S1E3 — Denial, Anger, Acceptance

Weird Ingway Media. H Hello everyone, I welcome to What No Fucking ZD, another Sopranos podcast, because that's what the world needed. I am one of your hosts, Christashiu, the host of the Culture Cast, and I am joined by my good friend all the way from the Projection Booth, the Life and Times of Captain Barney Miller, all kinds of things, but more importantly the projection Booth, your friend of mine Sopranos initiate. He's he's not a wise guy yet the roles are still not open. Your friend in mine, Mike White.

I am then Nanook of the South. I'm sorry, I am then Nanook of the North, the Sage of the South, the emer of the East, a wizard of the West. And on this episode of What No Fucking Z, we're gonna be taking a look at the first season's third episode, Denial, Anger and Acceptance. So this episode aired January twenty fourth, nineteen ninety nine. It is directed by Nick Gomez, written by Mark Sarasini, and once again cinematography by Alik Sakharov, who again the cinematography in these I mean the quality of the direction in these episodes.

That's why I mention it every time, because nineteen ninety nine was a different time, folks, and TV wasn't being shot like movies then it is. Now this episode is, well, it's we have an a plot with a Shlomo Tittleman, who is played by of all people, I know, right, it's just it's I'm sure when you saw him on screen you were like, oh, oh my god. Right, first there was the voice more than the face, because he's got the beard and the talus and the yama and all that. But as soon as I heard the voice, it was like, is that fucking Mariy? Yeah, it sure is.

But yeah. So we have Schulomo Teitelman, who is a he's a Hasidic Jew who comes to Tony asking him to sort out a situation with his son in law who is trying to take a fifty percent stake of his motel which is near the airport. So Tony is essentially given free reign to do whatever he can to get the money back. Then we have Jackie April is still dying in the hospital of stomach cancer and Metow wants drugs, and Christopher and Brendan are getting into trouble. So again, if you've been listening so far, you kind of know that the story is continuing to progress.

But those are the main plot lines for this episode. So Mike, I'm gonna kick it to you first. What did you think of the third episode of the Sopranos. And going along what you're saying, it covers a lot of ground, right. I don't think we get very much Polly Walnuts or I always forget the character's name, Little Steven, but we do get.

Your favorite character in this entire show. I'm waiting for him to come back. I'm starting he's starting to grow on me. But I was glad that we get back into Lorraine Broco territory pretty early on in this and this whole thing of that magic picture. You got one of the trick pictures out there, and I'll be there, yes, And I just I like the way that she approaches things and obviously, you know, going through therapy for twenty years, this is pretty familiar stuff.

So but I really like how it feels like the episode is. It feels like it's what he is telling her in the office. You know, it almost goes back to that first episode the pilot where it was him telling her and you get the whole voiceover, and sometimes it's ironic, sometimes it's not. You don't get the voiceover in this one, but you do get him talking with her, and then we move back out into his world, and I'm not sure if it's the world that is happening or if it's the world that had happened, but we do get to see how what she is bringing up is immediately affecting what he's thinking about, you know, the whole thing of his buddy, who's who's dying of cancer. And they do a great job with the makeup on this actor, because just even to go between the first time you see him and the last time you see him in the episode, he looks so rough and just to see like even his hair looks like it's thinning even more, they did a great job on this guy.

They start going full Jeff Goldblum in the Fly with his hair at the end. Yeah. Yeah, it's and just that he is, you know, because when when they come in the first time, it's like, oh, hey, how you doing, what's going on? And just all exchanging all these things, and that's where we get the story about Shlomo. But then we the second time we see him, it's or might be the last the third time, but I can't remember how many times we visit him in the hospital, but the last time he is he's concerned about himself.

He's very concerned about Hizove. He doesn't need to hear any of this bullshit from Tony, and that kind of upsets Tony, But at the same time, he was within his rights to be very concerned about himself and his own health. So I like that contradiction between these guys. Well, and you mentioned it, like Tony then goes to Lorraine Brocoh and goes, you know, like he was just a shell, like he wasn't even there, and it's like, dude, like what do you expect? And it's like, I don't know.

