The Sopranos - Complete Season 4
Chase seems to realize that real life can sometimes be monotonous and that issues like pride, infidelity, financial security, addiction, and the like affect the mob as much as they do you and me. While some may argue that it doesn’t make for the most exciting television, many forget that it’s exactly this type of realistic narrative that made The Sopranos so refreshing in the first place. (A mobster in therapy?!?) While the show may have plodded along at a snail’s pace and not enough major developments took place in relation to seasons past, the fourth season of The Sopranos only gets better and more brilliant after a second look.
The season opener takes place soon after 9/11 and we see that the slowing economy has affected the mob and Tony and his wife are arguing about their financial stability and Tony’s reluctance to invest in more “traditional” avenues. (Tony’s current investment is a shady land speculation deal that he hopes will pay off big.) This conflict sets the tone for the entire year, as Tony and Carmela’s marriage will become the centerpiece for the show’s fourth season. Other plot lines include Paulie’s imprisonment; Christopher’s power struggle and drug addiction; Adriana’s befriending of an undercover FBI agent; dissention in the ranks of the Soprano family; and Ralphie (need I say more?). All of the aforementioned storylines are concurrent – albeit secondary – to Tony and Carm’s struggles at home and it all works together well to create an often misunderstood and underappreciated season.
This season offers a change of pace in other areas as well, as in seasons past, Tony has been the centerpiece of the show, whereas in season four, Carmela takes center stage as she exerts her independence and is allowed to be more than Tony’s docile and obedient wife. Her passivity ends in season four, as Carmela is presented as a woman looking out for herself and her children’s best interests – all the while, struggling with the conflicted emotions of a woman enjoying the attention of another man that works hand-in-hand with her husband. Unfortunately for Carmela, she sees her marriage much differently than her husband; she views it as an actual commitment between herself, her husband, and her God and not simply a societal constraint for public appearances only. However, by season’s end, we see Carmela kicking Tony out of the house and making a refreshingly powerful stand for herself. It’s a nice change of pace and unfortunately, not one embraced by all Sopranos fans.
