Oh
Spoilers if you haven’t seen it by the way. But you should have seen it by now.
In fact I should have seen it before last year, when I eventually did. My
initial instinct when I heard the news about Gandolfini was to make some joke
about him being clipped by the New York families, but I resisted – at any rate
I did two meaningful upset tweets with YouTube clips
of him being brilliant – before I made the final cut to black reference.
The
Sopranos was
such a massive part of my life last year – for some reason I still think in
academic years (probably because I’m not that academic) so I’m talking from
July 2011-July 2012 – actually it would have been around this time a year ago
that I was sitting down to watch the last ever episode of The
Sopranos. In July 2011 I was moving in for a
year with some friends and three of us decided to invest in a box
set we
could spend our evenings watching. The
Sopranos was
always on, and often top of, lists of the greatest television shows ever and so
it didn’t seem too foolish to spend £60 on the complete box
set in
the HMV sale without having seen a single episode.
I
wasn’t sure what to expect, I probably thought I wanted to see what the fuss
was about, but didn’t expect to like it. A lot of the praise poured on The
Sopranos was
similar to that lavished on The
Godfather trilogy
from the same genre, and when
I eventually gave into the hype and watched those films I was never really a fan. I sat
through one and two and cultivated a mild interest in the events that were
unfolding on the screen, but to be honest I
couldn't really give two fucks about those people. I
was interested but not engaged with the characters. That’s the
problem with Mafia types they do come across as dicks, largely on account of
how much dickishness goes
on in their line of work.
That’s why
I love The Sopranos because
Tony Soprano wasn't a dick. Well he was a dick. But he wasn't a dick. I mean he
obviously was. I mean...oh I don't know. And that's why James Gandolfini,
and of course the writers and supporting cast, are so good. I honestly don't
know. I spent a year watching this man commit countless murders but damn I
wanted him to get away with them. That’s a
hard thing to pull off. I was too morally uptight to carry on watching Dexter when
I realised I wanted everyone to succeed except that repugnant cold blooded
killer. (Yes, I know he has a code. That’s what
98% of the worlds truly evil
people tell themselves).
The Sopranos tagline
is "Family Redefined" and that's really quite apt. Really it’s a show
about family and Tony's attempts
to balance his biological family life with his mafia family is the heart of the
show. Roughly equal screen time is given to each and the characters are all
strong. Both sides have a range of characters and storylines that are almost as
complex as Tony's.
Both have people you love and people you hate. I mean, if I'm honest, I find
the murderers of the mafia vile, but Id far rather see Tony's fucking
sister whacked than any of them.
James Gandolfini's job
is to stride across these two plot lines. He jumps from proudly showing Meadow
around uni open days to clipping an FBI informant in the space of an episode,
that moral ambiguity is where Gandolfini is
amazing. Is his heart in the right place?
James Gandolfini's death
is like so much of The
Sopranos all
the more horrible because you don't see it coming. For six seasons it's some of
the most shocking television I have ever seen. That’s shocking
as in surprising, not shocking as in shit by the way, unless you include the scenes
with Tony's fucking
sister. In any scene where there’s
rising tensions between two characters you have to start wondering how long it
is before someone gets shot. Christopher being shot is a total WTF moment
(apologies for that moronic sounding sentence but its true) and even when
you’ve read this, you won’t be expecting it. Leading
characters get clipped left, right and centre. Nobody, literally, is safe. And
the deaths are brutal. The penultimate episode, which sees shit get real and
the characters go into hiding, is the most tense I've been watching TV, because
you know someone big is going to die. You know because someone you thought
would be around at the end was brutally dealt with weeks before with four
episodes left and so nobody was safe to be still alive by the end of it. Edge
of your seat is a cliché that's only ever really true of Doctor Who and Deal or No Deal but
I watched a lot of The Sopranos resisting
the urge to jump right up off the sofa - because I am British, it wouldn't be
seemly and we had low ceilings in our basement living room.
