I like how they are not just doing formula, but trying new things and new ways to tell a story. The dream part of Tony wandering around out of place and lost, with nothing much happening, was such a good portrayal of how you feel waiting and waiting when someone is really sick in the hospital. Worried, but BORED and time is ENDLESS and nothing has the meaning it usually has.
Also the hospital and medical stuff is very well done, which makes a nice change on TV.
I got something entirely different out of his ... dream? hallucination? whatever:
His whole alternate life - the loss of his own identity, the slow, slow spin towards loss of control over both his physical and mental existance, even the *Buddhists* hate him, and fires ever burning just on the horizon, "I'm lost..." - was wonderfully executed. When he briefly comes out of the coma, he says "Who am I? Where am I going?" Freaking brilliant. I'm constantly delighted at how well this show, so deeply rooted in realism, handles its random fantasy/dream sequences, so that they never ever jolt the viewer out of "The Sopranos", even as they are as different in tone as they can be.
Yep yep yep. What blew me away was how everything in Tony's alternate life was so ominous. Carmela saying over the phone "You're in your own world" just gave me chills.
I'm going to have to watch again, but I'm pretty sure he's hearing what's going on in the hospital room. In the phone call with Meadow she tells him AJ had to go bed because he had a stomach ache, then later we hear in reality that AJ hadn't been to see him because of the flu.
Finally, sad and helpless Tony is breaking my heart.
I think your view of this is a really good interpretation too. That's the thing about a good 'alternate reality' bit like this one--it can mean quite a few different things, and strike different chords in different people.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2006-03-20 04:55 am (UTC)Also the hospital and medical stuff is very well done, which makes a nice change on TV.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-20 04:58 am (UTC)His whole alternate life - the loss of his own identity, the slow, slow spin towards loss of control over both his physical and mental existance, even the *Buddhists* hate him, and fires ever burning just on the horizon, "I'm lost..." - was wonderfully executed. When he briefly comes out of the coma, he says "Who am I? Where am I going?" Freaking brilliant. I'm constantly delighted at how well this show, so deeply rooted in realism, handles its random fantasy/dream sequences, so that they never ever jolt the viewer out of "The Sopranos", even as they are as different in tone as they can be.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-20 12:02 pm (UTC)I'm going to have to watch again, but I'm pretty sure he's hearing what's going on in the hospital room. In the phone call with Meadow she tells him AJ had to go bed because he had a stomach ache, then later we hear in reality that AJ hadn't been to see him because of the flu.
Finally, sad and helpless Tony is breaking my heart.
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Date: 2006-03-20 01:45 pm (UTC)You know what's weird? I don't think that's Carmela's voice. I think it's Charmaine. Remember, he was seeing her in his youth?
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Date: 2006-03-20 02:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-22 04:32 am (UTC)Can't wait for next week!