The Brilliance of Pine Barrens - Soprano Theories

while we know these sopranos is a fantastic show and easily one of the greatest television shows of all time it's a show that features some of the single greatest television episodes ever aired on the small screen with classics such as irregular around the margins made in america whitecaps college and who could forget the series's pilot that started it all however despite all these fantastic episodes and so many other classics from the series there's one episode that seems to stand tall above the rest and that is the 11th episode of season 3 pine barrens in this video i will analyze and summarize the popular episode and go into detail on what makes pine barrens so beloved by fans and why it has triggered a cult following before we get started be sure to click subscribe and click the bell to get notifications on all upcoming sopranos content and be sure to follow me on twitter instagram and patreon links will be in the description below now pine barrens isn't one of my favorite episodes of the series as some of my favorites are irregular around the margins long term parking marco polo the strong silent type and candy and heidi but i can see why so many admire the episode and why it has such a strong cult following pine barrens initially aired on may 6 2001 and was the first episode that was directed by steve buscemi this would be the first of four times that buchemi directed for these sopranos and the episode was written by the amazing terry winter and tim van patten the episode revolves around three major story lines there is the storyline of jackie jr cheating on meadow but it's almost a side plot opposed to the three major plots within pine barrens the first plot being gloria and tony's relationship as the episode begins with gloria returning from morocco as she enters tony's boat she answers the phone only to be startled by an ex-girlfriend of tony's in irena answering the phone this is where tony begins to see gloria's true colors come to life after he lies to her what you said was that you didn't want to piss me off which implies that you'd have to deal with me which was more about sparing you than my [ __ ] feelings before her trip to morocco tony and gloria's relationship was going very smooth and this side of gloria is something new to tony and something he has yet to see tony and gloria's relationship within pine barrens almost parallels the entirety of the series as a quick summary of these sopranos would be a new jersey mob boss trying to balance his work life as a gangster and his personal life within his family and throughout the episode that is exactly what we see here we watch as tony tries to balance and hide his relationship with gloria away from his family but also while trying to be a family man nowhere is this more noticeable than the dinner scene with carmela and aj as earlier in the episode tony and gloria make up from their argument that happened on the boat and the two forgive and forget over a dinner at gloria's house part of what makes pine baron so special is much like every other episode within the series as terry winter included little details that appeared earlier in the episode and never forgot them as the episode continued as tony promised gloria to meet her at her house for dinner in the afternoon built anticipation and tension come dinner time at the soprano household and tony's anxiety and anxiousness to go see gloria only heightened once carmela's parents arrived with the sudden news that hugh has glaucoma and of course the second and third storylines within pine barrens are the russian and paulie and christopher stuck in the woods with silvio leaving work early due to an apparent flu tony sends paulie and christopher to go collect silvio's money from slava's russian associate valerie right from the beginning we can see that this news seriously puts paulie in a bad mood as he doesn't want to go make silvio's pickups due to the fact that he was supposed to take his mother to social security the next day already angry about making silvio's pickup paulie immediately gives valerie a hard time and resents him due to his entertainment center tempers flare when paulie deliberately drops and breaks valerie's universal remote this is where the comedy of this episode begins during the scene as an altercation occurs with christopher climbing on top of valerie with paulie using a layup to choke valerie out and apparently busting his windpipe even before the two enter valerie's apartment we are treated to some comedy gold as they knock on the door the russians they're not all bad how about the cuban missile crisis [ __ ] moved nuclear warheads into cuba pointed them right at us that was real i saw that movie i thought it was [ __ ] we see the two wrap valerie up in a wall rug and stuff him in the car while at the gas station the two debate on what to do with the body and the rest of their day eventually the two head down to pine barrens to bury valerie in the woods christopher and paulie open the trunk to discover that valerie is still alive and this is obviously a scene that pays homage to the infamous billy batzen from goodfellas as frank vincent's character billy batz was also still alive in the trunk the two lift valerie out only to have him dig his own grave or so they thought while the two are distracted valerie smacks christopher in the head with the shovel and hits paulie in the groin oddly enough this wouldn't be the