Review of Denial, Anger, Acceptance

Things are starting to warm up in The Sopranos, as episode 3 continues to develop three subplots introduced in the previous show: Uncle Junior seeking revenge for being humiliated by Chris, the begrudged Livia, still angry at her son for placing her in a nursing home, and the cancer-suffering boss of Tony, Jackie Aprile. In addition to this a friend of Tony's Jewish associate Hesh Rabkin (that's Morrie from GoodFellas!) comes to Tony for help regarding a son-in-law, and Chris gets pressured into giving Meadow some speed so that she can 'prepare for her exams'. Denial, Anger, Acceptance continues the strong start the show has had, only this time the dialogue is, quite frankly, brilliant. You've got the usual wise-guy humour from the likes of Paulie and Salvatore (or is it Silvio? I keep getting mixed up between them two) as well as lines that you remember long after the show is finished. For instance, when Tony confronts the Jewish son-in-law and the latter mentions the battle of Masada, in which the Jews chose death over slavery. "Where are they?" he exclaims in reference to the powerful Romans of the time, to which a straight-faced Tony replies "Your looking at 'em." Italian pride, right there. There's a cultural war in this episode, as well as a battle-within-the-sexes. Staying with the Romans it's interesting to draw parallels between the Italian mafia and the Roman Empire. It's been done before in The Godfather Part II, and here we can see the Soprano family feel a closeness to the violence and awe of the once-mighty Rome. Livia, Tony's mother, is a fine example – it's hard not to think of the Livia who married the emperor Augustus and plotted to keep the imperial power on her side of the family. This episode showed us that Livia is not "bumbling" old woman as she makes out. She has in fact a very sharp mind, with an ability to subtly scheme. Her conversation with Uncle Junior is a perfect example of restrained viciousness, which leads to an explosive outcome. Meanwhile Jackie's condition is bad and worsening. He knows, Jackie does. He knows the time is coming. And it triggers another conversation with Tony and Dr. Melfi. The character study deepens as they discuss paintings, the ducks again and whether he is seen as a Frankenstein figure, lacking genuine emotion and feelings. Seeing him get teary- eyed during Meadow's school performance seems to put that one to bed though. Also the fact that he shows regret at burning Artie's restaurant up, for which the poor man is still grieving. This is the episode where characters become complex and as so did the editing, funnily enough – there were some quick cuts and close ups that at times were jarring, but necessary. Once such instant involved a close up of Carmela calling a maid with her hand which she does again to Charmaine, which must have really made some steam come out of the latter's ears (in attrition to constantly acting like Charmaine is in some kind of depraved state having to move lodgings) . So much so that she stirs things up a little by stating she slept with Tony many years ago, and could have been with him instead. And so she leaves, leaving Carmela to ponder that thought. So Chris and Brendan have returned the hijacked truck but Junior still isn't happy as no-one has been punished. So he turns to Livia who cleverly gives him a piece of advice. Following this the old puppet master sets up a mock execution for Chris and a real one for Brendan via a Moe Green special in the bathtub from Junior's Mickey Palmice. These climatic events were beautifully intercut with Meadow's school performance of "All through the night" reminiscent of The Godfather's climax. The gentle nature of Meadow's choir contrasted heavily with Chris' tense beating and Brendan's violent and memorable death. I'm really starting to not like Uncle Junior. It's got nothing to do with Brendan. Despite being Chris' partner in crime I never much liked him. His death due to drug addiction, awry hijacking, disrespecting Junior and simply being the more expendable of the two serves as message to Tony's crew that Junior is not to be messed with. I don't like the fact that he's always running to Tony's mother instead of talking with him face to face. In my eyes that would hurt his pride, and he can' take the fact that the new generation are taking over. Yet he keeps whispering into an elderly (although scheming) woman's ears instead of manning up and going face to face. Of course from his point of view it would seem low, that's understandable, so he has to make a point and show that any disrespect to him does not go unnoticed. Still…what a moron. The title of the episode can reference many things, none more so that Tony's denial in facing the fact that Jackie will die (He'll "scare the cancer away"). He then becomes frustrated when Dr. Melfi suggests that he might die. After which Tony accepts that he's going to lose a friend, and uses the opportunity to give Jackie some comfort in his end of days. Comfort in the form of boobies. Oh yes, didn't I mention that we got our first in-focus boob shot, not counting the club scenes from the previous episode. And what a pair too! My Rating: 7.5/10 (the episode, not the boobs)

Full Review: http://cineranter.wordpress.com/2014/09/08/the- sopranos-review-s1e3-denial-anger-acceptance/