The Sopranos 5x03 Reaction

It is a little strange how it seems sympathy for characters only go back one generation with a lot of people. Like with Tony, I have sympathy towards him (that doesn't mean I believe he shouldn't be punished for his behavior) due to the parents he had growing up, and never receiving any love from his mother, who was a nightmare and I really disliked Livia. But then you have to think of how fucked up her parents probably were to make her into the monster she became. I dunno....just something I think about sometimes.

AJ: "we lost both times" Tony: "it's that line coach" It was a quick line but it was a deliberate contrast between Tony and Junior where Tony specifically didn't undermine and blame AJ, instead laying it at the feet of the line-coach. AJ's face was a bit hard to read for me in regards to how he took it. With how deprived of love Tony was as a kid, it's not a big surprise that he makes a lot of things about himself, basically just trying to chase what it's like to feel more conventional love and reconcile complicated feelings that he can't process healthily because of his upbringing. It helps that he's often in an a position to do so with little push back because he's the boss. That varsity athlete line is also the single most quoted line from the entire show. It has tragic undercurrents for sure but it's also funny with just how petty and out of place it was.

Man they take some of this stuff too seriously. How do they not laugh at some of the things Paulie does for instance? Little things like him trying to close the trunk and the lawnmower is sticking way out. I think they are the only reactors who don't understand the comedic beats throughout the series. They hate the characters so much that they don't allow themselves to laugh. Even the dialogue is hilarious a lot of the time, but they roll their eyes instead. I know comedy is subjective and all, but my God.

I can't believe you girls cut out the "You know it wasn't long ago you used to wait in the car" line. I feel like I've been stabbed in the heart!

Paulie stole wallet and lawn mower. He's taking a couple percent from Sal, 10% from Gary and he also stole $500 from Vitro recovery money. Oh, and Vitro will need to take care of couple lawns for Paulie's friends for free.

how about this humidity? as awful as Phil and Paulie are, they have so many hilarious and quotable lines that i kinda adore them both anyway. the end of this episode hit me like a truck when i first saw it, having lost a grandparent to dementia in 2023

Definitely one of the more emotionally affecting episodes for me, but also a balance of sad humour. The Curb joke made me laugh so hard when I first watched it. The final scene reminds me of the last between Chuck and Jimmy in Saul Gone - 'we always end up having the same conversation'.

Regarding L&M's discussion of Junior's insecurities — While it's true that Junior does have a lot of insecurities about his status and authority, the situation with trying to have Tony killed in s1 was a legit business decision to whack an insubordinate captain, and can't just be put down to Junior being "insecure". At that point, Junior was the boss. For a captain to be directly undermining him and subverting his rule is grounds for whacking, blood relation or not. Business is business, and rules are rules. Junior said this pretty directly when he found out that Tony was secretly meeting with the other captains and Johnny Sack in the nursing home and he realised what was happening. Add to that, finding out that Tony was talking to a shrink in a business where silence and loyalty are sacrosanct is also reasonable grounds for whacking, and not down to Junior's "insecurity". It's not like if Junior had a stronger sense of himself and no insecurities that he would just let these things go and forget about it. Tony's behaviour is why Junior tried to get rid of him, and it's precisely because of this that Tony was able to forgive Junior and they were able to get on afterwards. Tony understood that it was a legitimate business decision to try to whack him, and not personal. This is not the case for Livia — she had no legitimate reason to whack Tony, it was purely personal, and this is why he always held it against her and could never forgive her.

Out of all the civilians who get fucked over in this show, Sal Vitro is the one I always feel worst for.

I forgot where I heard this, so take it with a grain of salt, but it's possible that this dementia storyline was created with Livia in mind. The stolen airline tickets were supposed to be the overarching Season 3 storyline before Nancy Marchand passed away. I could see Livia's dementia worsening during the trial process, rendering her an unreliable witness for the FBI and letting Tony off the hook. If so, that last scene would be even more tragic. While she may not love him, I think Livia considered Tony her favorite over her other children. After all, she only saved Tony's childhood belongings, not those of his other siblings. As deplorable as what he did to Beansie was, at least Richie Aprile targeted him because Beansie had dealt drugs with him, all while showing respect toward civilians. In contrast, Feech attacked an innocent landscaper who wasn’t even involved in mob activities.

Hey girls, just letting you know that it was just announced that season 2 of The Last of Us will premiere April 13th. Hopefully you guys can plan accordingly.

“My last Sunday dinner here” man I love when Tony turns into Livia with the melodrama

That very last scene with Tony and Junior has everything that made this show so unique and so great.

“Believe me there’s plenty I’d like to forget” such a great line. It's sad because he doesn't realise he was the only parent he had left to Tony. He was losing it and he couldn't do nothing about it. Also, its almost ironic how Liv pretends to be losing her mind and warns Jr that it will happen to him in time as well.

"He jumped out the tree, and came me with a chainsaw. I got a right to defend myself, Ton." I always wondered if Tony believed Paulie when he said that...😂

At 9:22 Phil Leotardo may have actually scared the girls for real.

Joe Massino, who the FBI agent mentions when Adriana asks about how long this is gonna take, was a real-life mob figure. He was the Boss of the Bonanno family, and was convicted in 2004. Famously, after his conviction he was the very first Boss in American Mafia history to turn State's Evidence and cooperate with the government. The conviction and testimony hadn't happened yet when this episode was made, so at this point she is just referring to the prosecution of numerous lower-ranking members of the Bonanno family whose convictions and subsequent testimony were what brought down Massino. The ending of this episode just may be the most heartbreaking moment in this series. Up until now Tony and Junior have had the closest thing to a healthy relationship that Tony has with anybody. Still not healthy by a long shot, but closer than everybody else. Even after Junior tried to have him killed, Tony still cared for him. To see Tony finally ASK the question, and Junior unable to answer -- for whatever reason -- is heartbreaking. Oh, FYI, Tony's father was never the Boss of the family. Johnny Soprano was only ever a capo (captain) who ran a crew under Ercole DiMeo as Boss. That's the same rank Tony and Junior had in the first season, before Jackie Aprile died and they fought over the Boss position. Technically speaking the crime family is still the DiMeo Family, not the Soprano Family, but since Ercole Dimeo has been in jail for so long and the Sopranos have been in charge for so long everybody just calls in the Soprano Family.

If you're reading this I just want to say that you never had the makings of a varsity athlete.

That final scene is so goddamn good. Dominic Chianese mostly gets comic relief duty on this show -- the Curb Your Enthusiasm bit in this episode is hilarious -- but Junior is such a complicated raw nerve for Tony, and the scenes where they really dig in on their relationship are so powerful.

Barbara Soprano's actress changed. Threw me for a loop the first time I was watching