Is the Sopranos worth watching all of?

[slayer202]

Serious question?

 

[AccruedExpenditure]

Yes.
-AE

 

[Scouzer]

Yes. I watched every single episode in one month. That's about 86 hours worth...

 

[Loop2kil]

Dexter > Sopranos > everything else...but the Sopranos was a great series.

 

[CoinOperatedBoy]

Don't know how people can seriously recommend Dexter over Sopranos. Dexter might as well be a cartoon. It was good for like 5 episodes in season 1 and then promptly jumped the shark.

 

[MixMasterTang]

Originally posted by: FelixDeKat
Kind of. The behavior of the characters made me sick, especially Tonys nephew Christopher (Michael Imperioli). He was such a wanna be dirtbag with those stupid buck teeth of his. He looks like one of those cry baby bullies. Real tough when hes with his friends, but get him alone and he would cry not to get his ass kicked. Ive known people like that.

Isn't that sort of what made it so good, the character development?

 

[buck]

Originally posted by: Loop2kil
Dexter > Sopranos > everything else...but the Sopranos was a great series.

:thumbsup:

 

[FelixDeCat]

Originally posted by: MixMasterTang

Originally posted by: FelixDeKat
Kind of. The behavior of the characters made me sick, especially Tonys nephew Christopher (Michael Imperioli). He was such a wanna be dirtbag with those stupid buck teeth of his. He looks like one of those cry baby bullies. Real tough when hes with his friends, but get him alone and he would cry not to get his ass kicked. Ive known people like that.

Isn't that sort of what made it so good, the character development?

Yes, but that particular character was annoying. I did watch the series afterall, so something kept bringing me back.

 

[aircooled]

Originally posted by: CoinOperatedBoy
Don't know how people can seriously recommend Dexter over Sopranos. Dexter might as well be a cartoon. It was good for like 5 episodes in season 1 and then promptly jumped the shark.

No it didn't.

 

[Sureshot324]

I watched every single episode and was dissapointed there were no more. Still hoping for a movie.

 

[CoinOperatedBoy]

Originally posted by: aircooled

Originally posted by: CoinOperatedBoy
Don't know how people can seriously recommend Dexter over Sopranos. Dexter might as well be a cartoon. It was good for like 5 episodes in season 1 and then promptly jumped the shark.

No it didn't.

Oh, my mistake.

Sorry, but the ending of season 1 just felt completely ridiculous. Since the OP is debating what to watch, I won't reveal spoilers, but the "twist" with the Ice Truck Killer was completely groan-worthy to me. Season 2 managed to almost top it with the introduction of Lila and the developments with Doakes. I was annoyed with the entirety of season 3 and the Miguel Prado storyline.

Look, I understand the show is for entertainment and needn't be 100% true to life, but what appealed to me in the first place was the notion of a realistic and oddly sympathetic look into the life of a serial killer. Unfortunately, I feel like the realism is lacking and the sympathy is too cheaply earned. The dramatic situations in Dexter have just gotten more and more absurd, while the explorations into his personal problems have felt forgotten or tacked on to me where I thought they should have been more central. His soap opera conflicts with Rita and his sister always end in vapid moralizing and any tensions are usually erased within an episode or two.

And then at its heart, Dexter is a copout: once we get over the initial shock (if there is any) to the violence he does, his "code" prevents him from doing anything really nasty that might put us off. We always like him, even when he's feeding us his "I'm secretly cold and unfeeling" voiceovers or carving up a drug dealer, because he's kind of a vigilante comic book superhero -- a notion he himself entertains briefly in season 2 -- and he only goes after the real bad guys. At worst, we might chide him for how he sometimes treats his so-called loved ones. The point is, he would have been a more interesting character if he lacked the restrictions that make him the undoubtable protagonist. Once we've come to terms with his behavior and accepted that this serial killer is a good guy (or the good guy), that's it, we bought the show's hook and there's nowhere else for our relationship to go with Dexter. All we can do is allow ourselves to be titillated by the gore and explosions.

