Product Description
-------------------
All thirteen episodes from the second series of the Mafia family
saga. In 'Guy Walks in to a Psychiatrist's Office', Tony is now
in control of the family business, but faces further professional
and famiglia problems in the form of the Feds, long-lost sister
Janice, nephew Christopher and a returned Big Pussy, keen to
prove that he is no rat. 'Do Not Resuscitate' sees Junior out of
jail on medical release, while the ailing Livia fears that her
son is planning to pull the plug on her. In 'Toodle-F**king-oo',
Richie Aprile - brother of the late, great mobster Jackie, is out
of jail after ten years, and tells his former protégée Tony that
he wants his turf back. 'Commendatori' sees Tony travelling to
the old country to discuss the family car 'export' business with
Zi Vittorio, head of the Napoli branch of the family. In 'Big
Girls Don't Cry', Tony reorganizes the pecking order of his
various employees, and while Paulie and Silvio are happy with
their respective promotions, Christopher and Pussy are less than
impressed. 'The Happy Wanderer' sees Tony back in therapy with Dr
Melfi, and railing against having to organise an 'executive' game
of poker for various Mafia high-flyers. In 'D-Girl', Christopher
decides he would like to become a Hollywood player, while Pussy
is threatened with prison unless he goes into Tony's house
wearing a wire. 'Full Leather Jacket' sees Richie attempting to
make peace with Tony, while Carmela turns to her neighbour for
advice about Meadow's prospects at college. In 'From Where to
Eternity', Christopher has an out-of-body experience during
surgery, while Dr Melfi turns to her own psuchiatrist for help
over her substance abuse. 'Bust-Out' sees Richie approaching
Junior regarding a possible alliance, and Tony decides to drive
David Scatino out of business just as Carmela hired Scatino's
brother-in-law to decorate their living room.In 'House Arrest',
Tony is advised by his lawyer to spend more time on his
legitimate business ventures. 'The Knight in White Satin Armour'
sees Tony preparing to sever all ties with an out of control
Richie. Finally, in 'Funhouse', a doubt-ridden Tony decides to
find out where he really stands with Pussy once and for all.
.co.uk Review
-------------
The second series of The Sopranos, David Chase's ultra-cool and
ultra-modern take on New Jersey gangster life, matches the
brilliance of the first, although it's marginally less violent,
with more emphasis given to the stories and obsessions of
supporting characters. Sadly, the programme-makers were forced to
throttle back on the appalling struggle between gang boss Tony
Soprano and his Gorgon-like Mother Livia, the very stuff of Greek
theatre, following actress Nancy Marchand's unsuccessful battle
against cancer. Taking up her slack, however, is Tony's big
sister Janice, a New Age victim and arrant schemer and sponger,
who takes up with the twitchy, face-wannabe Richie Aprile,
brother of former boss Jackie, out of prison and a minor pain in
Tony's ass.
Other running sub-plots include the hess efforts by Chris
(Michael Imperioli) to sell his real-life Mafia story to
Hollywood, the return and treachery of Big Pussy and Tony's wife
Carmela's ruthlessness in placing daughter Meadow in the right
college. Even with the action so dispersed, however, James
Gandofini is still toweringly dominant as Tony. The genius of his
performance, and of the programme-makers, is that, despite Tony
being a whoring, unscrupulous, sexist boor, a crime boss and a
murderer, we somehow end up feeling and rooting for him, because
he's also a family man with a bratty brood to feed, who's getting
his balls busted on all sides, to say nothing of keeping the
government off his back. He's the kind of crime boss we'd like to
feel we would be. Tony's decent Italian-American therapist Dr
Melfi's (Loraine Bracco) perverse attraction with her
gangster-patient reflects our own and, in her case, causes her to
lose her first series cool and turn to drink this time around.
Effortlessly multi-dimensional, funny and frightening, and
devoid of the sentimentality that afflicts even great American TV
like The West Wing, The Sopranos is boss of bosses in its
televisual era. --David Stubbs