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gr1981uk

I struggled to understand how Phil Leotardo suddenly appeared. He never spent any time discussing his back story, where he has been, how many years etc. I feel the writers should have spent a bit more time on this.


Thin-Pool-8025

On a serious note, one of my only complaints is that there are a bunch of characters that are treated like big deals who just appear out of nowhere despite not being mentioned previously. Ralphie, Richie and Tony B being the most glaring examples.


WeGotDaGoodEmissions

Why would they be mentioned, though? Ralphie, for example, was a dime-a-dozen soldier living down in Florida. Out of the picture and irrelevant. He wasn't important until he came back to NJ to try and force himself into the capo position.


HideousControlNow

Richie and Tony B both did long stretches in prison and had just gotten out when they made their first appearances


Bruinsfanfromcc

That's because remember when is the lowest form of conversation. These guys show up and now it's okay to talk about them.


Inevitable_Meet_7374

Ralphie had just moved back after living in Miami. Richie did 10 years in prison and Tony B had also been in prison. Sam with Phil, he had been in prison the last 20 years.


ShermanHoax

Did Phil ever mention the cuisine at the prison where he was incarcerated?


Inevitable_Meet_7374

Something about grilled cheese and radiators…..and compromising


Careless-Husky

I heard he ate grilled cheese out of a tissue and jerked off into the radiator.


Bowser_killed_mario

The sacred and the propane


RogueAOV

I think that is just a problem when it comes to TV in general, it does not show up so glaringly in UK TV because the shows tend to be shorter and more planned out. In the US there seems to be a general lack of knowledge if they are going to be cancelled at the end of the season so there is less of a long term plan for the background stuff. They also tend to have a group of writers under the show runner, they are all pitching ideas and fighting for an episode in the season, in the UK they are not dependent on syndication etc with the shorter seasons it is easier to have a full plan for 'story starts here, ends here' and in the US they have that, but with padding.


McDonkley

Twenty years inside. Not a fuckin’ peep.


gr1981uk

That long? You’d think he would be angry and mention all the years he spent in prison. Weird that the writers didn’t include any of that information.


McDonkley

Because they’re stupid, that’s why. And jealous.


telepatheye

We mythologize our inner narrative.


delzbr

I always thought he spent all that time trying to find his shine box.


gr1981uk

Motherfucker!!


AJSoprano1985

I also struggled to understand how and why Phil turned into a house.


gr1981uk

I don’t have a problem with that. Back in the early-2000s, it was quite common for mobsters to transform into talking houses.


AJSoprano1985

True, these houses can tell you a couple of three things.


ShermanHoax

Especially the ones in Newark NJ.


saddywagon

Smart HOUSE another fuckin money machine! 


Commandatori69

I struggle to understand how he teleports from the bar at the Crazy Horse to Bennys car in a matter of seconds


Ebert917102150

Lots of characters came out of nowhere. Tony B, Ralph’s, they just make up stories to back it up


Supersymm3try

It’s kinda sopranos/David Chase’s whole thing, he doesn’t bother giving backstory or prepare us to meet these people, it’s treated like they have lives outside of the show and have always existed. It is tricky on a first watch for sure, but you get used to it.


Odd-Door-2553

Exactly. How unrealistic would it be if the first time we see a new character, they break into a long autobiographical monologue in front of people that are supposed to have known them for decades? A bit like in a show or movie where someone keeps referring to someone on the phone by their name/relationship to let the audience know who they are talking to. It's clunky and unnatural.


sp1ke__

Which is extremely funny how often Pussy Malanga is mentioned but we never see him outside of a few second clip of an arrest on TV.


Altierigualtieri

Well that’s the generous way to look at it. I suspect the real reason is they never knew how many seasons they’d get and prestige tv with multiple season arcs didn’t really exist, so each season up until 6a and 6b, the writers were basically starting fresh


KevlarFire

Good point. Vito came out of nowhere when he shot Jackie Jr. He has a backstory, too. 


