The Sopranos 5x11 Reaction
Comments (46)
Ugh. The wait for 5:12 (which they have already watched) is just cruel.
Ikkkk the wait is killing me rn. I’m hoping they upload it today considering we didn’t get one yesterday
The near-universal praise for this episode in the comments is interesting. This episode was VERY controversial when it aired and reactions were far more mixed and polarized than they appear to be now. I remember debates about this very distinctly, not just online but on radio shows the Monday after, etc. To have almost a whole episode of a weekly series filled with a dream sequence was a bold choice that didn't go over well with a lot of people at the time. Based on these comments, clearly time has been kind to the episode.
I think episodes like this age better when the audience doesn’t have to wait a week in between. I wasn’t watching Sopranos back when this first aired but I could imagine frustration among fans wanting more on the NY vs NJ storyline and instead mostly getting an extended dream sequence.
Twin peaks and sopranos are the only dream sequences i could ever really get into. And it was obviously inspired by it so they seem to go hand in hand. I get this kinda thing doesn’t work for everyone but I always admired the artistic swings Chase took. The ambition always made me love the show even more.
They gotta watch Twin Peaks.
Since yall have watched the season 5 finale i can say this about Tony B: I believe the writers had Steve Buscemi signed on to stay for season 6, but they felt like they wrote him into too deep of a whole and couldn't write him out of it. So we got the season 5 finale.
One of my favourite scene in this episode is when Tony watched himself getting dressed up because I've dreamed the exact same thing (getting myself chased by a ghost while watching it through a tv). This episode for me explained the relationship between Artie and Tony and why the two of them are friends; they are envious of each other's life. Artie is envious of Tony's gangster life with the fast money and all the beautiful women he gets to have sex with. Tony, on the other hand, is envious of Artie's straight laced life and how Charmaine wouldn't enable him like Carmela. I think Melfi's brief scene in this episode reinforces that idea as well. He would love to be with someone like Melfi or Charmaine, but his life wouldn't allow it. What this season shows so far is that Carmela and Tony really doesn't have anyone else for them. I find that last scene weirdly sweet, with how casual and relaxed they are talking with each other, and Tony being a lovesick teenager with that last line.
I also found very interesting (at least according to Tony’s memories) that apparently Artie was the bad influence to Tony growing up and not the other way around.
You two and Succession would be perfect
theyve seen it off channel unfortunately
I didn’t see the full reaction, did you two notice Tony’s coach in the dream is horseface from the wire?
holy shit Lola the horse=the goomars i never realized that
In the dream Carmela says "you can't have your horse in here", it's deliberately written as it sounds just like "you can't have your whores in here". That's what caused the problem in Whitecaps — when Irina phoned the house, that was the crossing the line that split them up.
Very enjoyable episode and discussion. Kind of a 'calm before the storm' episode despite how erratic it is. Milena was on her game this time lol, remembering Mikey Palmice.
I wonder if they’ll remember Matush from the next episode. They already watched, so it’s not a spoiler.
I want to donate extra money do you girls have a PayPal or zelle
They won't let you hit lil bro.
I lve watching you two. Your two are Gods. ❤️💕😘
How do I delete someone else's comment?
Sharp Lola picking up on the use of "A Christmas Carol" movie, and how it relates to Tony's dream. But Ebenezer Scrooge isn't only shown a vision of his past — he sees his past, present, and future. Likewise in Tony's dream, he sees the past (his father, dead mob guys, Gloria), the present (situations with Carmela and Tony B), and future (Tony B and what he will have to do to deal with him), though it's a lot more mixed up than in A Christmas Carol. Another detail in the dream is when Tony is running from the angry crowd, a man in a white T-shirt shoots at him from a window with a rifle. This is Lee Harvey Oswald, the (supposed) assassin of JFK. This puts Tony in the position of Kennedy, fitting in with Tony's position in the dream and the main storyline of him being "the leader".
I enjoyed that too, because I think that there are some interesting parallels between a Christmas Story and the events of the Test Dream and beyond. As Carmela points out, "what are you talking about? This is your life."
I absolutely hate dream sequences in almost every show and movie I have ever watched, and yet I love them in the Sopranos.
One of my favorite episodes. The bit with Pie-O-My made a big impression on adolescent me; "You can't have your horse in here" is just a great line for so many reasons.
Not many shows that could do dream sequences like this one. Some interesting "Test Dream" trivia: In case the episode wasn't meta enough, the voice on the phone telling Tony what he needs to do is none other than David Chase. There is also a production still floating around of Tracee sitting in Meadow's seat at the dinner with Finn's parents. For whatever reason, she didn't make the final cut of the episode. Hope you both are staying safe out there! ✊
The girls watched The Godfather just in time to miss the 2 references this episode lol. The first of these refers to the iconic restaurant scene, in which Michael Corleone, seeking revenge for the hit on his father, unstraps a pistol from behind a toilet cistern before gunning down McCluskey and Sollozzo. It's a tense scene because the longer the scene goes, the more there's a feeling that the pistol might not even be there. Tony walks into a restaurant bathroom, also looking for a gun. Once inside, Tony checks behind the toilet cistern and is horrified to discover that there is no gun taped to the back of it. Michael Corleone's worst nightmare then transforms into Tony's own worst nightmare as he hears gunshots break out in the street outside the restaurant Still in the dream, Tony B fires several rounds into a car containing Phil Leotardo. This confirms to Tony that the situation between the Leotardos and his cousin is a ticking time bomb. Lying on his back on the street in his grey tracksuit, covered in blood and bullet holes, Phil is the mirror image of Sonny Corleone in The Godfather. Ambushed by the Berzini hitmen at the tollbooth, Sonny is shot to death in his car. Emerging from the wreckage, he collapses on to his back, his grey suit covered in blood and bullet holes.
