The Sopranos Season 1 Episode 1: “The Sopranos”

“The Sopranos” Pilot Review

Grade: A+

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“As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster…”

In The Sopranos‘ famous opening scene, Tony Soprano is framed between the legs of a female statue in Dr. Melfi’s waiting room. In season five, she’ll mention that therapy is like giving birth. “Trust me,” Tony will reply, “it’s like taking a shit.” For now, he’s hesitant to be here, the camera zooming in on his face, intercut with close-ups of the statue. Dr. Melfi opens her office door. “Tony Soprano?” He enters.

And with that The Sopranos changed everything about television, transforming the very medium itself into an art form. Gritty realism had never been so thoroughly executed and psychological themes had never been explored with such depth. The writing, the acting, the ambiguity — everything — begat an artistic revolution.

It all starts with the pilot, one of only two episodes directed by series creator David Chase (the other being “Made in America,” the infamous series finale). Throughout its run, The Sopranos boasted a large stable of talented directors — Tim Van Patten, Alan Taylor and Peter Bogdonavich, to name a few — yet Chase’s contributions are still the most important. His cinematic flair instantly legitimized the show’s ambitions, and his auteur philosophy indicated that The Sopranos was much more than a simple crime drama.

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Compared to other crime dramas, The Sopranos takes a rather unique approach. The kickoff for the entire series is Tony Soprano’s panic attack — the reason why he’s waiting to see a shrink in the opening scene. Parts of the pilot are told via flashback and voiceover, which are narrative devices that The Sopranos will rarely turn to ever again. In this episode only, they are both necessary tools to properly introduce us to the particularities of David Chase’s vision.

During the therapy sessions, Tony tells us about his daily routine: he’s a loving family man with a wife and two kids who doubles down as an organized crime boss in the North Jersey mafia (“Waste management consultant,” he tells Dr. Melfi). The stark contrast makes for one of the most compelling dichotomies in television history. Yet the entire concept would be unoriginal if it weren’t for the performance of James Gandolfini. His portrayal of Tony Soprano is iconic — the perfect antihero.

Sure, Tony cheats on his wife and breaks some kneecaps from time to time, but he also shows a loving affinity for the family of ducks nesting in his swimming pool. The main emphasis of the series is on his humanity, or lack thereof.

One day, the ducks fly away. Tony passes out at the family barbecue.

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At this early juncture, David Chase and his writing staff were still finding their voices and the actors had yet to grow into their roles (Gandolfini included). Every character shown in this first hour is just a microcosm of what they’ll soon become down the line. Even Tony is a tad more “polite” than the Tony we’ll see in just a few episodes.

Tony’s psychiatrist, Dr. Jennifer Melfi (played by Lorraine Bracco), is another character who will play an important role later in the series, but for now she merely serves as a way for Tony to provide exposition. Likewise, Tony’s wife, Carmela, has yet to make an impact. She’s depicted as a cringeworthy stereotypical Italian housewife, and it isn’t until episode five that she’ll develop into a fully-formed character with ambitions of her own.

On the other hand, Carmela’s strained relationship with her bratty teenage daughter, Meadow, is already in place, and it’s in these familial squabbles in which actress Edie Falco will shine. Over time, she’ll become an integral part of The Sopranos.

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Even though the acting and dialogue have not quite been perfected, the series’ main themes are already firmly in place. Tony says as much to Melfi in his first voiceover: “It’s good to be in something from the ground floor. I came too late for that and I know. But lately, I’m getting the feeling that I came in at the end. The best is over.”

Tony is obsessed with the past, or rather, he’s in love with the idea of the past. He shows great admiration for his uncle, Corrado “Junior” Soprano, and speaks in reverence of his late father. Later in the episode, he takes Meadow to an old cathedral constructed by his immigrant great-grandfather, a towering monument to the old ways now gone.