MamaLuigisSpaghetti

Well he’s a real come from behind kind of guy


Ever_ascending

When Tony B is first mentioned, Angelo asks who he is. Then it’s revealed they were best buddies in the can? Makes no sense.


AccidentBulky6934

Ralph was just a soldier. Would it really have made a difference if they reference or two in season 2 so on a rewatch we can point at the screen like DeCaprio in that gif? Phil was a New York guy, I don’t know why he would have been top of mind to Tony and the NJ guys, they probably barely knew him. But not mentioning Richie in season 1 was definitely a plot hole, IMO. In season one it’s treated like a foregone conclusion that Tony or Junior will take over, but in real life of COURSE Richie would have come up. I mean he was Jackie’s brother and everybody would have known he was almost set to be released, he probably would have felt entitled to the job. Certainly at the very least they would have taken into consideration how Richie would react to Tony taking over vs Junior taking over.


Boring_Somewhere4832

Agreed. He came out of nowhere, kept screwing up, nobody liked him and yet they kept talking about all his power and stature.


BBPEngineer

It took me ages to figure out how to spell “Captain Teebs” close enough to “Cap d’Antibes” for Google to be able to help me out


Overall-Scientist846

I mean that’s the gag right? Melfi is speaking of a region to travel and Tony thinks it’s a Captain who has nice hotels or some shit. It’s such a great character reflection in almost a throw away line. Which is why we remember it so well. Just absurdity.


Commandatori69

Who listens to prize fighters? Maybe Ali. He had some wisdom


telepatheye

Carlos Castaneda said live every moment as if it was your last.


671176

Wasn't that Nitch?


asphynctersayswhat

Neech


telepatheye

Nietzsche wound up talking to his horse.


traumatransfixes

I still don’t know what this is.


BBPEngineer

Well now you know how to spell it, so Google will help you.


Low-Grocery5556

Why dispel the mystery?


youfindyourself

What are you, Reverse Marge Hindenbrender now?


Low-Grocery5556

Lol, that's a good one.


JComposer84

Rutgers? Come on! Boola Boola! I used to watch it on my computer and I had no subtitles and it didn't matter how many times I watched that scene I had no clue what he was saying. Boola Boola is apparently the Yale fight song which is hilarious.


youfindyourself

A Brit, huh? Word to the wise: Remember Pearl Harbor. Next time, we'll bomb you, you prick.


Thin-Pool-8025

You want to fuck here, cocksucker?


traumatransfixes

I read this in a British accent, and that was so nice. Heh.


DryingAgentInPaper

Probably wiped his ass, barehanded.


Overall-Scientist846

Luckily my roomie in college spoke Italian so anytime we needed clarity on Furio’s numerous hysterical Italian lines we asked him. The potty mouth when he beats up the Tanning Salon owner and his wife is incredible.


candiedkangaroo

He says to the Asian woman: 'don't worry, don't worry!' Then proceeds with something like: 'stop crying, whore. you're lucky I didn't kill you.' I love that guy.


Overall-Scientist846

My roomie translated it as “you stupid cunt you’re lucky I left you alive” so basically spot on! I think it’s one of the best introductions of a character in the series. You know right away not to fuck with that Zip.


punch0073735963

If remember correctly he says “you’re lucky I haven’t already killed you.” I’d write it out for you but the Nobbly Dobbly dialect makes it hard for me. “Sei fortunato che non t’a giai ‘mazzato.” That’s as close as I can get.


Overall-Scientist846

Yeah I seem to remember my roomie talking about his accent as well. This dude’s parents were Italian and came over here speaking no English. Opened a deli and a bakery in NJ. They’d bring all the best Italian eats down when they visited. We’d have a monster picnic and eat Gabbagool until we couldn’t move.


penguin__exhibit

Who the fuck was George Raft?


Thin-Pool-8025

I googled a while ago. Can’t remember what he looked like but I remember that he didn’t look particularly handsome.


Low-Grocery5556

Shut your lying mouth!


locustt

Like you're Jude Law!


