The Sopranos 1x09 Reaction

The question of whether (and why) Tony has to deliver justice himself is fascinating, but to me, this one is just as much about Artie *using* Tony as an instrument for justice. The show will go back to this well in future episodes (if you know, you know), but this is the start of The Sopranos peeling back those layers: Does Tony do what he does because people expect him to do it? Is he a golem, created to do the bidding of others? Can he choose to do differently? Can he choose to do good? Does he *want* to do good? He certainly feels elated at the end of the episode for choosing to do nothing. But is that going to be a one-off?

I think it shows a lot more strength in a man to show emotion and vulnerability. It shows that you don’t care what others think, you just do what you feel is right regardless. Somebody who’s life revolves around their pride or who is scared to show emotion is a lot weaker in my opinion

The rate at which you guys are putting out these reactions shows how much you are enjoying this show

Really hope you watch the Godfagther, it'll help you understand many references and quotes not only from this show, but a multitude of media in general.

American sexual mores are so distorted that men performing oral sex is STILL something mocked and belittled. It's not just a factor of 20 years ago. In 2021, the "Harley Quinn" TV series was going to include a scene where Batman performed oral sex on Catwoman. Despite being an "adult" show and featuring many other sexual situations, DC Comics specifically forbade that scene because "Heroes don't do that". It's okay for villains to do it, and women, but not Manly Good Guys. If a comicbook company is that defensive and hypocritical in 2021, imagine what the rest of society was like in 1999.

I wouldn't eat an apple pie I finished in. /s

IMO season 1 is the weakest season by a bit. So the fact you guys are enjoying it as much as you are tells me this will probably be your favourite show ever.

I'm wondering, we know how Tony would react if the coach had done that to Meadow, but how would he react if his son and a female teacher were involved, would he be angry or would he be like "Way to go son!"?

Also regarding Charmaine (Artie's wife), she was the character that test audiences liked the most from the pilot episode since she was the one who was most openly critical of the mafia and their lifestyle. Her views are always interesting juxtaposed to Tony's and the rest of the mob guys.

Isaac recommended I share the Spreadsheet again, so here I am doing his bidding lmao. The Movie Recommendations sheet has a list of 30 movies for the girls to choose from based on suggestions made through the Patreon comments over the last year as well as via the Discord. It has info about the movie's runtime, if it's animated, the country it's from, and a brief summary so the girls can see if they like it. Also, the sheet showing what the girls have/haven't reacted to and what's on their watchlist has been updated. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15H4Q4j_in5l02iWMWCcnf8KiHiXOv-C4D1_pS9gV_zg/edit?usp=sharing

Lola is right about the way people in the mafia deal with topics like homophobia, racism and prejudice in general will also be an important point in the show.

Place your bets how many episodes is Lola going to call Paulie Clarence. I say 4.

Most of the comments from people about whether this is the "right" or "wrong" therapy for Tony misunderstand what the different types of therapy are for. There are counseling and therapy services that are intended to make somebody a "better person". Get them to stop doing bad things, and start doing good things. But that's not the type of therapy that Dr. Melfi practices. What they're doing here is focused on addressing/healing/treating/compensating for Tony's mental health. "Morality" is simply not a part of it. Think of it like when Jesse was in rehab in season three of "Breaking Bad". The counselor was only about getting people to recognize their habits so that they would STAY OFF DRUGS. That was the point. it didn't matter if you were still a piece of shit, as long as you were a sober piece of shit. Melfi is not trying to make Tony a moral person, she's trying to make him a HEALTHY person. And hopefully by being healthy he may also be moral, but it's two different things. Just like if she were a medical doctor and he had cancer, she would still do her best to heal him despite him being a criminal. Medical ethics require you to treat your patient to the best of your ability, regardless of your personal feelings. She can CHOOSE to drop him if she wants to. He has crossed several lines during their sessions and she would be completely justified in placing her safety and comfort first. But so far nothing that he has done or said shows that the therapy itself is being done improperly. So there's no NEED for her to drop him if she doesn't want to. Whether that will remain the case as things progress....well, that's a different question.

Did anyone else think Tony was banging the bald guys wife at first? She kinda looks like Tony's 24 year old girlfriend.

Dr. Melfi definitely wants Tony whether she knows it yet or not. Shes climbing bidets to sneak a peak at his house you don't do that for someone who's just an interesting patient. He's a bad boy and everyone in her life is a goody two-shoes, it's really only a matter of time.

A spoiler that makes you excited is a teaser. It's only a spoiler if you feel like it has been spoiled.

Here Boca is a double entendre for the place Junior vacations to - Boca Raton, Florida - and the thing he likes to use when he's down there (pun intended). It's also interesting that Raton is part of the name of the city.

"Once a year? I can resist the urge to gossip." God, Carmela has some of the best one liners in the entire show, so many more great ones to come.

When Milena said "I enjoy it too much and then it ends", that's why I now wait until all episodes of a new season are available so I don't have to watch just one per week.

I presume the issue Junior had was due to attitudes his generation had in the 90s. Definitely not a storyline we'd see in TV today.

I teared up too at the "I didn't hurt nobody" Tony being emotional about that has so much impact

South of the boooorder, down Mexico way…

Oh yeah, The Sopranos is first and foremost an A+ character drama. Even if you were to subtract the Mafia out of the show, you'd still have an enthralling A+ character drama.