first time polly would end up getting hit in the groin a chase ensues and the two are amazed when paulie appears to strike valerie in the head but yet he still proceeds to run bloodied and bruised the two try to trace their footsteps back to the car but appear to get lost christopher thinks he found and shot valerie but the two are only left with the discovery of disappointment that he had shot a deer now lost in the middle of the woods christopher having this huge gash on his head while also starving paulie having lost the shoe and the russian potentially still being alive paulie proceeds to call tony only to get interrupted from poor cellular service these phone call scenes are the true comedy of the episode especially with the classic line you're not going to believe this he killed 16 czechoslovakians guy was an inferior decorator [Music] his house looked like [ __ ] as these phone calls and the entire scenario of christopher and paulie being stuck in the woods gives the episode a slapstick comedy vibe or a sitcom feel here's an example of some funny dialogue from christopher with a laugh track behind it if this guy's not dead bully he's [ __ ] dead i know but 16 seconds czechoslovakians he's trained for this [ __ ] it's like die hard [ __ ] or even paulie's infamous relish line fix it with the rush it's lines like these from christopher and paulie that really set this episode apart from other ones as the temperature drops and the sun sets the two spot an abandoned van to take shelter in throughout their time spent together in the van paulie and christopher bicker back and forth and we start to see the conflict that the two had with one another earlier in the series appear again with christopher starving for something to eat and potentially being concussed he threatens paulie at gunpoint i'll leave you here you once you [ __ ] christopher is angry at paulie because paulie is pinning the entire scenario on christopher as paulie knows that he messed up and he doesn't want tony to know later on tony and bobby come to the rescue and throughout the episode we are treated to more comedy one time we went hunting saw a sign said bear left so we went home part of what makes this episode so special and appealing to sopranos fans are the jokes like bobby's throughout the episode we are treated to numerous jokes that sometimes are just so bad they make you laugh we all know the sopranos features large portions of comedy throughout the series but pine barrens is easily one of if not the funniest episode of the entire series from start to finish we are treated with plenty of jokes in a way pine barrens feels as if it's a miniature movie with the run time of the episode just running under an hour personally i feel that the stardom of steve buscemi and this being his first major directoral debut provided the episode with so much more anticipation and energy opposed to others with buscemi being a major star and appearing in comedies such as saturday night live the big lebowski billy madison and popular films such as fargo and pulp fiction already under his belt pine barrens is widely viewed as the best episode of these sopranos due to its offbeat narrative but also due to the comedy from paulie and christopher it's even the highest rated sopranos episode on imdb there's just something utterly hilarious about these big bad masculine mafioso shivering like children while out in the woods and forced to eat stale ketchup packets to satisfy their hunger personally do i think that pine barrens is the best episode of these sopranos i'm not too sure is it my personal favorite i don't think so as i do think a more superior episode for the series is long-term parking in the early years of these sopranos the show wasn't necessarily as big as it was towards its latter years and it's quite possible that pine barrens is what put the show over the top especially with the episode being directed by steve buscemi but do i think pine barrens is the series's funniest episode absolutely 100 as you have to give credit where credit is due pine barrens is a significant piece of television history as it may be the funniest hour ever to air on television it's just naturally funny even without a laugh track that were to appear on a show like friends where a laugh track acts as your cue to laugh tony sarico and michael imperioli's chemistry is unmatched in this wonderful hour of television greatness and even the writing is of course top notch as always as terry winter and tim van patten received an award from the writers guild of america for their work on pine barrens what do you think about the infamous pine barrens episode is it the best episode out of these sopranos is it your personal favorite let me know down in the comment section below for more sopranos theme videos keep it locked here right here on this channel

Channel: Soprano Theories

Views: 206,444

Keywords: The Sopranos, Sopranos, Sopranos Ending, Christopher Moltisanti, Paulie Walnuts, Sopranos Christopher, Sopranos Paulie, Sopranos Paulie and Christopher, Sopranos Pine Barrens, Pine Barrens The Sopranos, Pine Barrens Russian, Sopranos Russian, Soprano Theories, Sopranos Analysis, Pure Kino, Pure Kino Sopranos, Talking Sopranos, Borko Sopranos, Pine Barrens, Pine Barrens Paulie, Pine Barrens Christopher, Pine Barrens Bobby, Sopranos Prequel, Sopranos Myths, Russian Sopranos

Id: HqgkCO6V73I

Length: 10min 20sec (620 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 12 2021