So I Rewatched The Sopranos
Recently, I sat down and rewatched the entirety of The Sopranos, from the pilot episode all the way to the finale. This might be surprising to some people, but I actually haven’t watched the show since I did my Sopranolog videos. Now I’ve watched episodes here and there in order to make my videos, but I haven’t actually sat down and just watched the show to enjoy it for almost 2 years.
Ever since I started this channel, my relationship with The Sopranos has changed. I’m not just a fan anymore. The show is what launched my career as a content creator, and my Sopranos content is still the biggest part of my channel to this day. And I could not be more grateful that I have such a dedicated audience interested in my Sopranos videos, seriously thank you all so much for continuing to watch and support the channel.
But the fact that I’ve become a Sopranos Youtuber has changed the way I view the show. When I watch it now, it’s not just about enjoying this incredible piece of art. It’s about how I can make an interesting video out of it that all of you will enjoy. Now I love making videos, it’s incredibly engaging and I love seeing your responses to what I do. But I’d be lying if I said that it hasn’t at least partially turned the show into something of a job for me. I still love the show of course, but it’s just not the same when I have an obligation to make content out of it.
So that’s why I decided to rewatch the show. I wanted to see if my perspective on it had changed at all since I started doing this. Could I just enjoy the show for what it is, or would it be like trying to socialize with your coworkers outside of work?
Well when I started on the first season, it was a little difficult. I had trouble staying engaged as I watched each episode, and when I finished I really didn’t have a strong desire to watch the next one. As I went through the season, I was actually worried that I had lost my enjoyment of the series, and that I wouldn’t want to watch the show anymore.
However, that all changed when I got to the second season. It was like a switch went off and suddenly I was invested entirely. Now I couldn’t wait to watch the next episode, and I ended up binging the entire season over the course of a few nights.
I’ve said it before but I think the first season is a little weak when compared to the rest of the show. Looking back, that was why I wasn’t as into it when I was watching those episodes. However thanks to the addition of some brilliant characters like Janice and Richie Aprile to the show, as well as being the season Terence Winter joined as a writer, this is the season when the Sopranos really starts to come into its own.
When I got to season 3, I also gave myself permission to enjoy the show as I would any other show that I’m rewatching. That meant I could skip around when I felt like it. For example, I skipped that one scene in “Employee of the Month''. You know the one I’m talking about. I’ve already done my analysis of that episode, and while I think it’s one of the most important episodes of the series, I just didn’t need to see that particular moment again.
Also this is going to piss some of you off, but I skipped Pine Barrens this time around. I have seen that episode more times than I can count. Everytime I want to introduce someone to the series, I show them that episode. In my opinion the Pilot episode isn’t as good for getting people hooked, but you can watch Pine Barrens without really needing any context for the series. Because of that, I can basically recite the episode in my sleep, and just like any other show I rewatch, if there is an episode I just don’t feel like watching again, I give myself permission to skip it. This helped the show not feel like an obligation, and that I could just enjoy it as I saw fit.
However, I wasn’t able to completely turn off the critic in me. As I watched, I noticed many things that I hadn't seen in all my other watches. For example in “Toodle Fucking Oh”, Richie is actually wearing a Members Only jacket. Not THE jacket of course, but very interesting given future episodes. Now I don’t think that they were setting up the season 6 connection this early, but I do wonder if they later wrote the Members Only stuff because Richie wore this jacket. He was, after all, a potential assassin of Tony.
Another thing I noticed was that Carmela tells Janice that Richie will cheat on her when she is trying on wedding dresses.
“I’m just being realistic. Because in a year tops, you’ll have to accept a goomar.”
- Carmela
This is something that Livia told her on her wedding night as well.
“Remember what she said to you at your wedding? She said it was a mistake, Tony would get bored with you.”
- Mary DiAngelis to Carmela
Even though this was an obviously hurtful thing to Carmela, she ended up doing the exact same thing to Janice. It’s just like how Livia’s toxic personality rubs off on Tony and he ends up repeating the same things as her.
Another thing I noticed was a line from Janice that potentially hints at the finale.
“One second your sitting there enjoying a ride with your family. The next your entire world comes crashing down.”
- Janice
Finally, I noticed in the flashback at the beginning of “Soprano Home Movies”, the dialogue from the scene is slightly different than the actual scene in “All Due Respect”.
They obviously used a different take than they did in the original. I’m not sure if this is intentional to suggest that the memory is faulty, or if it’s just another weird bit of editing like we saw throughout the whole show.
Now that’s all the stuff I remember noticing off the top of my head. Again I didn’t write any of this down as I went because I was trying to just watch the episodes and not think about making content. But I’m sure that if I rewatched the show again, which I definitely will do someday, I’d notice even more stuff than I did this time around.
That’s the thing about a great show like The Sopranos. There is so much depth that it’s constantly giving you something new each time you experience it. It makes it so that no matter how many times you’ve watched the series, it’s always worth going back another time.
After going through this latest rewatch, I can say with confidence that I love this show as much if not more than when I first started making Sopranos videos. It still holds up as an incredibly entertaining series. And the fact that I have an opportunity to share my thoughts about it with all of you on this channel, just makes it all the more special for me as I watch it.
Anyway, that's the video. This was more of a personal story than an analysis like I usually do, but I hope you found it entertaining either way. And this latest rewatch inspired several new Sopranos videos, which I’ll be working on soon. As always thank you for watching, and stay tuned for more Sopranos content, coming soon.
