Looking back, The Sopranos had a surprisingly clear run of episodes that I find easy to clump together as separate parts of the season. The first six are universally great, fantastic in execution with some interesting ideas raised in each. The next six episodes I find uniformly mediocre (with one exception), raised only by the fact that each episode advances the plot in a major way usually. The finale of the first season rivals some of the best episodes of this series finishing out the season on a high note.
I'm not sure any other season (I'm only through four) has that sort of hit or miss impact that this season has. Saying the episodes are hit-or-miss isn't exactly correct in the sense that the "mediocre" episodes don't miss so much as disappoint in one way or the other. But I wonder if that run of mediocre episodes would be a record for The Sopranos - as arbitrary as it would be.
"Down Neck" prominently features Anthony, "The Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti" features an awkward and somewhat out-of-place analysis of Italian Americans as portrayed in the media, "Boca" has large sections of its episodes on a soccer coach who we never meet again, "A Hit is a Hit" has some pretty weak representations of African Americans, and "Isabella" features what I consider to be a sorry excuse for an attempted murder. (To clarify that last point, two professional hit men miss Tony who is literally feet away from them. I know Tony needed to live, but you could have made it more plausible.)
The one exception in that run of episodes is "Nobody Knows Anything," the episode where Tony is told that Big Pussy is wearing a wire. This episode is elevated for me in hindsight seeing that Tony is given every indication that Big Pussy is a rat, and yet he refuses to believe it. Also, Livia Soprano makes her move convincing Junior to murder her son. Tony's struggle with dealing with possibly having to kill Big Pussy definitely is the highlight of the episode for me.
I find the pilot of The Sopranos to be one of the best it ever did. I really like its unconventional nature from the rest of the series. In a way, it reminds me of "Mr. Ruggerio's Neighborhood" (another one of my favorites) in how different the structure of the episode is from the rest of the series.
Then there's "College," commonly regarded as the best episode The Sopranos ever did. I'm not sure I'd go that far - I mean I have an incomplete list at best right now - but it certainly changed the landscape of television. A lot of important things happen in this episode. Edie Falco expresses her acting chops and reveals herself to be more than just your stereotypical mob wife. Tony brutally murders another man in harsh detail that's rough to watch. Also, one minute Tony is making progress, connecting with his daughter and the next minute he's forced to lie to her and somewhat sabotage that relationship for the future.
In my personal opinion, The Sopranos first season ages a bit badly. There's a few story lines here where we are introduced to a character we've never met and then never meet again and it's the A story in the episode! They severely cut down on that in future seasons (and when it did do that, it was more effective to me - "University" for instance). The problem isn't so much that we just met the character, but that's its random and there's little reason why they only show up once in the series. Typically, these people live in the same mob world as Tony so you'd expect they'd cross paths a few times.
My typical complaint that some of the plots on this show are contrived doesn't really fit in this season. They put the most plot they ever did in this season (through four seasons at least) and it's by far. They didn't have as much room for contrived standalone episodes. The one standalone episode in this season is College (which isn't contrived at all!) - I think every other episode is vital to the plot.
The Sopranos were experts at two things in my opinion: just about every main character was as well-written as they come and the acting of the cast. Rarely if ever did any character do something that made you question the character you've come to know. Sure, they did bad things, but they were usually perfectly in character. And of course, James Gandolfini, Edie Falco, and the rest of the cast brought their "A" game every week. That kind of consistent production makes even bad episodes of The Sopranos enjoyable to watch. The plot wasn't always up to par with the rest of the show and it didn't really even matter. (In fact, relying on plot tends to make episodes either great or terrible if the characterization isn't there.)
Overall, The Sopranos doesn't quite live up to its reputation in this season. It comes really close though. But still.... this season had in my mind four classic episodes. That happened in a season that didn't live up to my enormous expectations. I'm also unfairly watching this season having seen many of the shows it influenced, but my theory is that if the show is to be considered one of the best of all time, it needs to hold up. This show does hold up to be clear. I do, however, think age has slightly diminished this season - something I don't think about any other season by the way.
Grade: A-
Playlist
1. This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You) - The Isley Brothers
2. The World I Know - Collective Soul
3. Goodbye - Slaugherhouse
4. Percussion Gun - White Rabbits (If you must only listen to one song, pick this one)
5. Trapped - Tupac
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