The Sopranos Season One, Episode by Episode Review
EDITOR'S NOTE: IF YOU DON"T CARE ABOUT MY RAMBLING PERSONAL STORY BELOW, SKIP TO THE FONT CHANGE AND CLEARLY MARKED EPISODE 1 REVIEW A FEW PARAGRAPHS DOWN, WHERE THE REVIEWS BEGIN
The Sopranos changed my life. As 1999, and the second half of my junior year of high school kicked off, I felt stuck and miserable. I was trying to pull myself out of a depression that began in 1998, and my restrictive home life and church life weren't helping. I should preface this by saying that I am a religious person, but the church I group up in wasn't religious per se, and more so a cult. My church life boiled down to my Uncle, the leader, and his strangely papal like edict to "Do as I say." At home, which wasn't even in the same town as the cult (we had to drive an hour to get to every special event and all three weekly church services), my mom was his enforcer, and I felt trapped, constantly monitored, and not free to just be a regular old high school junior.
The final straw came on Valentine's Day, 1999, a Sunday night. I finally had
my own car, and I was about to start a cashier job at my local grocery store,
and yet here I was at a stupid church Valentine's Day banquet, wanting to jump
out of my skin. The worst moment came late in the night, when my uncle angrily
pulled me aside, told me I looked like a slob, and that I was bringing down
the whole banquet. Finally, the event ended, and I went home. I was off the
next few days for Mardi Gras, so I brought my backpack into my room and
cleaned it out...and that's when I found the tape.
I remembered my best friend Robbie handing the tape to me on the Friday two
days before, right as school ended, his only comment, "You have to watch
this." I looked out my door to make sure my mom and everyone else had gone to
bed, then hit play on my VCR...and the rest is history.
The next hour was one of the most formative of my life. After the famous HBO
white noise logo came an incredible opening title sequence set to the A3 song,
"Woke Up This Morning," then the words CREATED BY DAVID CHASE came onscreen
before a logo that said THE SOPRANOS. The episode was "College," episode five
from Season One, which had aired live the weekend before. My prevailing
thoughts throughout this incredible hour of television were,
this is deep, this is well made, this is the coolest thing I have ever
seen, and this is for me. I had an epiphany.
It's not that I wanted to be a mobster or that I wanted to imitate the show's
lead character, Tony Soprano, who is in truth a charming and charismatic
sociopath. It's that I wanted to experience and live in the stuff I actually
liked (stuff like The Sopranos), do what I actually wanted to do, and
be who I actually wanted to be. If there was some dumb event for old people
who thought I dressed like I slob, I wasn't going to go. I was going to do
what I wanted to do. I was going to watch what I wanted to
watch, even if I had to stay up late, when no one else in my house could see.
And also, Robbie was going to have to start recording The Sopranos for
me every week.
Thankfully, Robbie obliged. He was a great friend, and I guess he is
responsible for changing my life. Thanks, Robbie. Now, it's been exactly 25
years since that night The Sopranos came into my life. I've experienced
some great shows, movies, and music since then, but nothing like I did in
1999, and nothing like The Sopranos. In honor of that night...
I'll be running the first season of The Sopranos throughout the rest of 1999, and will post a quick review of every individual episode on this very post. Each review will appear here on the first day of each month (two in November and December). I can't wait to watch and talk about these episodes.
I'll be running the first season of The Sopranos throughout the rest of 1999, and will post a quick review of every individual episode on this very post. Each review will appear here on the first day of each month (two in November and December). I can't wait to watch and talk about these episodes.
Lord above, thing's ain't been the same since The Sopranos walked
into town...