It's showing that like emotional immaturity of Tony Soprano that I really appreciate because again, like so many other characters, it would feel like a put on, but already three episodes into this show, like it's such a fully realized character already that of course, this guy who only thinks about himself is upset that his friend who has terminal care answer is only thinking of himself, and that is somehow like a big problem to Tony that he can't understand, so he has to go and bitch to his because he's bitching to his therapist about it, Like that is genuine bitching. Like it's like, but dude, like your friend is dying, but it's that level of I don't know, Like there is something that James Gandalfini does in this performance is tony soprano where he just plays irritated constantly really well, like he's in a constant state of agitation, and that for me is like one of the benefits to what Gandalfini brings to this role is that he understands how to weaponize that irritation without letting it be explosive.

Because again, you would hope if this guy were existing in reality this way, he would know how to temper his temper, because the best mob bosses are the ones that weren't, you know, smashing a guy's head against the table in broad daylight. Amongst the guys that come to visit the friend in the hospital, there's a Jewish guy and he becomes critical in this episode. Have we seen him before and I just didn't notice him? Yeah, he showed up in the first episode. Hesh Rabkin he's kind of I mean, what's funny is like he not to spoil anything, but he's a character that I don't feel like they use him enough throughout the show.

He kind of comes and goes a lot. He's more present in the first seasons than he is later in the show. He kind of comes back later in the show and they kind of deal with his storyline and they kind of resolve it. But he was in the first episode. But I mean again, like, there's so many characters in this show, and there's so much going on that you can't be blamed for forgetting that this guy's been introduced, even momentarily, because I think it was like one or two scenes in the first episode.

Okay, okay, but yeah, No, he's an interesting character. He's one of the few characters in the show that I just don't feel like they ever do enough with, which is unfortunate because I mean, again, it's an interesting kind of disparity between like, well, he's Jewish and they're Italian, so like you know, they're not seeing eye to eye, but yet Tony is going to him for advice, Tony is using him as kind of a consigliary of sorts, and I don't know, like I like that idea. I just don't feel like I mean again, it makes sense that he's in this episode given the Chuck Low character of it all. Yeah, well, and it was nice that would get the Artie Buco return as well, because him, I definitely remember from the first episode him and his wife, and it was nice to see kind of the fallout of what happened with the restaurant being torched to the point where it had been so long.

Andrew is like, what happened with the restaurant? I was like, oh, yeah, yeah. As we're watching these month to month rather than week to week, you know, we lose characters a little bit here. But I was glad to see him and the struggles and what's going on with this wife. And I was so confused at first, so with the wife that you know, wife thinks that she's really doing this family a solid by hiring her to be a caterer.

And you get that earlier scene where she's talking with one of the other servvants at the house and you get that crazy close up of the hand with the nails like come here, please to the servant, and then when you get that repeated later on with the wife. I'm like, oh, okay, I see what's going on here, because that close up through me so much the first time, I was like, what the hell did this happened? Why did they show it that way? Yeah, it's it's it's a really interesting stylistic choice. And I really I mean again, like it's much more show than tell right, Like I don't know, it's it's using filmic language to show the audience what's going on and give them the opportunity to interpret it the way that they want.

And that I mean that. I feel like, you know, we haven't had this conversation yet about the show, but I think now is the moment, given that we're kind of seeing something that has been shown once in an episode and then shown again, and we're seeing it the first time to help understand the second time. That for me is one of the big things about this show, the Sopranos specifically, is it it lets you know where it's going ahead of time, and then when it does that, like it feels like planting and payoff like our dear friend rich HadAM always talks about. And I mean again, because I know you know what the ending is of the show. That for me always felt like one of those answers is like, this is the show's been doing this this whole time, has been kind of giving us what it wants us to get from the show without bashing us over the head with it.

And the longer the show goes on and the more the show kind of introduces headier themes, it will kind of start to get to the point where, like again, if you want to be picking up on the things like this that the show is showing you, and then it refers to it later, maybe not as specifically as it does in this episode with that hand gesture and that close up, but like that for me has always been one of the things about The Sopranos is like it does a good job of giving you, as the audience. It's an idea of where it's going and what ideas it wants to be important and what you should internalize and then remember, and it may not tell you outright to remember it. Again, this is a pretty explicit thing, but as the show goes on, it will continue to do similar things without as much kind of importance being shown in a close up of her fingernails, if that makes sense, which I think through people for a loop.

