(S06E13) We've all been waiting long enough for it, and that Sunday in April finally came. Tonight, we were returned to the scene of the crime as far as the Soprano family goes, or at least the scene where Tony left Johnny Sack to get snatched by the cops way back in 2004. It was definitely helpful to have something absolutely material to the current plot line be "ripped" from something we all more or less forgot about, in Tony's tossing of the gun as he ran from the yard that winter day. As the episode's title would suggest, however, "family" was definitely what it was all about.
The foreshadowing of Tony speaking with Bobby about hunting and killing - and how he hadn't done so as far as people went, at least - was curious at least, but the way this show had been going the last season or two, I hadn't expected to see things come to fruition so quickly. As far as "family" goes, however, there are a lot of different ways to look at things. AJ certainly dropped a few pounds and has a new "look" that he's sporting, ink and all, Tony isn't letting the "pork chop" nickname go to his head or anything (not that anyone would ever call him that to his face), and while health might not be the first concern for the Jersey team, Phil most certainly is looking healthy and is looking to assert himself with his family, even if there is someone else (a much younger someone else) being groomed for the job.
Family is obviously a big thing for the Sopranos, and most likely this season will be like no other when it comes to this. Tonight, I've heard suggestions that range everywhere from Janice pushing Bobby closer and closer to the "top" of the crew, causing big problems with her blood relatives, all the way to Christopher getting on the bad side of Carm (did you see the preview?) and Tony taking care of matters in that vein. I'm frankly surprised that with all the time that's passed since last season that haven't heard more and more wild and crazy suggestions as to what might happen. Then again, the shows' makers do some pretty hard work to keep things under wraps.
Overall, though, I'm pretty pleased with this premiere. It didn't set off the people who always complain that there wasn't enough action and killing (a house-trashing fight and a murder this week were plenty), and it certainly didn't set off the people who love the character development and back story. We learned something very interesting about Tony's father, through a pretty funny story about him shooting a hole in his wife's beehive hairdo, and saw that yet again, Janice appears to be trying to undermine Tony's life. The issue I have with Janice, as much as I'd love to see her vanish, is that I almost feel like she doesn't know what she's saying or doing at a lot of junctures. She's not really healthy for Bobby's life near the top of the Soprano crew, and she certainly isn't making any friends with anyone else, either.
I thought it notable that this episode was a lot lighter on the sex (sans Tony's birthday gift) and even a little bit of the language, as compared to many previous episodes. It was also potentially devastating to the volume of air that Christopher might breathe in the next few weeks in that the airtime he got this week could be about the same amount of time he spends on-screen, at least before he could end up underground, at the rate he's going. As the "entrances" for a lot of the characters have been notable - Tony seeming to still be that "level" guy, even after the fight, Phil slimming down, Bobby living the high life, and so on - I'm going to expect nothing less as the usual suspects make their way on screen in the next week or two.
The Christopher story has got to get more interesting, considering where it had left off, Ade will probably crop up in some way, shape, or form, and the leadership of the crew, if it's not settled by series' end, will shock me. I just don't know if the folks behind this show have it in them to really cut down the crew(s) in any big way as a sendoff, or if that would be just too "easy" for a show featuring hit men and crime bosses. I think AJ will probably be minimized, as his "taking over" is probably off the charts now, and Carm seems truly in love with her man.
As for things I'm looking to find out about: Whatever happened with Furio, and will we ever hear from him again? Is Christopher working with the Feds? What's up with the terrorist guys? Can we clarify that Ade is dead, please? And of course, will Carm ever sell her spec house?
All in all, big thumbs up from me. Anyone shocked by anything? Wondering where someone in particular was? Theories, suggestions, hate mail, we'll take it all.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
4-09-2007 @ 1:20AM
Borat said...
"As for things I'm looking to find out about: Whatever happened with Furio, and will we ever hear from him again? Is Christopher working with the Feds? What's up with the terrorist guys? Can we clarify that Ade is dead, please? And of course, will Carm ever sell her spec house?"