EPISODE 1 -- "THE SOPRANOS"
Written and Directed by David Chase
Originally Aired: 1/10/1999
The genius of this series premiere comes in the way its first half is told in a completely different manner than the entirety of the next 85 episodes. Tony Soprano (portrayed through the greatest television performance in history by the late James Gandolfini), an underboss in the DiMeo crime family of New Jersey, introduces the viewer to his conflicting home and professional lives through voiceover. While voiceover can sometimes work as a storytelling cheat, it's employed at a top tier level of depth here. Tony has recently suffered from panic attacks, and his doctor has recommended he visit a therapist. Tony gives his new therapist the rundown of his life, and this is the voiceover that introduces viewers to The Sopranos world. Tony has a wife, Carmela, a teenaged daughter, Meadow, and a middle school-aged son, A.J. Tony also gives his therapist, Dr. Melfi, some details about his professional life. In more fun storytelling, Tony tells Melfi that his profession is in waste management, but as he gives her vague and false details, the imagery onscreen reveals Tony hanging out with his mobster subordinates, violently assaulting someone who owes his Mafia family money, and generally acting like a charismatic sociopath. Again, the storytelling technique here is genius, as it puts Tony on the same ground as the lead in films like Goodfellas through the voiceover, charmingly and magnetically pulling in the viewer, even as the show refuses to deny or sugarcoat who Tony actually is: a violent, evil man. Tony cares about his children, on some level even cares about the longsuffering Carmela, who he lies to and cheats on, and he is full of charismatic energy, but he's evil. The show is able to ride this line, keeping hold with Tony's charisma, while repulsing with his behavior, all the way until the series finale, eight years after the premiere. A little less than halfway through this first episode, Tony's first therapy session ends, and from that point on, the storytelling for the majority of the rest of the series is a traditional, yet highly complex, voiceover-free narrative. The complex relationships in Tony's professional life are further highlighted, and the tension and stress in his personal life come further to the fore, particularly the stress caused by Tony's forever dissatisfied, paranoid, and abusive mother, Livia. Beyond the voiceover, which again, only exists in the first half of the episode, the central framing device for this premiere are the ducks that visit Tony's home. Apparently, a pair of ducks visited Tony's pool, mated, produced ducklings, and then, much to Tony's dismay, learned to fly and left...which immediately precipitates Tony's first panic attack. It turns out, at least as deciphered through one of Tony's late-episode therapy sessions (he will visit Melfi consistently throughout the series), that Tony fears the dissipation of his family. Throughout this self-titled opening episode, Tony, through therapy and through Prozac, is able to get his mental health back on track and at least temporarily overcome his depression and panic attacks. By A.J.'s birthday party at episode's end, all seems right in Tony's world, but as Tony calls his eager family over to the grill to eat, the camera pans back to the image of an empty pool. Thus ends one of the greatest series premieres ever aired.
EPISODE 2 -- "46 Long"
Written by: David Chase; Directed by: Dan Attias
Originally Aired: 1/17/1999
"46 Long" deepens the world introduced by The Sopranos premiere. In Tony's professional life, his nephew Christopher and a bonehead friend knock off a DVD player truck, only to find that the trucking company was supposed to be under the protection of Tony's Uncle Junior, the acting mob boss...at least in name. Everyone knows Tony is actually in charge, but Tony has to pay his respects to Junior, meaning Christopher has to pay his respects to Junior. As Tony tries to work out these professional kinks that subtly intersect with his family life, one aspect of his family life threatens to overwhelm him and send him back into panic attacks. His mother is now beyond the point of taking care of herself, but still refuses Tony's overtures to send her to a retirement home, and vexes the poor in-home care woman brought in as a stopgap solution. Meanwhile, A.J.'s schoolteacher's car has been stolen, and Carmela suggests Tony use his resources to help...to which Tony agrees, after finding how low A.J.'s grade is in the teacher's class. "46 Long" is the only episode in The Sopranos entire run to feature a cold open, a scene that features Tony and his crew counting out money in the backroom of the Bing, their strip club headquarters, as a roundtable news program about the decline of the Mafia airs on the television in the background. This moment is not only humorously ironic (the Mafia may be in decline, but these guys are still rolling in dough), but also reflects the melancholy statement Tony makes to Dr. Melfi in the previous episode, that he's come into the Mafia at the end, when its best times are already over. This sentiment casts a mythic, almost Lord of the Rings epic feel to the show, and indeed the rest of this series has a strange nostalgia and wistfulness for the past, fitting for a series that got its start in 1999. This nostalgia/reflection of decline is further highlighted when two of Tony's soldiers, the irritable Paulie and the affable Big Pussy, visit a trendy coffee shop while on hunt for the missing car, and lament that Italians should have been the ones to popularize and profit from things like the cappuccino, that the wider world has benefitted from Italian cuisine, while Italians and Italian Americans have seen little of the reward. As for Melfi, she's continuously frustrated by Tony, as he vehemently defends his mother's goodness to her in their sessions, despite all evidence that she's an absolutely awful woman. By the end of the "46 Long," though, Livia finally ends up in a retirement home, Christopher and his friend don't get any smarter, and the teacher gets his car back...sort of.
