The Sopranos

(If you haven't been watching the latest season of The Sopranos or have never given a care to begin with, don't read further)

I don't want to ramble on about this show too much because it's been a continual disappointment for a few seasons now. If you haven't heard, this is the final season, and with that, people who have stuck with this show naturally expect resolutions for all of the 500 plot lines that have went unresolved.

Now I love this show to death--if I had to rank my favorite shows of all time, it would be neck-and-neck for first place with The Wire and The Simpsons--but the formulaic way recent seasons have played out has been frustrating and with this week's episode (the fourth-to-last), this season seems to be following the same trend.

In the past several seasons, either a character that has been paid little attention to in the past or one that hasn't existed at all has become the focal point for the season's major plot line. We've had to deal with the sudden appearance (and disappearance) of Joe Pantoliano and Steve Buscemi, and from my perspective, it all came to a low point with Vito Spatafore and Johnny Cakes (anyone named John's nickname from this point on, I'd imagine), a subplot that was hinted at in maybe five seconds of film stock two seasons prior. In the first half of the final season of one of the most pivotal television shows in history (if you haven't watched it, you really should take the time; from its inception, it signified the next step in 'mature' television), we were stuck following the travails of a character pretty low on the totem pole, under the notion that his death would take the conflict between Jersey and New York to the ultimate level (aside from the shitting-in-the-shower incident a few episodes ago, it hasn't even been an issue). It was all pretty lackluster; I didn't expect a bloodbath every week, but I was at least hoping for something more than hastily-finished story arcs for my favorite characters in television. You don't need a bloodbath each week to make me happy, but you need to move the story somewhere.

But again, with only a few episodes left, The Sopranos is basing its storyline around a character that has been in the shadows for almost all of its run. Up until a few episodes ago, the character of AJ Soprano has been most notable for his one-note portrayal by Robert Iler, maybe made less effective when considering that his television sibling, Meadow Soprano, is played by the considerably-doable Jamie Lynn-Sigler. If you would have asked me which story lines I wanted to see the writers focus on before this season, AJ's would have fallen far into the list, and I don't think I'm alone here. I understand where HBO wants to end this show, but should I really believe that AJ has went from maturing boyfriend to depressed victim to silent hooligan to intellectual college student to self-absorbed nutcase in the course of a few episodes after he developed so little in the first five seasons. The show is pulling the same crap it's done in the past, trying to force viewers to care about a peripheral character in the span of a few episodes simply because there's no other medium to propel the plot forward.

(Also, anyone else notice that Tony started quoting his mother's most famous line ("Oh... Poor you") several times when talking to AJ this episode? Could the writers have forced this 'character development' any more deliberately?)

Not that things haven't been good. Up until this latest episode, I've been really satisfied, and I would take an average episode of The Sopranos over the best episodes of Heroes (week after week of entertaining fluff, but its ripped-off ideas far outshine its acting and writing) any day of the week. I've loved most of this season, but I really don't want to see the final episodes find their sparks in one of the weakest characters (and actors) in the show. Please HBO. Please.

(And while you're at it, start the new season of The Wire before I leave Korea so I can download it illegally with no worries about repercussions. Thanks. Seriously, I love you guys, even if you are responsible for Entourage.)