Another one is just before they go into the bathroom Annette Bening says "I don't want my husband coming out of there with just his cock in his hand" which is pretty directly cribbed from The Godfather when (I think) they are planning the Sollozzo hit and the hidden gun.
I absolutely love the call backs to previous episodes. In season 1 episode 3, Melfi asks Tony if he feels like Frankenstein, a thing. Tony's dream has him running from an angry mob, similar to what happens to the monster in Frankenstein. The attention to detail in this show is absolutely incredible.
The frankenstein motif is the big hint that on some level tony does have conventional morality. Compounded with the fact that his very first panic attack revolves around his father cutting someone's finger off and their parents benefiting from that event (not a coincidence that was brought up last episode too), it suggests on a subconscious level he's capable of feeling for others and may flat out know right from wrong (in spite of the opening theme song lyrics). But what this underscores is that it's all the worse when he shuns away from it and actively indulges in his more narcissistic and sociopathic impulses. It isn't like say, joffrey from GoT who just feels like a sadistic animal with no moral lucidity. Tony is more morally aware (and also in therapy) so from a certain standpoint, you can say he's worse. Just like how carmela being more intelligent and aware makes her worse than adriana, who's shown to be less reflective and more naive.
Honestly, this show does dream sequences really well. I could watch a whole season of just dream sequences lol
Speaking of horses, Coach Molinaro is played by the same actor that plays Horseface in Season 2 of The Wire.
I knew I recognised him from somewhere!
"There's an old Italian saying, you fuck up once you lose two teeth". Tony said it early in the show. I think the teeth in his dream are representative of him knowing he messed up. The one bit of credit I'll give to Tony and his relationship with Valentina is that he was going to break up with her BEFORE she was burned. He deserves scorn for almost everything -- including how he did it -- but at least he honestly didn't decide to dump her BECAUSE she was burned. Angelo Garepe, the old man who Phil whacked that set off Tony B, is another example of the inability to 'escape'. When he got out of prison early this season he talked repeatedly about just wanting to retire. Phil even said as much while he was killing him. But everybody else kept asking him to get involved in the struggle between Johnny Sack and Little Carmine, and he just couldn't resist the offer of power. The woman at the dinner in the dream with Finn and Meadow, who Tony recognizes as Annette Bening, is actually played by the actress Annette Bening. She's a very acclaimed actress. She starred in the film "Bugsy" in 1991, about the gangster Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, which is referenced when she says "there’s something bugsy about him” later in the episode. The book that Tony holds up while in the bathroom is "The Valachi Papers", a real-life book written about Joe Valachi. Joe Valachi was a low-level Made man in the Genovese crime family who was the first ever Made man to publicly admit to the existence of the Mafia and testify in open court. He is credited with popularizing the term "Cosa Nostra" and was a part of the long process of getting US law enforcement to acknowledge the existence of a 'nationwide criminal conspiracy'.
"You fuck up, you lose two teeth" — that's a nice catch. I never made that connection as teeth falling out is a pretty common type of anxiety dream and it just fits with the themes and imagery of the dream anyway without the connection to what Tony said earlier. Teeth and dentistry come up repeatedly throughout the show, and seem to be used symbolically to do with both the problems of mob life, and fixing those problems. Finn is the normal guy who could potentially rescue Meadow from her mafia culture if she'll let him, Isabella is Tony's dream of a properly nurturing mother. In s5 the bear is used to represent Tony, and for a wild animal teeth are part of their danger, so for Tony his teeth can represent his danger/ability/potency. Of course earlier in the show Tony's psychological link between his job and meat is explored, fitting symbolically with him as a dangerous predator/carnivore who needs his teeth to both kill and eat.
The Test Dream, Long Term Parking, AND All Due Respect in one sitting?? The girls must have been exhausted lol
My favorite 3 episode run in the entirety of The Sopranos
I love surrealism and dream logic and this episode did it so good. Easily one of the best in the show it just gets completely overshadowed by the next one.
Stay safe! I saw some flags of Rohan in the protests. "Let this be the hour when we draw swords together."
What an episode. The scene with coach Molinaro is easily top 5 scenes. Never in a million years would I have guessed that the embodiment of Tony's subconscious would be his coach from highschool. Tony had the opportunity to be a happy man, living by doing what he loves. But he chose not to. He took the easy way out. But it wasn't as easy as it seemed.
Really underlines why Junior's comments about being a varsity athlete cut him so deeply.
Was not expecting this today. Awesome
I just saw a story about suspicions that the government used a sonic weapon against a protest in Belgrade. Hope you're staying safe out there protesting.
thank you ❤️
Maybe the best ‘dream sequence’ in television history, if you can even call it a sequence.
My favorite episode of the series honestly
One of mine too. It always breaks my heart how many people hate it.