S1E2 — 46 Long

Weird Way Media. Mm hmmm. Hello everyone, and welcome to What No Fucking ZD? A eighth podcast about The Sopranos, hosted by Yours Truly, Christashire, the Culture Cast and All the Way from the Projection Booth, the Internet's best movie podcast, your friend of Mine the other host of the show, Mike White. Every time I think I'm out, they pull me back in.

Cheer me up. So cheer me up. Do the thing, do the paccino thing. Oh my god. Yeah.

On this episode of What No Fucking ZD, we're talking about the second episode of the first season of The Sopranos, aptly titled forty six long. The episode is directed by Dan Oh my god, my poor eyesight at the moment. The episode is directed by Dan Attias, written by David Chase, and a cinematography by Alex Sakaroff, who does a lot of the cinematography in the show for the first least first season probably I think at least second season as well. And the episode is well, it goes in a couple different directions. There's the the a plot of well, I guess I would This is an interesting episode because it's the plots seemingly all share a lot of the screen time, so I'm not a B and C but almost kind of.

The first plot is aj Tonysprano's son. His teacher's car gets stolen and Carmela goes hey Tony help help him help his teacher find his car. So there's a subplot of that. There's a subplot of Christopher and Brendan stealing from Corrato soprano Tony's uncle, and then there's just the usual stuff of Tony having to deal with existing in the same space as his horrible mother played with such relish by Nancy marchand that. Yeah.

So again, it's if you're just joining us for this first episode. I am the one who has seen The Sopranos, and for the first time in essentially a long time. For the things Mike and I have done collaboratively, Mike has ever seen this show before, so I'm going to kick it to you first. Mike, what did you think of this second episode of The Sopranos, But I dare say almost the second pilot for the show. Yeah, it was a lot of fun.

I was really glad to see so much big pussy on here. The every time I think I'm out they pull me back in thing was kind of odd in what way, Well, just that it keeps doing it. He does it at least twice in the opening scene, and then they do it again later. And you can check me on this, But I mean, this seems like it would have been right as far as the timeline goes. But I remember I was working at a movie theater when that trailer was out, and we would do that line before the movie came out, like that line was in the trailer.

And I want to say that the trailer line is different than the movie line, that he's much more exuberant in the trailer than he is in the movie. It's much more sedate in the movie. But I'm not gonna go back and rewatch that movie just to find out. But there is I guess a couple of did a new cut of it, so maybe I'll watch that one. I don't mind Godfather three that much.

I mean, I saw I saw it way after the fact, like it is one hundred percent diminishing returns. But I'm also in the same camp that Godfather too is diminishing returns compared to the first one. I really like the first one more than I like the second and third one. And I know that's an unpopular opinion, but it's an opinion worth having as far as I'm concerned. You know what, I used to think that one and two were equal, and everybody talks about, oh, well, maybe the second one's even better than the first.

I went and I rewatched those two, maybe like five six years ago, and I totally agree with you. I really liked the first movie. In the second movie, I was just like, all right, can we get all of one or all of the other? Can we the cross cutting? Like, I understand what you're doing, comparing you know, Michael and Vido, But it just it didn't work for me.

Did not work for me, So yeah, I will just stick to the first one from now on. But no, you're you're right that that line reading is different in the trailer because I went, I went and looked. Actually, it reminds me of the uh, you're a teacher part time, That's what it reminds me of. Like one, the trailer version was way better than the movie version. What the fuck were you thinking?

This is the take you went worth? Yeah, of course I kept thinking of Good Fellows while I'm watching this episode with all of the truck robbery and uh, you know, but I was waiting for one of the guys to walk into a diner and be like, hey, you'll never believe these two fucking n words just ripped me off. Yeah, well, I mean it. It should go as far as saying that there is a Martin Scorsese sighting in this episode, the only one in the show. But it is fucking hilarious.

Hey, I like Coon done. Hey nobody liked fucking Coon Dune pal that that line always reminds me of an athletic you to bomb and phantoms. Yo, it's that like level of like you're attempting really hard to try and have some sort of credibility with this person. But I mean, again, obviously the metatextual nature of it's Michael IMPERIALI like, right, right, Yeah, but I mentioned that it feels like kind of a second pilot to the show. This episode is drastically different than the last one.

