A late-comer’s thoughts about Sopranos

Diving into any show with 80 hour-long episodes is intimidating, fewer more than The Sopranos. It's as if James Gandolfini's scowl on the box is a warning. 

The Sopranos' Complete Series on Bluray sat in the Great Escape’s glass case. I had finished season 1. Three weeks of waiting for Season 2 from the library had me antsy for more. I knew I wanted it, but said, “If it’s here next week, I’ll buy it.”

A week later, Season 2 had not arrived. Of course the set was still in the glass case. I wasn’t leaving without it. Better yet, the Bluray set was still in its original wrapper. The new boxed set for $60 was a steal, almost $40 cheaper than the lowest Internet prices. After a false start with the VHS tapes of Season 1 and seeing most of Season 3 following Sunday dinners with my parents, I was ready to tackle The Sopranos.

With all the ink spilled on The Sopranos, I hesitated after finally watching the full series twenty years after its first episode and more than a decade after the cut to black. I tried not to binge-watch. As with The Wire, I settled into a maximum three-episode-per-sitting routine. It’s still binging, but in digestible chunks.

All apologies to those who watched the show on its original run and had to wait months and years to continue the story, but at this point, it’s old television. Spoilers are inescapable, especially about the infamous ending. 

Here are some observations, not complete and not original but what stuck with me from the show:

• No character hangs over the proceedings like Livia Soprano. She dies in Season 3 yet we never escape her. Her utterances of “He was a saint” anytime someone mentioned her late husband remind me of my own grandmother, as well as “I don’t have a grandson” when a teenaged AJ visits her at the nursing home. By my teen years, I was dead to her, although she came around when I was in my 20s when I started asking about recipes. Tony’s mother has roots in many Italian households but was an infectious creature all her own. She wasn’t the first Italian lady to utter “poor you” as if she was the only person who deserved to suffer in this life.
• Tony’ business cell phone ring cannot be unheard.
• Despite his bad choices in other women, we all knew the one-legged Russian would be the one that Carmela could not forgive. 
•  For an unsympathetic character, it’s hard not to feel for Paulie following his aunt’s infamous revelation. After all, he doted on his Ma.
• When Meadow brings home a boyfriend with African-American heritage, Tony was a time-bomb waiting to drop a few slurs on the kid's ethnicity. 
• Johnny Sack’s best line - “And there’s no Stage 5.” I say this noting I really like Johnny Sack. He is angry and fiery but reasonable. His friendship with Tony is a weakness but one that prevents the war that Phil Leotardo so badly wants. 
• Speaking of Phil, his death - the last confirmed death on The Sopranos - is beyond brutal but totally appropriate. We see Phil as a human, smiling to his grandkids before he is executed in front of them and his head pops beneath the car tire when his hysterical wife forgets the car is in Drive. Frank Vincent is a good actor but he would have never worked as Uncle June – he was just right as the relentless, unforgiving Phil. 
• Sending Sil to pick up Adriana preserved some doubt about what was coming, but only served to confirm that Sil could be as cold-blooded any of Tony’s guys. 
• The use of Van Morrison’s "Glad Tidings" as a motif across the Season 5 finale, All Due Respect, is among the most perfect popular music cues use in any television show. The lyrics fit the moments too well. 
• Edie Falco puts on an acting clinic anytime she’s onscreen, and is at her peak when Carmela fights with Tony across the Season 4 finale. 
• I wish Dr. Melfi had Tony kill the guy who raped her.
• Aside from the Soprano children, is any long-time character less likable than Christopher? Around 3 I found myself ready for him to get whacked.  Being so high that he didn't notice he sat on Adriana's dog, killing it in the process.
• The show’s one missed opportunity – an episode explaining how Barbara Soprano got away. It wasn’t necessary, but she escaped the life, and I kept wondering how. 
• As for Janice, it's hard to hate her when the show ends with her widowed.
• AJ’s suicide attempt was totally harrowing, not the sleeping pills or slashed arms I expected. Tony’s rescue was the closest moment father and son share in the entire series.
• It’s the opposite of the garage conversation, when AJ isn’t interested in a construction job Tony has secured for him. When Tony smashes the windshield of AJ’s SUV with a helmet, then runs down the list of all the things he will take away, closing with “Don’t push me on this,” the menace is real. 
• Bobby was the only one who could stand up for his wife and not face repercussions from Tony. But in his cancerous way, Tony still made Bobby pay by sending him on a murder assignment. Bobby is not a happy man when he picks up his child and looks at the beautiful lake at the end of Soprano Home Movies.
• What happened after the fade to black? Meadow and AJ were gunned down, fulfilling the bloodlust of fans who grown sick of those spoiled little shits across six seasons. 
• Or whatever you think happened. The show was over, that was the point. Did you really want another season with Tony in court fighting RICO charges and Paulie Walnuts running things? No, you did not. And I like Paulie.