The Sopranos 3x06 Reaction

"Living on a thin line" definitely an appropriate song for this episode and how it is working close to sociopaths like these

They are LM Reactions !

Something which just hit me about this episode is the great insight we get into GEORGIE as well. Much like Bobby, Georgie is often portrayed as a "nice" member of the Bing crew. He's not a Made guy, he works as a bartender and general roustabout as a normal dayjob. He's soft-spoken and often getting pushed around by Tony, and here we see him actually get flailed by Ralphie. In the previous episodes we've never seen him rob anybody, or extort a business, or work as muscle, so we can view him as just another victim of the hardened criminals. Until the end of this episode, where we see that he is extorting bribes and sexual favors from the strippers themselves. And apparently has been doing so all along. He shows that there is no "good" member of this crew. Even the quiet ones are only quiet when confronted by the people above them. Once they're in a position of power, they take just as much advantage as the Made guys do when they think they can get away with it. You can't just dip a toe into the pond, if you're in then you're IN all the way.

This episode and the Melfi one are too hard to watch. I always skip them if I'm rewatching the show. I understand the point they're making with this episode (these are disgusting people and should not be glorified).. I don't need to watch it again to get that point... The show continues to have dark themes throughout the rest of the series. Fortunately though, I'd say you're past the worst ones. It doesn't get as bad as either of those two episodes I'd say

I love how this was directed. The foreshadowing with the Dinemtia film. the lady with her head open. And all the cuts were perfect.

For the record: Irina (Tony's ex-girlfriend) isn't 20, she's 24/25/26 in seasons 1/2/3. When Tony said to Melfi that she's "twenty years younger" he was exaggerating to make a point. This is confirmed when he first shows off to Melfi about her in season one: "I already got a girlfriend. Russian. 24. How old are you?"

Noah hit it and quit it. Typical man just like the others in this episode using a girl for sex then moving on. Somebody tell homeboy that you're only supposed to pump & dump with Webistics.

“It stopped being funny.” is the best way to describe this show.

This is actually one of my favorite Sopranos episode because of how thematically rich it was. It's ultimately about class privilege, the dichotomy between Meadow and Tracee, a young woman on the high end vs. the lower rung of Mafia life. Ralphie even said in this episode "Every advantage, this kid." He's referring to Jackie Jr. but it's also easily as applicable towards Meadow. Some of the observable contrast between Meadow and Tracee in this episode: - Meadow goes through a happy college romance early on, while Tracee's boyfriend Ralphie refuses to kiss her because of, paraphrasing "How many dicks have you sucked tonight, honey?" - Meadow loses her virginity and she enjoys it, while Tracee cries as she sells her body to strangers. - Meadow post-virginity glow and being friendly towards Carmela, while Tracee considers getting an abortion. - Meadow telling her mom that they should go shopping cause she needs to buy shoes and tops (on her mother's expense of course). Carmela says she's waiting for Meadow's laundry to be done. Meadow tells her to let the maid finish it, then holds out her empty glass for Carmela to refill it. Tracee, on the other hand, gets smacked around for missing work. - Meadow was left with a broken heart in a college library by her boyfriend, while Tracee was left with a shattered skull in a ditch outside a strip club by hers. For the cherry on top, the song utilized by this episode lays the theme perfectly. "Living on a thin line/tell me now, what are we supposed to do?" I'm glad Lola acknowledged that song as one of the positives of this episode haha. Another thing this episode shows us is the parallel between Meadow and Tony. They are both approached by a young woman who needed their help, and both doesn't care enough to give them any meaningful assistance. Despite their conflict this season, they are more similar than they thought. Tony even alluded to this in season two, paraphrasing "You're just like me, nothing gets by you"

Under "The Rules", Tony has the authority to have Ralphie killed over killing Tracee. Not for the killing itself, but because it was done here and now, which could implicate Tony and everybody else as an accessory. But under those sames rules, Tony doesn't have the authority to BEAT UP Ralphie since he is a Made guy. Kill him, yes, but not manhandle him in front of other Made men. To all the other Made guys standing around watching, Tony may have actually made the bigger error than Ralphie.

