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• The Sopranos: Season Two

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Sometimes I argue with my mom—thankfully, she’s never tried to have me murdered. I guess Livia Soprano is a different kind of mother. Season one (which can be found here) of HBO’s legendary drama wrapped up with Tony as the new boss of a New Jersey mafia family after battling his mother, uncle, “co-workers” and (understandably) damaged psyche. The second season finds David Chase and company exploring his team of exceptionally flawed criminals.

Since The Sopranos can be read as an extended character study, I think it’s imperative to devote some discussion to each character. Unlike my previous write-up I’m going to try and be more critical of Chase’s masterpiece;it’s always fun to tip a sacred cow.

Tony is the man we spend the most time every episode; he develops in increasingly nuanced, dark and unexpected ways. Tony cannot make peace with his mother, he keeps his uncle at an unfriendly distance, his sister comes back to Jersey to take his money, the FBI is keeping him under constant surveillance, and even his psychiatrist won’t give him treatment. Having problems isn’t what makes Tony unique, in fact, it’s not even the type of problems Tony has (which are pretty specific to a murderous felon)—what makes Tony interesting is the sometimes clever, sometimes rash, but always abhorrent ways he solves his problems. Take for example David Scatino, Tony’s high school friend and recovering gambling addict. David asks Tony to take a seat in the “executive game”, a high stakes game of poker, and even though Tony knows David is an addict and does not have the means to pay if he loses, Tony accepts David’s plea. When David inevitably loses he has to sell his son’s car, use his son’s college fund, commit illegal tax exceptions on his store, and eventually lose his marriage, family and livelihood to make good on his debts to Tony Soprano. When David loses his nerve to kill himself he asks Tony why he let him play in the first place; Tony responds that it is in his nature to take advantage of the weak, to manipulate those who succumb to vice and make their misery into his profits. Tony knew all along that David couldn’t pay his debts back, in fact that was his plan—he just wanted to bleed him dry and put his addiction to “good use”. As I watched season two I realized Tony starts to suffer from a syndrome of diminishing returns: the more time I spend with him the more time I hate him. He can be a good family man, a good provider, a good friend, even someone who seems like he’d be fun to spend time with—but the way he leeches off the pathetic and the sad is disgusting. Tony is not a hero, and David Chase never lets you believe he is. It’s a question of whether or not you as a viewer will let him trick you into liking him even though he is a total and unrelenting prick. I digress however, for I could spend the whole post discussing Tony. What makes The Sopranos great is while the main character is compelling, the supporting cast is just as good.

Janice and Richie were newly introduced this season. Janice is Tony’s sister; Richie is Jackie Aprile’s big brother fresh out of prison for serving a sentence to help the Soprano family. Both characters become romantically involved and share a “complicated” love-hate relationship. Janice moved out of New Jersey to California and became a rather bohemian hippie goddess, yet it’s clear that she’s overcompensating with layers of phoniness. She preaches child raising advice to Tony, yet is a hypocrite when dealing with her nieces and nephews (not to mention her absent son). She acts like she loves her mother, yet that love is an act concealing a bitter hatred and resentment of all her mother put her through. I think what’s most interesting about Janice is how she reflects the exact qualities she hates in her mother—she grew into the same spiteful, passive aggressive person. After Richie gets out of jail he immediately wants a piece of the action he feels he deserves. He’s violent to claim his piece (he actually runs someone over with a car and paralyzes them), and he consistently undermines Tony’s authority. On first look it’s easy to hate Richie. Yet, he served time for a family he feels is betraying him. When Richie gives Tony a prized leather jacket Tony gives it away to his maid’s husband. Richie’s rage incites him to insurrection—he tries to recruit Uncle Junior and the rest of the Capos—yet no one will fully support his ideas of overthrowing Tony. Before the issue can come to a head, a fight between Janice and Richie ends in violent confrontation; Janice shoots Richie for hitting her. She is able to confront the source of her problems head on, not passive aggressively like her mother, and ends Richie’s life. Problem solved I suppose?

Uncle Junior is released from jail on house arrest for his declining health. I found Junior’s conflict, in “House Arrest” most interesting. He is a broken man, forgotten and unloved by a family he willingly betrayed. The only people he can find for company are his right hand man who’s only loyalty lies in his paychecks and a lonely old widower who has no one else to talk to. Junior is a sad old man and his struggle is bleak. Chase does not give him a happy ending yet, and perhaps he is trying to communicate that every man dies alone. I’m curious to see where the Junior character will go in coming seasons.

Pussy is another tragic character Chase paints in a dreary landscape of failure. Pussy was accused of being an FBI informant last season for good reason, he is an informant. Yet he doesn’t accept that role willingly. In attempts to avoid prison time and allow his family a comfortable life, Pussy is giving information about his best friend to a government agency that wants nothing more than sentencing to life in prison. Pussy tries to justify his betrayal by claiming Tony didn’t treat him right, he didn’t promote him or pay enough attention to him. Yet, this is an exercise in futility. Pussy is a criminal just like Tony is; yet Pussy is willing to turn in his best friend like a coward. When Tony finds out he murders Pussy promptly. Tony, Silvio and Paulie forlornly toss their friend’s corpse overboard their boat watching it sink to the bottom of the ocean. I found this storyline the saddest of season two, yet there were some plots that did not strike me very well.

Christopher is a character that acted like dead weight for most of the season. I didn’t buy his Hollywood aspirations or his tortured actor persona. Without knowing much of Christopher’s past I just think he’s a whiny, spoiled brat unable to live with the decisions he’s made. When he was shot I hoped he would died because I didn’t see his character going anywhere interesting. Hopefully this is corrected in the rest of the series.

Dr. Melfi is a character that seems like less of a character and more of a literary device. Melfi seems like she’s kept around to allow Tony to express his feelings and inner monologue, yet as a character herself she is boring and not compelling. I didn’t care that she had alcoholism, or couldn’t decide to take Tony on as a patient again. In fact, I knew she would just because the writers were so blunt with this plot. I usually don’t know what to expect from this show, yet with Melfi I find everything to be predictable.

Livia was my favorite character in the first season, yet I think she was under utilized in the second season. She’s mostly unseen for the majority of the episodes, and even though the writers truly had no control over this, she was set up for what seemed like a very compelling third season story until the actress who played her (Nancy Marchand) died before season three was developed. That’s unfortunate because Marchand was a very good actress.

To those still reading, what did you think of season two? Did you like the way Chase continued to write the plots of these characters? Do you agree with my criticisms or do you think they’re total garbage? Perhaps the show should have more violence and boobs? For season three I’m going to focus on The Sopranos as a social commentary.

Shows on the docket: Sports Night, Deadwood, Firefly