I got a complete copy Heroes the other month, admittedly caught up in the buzz, and sadly, I’m not very impressed. It was interesting at the start, but soon that gibberish Suresh is mumbling at the start starts to grate on you, and you realize that, dang he isn’t making any sense at all. Everything else goes downhill from that.
From the predictable plot to the inconceivable ‘I’ve got super powers, woe is me!’ idea, I just watched the thing to find out what’s gonna happen at the end, and even that was stretched when in the last three or four episodes, they obviously had run out of things to say, they were stretching as hard as they could, and the thing was slowing down to a goddam crawl. Case in point, that subplot about parents getting separated and their kid insisting they get back together? The kid was being an unreasonable brat, and was hardly worth sympathy. And now he can control machines. I can understand flying, also traveling in time, but controlling an ATM to give up cash? Dude.Come.On.
I thought it was maybe I was getting older and losing my love for juvenile stuff, but on the contrary I enjoyed Justice League Unlimited, and lapped it all up. And I was particularly taken aback with the episode “For The Man Who Has Everything“, where Superman is forced to awaken from a dream imposed on him, where he is living a perfect life. Realizing it was all a lie, he undergoes the most difficult challenge he’d ever faced in forcing himself to let go of it all. In his dream he’s back in Krypton living in peace with Lois and a son, at a farm that looks like his parent’s home. To him, this is perfection, and in fact, an unattainable dream, and hence an impossible situation which helps him realize it wasn’t true.
So anyway, to The Sopranos. If anything, it’s a testament to my belief that people would do anything to get their hands on good content, which has a lot to do with what makes websites do well. Anyway, digressing. I had always been aware of how terrific the show was, and when I realized their current season was going to be the last one, I just didn’t want to allow something like this to pass without my enjoying it.
So I’ve started from the very beginning, Season 1. It had been sitting around unwatched for awhile, admittedly because, now I realize, it’s hard to pay as much attention to a show that doesn’t promise something spectacular such as, say, Heroes. I mean here, there are no super powers, no explosions, no levitation, no time travelling or alternate universes or any of that sort. Here, you’re basically forced to sit and listen to what they’re talking about, which admittedly is hard sometimes, filled with native New Jersey slang and mob-speak as it is.
But later on (and it can be much, much later on), the beauty of the show comes through. Just like most any good story, the conditions the characters are in (the mob, lots of violence, etc.), merely set a background for what the plot is about. The show is about a man, Tony Soprano, trying to balance his obligations to both his families, the Mafia and his real family, and at the same time struggle with, of all things a gangster need not have, a conscience that we watch him start to realize the existence of.
And watching his story is just amazing. He has mother issues, for instance, seeing her in a light far removed from reality. In his eyes she is a shining light of wisdom and love, wherein the truth is she had become an introverted, bitter, spiteful and angry, lonely old woman whom no one can stand two seconds with. No amount of visits or calls placates her, as she constantly spurns every attempt at outreach and spites every kindness given her. Yet inspite of that, Tony continues to insist that it is his duty to love and care for her no matter how hard it is, because it is his duty, plain and simple, and that is what sons are supposed to do. How many people sufffer the same fate?!
Tony is buckling from the pressure, as his panic attacks indicate, and because of that is starting to realize the truth. And isn’t that a beautiful thing? The truth, as we all know it, always will start to come out, and inspite of his hardness, he will eventually start to realize this sooner or later. It’s the watching of this that is the beauty of the show, and is the only time I’d actually say ‘I can’t wait.’.
I agree with you cuz. The Sopranos has always ranked high in my list of Tv shows not to be missed in this lifetime. Heh give me those violence and mobspeak anytime over people with superpowers. I’m anxious to find out how everything wraps up for Tony Soprano. After almost a decade of his tough guy with a soft heart with mother issues as well as angst filled with the right amount of violence episodes, it should be interesting to see how it finally concludes.
im doing 2 episodes a day cuz. it’s really beautiful stuff. its ironic, but its like therapy for me.
Have you reached the part where the Tony’s manipulative Mom…
Don’t wanna spoil the fun… the Finale was shown last night… simultaneous to the 2nd Game of the NBA Finals…. Of course, I didn’t get to watch it.
bro parang bitin. Anyway yeah nabasa ko na ending. It’s everywhere on the ‘net. Still, Sopranos isn’t the type of show that’s affected by spoilers. I wanna take my time watching it till I get to the end, even if I know it already.
i’ve watched the two episodes of heroes aired over cable, and yes, i am annoyed by the “woe is me!” perspective in discovering superpowers. because if i discovered that i were indestructible or can teleport or can predict the future, i’d earn millions as an illusionist in las vegas or a spy for the CIA or a fortune teller in shanghai. let’s be realistic, it’s the age of capitalism, if you get the powers, capitalize for crying out loud! :)
by no means is justice league even remotely juvenile. harumph.