How would you grade this episode on a 1-10 scale (10 being the best possible quality)

Total votes: 0

Re: Episode 1.05: College - Grades & General Review

11
Pretty good episode. I agree with the post that the Hawthorne quote is some great insight into Chase's goals. It sets up much of the philosophical questions this series raises.

I love the fight between Tony and Carmella at the end. It was a very realistic portrayal of an argument in a marriage and two parties using information against one another. Carmella laid a trap for Tony with the line about Father Phil staying the night. She was just waiting to spring the news about her knowing Dr. Melfi's gender on him.

Re: Episode 1.05: College - Grades & General Review

13
I definitely don't agree with all the entertainment sites that rank this episode one of the best ever, I thought it was merely decent.

I enjoyed the main plot for the most part, but Tony just happening to run across someone who testified against him was a little too farfetched for my tastes, that's the type of contrivance that I wouldn't expect from a normally smart show like this.

Also I did not like the subplot with Carm and Father Phil one bit, it's probably my least favorite subplot in the entire series as I felt it was extremely boring and pointless and didn't really go anywhere. Mainly cause I always found Phil to be a very bland and forgettable character that never really added anything to the show, he gets my vote for worst character in the series.

Agreed that Jamie-Lynn was excellent in this episode, Meadow is actually one of my favorite characters on the show, and in that Sopranos Variety interview a few years ago Sigler told a touching story about this episode- while they were filming there was a set of chairs for the cast, along with a big chair that James normally occupied, and he told Sigler something like "You sit here, this is your episode"

One interesting bit of trivia, HBO was a little hesitant about having Tony kill someone, as they were concerned that he would lose sympathy from the audience, Chase insisted that they were more likely to lose sympathy for him if he DIDN'T kill someone, as not killing the guy would've made him look weak.
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