Countdown to Sopranos Ep 53 - spoilers possible

Cafe Society
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I didn’t start watching The Sopranos until last year, when I got the first three seasons on DVD for Christmas. Now, I’m caught up on all four seasons - I’ve seen most episodes at least three times - and this Sunday, I’ll be watching a new Sopranos episode along with the rest of the world for the first time.

What are your expectations for this season? Season four (which I for one loved, even though IMHO it got off to a relatively weak start) was very different from the other three. I think season five will be even more different from the first four, and will leave even more fans dissatisfied.

  • some of the dropped threads will make a comeback.
  • there’ll be a lot of new characters, not the least being Steve Buscemi. This will change the chemistry of the show.
  • the use of music will continue to be sparing, like in season four. This season will continue in the dark, introspective vein.

Then here’s some more specific predictions. I’ve put it in a spoiler box, just in case it turns out that I’m right about any of this.

Not in any particular order…

  • Christopher and Adrienne marry.
  • AJ gets his hands dirty in some of the family business, without Tony’s immediate knowledge.
  • Uncle Junior dies. It is ambiguous whether Junior was murdered.
  • Paulie dies. It’ll have something to do with the Russian Rambo.
  • Christopher smooths out a lot of the problems between the New Jersey and New York families, and averts a war with the Russian mob (possibly by wacking Paulie). Tony, to say the least, will not be grateful.
  • Carmella will offer to take Tony back, but under the condition that Tony go into the Witness Protection Program.
  • Silvio, Christopher, and whoever else is left draw straws to find out who has to kill Tony. Christopher draws the short straw. Then he finds out that Adrienne had been talking to the feds.
  • The season ends with Tony and Christopher standing together at the edge of a cliff, with Christopher pointing a gun at Tony. Christopher’s conflicted about it, and Tony uses a very fatherly tone to explain why it’s not in Christopher’s best interest to shoot Tony. Christopher reminds Tony that Tony has lost most of his power, but he’s still struggling with it. Fade to black on C saying “I love you T.” Then under the credits, we hear a gun shot.
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Unlikely. She started having second thoughts almost immediately after she basically proposed to him, and there was a clear indication in the season finale that he’s become a nasty “sober”.

Mmmaybe. I’m uncertain about the whole purpose of the AJ character. Okay, so Tony has a son, a purported heir apparent. But he’s basically a slacker, while Christopher, for all his doping and dopiness, is at least capable and interested in being Tony’s right hand. Plus, there’s been some foreshadowing that if Tony ever decides to go legit, he’ll groom Meadow to take over in that regard. (When Tony went to Italy, he met that young woman who’d taken over from her own father, planting the seed in his mind that birth order counts for more than gender.

Possible.

Paulie may well die; he’s used up a lot of karma points. But Chase has said more than once that we’re not going to see the “interior decorator” again, and I think he meant, by extension, that that thread is just going to stay at a loose end.

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Entirely possible. Though again, I’d leave the Russian mob out of it.

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No, I think they’re going to be bold and have it over for good.

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Christopher will find out about Adriana at some point, I have no doubt. As to when that will happen, I can’t speculate.

Intense!