EPISODE 3 -- "Denial, Anger, Acceptance"
Written by: Mark Saraceni; Directed by: Nick Gomez
Originally Aired: 1/24/1999
EPISODE 1 -- "THE SOPRANOS"
Written and Directed by David Chase
Originally Aired: 1/10/1999
The genius of this series premiere comes in the way its first half is told in a completely different manner than the entirety of the next 85 episodes. Tony Soprano (portrayed through the greatest television performance in history by the late James Gandolfini), an underboss in the DiMeo crime family of New Jersey, introduces the viewer to his conflicting home and professional lives through voiceover. While voiceover can sometimes work as a storytelling cheat, it's employed at a top tier level of depth here. Tony has recently suffered from panic attacks, and his doctor has recommended he visit a therapist. Tony gives his new therapist the rundown of his life, and this is the voiceover that introduces viewers to The Sopranos world. Tony has a wife, Carmela, a teenaged daughter, Meadow, and a middle school-aged son, A.J. Tony also gives his therapist, Dr. Melfi, some details about his professional life. In more fun storytelling, Tony tells Melfi that his profession is in waste management, but as he gives her vague and false details, the imagery onscreen reveals Tony hanging out with his mobster subordinates, violently assaulting someone who owes his Mafia family money, and generally acting like a charismatic sociopath. Again, the storytelling technique here is genius, as it puts Tony on the same ground as the lead in films like Goodfellas through the voiceover, charmingly and magnetically pulling in the viewer, even as the show refuses to deny or sugarcoat who Tony actually is: a violent, evil man. Tony cares about his children, on some level even cares about the longsuffering Carmela, who he lies to and cheats on, and he is full of charismatic energy, but he's evil. The show is able to ride this line, keeping hold with Tony's charisma, while repulsing with his behavior, all the way until the series finale, eight years after the premiere. A little less than halfway through this first episode, Tony's first therapy session ends, and from that point on, the storytelling for the majority of the rest of the series is a traditional, yet highly complex, voiceover-free narrative. The complex relationships in Tony's professional life are further highlighted, and the tension and stress in his personal life come further to the fore, particularly the stress caused by Tony's forever dissatisfied, paranoid, and abusive mother, Livia. Beyond the voiceover, which again, only exists in the first half of the episode, the central framing device for this premiere are the ducks that visit Tony's home. Apparently, a pair of ducks visited Tony's pool, mated, produced ducklings, and then, much to Tony's dismay, learned to fly and left...which immediately precipitates Tony's first panic attack. It turns out, at least as deciphered through one of Tony's late-episode therapy sessions (he will visit Melfi consistently throughout the series), that Tony fears the dissipation of his family. Throughout this self-titled opening episode, Tony, through therapy and through Prozac, is able to get his mental health back on track and at least temporarily overcome his depression and panic attacks. By A.J.'s birthday party at episode's end, all seems right in Tony's world, but as Tony calls his eager family over to the grill to eat, the camera pans back to the image of an empty pool. Thus ends one of the greatest series premieres ever aired.
