HBO has made the announcement. The hit series The Sopranos, starring James Gandolfini will begin its final season on April 8, at 9pm. With the season 7 premier just a few weeks off, the question is, does anyone really care?
Season 6 was lukewarm at best. The season started out with an amazing opening. Random Made Mobster hangs himself. We like. Tony gets shot. We like as well. An amazing dramatic solo scene with Carmela crying in hospital, played by Edie Falco. Amazing. This is going to be a great season. WRONG. Why did you fool us? After the first three episodes the show’s lack luster plot resulted in a precipitous decline in positive viewer response. And, no this is not because of Vito. The coma, drawn out. Ok, The Sopranos creators always like to throw in a little symbology for the bloggers, that’s fine. One episode is fine. Two episodes, no problem. Three, four, five, six… WE GET THE POINT. The writers seemed to draw out story arch after story arch just to prolong the show. Capitalism at its best. Well, on the positive side, at least AJ finally got a girl and stopped trying to be an A1 PUTZ.
On another note, whatever happened with the Russians - who knows what his name was - at the end of season 3? You remember season 3 right? Those were the good ol’ days, before Chris got made, when Chris was still a junkie. Before the hysterically funny, yet emotionally gripping, intervention when Paulie belted Chris with a blow that would make Rocky proud. The days when each day at work seemed to pass by slower and slower, and you couldn’t wait until Sunday to see “who got whacked.” It was snowing out in Jersey, and Paulie and Chris shot the brother of the head of the Russian mafia. They never found the body. There were no repercussions, and the whole Russian mafia thing just got phased out. In favor of what? How ’bout a series of drawn out, muddled and overtly blasé story archs that could put even the worst insomniac to sleep.
Anyway, “The Final Episodes” begins 9pm sharp on Sunday April 8. But, between me and you, if you’re tired of the Sopranos, do yourself a favor and get your fix elsewhere. Where? The Black Donnellys, Monday nights on NBC at 10pm. Send us a letter and let us know what you think.
Comparisons to the Donnellys and yesteryear’s Sopranos episodes, Season 6 was definitely ho-hum. As you said, it started off great and then they dragged it all out. The coma story arch would have been good for two or three episodes, tops. I believe they were trying to work out some of Tony’s emotional turmoil by using some clever hyperbole. In their efforts to get all fancypants about it, they lost most of us, it seems.
I love a good mob production as much as the next person but I am not holding my breath for Season 7. There was hardly any buzz surrounding the last season which often tells you one simple truth: there wasn’t a story worth passing along. The lack of true plot development makes you wish you could just have some mindless violence, the likes of which would make Clockwork Orange seem like Little House on the Prairie. At least with debauchery and violence, you can enjoy some low-brow entertainment!
Sadly, this is the peril that awaits writers that set a high bar for themselves: when things finally close to an end, they need to make sure they have more than enough gusto to cross that finish line.. with flying colors! Right now, this looks like a marathon with a bunch of out-of-shape people dragging their feet on the last 3 miles. Who knows.. Maybe they purposely brought down our expectations to astound us this season… ;o)
You’re absolutely right Amy, I’d much prefer to see the Paulie Walnutes whack somebody. The problem (as I see it), is that there have been way too many “filler” episodes on the Sopranos of late. They need to get back to what made them great, season 1 & 2.
Ok, Tommy may be a “cry baby” now, but that’s because of the depth of his conflicted character. From what the police have said in the interviews with Joey Ice Cream, we see that at some point in the future, Tommy’s just a cold blooded killer. But I still won’t put him in a class with Paulie yet.
check out the Black Donnellys message board at: http://buzzfocus.com/forum/index.php?board=18.0
I haven’t seen the Black Donnelys yet, but I do believe that the Sopranos Hayday is over. Pine Barrens was one of the funniest episodes in the entire series (one with the Russian). It would be a nice boost to this season if that did resurface, but I guess that’s just wishful thinking.
I thought they had so much potential going into the end of season 5.. A war btwn ny and NJ was imminent. Adriana got taken out… it was awesome.. But then they just chickened out and let Johnny Sack get caught.. I thought that was a serious copp out and undermined the entire tension that they spent the season building up with Tony Blundetto.
Anyway, agreed.. season 6 had the worst storytelling of all and has left me with bad taste regarding the whole show.
The only redeeming factor is that there will more than likely be mass bloodshed in the final 9 eps.. so it’s compelling to see what will happen to all these characters that we’ve watched for so long. I’ll be there watching.. but I’m going in with skepticism
Love the Black Donnellys, love Tommy Donnelly. You can’t really compare. I didn’t watch the 6th season (heard it wasn’t great), but The Sopranos is in a league all it’s own when it comes to shows about the mafia. The Black Donnellys cannot touch it. I love Paulie Walnuts because he is a psycho. I love Tommy Donnelly because he is cute and he has that tortured soul look in his eyes, but who wouldn’t after dismembering the body of a bookie when you were just trying to go to art school. Tell me, who would you rather see whack somebody? Donnelly, who would cry inside about it for the rest of his life–or Paulie Walnuts, who would go have some spaghetti and gravy and bang a stripper at Bada Bing. I love the Sopranos. I do agree about the Russian mafia being phased out, that was stupid.