The Sopranos (TV Series) The Test Dream (2004) User Reviews

These reviews are hilarious

[brentonwiseman · 10/10 · 15 September 2021]

Amazing episode that proves they've really mastered the dream scenes, perfectly staying right on the border of silly and creepy. A great setup and an extremely entertaining extended dream sequence, all servicing as the best way to set up the news we get as we draw closer to the finale.

Also read all of the one star reviews in Tony's voice and you will be very entertained lol.

The finale - part 1

[MaxBorg89 · 10/10 · 18 May 2008]

The Test Dream is beautiful, mysterious, entrancing, filled with hidden meanings. It's one of the best Sopranos episodes ever, and constitutes the first third of Season Five's finale.

The whole fifth series dealt with the return of two ex-cons, Tony's cousin Tony Blundetto (Steve Buscemi) and Johnny Sack's henchman Phil Leotardo (Frank Vincent), and it is these two figures who determine most of the actions in these three concluding episodes. The story starts with Phil brutally murdering a friend of Blundetto's as retribution for what the latter did to his brother (juicy detail for Scorsese fans: the guy Phil kills dies in the exact same way Vincent did in Goodfellas). Upon receiving the news, Tony tries to contact his cousin, but in vain: Tony B. is nowhere to be found, hiding away from everyone in his quest for revenge.

But that's merely the prologue, in a way: as the title suggests, the core of this show is a dream, and a test dream at that. Occupying more screen-time than anyone's ever granted a fantasy sequence, Tony's visions lead him to one logical conclusion: to avoid a full-scale war between New York and New Jersey, he will have to kill Cousin Tony.

Dream sequences have always played an important part in the Sopranos mythology, never more so than in this episode: aside from Annette Bening's presence, open for interpretation, the truly intriguing thing about The Test Dream is the fact that the characters guiding Tony towards "the light" are all people who died, in one way or another, through their association with him - Pussy Bonpensiero, Ralph Cifaretto, Mikey Palmice, Carmine Lupertazzi, heck, even Pie-o-My the horse shows up. They all died because of Tony, and their point is, in order to preserve peace, he must kill another person, and one he truly cares for at that. Now, who said the series glamorizes the mob?

Twin Peaks meets The Godfather

[adibm-41910 · 10/10 · 7 October 2021]

Greatest Tv show of all-time and this is why!

You can see the influence of Federico Fellini,The Godfather and Twin Peaks all at once.

Complex, yet reveals a lot.

[mahmoudibrahimmi · 10/10 · 10 September 2020]

This is the most complex episode about Tony's character and his inner psychopathic character. It shows a lot about how his worries and fears haunts him through his life. The badass strong mafia boss has a lot in his mind probably more than what we see in most of the episodes and we witnessed in his psychological therapy with Dr. Melfi.

Obra de arte

[kevinstivenbetancourt · 10/10 · 12 February 2021]

Uno de los mejores capitulos de la historia de la televisión tiene una narrativa profundidad simbólogia increíble con una filosofía,

So incredible, jaw dropping. Best episode of the show so far

[aram-99008 · 10/10 · 25 March 2021]

I'm a sucker for surrealism in film, so this episode was like candy for me. The great thing about this episode is how much you understand how every symbolic thing in the dream relates to Tony's life or his current feelings. Some of these things are some unspoken things, things you would only catch onto based on Tony's reaction to something. This episode fleshes out Tony's character so much. I don't want to ramble, so I'll just finish off with my favourite part of the episode. I literally got goosebumps during the therapist scene when Gloria said "I don't have children, I died too young".

The Test Dream (#5.11)

[ComedyFan2010 · 8/10 · 24 March 2014]

A jail friend of Tony B. is killed by Phil Leotardo. Tony B. doesn't want to let it go and goes to kill him for revenge and then goes into hiding. Tony spends a night in the hotel and has a dream in which he sees many people from his life including the ones who died, and the dream leads him to thinking that he needs to kill Tony B. in order to avoid a bigger problem.

I am giving this episode a higher rating than I actually liked it. Simply because the whole dream sequence which was the biggest part of the episode kind of bored me and was hard to concentrate on. But at the same time it seemed so be so creative I have a feeling I will like it more if I rewatch it again.

