Well, The Sopranos certainly opened the new season with a dramatic flourish last night. I’m glad we managed to watch, since today’s NY Daily News had not just a writeup but a photo spread inside the front page of this episode’s big development. Click below the fold for more, but beware that there are spoilers here.
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So, where from here? The episode ended with it uncertain if Tony would survive being shot by Uncle Junior, but it’s not feasible to kill him off just yet. First, there are 19 more episodes to go, and that’s a lot without Tony. Second, this would be a terribly anti-climactic way to go, shot by a senile old man for reasons having nothing to do with Tony’s life of crime. Third, and perhaps most importantly, there are no good dramatic storylines set in place that could carry the show without Tony, and there need to be before they bump him off (which I still consider to be at least a 50/50 chance by the end of the show).
By the way, has any TV cop ever had worse luck than the FBI on this show, which loses informants at a record clip? This is what, three in the past 5 episodes, maybe more?
One To The Gut
The Daily News is calling the last scene of last night’s season opener of The Sopranos “one of the most shocking moments in recent prime-time TV history.” Uncle Junior, consumed with dimentia, shoots Tony – who had stopped by to…
Crank, I have more pop culture for you today: Game 6
https://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/Movies/03/13/film.keaton.reut/index.html
Ordinarily, TV cops inhabit shows about TV cops, so it’s not surprising they usually have better success. For them to succeed here would be to catch the one-armed man, allow the Galactica to find earth, or let Ally McBeal be happy in love. Ain’t gonna happen anytime soon.
Obviously, ‘insurrection in the ranks’ is going to be a theme for this season, and incapacitating Tony for a while will open some doors in that regard. Beyond that, it’s too early to really judge where things are going.