Like I went and rewatched the first episode after watching the second episode again and no narration. The tone is a lot less serious. I'm not gonna say there's not as much with doctor Melfie, but the tone of those moments and those those therapy sessions is very different in this episode than it is in the first one. And obviously, if you go and read the history about the first episode, in the second episode, first episode was shot before the second episode. It was shot essentially as a movie, and then the show was picked up, and then they made the second episode.

And that's why the second episode in a lot of ways does feel like a second pilot. And you know, you're a fan of Star Trek the Next Generation, and you would probably say to me, you know, it gets better after the second season, or you know, picks up after the second season. The Sopranos in my dream, Yes, yeah, I would say the Sopranos picks up in the second episode of the show. Like I think in terms of like where the show is going to go overall, where the show wants to be, I think it's already there the moment this opens. But it definitely feels like it has grown in between the first and second episode immensely.

Like I said, no narration right off the bat, like that that alone makes the show feel so different. Yeah, we don't even see the doctor for quite a while. It felt like anyway, Yeah, and again it's it's it's less about her and Tony's journey in this episode and more about again, in my opinion, is like filling out the world and giving us an idea of kind of the more intricate relationships. Especially obviously, you know Jackie April Senior, who is you know, Michael Rispoli. He's the actor who they it was between him and James Gandolfini for the role of Tony Soprano.

So when I mentioned in the last episode that we would be seeing the actor who almost played Tony Soprano in the show, he's He's the one who they were like it was between him and Gandolfini. I mean, I think they made the right choice. But what's interesting is Michael Rispoli plays a really interesting kind of character. He's playing a similar to Tony Soprano in a way. Just he's like, you know, who the fuck wants this job?

Like this job is literally killing me, and that there is going to be some of that with Tony's character. Obviously you can clearly see that just by the way they're painting him as a character. But to see kind of another character that was the other actor kind of playing a very similar character is I find it to be a little interesting because again, I not that I'm saying I couldn't see the show with him, but it would have been a different show. But I don't think it would have been a lesser show. I just think obviously the cinematic gods gave us James Gandolfini as like one of the great roles, So it's kind of hard to be like, well, I'd rather have somebody else.

Like no way, No, I mean, Gandolfini just made this role so much his own, and I know that Tony soprano voice is something that is an affect that is not just his natural voice, but it's so close to his natural voice. It's very close. Like seeing him and things like Get Shorty or even a small role in tru Romance, it's like, yeah, I hear a little bit of Tony soprano in there, and yeah, just the way he carries himself, he's fantastic, and that relationship that he has with Nancy Marshand. I didn't realize I was doing a little research on David Chase for my interview. That will never happen, and.

That's a story we'll have to tell at something once we know more. But the fuck is actually going on then we can talk. About Oh yeah, I even have updates for you. Oh lovely. Yeah, But apparently the mod's very close to David Chase's mother.

I can't even emine. He used to have panic attacks and stuff in high school and probably before he was able to move out. So well, that's gonna imagine living with this woman. Well in that scene where Tony is on the phone with her and she's cooking the mushrooms, ah, the wall is getting black. Oh the way I live.

It's like, this is not creation, this is just evocation. You're evoking this human being that you clearly had to deal with off and on, probably more on than off for your entire life until they were gone. Like, yeah, this is it's such a specific character that like it's less that you conjured it, but more you had to deal with it, and you're just putting that on paper, Like you know, it's that it's that rich of a character and that off putting of a character. It's genuinely one of the worst. Like I know that.

I think I want to say, there's some list and she's like on the second or third of like top all time TV villains. I would agree, like just in these first two episodes is like, this character is fucking repugnant. Oh yeah, and she so reminds me of my grandmother too, especially the way she wears her hair, and it's that it's kind of greasy and it's like, you don't shower every day anymore, do you? You shower every couple days, and just you can tell from the hair it just especially on the one side, it just looks kind of manned down. Oh, giving me flashbacks to Virginia.

All the way I live. Like it's yeah and well and again, like as someone who's seen in the show, this will be a thing that shows up. But I want you to internalize the line oh boy you, oh god, because it will show up a couple more times as like a motif for Tony to have these like horrifying like shit, it's you again. But it's like that line is like that line just pierces right to the fucking core of like their relationship in this show, which is she is an antagonizer in a way that you know, an actual you know, Dominic Keanes's character of Corrado Junior, like he could actually kill Tony, like I genuinely believe, like his machinations could result in the death of Tony Soprano, and he might be convinced to pull the trigger himself.