EPISODE 2 -- "46 Long"
Written by: David Chase; Directed by: Dan Attias
Originally Aired: 1/17/1999
"46 Long" deepens the world introduced by The Sopranos premiere. In Tony's professional life, his nephew Christopher and a bonehead friend knock off a DVD player truck, only to find that the trucking company was supposed to be under the protection of Tony's Uncle Junior, the acting mob boss...at least in name. Everyone knows Tony is actually in charge, but Tony has to pay his respects to Junior, meaning Christopher has to pay his respects to Junior. As Tony tries to work out these professional kinks that subtly intersect with his family life, one aspect of his family life threatens to overwhelm him and send him back into panic attacks. His mother is now beyond the point of taking care of herself, but still refuses Tony's overtures to send her to a retirement home, and vexes the poor in-home care woman brought in as a stopgap solution. Meanwhile, A.J.'s schoolteacher's car has been stolen, and Carmela suggests Tony use his resources to help...to which Tony agrees, after finding how low A.J.'s grade is in the teacher's class. "46 Long" is the only episode in The Sopranos entire run to feature a cold open, a scene that features Tony and his crew counting out money in the backroom of the Bing, their strip club headquarters, as a roundtable news program about the decline of the Mafia airs on the television in the background. This moment is not only humorously ironic (the Mafia may be in decline, but these guys are still rolling in dough), but also reflects the melancholy statement Tony makes to Dr. Melfi in the previous episode, that he's come into the Mafia at the end, when its best times are already over. This sentiment casts a mythic, almost Lord of the Rings epic feel to the show, and indeed the rest of this series has a strange nostalgia and wistfulness for the past, fitting for a series that got its start in 1999. This nostalgia/reflection of decline is further highlighted when two of Tony's soldiers, the irritable Paulie and the affable Big Pussy, visit a trendy coffee shop while on hunt for the missing car, and lament that Italians should have been the ones to popularize and profit from things like the cappuccino, that the wider world has benefitted from Italian cuisine, while Italians and Italian Americans have seen little of the reward. As for Melfi, she's continuously frustrated by Tony, as he vehemently defends his mother's goodness to her in their sessions, despite all evidence that she's an absolutely awful woman. By the end of the "46 Long," though, Livia finally ends up in a retirement home, Christopher and his friend don't get any smarter, and the teacher gets his car back...sort of.
EPISODE 3 -- "Denial, Anger, Acceptance"
Written by: Mark Saraceni; Directed by: Nick Gomez
Originally Aired: 1/24/1999
"Denial, Anger, Acceptance" starts to add additional balls to the show's narrative juggling act, expanding the perspective on Tony and his crew. A key aspect to the premiere I've saved to mention till now is Tony's relationship with his childhood friend, local restauranteur, Artie Bucco. When Tony finds that Junior plans to enact a hit in Artie's restaurant, Tony secretly has the restaurant burned down, to make sure Artie, who has no mob ties, doesn't have his reputation sullied. Tony believes insurance will take care of Artie, who has no idea that his friend is behind the arson, but insurance does not come through. In "Denial, Anger, Acceptance," Carmella decides to host a fundraising event at the Soprano home both catered by and benefitting Artie and his wife Charmaine. However, Carmella offends Charmaine by treating her like a servant, and after the event Charmaine confesses to Carmella that she slept with Tony during their teenage years. Meanwhile, Tony, against his Jewish advisor Hesh's advice, gets involved in a squabble between a Hasidic Jewish man, and his son-in-law, the latter believing he is owned a large stake in the family-owned motel in his divorce from the older man's wife. Tony thinks that he and his mob crew can get their own stake in the motel, but he soon gets more than he bargained for, when the son-in-law proves to be tough, principled, and unafraid of beatings or death. This level of mortal fortitude clashes against a new mental crisis Tony is facing. While waiting to begin a session with Melfi, Tony notices a painting of a barn and gets hung up on what he perceives as a rotting tree, angrily confronting Melfi, as he thinks she is trying to mess with his head. In truth, Tony is only observing the rot in himself, reflected when he repeatedly visits acting mob boss, Jackie Aprile, in the hospital. Jackie, for whom Junior is only filling in, is suffering from cancer, and Tony struggles to understand why Jackie is more concerned about dying from cancer than he is about hearing Tony's goofy stories and offers of a Bada Bing stripper. Tony, deep down, suspects that there is something missing inside of him, a genius move by the show to make Tony feel more relatable, as most people feel that way at some point in life, though in Tony's case, it turns out that thing is a true human conscience, as Tony is a sociopath. The final ball here (I told this show is doing some serious juggling!) involves both Christopher and Meadow. Meadow, struggling to keep up with her demanding school and choir schedule, asks Christopher for speed (the drug, not the awesome Keanu Reeves movie), but Christopher fears Tony's wrath if the imposing uncle were to discover that Little Chrissy is supplying his daughter with drugs. Christopher's girlfriend, Adriana, convinces Christopher that Meadow is better off getting the drugs from him, as Meadow may be harmed buying drugs on the street. Unbeknownst to Christopher, Junior is still fuming about the previous episode's truckjacking, and after consulting with Livia, has decided to have Christopher's dumb friend, Brendan, murdered, and Christopher violently warned. Unfortunately, Christopher AND Junior's men aren't too bright, and Christopher leaves the harrowing encounter thinking that Tony sent the men to punish him for giving drugs to Meadow. Christopher is the last thing on Tony's mind, though, as our nerve wracked protagonist has been consumed with his strange feelings, as well as the Hasidic motel crisis, which is only solved by a threatened castration. The episode miraculously brings all of its strings together for a beautiful musical closing (I'm dropping the juggling metaphor for music), as Tony, trying to make sense of his unmoored feelings, arrives at Meadow's performance just in time to see her choir solo. As he sits, Carmella subtly brushes his hand away. Meadow nails her solo, and all seems perfect, a picturesque barn in a field...until we see Meadow in closeup, sweating out the amphetamines.
