The Sopranos - Season 1

I've seen bits and pieces of this series before, but haven't tried sitting down and really watching it before. It's definitely a slightly different experience finally watching in order something that you're already a little familiar with. I had seen a couple full episodes from this season before, but things make more sense when it's watched as intended.

The Sopranos, if you somehow don't know, revolves around Tony Soprano, who starts the show as a capo, one of several direct lieutenants to the family boss, in a mob based in New Jersey. A lot of the show is about the dealings and problems he has to deal with there, but the real focus is on him and his real family. His kids are growing up, his mother is a gigantic bitch, and he's been having panic attacks. He starts seeing a psychiatrist when they find nothing physically wrong after he passes out, and some of the best scenes take place in therapy. Even though he's a tough gangster and traditionally-minded parent, he still has his own insecurities that get dealt with pretty realistically. James Gandolfini fits the part perfectly, and is good at portraying a very complex character.

I kind of get the feeling creator David Chase wanted to make a character study and stuck on the crime stuff to keep people interested. They do a lot of their business at a strip club with plenty of gratuitous shots of the dancers, and some of his underlings, while entertaining, are almost parodies of the typical mafioso personality in movies. If that's true, I don't mind, because they do a good job of moving things along without the more personal stuff getting too heavy. As the season goes on, the two sides become more integrated and there's a good arc to the plot while keeping it open for a lot more to happen. I don't quite see why so many people declared it one of best, if not the best show ever, but it's definitely got a lot to it.