I just finished watching the entire series of The Sopranos. All I can say is: What's the fuss? This was a mediocre show that broke the TV barrier for sex and violence. So what? All I saw was a bunch of people playing stereotypical characters. As much as the show payed homage (or stole, depending on how one looks at it) to The Godfather, it had none of that movies' depth or richness. There were no complexly drawn characters or interest story lines. Everything was cliche and predictable. In fact, even the unpredictable was predictable. That is, when the story was stalling and meandering aimlessly, they did the unexpected. But it was unexpected because it was out of character and unrealistic. For a show that seemed to flaunt its grittiness and truthfulness, it resorted to the perceived reality of the mob to save it from inanity.
The show worked best when it was giving us comedic moments. But there are just so many caricatures one can take. Paulie was a ridiculous joke that never quite found a punch line. Christopher was a catchall character who personified all the traits the writers couldn't bother to create individual characters for. Junior and Olivia were Simply along for plot relief: if the writers lost their way, they had these two do something to keep the story moving.
I had heard a great deal of hue and cry over the ending of the series. It was anti-climactic, but it was that because it was supposed to be. There was no climax to the story because the story was going to continue as it had before. In other words, the creators, and this is the one truly unique take of the show, told the audience with that one final scene that what you have just witnessed was a snapshot of life in the mob (even though I still don't believe this is how it was or is) and that Tony and his crew will continue down the same road they always have dodging the feds and jealous families from other states, etc., while the Soprano nuclear family will continue to have its typical familial mini-dramas that all families live through.
All in all, the show delivered solid acting by the principals, but the characters, in truth, didn't call for huge stretches. The plots and twists, such as they were, would never have kept an audience interested if it wasn't for all the gratuitous sex and violence. The machismo segment of society that was enthralled with this show loved the show so they called it "ground breaking." It was that, but only because of the medium not because of the content.