For what it's worth, I think that this episode is the worst that the show gets, at least for a while, when it comes to specifically graphic and extreme violence against women. At least as I remember it. Of course, there's general violence amongst the mobsters and such, but I don't recall many scenes that are triggering in this specific way after this episode, at least for a while, and I don't remember feeling that they were this hard to watch or worse. I don't know if y'all are reading comments but if so I hope this is somewhat encouraging

you guys really are the best reactors. Especially for episodes like this. I don’t know if it’s just the chemistry of your friendship or the pov you both bring but it’s so satisfying to watch. The lingering sense of dread throughout the entire episode. Waiting for the story to go where you hope it won’t but deep down see coming a mile away. The back and forth between Caitlin and Tracee. You guys looking physically ill every time Ralphie is on screen. Lola even at one point says she wants the ep to end already. Before ralphie even does what he does. And by the time we see it it’s so brutal you’re kind of in shock til The Kinks start playing. The credits roll and you come to terms again that you’re watching monsters. It’s a perfect encapsulation of what I believe is David chase’s entire goal for the rest of the show. For the audience to sit and deal with all those feelings, good and bad.

Back when the show was airing the extreme violence against women put a lot of people off it, but it's completely intentional. These are not the good guys you're watching, and David Chase wanted to make it loud and clear, because after the second season aired so many people started idolizing Tony and his men. Season 4-6 are still fairly violent (it's gangster show after all), but not in the same way Season 3 is.

At least it’s not as dark as the wire or band of brothers.

I never really paid attention to the events right before Tracies death. I always saw it as just a shock episode really, and just looked at it as more brutal imagery and to be edgy on tv the way that sopranos was. Anyways, looking at it from Ralphie's perspective.... obviously he's a complete psycho and even the rest of the crew hate him and the one guy says one day they're gonna find this guy dead. Signaling he's the type of guy to get whacked. He gets away with his antics disguising everything as a "joke". But, logistically something happened where Tony passed him up as captain in the crew for the other guy he kisses on the lips. So, ralphie is known to be intelligent and a "great earner", but being passed over and being the tweaked dude he is, he is just acting out and messing with everyone. So in the final scene before tracie meets her fate in the alley, she tells him to piss off and says, "what man?" in front of all the other guys. Ralphie walks out and does what he does, which appears quite psychotic and everything we initially think. I suspect it was a sort of manuever as well as a message to show the other guys he is very serious and won't be disrespected and possibly to get Tony to lay his hands on him, a "made" man which is against their longstanding code. But anyways, obviously most are disturbed by it and definitely Tony, but perhaps it was more then just a psychotic outburst as it initially seems.

As I commented on the full reaction, the audience that keeps watching accepts that main characters are unsavory, there will be violence, and that women will be exploited and abused -- after all, it is a horrible business and that is a premise/setting of the series -- one deals with their revulsion so to watch a stellar groundbreaking series. The Sopranos IMDb 9.2, RT 92% (Audience 96%), Metacritic 94% (user 9.3) It may be generational. The older generation, while repulsed, seem more willing to deal with the disagreeable/unpleasant premise, including whether depicted is the cultural norm of husbands having mistresses or sex workers being exploited, etc. In contrast, my daughter who is 28, likely would not deal with the premise. Though, I do understand from my kids and from what I read that there was a surge of popularity of The Sopranos series among younger people, e.g., back during the pandemic.

You girls are right that to the extent that any of the guys feel bad about Tracee it is tony more than anyone else, probably because of tracee's similar age to meadow. Though Tony is still bad because he doesn't care about her more than making money or the "reputation" of the mob. Tony's cares as much as he cares about a fleeting thought of thinking and comparing the girl to meadow and that's about it.

I honestly don’t think Ralphie’s that much worse than all the other guys. I could see them all doing the same thing.

Yep as many people have mentioned the creator of the sopranos, David Chase, was getting disturbed by how audiences were starting to idolize characters of this show. This season and this episode in particular was him basically saying "here, these are the guys you idolize." That's why this season is so dark.

