Every night when I'm getting to sleep I watch season 2 of “The Sopranos” as a kind of comfort food for my brain. It was the first season i watched on HBO every Sunday night with my dad and brother when it aired. the reviews and word of mouth were out that it was an amazing piece of television, and we got HBO just to watch it. I think it’s the best season of the best television show of all time (up there with “The Wire”). being a New Jersey native and recognizing things from Tony’s iconic drive home added a kind of emotional connection to it, as we made that drive every time we went to visit my dad’s side of the family in Manasquan, NJ. I grew up in MA, but I was born in Point Pleasant, NJ, so, I'm forever connected to the Garden State.
I just want to mention that the passing of James Gandolfini (who played Tony Soprano) felt like the loss of an uncle that I was very close with growing up.
I cant say much about the show that everyone (see: the 46 thousand or so Emmys) hasn’t said, so I want to highlight the most moving juxtaposition of music and television drama that I have ever seen.
In season 2, episode 9, the young, troubled, and recently made man Christopher Moltisanti is shot by two mob wannabes looking to get some credibility from the recently released from prison, and deeply problematic Richie Aprile, who casually expressed his disdain for Chrissy hitting his niece Adrianna. Christopher is critically wounded and ends up in a coma in the Critical Care unit of a hospital.
The scene leading up to the rolling of the credits is Christopher’s fiancé Adrianna LeCerva is running in inconsolable tears to Cristopher flatlining in the ICU, and then her at his bedside. The thing that makes the scene for me is the Otis Redding song that plays, “My Lover’s Prayer”, as Chrissy’s survival is uncertain and his family is emotionally devastated by the possibility of his death. You have to understand that at the time, no one watching the show knew if he’d live, as every character was fair game to get clipped. David Simon (the show’s creator) was masterful at picking music for the show, and especially great at the ::fade to credits:: moment with the music playing.
I just saw the scene for the hundredth time last night and it still blows me away every time. I think the scene picked up the whole medium of TV drama and brought it to a level that it had never been to.
