The Sopranos - Season Three

The first two seasons of The Sopranos were both excellent with some notable flaws. David Chase and company turned things up a notch, however, and executed a nearly flawless third season.

SPOILER SPACE!!!!!!!!!!!

Season Three contains the two best episodes of the series that I've watched thus far. The first was Employee of the Month, which involves the moral compass of the series, Dr. Melfi, facing the ultimate test of character. Her relationship with Tony has been up and down and riddled with outbursts from the latter, but they're close enough to the point where the viewer thinks of Tony as a possible solution to Melfi getting revenge on her rapist before it's implied in the show. Seeing Lorraine Bracco get furious in her shrink's office and deliver this line was a tremendous bit of acting:

"I'm not going to break the social compact. But that's not saying there's not a certain satisfaction in knowing that i could have that asshole squashed like a bug if i wanted."

Then, she sits in her office with Tony, clearly distraught. She's still not feeling normal because of her rape, sure, but it's clear that the entire time she's fighting herself over the urge to tell Tony what happened. She knows Tony would have the guy whacked and it'd be sweet justice for her. The episode cuts to credits right after Tony asks her if she has something to say and she replies "NO", a response equally strong and painful for Dr. Melfi.

I liked what the show did with Paulie this season. His growing resentment towards Tony filters down to the way he treats Christopher. Even though it's clear Paulie's a little unhinged, the show does a good job at slowly illustrating why he's having such issues with his boss. The climax of this is Tony's decision to force Ralphie to pay Paulie a sum of 12 thousand dollars when Paulie felt he was owed fifty. However, there's an even more successful plot line en route to that moment.

"Pine Barrens" is possibly the best episode of the first three seasons and does a great job illustrating Paulie's descent. First, he reacts far too violently to the Russian, Valery, when the latter makes a relatively benign request to put his remote control back on the shelf. Then, when he and Christopher go on an adventure, lost in the snowy forest of south New Jersey with the aforementioned Valery possibly on the loose and stalking them, it's the starving, usually-furious Christopher who seems like the one who has his faculties in control and the higher-ranking, typically more mature Paulie who's really losing it.

It's a great episode for Christopher as well, whom the show has put into a great deal of effort into developing. He used to be prone to dumbass outbursts and violence, but as the show has progressed, Christopher has used his head a lot more and doesn't seem to be anywhere near as prone to stupid mistakes. "Pine Barrens" illustrates that pretty well, but most importantly, when he becomes a "made" guy earlier in the season, it's a moment that feels earned.

As a side note, I'm still bothered that they didn't tie up anything with Slava or Valery. It seems fairly clear that Valery escaped somehow, but it's not confirmed by season's end if (or how) that happened. It seems like Tony would have faced some fairly immediate repercussions if Valery's story ever made it back to Slava. Maybe they're just deferring this to Season Four.

I don't have much to say about the season-long Ralphie storyline other than that it was effective and that Ralphie filled in nicely as the "villain" for Richie for much of the season. Ralphie's a better character than Richie, though, and even though he can be stupid and a loudmouth, it's clear that he is at least trying to improve himself once Tony's forced to promote him to captain.

Even the minor characters were used very effectively in Season Three. My personal favorite is Bobby Bacala, who mostly serves as the butt of jokes and as Junior's caretaker during the season, but he's a rare thoroughly likable character on this show and the conversation he and Tony had on the way to find Paulie and Christopher in "Pine Barrens" an excellent moment.

The one storyline that didn't really work that well was Jackie Jr.'s relationship with Meadow and subsequent descent into crime. It was always at least a little clear that Jackie was a piece of shit and his inability to stay out of mob business was essentially a given from the start. He drove a lot of the action late in the season, but he wasn't much of a compelling character and Jason Cerbone delivered one of the weaker performances thus far on the series. There was nothing to root for, nor anything to surprise us here (other than an appearance from Omar!).

Despite that blip, Season Three was a riveting experience because of a compelling plot and some outstanding character work. I've gotten to the point where watching this show feels like slipping into the universe of The Sopranos for an hour. Everything feels so real in this show, and that's a testament to the ensemble cast.

Season Grade: A