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‘The Sopranos’

I recently rewatched “The Sopranos,” which originally debuted in 1999.

The complicated drama about a mob boss, his family, his shrink and his crew soon became a cultural phenomenon. The show garnered rave reviews from critics, stacks of awards and a ton of media coverage.

I loved the show because it took a deep dive into the moral ambiguity of its lead character, Tony Soprano (played by James Gandolfini), and looked at how charismatic, but deeply flawed, he was. I especially enjoyed how the storytelling mirrored the random nature of real life.

To be sure, had the Sopranos been about a Mob boss who whacked people and hung out at a strip club, it would not have had the impact or cultural significance that it did. What made the show interesting was the show’s main character, Tony Soprano, a man with an explosive temper and an intriguing degree of power trying to hang to a code of ethics. Meanwhile, Soprano was battling negativity from a mother who was out to get him and a violent underworld.

A prequel movie, dubbed “the Many Saints of Newark,” came out last month on HBO. The movie is set in the 1960s and 1970s in Newark, New Jersey. It follows a violent gang war from the perspectives of Tony Soprano, then a teenager, and his uncle, Dickie Moltisanti. In my opinion, the movie lacked the depth of storytelling and nuance of the series.

— Steven Mitchell, reporter, Blue Mountain Eagle