The TV Series Sopranos Revieed

By Vickie Mathews

Let's say you weren't interested in this show when it first aired... Well, now's the time to give it a chance. Better late than never, right? Sopranos is definitely one of the top tv and movie downloads if you want to catch up on what's been hot for the last ten or so years.

The Sopranos isn't just a show about gangsters, it's a show about family, about the unpredictability of life, and most importantly, about the experience of being a human being in a world that throws you nothing but curveballs. The gangster trappings are only the backdrop of the show. The real focus is on Tony and his family and friends, and how they are affected by the life they've chosen.

Unlike most gangster stories, it's not really about who's gonna get whacked or not, it's about the fact that the people killing and being killed are real human beings. More importantly, it's about life in general, and the things that happen to Tony throughout these six seasons have, in some shape or other, happened to all of us at one point in time.

As each season comes, some characters become more unstable and have more and more responsibilities and fears with each new episode. The show is really about the uncertainty and fear in every day life.

The ending is incredible for what it does. Some fans felt gypped by its uncertain, ambiguous nature, but isn't that what life is all about? You never know what happens next, you never know what's going to happen to you from minute to minute. Can you guess what you'll be doing at this time tomorrow? Forget all those fan theories about what happened after the smash cut, it's not about that. The point is that there was a smash cut because this is where our time with Tony Soprano ends, and nobody knows what will happen next.

The show made some important innovations in televised storytelling, sort of as a reaction to reality TV. With fictional television becoming so predictable, people turned to reality TV, and so, to compete, David Chase decided to mix the unpredictability and realism of reality TV with the strong character and story development of fiction, resulting in a show that revolutionized TV and paved the way for shows like LOST and House M. D.

As you watch each episode, remember that, just as in life, the show is full of unanswered questions. Things are never easy to figure out and you never have the whole picture. The show is confusing because life is confusing. Just appreciate it for the characters and the comment it makes on life.

If the show has a moral to the story, it's simply that: Life is hard to figure out. You may not be a mafia Don, but you'll feel like you're right there with Tony Soprano through his struggles, because it's a very universal thing. Let the mafia serve as a metaphor for your new management position, or your attempts to keep your own family together, and you'll find some comfort in Tony's problems simply because, in the end, we really all go through this stuff, no matter who you are. Life is tricky, and we'll never figure it all out.

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