Unusually for an HBO series, this episode of The Sopranos has a teaser (or pre-credits sequence, if you prefer). It's a once-in-a-lifetime event that never occurred again throughout the show's run, but this one time is truly special: as Tony and his friends are chatting about Lady Diana, cloning and the Eiffel Tower, a program about organized crime is shown on TV. One of the interviewees is a former wise-guy (similar to Henry Hill in Goodfellas) who declares the glory days of the mafia are over, causing Silvio to cheer up the crew by quoting the most famous line from the third Godfather movie: "Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!". Cue "Woke Up This Morning" and another fifty minutes of essential gangster stories.
After a fairly streamlined pilot (just Tony talking to Dr. Melfi and a few flashbacks revealing how stressful his life is), David Chase goes for multiple plot threads in the second show: the main storyline sees Tony getting in trouble with Uncle Junior over a series of hijacked trucks Chris and his friend Brendan Filone are messing with, whereas two subplots deal with his private business, be it regarding his mother (he and Carmela are looking for a nursing home where she can live peacefully) or his son (AJ's teacher had a car that was stolen; Pussy and Paulie are in charge of getting it back). And in between he keeps exposing his thoughts in the psychiatrist's office.
With the first episode being mostly about the overweight mobster, 46 Long allows some of the supporting players to have more space for their true nature to come out: scariest of the lot is Junior, who may be old but not weak or foolish - this man will beat you to death if you give him the wrong look! Similarly creepy is Livia, who hides something sinister beneath the whining surface (the moment when she asks her son to stab her should have been enough to get Nancy Marchand an Emmy). Chris has an edgier side too, but is too ambitious to keep it under control, meaning things can (and will) get ugly in future shows.
However, for all the darkness there is also some priceless comedy, albeit of the foul-mouthed type: as Pussy (referencing Rockford, another Chase character) and Paulie search for the carjacker, they wind up at Starbuck's, where Paulie goes nuts over how them Yanks stole Italian "copyrights" (cappuccino, espresso, et cetera) and explodes in a memorable rant: "We invented this sh*t and all these other c*cksuckers are getting rich off it!". That such a funny scene is followed by violence is to be expected, given the series constantly juggles awkward humor and moments of pure nastiness, both of which are hugely watchable. In fact, the Godfather quote might even refer to how hard viewers find it to stop watching the show: "Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!".
After a fairly streamlined pilot (just Tony talking to Dr. Melfi and a few flashbacks revealing how stressful his life is), David Chase goes for multiple plot threads in the second show: the main storyline sees Tony getting in trouble with Uncle Junior over a series of hijacked trucks Chris and his friend Brendan Filone are messing with, whereas two subplots deal with his private business, be it regarding his mother (he and Carmela are looking for a nursing home where she can live peacefully) or his son (AJ's teacher had a car that was stolen; Pussy and Paulie are in charge of getting it back). And in between he keeps exposing his thoughts in the psychiatrist's office.
With the first episode being mostly about the overweight mobster, 46 Long allows some of the supporting players to have more space for their true nature to come out: scariest of the lot is Junior, who may be old but not weak or foolish - this man will beat you to death if you give him the wrong look! Similarly creepy is Livia, who hides something sinister beneath the whining surface (the moment when she asks her son to stab her should have been enough to get Nancy Marchand an Emmy). Chris has an edgier side too, but is too ambitious to keep it under control, meaning things can (and will) get ugly in future shows.
However, for all the darkness there is also some priceless comedy, albeit of the foul-mouthed type: as Pussy (referencing Rockford, another Chase character) and Paulie search for the carjacker, they wind up at Starbuck's, where Paulie goes nuts over how them Yanks stole Italian "copyrights" (cappuccino, espresso, et cetera) and explodes in a memorable rant: "We invented this sh*t and all these other c*cksuckers are getting rich off it!". That such a funny scene is followed by violence is to be expected, given the series constantly juggles awkward humor and moments of pure nastiness, both of which are hugely watchable. In fact, the Godfather quote might even refer to how hard viewers find it to stop watching the show: "Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!".