# The Sopranos - psychics are real. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 4, 2009, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-psychics-are-real/498679 "2009-06-04T10:52:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-psychics-are-real/498679/1 "2009-06-04T10:52:58Z")
Good show. But I just watched the episode “From Where to Eternity”, season 2. There is a consult with a psychic, who is given a false name, but is still able to make real psychic revalations. The guy who went there is a skeptic, but is convinced, and is haunted because of it. What the hell? Does this annoy anyone else as much as it annoys me? ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-psychics-are-real/498679/2 "2009-06-04T11:40:50Z")
It irritates me too (there was an uncannily accurate psychic on an episode of the Mentalist, for example). Here in the UK we have a TV program on ‘ghost investigators’. One wonders where they get their experience, since there’s never any trace of a ghost. But people watch it. :rolleyes: :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-psychics-are-real/498679/3 "2009-06-04T13:33:34Z")
Better not watch X-Files… ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-psychics-are-real/498679/4 "2009-06-04T13:51:38Z")
You see, **The Sopranos** is fiction. They make things up. I know this may come as a shock, but there’s no Tony Soprano, either. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-psychics-are-real/498679/5 "2009-06-04T13:56:38Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > You see, **The Sopranos** is fiction. They make things up. I know this may come as a shock, but there’s no Tony Soprano, either. Well, not since the incident. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-psychics-are-real/498679/6 "2009-06-04T14:02:17Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > Better not watch X-Files… _X Files_ never bothered me, and I’m a complete unbeliever. I think in large part because it made no pretense to realism. I think it also helped that Mulder the psi/ghosts/aliens/whatever believer wasn’t always right, and was in fact on occasion deliberately led astray by people using his beliefs against him. It didn’t come across as either a science-bashing propaganda series for the fringe, or as something designed to con the gullible, but just as an entertainment show. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-psychics-are-real/498679/7 "2009-06-04T14:12:05Z")
> [@mr.jp](#): > > What the hell? Does this annoy anyone else as much as it annoys me? It’s been years since I saw this episode, but I think you really missed the point in your summary here. The idea was that Paulie was scared and felt worse after seeing the psychic because he came vaguely close to what he was afraid of - not that the psychic magically knew everything that was happening. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-psychics-are-real/498679/8 "2009-06-04T14:13:41Z")
Often, I think psychics are put in just to cover for lazy writing. “We need to get some information to our heroes, but we don’t want to think of a plausible way to get it to them.” “Oh, just have a psychic tell them.” It’s also a cheap way of setting up foreshadowing to build suspense. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Shine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr_shine/32/464_2.png) [@Mr\_Shine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Shine)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-psychics-are-real/498679/9 "2009-06-04T14:19:49Z")
> [@glee](#): > > It irritates me too (there was an uncannily accurate psychic on an episode of the Mentalist, for example). > > Here in the UK we have a TV program on ‘ghost investigators’. > One wonders where they get their experience, since there’s never any trace of a ghost. > But people watch it. :rolleyes: :smack: I think the psychic on _The Mentalist_ was much more akin to pre Red John Jane, just a _really_ good cold reader. I was more annoyed by Jane managing to increase his bank something like 1000x playing Blackjack for a few hours. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-psychics-are-real/498679/10 "2009-06-04T16:42:51Z")
> [@mr.jp](#): > > Good show. But I just watched the episode “From Where to Eternity”, season 2. There is a consult with a psychic, who is given a false name, but is still able to make real psychic revalations. The guy who went there is a skeptic, but is convinced, and is haunted because of it. > > What the hell? Does this annoy anyone else as much as it annoys me? It was weird… but in the realm of the show- which is free from overt super natural elements- one has to assume Paulie got conned somehow. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-psychics-are-real/498679/11 "2009-06-04T16:56:51Z")
> [@Push\_You\_Down](#): > > It was weird… but in the realm of the show- which is free from overt super natural elements- one has to assume Paulie got conned somehow. Did you even _watch_ the show? _The Sopranos_ was loaded with psychoreligious paranormal crap happening all the time. The chief vehicle was Tony’s dreams, but other stuff happened all the time especially in the last season. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-psychics-are-real/498679/12 "2009-06-04T17:02:14Z")
