The Sopranos - The Complete First Season (2000, VHS)

I can t really give you a good reason for why we started watching The Sopranos. Our library has copies of it, and they re always available. I like James Gandolfini. We were out of TV on DVD at the moment. We d heard vague, indistinct, but mostly positive buzz. All valid reasons, though none of them are really a driving reason to start watching an entire television series.

As the successes of The Godfather, Goodfellas and Untouchables show, people like stories of organized crime. It offers a glimpse into worlds foreign to (most of) us, and is the perfect setting for villains we love to hate, as well as morally ambiguous heroes. The Sopranos is another such story, which follows Tony Soprano through his two lives: one as a very highly placed member of the New Jersey family, and the other as a member of the more traditional type of family. In this first season, I found a lot of issues that I seem to have with most new series. It s a slow go in the beginning, trying to get to know all the characters, decide who you like, who you d like to see whacked, etc.

On the other hand, because this is an HBO series, it s just a little bit more graphic than the shows I usually watch, which I thought at first was simply for the shock value, and later decided fit right in with the lifestyle and setting of the characters. This show wouldn t have worked on any other network, where dropping the F-bomb, holding meetings at the Bada Bing boobie bar, and keeping your goomah from meeting your wife aren t fit for prime time television.

As I mentioned before, I felt the show had a very slow start, but about halfway through the Season, I found myself wanting to watch the next show, and the next. It wasn t like Lost, where I was compelled to watch, but I always remained vaguely interested. Each of the characters has his or her own voice, and I ve found that a) I can t ever think I know the character and b) I can t get too attached to any given character, because they might not stick around. Learn a bit more about said characters, and the episodes below.

Episode Guide:

Note: It is impossible to do an episode guide without giving away a few season spoilers, though I will do my best.

1.1 ~ The Sopranos ~ Original Airdate: 1/10/1999 ~ Writer: David Chase ~ Director: David Chase
Tony Soprano: If the wrong person finds out about this [his taking an anti-depressant], I get a steel-jacketed anti-depressant right in the back of the head.

Tony Soprano, Capo of the New Jersey organized crime family, husband to Carmella and father to seventeen-year-old Meadow and fourteen-year-old Anthony, Jr. has been having panic attacks. Against his instincts, he secretly begins seeing a therapist, Dr. Jennifer Melfi, who puts him on prozac.


1.2 ~ 46 Long ~ OA: 1/17/1999 ~ Writer: David Chase ~ Director: Daniel Attias

Tony s nephew, Chris Moltisanti, and Chris s friend Brendan knock off a truck that was somehow Tony s Uncle Junior s territory, and Uncle June isn t too happy about it. Trying to make peace on all fronts, including with his miserable, impossible to please, ailing mother Livia, Tony s panic attacks aren t getting any better.

1.3 ~ Denial, Anger, Acceptance ~ OA: 1/24/1999 ~ Writer: Mark Saraceni ~ Director: Nick Gomez

Tony and his associates, Paulie, Silvio and Big Pussy (you get used to hearing it as a name, I promise), help a strictly Orthodox Jewish man s daughter get a divorce, and take part of the man s hotel business as payment. Meadow is feeling the stresses of trying to get into an Ivy League college. Junior, after talking it over with Livia, decides to send Chris and Brendan a pretty clear message about what happens to people who mess with him.

1.4 ~ Meadowlands ~ OA: 1/31/1999 ~ Writer: Jason Cahill ~ Director: John Patterson

Jackie Aprille, head of the Family, loses his long battle with cancer, leaving the job open. Tony et al. decide to name Junior head, appeasing his ego, all the while, making the decisions behind his back. Tony has Dr. Melfi followed and investigated, leaving her to wonder if it was her smartest decision to treat a mob boss.

1.5 ~ College ~ OA: 2/7/1999 ~ Writer: James Manos Jr. and David Chase ~ Director: Allen Coulter
Tony (about Father Phil spending the night): What did you guys do for 12 hours; play "Name That Pope"?

Father Phil, pastor of the local Catholic Church, spends the night during a thunderstorm with Carmella. Lots of sexual tension happening there. Meanwhile, Tony takes Meadow on a tour of some East Coast colleges. While father-daughter bonding is going on, Tony s two worlds collide when he sees an old friend who d flipped on the Family and joined the Witness Protection Agency.