But
then there were so many moments of The Sopranos where
we were sat back in our seats, tempted to look at our Facebook’s. Sopranos moves
fast but knows when to develop slow. So much of The Sopranos is
slow and will focus on conversations, meals, family get-togethers and
mafia sit-downs. Sometimes they seem to be discussing irrelevancies - a
restaurant they like, or a place they've always wanted to visit - but not a
word is wasted, it all goes to character development. Nobody is left 2D. The
real quiet moments come between Tony and Doctor Melfi his
psychiatrist who is helping him deal with his inevitable stress. These
would be so easy to make like the interview segments in Parks and
Recreation or
any other number of audience asides (that's my A Level in drama talking there),
you know where they go "of course I think The Sopranos is a totally brilliant and in depth show," and
then it cuts to them alone going "I’m totally just watching it because Tony’s
daughter is hot." But these are scenes all about restraint. It differs
between the totally restrained and the all out "lets fuck" sexual
tension. Half the time Tony appears to only be there to play
mind games with Dr Melfi, or because he’s bored. Sometimes he wants to discuss
his problems, sometimes he doesn’t, and sometimes he wants to have sex with her
senseless. So intriguing and deep are Tony’s therapy sessions that eventually
Dr Melfi ends up seeing a psychiatrist! (Who, by the way, is a total arse but
entertainingly so. He’s pretty well developed for such a minor and knobbish
character).
The
scenes between Tony and his families can be equally tense, loving, angry,
violent and oddly full of sexual chemistry. Long running storylines include him
dealing with his daughter moving to college and falling in love with a
black(ish) boyfriend, his son’s falling grades at school while acting the big
man because of who his dad is and falling in love with a woman with a baby. His
constant lies and hiding details of his mafia life and money from his wife and
their on/off arguing that ends with him living in the summer house for most of
a season is another major story thread. There’s even a suicide attempt in there
(another minor spoiler, but again an “Oh shit” moment that’s perfectly done) oh
and a bear casually wandering around the garden on a few occasions plus of
course his fucking arse-ache of a sister and his controlling mother who, in the
first two seasons, seems to be the real manipulative power behind both his
families. Not to mention Carmella fancying the effortlessly beautiful Furio.
Meanwhile
in Gangster life he has to deal with FBI informants and investigations,
Christopher’s drug use, his (quite sensible) trust issues with all of his crew,
his senile uncle junior whose carer Bobby is going out with his fucking sister,
his numerous affairs with many exotic foreign women, the gangs of New York and
Carmine Lupertazzi and lil’ Carmine (which sounds like a ventriloquist act but
is far more threatening in the show) and Phil Leotardo, Vito being gay,
numerous murders and sit downs and debts to be repaid. Oh and being shot by his
own senile uncle. Probably the best quiet slow moment from the mafia side of
things – and there are loads to choose from – is the FBI listening in to Pussy crying in the toilet at Tony’s house
party because he’s wearing a wire and supplying them with evidence. I feel like
I should say for crying in the toilets he lives up to his name, but he really
doesn’t, he’s actually quite a brave but weak character and Tony’s best friend,
who is crippled with guilt and shame because of what he’s doing and overcome
with fear, so rather than make any kind of cheap joke, I’m just going to
celebrate this awesome character and say I love Pussy. Damn.
A
lot has been written about how violent and sweary The Sopranos is, which is wrong because they missed out the huge
amount of fucking that goes on. And a lot of people have talked about how deep
and developed the characters are, but there is yet even more to The Sopranos. At times, it can be just
plain weird. A couple of episodes take place almost entirely in dreams, which
like dreams are complicated, full of imagery and make less sense than the
decision to put Russell Brand on Question
Time. One memorable image that turned up haunting my dreams afterwards is
Pussy reincarnated as a talking fish (a sentence not used often since Salvador Dali’s
attempt to write erotica). Of course these all delve deep into the psychology
of the dreamer and push forward how we see Tony – the talking fish Pussy really
pushes forward our understanding of their relationship and makes what happens
next more interesting and bloody – we just need a commentary track from Sigmund
Freud or an English student who paid more attention than me, to get through
some of this imagery. When Tony is shot and spends three episodes in a coma, he
has a weird Life On Mars type experience
where he learns to live life as Kevin Finnerty, a travelling salesman –
Gandolfini playing Finnerty but not really knowing whether he’s Tony or Kevin
is pitched brilliantly by the way, since I was meant to be praising Gandolfini
when I started this now seems as good a time as any to mention his name again.
