Just because an hour of television is defined as a bottle episode doesn’t mean it’s not worth watching. Indeed, some fans of “Breaking Bad” consider Season 3, Episode 10 (“Fly”) to be one of the greatest hours of the critically acclaimed series (via IMDb). However, bottle episodes can be tricky, and it’s certainly not rare for many fans to simply skip the unnecessary entries of any given series on a rewatch.
Like the aforementioned “Breaking Bad,” many avid television viewers consider HBO’s “The Sopranos” to be one of the greatest TV shows to ever don the small screen. For some fans, skipping even a single episode of the beloved series could be considered a crime worthy of “whacking.” Nevertheless, even David Chase’s epic saga of the legendary Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) has moments that we might have been better off without.
Between the many dream-like sequences and one trip to Hollywood that sees Ben Kingsley regret getting a flight, plenty of moments in “The Sopranos” aren’t necessarily crucial in the grand scheme of things. Recognizing this fact, a Reddit community of “The Sopranos” aficionados recently engaged in a conversation over the least essential hours of the series.
Fans skip certain episodes for different reasons
In a 2020 post to the r/TheSopranos subreddit, u/Substantial-Dream-75 asked the online community which episodes they consider safe to skip. In providing their own answer, the original poster wrote, “I’ve skipped [Season 5, Episode 7] ‘In Camelot’ on my last couple of rewatches because it is so cringey, but this time I’m making myself watch it, and I realize so much happens in this episode!”
Interestingly, many respondents to this question agreed that the episode in which Tony meets his father’s former comàre is required viewing in order to fully understand the character of Tony Soprano. “‘In Camelot’ is a very important episode because it sort of tells you how Tony is going to end,” u/Comprehensive_Main wrote. “If Tony can’t forgive his mother, then he can’t really move on.”
Of course, plenty of other fans offered up a few alternative choices too. The second episode considered for Satriale’s proverbial chopping block was Season 1, Episode 10 (“A Hit is a Hit”), an episode in which Adriana (Drea de Matteo) attempts to enter the music business via a band she is promoting. As usual, things quickly turn south for Adriana when Christopher (Michael Imperioli) becomes involved. In regards to this episode, u/boonfarmer wrote, “It’s not essential for sure, but it does contain one of my oft-quoted Hesh lines.” Similarly, u/sirfartsalot10 wrote, “I guess it’s not super important to the plotline, but there are some great lines (both funny and serious).”
Other episodes mentioned in the Reddit thread for potential clipping included Season 3, Episode 11 (“Pine Barrens”); Season 6, Episode 16 (“Chasing It”); and the dream-sequence heavy Kevin Finnerty episodes.
Read More: https://www.looper.com/851403/the-sopranos-episodes-that-fans-always-skip-on-a-rewatch/