1.6 ~ Pax Soprana ~ OA: 2/14/1999 ~ Writer: Frank Renzulli ~ Director: Alan Taylor

The big, most-feared side effect of anti-depressants rears its ugly head in the Soprano household when Tony and Carmella s sex life fizzles out (as well as his sex life with his goomah, unbeknownst to Carmella). Junior isn t honoring long-standing arrangements as new Family head.

1.7 ~ Down Neck ~ OA: 2/21/1999 ~ Writer: Mitchell Burgess and Robin Green ~ Director: Lorraine Senna Ferrara

A.J. gets caught stealing (and drinking) the sacramental wine from church. Tony has a breakthrough with Dr. Melfi as he remembers his very dysfunctional childhood. Livia finds out that her son is seeing a therapist.

1.8 ~ The Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti ~ OA: 2/28/1999 ~ Writer: Frank Renzulli and David Chase ~ Director: Tim Van Patten

Livia lets it slip to Junior that Tony is seeing a therapist. Rumors of FBI indictments begin to surface, so everyone is scrambling to hide cash and evidence.

1.9 ~ Boca ~ OA: 3/7/1999 ~ Writer: Jason Cahill, Robin Green and Mitchell Burgess ~ Director: Andy Wolk
Uncle Junior: I don't go down [to Boca Raton] often enough.
Carmela: That's not what hear.

Tony s feeling about Meadow s soccer coach change drastically when he s found to be sleeping with one of the players. Junior s girlfriend brags about his oral skills. When word gets to Tony, he makes joke after joke, leaving Junior to break up with his long-term girlfriend.

1.10 ~ A Hit is a Hit ~ OA: 3/14/1999 ~ Writer: Joe Bosso and Frank Renzulli ~ Director: Matthew Penn

Tony tries to be a regular guy with his neighbors and thinks about joining their golf club, only to realize that he ll never be able to be that guy. Chris and his girlfriend, Adriana, decide to try and dabble in the music industry.

1.11 ~ Nobody Knows Anything ~ OA: 3/21/1999 ~ Writer: Frank Renzulli ~ Director: Henry J. Bronchtein

Junior learns that Tony has been using him as a puppet, and consults Livia. Livia gives some very unmotherly advice. Tony suspects that Pussy has been flipped by the FBI and is even more suspicious when Pussy disappears.

1.12 ~ Isabella ~ OA: 3/28/1999 ~ Writer: Robin Green and Mitchell Burgess ~ Director: Allen Coulter
Silvio: A lot of top guys have dark moods. That Winston Churchill, drank a quart of brandy before breakfast. Napoleon, he was a moody f*ck too.

Tony has stopped taking his medication, stopped seeing Melfi, and stopped getting out of bed. Only the sight of, and subsequent conversation with, a beautiful Italian girl taking care of the next-door-neighbor s house pulls him out of the depression, just in time for him to fend off the two hit men sent by Junior.

1.13 ~ I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano ~ OA: 4/4/1999 ~ Writer: David Chase ~ Director: John Patterson
Tony: Psychiatry and cunnilingus brought us to this!

Tony is shocked when he realizes who was behind the attempt on his life. He tries to talk to Dr. Melfi, who is petrified of him after he lost his temper with her last episode. Livia walks into the Soprano house acting insane. Tony is convinced it s an act to make him believe she didn t know what she was doing when she advised Junior to take him out.


Cast and Characters:

Tony Soprano ~ James Gandolfini
Carmella Soprano ~ Edie Falco
Jennifer Melfi ~ Lorraine Braco
Junior Soprano ~ Dominic Chianese
Livia Soprano ~ Nancy Marchand
Meadow Soprano ~ Jamie Lynn DiScala
A.J. Soprano ~ Robert Iler
Christopher Moltisanti ~ Michael Imperioli
Paulie Walnuts ~ Tony Sirico
Silvio Dante ~ Steve Van Zandt
Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero ~ Vincent Pastore


Final Thoughts:

Though the first season of The Sopranos wasn t earth shattering for me, it was good enough to keep me watching, and even good enough to have me start on the second season. The writing is decent, the characters far from one-dimensional. In fact, it s the characters that keep me watching. I still can t make up my mind who I like and who I don t. 3 stars.