While I’ve only seen it posted online a few times, I 100% subscribe to the argument that the most Lynchian show that didn’t involve David Lynch himself wasn’t any of today’s try-hard homages, but was actually The Sopranos.
A classic in its own right, The Sopranos is the OG prestige television show and worthy of rewatches and studies on its own, but if you are a David Lynch fan and haven’t watched through the show, it might be more appealing to you than you might think.
It also has some great performances by character actor Vincent Pastore, who recently passed away, whose character Salvatore Bonpensiero gave us tons of great lines, laughs, sincere moments, and certainly some of the show’s most Lynchian moments.
RIP to Salvatore Bonpensiero
Born to an Italian-American family in the Bronx in the late 1940s, Pastore didn’t get into acting until he was in his 40s and, almost exclusively, chiefly played mafioso characters in his time. His first big break was with a small role in Goodfellas, perhaps the most important mafia movie of all time next to the first two Godfather films.
Like many characters from Goodfellas, Pastore eventually found a role in The Sopranos, where he earned a Screen Actors Guild Award and was both a standout performer and fan favorite.
His character, which we have to admit is a spoiler here, does meet an untimely end, and it’s a major plot point of the second season—with remnants of the decision haunting the show’s lead Tony for the rest of the show’s timeline.
'The Sopranos'
Credit: HBO
The Surreal Moments of 'The Sopranos'
Of all the seasons of 'The Sopranos', the second season in particular has a very Lynchian influence, with several dream sequences serving not only as odd looks into characters’ psyches as a major part of the plot and storyline, but also spurring realizations and bringing about very real decisions.
The most iconic of these dream sequences features Tony visiting a pier, where Sal appears to him as a talking fish and references the infamous Mafia saying “sleep with the fishes,” letting Tony know that his character has been serving as an FBI informant.
Tony, of course, decides to take out Sal, and the decision haunts the character for the rest of the show’s run, with episodes making sometimes subtle, sometimes quite overt, references to fishes and Tony’s guilt for taking out what could be considered his best actual friend in the show.
Pastore's Legacy
Outside of the Lynchian moments, which are among the strongest David Lynch-esque sequences in many try-hard modern attempts, The Sopranos is certainly one of the best shows for creating (and eventually remembering) iconic characters that actors got to truly live in—often for the rest of their careers.
Pastore, like many other alums from the show, would go on to have several more roles and appearances in film and television, but often more or less reprising the same character he was known for in The Sopranos.
If you’ve watched the show, or are rewatching like I am myself right now, there’s also a haunting oddness to his character’s death and Pastore’s heartfelt plea of “not in the face” at the end that resonates not just in the show, but also outside it—especially if you happen to see a fish.
- Remember When 'The Sopranos' Ushered in the Cinematic Aesthetic on Television? ›
- Is James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano the Greatest Acting Achievement of All Time? ›
- What Are the 11 Best 'Sopranos' Episodes? ›
- Read and Download 'The Sopranos' Pilot Script PDF ›
- Top 10 Best HBO TV Shows of All Time ›
- How Did an Episode of 'The Sopranos' Change TV Forever? ›
- The Most Devastating Line in ‘The Sopranos’ That Still Reverberates With Rewatches Today ›