Sorry, but apart from Carm's storyline all of those storylines seem to be dead.
But wow, it was a great premiere wasn't it? The way David Chase has portrayed Tony Soprano (and the way Gandolfini has played him) is quite brilliant.
Christopher's 10 second cameo was hilarious!
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4-09-2007 @ 1:23AM
Cliff said...
Wow. Is this a single sentence?
"It was also potentially devastating to the volume of air that Christopher might breathe in the next few weeks in that the airtime he got this week could be about the same amount of time he spends on-screen, at least before he could end up underground, at the rate he's going."
What does that even mean?
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4-09-2007 @ 1:38AM
Tom Biro said...
Thanks for the grammar check, Cliff! The point I was trying to make was that the airtime that Christopher got this week might be equal in portion to what we might see of him this season, if Tony has his way with him. Considering how Tony was talking about moving Bobby along while the pair were out on the lake, Christopher's growth in the fam might not be all it's cracked up to be. Then again, maybe Bobby's isn't either, after that scrap.
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4-09-2007 @ 1:57AM
BigTed said...
I think the point of this episode was that Tony and Janice will never completely escape the corrosive influence of growing up with a violent father and a self-centered, manipulative mother. Even though Tony has made a lot of progress in therapy, Janice still pushes all his buttons (leaving Bobby caught in the middle). Since "The Sopranos" has always been as much about character psychology as about mob activities, I thought it was a particularly deep episode.... It revealed a lot, even though, on the surface, not that much seemed to be going on.
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4-09-2007 @ 2:23AM
ooda said...
Have to say Carmella is looking pretty good these days, at least when you have Janice there as a comparison (ugly inside and out).
But I'd say this was probably one of my favourite episodes. It's might not have been as strong as others, but it truly was quintessential Sopranos, and damn, it's good to have them back. Nice to see Christopher pop up in the middle. The slaying of the Cannuck was heartbreaking, but what probably topped it off was seeing Bobby hugging his daughter.
And while I don't usually call them out, god damn that was some great cinematography. It really feels heads and bounds above anything else on television, even the sublime, and underrated, Brotherhood.
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4-09-2007 @ 5:49AM
Clint said...
Decent episode, a bit slow at times. But I loved how Tony is excellent at pressing everyones buttons.
Best two parts for me:
1-Tony walking around after the fight with the monopoly house stuck to his face.
2-Seeing that AJ now looks like he's from the music group Color Me Bad.
http://www.tvdeuce.com
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4-09-2007 @ 8:37AM
hellfried said...
after the fisticuff, i thought bobby was gone for sure; murdered by the very birthday present that he got for tony.
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4-09-2007 @ 9:32AM
BobbyBuz said...
Two things:
Who is the guy Tony mentions that he's grooming while talking with Bobby in the boat?
Could the guy that Bobby hit in the laundromat be Janice's son Harpo?
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4-09-2007 @ 11:16AM
dave said...
This may be a stretch but did anyone else think the cabin was the sameone used in the movie On Golden Pond?
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4-09-2007 @ 11:52AM
malren said...
Boring.
Sorry, but it's true. Go back and watch season one or two of this show and tell me last night wasn't utterly dull and dead.
This show should have been canceled a long time ago - it's clearly no longer a labor of love for Chase, but one being done for the paycheck.
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4-09-2007 @ 2:14PM
bmellin said...
The dialogue during the drunken night at the cabin was terrific, especially in the ways it picked at old wounds. Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf, Sopranos-style? Bobby's discussion of hunting was great, too. I wonder if he'll be less romantic about his ideas concerning "proper" hunting (i.e., using bow-and-arrow as a way to level of playing field) now that he's killed a human at Tony's behest?
Malren, since you note that Chase "clearly" is not doing the show as a labor of love these days, could you please be specific. This is unclear to me. What, for example, "clearly" reveals that Chase did this as a labor of love in the first few seasons? What, also, "clearly" reveals that he's doing this for the money now? Again,this is not at all clear . . . to me, at least.