The
one thing I wasn’t really expecting to be as present in The Sopranos before I saw it, and the thing it seems people still
don’t talk about much now, is how bloody hilarious it is. As early as episode
two Silvio Dante does his first “Just when I thought I was out….they pull me
back in” impression. In a first series where you don’t really know which
characters you can trust or like, that brilliant scene pretty much meant that
whatever Sil did over the next six years I would be on his side – and to be
fair, Sil is by far the most loyal character in there. In one series three
episode Christopher and Paulie get lost in the forest when they are sent to do
a routine collection for Sil while he is ill. Paulie, angry at having to do
Sil’s work kicks off and in the fight they believe they have killed the Russian
they were sent to collect from so drive him to the woods to dispose of the
body, only to discover he isn’t dead. They force him to dig his own grave but
while Paulie and Christopher are arguing he attacks them and runs off. While looking for him Paulie loses
a shoe and won’t shut up about it, while Christopher hasn’t eaten yet today.
The whole episode is a hilarious argument between the two of them who think
they are going to die out there in the woods. It’s silly and hilarious and
witty and one of the most character defining episodes for the two of them.
Christopher
is often involved in the funny plotlines. His desire to be a writer is a
continuing story and in series six he travels to LA to make Cleaver his movie idea that’s The Godfather meets Saw. Ben Kingsley does a brilliant Extras-worthy performance as himself when Christopher tries to cast
him in the film. From that point on, its fun watching the number of times a
piece of Cleaver merchandise turns up
in the background, or the number of mentions it gets. It’s a wonderful running
joke. It’s tragic because it sounds like a terrible film and is Christopher’s
hope for a way out of the mafia life, but it’ll never happen because it’s not
good enough or because the realities of his mafia life always bring him back
down.
Also,
the Curb Your Enthusiasm scene is as
funny as anything Curb has done
itself.
The
best scene of The Sopranos comes in
series four in a story where Christopher’s drug use gets out of hand. The crew
gather to stage an intervention and it’s less than sympathetic. As always Tony,
Sil and Paulie steal the scene.
Obviously I can’t talk about The Sopranos without mentioning the end.
I’m going to steer clear of any big plot spoilers but I am going to talk about
the last scene and the big thing that happens. It’s been parodied everywhere –
in fact I saw the Family Guy two part
episode Lois Kills Stewie halfway
through watching The Sopranos so
thanks for that McFarlane you fucker. What I’m saying is, if you already know
the thing that happens at the end, then you don’t need to worry, I won’t reveal
more than that. If you don’t know it, skip to the bottom where I’ll post a
video of James Gandolfini in In The Loop
just for you.
So, that last scene, I have to
talk about it. At the end of the episode Tony goes to a diner to meet his
family and puts Don’t Stop Believing
by Journey on the jukebox. You have to remember that this is before it was
cheesy overplayed oh-you-know-the-song-from-Glee
and watching six seasons of The Sopranos
is the best cure for anyone who is sick of hearing that song. Everything is
over, the story is largely rounded off and Tony sits there and orders some
onion rings. A number of dodgy looking customers come through the door and Tony
has his eye on them all. Then he is joined by his wife and son and they have a
normal little chat about life and their plans. Meadow is on her way, but has
been to see the doctor about her birth control – ooh, clearly setting up
something. Typical woman, she is struggling to park her needlessly large car
outside. Meanwhile Tony, AJ and Carmela shoot the breeze a bit more about AJ’s
entry level job, as Tony keeps an eye on the suspect customers, one of whom enter
the toilets. Meadow has finally parked the car. Inside at the table the onion
rings arrive. Outside Meadow crosses the road to the restaurant. Inside Tony,
AJ and Carmella tuck into the onion rings and then
End credits roll.
First time it was shown half of
America thought their TV’s had broken in the middle of the most important bit
of TV drama of the decade. Some love it. Some hate it. Some think it was a
waste of six years of their lives. I love it. After six years of stunning,
shocking twists they did the one thing that could still shock us. They could
have had them having a lovely meal and vowing to live a normal life – that
would have been a lovely and we kinda want to see that, but it would hardly be exciting.
They could have killed Tony and garnished the onion rings with a side of brain
meat in front of his screaming family – it would have been what he deserved, it
may have felt right, or wrong, but it would hardly have been gripping. Nothing
happens, it about the most dramatic and risky twist any TV show can pull and The Sopranos has the cahonas to do it.
And now, as promised, James
Gandolfini in In The Loop vs. Malcolm
Tucker.
