The Sopranos



HBO is playing the entire Soprano’s series this summer.  I’ve watched 84 brutally violent and misogynistic episodes to-date.  The series runs chronologically with no interruptions for season breaks, just two days off during the weekend that leaves me jonesing for Monday. What’s not to love?  A story about the Mafia.  Crime, crime and more crime.  Payola.  Fine Italian cuisine.  Booze and drugs.  Love and lust.  Lots of guns and knives. It is just action packed with excess.

We’re having a scorching hot summer.  It’s way too hot to toil outside after work.  Instead I sit in the darkened living room and watch the day’s episode.  On comes the Soprano logo with that infinitely clever depiction of a revolver replacing the letter “R” and then the opening strains of “Woke Up This Morning” and I am in HBO heaven. 

James Gandolfini’s portrayal of Tony Soprano is brilliant.  His acting makes me forget that Tony is a sociopath – right up until Tony does something really, really bad, which he does often.  His character is a man of contradictions.  A sociopath and a loving family man.  A serial womanizer who loves his wife.  He’s also depressed and sees a shrink – now that was an inspired subplot.        

There are a couple things that I get stuck on.  The first is fairly shallow:  I truly hate the talon-like fingernails all the women wear.  I am not a fan of long, long, long, germy fingernails, especially when there’s cooking involved.  How could anyone actually mince an onion with those nails?  And the wife characters are always whipping up some fabulous feast.  Maybe with no onions. 

Then there’s all those men just sitting around watching naked strippers pole dance.  In groups.  I don’t get it.  (And I’m not asking for any clarification, thank you.)  It seems like it’d be so awkward. 

I have to just let that go and get back to the program.  Where the violence is escalating rapidly as the count winds down.  I know how it ends.  I’ve seen the last show.  Can’t the characters see where this is going to end? 

The entire cast is fabulous.  I particularly love laid-back, soft-spoken Bobby, Tony’s brother-in-law, who is  a big teddy bears.  And a hardened criminal.     

There are only seven shows left.  I fear I’m going to suffer from withdrawal when this ends. 

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