Like with all the hype around “Lost,” I went into watching “The Sopranos” last year after the fact. Unfortunately my impressions of the series were colored by how I watched it.

A roommate owned the entire series and wished to rewatch it at the same time. Another roommate wanted to see it too. Thus we could only watch “The Sopranos” as a group, and with collegiate life, usually that translated to two or three episodes beginning at 11 p.m. My tiredness, coupled with the show’s slow pacing, led to foggy memories and groans at episode running times of longer than 50 minutes. But eventually, by say, season three, I got into it. I ended up watching a marathon of the last seven or eight episodes in a day.

For readers who have not seen the show, what are your impressions of “The Sopranos?” It’s a mafia show, right? It is basically going to be like Martin Scorsese’s “Goodfellas,” isn’t it? “Goodfellas” is one of the best movies of all time, bolstered by its excellent cast but more so, by its tight writing, fast pacing and excellent choice to use first-person voiceover narration, that cram tons of story information into short, concise scenes. I had seen “The Godfather” and “Casino” but did not remember those either. I was expecting a brisk thrill ride like “Goodfellas.”

But “The Sopranos” was totally unexpected, for good and bad reasons. My roommate who owned the DVDs, the esteemed Rob Goodman, summed it up best: Every season, the show slowly builds up plot lines, only to have them explode in one episode, usually the season finale. Now, that is not a novel approach to television, but its style was groundbreaking at the time.

While this led to slow-paced episodes and the occasional obnoxious filler installment, the storytelling approach also led “The Sopranos” to go down narrow alleyways in its universe. Some of the best episodes from the run are ones that had little to do with Tony Soprano himself or the mob world in general. “Members Only,” the sixth season premiere, might be my favorite. It shines the spotlight on a small supporting character in the series and his humble attempt to retire.

The raw emotion brought out from the viewer based on how his story turns out is much more compelling than many of the landmark killings in the show.

Likewise, I know people who classify Vito’s season six outing as a homosexual and sojourn through New Hampshire to find himself as one of the weak points in the series, but it actually is one of the series’ strongest. It has the courage to abruptly tear away from the built “Sopranos” universe in its final season to explore an interesting story opportunity: What happens to someone when he has to get away from the mob family?

Its excellent supporting cast bolstered the show. It took awhile, but the series finally found compelling antagonists for Tony Soprano in the New York mob’s Johnny Sack and Phil Leotardo. Both had such a chivalry and esteem for their families that they juxtaposed Tony’s looser hold on the New Jersey mob well. In particular, Phil angrily explaining the origin of his family’s last name rings true as an excellent example of character development.

The show still had its flaws. As mentioned earlier, a few episodes just reek of filler. Also, too often, the show would string out a long-term plot line and then have it not pay off in a big way — or not at all. Major spoilers ahead: Adriana’s stint as an FBI informant was one of the most interesting plot angles the show had in play at any given time, and it ended so abruptly. Tony’s wife, Carmela, and her mutual infatuation with Soprano mob henchman Furio screamed for an eventual standoff between Tony and Furio, but Furio quickly left before anything came of it. Tony’s rage upon finding out after the fact only made the viewer want to see him confront Furio more. And what happened to the Russian from the infamous “Pine Barrens” episode?

Even still, “The Sopranos” creators made all the decisions they did usually in the interest of logic or realism, and even if that came at the expense of drama occasionally, no one can argue with the result. After all, there is a reason why two of the show’s writers and producers, Terence Winter and Matthew Weiner, went on to helm two of television’s best current series, “Boardwalk Empire” and “Mad Men,” respectively.
 
That controversial finish, which should not be controversial because he clearly dies, caps off a great series with a great ending from the very first chord of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’.”

— Robby O’Daniel is a graduate student in communications. He can be reached at rodaniel@utk.edu.