Favorite Episode of Season 1

[Detective Hunt]

Since things are kind of quiet around here while we await the return of The Sopranos in March of 2007, I thought we might pass the time with some polls. Everyone likes polls, right? Most likely this has been done before at the old Sopranoland site, and the discussions of this have certainly been had. But that doesn't mean we can't do it all over again. Besides, maybe your opinion has changed since the last time you were asked.

I figured we would start at the beginning on season one and then move towards season five and 6a (though we probably don't have enough time away from that season or closure yet to truly make the best choice.) I would ask that no one else begin a poll about this while we are in the process. I'll keep the polls open indefinitely so that newcomers can vote when they find it.

And what I'd like to see is some discussion on the merits of your favorite show - make your choice and then explain why. Hopefully by doing this, we can provide some consistent activity on the board rather than remaining as quiet as we've been. So once I have the poll set up, vote away and tell us why. :icon_biggrin:

[FlyOnMelfisWall]

Okay, I voted for the pilot. I probably voted differently on this years ago when asked (thanks, DH!), but the more I think about it, the more I believe it does more than any other single episode to haul you in -- hook, line, and sinker. It HAS to do that because it is, afterall, the pilot. It has to do a lot of the expositional bit, it has to setup the core characters, it has to setup the fundamental conflicts in their relationships and personas, and it has to do all this so organically and naturally that you are engaged enough to return the following week. Even though it was not the first episode I saw, I believe it is the most narratively dense episode of the entire series.

The choices for the exposition to me are absolute genius, starting with having the series open in Melfi's office rather than in the obvious places of either his home or the Bing. I don't know whether it was Chase the writer or Chase the director that dictated that opening shot, but it's inspired, either way: Tony, trying hard to pass time the way we all do in doctors' offices, framed between the legs of a nude female statue. Is it the vise of Livia? Or perhaps a nod to his sexual "vice"? Or is it a precursor to this place, a shrink's office, as a place of rebirth for him . . . with a new "mother"?

None of these things really ocurred to me the first time I saw the scene. I was too engaged right off at the unusual, prolonged silence and stillness of the scene, such a contrast to most television and movies. But all these interpretations have been offered and have made sense at various times since. And the funny thing is I think they all might have been at work in the inspiration for that one opening scene.

When the first few seconds of a drama don't feature a word of dialogue yet are that dense and resonate that loudly with themes that would be expounded upon for the next 77+ hours, well . . .

It's all there in the pilot -- Tony's mother problems; his infidelity, marital, and general "women" problems; his "head-in-the-clouds, no-good nephew" problems; his Uncle Junior problems; his children problems; the complex friendship he has with Artie; his cold-blooded, murderously violent gangster side; his child-like sentimental side; his abiding fear of losing those closest to him; his calculating business side; his casually deceitful side; his "Gary Cooper" side; and even his very, very rare, completely candid, vulnerable side. Even as I type this, I'm still amazed that so much of what makes this show so great was able to be glimpsed in that first hour.

And it doesn't hurt that one of the greatest moments of offbeat, "Sopranos-esque" hilarity occurs when Tony narrates the bellybutton dream. How something with such serious portent and continuing thematic relevance in the show could, at the same time, be that freaking funny is just amazing. I never fail to laugh out loud at the visual of Tony's thing falling off while working a phillips head screw out of his navel and him holding it up in his hand while running to find the Lincoln auto mechanic to reattach it, only to have a swooping bird grab it and fly off with it. Matching the comic genius of the narrative itself is Gandolfini's note-perfect performance, punctuated at the end when he curses himself in the third person for crying. :icon_mrgreen::icon_mrgreen::icon_mrgreen::icon_mr green::icon_mrgreen: How can I vote for anything else?

[Detective Hunt]

There are so many good ones from the first season, including the pilot and the final two which stack up against any other episode in the show's enitre run. But for some reason, I have always had a special fondness for Boca.

Primarily as I found the relationship between Junior and Roberta so interesting and fun, and subsequent end so sad. For a character that we really only got to know in that one episode, she really brought a lot to the part and her anguish at the end was really heart-breaking.

And of course, there is a whole theme to the show of trying to find different ways to discuss "the act which should not be discussed." :icon_mrgreen: Carmela, especially, has a good time with it and her scene with Tony when she gives him the news gives us a nice example of their relationship, and somewhat foreshadows the breakdown of friendliness between Carm and Junior.