EPISODE 4 -- "Meadowlands"
Written by: Jason Cahill; Directed by: John Patterson
Originally Aired: 1/31/1999
After the loftier, more metaphysical storytelling of the previous episode, "Meadowlands," employs a different, decidedly more down-to-earth approach. A panicking, neck-braced Christopher discovers the dead Brendan, panics more, then picks Meadow up from school and freaks out on her. However, after "talking" to her, it slowly dawns upon the dimwitted nephew that Tony has nothing to do with his recent troubles. Tony is dealing with his own paranoia, though. First he has a nightmare that his crew catch him going to therapy; then they almost do accidentally catch him there in real life, as Tony's consigliere, Silvio, goes to the dentist next door and nearly passes him in the hallway (Tony, made man, humorously hides out in a stranger's office!). Unfortunately, Tony's paranoia about therapy negatively effects Melfi, as Tony sends a dirty cop on his payroll to tail her. The wild card cop takes the task a little too seriously, and ruins the clueless Melfi's current romantic relationship, by violently interrupting one of her dates. Meanwhile, Christopher realizes that Junior and his soldier, Mikey, are responsible for Brendan's death, as well as Christopher's own assault. A hyperemotional Little Chrissie then informs Tony and the crew, wanting them to go to war with Junior. Tony says he'll handle it and confronts Junior (after beating up Mikey, his pale competitor), but the wily uncle angrily dismisses Tony's complaints. It seems like all out war might really be coming... and then Jackie dies. Instead of giving in to his paranoia over therapy, Tony continues to attend his sessions at Carmela's insistence, and finds that he's inadvertently receiving some great work advice from Melfi...i.e. meaning, despite her best intentions, Melfi is essentially acting as a mob counselor, or in this case, Tony's second consigliere. After Tony tells Melfi he's struggling with his elderly uncle (without giving her the full context), Melfi suggests giving Junior the allusion of control, which will then make the old man much more amiable and easier to deal with. Tony then goes back to Junior and lets him know that he won't challenge him for Jackie's throne. Instead, he'll show Junior his full support...with the caveat that Junior will gift Tony's crew a couple of Junior's financial operations. Junior excitedly agrees, and the beef seems squashed. Tony's crew are confused and conflicted with this outcome, until Tony explains its benefits: Junior and his crew will get all the stress of leadership, while Tony and his crew will reap all the financial rewards. Tony's crew may have respected him before, but now they think he's a genius. Thanks, Melfi! However, "Meadowlands," more than any episode yet, shows how Tony's family life is intertwining with his "family" life. Anthony Junior receives some extended screen time this episode, getting quality time with his father at home, but struggling with a bully at school. However, before a scheduled after-school fight, the bully mysteriously tucks his tail between his legs and makes peace. A confused A.J. tells Meadow, who then explains to A.J. what their father actually does for a living. The episode culminates in Jackie's funeral, where both families come together, and A.J., after a knowing look from Meadow, notices the government agents taking pictures of the funeral attendees from a distant fence line. Maybe dad's not actually in waste management? At this moment, after hitting viewers more directly for an hour, The Sopranos subtly sneaks in a metaphoric image that sums up the entire series: the full cast of characters moves slowly amongst aging tombstones, in a worn, isolated graveyard, dealing with drama inherent to their way of life, as authority changes hands, a son realizes the truth about his father, and a leader is put to rest...but in the background, on an elevated freeway, traffic--and the rest of the world--speeds along.
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