Season 5 is on fire!

[00Yasser · 9/10 · 6 August 2020]

A dream episode and it's all about a dream, i liked it so much.

One of the greatest episodes of the series

[danieldraper_ · 10/10 · 31 July 2021]

David Chase, Matthew Weiner and Allen Coulter transcended the rest of the competition with this episode. Absolute perfection. It also shows why James Gandolfini is one of the greatest actors of our time. He takes the role of Tony Soprano and excels all expectations.

A very complex and in depth episode. You learn a lot about where Tony's head is at and his struggle to do what he must do to prevent this war. It's a long time coming, but Johnny Cash wants war and he'll get it unless Tony B. Is stopped.

What a brilliant episode.

La mejor serie de la historia . y uno de los mejores capitulos de la historia

[barskdaleavon · 10/10 · 10 March 2021]

Lo que cambio a la televisión es como una Película de scocerce, Es una forma de meditar Reflexionar Verte a ti mismo Es un estilo Si utilizas el corazón y lo raciónal la vas a disfrutar, Los Soprano es el unico show que logro captar lo tan bizarros espontáneos y surrealistas que son los sueños Es una serie que inspiró a vince Gilligan y es la serie que inició todo Los Soprano es un drama Introspectivo que aborda los sentimientos sueños ambiciones personales psicólogia sentimientos creencias de los personajes Los Soprano es la madre de la televisión Este capítulo está lleno de narrativa visual complejidad filosofía simbólismos metáforas

I had that kind of dreams when I'm in Highschool

[rameshgundamala · 9/10 · 26 October 2021]

I had those kind of bad dreams when I'm suffering with fever and More like Finding coins in old house basements And falling inside a never ending dark hallow place.

And also loosing my tooth in dream .

Snakes running after me in a chasing.

Etc......

I've always thought the sopranos had some of the best depiction of dreams in any piece of cinema

[Neptune165 · 7/10 · 19 July 2022]

It's such an small part of Tony's dream sequence but I love the part when he's in the car full of dead mobsters Tony turns sees Artie for a second and he says "What ?" It's that pure randomness of dreaming about people in his life that makes it feel like a dream everyone has had before about people they know . Also I like when Tony is being chased by the mob of people Artie is the one who appears in some random alley and helps Tony escape I saw that as Tony subconsciously seeing Artie as his only true friend. The Test Dream is one of, if not my favourite Sopranos episode. I really like the eerie feeling it has all through the dream sequence and how Tony basically has no control. I also liked the detail where it's suggested that Artie was actually the bad boy when they were young and he was a good kid who had a bad influence (in more than one place as we know from many saints of Newark). Also the bullets melting was them turning into chocolate, you could see the brass casings of them becoming like foil. It's worth checking out PKA when they talked about it, Kyle said that it's actually a relatively common nightmare for people who own/shoot guns regularly, similar to teeth falling out.

This is the worst episode of the entire series

[gmccolgan · 1/10 · 31 December 2021]

I love this show, and typically don't mind the dream sequences. This episode is absolutely trash. It was awkward, clunky, and didn't provide anything meaningful to either the characters, or the story. I've never logged into IMDb before, but felt compelled to log in and write this review during a rewatch. So terrible. So so terrible.

Typically surprising Sopranos episode

[snoozejonc · 9/10 · 18 December 2022]

Tony has a vivid dream as tensions with New York boil over.

This is a very memorable and creative episode.

The story hinges on a few key incidents involving the New York family which move the season 5 narrative forward. However, the main focus is a great 20-minute dream sequence involving a lot of Tony's fears, guilt, wishes, and psychological hang ups.

There is plenty of information on various websites dedicated to analysing the dream sequence image by image, but for me it is an immense bit of character-reflective material from the writers. We see Tony's subconscious processing various issues and in a similar way to the situation at the end of series 2, but it also contains much of the baggage he has obtained throughout the past few seasons. I think you have to watch it with an open mind. Dreams are surreal and this certainly is that. I recognise some of it from my own experiences, such as teeth falling out, people changing into other people, objects turning into faeces. Lots of it makes sense to me, other parts are difficult to interpret, but so are my own dreams and The Sopranos writers love a bit of uncertainty.