Certainly what happens has great bearing on the show, as Tony later states "Cunnilingus and psychiatry brought us to this." It is this act which really finally sets Junior off for good as he feels marginalized as "boss."

All in all, a great episode that has humor, sadness and certainly adds the the buildup of the attempted hit. The acting by all is outstanding and may be some of the best work Chianese has ever done on the show. For that reason it ranks near the top of my favorites throught the show's run and gets my vote for favorite of the season.

* * *


I hope the rest of you will take the chance and let us know why you picked the episode you did. I'm truly looking forward to reading your thoughts. :icon_biggrin:

[HagensBing1977]

I picked "College" because it was a good example of Chase's stand-alone episodes. You don't really need to keep up with the current plotlines, or even know the characters that well. It started and was resolved within the episode itself, good for Non-Sopranos fans as well.

[jimmythefish82]

Nice poll, DH! Keep them coming!

OK, I went for the Pilot.

The reasons are, well, living in the UK I didnt get interested in the Sopranos in any sort of sequential order, in fact by the time I picked up on it I think the aired episodes in the UK were season 3 (which probably explains why that season has some of my favourite Sopranos moments, inc Pine Barrens - "universal remote, put - on - docking - station", the whole Gloria Trillo relationship too) so there was a time when I decided I needed to catch up on all the episodes I'd missed (ie seasons 1 and 2). I think from Season 1 the pilot resonates most because I remember watching it and thinking "this is when it was fresh, and new, and nobody else had seen it", almost like I was going through the same feelings as everyone else did when they watched it the first time round in the States. And the scene that stands out the most is where Tony and Christopher chase that guy (McCaffey?) and Tony ends up hitting him with the car, gets out, gives him a sound beating on top of that, and as McCaffey is lying there groaning, Tony says "shut up"(!) then, "HMO, youre covered!". Brilliant. Makes me want to watch it again!!!

[Detective Hunt]

Only five votes so far. Come on folks...you know you love the show. I know it's got to be hard to pick just one but certainly there is a favorite among them. :smile: Choose and let us know why.

And I will probably start the poll for season 2 in the next week or two. I wanted to see what interest there was before moving on.

[Detective Hunt]

Still no more votes? Goodness. I assumed you good folks enjoyed the show. :confused:

[FlyOnMelfisWall]

Should we all vote twice, LMAO? Lord knows I could easily find reasons to name another ep my fav of season 1. It's so hard to pick just one.

I like your choice too, btw, and the reasons you stated. I also felt an unexpected amount of sympathy for Roberta (for some reason the name "Bobbie" is popping up in my head . . . maybe her nickname?). I liked the A story with the soccer coach. I loved the closing scene where Tony comes in stoned on liquor and prozac and on the knowledge that he'd declined to kill someone that he very easily could have. It was one of the exceedingly rare moments when it seemed that Tony was capable of impulse control and of listening to the reasoning of his shrink and others around him.

And the whole premise of the Junior/Tony stuff was just hilarious, brilliant, and so taboo . . . all at once.

[The Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti]

With my screen name, should I even have to say which episode I picked?

[AJColossal]

"Nobody Knows Anything" is my vote for this season. I actually think the first season is overrated in the sense that there are those that think it was the pinnacle of the series, where I think the show gained more of a confident stride as it went on.

The scene where Tony tells Paulie that Pussy is a rat is a dark, brutally raw scene that was emotional in a way the show had only hinted at up to that point, and was a sign of the way the tone of the show would change in the seasons to come.

[Detective Hunt]

So...no more votes on this?

[Garth]

Well, I voted, "I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano", however, during the course of watching the episodes (yet) again, I didn't enjoy it as much as I remembered from past viewings. However, I would say that the reason I voted for this episode would be that it compiled the major storylines from the past season and addressed them all fairly organically. I especially liked Carm putting Father Phil in his place as well as Tony coming to the realization the extent that his mother went to (i.e. working with Jr. to have him clipped), Tony telling the guys about Melfi, and some just laugh-out-loud moments (such as Mikey Palmici yelling at his life, "Hey! Go take some Mydol" in a completely mysoginist manner) and then the way the camera focuses on Carm while she is watching the tv interview of Mikey's wife after his murder (shown to emphasize Carm's concern for Tony and ultimately being in the same situation at some point).