Nancy Marshaw's character doesn't need a gun, and that's way more horrifying, And that's way more again, like repugnant of a human being is you just know how to disarm people and and and obliterate people with just this simplest of words. Yeah, yeah, there's a reason why he passes out in this episode. Yeah yeah, the panic attacks. The panic attacks that I mean again, like what's funny is like, you know, obviously that's the early selling point of this show, is this like, you know, interesting relationship between a mob boss and his mother and the mob boss and his you know, therapist, and trying to figure out where those two things overlap or don't overlap. And I forgot how I mean again, For as much as Lorraine Bronco isn't in this episode, her presence is still felt every time Tony is interacting with his mom, because you see him attempting to do what she said.

I mean, you know, she talks about, you know, hey, you're you know putting your you're doing the right thing. You're putting your mom in a retirement home. It's a really nice retirement home. And you know again she's just like, you know, that's where they put you know, of course the thing opened up that because someone died. Like it's like Jesus Christ.

The danggers is she's shooting at that lady behind the desk, and you would think that she likes the lady behind the desk because she's speaking Italian and it's like, come on, and the lady behind the desk. At one point, I think that you know that the woman I should say this, the woman that runs the assistant living place. She seems to be matching those daggers for a while, but towards the end you can see she blinks, right. Yeah. I love that scene.

I love that she tries to like talk to her in Italian and it's like, this's no fucking use, Like there's some you know what they say. Sometimes there's just no getting to people. And but that's the thing I mean. It's kind of reflected in this episode with the other plot of Christopher and Brendan, because Brendan is similar to the mother and like you can't his nature cannot be helped no matter how hard anybody tries, no matter how hard. Christopher tries to be the voice of reason, which is is amused, is amusing already.

I'm sure you have two episodes in like the person who is complaining about, you know, having to wake up early or after going to bed late, is trying to be the. Reason here, I think so. A couple things that I picked up while I was watching this one is the amount of pornography around. I didn't realize that until I picked up on the Z in the background and the opening scene and then the Z in the strip club. I didn't realize that they were at the same place.

So it kind of makes sense that the back room of the strip club has all these porn posters, but there's even just this prominent thing of like a poster right in front, and then the TV and it's just right there in your face. And then later on when we're I guess Big Pussy Muss run some sort of chop shop and one of the mechanics comes in and boom, there's like deep throat. The quest is right there in your face. But the other thing I picked up on was just in the beginning, you know they're talking about these there's the TV going on, and it's this guy who has sold out very Henry Hill right as far as like selling out as other people, and all these mob guys are just like, oh what a piece of shit. And there's a neon sign they've got along with pornography.

They've got all of these uh uh framed images of boxers, but there's this neon sign that says bull on it, and I was like, is that supposed to be like Sammy the Bull or are they making a reference to that? But then later on, when Tony's talking about his mother, he goes, she's a bull and I was like, whoa, that's a weird word to call them, buddy, but I mean it fits. But I thought it was very interesting since there's that neon sign right at the beginning. I uh, well, it's it's It contrasted perfectly with what he calls his mother later in the episode, which is one of my favorite line deliveries. No, she's a sweetie pie.

It's like, the fuck are you on? My friend? She's a sweetie? He's like, dude, she's she's so far from that, like you're the the amount of just like hoops that mental gymnastics that one must be doing. But again, like I think that for me, that's what's so interesting about this episode.

And and like I'm not saying like, well it's because I'm Italian, but again, like I mentioned in the first episode, my own mother dealt with something similar with her mother. So listening to those stories from her and then seeing it on screen, it's like that toxic cultural thing is like, it's it's really smart that David Chase mind it because it is so it is clearly so relatable for so many people, and not necessarily in a positive way obviously, because again I mean clearly, Nancy Marshond is Tony Soprano's tormentor throughout, like throughout, throughout, throughout, all the way from his child. I mean that story that he tells, Oh, we went down to the shore and dad tripped and we all laughed at him, like right, and she just goes, you want to tell me about another loving memory that you have with your family.

It's like that that just continues to paint a picture of this like weird relatability around mining of familial trauma, because like, this is a show that not rebels in it, but it's part of the main storyline, but not in a way that gets in the way of it being compelling. It's just part of the makeup of the character. Yeah, yeah, it's I can't imagine being Carmela and having to put up with Tony's mother. Oh she's no saint of her own, you know, well yeah she's not, but still she just I can't imagine what it would be like to have that as a mother in law. Right right, And yeah, me me either.

