The Sopranos might best be described with the subtitle "everyone is miserable" (followed shortly by "mummy problems"). Whenever the writers focus on a particular minor character one knows that, inevitably, it will end horribly. Most glamorously, it could end in an assassination, but usually, it is something a lot more ordinary and more bleak.
The season six premiere is an excellent example of this. Firstly, you have the unglamorous death of Ray Curto, who goes out in an instant in an FBI agent's car. At his funeral he is praised as one of the principled old guys who would never snitch to the authorities. A symbol of what the mafia once was to the new guys, or at least what they were lead to believe it was; the illusion of tradition and honour.
Most principally, though, is the tale of Eugene Pontecorvo. The spotlight shed on him suggested a tragic story, and I cannot think of a single other episode that depicted such an arc (of which there are many - Adrienne for one) from beginning to end. His death - suicide, urinating onto the ground below him - is not glamorous, but obviously pathetic and depressing. You expend some energy hoping for better things for his family (stricken by drug use and a general universal depression), but because this is The Sopranos, you learn quickly not to waste your time.
And finally, there is Tony's shooting. Not a hit, which would be far too stately for a man of his rank, but an accidental shooting by his deranged senile uncle.
In many ways, including those outside of those mentioned above, Members Only is a quintessential episode of the show, which embodies all it is about. Its America is a hellscape in which nobody is really happy.
The season six premiere is an excellent example of this. Firstly, you have the unglamorous death of Ray Curto, who goes out in an instant in an FBI agent's car. At his funeral he is praised as one of the principled old guys who would never snitch to the authorities. A symbol of what the mafia once was to the new guys, or at least what they were lead to believe it was; the illusion of tradition and honour.
Most principally, though, is the tale of Eugene Pontecorvo. The spotlight shed on him suggested a tragic story, and I cannot think of a single other episode that depicted such an arc (of which there are many - Adrienne for one) from beginning to end. His death - suicide, urinating onto the ground below him - is not glamorous, but obviously pathetic and depressing. You expend some energy hoping for better things for his family (stricken by drug use and a general universal depression), but because this is The Sopranos, you learn quickly not to waste your time.
And finally, there is Tony's shooting. Not a hit, which would be far too stately for a man of his rank, but an accidental shooting by his deranged senile uncle.
In many ways, including those outside of those mentioned above, Members Only is a quintessential episode of the show, which embodies all it is about. Its America is a hellscape in which nobody is really happy.