The decline and fall of The Sopranos

In the end, the acting was so much better than the writing.

The brilliant James Gandolfini, who told an interviewer recently that he feels he still has to prove himself, doesn't have to prove himself ever again. That scene with Uncle Junior (Dominic Chianese) in the retirement home was so exquisitely performed that Gandolfini has to stand shoulder to shoulder with the finest American actors ever to walk in front of a camera.

James Gandolfini brought Tony Soprano's whole lifetime into that scene -- the resentments of the child, the menace of the killer, the grief of the survivor. And he did it all without raising his voice above a whisper, barely moving a muscle in his face.

If James Stewart, Spencer Tracy, Jack Lemmon, Gene Hackman or Jack Nicholson ever gave a finer performance, we can't point to it.

What an actor.

If only the scripts of The Sopranos could have matched his genius.

Series creator David Chase deserves credit for bringing forth some of the most fascinating characters ever seen on television. But the remarkable achievement of the characters only makes the frustration of the plotlessness more aggravating. As the seasons wore on, the scenes of action and suspense were fewer and fewer, and the scenes of sitting in chairs and contemplating were more and more frequent.

In a crowning aggravation, Chase turned the final season into an extended practical joke. Scenes of apparent suspense turned into red herrings. Plot lines vanished. Characters developed sudden and unexplained stupidity that allowed them to be killed. Brand new personality traits emerged in mid-life without explanation. In one episode, Tony Soprano came down with a severe gambling addiction, borrowed money, turned anti-Semitic, and then went back to normal as if it had never happened.

So many great plot possibilities were thrown away, especially in the last two seasons. Think of the scene in which Tony was shot by Uncle Junior in a moment of dementia. In the show, Junior is immediately held for the crime and institutionalized. But imagine how much more interesting the season would have been if Tony lost consciousness before he could tell anyone it was Junior who shot him. His crew might have suspected any number of people and started a war which Tony would have had to end, or fight, when he regained consciousness.

Earlier in the series, an opportunity to add depth and conflict to the character of Tony's analyst, Dr. Jennifer Melfi (Lorraine Bracco) was pointlessly tossed aside. There was a scene in the analyst's office when she appeared to be ready to tell Tony that she had been raped and the police had let the rapist get away. Think of how much more interesting all their scenes would have been for the rest of the series if Tony had hunted the guy down and killed him, and Dr. Melfi was forced to live with the knowledge that she was glad he had done it. Think of how much more punch there would have been in that final strange scene when Dr. Melfi throws Tony out of her office because she believes she has enabled a sociopath. Instead, it just looked as if David Chase wanted Lorraine Bracco's salary out of the sequel's budget.

At least a planned sequel would justify the conclusion of the series' final episode, a string of cartoonish "here it comes" moments followed by a blank screen and no ending at all.

Maybe it's deep and existential. Or maybe James Gandolfini did his best acting when he convinced an interviewer that he has put Tony Soprano behind him.


Copyright 2007

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