to her priest that she's afraid of being punished for the life she's chosen (and then nearly seduces the padre for good measure), and Tony himself, the doting dad on a tour of colleges with his little girl, takes a quick break for an act of vengeance against a rat. It's this moment -- Tony Soprano's first on-screen killing -- that shows us just how dangerous, and dangerously complex, this man really is.
Can't wait for Sunday!
Looking back on some killer times
By Don Kaye
MSN Entertainment
With the final 20 episodes of "The Sopranos" upon us, it's time to settle down with a huge bowl of Artie Bucco's gravy and pasta, a nice bottle of wine and a smoking automatic to reflect back on five previous seasons of one of the greatest series ever to hit television. To determine the 10 greatest moments in the series is like trying to bookmark the 10 best pages in "Crime and Punishment," but we've done our best, starting from the bottom up. Oddly enough, some of them involve murder ...
10. "Kill Me"
The women in Tony Soprano's (James Gandolfini) life have always driven him crazy, so when his affair with dark seductress Gloria Trillo (Annabella Sciorra) goes south, it's no coincidence that she bears some of the same character traits as his dear, departed mother Livia (Nancy Marchand) -- namely, a bottomless well of self-pity and a vindictive streak as wide as the Hudson. Gloria makes the near-fatal mistake of telling Tony she'll call his wife Carmela (Edie Falco), and before she knows it, Tony's hands are locked around her throat amid the wreckage of her dining room. "Kill me," she hisses into his face, but Tony stops short -- because he knows that's just what she wants.
9. Janice Shows She's A Soprano
We learned pretty quickly after Tony's sister, Janice (Aida Turturro), came home from Seattle that underneath all her new-age crap beat the heart of a true Soprano. But we never knew she had the trigger finger of one too. While Tony plotted to whack nemesis Richie Aprile (David Proval) -- who also happened to be Janice's fiancé -- little did he know that one punch from Richie would send Janice to the cupboard for a handy gun to put her hubby-to-be on the fast track to hell. Incidentally, Tony's reaction when he enters the kitchen to see Richie dead on the floor -- a mixture of shock, relief and "I can't believe what I'm seeing" -- is acting of the highest caliber by Gandolfini.
8. "I Heard The Tapes, Ma"
The first season finale of "The Sopranos" is when Tony's relationship with his elders -- namely Uncle Junior (Dominic Chianese) and his mother -- doesn't just take a turn for the worse but goes down in a flaming crash. Hearing the tapes on which Livia and Junior discuss whacking him, Tony heads to the hospital where his mother has just had a stroke. Bending over her stretcher, he whispers sweetly, "I heard the tapes, Ma," and is answered by a hideous smile that only a Gorgon could love. Even at her lowest, Livia somehow gets the upper hand.
7. Big ***** Goes Overboard
"Why'd you do it, *****?" That's what Tony asks lifelong friend Sal "Big *****" Bonpensiero (Vincent Pastore) aboard his new boat when he, Paulie (Tony Sirico) and Silvio (Steve Van Zandt) confront ***** with the truth about his rathood. Everyone's got problems, and *****'s no exception: Aside from one of the most unfortunate mob nicknames in history, he has money issues that drive him into the arms of the FBI and, ultimately, a watery final resting place after his best friends in the world shoot him down.
6. Melfi's Choice
The irony of Dr. Jennifer Melfi's (Lorraine Bracco) rape -- by a punk in a deserted stairwell -- is that when violence does enter her life, it's not because she's had a mob boss as a patient for years, but purely through a random act of brutality. But when the kid gets off on a technicality, Melfi doesn't seek out the kind of justice she could easily get from her ready-to-rumble patient. In other words, she doesn't go over to the dark side, and her attacker goes un-whacked.
5. Ralph Cifaretto Comes Apart
Ralph Cifaretto (Joe Pantoliano) was a thorn in Tony's side for the better part of two seasons, with his random violence and not-so-random insubordination. But mess with an animal? When the stable housing Tony's beloved racehorse, Pie-O-My, burns down, killing the horse, Ralph's attitude about it -- "This is a hundred grand apiece (of insurance money)" -- sends Tony over the edge and Ralph to an early grave. Or rather, graves: His piecemeal disposition remains possibly the show's grisliest moment.
4. Goodbye Adriana
After five long-suffering years as Christopher's girlfriend, with the last two even more agonizing as the FBI forced her to wear a wire, Adriana (Drea de Matteo) finally met a lonely and undignified death, crawling on her hands and knees somewhere in the swamps (OK, the woods) of Jersey with Silvio in hot pursuit. More importantly than just the end of the series' rock-and-roll Jersey bad girl, this scene showed just how cold-blooded the often-goofy Silvio could really be.
3. Christopher's Intervention
Does Christopher Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli) have a fear of success? Every time he's handed more responsibility in the business, it seems like he hits the big "H" in equal measure. Finally an intervention is staged, but like anything to do with the Sopranos, the situation turns both nasty and grimly hilarious. We don't know what's more bizarre, Paulie's beatdown of "Chrissy" halfway through the session, or Silvio's contribution: "You had your head in the toilet, your hair touching the toilet water. Disgusting."
2. The Big Showdown
Carmela's put up with Tony's wandering ways for years, but when an ex-goomara calls to say that Tony still loves her, that's enough. They've fought before, but this time it's for keeps. Tony comes as close as he ever has to actually hitting Carmela (he doesn't, but he puts a nice-sized hole in the wall not too far from her head) and the two of them go at it with as much intensity as any full-scale going-to-the-mattresses mob war. Years of resentment and anger boil over, with Tony leaving home as a result. But as we all know, Carmela is no Kay Corleone -- nothing can ultimately keep her and her husband apart.
1. "College"
Picking the single best moment in the history of "The Sopranos" is almost as difficult as getting the drop on Tony himself. "College" -- the fifth aired episode of the show -- is a compendium of them. Tony's daughter (Jamie-Lynn Sigler) confronts him about his business, Carmela confesses to her priest that she's afraid of being punished for the life she's chosen (and then nearly seduces the padre for good measure), and Tony himself, the doting dad on a tour of colleges with his little girl, takes a quick break for an act of vengeance against a rat. It's this moment -- Tony Soprano's first on-screen killing -- that shows us just how dangerous, and dangerously complex, this man really is.
Can't wait for Sunday!
