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DVD The Sopranos - The Complete Fifth Season
Facing an indeterminate sentence of weeks/months/years until new episodes, fans of The Sopranos are advised to take the fifth; season, that is. At this point, superlatives don't do The Sopranos justice, but justice was at last served to this benchmark series.
James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano in a not-so-nice mood
For the first time, The Sopranos rubbed out The West Wing to take home its first Emmy® for Outstanding Dramatic Series. Michael Imperioli and Drea de Matteo also earned Best Supporting Actor and Actress honors for some of their finest hours as Christopher and Adriana. From the moment a wayward bear lumbers into the Sopranos' yard in the season opener, it is clear that The Sopranos is in anything but a "stagmire." The series benefits from an infusion of new blood, the so-called "Class of 2004," imprisoned "family" members freshly released from jail. Most notable among these is Tony's cousin, Tony Blundetto (Steve Buscemi, who directed the pivotal season three episode "Pine Barrens"! ), who initially wants to go straight, but proves himself to be something of a "free agent," setting up a climactic stand-off between Tony and New York boss Johnny Sack.
Carmela and Tony
These 13 mostly riveting episodes unfold with a page-turning intensity with many rich subplots. Estranged couple Tony and Carmela (the incomparable James Gandolfini and Edie Falco) work toward a reconciliation (greased by Tony's purchase of a $600,000 piece of property for Carmela to develop). The Feds lean harder on an increasingly stressed-out and distraught Adriana to "snitch" with inevitable results. This season's hot-button episode is "The Test Dream," in which Tony is visited by some of the series' dear, and not-so-dearly, departed in a harrowing nightmare. With this set, fans can enjoy marathon viewings of an especially satisfying season, but considering the long wait ahead for season six, best to take Tony's advice to his son, who, at one point, gulps down a champagne toast. "Slow down," Tony says. "You're supposed to savor it." --Donald Liebenson
Explore More For an even deeper immersion into the world of crime (movies, that is) see our guides to crime classics and our who's who compendium of famous mob bosses.
Review(s): DVD The Sopranos - The Complete Fifth Season
If you are looking for better entertainment...
Fogeddaboudit!
Season Five of The Sopranos is AWESOME.
It has everything you could want from a mafia story -- and much much more.
This is one season that really stands on its own.
Thank God for the fast forward button
Thank God for DVD's so you can fast forward through all of the worthless family drivel marketed to women as shamelessly as Wesley Crusher was marketted to pre-adolescents in the Star Trek series. This shows emphasis on the family life is an obvious appeal to semi- intellectuals in much the same way The Passion of the Christ was when it made its play with the subtitles.If I had to watch this show in real time, well I just couldn't.
And much of the mob action is also piss poor. When we think about the protection rackets do we really want to know how they play out in the lawn maintenece industry?
Admittedly, since the fast forward button was put into such liberal effect, I might have missed something, but why did Tony B go off the reservation and place his entire family in jeopardy when he could have just worked for Tony in the first place? And what was that botched job with Phil? Well, whatever. