A "Sopranos" Update

I’ve finished three seasons of “The Sopranos,” so I figure it’s time for an update. This will be pretty spoiler light. A long story short, I’m not enjoying the series much. I’m appreciating the hell out of it, but this is not a show I ever would have started watching on my own if it didn’t have the reputation that it enjoys. I’ve never been much of a fan of mob stories, or any of the related material. Watching “The Sopranos” has reminded my why.

The biggest problem I have watching the show is that I find it very difficult to empathize with any of the characters. I became disillusioned with Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) very quickly when the storylines began involving the criminal activities more and more often. On the job, Tony is a bully, surrounded by and enabled by other bullies. The occasionally feels guilty about ruining other peoples’ lives, but not badly enough to ever take the high road or do the right thing. I know that I’m supposed to be rooting for his redemption, alongside Dr. Melfi (Lorraine Bracco), but instead I’ve been quietly hoping that Tony will get what’s coming to him. Unlike other television antiheroes, he’s a bad man whose steps toward self-improvement and good mental health are only helping him to be a better criminal. On a moral scale, he’s been a bad nut from the start, and watching him indulge his vices, put out fires, and occasionally wrestle with a shrinking conscience only serves to make this more obvious.

This is not to say that Tony’s story is not well written, that Gandolfini’s performance isn’t excellent, or that the show hasn’t done many, many interesting things with the character. Even though I find myself caring less and less for Tony, I admire the world and the web of relationships that the show has drawn around him. My favorite part of “The Sopranos” is the part I suspect most of its really ardent fans dislike – Tony’s home life. His marriage to Carmela (Edie Falco) is built on lies and compromises, and it’s been fascinating to see how that works, and the effect that it has on each of them. The kids, Meadow (Jamie-Lynn Sigler) and AJ (Robert Iler) have seen their roles slowly expand, even though Meadow went to college at the start of Season Three, which would mean less screen time and reduced importance on most other shows. On “The Sopranos,” Meadow moving out actually puts her in a position to be more involved in the season’s big mob storyline.

The biggest strength of “The Sopranos” is this big cast of characters that it slowly builds up, familiarizing us with them gradually through the aggregation of many small encounters. It’s never predictable how any of the big, season-long storylines is going to play out, because so many different people are usually involved. As a result, it never feels like the smaller stories with side characters like Janice (Aida Tutrurro), Junior (Dominic Chianese), Christopher (Michael Imperioli), or even Charmaine and Artie Bucco (Kathrine Narducci, John Ventimiglia) are a waste of time, because everyone is connected so well in “The Sopranos” universe, and who knows which of them is going to be the next one to get in trouble, and maybe end up dead? They’re not always equally compelling, but everyone gets their moments. Even Christopher, whose brushes with show business were some of the worst episodes I’ve seen so far, can be great with the right material. The one “The Sopranos” installment I love without reservation is the famous “Pine Barrens,” where he and Paulie (Tony Sirico) literally get lost in the woods.

However, the more I watch these characters, fleshed-out and well-rounded as they are, the more ambivalent I am about their fates, and the more clinically I find myself viewing them. The only exception is Dr. Melfi, who is appearing less and less as time goes on. It's fun to watch the mechanisms of the mob stories unfold, but because I have so little emotional investment in anyone, the big events resonate as deeply with me as they probably do with other people. I'm surprised at how little I sympathize with Carmela and Meadow, who are such strong characters despite fitting some unfortunate tropes. I suspect a lot of the apathy comes from knowing too much about how some of these stories are going to play out, and not having the benefit of uncertainty regarding the fates of Tony and those around him.

Still, I'm hopeful for the second half. The first three seasons managed to spring some surprises on me that I didn't see coming, and the little moments of humor and humanity count for a lot. I can certainly see why "The Sopranos" is considered one of the best television shows ever made. The level of quality has been consistently phenomenal. But I'm never going to be one of those people who becomes a rabid fan or will watch the series multiple times. I'm glad I got to know all these characters, but I just don't see myself getting too attached.
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