Sopranos Season 5 & 6 (spoilers)

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Underworld-class drama

The sixth season has mayhem,
humor and new insights into the clan

They're Back! James Gandolfini and Edie Falco in 'The Sopranos'

Tony and Christopher (Michael Imperioli, center) are still assembling the dwindling old gang of theirs at the pork store.

Johnny Sack has switched his good threads for the orange jumpsuit, but he's still trying to keep a hand in matters.

Meadow Soprano (Jamie-Lynn Sigler) shows a different side of herself — or at least a little more of it — in the season premiere.

Tony and Carmela seem to have developed a real thing for very good restaurants, notably including sushi.

THE SOPRANOS. 9 p.m., March 12, on HBO

The opening episodes in the long-awaited sixth season of "The Sopranos" won't surface at any point as public-service messages for gun control.

But they find creator David Chase in a frequently pensive mood, suggesting he may have used the 22 months since the end of season five to reflect and then expound on how Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), his family and his friends got to where they are today.

There's enough classic "Sopranos" action — some of it involving extreme physical violence — to remind the average person that where the Sopranos are is not where most of us want to go.

Yet at the same time, these episodes repeatedly return to the ways in which the Soprano clan, in its desperate, sometimes twisted and sometimes touching way, seeks to embrace family values.

The relationship of Carmela Soprano (Edie Falco) with her son A.J. (Robert Iger) takes some edgy turns, for instance, though several developments also suggest A.J. may be starting to think he can be more than a sullen young punk.

"Family" for the Sopranos has always been an extended affair, of course, due to the nature of Tony's business, and the first episodes include a potential step-out moment for his long-time right-hand man, Silvio Dante (Steven Van Zandt).

Conversely, things are relatively quiet with Christopher (Michael Imperioli), until he meets up again with J.T. Dolan (Timothy Daly). J.T. is the writer with the gambling problem whom Christopher met at a Gamblers Anonymous session and subsequently found ways to abuse.

J.T. has just staggered back to his feet when he meets Christopher, with predictable results. Daly's return, one of several sprinkled through these new episodes, will still please longtime fans.

Paulie Walnuts (Tony Sirico) remains the most consistently funny character on the show, or maybe on series television. Chase's masterful touch with details is showcased in a scene where Paulie is cutting 55-cent discount coupons out of the newspaper while he's sitting a few feet from a bag with $500,000 in cash.

But Tony and Carmela are the glue that hold this dark American story together, as Chase acknowledges in an early scene when they're having sushi together and Carmela says that, all things considered, they're lucky.

Tony takes something off his plate and says, "Forty dollars for a piece of fish they just flew in first class. We're more than lucky."

It won't surprise anyone that such an assertion will not go unexplored, and here it leads to a more introspective stretch in the second (and to a lesser extent the third) episode.

Some "Sopranos" fans find these stretches less interesting, like hockey fans who get tired of all that hockey between the fights, but after all this time with these characters, Chase knows them so well he can explore them with an almost lyrical rhythm. He also knows exactly when to use the changeup. In one scene, Carmela is talking to Dr. Melfi (Lorraine Bracco) and admits she knew almost from the beginning what line of work Tony was in.

"On the second date," she says, "he brought my father a $200 power drill."

"Not your typical story of young love," deadpans Melfi, whose fans will be glad to know that her legs are again on prominent display.

So are the hopes and dreams of the extended Soprano family, right next to the deals and compromises that are always one door-knock away from putting them all to an end.

Five things you need to know before you watch

Almost as much ink as blood has been spilled in the course of "The Sopranos'" five seasons. But it's been a long time since we've seen our favorite mob family. So a brief remembrance of things past is in order as the show launches its sixth and final (and long, drawn-out) chapter.

* Johnny Sack (Vincent Curatola) got nabbed by the feds in the final episode of season five, shifting power to volatile lieutenant Phil Leotardo (Frank Vincent).

* Carmela (Edie Falco) came to the conclusion that jewelry and new cars sure beat nagging Tony (James Gandolfini) for the cash to live in the manner she has become accustomed, so she let him back into the house.

* Uncle Junior's (Dominic Chianese) RICO trial ended in a hung jury after the capos got to a juror. So Uncle June may not be confined to house arrest anymore. He's become increasingly senile, however.

* Tony whacked his cousin Tony Blundetto (Steve Buscemi) with a shotgun blast to the face to save him from being tortured by Phil, who was looking to avenge Blundetto's murder of Phil's brother Billy.

* Tony had Silvio (Steve Van Zandt) whack Adriana (Drea de Matteo) after her fiance, Christopher (Michael Imperioli), revealed to Tony that she had been talking to the feds.

Marisa Guthrie

March 1, 2006

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Op dinsdag 7 maart 2006 17:06 schreef Slayage het volgende:
Ik vind het veel prettiger als ik zo min mogelijk weet over wat er komen gaat.