My father is an Italian-American who grew up in New York. Every year since I can remember he gets mad that I had school/work on Columbus Day and claims I had it off the year before.
The Sopranos was able to shift moods so well. You feel terror at the mobster intimidating Meadow at the restaurant, thrill when Tony attacks him, and comedy when Tony finds the tooth tucked into his pants cuff.
On my annual rewatch now, almost done with S2... Christopher tipping off Pussy over a shipment of “Pokéman cards” as if they’re as valuable as cocaine still makes me laugh
Watched Employee of the Month the other night and now University tonight... tough episodes to get through
Watching episodes while at work and reading The Sopranos Sessions and also https://sopranosautopsy.com after the episodes. Watching the season 2 premiere right now, was there ever a backstory behind the scenes or explanation in the series about why Tony's other sister isn't in the show after this?? At least I don't think she is. She isn't a great character so I get it.
*Dr. Melfi makes literary refefence* Tony: This sounds very gay Stanford phd: this man is an evil genius
My assumption was they wanted to have at least someone in the family who was more level-headed, not as volatile to balance out the sibling dynamic. She's not living "the life" but instead a relatively quiet one in suburban Brewster, NY. You only see her at family functions or when Tony was in the hospital. They may have created the character in the beginning but over time no idea how to incorporate her. Possibly her life was seen as Tony's alternative, like when he was in the coma and dreamt he was someone else working a mundane sales job and normal family life.
Tony was smarter than his immediate circle, but he got by on dumb luck a lot of times. His mom dying before she could testify, Chris pulling in between him and the hitmen, Meadow taking the bugged lamp to college, Chris deciding to inform him about Adriana. His lawyer repeatedly tells him he is setting himself up for a downfall, and the ending of the show heavily implies that Carlo's testimony is going to put him away, if he isn't shot in the diner for putting his guard down.