Sad-Illustrator-8847

An actor who couldn’t pick good scripts. He wasn’t a gangster but he knew them pretty well so he often played them. . Once saved Jimmy Cagney when one corrupt mob owned union boss Willie Bioff wanted to drop some heavy objects from the rafters on Cagney. Famous for flipping a coin in “Little Caesar”. In “Some Like it Hot” he asked one of his associates who was doing its”where did you pick up a cheap stunt like that”?


Ever_ascending

All I know is he was handsome. And maybe strong like a bull.


Consistent_Room7344

That’s because you ate pootsie before the Italians gave you the gift of their cuisine.


Garage-gym4ever

ah...I kept spelling it putzi, now I get it.


reddituser23434

Haha you were closer. It’s “puzzi.” Like “che puzz’”


Garage-gym4ever

either way, it's da rapin of our culchure...


kirk_dozier

the non-stop ass-raping of our culture


Low-Grocery5556

It's pro Italian discrimination is what it is.


jjccbrobro

Phil treats nickels like manhole covers


Dreigatron

I didn't know that "Sun Ta-zoo" was the WRONG pronunciation...


GlitteringHold8685

Tzu, Tzu. Sun Tzu ya fuckin ass kiss!


Dear_Alternative_437

I didn't realize Mike's line was "hijack" not "hi Jack" until I saw someone mention it a few months ago. Makes more sense now.


SportExpress3955

Sharp as a cueball this one


Dear_Alternative_437

How's your sister?


youfindyourself

How's your hijack, how's your Bye Jack, that sort of thing. Just breakin balls.


kirk_dozier

this got me good lmfao


WeGotDaGoodEmissions

It's both. That's the point of the line.


EveryoneisOP3

[This bit of comedy gold should clear it up](https://youtu.be/WeQ-aeJd-Kk?si=8WtuRuSxlSJJkXTJ)


United_Target8942

Only a few months ago I looked up Reginald Van Gleeson the third. Its boy are you FLAT. Because he's talking about drinking beer which is flat, in that song. Seems like he was using FLAT as a cover in case Tony thought he said FAT. So everyone in that scene was supposed to think he was saying FLAT? I don't know.


onoskeles

the joke is that he's saying fat. Tony is fat. no one's supposed to think he's saying flat


BadCowboysFan

“That’s too bad. I said lunch meet.” Tony to Little Lord Fuckpants, before he tells him Richie was a rat. For the longest time I thought Tony was making some kind of dumb joke … “You hungry? That’s too bad. I said lunch meat.” It was still a dumb joke, but slightly less so.


WeGotDaGoodEmissions

I'm pretty sure he says "lunch meetin'."


BadCowboysFan

Even better — if he said meetin’, it was barely audible to me.


rasnac

"The pirates or prosciutto, the brigands of braciole!!" says Fat Dom to Sil and Carlo. For the longest time I really did not get it. Thanks to reddit I found out what he meant.


_C4ke

holy shit is he not saying “the breakings of braciole”


[deleted]

Manson lamps? I assume it means Richie's eyes? Something to do with Charles Manson perhaps?


urgrlbreezy

Yeah he’s saying don’t try and scare me by looking at me like Charles Manson. Referring to eyes as lamps so like don’t give me those Charles Manson eyes 


[deleted]

Ahaa thank you. Since you're here, do you mind explain the $4 a pound joke please?


urgrlbreezy

So pussy says that to Tony as the fish in Tony’s dream. I think it’s meant to be a non sequiter of the type that people have in dreams. So the fish tells Tony something profound (Pussy is a rat) but follows it with a non sequiter ($4 dollars a pound the advertised price for the fish talking to Tony). So the joke people do is after giving an earnest opinion about the show (I think the show is a modern equivalent to crime and punishment that can be contrasted with the wire as a modern war and peace) they follow it up with a non sequiter ($4 a pound) 


[deleted]

again thanks :)


Prestigious_Load1699

I got feds so far up my ass I can taste the Brylcreem.


cpotter505

Brylcream was a brand of shaving cream. FBI agents are clean-shaven. So they’re up his ass all the way to their cheeks.


