I'm beginning to see a pattern in The Sopranos. Apparently each season is ten or so middling episodes with the occasional flash of brilliance followed by two or three excellent episodes in which all the hanging plot threads are tied up in a nice neat bow. That's obviously not the most satisfying way to construct a show but it is a very effective way to keep the audience coming back for more. You watch the first few episodes of a season because the last few of the last season were so good. By the time you get halfway through the new season, you want to give up because it's boring but you sense that great things are around the corner so you stick it out and wait for them. Then, in the last few episodes of the season you get the greatness that you were hoping for. And so the cycle starts all over again.
That being said, the great episodes of the second season are far less entertaining than the great episodes of the first and fifth seasons. Nothing unexpected happens (despite promises to the contrary by the "Next On" voiceover) and the expected things are not done in any spectacular way. Big Pussy's murder and the Scatino bust-up in particular are the types of moments in which this series normally shines, but not so this time. I'm just hoping it gets more interesting in the next season. After all, the fifth season is pretty excellent.
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