The Sopranos OK, whacking fans,...

The Sopranos
OK, whacking fans, could you guys be any happier with the start of this week's episode? A mere minute into the hour and we've got a knee to the groin, a knife to the chest and shooting lots and lots of shooting. Satisfied? Now we can move on to some character development. And what a bunch of characters, of course. Chris and Bobby confronted A.J. with the fact that they know he tried to get a gun so he could shoot Junior, but they treated him like a dumb kid. Get the feeling that may have been a mistake? Sil found out that being king ain't all it's cracked up to be (he couldn't even sit on the throne in peace), and we got to see J.T. suffer yet again for his failings, catching one upside the head in front of his own class. ("A room full of writers and you did nothing!" he yelled at them after Chris and his pals tossed him out on the street. Well, yeah. We don't take action, we write about other people who do. Duh.) J.T. and Chris presenting their outline for their script ("Pork Store Killer" or "Cleaver" makes no difference) to their mobster partners was a kick. Carm's session with Melfi was revealing. Then we had Paulie nearly killing Tony with his kvetching as Tony chose between living and dying in his coma world, Vito menacing poor Finn, Chris telling an out-of-it Tony about his movie and more, not to mention Vito getting more and more comfortable with the idea of a dead Tony.

As the saying goes, nobody can do it to you like your family.