Wednesday 29 July 2020

The Sopranos - Season 2 (2000 David Chase)

The untrustable Janice arrives (Aida Turturro), the unspeakable Richie Aprile appears (David Proval), the unsinkable Pussy (Vincent Pastore) returns - unfortunately with the accompaniment of unshakeable cop Louis Lombardi - and the unmissable Peter Bogdanovich is introduced as Melfi's psychoanalyst (he's quite brilliant).

It's the season where they go to Napoli (staying at the Excelsior, naturally), and return with Furio (Federico Castelluccio), who makes short work of a recalcitrant brothel owner. Christopher has a brief flirtation with the film business (Jon Favreau and Alicia Witt) and his two soldiers get restless and pull off the most incredibly stupid stunt they could possibly imagine. Contains two of my favourite moments - the Janice-Richie confrontation (Carm: 'That was not a marriage made in heaven') and the bizarre dream that takes up most of the finale 'Funhouse' (inspired use of sound here). We know Chase is all over everything, but these episodes are credited to Robin Green and Mitchell Burgess and Chase and Todd Kessler.

On reflection, there is nothing else quite like 'Funhouse' in the whole series, and it stands out as one of the most exceptional things on American television.

To Richie: "Look who's here. No wonder the squirrels went all quiet."

In a hilarious scene in acting class, two students have to have a conversation saying just 'A' and 'B'...'A' one says aggressively to Christopher, and... These scenes sound quite like Gandolfini's own experiences following a period as a bouncer when he himself was talked into joining such a class, and ended up smashing up the stage.

Hate the way Carm refers to her daughter as 'Miss Meadow'.

Buchiach (pron. 'Book-yak') = cunt. Maloik (malocchio) = Evil eye. Eggs and peppers? Manicott(i) is large pasta tubes filled with cheese, spinach and sometimes meat. This is a very rich interpretation of southern Italian cooking - they seem to include cheese with every dish - no wonder most of the men are so overweight.

DP for the series is Phil Abraham.





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