If you don't have HBO, little of what follows will make any sense.
The season finale of The Sopranos went unmentioned here, partly because we have at least 18 months to discuss the ramifications of Johnny Sack's arrest and Adriana's, er, "whacking." Like many, I was annoyed by the dream episode, and I can't have been the only one who knew the Tony B. storyline was going to end badly the minute Buscemi appeared on screen.
All of that is just prologue, however. The end of Season 6 will see the majority of Tony's crew dead or behind bars, I imagine. It'd be a nice twist if Silvio turned out to be a rat as well and actually didn't kill Adriana, and the two of them brought everyone else down. I like Sil, but only as much as you can get behind a character shown stomping a guy's nuts and beating up a stripper. You don't really root for the characters in The Sopranos, you just want to see who gets killed/arrested/kneecapped next.
The lack of sympathy is also something of a problem in Deadwood, which wrapped up its season last Sunday. I freely admit that I consider Ian McShane's Al Swearengen to be the best character on TV right now. The fact that he's also a murdering drug dealer who runs a whorehouse tends to temper one's enthusiasm, depending on your opinion of such things. His odd sense of honor helps to mitigate his less savory aspects, however.
Deadwood's season finale was pretty satisfying, even if Bullock becoming sheriff was about as surprising as the Lakers whining about the officiating in Game 4. You know, people say I have anger issues, but I've never administered as satisfying a beatdown as Bullock laid on Alma's dad. There was a second there, after he walked out into the street, I thought he was just going to shoot everyone around him in the face. Maybe doing the deed with Alma will calm him down some.
And thank Jebus they killed off that damn preacher. If someone would just feed Farnham to the pigs, I'd be a happy man.
Six Feet Under started up again this week. Does anyone remember when this was billed as a black comedy? Little of that spirit seems to remain, as the end of last season (and the first episode of this one) dealt primarily with Lisa's death and Nate's steady descent into self-destruction. Funny shit. At least the possibility of Federico continuing to visit the adultery well has some humorous possibilities.
Finally, more good news for fans of The Wire, as Dennis Lehane (Mystic River) and Richard Price (Clockers) are both slated to write episodes for Season 3. George Pelecanos, who also wrote in Season 2, will be returning as well.
I don't have HBO, so I've only recently (through the glorious auspices of Netflix) begun to watch The Sopranos and Six Feet Under. Man, are those some good shows! If I ever get caught up on DVDs to where they are on the current seasons, I might have to get HBO just to keep getting my fix.
Part of what I love about The Sopranos is the fact that there isn't really a "good guy", with the possible exception of Dr. Melfi. I love watching a show that isn't about right and wrong, but just about interesting characters. David Chase and his crew of writers are utterly brilliant at making the audience feel an emotional investment to such brutal, potentially evil people. They may beat people up and kill them and peddle in flesh and drugs, but by golly are these people likeable. That's a neat feat.
As for Six Feet Under, I've only watched season 1 so far. (I think season 2 just came out on DVD, or will very soon.) I'm sad to hear that the dark comedy is drifting away. That is certainly the element that made me sit and watch all of Season 1 in virtually one sitting. I can't wait to see more. What an amazing cast!
I reckon everyone who cares has seen the Deadwood finish-up, so let's chat about it. - Al Swearengen is one......
| --Posted to The Fat Guy on Jun 16, 2004 8:56 AM:. |
I watched about half of the first season of The Sopranos on DVD. And stopped, which, judging by most rhetoric, makes me nigh unique in American culture.
It's just so damned pedestrian. Aside from the bare tits and shouted fucks, it looks like and is shot exactly like a standard American three-camera shitcom. Watch the "directing" being done when Tony's talking to Melfi: cut to speaker, cut to speaker, cut to speaker, cut to speaker, viewer goes blind from boredom. And the subject matter is entirely familiar from decades of Mob movies and books. The coincidental arrival of Analyze This shows how unexceptional even the show's excursions from the Mob formula really are.
Six Feet Under I wasn't impressed with, either, but I only saw one late-season-1 episode and the premise bears at least some novelty.
good point re: six feet under being a black comedy. it's been a while since they've had an episode as funny as the one with the late nate's "secret life" in the first season.
when i first started watching deadwood, i hated it because of all the gratuitous swearing. now i love it more than the sopranos, and al's mercy killing of the minister was a brilliant bit of writing that revealed that character's complexity. and here i was thinking that the men were underwritten on that show!
and thank god alma and seth finally did it!