The Sopranos (TV Series) The Ride (2006) User Reviews

Looking For Dolphins

[Dan1863Sickles · 9/10 · 6 November 2021]

Christopher is already doomed, but what makes this episode a classic is that it's so easy to miss the tragedy under all the drama and excitement. Note how things "seem" to be looking up. His adorable new girlfriend Kelly is pregnant, and when she springs the truth on Chrissie he surprises her (and the audience) by declaring he wants to do "the right thing." He seems to be growing up, taking responsibility, moving on. Yet as the rest of the episode unfolds, we see the truth beneath the appealing surface. Christopher is more out of control than he's ever been, and more out of touch with reality. By the end he's literally looking for dolphins!

The same powerful irony is featured in the Chris and Tony scenes. Things have never been better, but the end is near. On one level, if you love wide-open action, the rumble with the Vipers is a series high point. Who doesn't want to see Christopher and Tony in action together, taking on some real scumbags, stopping a robbery, and even posing as police? ("How's your incision, Lieutenant?" "10-4.")

But the joy and camaraderie, the Three Musketeers sense of brotherhood, is all an illusion. In spite of what the classic rock song says, things are *not* all right now. Tony and Christopher drink together, but it's clear that Chris resents being pressured to fall of the wagon. And it's clear that Tony resents his trying to be sober, i.e. Independent.

Next time, there won't be a biker gang to bring them together.

Paulie and his mother watching tv together is a underrated scene

[Neptune165 · 7/10 · 22 July 2022]

Adrianna is for sure the most sympathetic character in the show. And Paulies mom. Christopher's fate was officially sealed in this episode. I really like how Adriana was still very present in season six despite her murder. She had such a big role and it's rare that her ghost (for lack of a better term) seems to really haunt up until the end. It's way better than if they just left her in season 5. Ade is probably the only character on the show who I liked and felt bad for. She wasn't perfect but she wasn't a bad person like Chris, Tony, and all those guys. She was an innocent girl who got caught up with the wrong group of people. She was loving and supportive of Christopher, she was the only person who had his best interest at heart. Ade as well as Artie and Charmaine are the only characters who I genuinely liked, and not the "love to hate them" kind like Tony and the rest. I though the title came from Chris selling out Adriana, "the ride" with Silvio he tricked her into and how he was feeling guilty which caused him to relapse.

Paulie

[maxfeldman · 8/10 · 31 July 2019]

Focuses on development of Paulie. He's depicted in this episode as having feelings of remorse, especially towards his "mother". Character development between Chris and Tony is good as well, as they bond together.

Quite a ride!

[MaxBorg89 · 10/10 · 24 May 2008]

Poor Paulie Gualtieri, this just doesn't seem to be the right season for him. First he learns his aunt was actually his mother, and now this... Ay, madon'!

The premise of the episode is that Paulie always organizes a St. Elzear parade every year, given Italians are quite proud of their traditions, only this year he has a disagreement with the local church over how much money the clergymen are gonna get. Consequently, he is banned from using St. Elzear's hat during the parade. In addition, an amusement park ride malfunctions almost fatally, leading to a heated confrontation with Bobby Baccala, and on top of that Paulie is told he might have prostate cancer. What a week!

On the brighter side, Christopher decides to marry his new sweetheart Kelli the moment she tells him she's pregnant. Of course, he could have avoided doing drugs at the bachelor party, and having Adriana's mother accusing him of killing his former fiancée doesn't help much either.

One life striving for improvement, the other going towards the toilet: that's the structure of The Ride, going up and down as it pleases. Paulie's personal tragedies lend the character more humanity than ever, and the fight with Bobby is as fun a piece of writing as the show has ever delivered. The best, and saddest, scene, however, has nothing to do with him: it's a poignant flashback that depicts when Chris told Tony about Adriana's work for the FBI and the boss sanctioned her assassination. The sequence was meant to appear in Long Term Parking, the episode where Adriana died, but was cut to keep her demise an unexpected shock. Playing it now works much better: seeing Christopher get on with his life and witnessing how far he went in saving Tony's ass before Ade's makes for some of the program's most intriguing drama. It also serves as a reminder of what a strong presence Drea de Matteo was in the series. Not that the show suffered from her departure: much like Chrissy, it moved on and got better.

Yo

[eliaspersson-46934 · 10/10 · 30 June 2021]

I liked this episode it had some amazing cinematography especially in that scene with Chris, You know which one im talking about.

Choose life

[snoozejonc · 10/10 · 13 February 2023]

Chris experiences some positive events in his life but struggles to deal with other aspects.

This is a powerful episode with strong character reflection.

Chris has a lot of focus in the story as on the surface he appears to be in a good place (all things considered), but past events and the "regularness of life" has a way eating away at his soul. This aspect of his character arc is brilliantly portrayed in several scenes that are quite cinematic. Michael Imperioli delivers another great performance.

