03-21-2006, 05:46 AM
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The Sopranos: Together again as final destiny looms
After brilliant opening, new season turns murky, but it's all headed toward an explosive conclusion
By JILL VEJNOSKA
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Just when we thought we were out, they pull us back in.
"The Sopranos" returns from its nearly two-year hiatus in spectacular fashion tonight, deftly blending melancholy and mayhem in an episode that ends with a sucker-punch almost nobody but creator David Chase could have seen coming. Cut, print, endlessly discuss and dissect among yourselves for the next 6 1/2 days, until Episode 2 comes along to offer up some even bigger shocks:
Confusion. Even a few yawns. And — let's be totally honest about it — a certain amount of disappointment. As bone-rattlingly good as the Season 6 opener is, that's how much of a letdown the followup installment feels like. Worse, this odd sense of viewer betrayal persists in Episode 3, when many an intensely loyal Made Fan doubtless will yearn for a hit on a certain milquetoasty character named Kevin Finnerty. Who is this guy, and why is he getting so much of what should be Tony Soprano's (James Gandolfini) screen time, you'll wonder? Has the combination of too much downtime and unrealistically high expectations turned Chase into the Uncle Junior of TV showrunners, a man now wandering lost and confused in his own creative kitchen?
All due respect — No.
<b>I've seen the first four episodes of Season 6. But I also subscribe to the critic's code of omertà when it comes to spilling "The Sopranos" secrets. So you're just going to have to trust me on this, same as I'm trusting Chase, et al., to bring this deeply personal mob morality play to a satisfying, enlightening conclusion. Something bigger is afoot here, something inherently risky and therefore most worthy of a groundbreaking show that's technically in its final season (12 new episodes now; eight new "bonus" episodes next January), and determined to go out the way few TV series or Mafia dons ever get a chance to: on their own terms, no apologies necessary.
If that means we have to wait until about halfway through Episode 4 to begin to appreciate what this all is leading to, so be it. Some sitdowns take longer to arrange. By the time we come to understand the significance of this one — Tony Soprano going one-on-one with himself in the ultimate turf battle for his own soul — they've pulled us back in and set the stage for whatever's coming in the final act.</b>
Even amid the comparative tedium of the middle two episodes, there's enough that's potentially significant or just plain entertaining to hold all but the most casual fan's interest. Outside the family, rival gang boss Johnny "Sack" (Vince Curatola) is in prison and fuming; inside it, Sopranos soldier Vito Spatafore (Joseph Gannsascoli) has lost half his body weight and, along with the ever-more combustible Paulie Walnuts (Tony Sirico), begun eating away at Tony's aura of invincibility. Meanwhile, for sheer laughs, not much can compare with Episode 3's "Who's on First"-worthy pitch meeting between aspiring slasher filmmaker Christopher (Michael Imperioli) and his mobbed-up crew of potential investors.
"They call him 'The Butcher!'" Christopher enthuses about the movie's lead character.
"No, they don't," Sopranos' consigliere Silvio Dante (Steven Van Zandt) interrupts in his best "All due respect, Mr. DeMille" tone. "Need I remind you of a certain 'Butcher' out of A.C [Atlantic City, N.J.]?"
That Christopher, who's Tony's nephew and a family man in every sense of the word, is restlessly exploring his options seems less surprising given the pensive, somewhat wistful tone of tonight's episode. Nearly two years have elapsed both on and off screen, time enough for Janice (Aida Turturro) to have had a baby, A.J. (Robert Iler) to have begun college (whether he'll finish is another matter), and for Adriana (Drea DeMatteo) to have faded mostly to a memory in the place where people tuck away their "I wonder's" and "If only's."
Having ended their marital separation at the end of Season 5, Tony and Carmela (Edie Falco) are settled into a comfortable empty-nesting existence, regularly indulging their newfound passion for sushi (no, that's not a euphemism), taking care of their respective business ventures and only occasionally erupting.
A sense of their own mortality hovers over all these characters like never before, the "who's whacking who" concerns of previous seasons at least temporarily taking a back seat to talk of retirement property in Florida, assisted living facilities, roads not taken and the point of it all really, ultimately.
"Let me tell you something A.J.," Tony lectures his obviously uninterested son tonight, in between fulfilling obligations to one of his families (attending a "business" associate's wake), and the other (paying a call on disoriented old Uncle Junior). "I don't care how close you are. In the end, your friends are gonna let you down. Family, they're the only ones you can depend on."
Until you can't.
Let the final sitdown begin.