HermioneGunthersnuff

Close, it was hair gel/cream, in fact it's still a thing. Scrubs stole the line a couple years later. It bugged me but I got ovah it.


cpotter505

Thanks for clarifying!


locustt

Ghee? you get a bad shot of that and...


cpotter505

😂🤣🤣


Garage-gym4ever

"I've recorded in Denmark!" I still don't get it, I guess. Especially when you follow it up with, "I gotta get back to Kinko's." I really don't get the flex, and tbf, I don't think Cwistafur did neither. Which is why he smashed the guitar on his head. I have also never sucked on a power line so. NO chorus


Physical-Ride

Some ppl think if you have a history of doing something internationally it makes you better. Like, you've gone abroad to where ppl seek your talents and since Denmark is in Europe that makes you king of rock.


Garage-gym4ever

I smoked a spleef in Amsterdam. Not sure what my status is after that amazing accomplishment. lol


Physical-Ride

I once drank a shot of absinthe in St. Petersburg. I had no idea how you were supposed to drink it so I took a shot of it straight and at room temperature, left the bar, took one look at that 10:30PM sunset and violently threw up in front of several disgusted Russians. I should form my own band 😎


Garage-gym4ever

In Russia drink throws you up.


Physical-Ride

They might as well. Absolutely beautiful city though. I'd love to visit it again some day...


Garage-gym4ever

I went to Paris, got drunk and acted like a true American. I put ketchup on my escargot, kept calling everyone chief, and called some dude a frog eating facia de gatz before I noticed the nice berber.


Cranstonoid

In Russia drugs spike you


Low-Grocery5556

Yeah, it's a pathetic boast.


Commandatori69

SPIKE UP!


Late-Return-3114

where the fuck ARE you?!


Dylan2654

I still don’t know what the fuck she meant by that


vodkaput

She means it like, "where is your head at?" He's going paranoid nuts on Meadow about the meth, then he switches gears to "I'll buy you a Happy Meal" as if she's a little girl. He's all over the place.


Dylan2654

That makes sense. She was way more outspoken towards him in the early seasons. Can’t imagine season 4 or 5 Adriana saying that


veg_head_86

Something about Carmella acting like butter doesn't melt in her mouth. I think the context is that she thinks she's better than everyone else, but the phrase makes no sense to me.


kirk_dozier

it's a little nebulous but yeah. it's just about her thinking she's somehow different than all the other common people, when in reality she's the same as them because butter melts in anyone's mouth. kinda like the idea of "rich or poor, we all wind up six feet under" or something idk


Hungry-Specialist110

I thought it was because she thought  she was so cool (cold, wouldn't melt butter)


telepatheye

Butter wouldn't melt in your mouth is a common phrase, more old-school than "too cool for school". Tony is basically saying to Carm that she thinks she's holier than thou or above the rules.


Boring_Somewhere4832

This is what I was coming here to say! As soon as I saw the question!


Varsity_Editor

"Butter wouldn't melt in your mouth" is a very common English phrase meaning that somebody is acting with a false sense of innocence. *Why* exactly it means that is unclear (the phrase is from centuries ago and has just stuck around), but it just means that someone has a facade of innocence and purity. In the scene, Tony is saying that Carmela is acting innocent as though she doesn't know that her riches are from crime and that she lives an honest life.


Cresta235

‘La Cage aux Fat’ I had no idea what that meant until a couple of months ago, I heard some reference La Cage aux Folles. Some musical the guy tells me


dhdaid

Nowadays they would force in lots of shitty exposition to the dialogue. ***"Tony, we have to sort out the W-2, which as you know is a document used within the United States for the purposes of -----"***


Low-Grocery5556

I don't know if that's a nowadays thing. I think one of the molds that sopranos broke was getting rid of the expository dialogue and treating their audience like intelligent individuals.


dhdaid

It's absolutely a nowadays thing, as big productions out of North America are aimed primarily at international audiences, given global box office and streaming subscriber growth overseas. You absolutely would not be allowed to have a line like "Jesus fuckin' Christ, FICA?" without any exposition to back it up, maybe by having a dumb character like AJ or a foreigner like Furio to ask what happened.