Also, Tony's empathy is pretty well established at this point. It's just that his empathy on this show follows a more real life flow. It doesn't develop into a sequential arc. People regularly preach about caring about social issues like the environment or where their stuff comes from but don't change their habits or do the bare minimum. Sometimes it sticks. Sometimes it doesn't. Life also gets in the way and they don't think about it 24/7. Tony's diminished empathy and parenting and how his mafia lifestyle should also be taken into consideration as to why his empathy flows the way it does, but he absolutely feels them. Regarding the episode with the detective, it did end with Tony going to the bridge at the end of the episode. The show doesn't come out and directly say it, but I think there's an implication there that he did feel something or why else would he make the drive to the bridge. It's also not something that would realistically pop up in his therapy at the time nor would it be something he mentions to his associates. It's very low-key.

I really forgot how dark this season was...

Also .. Christmas is around the corner and I’m just suggesting this, but.. a good Christmas present for us would be a reaction to the movie The Godfather.. just putting that out there ☻

This episode was a spiritual successor to "College" as a duo Tony/Meadow episode. It continues the theme of last episode of the limitations of empathy and it's dense with parallels and foils layering the idea with more variables and shading. - Tracee and Meadow is the main overt parallel which the specifics were already mentioned in the discussion. Ultimately the show still knows they are pretty different, the final scene with Meadow underscores this. - Tony and Meadow have the main thematic thrust in terms of exploring the limitation of their empathy and how difficult it is to navigate situations that don't have a clear answer. As mentioned Tony could have been a bit more warm with Tracey when she came to him mid episode and she immediately went back to Ralphie afterwards. On the other hand, he isn't exactly wrong that they have a more employer/employee situation and he did still try to give her advice even if he didn't put too much effort into it. And it's clear he didn't see to what extent that Ralphie would have gone to. Meadow and Caitlin are somewhat similar. Meadow tries to do as much as she could within pretty normal social parameters for college kids. She told Caitlin she needs to speak to someone, but she can't exactly force her. She tried to take her out and tried to combat Noah's growing apathy but there isn't really an easy solution presented. She can try to be warmer overall, but I don't think most would blame a college kid without that emotional maturity and it seemed like a very realistic way someone of privilege would react. Melfi's moral choice in the rape episode and her role as someone on this show who can actually help people is just emphasized with these plot-lines. - Tracee and Caitlin parallel is pretty clear. They both are the people that need help but surrounded by people who either don't care or aren't equipped to really help even if they wanted. - Noah and Tony even parallel. Meadow describes him as "nice in one moment and a different person in another". Remind you of anyone, Meadow? Tony and Noah even breakup with their girlfriends in a pretty cold manner. It's such an irony that Tony dislikes him on the basis of race given how similar they are regardless of how different their station in life is. They both have diminished empathy and make the easy choices over the right ones. Noah gets one bad grade, becomes petty and cuts both Caitlin AND Meadow out of his life. Tony feels for the cop last episode, one argument with Meadow, and then his pettiness takes over and screws the cop over. Terrible people all around.

What hurts me about Tracee the most is that, beyond the glaring misogyny, on an individual person/human level, nobody cared about her. She was only treated as a piece of meat/object. It looked like she was lonely (I mean she spent her free time with Ralphie for fucks sake). Besides her being treated horribly and getting slapped around, Tony also acted kinda cold towards her when she was alive. I mean I understand, it's good that he kept a healthy distance from her and didn't get in a relationship with her, that's good. But it's just, she didn't get any love or care from anybody. And then she died in a horrific way at a very young age. And... that's it. It feels like she didn't really have a chance. That was her life. Then people moved on with their lives (including that scumbag who killed her). As if she didn't really exist you know (somebody else in this comment section mentioned that silvio said "cover 'that' up" regarding Tracee's dead body, which adds to my point). That's somehow more brutal to me than the violence itself. This is one of the reasons why I love this show. Yes there's a lot of violence in the show but the real brutality of it is on a deeper level. Btw the actor who plays Ralphie is Joe Pantoliano, he's terrific. He actually won an Emmy for this role :D He was also in some amazing movies like The Matrix and Memento.

