The show's become too predictable.I knew carmela's love wouldn't last and the worst part was it brought back that preacher.How I hate him and the sister's presence in any of the episodes.

Tony B's storyline is just too easy.The whole time I was sitting their thinking ok this is all nice but you just know he's gonna return to his old ways.


Shades of season 4 all over again.Least next weeks episode seems to be picking up the pace a bit again.

Although I didn't care much for Carmella's love affair, I did like this episode. I never thought about Tony S. planting the money for Blundetto to find, but it makes perfect sense. Every episode you could see Tony B. wanting a little more of what his cousin has; ie, hanging out at the club, swimming in his pool and gambling at all hours of the night. After "finding" the money on the street I think he saw how easy money is easily lost and easily forgotten. Do you think he would have spent all of that money if he had earned it? Having Blundetto be part of his crew is the only way that Tony has any control over him. I could see why he snapped on Kim - Tony was doing all the work and Kim came on the last few days to reap the benefits.

I still don't understand how people claim this show is too slow moving, everytime I look at the clock the hour is almost gone and I feel a little tear coming on. But you can whine about the slow-pace and I will just whine the hour is over

I hated it. Worst episode of the season.

Just before Sopranos started last night, I told my wife how I was finally excited to watch Sopranos again. After 2 boring seasons (especially last season!!), I felt like it was finally exciting again! All day I was psyched to watch.

Then I watched it.

Twenty minutes in, I wished I hadn't.

The only saving grace of that episode was seeing Amanda....

I loved the little smirk on Tony S. face at the end when his cousing told him he wanted back in.

Re: Carmela's ass and a body double- I remember noticing how fantastic her ass looked a few episodes ago, when she was leaning over the kitchen counter and had on some tight white or beige pants. That may have really been her last night.

Still a butter-face though.

By the way- Amanda, the hot daughter of Kim, was played by Liza Lapira....

I've never complained about the sopranos before, but this episode was horrible. It focused on the characters I like least, devleoped nothing.

For a show in its penultimate season -- with "so much story" that it has to spill over into a short 6th season -- you'd think there wouldn't be room for this kind of filler crap.

They could have done a lot better job intertwining the various plotlines, but so far the writers seem incapable of multitasking within a single episode.

I'll miss Amanda I just knew when the guy said he had a daughter that could work there that she was going to be hot and there would be a mention of happy endings

Unfortunately I thought that in a couple episodes they'd be opening the massage parlor and they would have a little financial trouble. Then Amanda would come up with her devious plan to save the business.

I loved when the guy broke it off with Carmela. She absolutely was using him, even if it was only subconsiously. I'm so sick of her consulting with her priest. She's the biggest hypocrite on the show.

My favorite moment of the entire episode was when AJ told Tony that someday he would kick his ass. You're going to grow another 6 inches and gain about 50 pounds AJ? Even Tony was laughing after he left.

I thought the same thing, except I thought that Tony B. would have to go to Tony S. to save the business and he'd end up back in the mob that way.

For a moment, I thought that Tony B. was going to kill Kim and somehow take out his "silent partner" and have the business to himself.

Well I was more wishing Amanda would have a devious plan to save the business. I was looking forward to Tony and gang frequenting the massage parlor, harrassing Amanda, driving away customers, having meetings and poker games and eventually turning it into "Bada Boom - Korean Spa"

Kinda like life, huh? The Sopranos was getting repetitive back in Season 1. The characters, realism and humor is what makes people continue to watch this great show, not so much the plot mechanisms.

But thats the same way Tony S works. Other people do the work and Soprano gets a kickback. Feech didn't like doing it and he got shipped off back to prison.

Thats what makes the Tony B snap hard to believe. He's been around the 'life' for weeks now and never seemed tempted to come back in. He hung out with friends and then went back to his day job. This episode showed it all paying off. He was getting his 'dream'. And he did it without mob money. He's taken more crap from people about his profession than he did today but for some reason, now he snaps? He was the one character I liked this season. Seeing a guy going straight in the middle of a mafia family was interesting.

D

I agree 110%... You need slower episodes to balance out a season. Someone said that the show plays every 15 months, so it cannot afford to have slow episodes. The Sopranos has always been a show that seemed to give me a realistic understanding about the life of Tony Soprano. Friction and turmoil is not going to occur at all times, thus to keep the Sopranos realistic, it shouldn't happen on the show either. I have been totally satisfied with almost every episode of this series, and have accepted each show for what they are.

I still think she's hot though. Face and all.

Next week

It is never acceptable for any television episode to be boring and pointless. This one was just that. Add to that the fact of the paucity of episodes and one has a recipe for disaster. I don't watch a show for realism. I watch it for entertainment.

I was also a little shocked at Tony B's seemingly out of nowhere flipout. I really enjoyed seeing this guy working hard, and trying to fix himself without going back to his old ways. It still doesn't make a lot of sense to me why he flipped out like that. I know he had been having a lot of stress, but some of that should have been taken away by finding the money, and also having a guy pretty much PAY for his own massage parlor. So the guy doesn't physically help you. He's paying for the damn thing.

The only thing I could guess is that he was just pissed off at himself for not being able to go completely straight and give up his old lifestyle. He just blew 12,000 and realized that no matter how hard he works he is just too weak to completely cut off ties from that life, and that sooner or later he would have to start working for Tony.

Agreed, not one of the better episodes, but it was nice to see Carmela have most of the episode focused on her character. Tony B and AJ also had some good scenes. Not to mention Christopher.

Anybody used to watch Oz? I really feel like she did a quick nude scene as she was changing in the locker room one episode.

Did that really happen, or was I just imagining it?

"Keep your eye on the tiger." great line by Chris.

Tony B also mentioned a headache in his jaw? Allusions to Fargo I presume.

"Fate knocks at the door, but fear never answers."

While this ep. was nowhere near the level of last week's, it was still good and much better time spent IMO than with Alias or Nick and Jessica.
Who was Buscemi's GF? I think she was in Maxim and is quite hot IMO.
I was saddened that Tony B. decided to resume his old ways, but I figured it was inevitable. I loved Tony S' line about: "Tough doing business with strangers." Kind of summed up why bad guys always eventually revert.

I think those are actually two different people. The article (if you're talking about the most recent issue) said she plays the wife of a Florida mobster.

I watched the encore of this episode last night, and with a repeat viewing, it wasn't as bad as most are making it out to be. While it is not on par with the previous episode, it stood on its own quite nicely. Tony B and Carm had the focus of the episode and I really enjoyed that. One scene in particular when Carm is lying in bed alone looking at the picture of her husband...smiling with their son. Then she goes and gets a gun to put under her pillow. It just shows how her world has turned upside-down in just a few short years.

It stood on its own as a soap opera episode. The problem is that The Sopranos is a mob drama not a soap opera.

It's a family drama, not a mob drama

Its supposed to be a mob drama. If it were a family drama it would've been off the air after 6 eps or relegated to PBS. Remember the 1st season, where it seemed it was all about the workings of the mob? Businesses getting taken over, people getting killed, Snitches getting shot? When Tony took Meadow to visit colleges, he tried to bribe the admissions guy, and he also ran down a guy who owed him money. That's a mob drama.

D