The Sopranos, on the other hand, shows a much more realistic juxtaposition between family life and crime, and allows the viewer to slip into a truly uneasy, if sympathetic, relationship with the characters. We like them, but we may never fully accept them because we know that sometimes what they do is simply wrong. When we see Tony playing a loving (if dysfunctional) father figure, it's all the more unsettling to see his truly depraved side come out to intimidate and harm people who don't deserve it. You might consider that Tony is the real villain of the series, but at times we root for him anyway. Like his family, we love and condemn Tony at the same time and that's what makes this show so special: It's a constant struggle for the viewers to come to terms with their own beliefs about right and wrong in the context of the actions we see on The Sopranos, and in so doing we may even gain some insight into the justifications we make in our own lives.

Dexter takes the easy road because we never really have to question him (or ourselves, by extension). Plus all the performances except for Michael C. Hall's are annoying as hell.

 

[Platypus]

stop after season 5.

 

[thegimp03]

Yes, it's well worth the time. I've watched the entire series through three times.

 

[Legendary]

Yes, watch the entire show. Then watch it again in about a year or so.
The first part of season 6 is fairly meh but the rest of the show is just excellent.

For the record I've watched the entire series at least 5 times all the way through so I'm slightly biased.

 

[mikelish]

yes

 

[Loop2kil]

Originally posted by: CoinOperatedBoy

Originally posted by: aircooled

Originally posted by: CoinOperatedBoy
Don't know how people can seriously recommend Dexter over Sopranos. Dexter might as well be a cartoon. It was good for like 5 episodes in season 1 and then promptly jumped the shark.

No it didn't.

Oh, my mistake.

Sorry, but the ending of season 1 just felt completely ridiculous. Since the OP is debating what to watch, I won't reveal spoilers, but the "twist" with the Ice Truck Killer was completely groan-worthy to me. Season 2 managed to almost top it with the introduction of Lila and the developments with Doakes. I was annoyed with the entirety of season 3 and the Miguel Prado storyline.

Look, I understand the show is for entertainment and needn't be 100% true to life, but what appealed to me in the first place was the notion of a realistic and oddly sympathetic look into the life of a serial killer. Unfortunately, I feel like the realism is lacking and the sympathy is too cheaply earned. The dramatic situations in Dexter have just gotten more and more absurd, while the explorations into his personal problems have felt forgotten or tacked on to me where I thought they should have been more central. His soap opera conflicts with Rita and his sister always end in vapid moralizing and any tensions are usually erased within an episode or two.

And then at its heart, Dexter is a copout: once we get over the initial shock (if there is any) to the violence he does, his "code" prevents him from doing anything really nasty that might put us off. We always like him, even when he's feeding us his "I'm secretly cold and unfeeling" voiceovers or carving up a drug dealer, because he's kind of a vigilante comic book superhero -- a notion he himself entertains briefly in season 2 -- and he only goes after the real bad guys. At worst, we might chide him for how he sometimes treats his so-called loved ones. The point is, he would have been a more interesting character if he lacked the restrictions that make him the undoubtable protagonist. Once we've come to terms with his behavior and accepted that this serial killer is a good guy (or the good guy), that's it, we bought the show's hook and there's nowhere else for our relationship to go with Dexter. All we can do is allow ourselves to be titillated by the gore and explosions.

The Sopranos, on the other hand, shows a much more realistic juxtaposition between family life and crime, and allows the viewer to slip into a truly uneasy, if sympathetic, relationship with the characters. We like them, but we may never fully accept them because we know that sometimes what they do is simply wrong. When we see Tony playing a loving (if dysfunctional) father figure, it's all the more unsettling to see his truly depraved side come out to intimidate and harm people who don't deserve it. You might consider that Tony is the real villain of the series, but at times we root for him anyway. Like his family, we love and condemn Tony at the same time and that's what makes this show so special: It's a constant struggle for the viewers to come to terms with their own beliefs about right and wrong in the context of the actions we see on The Sopranos, and in so doing we may even gain some insight into the justifications we make in our own lives.

Dexter takes the easy road because we never really have to question him (or ourselves, by extension). Plus all the performances except for Michael C. Hall's are annoying as hell.

Very well written and I see your point...I would have to agree with your view on the other characters, as I did not enjoy his sister at all. In fact, she annoyed the hell out of me. I overlooked that though as I'm a sucker for narrated dramas and the fact that Dexter as a TV series is something quite unique.

 

[Lumathix]

Deadwood > Rome > Sopranos

But Sopranos was badass till the last 5 seconds of the last episode