In turn, this obsession also causes Tony to live in constant fear of the past. Living proof: his strained relationship with his neurotic mother, Livia. Together, their complex and stressful relationship will have a major psychological impact on Tony throughout the series.

At the same time, The Sopranos also stands in as a metaphor for America at the turn of the century. The future is uncertain and the shadow of the past haunts our every move. Tony Soprano’s defining characteristic will be his inability to change.

At its core, this is quite a cynical show, with a depressingly bleak outlook on life. But it’s all part of David Chase’s meta-analysis on TV itself — a series and its characters are forever resigned to their circular arcs.

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First and foremost, however, The Sopranos is a show about family. And the series premiere focuses on Tony’s fear of losing it. The closing sequence is a backyard party at the Soprano home, celebrating AJ’s birthday. Carmela shouts “Let’s eat!” and the entire party makes its way off-screen. But Chase’s camera keeps the empty pool in view. The ducks aren’t coming back.

It’s a poignant way to end the episode, and it’s a perfect image to encapsulate The Sopranos as a whole. Has any series premiere carried greater significance? Even though the pilot has a few missteps — chief among them the all-too-obvious influence of Goodfellas — the installment arrives fully-formed, and will basically be referenced in every subsequent episode of the series.

Not only does this pilot episode provide the foundations for the rest of the series; it provides the foundations for modern television itself. But it’s only the start of what may be the greatest TV show ever made. Fortunately for us, we’re in it from the ground floor.

STRAY ROUNDS

• Tony will continue to show an affinity for nature throughout the series, actually having more empathy for animals than humans. When Tony is with the ducks, it honestly might be the happiest we see him in the entire series.

• We’ll come to know that cops are pretty nonexistent in The Sopranos, as evidenced by the over-the-top chase scene through the park. 

• Although I didn’t discuss it much, the pilot sets forth a lot of future plot points. The main mob action of the week involves Tony’s Uncle Junior planning to whack a guy named Little Pussy Malanga in Artie Bucco’s (a childhood friend of Tony’s) restaurant. Obviously, this would be bad for Artie’s business, so Tony “helps” out his friend by burning down the restaurant and framing it as a gas leak. Pretty dumb, but the explosion was cool.

• Elsewhere, Tony’s hotheaded young nephew, Christopher Moltisanti, commits his first murder. He executes a Czechoslovakian drug dealer named Emil Kolar by firing several bullets into the back of his head.

• “What happened to Gary Cooper, the strong silent type? Now that was an American.” This line will be referenced many times throughout the series and is a significant part of Tony’s worldview.

• When watching the first episode of any show, I sometimes get momentary flashbacks of what it was like when I first saw it. It’s a hard feeling to put into words, but it’s one of the great joys of rewatching TV shows from the beginning. You always remember your first time.

• If I had to rank the pilots of the Big 4, I’d go with (in order from best to worst): Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, Mad Men and, lastly, The Wire. EDIT: my rankings would now go Sopranos, Breaking Bad, Mad Men and The Wire.

• For further analysis on the episode, read about how the pilot’s soundtrack shaped the world of The Sopranos.

• “The Sopranos” was written and directed by series creator David Chase. The pilot is quite possibly the best directed episode of the entire series, a testament to Chase’s vision and the fact that The Sopranos was this good right from the start. Every frame could be a photograph, and every shot is visually interesting. It’s a stunning way to begin the series. We’re instantly hooked by the imagery alone. Fittingly, the only other episode he directed is the season finale “Made in America.”

FAMOUS LAST WORDS

• “It’s good to be in something from the ground floor. I came too late for that, and I know. But lately, I’m getting the feeling that I came in at the end. The best is over.”

• “What happened to Gary Cooper? The strong, silent type. That was an American. He wasn’t in touch with his feelings. He just did what he had to do. See, what they didn’t know was once they got Gary Cooper in touch with his feelings that they wouldn’t be able to shut him up!”

• “I find I have to be the sad clown: laughing on the outside, crying on the inside.”

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