The Sopranos: Season 6, Part 1

So at the very least, I can say that this was quite an interesting half-season of television. I've heard murmurings on the Internet suggesting that The Sopranos peaked pretty early on from a creative standpoint, and that the entire sixth season felt largely unnecessary, or at least too aimless. I'd agree that this season (or half-season - important distinction, I guess) felt a bit less concise and wholly constructed than most others have so far, but in a strange way this lack of new developments and larger arcs allowed for a number of powerful character-on-character moments. Right off the bat, things get kind of weird as Tony is accidentally shot in the very first episode, then enters a coma for the next two, allowing David Chase and Matthew Weiner to have some fun writing up some wonderfully surreal dream/purgatory sequences for our anti-hero. Once Tony recovers (no spoiler alert necessary, I'd hope) he takes on that classic "every day is a blessing" outlook on life that near death experiences so often lead to in works of fiction. And while he certainly regresses a bit (people don't really change in The Sopranos) he ultimately appears slightly placated. The (half-)season then plays out almost like a mundane status quo, and while episodes were still quite interesting and well made and enjoyable, I can see why fans at the time were growing kind of restless waiting for something big to happen. Two interesting character arcs belonged to a closeted gay man in Tony's crew and to A.J., Tony's woefully lazy, whiny, and irresponsible son. The gay guy's arc ends up pretty much exactly how you'd expect it to, but A.J. actually kind of sort of manages to come of age a bit over the course of these twelve episodes, which contradicts my above claim that "people don't really change in The Sopranos," but I mean, he's a kid. It felt inevitable that he'd "grow up" someday, even if "growing up" for him means finding a blue collar job and a thirty-something girlfriend. The idea that A.J. was one of the most compelling characters this (half-)season speaks simultaneously to the season's relative unimportance and also the strength of the writing and characterization as a whole. We've only got nine episodes left, and even though I know exactly how the last one ends (and who with an Internet connection in 2007 hasn't had it "spoiled" for them yet?) I'm excited to see the final steps in the journey that will take us there.