Almost finished watching it for the first time. Already the best show i've seen.
One thing that struck me, is the casting of Gandolfini; as the brutish, not conventionally handsome alpha is quite key to much of its realism, and something that likely wouldn't be tolerated by audiences today. Tony's appeal would trigger too many vice articles about patriarchal oppression etc and comparisons to Weinstein etc. But anyone watching that show with a brain can feel how real the interactions are, between Tony, his wife and all the goomahs. You just know that many of the storylines and events will be roughly transcribed from real life experience or reportings from the mob.
I think the Italian mafia genre (The Sopranos, Godfather, Goodfellas etc) was so successful purely because of the realism they portray thats so lacking in almost every other movie or tv show. Watching them feels almost like an education on social ladders and alpha qualities.
One thing that struck me, is the casting of Gandolfini; as the brutish, not conventionally handsome alpha is quite key to much of its realism, and something that likely wouldn't be tolerated by audiences today. Tony's appeal would trigger too many vice articles about patriarchal oppression etc and comparisons to Weinstein etc. But anyone watching that show with a brain can feel how real the interactions are, between Tony, his wife and all the goomahs. You just know that many of the storylines and events will be roughly transcribed from real life experience or reportings from the mob.
I think the Italian mafia genre (The Sopranos, Godfather, Goodfellas etc) was so successful purely because of the realism they portray thats so lacking in almost every other movie or tv show. Watching them feels almost like an education on social ladders and alpha qualities.