TV-Reviewed

Junior Soprano is the new boss and he’s making sure that everyone knows it. He’s changing the old rules and making decisions that is affecting the other capo’s negatively. The interesting thing is that Junior isn’t fully in control as is evident when he taxes a good friend of Tony. Tony is able to manipulate the situation by pretty much tricking Junior into an amount that’s good for everyone. So while Junior is the boss, Tony is there to cover up the mistakes.

Tony’s relationship with Dr.Melfi takes takes a big jump as Tony starts having sexual dreams involving Melfi. Tony is violating so many rules to the patient/therapist relationship. he’s bringing her gifts, having her followed and even has Melfi’s car fixed with out her permission. Even though this is breaking some rules though. You can’t help but think it’s kind of sweet that Tony is doing these things and in a way it seems like somewhere in the back of Dr. Melfi’s mind she’s kind of amused by it too. Tony comes up with the conclusion that he’s in love with Melfi, but Melfi makes it clear that this is just an effect of the fact that they’re making progress and that she was just providing something that his mother or wife didn’t give him.

While Tony is manipulating Junior, Livia also seems to be using Junior to make decisions affecting Tony. It’s sad to watch how Tony loves his mother so much, while his mother is making moves against him. Livia is a pivotal character, but the fact that she’s in a nursing home and is Tony’s mother is making her not as noticeable by anyone else on the show.

This episode was pretty great. There were tons of relationship developments and Junior being boss is proving rather entertainment. This episode was also great in giving us a great ending. We’ve seen signs of the F.B.I watching everyone in the organization, but this episode further drove the point that Tony and the rest of the organization could be in possible trouble. We also see that the F.B.I has an accurate depiction of who’s running things and the ranks. The heat is getting turned up and the F.B.I look like there going to be making some moves soon on the organization. It should be interesting to see how the organization will deal with this.

The Sopranos – Pax Soprana
Original Air Date: February 14, 1999

Rating: 8.7

Buy the complete first season of The Sopranos on DVD.