The ending of the episode is especially nice seeing the Soprano family together in Vesuvio's surrounded by Tony's "friends". In retrospect, this is a bit too cliche an ending, but I do enjoy it and it also was a good representation of pulling all parts of Tony's life together, which essentially is what this scene, episode and season focused on.

However, there are some parts that didn't bode well with me (after probably the 8th or 9th time viewing this episode). Because this was the season finale, it seemed abundently clear that Chase wanted to include some bang-up action. Some of which might have been better paced in other episodes or even saved until next season.

An even bigger problem however, at least in my mind is Chase's directing. While it isn't horrible, there are some small things that bothered me. During the Jimmy hit at the beginning, there is a slow-down technique that Chase uses, and it completely takes me out of the episode. There is also an odd zoom technique that is used during the Mikey P. hit. It again taks me out of the episode. One of The Sopranos strong points is it's realism. No other show depicts real life quite in the way The Sopranos does. That is what makes the action and violence so brutal and hard-hitting. So when these slight editing techniques are used during violent scenes, the impact is deadened, as suddenly I realize I am watching a television show. The writing seems a bit forced at times as well. One of Bracco's lines is actually, "People are going to be murdered, aren't they?" It seems to me that Melfi would not necessarily jump to that conclusion, over a style of life she knows so little about. Also as Tony is sitting on the bed with Carm, he has a great interaction about what kind of a person could he be when his own mother wants him dead. Just following that interaction he tells her how he will "take care of Jr. and Mikey P. and get some satisfaction." That line was just a bit over the top, especially when we look at how little Tony & Carm talk about his business in recenet seasons. I like the dialogue, just sounded like Tony should have been telling that to Paulie or Chris. Maybe that was the point, that Tony's different lives were merging together. Bracco also seems to be over-acting at times. I can't tell if this is from Bracco or from Chase's directing with Bracco.

There is an odd bit of sound editing after Tony kills one of Jr's men on the boat with "It's Bad You Know" (by R.L. Burnside) which comes to an abrupt stop with the next scene.

I am picking on some small parts, but when a show is this great, why shouldn't we look at what could be improved? I probably was extra hard on this episode, knowing I had already voted here for my favorite episode. I know many of you will probably give me a hard time for being so hard on my "favorite episode" from Season 1 (if I had to choose again, I would go with either "Denial, Anger, Acceptance" or "Boca", but probably the former).

[Universal Polymath]

I voted for "Isabella". For all the great episodes in season one, this one has always stuck out to me. It's the episode in which we see Tony at his lowest, most depressed point. But as the attempt on his life unfolded, he later tells Melfi, he was fighting with every fiber of his being to survive: “You know when I was depressed I said I didn't want to live? Well I'll tell you something - I didn't want to die.” And as a credit to Gandolfini’s always astonishing acting, we really believe him. When Tony turns to see his assassin approach, raising his gun, Tony’s expression is just so powerful; in a few short seconds, we see all the life return to him through the fear on his face. It’s such a potent scene, and I get chills every time I watch it. The song used here, and elsewhere in the episode is also a perfect choice: "Tiny Tears", by The Tindersticks.

The scenes between Junior and Livia were also very interesting. As time goes on, both Junior and Tony seem to have very strong opinions about Livia’s role in the hit, and they are convinced that her subsequent memory loss and stroke are "acts" she's putting on. Looking back at this episode, though, it’s kept very ambiguous as to whether or not Livia is deliberately calculating and scheming to appear senile, or if she’s unintentionally exhibiting genuine signs of her old age and dementia.

What was the majority reaction to the revelation that Isabella was a figment of Tony’s imagination? Was it too surreal and cliché for most, or did you enjoy that ending? I was truly surprised by that reveal, and found the whole thing very eerie and bizarre (in a good way), only heightened by the fact that I wasn’t expecting it at all. True, it’s kind of cliché and over the top, but it works if you just sit back, watch the show, and keep yourself from thinking too much about it. Plus, it served it’s purpose, and provided a plot point for Tony to discuss with Melfi later on (the vision of Isabella as a nurturing mother figure).

