I gotta give it up for the hack comedian who did the Ed Sullivan impression in the first two seasons. He should have been featured more.
season five is in the books. Adriana’s death was hard to watch. It’s also notable because Silvio is the one who does it. He’s always been framed as a sort of of “moral center” or as close as these guys can get to that, but it just shows there really are no good guys in that world.
The Adriana situation shows how amoral the FBI is in their pursuit of the mob and really shows how she was abused by the people who claimed to be helping her. Informants have short lives on the Sopranos, but we don't generally feel that bad for them because they chose that life, while Adriana was mostly innocent except for indulging in her boyfriend's rising wealth, which she probably had a lot of suspicions about but didn't question. She's even working during half of the show, so she isn't in a situation like Carmela where she can just lounge back in luxury. By the time Adriana dies her body is failing her, she has no one left to connect with, and she knows what a longshot the plan is. It's almost like she is being put out of her misery.
that's not the vibe I get from her crawling away from him, it reads as more desperate and childlike than anything
She knows that Chris gave her up. She never really wanted anything else than to be with him. She is putting up the most minimal, almost instinctual, resistance.
instinctual, yeah. she's been dehumanized and stripped of her dignity by those closest to her, and they're putting her down like an animal. I get what you mean in that sense by "taking her out of her misery" but that's not as the same as her "putting up minimal resistance" / going almost willingly
Of all the female characters on the show, she loves Chris more than any of the others love their spouses, which in itself is tragic when you consider how he treats her. When she realizes he has sentenced her to death, what is left? If she somehow fights her way out and goes to the FBI, she is going to probably face jail time because of how little evidence she was able to bring, and after that, she has to live an anonymous life, alone and with little hope of upward mobility. Meanwhile, her bowels don't work right and you just get a sense she's falling apart. The FBI over the course of two seasons completely destroys her for their own gain, and when they realize she's dead, they move on. At the same time, the people who were supposed to love her barely even mention her, minus Carmela's brief interest before Tony dangles the spec house in front of her. It is much more cruel than many of the show deaths.
I agree with all of that, especially the last part. she was trapped and the only possible out was death, but I still don't think she wanted to die. expected to, maybe
Started my first rewatch of this post-Many Saints. Say what you will about the quality of that movie, some of the choices Chase made regarding the overarching mythos of the show in the climax I think were correct. Watching this again knowing Junior was the one who called the hit out on Christopher's dad decades prior definitely adds to it.
I keep find myself returning back to the show, even just to put on as background stimuli. I should revisit Many Saints. I was underwhelmed the first time, I should give it another chance.
Yeah true, but I just think the connecting tissue to the main series were kinda interesting. I thought the last couple scenes were pretty good. Also Michael Gandolfini's performance was solid. Besides that yeah it was stinky.
The Sopranos movie is probably the worst revival of any of the major shows. El Camino was pointless but it wasn't getting stuff just plain wrong. Silvio 2.0 is as bad as Fran Felstein.