Note to The Sopranos
I'm sorry for doubting you. Can you ever forgive me?
Two words to describe last night's episode: Devastatingly brilliant.
Two words to describe last night's episode: Devastatingly brilliant.
posted by temporarily unemployed at 09:02
4 Comments:
Devastatingly brilliant? I think that's a definite overstatement.
I didn't think the episode was bad, but I came away from it feeling extremely unsatisfied.
I'm always a little lost in the dreamy episodes, which I guess I'm sort of supposed to be. I mean, I obviously understand that the dream was, on the surface, about how Tony's life would be entirely different if he was just a typical working man. I understand that we're digging into his psyche... but I don't understand how. Take, for instance, the weird moment in the show when he sees something on the tv about sin and redemption, or whatever. How is this going to fit in to the overall structure of the show? Also, how long can the writers continue to kind of dangle all of this extremely intangible stuff over our heads before things start moving?
I assume that Tony is not going to die. If he did, all the psychological stuff would be waaaaaaaay too frustrating.
The question I have is how long we're gonna be in this state of flux. I like the fact that they're carefully setting up this power struggle, and possibly a more prominent role for AJ. But I hope things move a little quicker than they did in this episode. Not that I need the show to be about blood and guts, but my enjoyment of the show relies on the balance between Tony's family life, mafia life, and psychological issues. I understand that the show last night touched on all of these things...but I still can't wait to get back to reality.
Also, big points to Carmela's outstanding performance in the episode. I esp. liked her jarring mention of Jackie Jr. to Rosalie, or whatever her name is.
-jc
Maybe "devastatingly brilliant" is a bit of an overstatement about the episode as a whole. But after watching it for a second time this afternoon, I will say that there were moments in it that were devastating, and there were moments that were brilliant.
Maybe it's because I set my expectations a little low. I had prepared myself for something disappointing, and was just that much more grateful when it became apparent that the show was going to stay true to itself.
The beginning of the episode was jarring, but the dream sequence revealed itself slowly enough and subtly enough that it wasn't a knock over the head. I was impressed with how they pulled it off.
At this point, it's safe to say that dream sequences have become a major convention of the series. They always seem to teeter on the verge of heavy-handedness (the heaven/hell imagery in this sequence probably went a little overboard). Plus they're always extremely Freudian, and by extension very esoteric. But psychological imagery aside, I thought it was actually quite fresh and interesting to show Tony leading this normal upper-middle-class life. There were still hints of the real Tony (his philandering tendencies, his short fuse), but this was Tony living his ideal of a happy life--in which his kids say cute things on the answering maching and the biggest crisis that he faces is losing his briefcase.
The juxtaposition of the dream to reality was very effective, in my opinion. The first few minutes in the hospital were excruciating (but extremely well done). The seizure scene and then Carmela's breakdown after talking to the doctor were some of the most powerful, realistic and affecting moments I've ever seen portrayed in any theatrical work.
One other facet of the show's brilliance which was evident in last night's episode is how intricate the characters are, and especially how much they seem like a family. Case in point: Livia has been dead for several years, yet she still exists in the show in the form of Janice's melodramatic hysterics and even AJ's use of the phrase "Poor you" when he's talking to Meadow ("Poor you" was something Livia used to say to Tony all the time, and in one of the commentary tracks on the DVD David Chase says that an alternate title for the show could have been Poor You). The consistency and attention to detail on the part of the writers and the actors is almost unfathomable. Basically what amazes me is that characters on the series are probably the closest thing to a living, breathing family that has ever existed on television.
Finally (and this was only something I began to think about after a second viewing), the emergence of death as a major theme of the show is both bold and genuine. If the shadow of Tony's possible death is the conflict that drives this season, we're in for a lot of really rich drama. Of course there will be the power struggles within the mafia family, which will surely result in deaths (I bet newly-svelte Vito will go first). And then there will be the implications on Carmela, Meadow and AJ, all of whom could be taken in a number of differenct directions. But maybe the best angle of all will be Tony's. The final scene of last night's episode, with the moody Moby song and the flash of the yellow light in the distance, leads me to believe that Tony may have to face a choice at some not-too-distant point: whether he wants to fight his way back to life or "take the easy way out" (as Christopher said at the funeral). I don't think it's that far-fetched to imagine that Tony is going to actively decide his own fate. And if/when that moment comes, its safe to bet that it'll be devastating. And brilliant.