[Garth]

U.P., Isabella is a great episode. But to answer your question, the surprise point at the end is a bit of a cliche. It didn't significantly bother me, but when I first watched it, it did seem to be a bit much. Perhaps because I started watching the show close to the time The Sixth Sense was popular and has a similar twist at the end. But still, everything else in this episode so spot-on, the acting, directing, music choice, etc., that I have a really difficult time being too upset by their choice. Also the choice to do Isabella IS explained by Melfi, it wasn't done for the shock-factor, which raises it above other shows, where that would be the climax of the episode. In this case, it really furthers Tony's work with Melfi and it helps us understand what a head-case Tony really is ;-)

[WhistlingInTheWheatfield]

So many great episodes in Season one, probably the finest of all the excellent seasons. I was just re watching many episodes from season one this past week. The pilot episode is great at setting up the theme of the show, with Tony's first therapy session. This episode does a great job establishing the main characters of the series. So many of them are so great in their roles it can be hard fitting in time for them to establish themselves, this ep does it.

Denial, Anger and Acceptance, Down Neck(features the first flashbacks of Tony's dad, Johnny Boy and Junior) Boca, Nobody Knows Anything and Isabella all rank as great episodes to me. They all build anticipation and drama for the following episodes.

But, if I had to pick my favorite from season 1 it would have to be "I Dream Of Jeannie Cusamano". This episode was one of the most action packed and violent episodes in series history. The whacking of Jimmy Altieri, wrongly accused of being a rat. Chuckie Signore; the one responsible for setting up all of Junior's hits. Tony took care of this one personally, in one of the most creative hits by pulling the gun out of the large bass that he tells Chucky he just caught after assuring him to relax. Of course you have the hit on Mikey Palmice, my favorite villian in series history. As sad as I was to see him go, he went out in a memorable way, being gunned down by Christopher and Paulie( "poision ivy, I can feel it itching already!") in the woods.
However, this is not the reason it is my favorite episode from season one. The great job of David Chase and the writers to wrap up the season and give the viewers the payoff, after building from the previous episodes. Tony bounced back from the attempted hit, jolted out of his depression and took care of buisness, fully cementing himself as boss. His admission to his crew about therapy was also very well done as was the scene where he cofronted his mother after she was unconsious about the hit. I still don't know if she was actually smiling or not, but it damn sure looks like she was!

[pitbullluv]

It is so difficult to pick just one episode! I absolutely fell in love with Down Neck because of the flashback to Tony's youth and the song White Rabbit. This was also the first time Tony revealed his feelings about not wanting AJ to follow in his footsteps.

[Splishak]

The more I watch past episodes, the more I wish that certain characters had been kept while certain others had been eliminated.

I think Richie was a terrible character and was glad his stay was so short. I don't think it was a mistake to introduce him to the audience. I'm not exactly sure why DC decided to do that. Perhaps it was some kind of "Before" and "After" comparison where DC wanted us to see an example of a big mistake and to understand why Tony wanted him out. If Janice hadn't taken care of the problem, someone else would have done it very soon. Ulitmately, Tony would have taken Richie out. He was just bad for business all the way around.

On the other hand, I think Ralph was the best character ever to have joined the show and I sorely wish he could have been kept around for a long, long time - hopefully until the last few episodes. Joe Pantoliano was just superb in the role of Ralph. It was a close call between Ralph and Tony B. But I truly enjoyed Ralph and I think he would have made a great addition to most every script in which he didn't appear. IMO, Joe was just magic in that role.

Also Brendan Falon. I can understand the rationale why he had to go. But he was the funniest character I had ever seen on the show. So many of the things he said kept me in stitches. I laughed so hard when he called Jackie "Chemo Subby". I think it was the biggest laugh I ever had while watching an episode. At the very least, perhaps they could have made Brendan twins like Patsie and Phillie and just killed one of them? Brendan was terrific. Such a shame his stay was so short.

So, how does all that translate into picking a favorite episode? Well, it has to be an episode featuring Brendan. I guess it would be "Denial, Anger, Acceptance" because of the way Brendan "flirted" with the girls. Never has anyone flirted in such a way to sicken the object of their affection.

[BobbyBacala]

I voted for College. It's always been in my top five favorite episodes of the series and was even my number one favorite episode at one point. I just really like the story of Tony living dual lives so closely intertwined. One part of him is trying to be a good father and spend time with Meadow, yet the other part of his life is getting in the way. It's basically a mini version of the foundation of the series as a whole.