Your 5 Favorite Sopranos Episodes

The one where the Russians take back the prosthetic leg? That was Employee Of The Month.

 

Excellent, excellent list, Zeke, and even better analysis of why.

Winger, I really am interested in seeing yours. Sincerely.

(And anyone else's.)

 

Man, holding it to five was a lot harder than I thought, and I can't shake the feeling I'm leaving a few of my favorites out.

OK, here goes...

1. Long Term Parking. As DD said, Michael Imperioli's reaction has everything: Rage, fear, sympathy...just brilliantly acted. The moment when he's watching the trashy family in the gas station and finally makes the decision to give Ade up...phenomenal. Then Tony's reaction later when Christopher tells him he's snorted some H because he "can't stand the pain" of being without Adrianna...it's an interesting foreshadowing of Christopher's death. I totally missed the "Born to Run" reference DD mentioned, but that's hysterical.

2. Whitecaps. A no-brainer...The Tony-Carmela relationship has always been the most interesting storyline for me, mostly because it's so easy for Chase to get us to cheer for Tony -- the murderous thug -- and hate Carmela, who for all her faults is at least a law-abiding citizen. (Still, Jesus...Carmela is truly despicable.) Tony and Johnny Sac meeting in an office supply store was genius. Tony's harassment of the couple who owns the beachhouse with the loud music from the yacht was an underrated comedic moment. Loved it all.

3. College. One of the best examples of the tension between Tony's family life and his Family life, as well as one of the first moments we see him definitively choose the capital-F Family. The exchange between Tony and Meadow about whether he's in the Mafia is priceless. Leaving Meadow by herself to get drunk at a bar while he stalks an informer is just one of Tony's many great parenting decisions. And after he's done the murder, the Nathaniel Hawthorne quote -- "No man... can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which one may be true" -- is perfect.

4. Amour Fou. This was the first episode of the show I ever saw, so I'm probably biased. But the crescendo of action ending with Jackie Jr.'s idiotic raid on the card game is perfect. The end of Tony and Gloria's affair, capped by Patsy Parisi's amazingly creepy speech about "scraping your nipples off these fine leather seats" is perfectly done, with an assist from Melfi in her usual unheeded Cassandra role. Tony passing the buck on Jackie Jr. to Ralphie is a dirty move, as is Ralphie's telling Rosalie that her son had a drug problem.

5. D-Girl. A.J.'s refusal to be confirmed because he's suddenly an existentialist is priceless. That kind of comic relief is a great foil for Pussy, who is increasingly coming apart at the seams. His scene with A.J. in A.J.'s bedroom is beautiful. I'm pretty sure this is also the episode in which Livia tells A.J. "in the end, you die in your own arms," which is about as perfect a summary of that character as you could ask for. Christopher's attempt to break into the movie business fails utterly because he's simultaneously an uncultured thug and a vulnerable naif. The cameos from Favreau, Sandra Bernhard and Janeane Garofalo are great. Plus the girl who plays "Amy," Jon Favreau's assistant (AKA "I'm a vice president!), is staggeringly beautiful.

Pine Barrens, which I loved, didn't quite make the cut. I also really liked All Due Respect, the Season 5 finale which included Tony B.'s death and the beginning of Johnny Sac's downfall. Additional honorable mentions to Blue Comet, Soprano Home Movies, Funhouse, Members Only, From Where to Eternity...And hell, about 78 others.

 

Well done, sir. Another fine list full of excellent analysis.

 

You're far too kind. Plus, the damn thing did take me most of a day to put together. Now I've got to actually write for a living.

 

I'll add my compliments, Winger.

It's a testament to your list that I now want to change mine...

It's a testament to the show that with the exception of Whitecaps, these lists have been quite different.

 

I do believe that after the shortest of marination times, at least four of 2007's episodes will be in my top 10.

 

Good point. This last mini-season has been top-notch...I intentionally left those out of the top 5, just to give myself more time to think about it.

But I agree...if we have this thread again in 2008, Walk Like a Man, Blue Comet, Soprano Home Movies, Kennedy and Heidi and The Second Coming will all get strong consideration from me.

 

To the cognoscenti, did you know this about the Ade hit? I hadn't.

''David did it to us once [with Adriana],'' said Matt Servitto with a laugh, ''I thought he'll do it to us again — he'll take off with a B camera and go off to the woods and whack everybody and not tell us.''

 

I definitely didn't know that, though it makes sense...I'd think any moment like that on a popular show like this would be filmed on a "need-to-know" basis.

 

So here is a question: Is it possible to put together a list of your five favorite episodes of The Wire?

I've thought a lot about that previously, and I think it's much tougher because the episodes aren't self-contained like The Sopranos. I could probably do it with some serious thought, but because every episode is part of the larger story, I think it would be tough.

 

I think I could do a top five scenes from the Wire (or might have already) but I don't know about episodes.

They're all so interconnected...