Tony is another character struggling to choose life, even when he views every day since the coma as a gift. Themes of boredom and lack of fulfilment are nicely included in the writing and visual storytelling. His interactions with Chris, particularly around alcohol consumption are interesting.

Paulie has considerable screen time and it follows on brilliantly from previous storylines in episodes like 'From Where To Eternity' and 'The Fleshy Part of the Thigh'. Again the writers humorously and sometimes sombrely portray his simple take on life as he deals with its problems. Tony Serico is on great form as always.

Audio-visually it is one of the best episodes in the show. One central montage using the song "The Dolphins" is the highlight, but there are numerous effective moments that are very memorable.

For me it's a 9.5/10 but I round upwards.

One of the saddest eposides ever

[zenmateisshite · 10/10 · 13 April 2022]

A couple of week ago I watched this episode for the third time in 6 months (gone through the whole series). I was stoned and all I could see from the beginning was a damaged human, someone who's life is so tragic it cannot but end in even more tragedy.

Chris was so in love with Adriana. He lost her, the love of his life. Deep inside he was still grieving even though he could not admit it. Subconsciously he couldn't care less about "the thing they do" or about Tony, and he felt stuck. He had to choose "the family" and what did that get him in the end? Adriana was gone. She was an innocent casualty of the life they lived, and the choices he made. Yes he was having fun with Tony but none of this made any difference, he loved her sooooo much and now she's gone.

That scene when he was high in the park, then saw the dog. So sad and full of unrecognized grief (or unacknowledged). Drugs, alcohol, losing control is merely the result of that. He never had a chance poor guy.

Sure Is one Helluva Ride...................

[Boorboy1 · 8/10 · 20 May 2006]

Wow ! I'd always remembered this episode from the Season Trailer, the scene that got me was the Huge mob presence at this Italian Feast.

And Woah, what a terrific episode.

There's a hilarious wine heist that Chris and Tony participate in and end up looting a fair amount from the later mocked Biker Gang "The Vipers".

And for everyone who wondered what went down when Chris went to tell Tony about Adrianna and her FBI Story - the flash back was awesome. Filled us in on everything that happened that tragic day and kudo's to Chase for wrapping that hole up.

Paulie and Bobby's face off at the festival was more comical than hostile too. Certainly not as exciting as the trailer made out. But hey, that's HBO.

And as for Paulie and his Virgin Mary sight - GREAT STUFF ! Certainly a fright I got seeing that too, so imagine poor Mr Walnuts ! It was heartening to see him back with Nucci too after Episode 4's fall out between them.

All in All - 8/10.

A Solid episode.

The Ride (#6.9)

[ComedyFan2010 · 8/10 · 27 March 2014]

Christopher's new girlfriend (ugh), Kelli, gets pregnant and he married her. Carmela runs into Adriana's mother and she tells her that she thinks Chris killed Adriana as she never called her and she had a visit from FBI. A ride on which Janice goes with her baby breaks down and Paulie has some trouble.

As a big fan of Adriana it was a hard episode to watch. The scene when Chris came to Tony to tell about Adriana and FBI just made me want to yell that she didn't tell anything and wanted to protect them. How could Chris not mention that. But at least his family probably won't be too happy, he really seemed to suffer high on heroin. I hope we see him feel bad about Adriana more and that Carmela finds out more.

Was sweet to see Paulie come to his mom at the end though and watch TV with her.

Paulie Paulie Paulie

[ctomvelu-1 · 8/10 · 10 August 2008]

Paulie has a bad week. He gets into a spat with the church about the upcoming St. Elezar Festival. It seems the new priest wants a much larger cut of the proceeds. Then Paulie scrimps on the rides, and a malfunctioning kiddie ride results in injuries. Janice and her baby were on the ride at the time, so this brings the instant wrath of Bobby. Lastly, Paulie finds he may have prostate cancer. Chris finds out his latest gal pal is preggers, and he proposes on the spot. While Chris and his shenanigans get a fair amount of exposure, in part due to the continuing mystery of Adriana's disappearance and Chris' return to some bad habits, the episode is almost all Paulie's, and real-life, one-time gangster Tony Sirico has a ball with it. As do we.

A stand out episode in The Sopranos

[danieldraper_ · 10/10 · 1 October 2021]

Hot damn.

Drug addiction is no joke kids, and neither is relapsing, which Terrance Winter does a masterful job of representing. The cinematography of it all was also absolutely fantastic.

The bromance between Tony and Christopher also had me teary-eyed. What a beautiful friendship.

Dr. Melfi is an excellent therapist. I think Tony is bored. I always wondered, however, is Kevin Finnerty in Tony Soprano? That plotline was amazing, but I wonder if it will link back to it in the future.

And poor Paulie, I hope he's ok.

Janice and Bobby's kid is definitely a Soprano; she wanted to go back to the dangerous ride lol.