James Gandolfini gives a stellar performance and the numerous guest stars are on great form.

Another highlight is the production of the dream sequence, which has so many great visual and audio moments that take you by surprise.

I think the 1/10 ratings are OTT, negative reactions to the unexpected and unexplained, but everyone is entitled to their opinion.

An excellent episode

[garrettminor · 8/10 · 16 December 2022]

I disagree with the reviews of this episode that write it off as "nonsense" and "a waste of time". This episode is a trip into the psyche of Tony Soprano. It reveals more about him as a character including some of the origins of his insecurities and what make him, him. What many think is a filler episode, is actually an essential Sopranos episode.

I think the writers in this show do a fantastic job with the dream sequences too. The dialogue is purposefully chopped up and cryptic just like in dreams. The scenes skip around to different settings with no explaination of how we got there just like in dreams.

Uncle?

[tureluur-99170 · 7/10 · 24 September 2023]

A good episode, but the dream part wasn't engaging enough to my taste. Because it was a dream anything was possible, and it didn't lead up to something. I found it a bit boring and was glad the dream was finally over TBH. Still, I enjoy the acting of Tony so much that I like to watch any part he's in.

What struck me before, and again in this episode: in The Sopranos, cousins refer to each other as uncles of their children. But an uncle is one's parent's brother, not one's parent's cousin.

If your cousin has a child, then you and that child are 'second cousins'. So, for example, Tony B and AJ are second cousins.

Worst episode in the show

[scholel · 1/10 · 21 July 2023]

I love Sopranos. Watching the show there wasn't one episode that didn't have its moments. Besides the test dream. I enjoy Tony's dreams typically but this was too long, slow, boring, and unnecessary to the story. It drags on in its confusing nature and throughout the episode I'm hoping it'll stop, Tony will wake up, and well get Some good regular Sopranos. But nope. It drags on and on with the ridiculous and entirely pointless dream sequences which are so uninteresting. The fact that there's any good reviews shocked me. This episode is laughably bad. I made an IMDB account just to share my hatred for this weird, convoluted, clunky episode which ruined the pacing of the show.

Worst episode ever

[djsilas · 1/10 · 1 November 2021]

There is no words... This high score is incredible and unbelievable.

The worst part of the whole series. I loved it, I saw every episodes, except this. I couldn't watch...

WHAT A SNORE FEST

[Analog_Devotee · 1/10 · 10 December 2020]

I cannot believe this isn't the lowest rated episode of the series. I was on the verge of falling asleep during the stupid Kubrick/Lynch-esque dream sequences. Feel like I just wasted an hour of my life.

WORST EPISODE AMONGST EPISODES WHICH HAVE ALL BEEN GEMS.

[epluribusunumusa · 1/10 · 14 February 2022]

"The Dream Episode" is the worst among six seasons, the least logical, the least interesting, the least creative, the least entertaining and the least in all respects. The dream episode was silly and a waste of about an hour of my time.

Never seen something so horrible

[angelomascaro · 1/10 · 12 December 2020]

In the third millennium a writer should NEVER use dreams. NEVER. This is so banal, you can do any kind of non-sense. Unfortunately not only this is not the first one, but it goes on the whole episode. I can't believe that this passed through directors, actors, producers and it has not been stopped.

The single worst episode of The Sopranos, by far.

[neptunefish-14893 · 1/10 · 28 December 2023]

The dream sequences in the Sopranos are generally somewhat ridiculous but this episode takes it to a whole other level. In "The Test Dream" an intelligent and interesting show with incredible writing and acting and terrific characters turns into a stupid, slow, unrealistic, unending slog of a dream sequence. With all the other fascinating things going on in Tony's life, why do we need an hour full of crap? This episode is not interesting. It is not some example of creativity or art. Especially considering the fact that the following episode is so gut wrenching and nuanced and brilliant (it might in fact be the climax of the whole series) "The Test Dream" falls so far short of the quality of all the other episodes in The Sopranos that I'm shocked people enjoy this episode (and the dream sequences in general.) "The Test Dream" is almost unwatchable. The worst episode in the series, by a long shot.