But but again, like it's it's that I don't know, Like, like I said, you know, him him being David Chase, being able to really like just synthesize in existence that he had to live into something entertaining is pretty fantastic, as terrible as it must have been to have this person in your life. Yeah, you're right, what you know. Yeah, exactly. So how did you feel about all that casual African American racism in this episode? Yeah?

Her, uh, you know, mom looking at the window, looking at the African American postal worker, and she's just so interested than that that she gets spot the mushrooms and then yeah, the poor woe what was she from camera roon who's trying to take care of Ma, And I'm just like, oh my god, this is I know, she's probably saying the worst stuff, and that's just what we hear, not the stuff that set off that woman right right, that's probably ten times is worse. Well, And I mean that is the other thing with this show is there is I mean, like I don't remember in the later seasons if it's as obvious, but in the first couple of seasons there is a fair amount of like I mean the eye ties are the way they are, oh you know, like I mean again, like as as someone with the Italian family, yes, you know, like that's the thing.

It's like yep, and calling them these like horrible weird Italians slurs. I get, it's just you know it for the characters who are saying it. I mean obviously Tony, you know, the hey on the clock no Ganja like again like reinforces to us that he, you know, as much as he is the hero of our show, and he is our main character, like this guy is also don't forget he is a mob boss. And that's the smart thing I feel like about this show so far. And I know you kind of asked it in the last episode.

You were like, when is he gonna do a thing that makes us like realize he's not fucking around. I won't say when it happens, but we will get there. But what I think is really smart is doing what they're doing now and giving us time to grow to love the character, but reminding us kind of subtly, don't forget he is a mob boss. He has killed people. He is making money off of the misery and suffering of other people, even if he's being tormented by somebody else.

Do not feel too sorry for him, because the lifestyle that he has chosen promotes a certain level of despair and other people the person doing it included clearly. Well, I'm really glad that Christopher points out the whole thing of So, yeah, they're robbing these trucks and they belong to Uncle ju So Uncle Junior's like, hey, they have to make restitution. I want apologies. I want money. And then Tony tells Christopher like, hey, you know, I give me the money.

I can talk him down to like ten thousand, but basically, you know, he's not getting any the fifteen thousand I think he hands over and I think he says right out like, oh Tony's taking that as his fee basically, and it's like, yeah, that's it. You know you're well they say, we're gonna be lucky if we clear three hundred bucks out of this whole operation. Right right, And and yeah, it's like, don't forget, like these guys are still like doing really terrible things even if they are again, I mean, that's the thing, Like, that's the thing about Goodfellas and The Godfather and the Godfather, we really never see anybody like get their hands dirty, at least like not Michael, like I mean one time, but it was Rozi.

But yeah, yeah, but like. The thing is like obviously, like the killing that Michael Corleone does in the first Godfather is almost justified, is what it? The movies tempting you to kind of paint, And then you have the door closing scene at the end of the movie that's supposed to get you going back in the right direction at least for the character of Michael Corleone. But yeah, like I love that. Yeah, even these these complete like mobsters are just ripping each other off too, like and that's but again, like it's they say it at the beginning of the episode, and I think it really is going to inform most of the show.

These motherfuckers are just turning on each other. They will start turning on each other. And it was because of the drug charges, because you're going to go to prison for the rest of your fucking life. And yeah, all of a sudden, your tail is a lot more important than someone else's. And there you go.

Well that's when you know that whole opening with the television broadcast and they're just like, oh, this guy, this piece of shit, and it's like, yeah, no, you guys are going to do the same things. Right exactly. I mean you know, like you mentioned that that character is a stand in for Henry Hill. I mean, the entire third act of Goodfellows is about what happens. You know.

The reason the mobsters didn't want to get involved and the drugs is because the punishment for drugs is way worse than the punishment for anything else, like literally anything else, like even murder. It's it's worse than for murdering people. Well, that's what you know, you're talking about the Godfather. That was what Salozzo the Turk wanted to bring in, was the drug trade. And that's just like no, no, no, that's where veto drew the line, no drugs, right, But then you've got the one guy from the Five Families just like keep it amongst the dark people.

They are animals anyway, and it's just like oh my god. Right, and like variable and that's the thing, like they they they smartly have that opening that informs you as the audience, like the work, because it's not that the world of the outside doesn't come into play, but in a lot of ways it really never does. Like we're self contained to this kind of jersey and everything that happens with these mob bosses. But it's nice to know that this is taking place in a world where these are the things that are happening, because again, it does kind of foreshadow where this shit ultimately is going to go in terms of like these people can't be trusted. They can't trust one another, let alone, like you know, the people they are supposed to trust they don't trust, and they don't trust their families, so who do they trust themselves?