Obviously, you also. Get the nice set up and payoff of the son telling Schlembo that he's creating a golum, and towards the end you realize, oh, he did create a golum. He has poured all this into Tony's head, into his mouth, and that's you know, you created a monster. You slept with the wrong person in this. Yeah, and I mean Chuck Low you know, as you and I are fans and Goodfellows, obviously he is a welcome addition to the show.

I think, yes, I don't, I can't remember if he shows up anymore, but obviously like him in this episode, like it's a he's a welcome addition because again, like it just I think it speaks to the pedigree of this show and the people that are involved. I mean, obviously so many familiar you know faces from other mobster in mafia media. But like again, obviously in the nineties, like there was nothing bigger or more successful than Goodfellas, and like the people that are in this they just keep adding people from Goodfellas, even in like supporting roles. So I know he's he's great. It's a different role than than Mauri, but it's kind of the same.

I mean, it has kind of the same idea of like, you know better than to get involved with these people, and you do it anyways because they suit your needs at the time. Yeah, the whole subplot with the son in law is fantastic, the stuff with the get and how much percentage and just you know, I kind of lied earlier about Little Steven. I forgot that he's in all of those scenes, and he's the one I think that brings the idea forward. He was the one that was talking with Shlomo originally and then kind of started the ball rolling, So I was glad for that. It just didn't feel like it was a hymn episode, And I'm kind of hoping to have more of just I had so much fun.

Well, I had a lot of fun last time with Vinci Pastorian, Polly Walnuts with the all of the custom coffee. But I'm hoping for more of like Polly Walnuts and Little Steven to be hanging out together because they are a great team. Well that's I mean, that's the thing about this show is that so many of like as good as James Gandolfini is, which he's amazing, Like everybody is on their a game, and everybody is being written for in a way that is interesting, and everybody has something interesting to do. And yeah, I mean you want to spend more time with these like kind of stereotypes, but you kind of love that these stereotypes exist in this nuance show. I mean, that's always the way I've looked at it is you have this rather nuanced mobster show and then you have these two stereotypes like just walking around because from best I can tell Tony Soirico his character in real life, like there there wasn't a lot of difference between the man that was Tony Serrico and the character that is Polly Walnuts, And I mean Stephen van Zant's probably not that case.

But like that stereotype is so at odds with what you would think the show would be doing because it's such it it takes itself seriously, but it doesn't at the same time, but like, these stereotype characters really wouldn't have a place in this kind of narrative, but because they do, you kind of want to just watch them the whole time. Like if this show were being if this show had been made in the mid two thousands or the late two thousands, there would have been like a Polly Walnuts spin off show, you know what I mean, Like the likelihood of that happening would have been pretty high. It's just the show came out at a time where like, let's just get through the show. Let's not worry about anything else, because this is such it's such a it's such an undertaking on its own.

Let's not do any more with it and try to parse people's jobs out where we can have diminishing returns. But like you know that if the show had been made later on, like we need this, I mean, they made a sequel movie or a prequel movie, So I think my point stands. But I'm with you, like they early on in the show, they really draw the attention more than anything else because they're really unlike most mafia characters you've seen in stuff, especially in a serious narrative like this, or perceived serious narrative. Should we have started with The Many Saints of New Jersey or whatever that show. Was, The Many Saints of Newark.

I feel like it can only be enjoyed once you've seen the entire show. As far as I'm concerned, like it, it is a prequel, but it doesn't do anything to help those who haven't seen the show understand what's going on. It's fire walk with me. Then yes, I would say maybe to a fault, but again, I enjoyed it, so I figure will probably get to it towards the end of the show once we're kind of more or less done, because it's it's kind of its own thing, and the fans of the show have very strong opinions about it, positively and negatively, and a lot of it actually has to do with the handling of some of the character that we're talking about, some of the more kind of iconic but not main characters like Sylvia Dante and Pauli Walnuts.

