Television Review - 2017 (Part 6): #1 Viewing Experience of 2017, The Sopranos (Seasons 2-6)

That other television shows had to compete with five seasons of The Sopranos in these rankings really isn't fair. I don't know of anyone who's seen the full run of the show and doesn't consider it one of their top ten or so favorite shows ever, and most critics believe it to be one of the best five or so shows to ever hit the air. Many even have it as THE best show, which I'd disagree with, but not fervently so.

Watching The Sopranos for the first time in 2016-17 means that I went into it with all the hype that a TV show could possibly have. I recapped Season Two here, Season Three here, and Season Four here, before completely running out of steam. I had a little bit on Season Five, in which I did nothing more than wax poetic about Steve Buscemi's performance as Tony Blundetto, but it never went to publication. In any event, the last two seasons of The Sopranos were fantastic.

I've read a lot of debate online about the ranking of the six seasons of The Sopranos, so I'll toss my thoughts out there.

SPOILERS ABOUND!!!!!!!

1) Season Five

Season Five had the aforementioned Tony B. arc and tensions between Christopher and Tony over Adriana, who was herself battling her situation as an FBI informant throughout. With a show this consistently great, it's hard to choose one season that stood out above the rest, but I'll give the edge to Season Five's cohesive storyline, much of which is satisfyingly wrapped up by the final episode. It's also about when you can become certain that there's no redemption for any of these characters. At the beginning of the series, Tony is someone who can be occasionally influenced by Dr. Melfi, Carmela, or his own conscience to do the right thing ("right" is always relative on The Sopranos). Season Five is when it becomes clear that there will be no saving Tony Soprano -- a realization Melfi speaks out loud in Season Six. Similarly, Christopher goes back on drugs, Carmela goes back to Tony, and everyone's doomed to be stuck in their ways. A major theme of the series is these characters' inability to change for the better, despite their circumstances repeatedly demanding it.

2) Season Three

Season Three had "Pine Barrens" (the one where Paulie and Christopher are lost in the freezing woods), which for my money is one of the best few episodes of the series, and certainly the most memorable. It also introduced Ralphie, who provided strong villain material for much of the season, and had the episode "Employee of the Month", which presented an extreme test of Dr. Melfi's moral compass. Had it not been for the Jackie Jr. storyline, Season Three would be practically flawless.

3) Season One

A couple of the highlights here are the excellent "College" episode and "I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano". Though it doesn't have the depth of some of the later seasons, the story was engrossing enough that I knew I'd be able to plow through the remaining 73 hours of television with ease. Tony's college trip with Meadow, in which he makes it his mission to track down and kill an FBI informant while showing his daughter around Colby College, is one of the top-rated episodes of The Sopranos and establishes the difficulty of the double-life that Tony leads. It was also enjoyable to watch Tony before he lost pretty much all sense of morality.

4) Season Six

Season Six starts out somewhat slowly, with Tony being in a coma, Christopher developing his movie, and Vito on the run from his past life, but the back half of the season makes it all worth it. The series' final nine episodes include "Soprano Home Movies", an excellent hour in which the Tony, Carmela, Bobby, and Janice adjourn to a lake house, with amusing conflicts. The violent mob war between Phil Leotardo and the DiMeo family comes to its bloody conclusion, a couple of beloved characters meet their tragic demise, and Dr. Melfi finally realizes the uselessness in treating Tony. Then there's the ending of the series finale; I think I should expla

5) Season Two

Season Two earned an "A-" grade from me, so ranking it fifth is no insult. I especially enjoyed the Pussy storyline that ran through most of the season and Christopher's foray into the movie business was still a novelty, so I enjoyed it a little more here than I did later in the series. However, there were a couple weird plot devices used (the airline tickets turned out to be much ado about nothing), Silvio and Paulie had yet to be well-developed characters, and there was way too much Janice, who is terrible.