And even then it's like trusting yourself can be dicey because these people are so unable to function in a normal way that it's like what does that mean to trust your own instincts anymore? Like cause again like the level of the I don't know, like the level of glee that these characters have and what they do. It's like it's hard to tear those two things apart because it's like, you do know you're murdering people, but you're taking such glee in it. Yeah, but yet I want to But yet I want to root for you as a character. Like, and that's the thing, Like, that's that's the that's the needle threading dynamic that David Chase like just does so well in in The Sopranos, but especially in these early episodes, is again reminding us these are really, these are criminals.

I love Pully Wantlett's in this episode and just how angry he's getting about all the coffee shops, right. I love when he brings up that whole thing of like this should have been ours, and I'm like, can you imagine if the mafia had gotten into Starbucks at the ground floor. Right at the ground level. Yeah, it's that. I mean again, like I don't want to be like, oh, it's one of the funniest bits in the show, but like it is a that bit stands out to me and it always has because he's like, you know, they were eating Puzsi, they were eating Poosi before us some Mozzarella and the Gobbo Ghoula, and it's like, fuck these assholes.

It's like, yeah, you're totally right, like and what's funny is like, you know, obviously this episode takes place in nineteen ninety nine, which is like the early days of Starbucks. Now it's like this is a complete fucking nightmare because we have eight million Starbucks esque places, but like, yeah, just to hear them now complaining in ninety nine, it's like just. Wait, yeah, yeah, I mean I was probably there were two coffee shops in Birmingham where it's working at this time, and then I moved the job, moved dan Arbor and I would go down to uh the what was that Espresso Royale or something on Main Street and just hang out there. But yeah, there were no start well was there. No.

I don't think there were any Starbucks in ann Arbor at that time, which was great, and none in Birmingham either, which was fucking fantastic. Now you can't go one mile with oh yeah, but that's but again, it's like so funny to see in nineteen ninety nine like this burgeoning thing of like a coffee shop and but I know it feels so smart and timely even now like again like oh god, yeah twenty plus years later, just like okay, like yeah, yeah, like totally like you're totally right, like you said, like what if they had gotten in on it? But no, I love him and Vincent Pastori's interaction at the coffee So I was like, these two guys should not be in there, and the fact that they are is just going to yield comedy gold.

And I actually think their subplot is pretty funny, and I think that the payoff at the end is pretty great. And hey, Mike Epps randomly yeah, I. Was like, wait a second, I know this guy, and I was afraid there's gonna be I mean, there's obviously homophobia in here, but it could have gone way worse. But yeah, that was That was so great to see him. And yeah, I love that subplot.

I especially love when Big Pussy's talking with the waitress at the car or sorry barista at the coffee shop and he just flashes that big wad of money, like, oh, they dropped this I'm trying to find. Dropped this giant, comically large wad of money. Yeah, but don't you also like in this episode that there is also a minor subplot about the intricate problems of call holding. Yes, yes, remember I mentioned last episode. I was like, there's gonna be some things in this show that are like strange to be subplots.

That is one of them. In twenty twenty three, it's like, call holding is a fucking subplot. Holy shit. But it again, it's pretty funny. It's handled rather well.

Frank, I'm trying to remember which job I had over the last twenty years that I had to occasionally answer a phone and definitely try to put people on hold, and to a point where I was just like, you know what, I don't know how to put people, how to put you on hold and connect you, so let me just give you their direct extenship. Well, because I was no, no, my boss was not Tony Soprano, and like, nobody should have been calling me anyway. I was like, working in the marketing department, it's just like, unless you're a vendor, just stay away from me. So yeah, I did not did not need that, and yeah, I definitely was not in danger of getting old docked with fucking phone and that guy deserved it though he really did.

Oh he's a I mean again, like what's funny is like so many of these like little characters will show back up plenty of times, like and he is one of them. But his like his introduction is this like completely inept moron who has no idea how to like do the simplest of things. And yeah, it's just like, of course you'd want Tony Soprano to interact with this kind of character because like it's just gonna who knows what that interaction is going to look like if written by the right people. And again, David Chase has such a distinct like like, this episode has almost everything that the show is going to show you moving forward, including like the malpropism of cap Antieves. I don't know, he's some guy who owns resorts.