The way that they're handled in that movie is a little odd. Yeah, yeah, it's not. It's not. It's not for everybody, But I will say I I do appreciate that we finally get to see dre Di Matteo as as Adriana le Cervo, who has one of the most thankless roles of this entire show, playing Christopher Moltasanti's girlfriend. Oh yeah, yeah, so we saw her in the first episode.

She was just playing a matre d or a hostess at a restaurant, but not character named, and they actually mentioned it in this episode, like, oh, you know, you're just a you know, you work at the front end of a restaurant. So implication is it's meant to be the same character, but without them outright saying it. But she is going to be a main character moving forward. But it this first scene pretty much I think lays the groundwork for where this character is going the entirety of the show. It's like, he's Christopher santy Is.

He's a hard character to love if you ever love him in this show. Yeah oh yeah, right, like yeah, yeah, he's he's difficult and I mean spoilers, right, but I'm so glad that they take care of his buddy because he was even worse to watch. Yeah yeah, well, I mean it's this idea of you know, it kind of goes back to the last episode of like, what's the point of having people in charge if we don't listen to them? And this is the point of having people in charge because they're making the decisions that that I mean again, like people aren't willing some people aren't willing to make which is you know, again, this guy is stepping out of line one too many times. Now we have to kill him, and yeah, like that's that's what upper management is for in the Mafia.

I mean, it's like being fired from a job, right except this is a pretty terminal firing as it were. But I yeah, Christopher Moltasanti is going to be a character that is very hard to love. Uh. And I think Michael Imperioli imbuse him with like a sense. I mean, he's it's not that he's not a sympathetic character, but it's like, at at every moment he does everything he can to be unsympathetic.

And I think that his misogyny is a lot of it obviously, just like his general demeanor. Yeah, yeah, yeah he. I am curious if I'm going to start to like him at some point because right now, I mean I don't outright hate the guy or hate the character I should say, but I'm just like, Oh, back to him, Okay, what's he gonna do? Now? How's he going to fuck himself up this time?

Oh? Man, it's gonna be saying that a lot probably. I mean that's the thing I mean, with with a with a show like this one, it is so much James Gandolfini's story. But as you can already tell, like they're they're sharing a lot of screen time with Michael Imperioli because it is it is also so much his, his story and what he goes through as kind of a parallel to the Tony Soprano story of you know, I feel like I got in at the end. I mean, if he's feeling that way, Michael Imperioli must be convincing himself.

Otherwise, must be what's happening, because throughout this episode he you know, they keep talking about, well, you know, the books are closed, we're not taking on any new members, and that is such a problem for him and Brendan, but obviously more for Christopher because he wants, he wants so badly to be accepted and taken seriously by by the'se you know, by by his peers. But yet the funny thing is he's unwilling to do what it takes to actually be taken seriously. And it's that push and pull of like he knows what he needs to do, but he can't get out of his own way long enough to do it, and it will be like that. That is like such a main core character tenant of his characters, like he knows what he needs to do, but he just can't bring himself to do it, even if there are those moments that peek through, like in this episode where he doesn't go along with them, and you know, and and the second truck stealing doesn't he's not involved in it.

I guess that was in the last episode, but this is the fallout of it now, and like he wasn't there, which may have saved him from being killed, or the fact that he's you know, related to Tony Soprano probably helped him as well. Yeah, the whole thing they take back what is it? They take back the truck and then Tony gets a reward out of it, and Uncle Junior is not happy about that whatsoever. And I love that it's Tony's mom that really puts the idea of how to clean up this mess into Uncle Junior's head. I mean, she back to her being the ultimate villain.

She's you know, pulling the strings in this. She is you could say she's the consiglieri but in a lot of in a lot of ways, and I mean again, you see it already in this episode, like Dominic Kianes's Junior is kind of weak will and like he needs some massaging and motivating and yeah, she just no hesitation whatsoever. Like I love what she I love what Nancy Marsham brings to the character because it's just ruthless. There's yeah, just absolutely ruthless. And and it's it's unlike anything that you've seen in any of these mobster movies or media, because the female characters are never given this much autonomy.

