Grid Effect

Since I am vowing to wait one week until I post recaps, it is going to be a stretch coming up with writing material until Wednesday. So I figured, when you’re in a bind and all else fails, hyping up The Sopranos is always a crowd pleaser.

As most of you know the storied series is set to begin its nine final episodes on April 8th. It has been an extended six seasons, and will have totaled eighty-six episodes over the course of roughly eight years (dating back to 1999). Do the math, that’s less than one episode a month and has often been the target of much criticism from impatient media and fans. But If you look at the series now, the time lapse has been necessary because it’s a microcosm of what it used to be. It has ventured from lighthearted to dark to downright morbid throughout the six seasons, each of which has a different energy and its own exposition about the human condition.

The show experienced a turning point in season three (for connoisseurs this is obvious, for everyone else they probably do not care enough to remember it), in episode six of that season (32 overall) entitled “University”, when Ralphie beat a stripper/prostitute to death. This brought some controversy along with it as they had never illustrated a woman being a murder victim in this series. Despite some minute criticism and quiet rumblings for boycotts, the heat essentially blew over, and that episode had set a new tone for the series.

Since then we have seen two women murdered while crawling on all fours and another beaten and nearly strangled to death, and no one voiced a single complaint. You want to know why? Because these characters are inherently awful, immoral people. You’re not supposed to admire or emulate them do the writers suggest you should. From season four on the series has questioned its own morality for the benefit of a grander theme.

This is what has made The Sopranos so enjoyable, particularly for film buffs. It suffices the fan boy in us as well as the arthouse goon, the only other series’ that have managed to do that are Friday Night Lights and The Wire (Both of which delve more into a study on societal institutions in vastly different contemporary American settings, whereas the Sopranos focuses more on internal conflict). But David Chase & Co. led the helm, revolutionizing television as a narrative art form, catapulting the medium into something that can be as good as, if not better than any Oscar nominated film, something dramatic television had never experienced.

Generally, I like comparing The Sopranos to Led Zeppelin albums. The first season widely considered the most commerically and (this is rare) critically successful. Zeppelin hit the scene with there first album and it was unlike anything anyone had ever heard. From that point on the second album, much like The Sopranos second season, resembled its predecessor due to its creative and commercial success, and both followed up their debut with a stellar sophomore effort. But from that point on, neither a Zeppelin album nor a Sopranos resembled their earlier work. And I think these last seven episodes are going to be David Chase’s Physical Graffiti, a murass of head banging 70’s metal and souful melodies and thought provoking writing that ended up defining just how eclectic the band was.

Chase is about to enter this territory. Like I said this show appeases the fan boy in me. Well, over the course of the past three seasons, there has been much grumbling amongst the fan boy legions. Not enough homicidal tendencies for their liking, apparently (though I thought Chase countered this well in season five and everyone seemed placated, but with audiences short term memories and constantly high expectations, the first half of season six put a damper on season five for this crowd). But after these nine episodes, I think them, as well as the art house throng will be pleasantly surprised. I haven’t seen any screenings or read reviews of anyone who has, its just a premonition of mine.