TV Series: The Sopranos Season 1 (Part 4)

Tony's not looking well. As we find out, he's reacting badly to one of the medications he's taking, Lithium. But this story makes the twelfth episode one of the worst episodes in the whole series. I only say "one of the worst", not the worst overall, because the episode does have some redeeming qualities. There are two stories running in parallel, one good, one bad.

I mentioned before that I dislike dream sequences in films and television series, but the dreams in "The Sopranos" usually make sense. This is an example where they don't. Tony meets Isabella, an Italian medical student living with the Cusamanos, on three separate occasions. At the end of the episode we find out that she didn't exist. It was all a dream brought on by his feverish state after taking Lithium. Is that at all possible? I could just about believe a single vision, but three on the same day? Nonsense!

The other story in the episode involves Tony's uncle Junior Soprano finding out that Tony is seeing a psychiatrist. This is totally inacceptable for anyone in the Mafia. Despite the ethics of doctor-patient confidentiality, it's not tolerated that anyone should talk about their business. Junior finds out while visiting Tony's mother Livia in the Green Grove retirement home. She's already angry about Tony visiting a psychiatrist. She accuses him of seeing a psychiatrist to talk about his mother. That's actually correct. When Junior suggests killing Tony, Livia encourages him. Later in the episode the assassination attempt goes wrong, leaving the hired assailants dead and Tony only lightly injured.

The incident is described as a car-jacking, but Tony knows otherwise, and so does the FBI. Livia's room in the retirement home has been bugged. (Is that even legal?) Tony is played the tape of Livia and Junior conspiring to kill him, in order to encourage him to give evidence against his uncle. Tony would never take a deal like this. He's old school and would never talk to the police, not even if his associates have been trying to kill him.

Tony orders his men to kill Junior and the capos (captains) loyal to him. This is partially successful. Junior's main hit-man, Mikey Palmice, is shot by Paulie and Christopher in the woods. It's an example of Paulie's psychopathic traits that he's more concerned about being stung by poison ivy than killing someone. Junior is arrested by the FBI before he can be executed.

After the failed assassination attempt, Livia is faking dementia so that she can't be put on trial or requested to give evidence. Tony visits Green Grove, intending to smother her with a pillow, but she's just had a stroke (supposedly), so the doctors take her away.

There are two consequences of the events that close the first season. Firstly, with Junior in prison there's nothing to stop Tony becoming the next boss. Secondly, Tony advises Jennifer Melfi to leave town to avoid being killed.

There's so much that happens in the last three episodes of the first season, much more than I've written. Please visit "Sopranos Autopsy" for more details. The whole series is excellent, even if I have to criticise the dream sequence(s) in the twelfth episode.

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TV Series: The Sopranos Season 1 (Part 3)

The tenth episode of "The Sopranos" is important to me, because it was the first episode that I saw. I even remember where I was when I saw it. I'd just started a new job, and I was in a motel on Long Island feeling bored. My room had HBO, a channel I didn't have at home, so I took a peek. At that time in my life I watched more television series than films. I didn't become a big film fan until 2003 when I bought my first DVD player. I was watching "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", "Xena Warrior Princess", "Earth Final Conflict", "Nightman", "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" and "Star Trek: Voyager"; all of them science fiction or fantasy. No gangster series. I had no interest at all in gangster stories. But then I watched the tenth episode of "The Sopranos", completely at random, and wow! I didn't know what hit me. I told all my friends about it. I became a regular viewer, although it wasn't until months later that I had a chance to see the first nine episodes. And I made sure I had HBO in my new home.

This is Artie Bucco, a childhood friend of Tony Soprano who decided not to get involved with organised crime. He's opened a restaurant called Vesuvio. Tony and his associates frequently visit the restaurant, much to the dismay of Artie's wife, because she doesn't want Vesuvio to be seen as a mob restaurant.

Bruce Cusamano was mentioned a few times in the early episodes, but now we finally see him. He's Tony's family doctor and also his next door neighbour. He's the one who referred Tony to Jennifer Melfi after his panic attacks.

By now Tony is always flirting with his psychiatrist, but she remains professional and turns him down. He's leaning back in his chair to get a better view of her legs.

And Jennifer uncrosses her legs to let him see even more. Does that mean she isn't being completely professional? Maybe. It's all a power game. She likes to lead him on so that she can show she's in charge by turning him down.

One thing we learn about Jennifer is that her office is in a medical centre. Tony is embarrassed to see his associate Silvio Dante in the corridor on his way to see a dentist.

And the psychiatrist visits a psychiatrist! Jennifer's psychiatrist is Elliot Kupferberg. She talks to him about her problems treating Tony Soprano, calling him Patient X to hide his identity. Elliot repeatedly advises her to refer Tony to another psychiatrist.

In a raid on Tony's house we briefly see Agent Harris, the leader of the FBI task force. He plays an increasingly important role as the series progresses. The Sopranos fan page claims his first name is Dwight, but I don't remember his name ever being mentioned. Maybe it's in a conversation with his colleagues? I'll pay attention this time.