No, And it's nice even with Carmela, just to see how much she shows in this episode. And it's not just all about the party and about the house and stuff, but you know her having concern for Meadow when Montalsani shows up and it's just like, what the hell are you doing in my house? What are you doing in my daughter's room. I have a feeling big time that all of the her being on speed to study is going to become a thing as we move along in this season. I could be wrong, but it feels like she's taking a very dangerous step by taking speed in order to what is it, both study for the finals and have this big concert.

I thought for sure she was going to fuck up in that concert, but she seemed to make it through, Okay, really brought it to you to Tony's eye. And don't you love the continued inclusion of Michelle de Cesare aka David Chase is not Yeah yeah, she's unfortunately like in these early seasons, if you didn't know she was someone's daughter, it kind of stands out like she's unfortunately she she's not as she's just not as good of an actress as I mean Jamie Lenn Sigler is even right now in her career like Meta soprano as a as an underrated character. As far as I'm concerned, she it's an interesting character because again, like as we as you'll see throughout the season, like she really does have a lot of her own autonomy in this world, and I think female characters having autonomy in mobster and mafia media is not something that is common because they're often not the focus.

And I mean, I think Goodfellas is a good example of doing it right, which I mean again makes sense given that this show would then enlist Lorraine Broco, who, as far as I'm concerned, is like the person that I would want in any of these kind of mobs or things because just the gravitas that she to it alone immediately by including her. But yeah, no, yeah, it's what I think ultimately, like when you look at an episode like this one, it's just a it's a fun exercise in world building, but we're nothing that's going on is remotely serious, which I kind of appreciate, you know what I mean, Like it's this is like a slide. This is the first kind of slice of life episode where we're just seeing them kind of dealing with the things that they would be dealing with whether or not we were watching them in the show.

It doesn't feel like this, oh I got in at the end, like this huge question of whether or not my existence is worthwhile and what I'm doing is worthwhile anymore. This is just hey, go do your mobster thing in this episode, and we get to see Tony and them, you know, rough and a guy up threatening to cut his balls off, like the generic mobster things that you would expect from We're finally seeing mobster things in this show, right, but it's juxtaposed with like actual characters that you normally don't see being given a lot of autonomy, be given that level of autonomy. Yeah, yeah, no, this is it's just solid. It's just a very very solid episode, and I think that just the structure of it helps quite a bit.

I mean, the you know, going over and meeting with the guy who's restaurant he burned down, and just that type of relationship building. They're having the shlow most story, having the Christopher and the speed story. I mean, just all of these things are moving along and then always kind of going back to Jackie in the hospital and then Lorraine Brocco in the therapist's office. Those are kind of our touch points through this and we just move along the rest of the pieces while we're going along. I find the writing of this episode to be really, really solid.

It does a good job in balancing everything in a way that like not one thing is seemingly overtaking anything else, and that for me, is a huge success of this show. Is I mean again like it is the Tony Sopranos show, but at the same time, the show is called the Sopranos again because it is more or less about this family and extended family and the people that they surround themselves with. And you know, so many of the great characters in this show, outside of the James Gandolfini character, are not the main character, but the way the show portrays them, it's like they are and in a lot of ways, like that reminds me of Goodfellas, Like, you know, in Goodfellas, you I think you have theoretically one main character, but like it feels like a three person movie and that but even more so, right, like even more so than three I would say, it's like four or five character movie.

Yeah, well you get the poster of that, and it's it's Paulie, it's it's uh, Tommy, it's why am I blinking? And uh Jimmy, and then Henry right in the middle. Right, And this show has that same feel to it of like the people involved in the making of the show spreading the storytelling out to everyone and not just focusing on it on one person. And I think that that makes this immediately feel like so much more of a world already lived in. Like this show, I don't know, like three episodes in, and I already feel like I understand where these characters have been and where they're going.