The Sopranos: Together again as final destiny looms
After brilliant opening, new season turns murky, but it's all headed toward an explosive conclusion
By JILL VEJNOSKA
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Just when we thought we were out, they pull us back in.
"The Sopranos" returns from its nearly two-year hiatus in spectacular fashion tonight, deftly blending melancholy and mayhem in an episode that ends with a sucker-punch almost nobody but creator David Chase could have seen coming. Cut, print, endlessly discuss and dissect among yourselves for the next 6 1/2 days, until Episode 2 comes along to offer up some even bigger shocks:
Confusion. Even a few yawns. And — let's be totally honest about it — a certain amount of disappointment. As bone-rattlingly good as the Season 6 opener is, that's how much of a letdown the followup installment feels like. Worse, this odd sense of viewer betrayal persists in Episode 3, when many an intensely loyal Made Fan doubtless will yearn for a hit on a certain milquetoasty character named Kevin Finnerty. Who is this guy, and why is he getting so much of what should be Tony Soprano's (James Gandolfini) screen time, you'll wonder? Has the combination of too much downtime and unrealistically high expectations turned Chase into the Uncle Junior of TV showrunners, a man now wandering lost and confused in his own creative kitchen?
All due respect — No.
<b>I've seen the first four episodes of Season 6. But I also subscribe to the critic's code of omertà when it comes to spilling "The Sopranos" secrets. So you're just going to have to trust me on this, same as I'm trusting Chase, et al., to bring this deeply personal mob morality play to a satisfying, enlightening conclusion. Something bigger is afoot here, something inherently risky and therefore most worthy of a groundbreaking show that's technically in its final season (12 new episodes now; eight new "bonus" episodes next January), and determined to go out the way few TV series or Mafia dons ever get a chance to: on their own terms, no apologies necessary.
If that means we have to wait until about halfway through Episode 4 to begin to appreciate what this all is leading to, so be it. Some sitdowns take longer to arrange. By the time we come to understand the significance of this one — Tony Soprano going one-on-one with himself in the ultimate turf battle for his own soul — they've pulled us back in and set the stage for whatever's coming in the final act.</b>
Even amid the comparative tedium of the middle two episodes, there's enough that's potentially significant or just plain entertaining to hold all but the most casual fan's interest. Outside the family, rival gang boss Johnny "Sack" (Vince Curatola) is in prison and fuming; inside it, Sopranos soldier Vito Spatafore (Joseph Gannsascoli) has lost half his body weight and, along with the ever-more combustible Paulie Walnuts (Tony Sirico), begun eating away at Tony's aura of invincibility. Meanwhile, for sheer laughs, not much can compare with Episode 3's "Who's on First"-worthy pitch meeting between aspiring slasher filmmaker Christopher (Michael Imperioli) and his mobbed-up crew of potential investors.
"They call him 'The Butcher!'" Christopher enthuses about the movie's lead character.
"No, they don't," Sopranos' consigliere Silvio Dante (Steven Van Zandt) interrupts in his best "All due respect, Mr. DeMille" tone. "Need I remind you of a certain 'Butcher' out of A.C [Atlantic City, N.J.]?"
That Christopher, who's Tony's nephew and a family man in every sense of the word, is restlessly exploring his options seems less surprising given the pensive, somewhat wistful tone of tonight's episode. Nearly two years have elapsed both on and off screen, time enough for Janice (Aida Turturro) to have had a baby, A.J. (Robert Iler) to have begun college (whether he'll finish is another matter), and for Adriana (Drea DeMatteo) to have faded mostly to a memory in the place where people tuck away their "I wonder's" and "If only's."
Having ended their marital separation at the end of Season 5, Tony and Carmela (Edie Falco) are settled into a comfortable empty-nesting existence, regularly indulging their newfound passion for sushi (no, that's not a euphemism), taking care of their respective business ventures and only occasionally erupting.
A sense of their own mortality hovers over all these characters like never before, the "who's whacking who" concerns of previous seasons at least temporarily taking a back seat to talk of retirement property in Florida, assisted living facilities, roads not taken and the point of it all really, ultimately.
"Let me tell you something A.J.," Tony lectures his obviously uninterested son tonight, in between fulfilling obligations to one of his families (attending a "business" associate's wake), and the other (paying a call on disoriented old Uncle Junior). "I don't care how close you are. In the end, your friends are gonna let you down. Family, they're the only ones you can depend on."
Until you can't.
Let the final sitdown begin.
![[Image: 723475742_8cb2b0be6c.jpg]](http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1019/723475742_8cb2b0be6c.jpg)