Pussy's reflection on the cabinet mirror :O
I can’t stand Janice
Funeral episode is the funniest episode of Sorpanos
You know, the digitally reconstructed Livia was a tragic necessity, unlike the ones used today for nothing but brazen greed and nostalgia. But it somehow still works. The unnatural face, the recycled lines. It highlights how she and Tony were caught in this inescapable, endless loop. Until it finally ended. Killer funeral too.
Watched on Max. This episode pretty much summarizes what Livia Soprano represented to the family, a woman who despised her family and was despised by them. That woman was so hateful and did a lot of harm to her children.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2015-07-08T02:41:02Z
It sputters around a bit, but once it gets to the funeral, it's amazing. Janice's acting and manipulation. Chris's drugged out rant. Hesh's struggle to say something nice. Carmella's declaration followed by her father's condemnation. What a balance of drama and comedy. What an amazing performance out of nowhere from Carmella's father. Such power and force and anger coming from him. Blew me away. And I loved how the in-laws to Livia saw her for what she was and don't give in to the eulogizing in the same way her family has to.
The CGI stuff with Lyvia was pretty weak, and the thing with Big Pussy in the mirror was cool, but mostly it comes down to that one set piece at the funeral. All anyone can say is that Lyvia didn't suffer, because no one has anything nice to say. Tony struggles with his feelings about his mother, his relief at the fact that she's dead, his guilt that he feels that way and feels like he's a bad son, his contemplation at signs like the fact that she hung onto his varsity letter that might suggest she did care about him, and his sadness at watching Public Enemy, and maybe just confronting the fact that someone who was important to who he is and was is gone, and that he'll never have the mother he seems to idolize in that film. Interesting stuff to chew on.
Oh, and I almost forgot, the actress who plays Janice in the episode is amazing. The way she goes from disinterested to putting on a show of grief to blatantly manipulative to transparently narcissistic and jealous in the span of the episode is amazing. Tony certainly inherited some unfortunate traits and problems from his parents, but Janice is the one who's taken up her mother's mantle.