The Sopranos 4x08 Reaction

Tony represents the Sun

This episode can be paired nicely with episode 2.11 “House Arrest”. We have Tony’s attorney Mink showing up here again who was the same guy that told Tony to take a backseat to reduce risk of exposure and being charged. Tony in that episode was so bored and left to his own thoughts that he broke out in a rash, as discussed by Melfi, he began to think too much about his own actions and their consequences that it started to affect his mental state. The same trend happens here, Tony is falling asleep in front of movies, sighing and sitting around despondent in the early part of the episode. The book Carmela chucks is ‘The Mists of Avalon’, which is a female-focused retelling of the King Arthur legends, all about the women in the Arthurian mythology. The ending song is perfect as always: ‘When This Battle Is Over’ by Delaney and Bonnie. Paired with the stand off between Carmela and Tony in the ending scene, the parallels behind the lyrics aren’t difficult to understand: “When this battle is over Who will wear the crown? Will it be you? Will it be me?“ Pretty much sums it up.

I've done a different type of caregiving, but from what I've heard from caregivers i know that work in memory care facilities old people sometimes regress into acting more like teenagers like this. Also they fuck each other /a lot/, and there can be a lot of very short term relationships much like in high school.

The scene at the end was mutually assured destruction. It was great to see Carmela using leverage so they both had something over each other that neither one could speak about. Well played.. Also Janice being Janice is always hilarious

I don't think Tony gives two shits about Ralph's childhood. He was just trying to find out if he has "normal" sex with what's her face. The only reason he didn't want to continue his relationship with her was because of being "where Ralph has been". But since he found out the truth he has no problems being with her now. That's all it was.

I love that Janice is watching Robot Wars in this episode lol. Loved that show as a kid.

I think the girls missed this as they talked through most of the scene, but when Carmela was in the shower, she was humming "the Furio song" (the song from the party which she hears in her fantasy/daydreams). Tony literally and metaphorically throws cold water on her fantasy. Another layer to the scene is that it's both Tony and Carmela's fantasies clashing — Carmela singing Furio's song, and Tony adopting Valentina's youthful prankster approach to having fun in a relationship. Tony is trying to bring the fun playfulness into their marriage, but the attempt falls flat on its face as Carm doesn't get into the spirit. It ends with both of them unhappy.

19:10 It's hilarious that Valentina took Tony equating her to a horse as a huge insult but Tony was actually kinda being complimentary, as he has a higher regard for animals than he does for people, so her being equal to a horse wasn't a hurtful comparison in his mind.

Th ending of this episode is one of the greatest I’ve ever seen in my life. A whole conversation is had with barely more than a few sentences said. What a fucking masterpiece.

Also had some static issues. But silver lining: bravo on fixing the subtitle issue. Edit: I don't know if this info will be helpful, but once the episode finished and the commentary started, I no longer heard any static.

There is small static in the severance episode as well. They aren’t unwatchable or anything but something that should be looked at.

Either you guys are being babies or my hearing is cooked. Help, my insurance sucks! (Yes, there's static)

I always hate giving Ralphie credit in ANY area, but according to "the rules" he has actually been one of the best-behaved members of the Family for a while now. Ever since the conflict with Tony when he beat Tracee to death, and then the problem with Jackie Jr., he's been on his best behavior. And it's weird because he's still a generally unlikable person, but unlike Silvio and Patsy and Paulie he's not undermining Tony at all or disobeying his orders or breaking any of the rules. He has, in fact, been a MODEL mafia soldier for this whole season. Which just goes to show the best members of their order are still scumbags who beat women to death over the slightest offenses. Irvington, where Cookie's kids threaten to send her if she won't be nice to Paulie's mother, is a predominantly-black town in the Newark area and has a reputation as a high-crime area. Given the way the show has always emphasized the anti-black racism in the Italian community of this series, them specifying that they would send her to Irvington was a specific kind of threat based on the local perceptions. It's not just "We'll send you to a bad nursing home", it's "we'll send you to a BLACK nursing home!" They knew that the Irvington part would get through to her even if nothing else did.

Yeah I can’t listen to the whole reaction since the static sound is playing through the whole reaction >_>

Bored Tony is a menace to everyone around him

the mic seems to have picked up some static or something