Like even that little interaction between Charmaine and Carmelo where she's like, oh, you know, before, you know, before you were with Tony, I was with Tony, but I wasn't interested, And it's like those like, like I get an entire sense of a relationship from just those two conversations. And these characters really haven't interacted a whole lot up until this moment in the show, but you get a sense of like all of this previous history just with these two interactions in this episode. And that's a testament to the screenwriting. Like the writing in this show is just there are only a couple clunker episodes in this entire show. Wow.

Yeah, yeah, like yeah, that's I mean, like, and that's not just me saying that. I think the community at large would agree, like the quality of is maintained throughout as far as I'm concerned, and you're seeing it pretty early on here by this deft managing of like five storylines at once. I like to that you get the callback to the painting in Lorraine Brago's office when Tony's with his mistress and she's got the painting with the pool and everything, which kind of reminds me of the ducks a little bet, And they even bring up the ducks again, and I like how he's like, you know, what's that painting remind you of or something? She's a David Hockey and David Hockey. Yes, the malpropisms, I mean yeah, yeah, that was good.

Yeah. I mean again, like the show has such a weird sense of humor and it I don't know, like it's for a show about mobsters. It really doesn't take itself very seriously, but then it does, but it does. You see why I wanted you to watch this show because it's just so weird, Like I don't know how to describe it, but the Sopranos is so much its own thing. Like to call it Goodfellas the TV show is probably not giving this show enough credit because it goes further than Goodfellas probably ever could have hoped to.

Because not that I'm saying, you know, Nick Polegie and Marty Marty Scorsese as his friends know him, couldn't have done this. But I don't think they were interested in this aspect of it. They they sort of touched on it with the idea of like the American Dream gone awry, but this is like the total and complete perversion of the American dream in a lot of ways. I was really glad to when Tony calls up the reason why I brought up the Jewish friend of his is that he uses him for counsel when they're trying to beat up the son in law to get him to give up the get and just like okay, well continue his brists. It's like, oh, okay, all right, that's nice.

Well again, like the the motivation is pretty uh yeah, when you when your nuts are being cut off, it's like, make a decision, my friend, yah. Yeah and yeah. Then then Schlowmo tries to screw over Tony where it's like, oh no, no, my son in law gave me fifty or I'm giving him fifteen instead of the twenty five or whatever he wanted. He wanted fifty, right and right, Tony was gonna take twenty five and the Sun and Sun Line ended up taking fifteen, and Tony he's just like, yeah, I know that's not going to work. I need I need my twenty five.

Stell, I've made a gollum. Yes, So now you're in with the mob and uh, you know something goes wrong with the with the lights fuck you pay me. It's and that's the thing, Like I love that again. Like the show is kind of if you're not familiar with all of like mobster things and the mobster tropes. It's kind of easing you through all of them because yeah, this is I mean, this is just the same thing from Goodfellas when they bust out the tropic I forget what the hell of the name?

Yeah, the Tropicana. Oh they bust that place. That's the same thing, like and you know, again like a microcosm of it. But again, like it's just it's just another day in the life of these dudes. Like that's the thing.

Like in Goodfellows they kind of made a big deal out of it, and here it's just like they're doing this all the time, Like this is this is just part of their lives. Like you know, Henry Hill and Tommy were just stealing cars all the time. They didn't just steal two cars. They stole plenty of trucks all the time. Like and again they mentioned that in the narration of Goodfellas, but they don't show it at thirty times, Like they don't show it thirty times here.

But we get the same idea, like this is just going on and you know, it's just a way of life. It's part of life of people. Right, you're stealing from other people, but you're also stealing from your own people, just right in order to make a. Buck, right, Well, I mean that's the perverse nature of it. Yeah, I do think though.

For me, I think the scenes that I really resonate with in this episode are Nancy Marshond and dominic Ki Andesy and that in her room and she's just you know, I don't I don't know if you've noticed yet in the show, but anytime they talk on the phone, it's always in like, it's always very coded right intentionally. Yeah, yeah, and there will be I mean, not that you can't infer as to why, but that will They will make light of it at some point as to why they do that. But they're even doing it in this scene between dominic Ki and Asy and Nancy Marshall where they're speaking kind of circularly about things they're not like, you know, well you know he helped me put my Christmas tree up, and it's like okay, so you're saying like, don't hey, he is off limits, and like I like that scene because again, like there's so much said without saying specifically what they're talking about, and that again is just the level of writing in this show, the quality of writing, and those are the kinds of scenes where it's like, all right, the people who are writing understand that the and trust the audience to pick up on things without having to bash them over the head with it.

