"I don't understand. The guy didn't say anything?"
"He didn't have to. That's the whole point of the exercise."
The Sopranos is really one of the few shows I never went into expecting to burst out laughing but man, this brilliant writing had me break into hysterical laughter on more than one occasion and it doesn't even have to rely on forced, in-your-face cheesy tactics to do so. Fantastic!
This episode is about anger episodes of two men: Tony Soprano and Christopher. And they both have women in their lives. So they are aggressive, violent, with no self-control, and yet they are lucky to experience love. That's an interesting take by the writers of this show. How anger and lack of control are pervasive in gangs and alpha males' environments, and women love that! In the end, Tony is back in therapy with Dr. Melfi, who seems to be sort of in love with her patient.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2015-07-01T02:53:07Z
Chris's real feelings about his father and his surrogate father Tony and his life coming out through his acting classes, and him being unable to deal with it was powerful stuff. I also liked Big Pussy complaining about Tony having no honor in a scene where he was talking to The Feds. I got a kick out of how he said that the new generation was either on drugs or psychos, and Chris and Furio more or less prove him right. And the Furio scene at the massage parlor was incredibly well shot; very visceral and real.
I was less sure about the Melfi stuff, though her weird flirty phone call to Tony was interesting if odd. I have to admit, I've found Lorraine Bracco's acting stye a little weird. There's something affected about it, but it may just be a character choice. She seems to become more Tony-like in her scenes with her own therapist, and I think I see what the show is driving at, but it's still a bit off. In the same vein, Tony using Hesh as surrogate psychiatrist and Hesh copletely talking past him was fun. The episode is mostly carried by the Chris story, but it's fairly good aside from the Melfi stuff that stalls a bit.