The Sopranos. Season 2 [DVD]

Episode of Series “The Sopranos”.
In the second series of the outstanding television series about the day to day realities of a New Jersey Mafia family, we find that Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) is still prone to bouts of existential despair while at the same time having to be the boss-man of an organised crime family. While dealing with the running of his myriad operations Tony also has to keep the facts of his adulterous affairs from his suspicious wife, Carmella (Edie Falco) and make sure that his increasingly rebellious children don’t undermine him. It is one of the major achievements of the series that though the criminal and violent world it portrays is specific, unique and tinged with the romanticism of Golden Age Hollywood representations of crime and gangsters, it nevertheless manages to make Tony’s ethical and psychological choices resonate with the everyday realities of the viewer’s life. In Series Two, Tony returns to his psychiatrist and also returns to the family home in Naples. This episode, “Commendatori” is a series highlight, revolving around the glaring discrepancies between the Italo-American conceptions of the “old country” and the realities of contemporary Europe. Other outstanding episodes in series two include “D-Girl” where Christopher (Michael Imperioli) finds hidden talents as an actor and “Knight in white satin armour” where the tensions between Janie, Ritchie and Tony resolve in a violent and unexpected manner. But every episode in this adult cynical series is of excellent value.