I probably sounded like a buffoon in that last comment. I was just reading, in my boredom at work, the HBO fan message board for the Sopranos, and there are lots of idiotic comments that basically equate to "When the fuck is the violence coming back?" These remarks give absolutely no credence to the psychological analysis part of the show. I say such comments are idiotic mostly because psychology has played a prominent role in the Sopranos since the very first episode; Lorraine Bracco has always been a main character, and Tony at Dr. Melfi's office is one of the staple scenes of the show. There have been dreamy episodes in the past, etc., and this really is nothing new.
By the way, was Tony physically shorter and fatter in the dream? I feel like they somehow doctored the video to make him look less imposing...which is tough, because James Gandolfini is a giant.
Anyway, back to the main thing I was going to say, which is that I clearly don't expect the Sopranos to be a cookie cutter mob drama,a dn this isn't what I meant to imply in my first comment. I just found this episode to be soooo kind of, I don't know, I wouldn't call it tedious, but it was almost too self-aware, as you say. I haven't seen seasons 1-3 in so long now that I can barely remember the individual episodes. This is a borderline problem with this season so far. I realize that the creators are trying to help us remember stuff...like when "svelte" Vito made that comment about being gay and having no one to talk to about it in the last episode. We talked about Vito being gay last week, but I barely remembered it. I'm sure there's a lot that I'm missing just due to the fact that I no longer recall the minutiae of episodes that I haven't seen since I was 15. It doesn't diminish my appreciation of the show that much, I just need to be reminded of things from the past.
My main questions about what's going to happen are:
- How will the suicide in episode 1 impact the season?
- When will Tony wake up (obviously)?
- What is going on with AJ and Meadow?
I don't think you sounded buffoonish at all. I got what you meant about not wanting to get bogged down in this strange intermediary period during which it's not clear what Tony's fate is going to be. Tony's the star of the show, and the main character, and his fate will definitely be something that hangs over the show for as long as he's in a coma. In past seasons of the show, there weren't often looming questions that spanned many episodes. It was probably pretty clear that characters like Richie Aprile, Ralphie, Tony B., and maybe even Adriana would get bumped off. But now that there's this situation with Tony, there are going to be a lot of questions that are left up in the air for however long, and at some point it's sure to get tedious waiting for resolutions to come along.
I also definitely agree that it's hard to remember things that have happened long ago in the show. Thank God for DVD (which is how I saw the first four seasons). Confusion that arises from references to the show's distant past can fairly be blamed on the writers. Clearly David Chase and the rest of the people that work on this show live and breathe The Sopranos when they're working on it (and probably when they're not working on it). But the audience can't reasonably be expected to retain all of the tiny details that have been planted throughout the 8-year run of the show, or however long it's been. I suppose the ideal way to watch The Sopranos would be as one single 70-something hour unit. Because it's really one continuous story. But even then it'd probably be impossible to retain and recall all of the little things.
I think you're right that the suicide in the first episode will play some sort of role in later episodes. I can think of a few crazy scenarios: will the dead guy show up in Tony's dream world? (In following, would that mean that Tony is in some half-afterlife, or just that he's got the dead guy on his mind). Additionally, I don't think we've seen the last of dead guy's wife (who is apparently played by Lorraine Bracco's sister).
One thing that actually annoyed me about the second episode was Meadow's pre-medish behavior. It's enough of a stretch for us to believe that she successfully completed Columbia, what with the almost painful way she makes literary allusions and talks about philosophy. OK, she's probably got enough of a head on her shoulders to go into law. But medicine? Are they serious? And we're supposed to be convinced just because she can convert Celsius to Fahrenheit? Please.
One more crazy prediction: Carmela becomes the interim boss of the family. Just throwin' that out there.
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