I've already mentioned that Tony's mother is the only completely evil person in the series. We see an example in a flashback to Tony's youth. Tony's father says he wants to move to Las Vegas to participate in the emerging casino business. He says that it would be a legitimate business venture, and their children would prefer the climate. She replies, "I'd rather smother them with a pillow than take them to Nevada".

In case anyone wonders what the "parts" are in my reviews, they're not completely random. I'm watching the series on Blu-ray, and for me each "part" is the collection of episodes on a single disc. I don't intend to make full plot summaries of individual episodes. If you want more details, please visit the excellent web site "Sopranos Autopsy".

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The Lost King (5 Stars)

In Germany there's a Mediathek for the first German television channel. Literally translated, the word means media library. In actual fact it's more of a temporary catch-up for television broadcasts. After a film or a talk show is shown on television, it's put online in the Mediathek for a few weeks. It's similar to the BBC's Iplayer, but not as flexible. In the recent past I've only watched political talk shows, mostly about the recent German elections, but today I noticed that "The Lost King" is available. This was one of my favourite films of 2023, so I jumped at the chance to watch it again.

The default setting is that the film is shown dubbed into German. That's obvious, because the Mediathek is intended for viewing in Germany. Then I checked the settings, and I discovered that it could also be watched in the original English version.

Now this is where it got weird. The default version is with German dialogue, with optional German subtitles. The version with English dialogue has an option to turn the subtitles on and off, but it doesn't work as expected. If the subtitles are turned off, German subtitles are still shown. If the subtitles are turned on, the subtitles are shown in duplicate: in white at the bottom of the screen and in yellow at the top of the screen; the identical text in German. What monkeys did they hire to program the Mediathek?

I enjoyed the film regardless. It's the true story of a woman who was so obsessed with Richard III that she saw visions of him. And yet she found his grave, a feat that notable British scholars had failed to do for hundreds of years. In addition, she cleared Richard III's reputation by proving that Shakespeare's depiction of him is incorrect.

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TV Series: The Sopranos Season 1 (Part 2)

One of the things I dislike in films and TV series is dream sequences. They usually run along the lines that something is happening, then the person wakes up, and it's like the director is laughing at us: "April Fool! It never happened!" In my eyes this is poor storytelling.

In "The Sopranos" dreams play an important role. In most circumstances they fit in well with the plot. Tony Soprano is a person suffering not only from panic attacks but also from other mental disorders. The dreams give us an insight into his inner life. In episode four we see him having an erotic dream about his psychiatrist, Jennifer Melfi. In episode six there's another erotic dream about her. She's become the centre of his life.

Is it the legs that do it? Probably. Jennifer's legs are prominent in his first dream. It's interesting to see the way she sits. Her skirt isn't actually short, but she sits in a way that it rides up her legs. She has deniability. When she crosses and uncrosses her legs she can claim that any exposed skin was an accident. Tony shouldn't have been looking.

Tony Soprano's 13-year-old son is called Anthony, like his father. In the family he's called AJ, which is short for Anthony Junior. He finally finds out that his father is in the Mafia when a fellow schoolboy chickens out of a fight. The boy's father has told him not to fight AJ because Tony might take revenge.

Tony's other child is 18-year-old Meadow, in her last year of school. She already knows about her father's Mafia involvement from online searches. Did she use Google? No idea. The search engine Google was launched in 1997, two years earlier than these episodes of the Sopranos, but it didn't become the most used search engine until a few years later. Meadow explains Tony's Mafia involvement to AJ.

A few days later she confronts her father: "Are you in the Mafia?" He answers brusquely, "There is no Mafia".

Tony is arguing semantics. He rejects the word Mafia, preferring to call it the family or the business.

One of the main locations used in the series is the strip club Bada-Bing, which is run by Silvio Dante. It always amuses me that only the customers stare at the dancers. When Tony and his associates are sitting at the bar they don't even notice the girls. Tony must find Jennifer Melfi's legs sexier than the bare breasts.

In the fourth episode Jackie Aprile, the acting boss of the Mafia – it's difficult to avoid using that word – dies of cancer. A gang war is expected to name a successor, but Tony asks his uncle Corrado (nicknamed Junior) to take over.

One of the strengths of the Sopranos as a well-written series is that all of its characters are likeable, however many bad traits they may have. For instance, Tony Soprano is a killer, but he's a sensitive, insecure killer that we feel sympathy for. The only exception is Tony's mother, Livia Soprano. She's a devious schemer, and she has no redeeming qualities.

Junior Soprano meets his crew (the captains directly answering to him) at the Sit Tite Loungenette, a seedy little cafe. 

It's easy to track down with Google Streetview. It's on the corner of Ocean Avenue and Seaview Avenue in Jersey City, now serving Chinese American food.

Centanni's, which was only seen in the pilot episode, is on the corner of 2nd Avenue and Centre Street in Elizabeth, New Jersey. It's interesting that the street's name is spelt correctly.

Satriale's, which is frequently shown from the second episode onwards, was a building located at 101 Kearny Avenue in Kearny. The building was previously empty, and it was demolished as soon as the series finished. It's now a parking lot.

Once more, I've written more than I intended. I hope that what I've written is interesting. If you want to know more, please visit the Sopranos Autopsy for detailed reviews.

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