Rating: 
Summary: Becomes My Raison d'etre
Review: Yes, when I buy each set of the Sopranos, in the viewing nights ahead it becomes my reason for being. Nothing interferes with my seeing my newly purchased set. It was true for sets one and two and now three. The first episode is a bit weak as it involves federal agents wiring Tony's house but after that the series takes off with a roar. There is so much good stuff going on that is would take a journal to catalogue them all. However, here are some of the highlights. Tony's mother's funeral is an incredible study of how death can sanctify even the most vile of people. However, the wake becomes a festering point where only so much hypocrisy can survive before exploding. Carmella seeks separate psychiatric help and that is my favorite scene in the whole series. Her psychiatrist is the one and only person to turn down Soprano money in the series, saying that the reason he won't accept payment is that it is blood money. He says that she has to hear and understand that she is living on blood money and that is the root of her problems. Now she will not be able to say she never heard that truth. The daughter Meadow becomes involved with a young man also connected to the Soprano crime family but only on the farthest reaches of it. His stepfather, however, is key to Tony's entire organization. Tony's sister Janet steals her late mother's caregiver's artificial leg to get some LP records back from her. Janet essentially is coming to replace the mother in the series but she engrafts a West Coast flakiness onto the inner rotten core, a very unusual combination of character traits but it works. Once again, the Sopranos manages to capture the women in this setting better than any previous crime family saga. These women are not doormats. There is a lot going on in each and every one of them and I find them even more fascinating than the men in the series. Tony's psychiatrist is back too with trauma of her own to handle and she is tempted to let Tony handle her problem for her in his usual violent manner. If you can resist this series, you are a stronger person than I. I positively wallow in it.
Rating: 
Summary: Tired stuff, this...
Review: I wonder if someday there will be PHD theses written on the American obsession with fictional Italian-American low-lifes. What has turned this series into a national trend is beyond me. The characters & plot turns seem to be a calculated mix of old gangster movies & soap operas with a twist of NY Magazine topicality (the tiresome therapy sessions). Is this how Italian-Americans want to be remembered?
Rating: 
Summary: Sorry
Review: I have heard so much about this series that really wanted to see what is all about. SORRY, didn't like it. Maybe the other seasons are better, but I'm not going to try.
Rating:
Summary: most original show on tv
Review: I've never had HBO so I have never seen a single episode. But a freind of mine bought one of those illegal boxes that let you watch HBO without paying for it, and he's always telling me what a great show it is. Apparently, it's a very realistic and funny depiction of mob life in New York, and centers around that big bald guy and his relationship with his family. And I've seen some clips on the Emmy award show and when some of the stars do guest appearances on Letterman and Leno, and they all seem pretty talented and funny. So, even though I have not seen a single episode, just based on my freinds comments and from the clips I've seen on the talk shows, I highly recommend you buy this video if you have some disposable income that you don't know what to do with it and you think you may enjoy an emmy award winning television comedy-drama about mob life in New York with a talented cast. I'm sure the dvd probably has some interesting extras like interviews with cast and director, and maybe even a French or Spanish language audio track.
Rating:
Summary: The FAMILY Never Fails Us...
Review: Oh this has to be one of the only true Pleasures to exist on television today. How long has it been since you found yourself running home to catch an episode of something. Probably nothing since the Sopranos.The layout of this dvd is easy enough and encourages multiple viewings of the amazing series. great way to introduce your friends and make beleivers out of them.
Rating:
Summary: Great
Review: One of the things I love most about the series is the depth of understanding the writers have of human nature. The action of the story is true to the personalities of each character. And afterward I can understand why their hard choices could only go one way, given who they are. For example, there is a brutal rape episode in which the viewer wonders what will happen next. Afterwards, however,check out ... because of previously established characterizations, I could understand that the episode couldn't have concluded in any other way. There is also a humanization of one of the girls who work at the strip club, changing forever the viewer's perception of the realities of the trade
Rating:
Summary: "Lost a lot of its humor"--stronz'
Review: Okay, there's a bit of a darker tone in the way Tony's analyst Dr. Melfi is starting to unravel. Her fellow-shrink husband is on her case about treating a gangster. And to top it off, she's attacked in her office building parking garage. Then the scumbag gets busted but walks on an evidence blunder. Although no one ever comes out and says it, she gives off unmistakeable vibes that she'd love to ask Tony to have the slimeball whacked! Which we know he'd do in a New Jersey minute--he idolizes the lady. But there are a lot of good gags in this one, starting with the ongoing Keystone Kops flavor of FBI bugging on the Soprano home. At the risk of sounding like one of those overage petulant adolescents among the anti-government weenie set, I love the way The Bureau plants devices in the basement, then one of the agents in the surveillance van spots the fact that the home's water heater is about to blow (do they teach plumbing at Quantico?) then WHOOOOSSHHH--next scene shows Tony and Carmela wading around in knee deep water trying to save threatened belongings. To add insult to injury, the mike had been stashed in a gooseneck lamp, which daughter Meadow approprates to take back to the dorm. Then there's Richie Aprile Jr., whose papa wanted to do a Michael Corleone on him and keep him out of the Family business. So, despite Tony's best efforts to honor his dead friend's wishes, rookie "made man" and veteran airhead Christopher caves into the kid's pleas and uses him as wheel man in a stickup! This stuff gives "Goodfellas", "The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight" and "Johnny Dangerously" a good run for their money without being as broadly doofy as any of them. It retains enough rough stuff played straight to remind you that it isn't quite a comedy. And the series humanizes The Mob in a way that's never to my knowledge been done before. Yeah yeah, I know that "The Godfather" showed that hoods could feel pain and could mourn their dead in a vulnerable rather than tough-guy manner, but when did the Corleone home suffer a flooded basement due to a ruptured water heater?
Rating:
Summary: The best Sopranos yet
Review: This is the best season of the 3 (and I love all of them). Not only do you get the introduction of Furrio, the death of Tony's mom, but the last episode is the best one of the series. I am always amazed that the writters, actors and directors can out do themselves! A must have for any fan.
Rating: 
Summary: Sopranos Third season "rocks"
Review: Just as good as the 1st and 2nd season, but with a dark twist to it. I would recommend it anytime. It is great tv.
Rating:
Summary: Still the best thing on TV.
Review: The thing that strikes me most about this season as opposed to the previous two seasons is that the tone is far darker. One of the big themes is the dark pall cast over the entire family follwing the events of the last episode of the second season. The absence of some of the more interesting chracters of the previous two seasons; like Big Pussy, Richie and of course, Livia creates a bit of a vacuum that's difficult to get used to. Fortunately, the series stays afloat by working harder and smarter than the previous two seasons. While the series has lost a lot of it's humor, it's gained a lot of subtlety and complexity. A lot of the characters that were window dressing in previous episodes now have something to say and do rather than fill stereotypes. A lot of the best performances come from unexpected players or walk-ons. Tony's new love affair provides one of the better twists and the best performance of the season from Annabella Sciorra. While not "as funny" as the previous seasons, there are a few episodes which are absolutely hysterical. The best single episode of the entire series is "The Pine Barrens" directed by Steve Buscemi (directors commentray included). This one is almost worth the price of the entire set. I also think one of the big differences between this season and the prvious two is that it's not as self-contained. By the end of the series, there are a lot of hanging thread and sub-plots that almost guarantee Season 4 will be the most intense season yet. This is still the best series on TV. I can't think of anything that's come before or since that even came close. If you've never seen an episode, you don't know what you're missing.
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