Like again, it's like there is so like so much of where the show is going and what the show is going to be is on display here. That's why I said like it feels in a lot of way like the show is really like already turned a corner into something. I'm not saying that the first episode doesn't seem in step with nineteen ninety nine, but it did seem a tad quainter than the show is clearly presenting itself. Now, okay, yeah, I'm trying to remember. There was one of those malprophisms around the Nancy Marshaan hitting her friend in the car and I can't remember what it was though.

There was something about like the injury or something. Is it about the steering column? Oh it could be it could be chee. Yeah that I mean again, like, you know, did she do it on purpose? Probably not, but I mean who who knows?

With the with her, I will say my only kind of qualm with this episode because again I'm such a huge fan of her. Is not enough Eatie Falco, like not enough Carmela, But I mean there will be plenty of time for that. But her interactions with Tony are so great, like and their weird relationship because again, like just the amount of gymnastics she has to do to get through her existence being married to a mob boss, you know. But yeah, I always want more Eatie Falco. But you know, Lorraine Brock up fantastic in this episode, like kind of again like doing what a therapist is supposed to do and trying to get at the core of things, and Tony is just such a child like just thing.

It was like emotion stunted is probably a nice way of putting. Yeah, yeah, I'm excited to see where this goes. Yeah, and yeah, I didn't miss her presence. She comes in earlier than I thought. I thought she was probably half an hour in, but she comes in around sixteen minutes and then a half an hour and yeah, she's just she's so great and I just really am so enjoying a show where I can see as much Loaurine Bronco because I mean we used to watch Rosolian Isles and I think she was one of the Rossoli's mother and she was great in that.

And yeah, I always like when she shows up and stuff, and she's just terrific. Well, we also get the introduction of Al Sapienza's Mikey Paulmie who is you know, I don't know his interaction with Tony in that car is. I mean, again, it's what is. This guy's deal? He is Junior's you know, bodyguard effectively, but but I mean Junior and Tony obviously don't see eye to eye, and you know, Mikey Poulmisi does not like Tony at all.

But yeah, their interaction is oh fucking weird. Uh, how's that boy that you're fucking like? What what? Wait a second? What is going?

Yeah, It's like I love that the show is just like d media res everything, Like just all of the interactions that people are having with one another is like these people have long standing problems and we are getting to understand them immediately. Because again, David David Chase is just such a good writer, Like I mean again, like obviously, but just the way that he introduces characters. Other people doing that it would seem weird, but here it's like, Okay, what's the deal is more the question like not why, it's just like what is this dude's problem? With Tony? Uh?

You know, I like, I like him a lot, and I think, you know, Brandon Fealoni's character I think is kind of I don't know, like it's not an annoying character, but it almost a character without purpose in a lot of ways, like I don't know, I mean again, like there are so many repugnant characters in this show. He's just one more repugnant character. But I mean again, like he stands out primarily because just the actor portraying him looks the part really well of like a oh yeah, Skeevie meth Head. Yeah, he reminds me of somebody that would be in that movie Bullet that we watched. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah exactly.

He's kind of like the latent homosexual guy. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like, yeah, it's like he's he's that guy that makes these like really off color comments that he deserves that was ass kicked for, which I mean again, I like that show of physicality from James Gandalfini when he hucks him out the fucking door and over the the tray of bones, the marrow bones, like again like they're they're as you can see, they're building, but like they're holding back from really letting James Gandolfini let loose. But yeah, no, I guess the only other thing that kind of the big disappointment for me this episode, the big disappointment, if there really is one, is no John Ventimiglia, no Ardie Buco. He was such a big presence in the first I mean, he's such a big presence in that episode.

But this, I mean, I I like, I mean, I like this second episode more than the first one, because again, it feels like for me, like the show has already kind of found its footing, and it's it's not taking itself as seriously as it did in the first hour of the show. It's more like Goodfellows. It's more Goodfellas esque like it's it's it understands kind of its place in things. Like I said with that intro scene, like it's talking about the mob in a mob show like like that, that alone is like they being able to kind of talk about the world that you're in without it feeling forced is a really smart as smart at least in my opinion, smart thing to do with a show like this. One, right, and just that they're making so many references to other mob things, mob pop culture things.