Yeah, and then you get to see the consequences of that conversation, which is good as well. Right, Yeah, poor. Poor Ma, She's all, yeah, my son stuck me in this home and just so put upon with everything. Oh odd I know it's she's just like the most miserable character in anything you've ever seen. Like there's not a single shred of anything redeeming about about this character.

Yeah, and I mean again, like everybody talks about how good Gandalphini is, but like I think Nancy Marshawn is just like only she could I mean, only he could have played the character that he played, but only she could have really brought a level of just like malice to Olivia Soprano that is needed because she she is the villain of this show period, like as far as I'm concerned, and like, like you said, like it's pretty obvious already, but she looms large even when she's not on screen because Tony is the way that he is because of her. Mm hmm, Yeah, much more of an influence than Uncle Junior, that's for. Sure, right man, I I yeah, he's he's such a funny character because he's like I'm sure right now, it's like hard to make of where this is going with his character, and it's yeah, he's a weird character because there the analog to like, like Goodfellas, I guess would be what like, yeah, cutting the garlic with the razor blade.

God, what's that actor's name, Well, that's Paulie. But yeah, you're talking like the guy who's cooking the steaks, right, I'm talking about Paulie. I'm talking about PAULI. Yeah, he reminds me of really, I mean he somewhat reminds me of paul He. Reminds me more titty than Paulie.

M okay, yeah, but I mean, you know, he has the title, he is the don, but he just doesn't seem to have the holdover things that Tony does right. Well, And and Tony I think is such a big personality. I mean that's the other thing, Like Tony is a big personality. And the way that again, like it's not John, it's not like John Gotti, but it's meant to be in that vein of like people know you, people are willing to acquies to you because of the person that they know that you are. And and yeah, as the show goes on, As the show goes on, in the world is built out more, you'll kind of see how Tony actually fits into the world around him.

Because right now, and that's the thing like rewatching this show as someone who has seen it several times through, like I forget how insular this first season is. It doesn't really it's building this world, but it's building the world in somewhat of a terrarium, is what it feels like, like the like do you get a sense of the outside world in this show? Like not really? Right, Like no, I don't even think of New York. I just think of like a couple square blocks in Jersey.

That's it, right, And like I forgot that the show is here in this moment this way because it feels so it like even though it feels small, it feels like it already has these like weird corners that it's building out. And I don't know, I'm I think I say this towards the end of every episode of this that we've done so far, but like I'm just enjoying you enjoying this show because like I don't know, like it's a show that, like I feel like getting to share it with someone who's never seen it before and just getting to like engage with you on this journey is something that like, I'm enjoying probably the same way you and are enjoying it with Barney Miller and Colombo with me on the shows that week. Yeah, I was really glad to see So this episode was directed by Nick Gomez, and I was glad to see his name pop up because I've been kind of unfamiliar with what happened with him, because back in ninety two, he was right there at the beginning of that indie wave of movies, you know, eighty two was, was it?

Reservoirs was ninety three? Ninety two was right before that, but so it had already kind of kicked off, and he made Laws of Gravity with Edie Falco and of course the incredible Peter Green who talk about wasted potential man Peter Green in movies like that and Clean Shaven. He was just fucking awesome. And then when he showed up in the Mask, I was like, what what. Oh, that's that is the only thing I know him from, well.

You probably know from pulp fiction too, because he's one of the two hillbilly rapists down in the pawn shop. I've seen pulp fiction twice. Okay, well he's one of the two guys. And I'm just like what he said, isn't he He's said like dead baby? Yeah, dead baby.

