The first season of The Sopranos is a concise one. We’re introduced to a large cast of characters, with Tony in the middle, but the writers often let him take the backseat for others to grow and drama to expand.
There’s a lot of internal strife going on for Tony. His business is in flux with competition biting at his income from every side (and people not paying their debts), helping out friends (with various results, but always a consequence), and the feds watching his enterprises every move. And then there is his family.
The fulcrum of the show, or at least the start it, is Tony’s mental health. He gets panic attacks so bad that he blacks out. Seeking out mental health help is the only choice, but is later used as a weakness to try and get rid of him. The mob (organized crime in general) operates in secret. It’s dealings, it’s people, and their sins. A theme that keeps coming up is to never show weakness. Keep your secrets to yourself, or others will use them against you (that goes for family and enemies). Tony goes through great pains to keep his life in order which results in significant fallout from the solutions he comes up with.
The popularity of the show came more from the people around Tony, then himself. There’s a lot of morbid, serious and strenuous plot lines, but it’s stitched together by black comedy. Christopher, Silvio and Paulie often steal scenes, usually with very little dialog too. Soldiers to Tony, they are integral to his success, and at Christopher’s age, the key to a long, prosperous future. Paulie is by far my favorite though as he’s downright hilarious. He’s a dangerous man, but watching him struggle to keep up with a running target in the woods, only to freak out when he runs through some poison ivy, is one of the funniest moments put on film.
The real star is Tony’s mother Livia. She’s an awful instigator and epic source of Tony’s neurosis from child to adulthood. She manipulates Uncle Jr. behind Tony’s back in masterful ways and does her absolute damnedest to hide her involvement. Uncle Jr. realizes it too late and Tony’s maternal love blinds him for far too long as well. Their final scene in this season is bittersweet. Major props to Nancy Marchand for her incredible work. James Gandolfini’s work can’t be ignored either as he does carry the show through all sorts of emotional highs and lows. My favorite scenes are in episode 12 where he plays the effects of depression and medicated stupor to brilliant realization.
With 13 episodes, the first season moves along at a great pace and a lot is accomplished. The end sees Tony nearly cleaning house, but with more than a few loose ends that need to be handled. While the show is well produced, I found the editing to be really abrupt at times. It was almost like they ran out of film during the shoot, which forced the editor to cut to the next scene the millisecond dialog ended. Many scenes aren’t given a chance to breathe, the viewer never gets to linger in the room after something happens. These moments are really jarring and come off as amateurish. Thankfully, that’s the only complaint I have and it doesn’t happen enough to truly ruin things.
On to Season 2.