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4-09-2007 @ 12:51PM
dkny said...
Boring?? Amen!! This show is the epitome of a prick tease –sorry for the crude remark but killing off a new character and creating new story lines with so much unresolved is nothing but a tease. I now it’s just the premier and without a track record of this crap I would agree but there are a few episodes left – let’s get some things resolved – give us what we came for and have been coming back for slow moving year after year – in 60 minute show we don’t need over 20 minutes of tony breathing
I’m sick of this but you know I’ll be there on Sunday – I guess I’m just a masochist
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4-09-2007 @ 2:09PM
Justin said...
Thought it was a solid premiere. The Monopoly brawl was not only hilarious but drenched in symbolism and foreshadowing in case anyone somehow missed it.
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4-09-2007 @ 1:31PM
Angelo said...
Great Episode! Sucks that the nicest guy on the show was set-up for a big fall in this episode.
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4-09-2007 @ 2:55PM
Erik said...
BobbyBuz - Christopher...someone he's been trying to groom as his #2 (meaning all info goes Tony to Chris and back, nobody else speaks to Tony about business).
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4-09-2007 @ 4:03PM
peter said...
Geez - I was thinking they put us in that sweet relaxed setting to fall back in love with a few characters so we'd be ready to embrace the season. But yieks - no one came out all that lovable - except maybe the nanny.
Nevertheless "Sopranos" is one of the most SizeFriendly shows on tv getting an A (from sizefriendlytv.com). People of size represent about 30% of the cast compared to the average of about (around 6%). That's a lot of pepperoni.
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4-09-2007 @ 3:43PM
jason said...
Did anyone else notice that the Monopoly piece stuck to Tony's face was a hotel painted green like a house? What's up with that?
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4-09-2007 @ 2:52PM
James said...
Hey folks,
Haven't seen anyone mention it yet, but while Janice may think that she's more like her father, she's really her mother's daughter. By attempting to push Bobby up the ladder, mentioning Bobby's importance to Tony, we see how Janice's mother was manipulating Tony's father and Tony to play a more important role in the Jersey mob.
We also see how Tony is truly like his father. Easily manipulated by his family, and taking those lessons and using them on his mob family.
During the first season, we found out Janice's mother (the real mob captain) was the one putting a hit on Tony. May we see Janice doing the same so that Bobby becomes the figurehead captain?
Just a thought.
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4-09-2007 @ 2:53PM
James said...
Sorry for the additional post, but I feel that Janice knows exactly what she's doing (if the previous post didn't make it clear.
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4-09-2007 @ 4:36PM
Lee said...
It stills suprises me & makes me laugh that people still think every single thing needs to be resolved. They should have learned along time ago from this show that somethings aren't going to be resolved. The irony is that most things that people complain about not being resolved are. FOR EXAMPLE:
Dr. Melfi's rape - The whole point of the show was to show how she could overcome the temptation to have Tony "take care of him". When he asked if she needed something & she said "no", END OF STORY!
Furio - He flirted with the wrong woman & he fled. He's not coming back. If he does, he's dead. END OF STORY!
The Russian - He's gone! Watch the episode. He got hit in the back of the head. No body was found, but so what. The Russian will not be dealt with anymore. It wasn't about the Russian anyway. It was about the Chris & Paulie situation coming to a head. END OF STORY!
I'm sure I could go on & on.
I tired of people calling this show boring. It has always been, regardless if some want to accept it or not, halfway about the family & halfway about the mob.
I think most of the bashing is due in part because this show, in it's first two season, may have been popular, but not as popular as it is now. Now that everyone likes it, people who feel it belonged to them & them alone suddenly have to stomp on it. Seen this happen too many times before to not see it here.
Last night's episode was far from boring. It was everything the show is, funny, compelling, deep, violent (1 major beating & a murder. What more do you want?), & finally sad. The turning point for Bobby last night was very moving & among the best things the show has done.
By The Way - Did anyone else notice the lone duck fly past Tony while he was sitting by the lake?
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