The Sopranos 5x06 Reaction
Comments (21)
Just in case it somehow hasn’t been recommended before if you two like Steve Buscemi who plays Tony Number 2 he had a pretty good show on HBO called Boardwalk Empire that also had Omar from The Wire in it.
Girls it's Artie, A-R-T-I-E. I don't even like the guy much for me to correct you lmao
He graduated to Artie for a bit, then when he doesn’t appear for a few episodes Lola goes back to Archie and Milena follows suit
I love Steve Buscemi in this episode. He has this kind of restrained, beaten down attitude that makes him feel very believably normal to me. His story arch does feel a bit condensed here but I think he does it well. Carmela's story is good too. I hate seeing them barter over AJ, no wonder he feels like shit. I noticed watching this that he's literally wearing a shirt that says 'trash' in the scenes with Tony lmao. He would probably be using ChatGPT for his essays if the show was written now. You can see how Carmela is very sharp when it comes to reading other people, but naive to her own manipulations. I was glad the teacher called her on it. It's funny how she blames it on Tony, which isn't really true here, but even if it was, yeah you're going to be judged for marrying a mobster, what do you expect? She wants the benefits of marrying him without the consequences.
Funny that Carmela tells Ro she thought Wegler was gay, and then later when Tony says the same Carmela scolds him and tells him that he's projecting
I think Carmela does feel overwhelming guilt for *gestures at everything in her life* so she uses her "affair" with Wegler as a pressure release valve for all of that pent-up guilt. If she feels bad enough about that, she can ignore all of her other culpability. Of course she's also totally using him to help AJ -- but people are complicated, right?
"One of these days, you wait, I'm gonna kick your ass" "What's wrong with right now, huh?" This exchange between Tony and AJ reminds me of Tony’s therapy session in Season 2, where he shared a story about sending Furio to beat someone up and wishing he could have been the one doing it. Melfi then asked him if he’d rather be the one delivering the beating or receiving it. On some level, Tony would probably respect AJ more if he fought back, even if it meant defying him. The conversation between Carmella and Father Phil is also pretty hilarious. His thinly veiled jealousy, masked by his supposed devotion to the church, clashes with Carmela’s not-so-subtle attempts to provoke him, and of course father Phil defending Tony in some way once again. When the Church appears in the show, it's always presented in the context of having accommodated organized crime in some way. Every single clergyman we see is like this, even the African priest that Carm goes to for counseling. I'm starting to get the feeling that David Chase doesn't like the Catholic church. Carmela’s actions in this episode essentially encapsulate the common moral outlook and worldview of the Soprano family: use people for what they’re worth, take what you can, and avoid hard work whenever possible. In this context, AJ is simply acting on what he’s been imprinted with since birth; buy the assignment he’s supposed to be studying for. Buy people, buy power, steal power, take power. To sum up the episode’s central theme: acquiring money without hard work ultimately corrupts and destroys you as a person, erodes your humanity, and seals your fate.
Carmelas dad is the only wholly good person on this show. He's adorable.
While he's a cool likeable guy, he also takes advantage of Tony's mob influence and indirectly benefits from it in his business — Carmela has even called him out on this before. He's quite like Carmela herself in terms of being outwardly clean and honest while enjoying the very tangible benefits of being mob-adjacent. While Carmela's mother is stuck-up with a bitchy attitude and is less likeable in terms of personality, arguably she is a much more moral person as she has always wanted Carmela to be with someone else and has always explicitly discouraged Carm from being with Tony. It is repeatedly made clear that she has always wanted Carm to look at "civilian" options for a man, and has always disapproved on Tony as a partner, both in present day, and historically back when they were a young couple dating.
I love it when Carmela is so obviously shitty even the girls notice
Did they notice the teacher is the badass from The Expanse?
I didn't notice that. He must be younger here.
Remember Pearl Harbor!
Keep your eye on the tiger, man!
“The blues are my business, and business is good”
This episode highlights why "associating with criminals" is always something prohibited in probation/parole situations. It's the EXPOSURE that drags Tony B back into the world. Nobody had to do anything. Seeing the money, seeing the women, and most importantly seeing the ACTION was a lure too strong for him to resist. Robert Wegler (David Strathairn) is AJ's guidance counselor. This is a position in American school systems that are responsible for "guiding" students. The exact responsibilities will vary system to system, but they do things like help students pick classes for the next year, offer advice on schoolwork or meet with parents, and (most importantly) in their final years of High School help them pick and apply to colleges. Guidance counselors tell them what grades they will need to get to make it into THIS school versus THAT school, what extracurricular programs to sign up for to get an impressive application, etc. They're not teachers per se, but they have school authority.
I think it was also a good idea to limit Tony’s screen time this episode probably the one where he appears the least just to really show Carm and Tony B with their own struggles
I just feel like Tony B. and his story is a bit shoehorned for me in this season. I know again that this is an unpopular take
Because it’s not something the show hasn’t done before. Ralphie suddenly came back from miami. Ritchie suddenly released from prision even though we met his brother a season prior. The premise of a big mob allows for this type of character in and out. Also i think most get over his abrupt introduction because his arc is thematically rich and ties into the “two tony” idea established in the first episode. Also Steve Buscemi is awesome.
Girls we need that Godfather II reaction before you finish this show!
And Goodfellas