6) Season Four

The season-ending breakup between Carmela and Tony was a long time coming and made for some excellent viewing. I also liked the added focus on Bobby Bacala, who was consistently one of my favorite characters. However, the Carmela/Furio storyline was problematic from the start and had an anticlimactic ending. Similarly, Artie's get-cash-quick scheme was uncomfortable to watch just because it was pretty obvious how it would end. This was a weird season that certainly had its moments despite a couple of weak storylines. I still gave it a B+; this show is still really good even at its worst.

Television Review - 2017 (Part 5): #2 Viewing Experience of 2017, Better Call Saul

There's spoilers here, so stop if you don't want anything ruined.

After a third season, my opinion is unchanged. Better Call Saul is the best active show that I watch on TV.

Given that the same man is behind it, it's no wonder that Saul is able to replicate the tension that we saw on Breaking Bad, and I'm wondering whether there will be legitimate debates at the end of the series as to which show is better. Unfortunately for Saul, they just killed off one of the best aspects of the show in Chuck McGill.

Chuck sort of had to vacate the show, having exhausted any sort of useful relationship with Jimmy and having been ousted from the firm that sees his condition as a detriment to its business. His story was largely complete, but the loss will still be felt. Characters as well-written as Chuck are hard to find on television, even among very good shows. He felt real, yet transparent enough for viewers to understand exactly how events, circumstances, and other characters' words would affect him. Michael McKean (who absolutely owned his character) was often able to transmit Chuck's reactions to things with just the slightest facial changes, and it was always clear what those little ticks meant because of how well-drawn the character was. Chuck was petty, a hypocrite, nit-picky, spiteful, selfish, and just plain mean-spirited throughout his arc on this series, but he's one of the 15 or so greatest characters I've ever seen on TV.

Elsewhere, Season Three treated us to Giancarlo Esposito reprising his role as Gus Fring. This was teased via a hidden message in the episode titles of last season, so it wasn't exactly a surprise, but it was still awesome to see. The season focused on Fring's rivalry with a pre-disability Hector Salamanca, and we learn about the contentious history between the two that led to the animosity we saw on Breaking Bad.

The season was loaded with excellent moments, but I'll recap three of my favorites.

First and foremost, the courtroom scene in which Jimmy interrogates Chuck might be the best thing this show has ever done. The entire time I was convinced that Jimmy was holding some sort of electronic object to prove that Chuck's issues are psychosomatic, but the reveal that Huell Babineaux (Huell!) had actually planted a charged cell phone battery on Chuck and there was no adverse reaction was some kind of twist. The entire courtroom episode is one of Better Call Saul's best.

The second involves Nacho, whom the show has transitioned from a frightening character into a sympathetic one. Faced with Hector trying to invade his father's business, Nacho decides he has to take drastic action and make a covert attempt on Hector's life by swapping Hector's pills with something...less amenable to living. We're shown Nacho unsuccessfully practicing swapping a pill bottle into a jacket pocket and despite not getting it quite right, he's essentially given one chance to do it for real, during which his life is basically at stake. The scene in which Nacho executes the switch is one of the most tense I can remember seeing on television.

Finally, we got a chance to see what happens when Fring's drug business crosses over into his chicken restaurant management business. Hector Salamanca and his guys come into Los Pollos Hermanos to intimidate the employees and get in Gus' face. The way that Gus handles the whole situation is masterful (even if the explanation of who the intruders are was a little shaky from this end). He treats his employees with care and respect and it's clear that they both look up to him and are concerned for his safety. Gus isn't just a master earner on the drug side, he's damn good at running his fast food restaurant and treats the business as more than just a front.

Better Call Saul has just kept getting better through three seasons. I think it'll be tough to repeat that feat without Chuck, and as I've observed lately, Season Four is when a lot of great shows tend to go down the tubes. However, Vince Gilligan is at the helm of this one and Breaking Bad only continued to get stronger as the series went on. I have little fear of Saul suffering the Season Four curse.

Season Grade: A