u/Sneaky-Hint

At last, I’ve finished The Sopranos! It's been on my watch list for years now. One step closer to becoming a full-on insufferable fiction snob.

I really liked it overall. It’s not perfect, there are definitely plotlines that either got way too much focus, or so little focus that I was left wondering why they were included at all, but it absolutely deserves its reputation as one of the all-time great TV shows. You can really see the DNA of later prestige TV all over it, especially stuff like Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones.

Tony is a complete piece of shit who somehow just keeps getting worse, but David Chase does an incredible job making him sympathetic without ever excusing him. By the end, the New Jersey crew basically deserves every terrible thing that happens to them and probably worse, but you still feel bad seeing the house of cards come crumbling down.

The therapy scenes were definitely some of my favourites, especially how they got into the not-so-glorious psychology of a criminal and why it’s such a horrible place to exist mentally, even with all the mansions and expensive cars.

Watching Melfi slowly realise over seven years that she hadn’t rehabilitated Tony at all, she’d just helped turn him into a more self-aware and efficient criminal, was weirdly cathartic. I'm a little disappointed we didn't get to see more of her afterwards, but ending the sessions by her own choice was as good an ending as it could get.

I know there's plenty of mixed opinions around it, but I’m glad Melfi never told Tony about the rape. I know some people wanted the revenge fantasy, and I can't deny I wanted to see her rapist get beaten to death by rusty pipes as well, but that would’ve completely compromised her character. She would’ve become indebted to Tony and basically sanctioned a murder by proxy, making her a complete hypocrite. Her staying one of the few genuinely moral people in the show made the ending of their relationship hit harder.

AJ weirdly reminded me a lot of Shinji from Evangelion. Both got absolutely hated when their shows first came out because “this kid is annoying and whiny,” but now due to the rise of mental health aware people look at them and go “this kid needs all the therapy.”

There are a dozen things I'm leaving out that I have strong opinions on, but this post has gone on long enough. It's been a delight watching this show, and if anyone wants to get my thoughts on something specific I'd be happy to try.

TLDR: I can still hardly stomach all the betrayal Paulie takes in six seasons.

Just finished Fallout 4: Far Harbor, and I absolutely loved it. I’ve been really curious to see what endings other people chose.

I found DiMA incredibly interesting as a character, his motivations, his relationship with the synths under his protection, connection to Nick, his genuine benevolence, but also the darker side lurking underneath all of that. In the end, him pulling an Institute by murdering and replacing Avery was a line too far for me, so I chose to bring him to trial. Acadia was spared, but DiMA himself had to die.

With him gone, there’s really no path left for resolving things peacefully with the Children of Atom, so I begrudgingly gave them the nuclear ending they were practically begging for, and that was that.

Overall, it was a messy ending, but I kind of loved that about it. The Children die happy and can’t spread their cult further across the harbour, Acadia gets to remain a safe haven, and the people of Far Harbor finally get a chance to breathe while Avery remains blissfully unaware of her true nature. I know there’s a perfect ending where everyone makes peace, but honestly, I liked how imperfect mine was. It felt more believable because of it.

I'd love to hear from others what they chose and why.