The reason Silvio is so out of character in this episode is that it was supposed to be Paulie, but then Tony Sirico suffered a back injury that kept him mostly out of the season’s first half, with Paulie jarringly having been thrown in jail between seasons.

It’s also so unintentionally racist. The writers were like “There are no black people in this show, lets add some. What are black guys like?” and then made them all rappers, made them wear ridiculous clothes and try to bag a white guy’s girlfriend.

They still together? Seems like decades since they annoyed the hell out of me. 

“In hindsight, Cuomo may have been better served watching The Sopranos, like the rest of us in 2020, as opposed to manipulating COVID death data and sexually harassing co-workers.”

The argument wasn’t that adultery is a crime, it’s that it’s a pretty weak claim to fame.

It is NOT hated, I assure you, no matter what the writer (who was probably in 4th grade when it aired) has to say lol

Crap, I forgot about that one.  I’m going to go with that. I love Woodbine most of the time, but that was rough. The saving grace is the overall crack at the metal-to-emotional-grunge transition and how fucking terrible Visiting Day is, but everything Massive Genius has got to be the show’s nadir.

The worst episode is “A Hit is a Hit”, the one with Massive Genius

Obviously, breaking out of the conventional narrative for a surrealistic episode that advances themes (something the show did a few other times, better) isn’t for everybody, but it’s kind of the opposite of a cop out.

The Vito/Johnny stuff also shows exactly why wiseguys do what they end up doing: they tend to be lazy, shiftless, bored people who react to actual labor with something akin to “But MAAAAAAAA, I don’t wanna!”

It’s a common problem when you have writers writing about things that aired when they were in preschool.

During my initial viewing, I would’ve sworn the side quest with Vito and Johnny Cakes were my least favorite episodes, but after my (somewhat scary) number of rewatches, I realized it was part of the show’s “Let’s use side characters to demonstrate what every possible out for Tony would look like, (before we…

Not my favorite episode, but not the nadir, either (that’d be Christopher Moltisanti: Music Producer). It definitely hits on a key but generally unexamined aspect of the rank-and-file Mafia: they were a bunch of dumb, excitable mooks who did not have the brain power to do literally anything other than what they could…

This happens a lot. The Italian-American/Columbus thing simmered quietly for a while until the anti-woke MAGA era, so a new generation is seeing it for the first time.

It’s always weird when people call something a “predictor,” or “before its time,” when in reality it’s depicting an issue that existed at the time and simply persists.

“Wood says he doesn’t “believe diversity to be the paramount priority [anymore].”

Anyone who thought this episode was bad, didn’t understand the show.

Oh for fuck’s sake, adultery isn’t a crime. Let’s save the “this guy shouldn’t be on TV” for the actual predators since we have a hard enough time even keeping them out of work.

I only saw this season on DVD shortly before season 6 premiered, kinda late to the whole Sopranos thing. I had no idea it was hated. It’s a fucking brilliant, hilarious episode. If this had been South Park or something, people would have gone on talking about how witty and satirical it is. But it’s The Sopranos so…

Hey, AV Club, it might be time to consider seeking therapy over your Vanderpump/Sandoval obsession.