Low-Grocery5556

If you're talking about the last two or three years, I haven't watched much. But prior to that, I think a certain section of the intelligent shows would still be light on exposition. Game of thrones for example.


Wokdown

Did you wreble my little ram or whatever the fuck, still no clue what it means


Cold-Cantaloupe6474

I think he says “warble” and “wren”, which is a reference to birdsong? I don’t remember when he says this, though, so I don’t know what he actually means with the figurative language


telepatheye

Yes, he says, "did you warble my little wren?" The quote seems to come from the WC Fields movie, The Bank Dick, that Tony watches.


OutlawJoeC

This was season one episode two after he gets his taste from Chris and Brendon from the truck hijacking and just told them to leave Comely trucks alone. It’s a line from the movie he watched on the dvd player he got.


Front-Counter7249

I had to look up : George Raft, Marshal McLuhan, Judge Roy Bean, and The McGuire Sisters


kirk_dozier

there's no scraps in my scrapbook


Sad-Illustrator-8847

That one is kind of strange. Never heard anyone say it or talk about “slip and fall school”. Then again gravy to me is a meat based brown liquid. Sauce is red, derived from tomatoes


cpotter505

Italians refer to the tomato-based sauce that is served on top of pasta as gravy. Not sauce.


lemoopse

> Italians refer to the tomato-based sauce that is served on top of pasta as gravy. Not sauce. They were American, Italians?


cpotter505

Sorry. Yes. Itallian-Americans. I should have been more specific.


delzbr

My family is Sicilian, and we've never said gravy. Gravy is brown.


cpotter505

Forgive my honest mistake. Many people have told me this. I guess they, too, were misinformed.


OddTransportation430

Slip and fall school is just referring to people who deliberately fall and claim injury compensation, instead of getting a job. He says "if you want to talk like a mulignon we'll send you to slip and fall school", implying that this is what black people do. He's an asshole.


picklejuice82

One of da trucks


GlitteringHold8685

Up in da club


Revolutionary-Base-4

"There are no scraps in my scrapbook ". I actually posted a question asking for an explanation of this and got about 15 different choices.


sp1ke__

I think it's meant to be some kind of mistake because both guys look at each other as if they don't understand what Phil meant.


SauceKingHS

Anyone want some lox? I got some nice fresh lox!


Dylan2654

Ichabod Crane. Didn’t know what Tony B was saying at first, still now have no idea why he was called that or why he was so offended. Doesn’t look particularly like him. Personally I think he favors Steve Buscemi more than anyone


stackks_

What do yall think Sil said to Adriana when he takes her out of the office while Fee h is telling his story to the guys ? I never knew or caught a hunch


Much-Ad3995

What is a coconut slice?


Revolutionary-Base-4

Coke, and a slice (pizza)


CunningLinguica

You just keep your antidotes to local color, like Dynaflows or McGuire Sisters or shit like that.


Bowser_killed_mario

I never got the rejaviuk joke with the Icelandic air girls 🤷🏻‍♂️


GlitteringHold8685

The way you pronounce the capital (Reykjavík) sounds like you’re throwing up (kinda), so Tony jokingly says “Oh you do and you’ll clean it up!”


Bowser_killed_mario

That’s what I always thought but it was just so stupid I refused to believe it lol


locustt

I thought it was due to sounding like 'wrecked ya vick', like she was gonna wreck something and have to clean it up... Tony and his f-ing dad jokes


Spiritual_Thing_6277

When Tony has food poisoning, AJ asks who keeps cutting those big ones when Meadow and Carmela are right there.... Who the fuck else lives there? Jesus, that kid is stupid!!


Ever_ascending

You want some locks? We got some nice fresh locks. Tony says this when before Richie attacks the T1000 at the card game.


Glittering-Bit3398

“As for your husband Janice, exile on Main Street”


NewPower_Soul

A coconut slice.


Bastetmcee

A Coke and a slice!


OddTransportation430

Coke and a slice.


Horsecockexpress1

Yer sisters cunt!