All in the HBO Families The Sopranos roars back while Big Love redefines domestic drama
Here's what you want to know: Was it worth the wait? Was it ever!
The Sopranos (Sundays, 9 pm/ET, HBO) already breaks every rule in the TV book, with its intoxicating blend of family intrigue, psychological character study, dark humor and raw violence. So why shouldn’t it test our patience and loyalty by putting nearly two years between seasons?
By the explosive end of the first hour, you’ll have forgotten how much time has passed between chapters, and you’ll be counting the minutes until the next episode. Just like old times.
The return of The Sopranos is one of the major TV events of any year, and how great to be buzzing again about Tony and Carmela, Uncle Junior and Christopher, Paulie and Silvio — and even a slimmed-down, amped-up version of the formerly obese henchman named Vito (Joe Gannascoli).
It’s like Tony tells one of his stooges, who poignantly desires to quit the biz: “You took an oath. There’s no retiring from this.” True. Just when we thought we were out, they pull us back in.
With the mordant realism that is a Sopranos trademark, the sixth season immerses us in the oddly sympathetic, sadly funny lives of this criminal family, only to pull the rug out with a shocker — made me scream — that sends Tony into an existential, spiritual crisis ("Who am I? Where am I going?") and forces everyone in the extended mob clan to scramble for balance.
Along the way, you’ll encounter litigious Buddhist monks, a nun with a shattering secret, wounded rappers and one of the funniest Jimmy Hoffa jokes ever.
There is no show like The Sopranos, and I would have waited a third year if I knew it could still be this great.
Meanwhile, HBO’s new companion drama Big Love (Sundays, 10 pm/ET) is more of a curiosity than a necessity. Extremely well acted, this soapy saga exerts a creepy fascination as it depicts polygamist Bill Henrickson (Bill Paxton) juggling three desperately needy housewives, secretly raising families under different roofs on the same block. Exotic in its setup yet mundane in its depiction of the suburban grind, it introduces us to a world I have no urgent desire to visit on a weekly basis (especially when Grey's Anatomy is on opposite it).
Paxton brings a warm, everyman quality to this oversexed, stressed-out breadwinner, and Jeanne Tripplehorn, Chloë Sevigny and Ginnifer Goodwin clash memorably as they work out a system of sharing their man. (Episode 5 asks us to consider whethre it’s infidelity if Bill falls more in love with one wife and starts sneaking around with her.)
Still, it all sounds like it would have made a better movie (especially Episode 5) than a series. I respect the show, but do I have big love for it? Afraid not.