I mean with van zandt constantly quoting the Pacino line and then yeah, having Marty come in, you know, it's so it's yeah, it's super smart, and I'm glad. I'm hoping what you're saying is that this tone that we have in this and this pacing and everything lasts for a while, because for me, it usually takes like obviously there's a huge difference between any pilot and the rest of the show, but sometimes it takes a little while. Like I was watching Cheers on the plane Ride to California. I watched the first ten episodes agind them on on Delta's sky Miles thing, and they were pretty good. Like, the pilot felt very much like it was integrated with the rest of it, and it really felt like they just had obviously not firing everything that they would, like there's no Frasier and all this kind of stuff, but they were doing a pretty darn good job with just knowing what they wanted right out of the gate with this one.

I'm curious if we're going to have this we'll sees it well episode three, four, five, will they feel like episode two? I can actually tell you that the tone is similar for most of the show to the second Episodeka in terms of, like again, like the smartness with which the sho show is written. The subversion of expectations is also something that the show definitely starts to traffic in more and yeah, I mean again, like I will I personally feel like throughout the more or less the entire run of the show, calling it a smartly written show is something that we will probably get sick of saying. Is like, this show is very smartly written because again, like like you mentioned, making those Mobster references, but doing it in a way that doesn't feel really forced is so smart because again, like they don't necessarily have to exist in a universe where The Godfather is a movie, Like there have been plenty of mobs through things that have never mentioned the god Goodfellows doesn't mention the Godfather, and they could have, like, right, that story takes place in a world where The Godfather is a movie that would have come out, that people would have seen because it's based off of real life.

But here the fact that this is a fictional retelling, a fictional telling of a you know, a certain crime family in New Jersey's possible history at least inspired by But they're like, oh yeah, by the way, like because in the first episode, the Father goes, you know, well, how does Tony like Godfather won more than two It's like and you know, like there was a little bit of that there, But that first scene in this episode is just like boom boom boom boom boom boom boom, like constant to the fact that they didn't say Goodfellas is more surprising than anything else. It's almost like they want they wanted to, and they stopped themselves just short, and it might have been too much if they had been like oh and Henry Oh, well, a fucking oh Henry Hill.

In the making over here, you know, Sam, you could see Polly Walnuts or one of them saying something like that to the TV. But it's knowing when to also not go too far. It's just as important. And we have that nice little Henry Hill reference in the first episode, and that was good. Yeah, I have to tell you that I'm glad that there is the comedy, that there is the light in this here even when there's the light in the dark, just the gun going off when the one gangst the guy gets out of the truck and I'm just like, okay, who got shot?

And they're like looking at everybody, and then the driver just keels over. I couldn't stop laughing after that. The violence, the violence and the comedy are often used in tandem in this show, which again, like again for me, it's a smart thing because you have to diffuse this somehow, because we still have to follow these characters ultimately, and there will be some things that are done that are more repugnant than you could even imagine. And like again, we're still expected to continue with these characters on the journey that were going on them with because I mean, that's that was obviously the concern with this show is you know, is Tony Soprano going to kill somebody on screen at any point?

Like or are we just or is this guy just a toothless mob boss? And I'm not going to answer that question because the show will present that information in due time, but like right now we take that for granted, not you and I, but like, if you're listening to this and nineteen ninety nine was out of time that you were around for, this was the way these first episodes are being shot and told is because people were going to have to be eased into the idea that your lead is a monster, he is a villain, and he is the lead and we're following him. He's not gonna die at the end of this episode like so many villains in so many other shows, or the end of the season. And that's the thing. It's like that that was very atypical in nineteen ninety nine, like now I'm breaking bed and blah blah blah blah blah.

We could go on and on about everything that has done it since, but this is it. This is where it all starts in terms of having your villain and villainous characters be not only the leads, but people were supposed to somewhat empathize and sympathize with, which like I mean like movies were doing it forever. I mean, we've mentioned The Godfather and Goodfellas, but TV was not doing that for the longest time. And this, I mean, if you're gonna do a show about mobsters and it's not about the police, right, people gotta die. People got it, like the mobsters killed me.

So yeah, and again like it's it's a it's a death balancing act that the show is doing so far, and it will get more and more impressive the longer the show goes on, because the intricacies of the show will continue to populate. So yeah, it's I mean, we I mean we again taking it for granted now, But this, I don't know, it's hard to watch this show and put myself back in that like in nineteen ninety nine mode, because like this must have just felt like the wildest thing anybody had ever seen, Like WHOA can you like again, Lisa, can you imagine a show where the lead is a mobster and He's not some like you know, he doesn't straighten his tie at the end of everything like he has Foible's like a real person like Geez Louise.