Something similar happened on CSI. In one ep, Leland Orser played a guy who kept getting psychic vibes that turned out to be real. But then again, this is CSI, where you can magnify an image of someone from their reflection in the eyewear of a different person in grainy surveillance video—and where you can reproduce the sounds of speech by playing a piece of pottery like a record player. And hypnotism shows up occasionally in various programs. Right. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-psychics-are-real/498679/13 "2009-06-04T17:08:08Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Did you even _watch_ the show? _The Sopranos_ was loaded with psychoreligious paranormal crap happening all the time. The chief vehicle was Tony’s dreams, but other stuff happened all the time especially in the last season. How were the dreams psychoreligious or paranormal? They seemed more psychological (i.e, figuring out Big Pussy), with the exception of the Kevin Finnerty stuff where he’s half dead. Plus, I guess there was Christopher near death experience–same episode as the one where Paulie goes to the psychic, but other than that, it didn’t seem loaded with paranormal stuff. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-psychics-are-real/498679/14 "2009-06-04T17:10:16Z")
I forget, is the Magical Russian pre or post that episode? ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-psychics-are-real/498679/15 "2009-06-04T17:14:38Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > It’s been years since I saw this episode, but I think you really missed the point in your summary here. The idea was that Paulie was scared and felt worse after seeing the psychic because he came vaguely close to what he was afraid of - not that the psychic magically knew everything that was happening. The psychic says that someone was “his first”, but that there were many more, which was correct. It could happen as a lucky guess, I suppose, but it’s more straightforward to assume that he is actually psychic in the reality of the show. > [@FinnAgain](#): > > I forget, is the Magical Russian pre or post that episode? Haven’t seen him yet. So post. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-psychics-are-real/498679/16 "2009-06-04T17:20:45Z")
> [@FinnAgain](#): > > I forget, is the Magical Russian pre or post that episode? He was season three, towards the end. Pine Barrens. He wasn’t actually magic though either. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-psychics-are-real/498679/17 "2009-06-04T17:28:03Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > _The Sopranos_ was loaded with psychoreligious paranormal crap happening all the time. There were tons of prophetic dreams and spooky unexplained coincidences. I can’t think of anything that was ever purely supernatural, though, and I think the events in the OP have to be considered that way. Paulie’s a victim of his guilty conscience and his insecurities more than anything else. For purposes of that episode, we don’t need to believe that the psychic really made an accurate reading. > [@mr.jp](#): > > It could happen as a lucky guess, I suppose, but it’s more straightforward to assume that he is actually psychic in the reality of the show. No, I don’t think so. The important thing is that Paulie is scared and the psychic scares him more. There’s no need to assume he’s a real psychic. It’s The Sopranos, not Buffy. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-psychics-are-real/498679/18 "2009-06-04T17:30:52Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > How were the dreams psychoreligious or paranormal? They seemed more psychological … 😃 That would be the _psycho_ half of _psychoreligious_. And I, for one, consider premonitions to be paranormal, and Tony had a shitload of premonitions in his dreams. > [@Marley23](#): > > For purposes of that episode, we don’t need to believe that the psychic really made an accurate reading. On this, I concur. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-psychics-are-real/498679/19 "2009-06-04T17:34:27Z")
> [@Mr\_Shine](#): > > I think the psychic on _The Mentalist_ was much more akin to pre Red John Jane, just a _really_ good cold reader. But Patrick didn’t point that out - he just looked baffled. > [@Mr\_Shine](#): > > I was more annoyed by Jane managing to increase his bank something like 1000x playing Blackjack for a few hours. It’s worse than that - I think it was in a few minutes. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-psychics-are-real/498679/20 "2009-06-04T17:37:32Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > For purposes of that episode, we don’t need to believe that the psychic really made an accurate reading. I don’t understand what you mean by “need to assume / believe”. The psychic did make an accurate reading, it happened, I’m not assuming anything. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-psychics-are-real/498679.md?page=2)