"The Sopranos Season 1" Laying the Groundwork

 

    "You'll remember the little moments, like this." That is how The Sopranos season 1 ends, and I think that perfectly sums up what this show felt like it was about to me. It reminds me of Breaking Bad in that sense, and I don't just make that comparison because these are two highly lauded drama's. What I mean is that there is remarkably little "mafia-like" activity that happens in this show. Yes, they "whack" people, but really the only time they dress up in suits and act all "mobby" like you'd imagine when someone says Godfather or Goodfellas one time this entire season (Which they mention like a hilarious amount). Instead what really sells this show, at least in my opinion, are all the little moments building up all these characters in this world. 

    The structure of The Sopranos season 1 is basically this, there's a very light underlying plot bubbling all season, about tension between Tony Soprano, and his uncle Junior Soprano. Though it really doesn't come to a head until the very end of the season, and what this season really feels about is introducing viewers to the world of The Sopranos through the lens of Tony. That is why the first scene of this show begins with Tony Soprano in therapy. You cannot begin to understand why he's there, without first understanding the world he lives in, and the people surrounding him. Whether it be whatever the hell is happening between the priest and all the wives, his mother Livia, or the actual mob problems that he has to face. So, there is not really some big bad antagonist in this season, the cops do exist, but frankly you only really begin to feel their presence in the last couple of episodes of the season. All of this to say is that this season is a lot of world-building, focusing on the characters you'll grow to know later on in the series and their lives.

    The best part is? It works. Look, the reason it took me so long to hop on the The Sopranos is that my attention span is pretty bad these days, and this show is lengthy. Every episode ranges from 50 minutes to an hour, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to commit to it yet. I was hooked though, I didn't really go on my phone, I stayed glued to my screen, whether it was Meadow and Tony going on a road trip, or Junior Soprano taking a nice trip to Boca Raton. That is what separates this show from Breaking Bad to me. When it came to Breaking Bad I really enjoyed the moments where Walter was doing illegal things, like when he first blew up Tuco's place, but I struggled to stay locked in for the rest of it. With The Sopranos at least so far, I've been here rain or shine, which just makes scenes like the ending of episodes like Pax Soprano that much more cool to me. That really feels like a stamp moment for the show.

    That is not to say there were moments I cringed. Livia is frustratingly well-written, because she does feel like certain older family members who feel self destructive, but by God do I hate her. I was also not a big fan of the priest, which I know I'm not supposed to be, because he definitely does feel sleazy/creepy, but those scenes were such a struggle to get through. I could also hardly get through A Hit is A Hit, I'm sorry but I could not take those scenes with Adrianna trying to become a music producer. Of course, my critiques of the show include more than just what I thought was cringe. Just because I enjoyed the show doesn't mean I wouldn't appreciate more of the mob life, even if it isn't very glamourous. I know part of the point they try to make in the show is that mob life these days isn't like the movies I mentioned at the beginning, and that it isn't particularly glamourous. But they were easily the coolest parts of the show and I sincerely hope season 2 has more of it, especially with Tony finally shaping up to be boss.

Final Score: 80/100

    I'd give this show a strong 80. I very much enjoyed what I saw, and am excited for more of the Sopranos. Oddly enough, I feel strongly endeared towards the character of Christopher. I just think it's really cool to see that Tony is grooming his sort of heir/successor for the mob business, and he's kind of disillusioned with the mob life and how it is now. There isn't too much youth these days that you really see in this show, so its kind of cool to see a young, scrappy, hot headed guy try and make a name for himself. Hopefully he sticks around I do enjoy his relationship with Tony. Especially because Tony always complains about the stress, so it'd be fun to see him sort of take on more responsibility as he becomes a made man and such. I'm writing this as I watch episode 1 of season 2 of The Sopranos by the way, so the train is not slowing down, though I did take a bit of a mid-season break briefly from it earlier this month, but it wasn't too hard to catch up. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season 1" What The Hell is This?

Image
      Look, Danny Devito was the only reason this show had any sort of foothold in my mind. I kept on repeating I'm the trash man through many of my younger years, and frankly, after looking at the absurd number of seasons, I've always been wary of starting this sitcom. In fact, I had even given it a shot before this, but no Devito, oddly low quality and format for the time period, and just general wariness had kept me from going past the pilot. Not to mention, you watch the first episode and just ask yourself, is this kind of racist? Is it bad that I might be laughing at how completely racist these characters are? Anyways, I did manage to get past the first episode, and even managed to complete a season, and I can safely say that I now understand what people mean when they point to this show to prove that "cancel culture has not ruined comedy". I mean in only seven episodes, the show decides to deal with racism, gay people, abortion, cancer, underage drinking, a litt...
Read more

"System Of A Down - Toxicity" Stick it Out for the Second Half

Image
      I have in fact tried listening to this album before. I remember Anthony Fantano saying he really loved Toxicity , so I decided to put on Prison Song  at 12 pm, before promptly realizing this is exactly the kind of music I'd rather not listen to going to sleep, and that the song was really on the nose. Other than that I have absolutely no prior experience with System Of A Down other than Chop Suey!  which is a lovely song that Jeff Rosenstock continues to play before every single one of his shows (thankfully). So I suppose I won't pretend to deliberate further because I'm not particularly a big metalhead either, so I doubt any knowledge I might impart would be useful. So without further ado, my track-by-track review. Toxicity - System Of A Down Prison Song  - 55/100 While the chorus and the song in general goes pretty hard, I have to say just the whole delivery of the verses is really holding this song back. Well other than the fact that it's pretty mu...
Read more

"McKinley Dixon - Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!?" Living Up To It's Name, and More

Image
      Do I listen to Jazz that often? Absolutely not. Do I know anything about McKinley Dixon? Nope. What I do know is that my friend Sweaty recommended this album, and when I listened to the track Run, Run, Run , Dixon's most popular track on Spotify I was absolutely hooked. All I know is that it is rated extremely high and it's very short for an album, so we'll see how that plays out. And without further ado, my track-by-track review. Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!? Hanif Reads Toni -  N/A Despite being over 2 minutes long I do think doing a spoken word poem is a cool intro. Especially with the music in the background, it creates this sort of tension and build up for when the music finally kicks in. Sun, I Rise - 80/100 Generally when it comes to rap music I'm not too picky about the songs in the sense that I just need a good beat and/or a catchy chorus to hook me, and the rest will come. I can confidently say that I feel that way about this song. The instrumentation in ...
Read more