Everyone hates these characters now, but I guarantee by next season they're going to be back to rooting for them and feeling sympathetic for some of them. The show is so well written that it completely fucks with you that way.

Idk.. we always knew these characters were always despicable and horrible human beings so for me it wasn’t a surprise once we get these kind of episodes. I get that you girls were fond some of these characters because they are funny or sometimes they might do some good but at the end of the day don’t get it twisted..they are in the mafia, I don’t expect any of them to be saints. Now I do understand that the tone of the show might be a bit darker but than the previous seasons but I do feel the core of the show is still there.

The way this episode follows three young women (Meadow, Traccee, Caitlin) from vastly different circumstances and the relative hardships that they have to face based on those circumstances is incredibly well done in my opinion, from Meadow getting dumped, Caitlin having a nervous breakdown, and Tracee getting brutally murdered. This episode and others like it do not hold back and, even though they are very difficult to get through, are a big reason as to why this is my favorite show.

I am sure many comments have said, but David Chase hated the blood lust of his audience, so he wanted to show their true evil. I would like to add the rest of the season is way more up your alley, you have gotten through the most difficult of the eps.

I love when they watch things that make them uncomfortable. It's good to feel that way sometimes, especially when it comes to situations that happen in real life. Also, it's important to remember that these are not good people, I think it's easy to forget that sometimes.

Meadow choosing Columbia was purely a narrative convenience thing. If David Chase wanted Meadow to continue interacting with her parents, she needed to be close to NJ, otherwise they'd have to justify her taking regular flights. It just wouldn't have made sense.

This episode and Employee of the Month are definitely the most unpleasant of the entire show for me. By a long shot. As others have pointed out, David Chase was getting fed up with people cheering for these characters.

Even after Ralphie killed Tracee. Silvio: Get a rug and cover that up Chrissy. He couldn't even acknowledge her as a human being, but as a "that".

It's clear that they had a point to prove with this episode. Coming right after Employee of the Month too. It feels like smashing into a brick wall. I respect it but it is a hard turn compared to the earlier episodes. I think with Meadow's friend, the connection to Tracee might be that nobody cares enough to help either of them.

The therapy scene after Tracy’s death is one of my favorite of the whole series, because it shows exactly how Tony’s lifestyle sabotages his therapy. He can’t go into detail about Tracy’s death with Melfi because of her obligations, and he can’t even say it was a young woman because Carmela would think he slept with her, and she would have reason for that due to his past actions. So he just has to lie and keep his thoughts and emotions to himself, which is the antithesis of what therapy is supposed to be.

one of my favourite episodes for how well it delivers on David Chase's desire to stop audiences identifying with the gangsters. the cut from Ralphie and Silvio being cruel to Tracee to them laughing at dinner with their wives is brilliant. there's definitely other upsetting episodes, but in my opinion this and Employee of the Month are the most viscerally horrible i'll also admit i find Paulie's "that too" kinda hilarious albeit in the most grim way

I just find fascinating (in a very sad way, of course) the juxtaposition of the life of Meadow and Tracee. What a cynical show.

This episode introduced me to ‘Living on a Thin Line’ as well, it’s my favourite Kinks song now

I think David's intention was never to make a show where people would love the characters (and even so, Tony Soprano is perhaps the most loved and idolized on TV, even though he's a trashy person). The mafia violence getting worse and worse with each season was very intentional and it's one of the things David has already said about how HBO gave him total freedom to express this. Chase must have thought "I'm going to make the most horrible characters and I'm going to deliver the best writing that television has ever seen." A genius.

Soapranos

The Sopranos lost a lot of viewers after Melfis rape, the golf club attack and now Ralphie beating a pregnant woman to death. David Chase was getting annoyed with the fans who thought these guys were happy go lucky gangsters with funny one liners, so he decided to put the fans in their place. Many couldn't handle it back in the early aughts.

you know who had a shitty arc? noah

Almost every male character in this show is a scumbag. But there is something about Ralphie that makes him the absolute worst, even worse than other psychos like Richie. After this episode, I utterly despised him and was hoping for his comeuppance.

There they are!!! He, he, he🤟

Top 5 needle drop in the whole show

what am i supposed to do with my sundays now.