So yeah, it's I don't know Dave. I mean again, We're gonna sing the praises of David Chase a lot in this show, but I mean again, they he has a good wrangle on where this show is going clearly already. Which is good. And that's the thing I'm i you know, I always complain about I always say, and I don't even know right now offhand how many seasons Sopranos was. But I'm a big believer in five seasons and out, so like a like a Supernatural, which I know we've talked plenty about when we were talking about Colchak, Supernatural shit ended after five seasons.

They had an arc, they went there, they were done. I'm hoping that Chase has an arc planned out for the show. I hope that he knows where it's going and it isn't just feeling his way in the dark. So this show is six seasons, six okay, all right? Uh yeah, Like I said, I won't give my opinion on anything from beyond here because I don't want to sway your opinion at all, but we're in good hands obviously, I mean, you know, again, like David Chase, I mean, it's weird that we did talk about Colchak and now we're here talking about the David Chase thing of all things.

Yeah, because when we did when we did that episode of Colchak, I had not seen the Sopranos. I had watched it in the you know, interim years since then. But obviously, I mean again, like it made such an impression on me for a number of reasons, like it it is really for me, Like watching this show is really just in a lot of ways, like getting to understand why, like it's a parent immediately why this show was so popular and successful, and sometimes, like we've mentioned, sometimes it's not immediately why people were so into these things like Star Trek Tng the first couple of seasons that showed not great, like to the point where it's like, why wasn't anybody so into this? But our pals over Red Letter Media who constantly bring up Star Trek Tng like it is, it's made a massive impression because those later seasons of the show are widely considered to be some of the best television programming ever.

And this show is in that same conversation, it's just a little bit more apparent, much earlier on Yes, Yes, anything else, anything else we want to talk about? No, I don't think so I'm looking forward to the next one, So I'm excited to get that one scheduled so we can talk more sopranos. So that's the thing I'm glad to hear you're excited, because like if you were like, oh, man, I hope it never gets to be a drag. But I mean again, like you said, shows five six season shows, they tend to not overstay their welcome. The thirteen seasons of Supernatural or whatever it was fifteen or whatever whatever night that show ended up becoming well, and.

Then how many how many episodes of season of. This it's thirteen through the fifth and then what's weird is the last season because of contract stuff is technically like it was released as to like season one, part or season six, Part one, Season six, part two, Season six is twenty one episodes. But like again, like we'll get to when we get to it. There's reasons, there's things we will discuss when we get there. But yeah, I mean this is this is I think you're right.

Like shows that don't don't oversay they're welcome are imminently more rewatchable than the show that's got like thirteen seasons, Like I don't need that much. I need some good episodes. I don't need a bunch of mediocre episodes and a couple of good ones peppered throughout, because that's the thing, like sitting and rewatching the show, Like I forget that some of these things happen in like the second episode because they're so memorable things. It's like, oh yeah, by the way, this is like the second episode of the show and they're doing the you know, eating poozzi at the Starbucks like like I said, like I that is something that is stuck with me since the first time I watched the show and it's second episode.

So yeah, no, you're yeah, you're right. Yeah. Another show that I like, X Files what way too long? Like five seasons is good seasons? Oh yeah, yeah, five seasons.

I mean I love mash but I think that probably would have been stronger. So yeah, who knows. Something to be said for like you said, knowing where you want to take things and going going that way. So m hm so, speaking of knowing where to take things. On the next episode of What No Fucking Z, we're gonna be talking about the third episode of the first season of The Sopranos.

It is titled Denial, Anger, and Accept Who knows what that's about until then, Mike, where can people find you and the things that you work on? And what do you work on that people should be checking out? Oh boy, that's a lot of questions. Chris, I don't know if I can take the pressure. The answer may be the same to all three.

You can find everything over at weird andwaymedia dot com. I work on things like the Projection Booth weekly film podcast. Also talk with you about Colombo and about Bernie Miller and what else we talk about these days? Well, James Bond, but that's a whole other thing, so we can talk about that sometime. To our patrion folks.

Right, that's the thing you're into. You can hear Mike and I talk about James Bond over on both of our patreons. So if you're into it, but if you don't want to pay for the things that we do, like Mike said, Weirdingwaymedia dot Com is where you can go to find all of the great audio projects that I work on, that Mike works on, and everybody else puts together. Overy weirdingwaymedia dot com. As for this show, like rate and review the show wherever you get it, more than likely iTunes.

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