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Review

HBO’s fourth season of the dysfunctional mob family had high ratings and a slew of Emmy nominations but left many asking more questions than what was answered. The requisite sessions with Dr. Melfi (Brocco) were fewer but the turmoil in Tony’s (Galdofini) home and business life intensified. Paulie Walnuts is slipping into strange behavior, Christopher (Imperioli) is still having drug problems and Furio is mooning over Carmela (Falco). To top it all off Ralph (Pantoliano) does things behind Tony’s back that have dire consequences.

Followers of the series won’t be disappointed at the season ending “whacking” that has become a staple fixture in mafia dramas. What makes this season’s whacking special was that it doesn’t occur because of selling out to the FBI but because of a horse. Not that there wasn’t enough selling out being perpetrated both by Paulie to Johnny Sack and by Adriana to the dogged female FBI agent.

Janice is back and manipulating Bacala as she is known to do but it is Carmela who becomes the seasons all out fighter as she finally puts her foot down in regards to Tony. There are some guiltily fun arguments to witness with Tony trying to buy peace to the tune of a house on the shore but Carmela sees through the ploy. If that wasn’t enough to deal with, Tony must also handle his quickly sprouting son AJ who, sometime between season 3 and 4, suddenly lost the baby fat and developed an even worse attitude. Mix that with Tony losing something precious to him and it is no wonder why he loses his cool and goes a bit overboard.

While few major issues are resolved, season four does set up the next season in giving us a Sopranos first time cliffhanger.