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The Sopranos
Season 3
Click
picture to order this season on DVD
It's the same thing for any award-winning
show; you see the show at its flawless best, it wins awards, your
expectations get too high, only to have its third season be
less-than-expected. However, even the most disappointing of seasons in
such cases, is far better than what
is offered elsewhere. Such was the
case with season three of The Sopranos, where
the writers were more than a bit burned out. They needed a time
out, and after this season, boy, did they take one! It would be
over a year and a half before they offered a fourth season, to answer all
the plotlines season 3 left wide open. However, was it a good season?
Absolutely. This was an array of Empire Strikes Back-style
cliffhangers, in a Tony Soprano business suit. I
won't review each episode (like I do for some other TV shows), because the series is a serial,
or an ongoing story. To summarize each episode would mean giving away the whole
season's surprises! I will mention my favorite episode --"Pine Barrens"--
where in a delicious piece of dark comedy, Paulie and the recently
"promoted" Christopher turn a simple money pick-up into an
accidental death gone awry. The problem is, the guy isn't really dead yet, so they
have to take him someplace secluded and finish the job, only to have him
escape, and in the quest to find him alive or dead, they forget where they parked their
car! They're left in the snow-covered woods, in the middle of
nowhere. The dark humor in this episode is perfectly handled; clearly the
season's best offering. By
comparison, there was that one story that irked me: Dr.
Melfi gets raped in her office's parking garage, and the police let the
guy go, only to have Melfi show she's a "better person" by not
telling her patient Tony about it. Why? No matter how
"immoral" in the real
world, Tony would've dealt with her rapist's shenanigans, "permanently." The message
seemed to be that
Melfi was "a better person" for just letting the rapist live his life.
Again...Why??? ...so he can rape more innocent women?!? Why is it that Tony can beat his high school buddy senseless (in
season 2) for a mere gambling debt, yet when Melfi is raped, she should
let bygones be bygones? Forget morality
issues; this is The Sopranos, not Elmo Teaches Big Bird
About Good Manners. This selfish, sadistic bastard
should've been pounded like a cube steak. Ya got a problem with that? Sure,
there are many more season three elements to discuss than just these two.
Most notably is Willow's expanded role in the series, including her
humorous, inadvertent tampering of a FBI bug, and how her drinking habits
return, after the love of her life --no, the second one-- goes
further and further downhill in a mob life he was never suited for. As for
love interest #1, Tony's almost Archie-Bunker-style racism is exposed as
Meadow attempts to prove her political correctness by dating a
half-African-American student, only to have him dump her for even more
shallow reasons than why Tony hated him. Go figure. However,
admittedly, there is far less to discuss here than earlier seasons. I
would recommend the first season most of all, followed closely by season
two, and then three. I still would recommend this purchase
inevitably, though. After all, this was the season that won Emmy awards for both James Gandolfini (Tony Soprano) and Edie Falco (Carmela
Soprano). The matrimonial angst between their two characters this season
was perfectly performed. The Sopranos' Third Season
may not have been always perfect, yet was far better
than most of what TV offered elsewhere in 2001.
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Burnout
Near
Miss
Small
Crater
Large
Crater
Deep
Impact
