Amour Fou

This was a downward spiral of self destructing paths, until it all rventually blew up near the end!

This episode was the kind that got better and better as it went along! Started out average, but it slowly got really tense with some incredible drama and developmrnt i knew were coming at some point, but was unprepared on how it played out!

The acting for this episode was amazing as others have pointed out! Tony was incredible in this episode, giving him some of the best scenes and shows us his inner conflicts!

It seems that season 3 will warm up for a great finale.. but.. it wont be cinematic!

Death is just around the corner, and judging from this episode's events, it will be quite nasty too: starting on a bleak note and ending on an even bleaker one, Amour Fou lays down the road for the no doubt affecting, tragic finale with relentless strength.

Having been hit in the face with a steak at the hands of Gloria, Tony decides to end it with her, and has Patsy Parisi tell the insane woman what awaits her, should she decide to stalk the big guy or his family. The bad day gets even worse when Jackie Jr., upon hearing his father and Tony got made after robbing a card game, decides to pull off a similar stunt, only to run into Furio and Christopher, who recognize him and ask for his head. Tony agrees that the boy has run his course, but waits for Ralphie's say on the matter.

Essentially the first half of a two-parter, Amour Fou is, like all other season closers, not afraid to get its hands dirty: while Jackie's fate was pretty clear from the start, the treatment Gloria receives comes off as cruel even by Sopranos standards. The human drama that takes place should be involving enough even for those who don't like the show (because of the violence, the swearing or whatever reason there might be), a fact acknowledged by Tony's angry reaction to a spiteful remark made by Chris: "You may not love me, but you will respect me!". That sentence is aimed at the program's detractors as much as it is at Chrissy. Personally, I love it.

Compelling episode as always. But IMO opinion in this episode, one can tell Annabella Scorria isn't a very good actress. It's in the eyes. A good actor, such as James Gandolfini, always acts as if it's a real situation. That means that the eyes take part in every emotion a person is having. However, when Gloria is furious (which she is on multiple occasions in the ep), her eyes remain neutral. That is absolutely unnatural and would never occur in real life. One's eyes would spit fire!

In the case of Tony for example, or Adriana, or Carmela, or Paulie, their eyes always take part in the emotion portrayed. That's how it should be. Scorria is IMO overrated as an actress.

It's in the eyes, folks, it's in the eyes.

And now all good (and bad) things must come to an end. Having been smacked in the head with a steak by the totally insane Gloria, who threatens to tell Tony's family about them, he just about strangles the tiny woman and then sends Patsy to have a little chat with her. That little chat is incredibly menacing and frightening. Tony comes to the realization (with help from Dr. Melfi, of course) that Gloria is just his mother all over again. Jackie decides to do something really stupid, which will result in cries for his head.And so it goes. A very unpleasant episode, to say the least. I must say the actress playing Gloria, whom I can never remember by name, gave the performance of her career here. Too bad she didn't always get such meaty roles to work with. I might remember her name then.

... it is a particularly bad idea if you are not very bright. Think back on Matt Bevilaqua who misinterpreted something Ritchie Aprile said, and this week it's Jackie Aprile Jr definitely not misinterpreting something that his mother's boyfriend Ralph said and then relying on equally unwise companions.

Tony's management style is on display when he brings in Ralph to decide the boy's fate. When Ralph says he wants to give the lad a pass, Tony says the decision is all up to Ralph while at the same time making it pretty clear that it is not all up to Ralph.

Complicating things is the fact that Jackie Jr. Has been dating Tony's daughter Meadow. When Tony sees Jackie fooling around with one of the girls at a strip club he goes ballistic. Maybe he doesn't want his daughter to have the same kind of husband that her mother has? Sometimes it seems that Meadow is the only person Tony does actually love.

Also during this episode Tony discovers that his latest girlfriend is a goofball. For all of the smart decisions he makes - considering he is a mob boss - he never considers picking a woman up in a psychiatrist's waiting room might not be a good idea?

Another fine episode of the Sopranos.