He deserved so much more. I don't know if he was self destructive or what was going on, but it was nice to see Gomez come up as the director of this, just because looking at his filmography after, you know, like he made New Jersey Drive before this episode of The Sopranos, but then he did a lot of TV. But he was doing great TV, so like this and Oz and you know, he's like crossing Jordan and he's still still working today. But he has been involved with so many interesting projects, like Michael Imperioli did an episode of Detroit one eight seven, He did what was the one with Little Stephen the Longmire I think he did, and then Ray Donovan. You know, so he's doing some good stuff.

I was about to say, like he also worked with in New Jersey Drive. He worked with Paul Schultze, who will be coming back and who will be showing up in this show. He's actually replacing a character that you've already seen. Okay, yeah, you know, I talked a little bit about you know, Ali Osakarovn and now you've mentioned Nick gome As. Like the direction in these episodes, man, it's just like every like I don't know, like again, we take it for granted now, given that everything looks like a movie that we watch on TV, But holy shit, this show is just there's something about this show that, like the way that it looks, it just it.

Every time I watch this show and I start another episode, I always just think to myself, like this is just a we're just checking in with this movie. Once again, it doesn't even feel like a show. The way that it's shot is so cinematic and really feels like it's trying to say we can take the film experience and put it on TV. And I mean again, this show for me stands as that testament of like, yes you can, and they did and these like these first three episodes, like the direction is solid throughout like period. Yeah, I can't wait for the next one.

Chris, I know, I know, And like the funny thing is like after watching this episode, all I can think is like, oh man, what about this character? Is like, no, that's the next episode, Like this first the first season almost like by the time we get to the end of the first season, like in a lot of ways, like you could stop after this first season and like be done with the show and good and like, oh, I don't need to see anything else. And I mean again, like you can kind of see why that might be the case, just by the way that the show presents itself is just it's trying to be a big world, but at the same time, like the story that it's telling is weaving in on itself in a really interesting way. And yeah, then I don't think it's not the next episode.

The next episode is a really interesting one that I'm really looking forward to because it starts to kind of it starts getting into more of the things that I think people if you have a conversation with them now about the Sopranos, they would say are the expectational things. The next episode kind of gets into it. So yeah, no, I'm just glad you're enjoying it. Not that I was concerned, but I'm glad that you're enjoying it. As much as you are, because again, like this is for me, finding out that you had never seen this show was still a surprise, like given how much you love the things that this show is so clearly like inspired by.

So but yeah, to your point. On the next episode of What No Fucking Z, we're gonna be talking about the fourth episode of the first season of the show, act the titled Meadowlands All One. So until then, Mike, where can people find you and the things that keep you busy? You know, weekly, monthly, bi weekly. Yearly, No, no, yearly podcast.

Wouldn't that be something? Oh man, oh it's December fifteenth, Time for another episode? Yeah no, no, we. Can figure out what that is and just do that once a year like whatever. That show would be like the yes, well.

We'll talk about talk about those Robert Rodriguez movie. Was the reguess that made the movie? That's like locked in the Time vot John Malkovich. Yeah, I think so. Oh god, So maybe it's like we do one movie every year until that year of the time fault being opened.

Yeah, I don't know anyway, No, I do more weekly and monthly podcasts and they are all available over at Wittingwaymedia Dot com where we talk about a lot of stuff. Chris and I we host and co host a bunch of shows together. I'm really excited for a discussion that we're having next week for a Patreon only show that we're doing, which is called Ranking on Bond, So that should be I mean, the episodes that we've recorded so far have been fantastic, and I'm looking forward to more and I'm hoping that people will enjoy that as much as I'm enjoying talking about that, almost as much as I'm enjoying talking about the Sopranos. No. Likewise, it's you know, new year, new projects, new things to check out over at weirdingwaymedia dot com.

And like you mentioned, Mike, our respective patreons, both of our patreons have Ranking on Bond, which we're doing with our co host from Right on Bass, Richard HadAM, who almost was involved with this show, but we decided to do Ranking on Bond instead. So if you want to see what that's like, and if you're a fan of James Bond and similar media, like Mike said, go and check that out. But as for this show and all the other things I work on, same like Mike Weirdingwaymedia dot com is where you can find it, and so many other things that we're both very proud of and spend a lot of time on. So as for this show, Yeah, the next episode is out in a month and we'll we'll catch you then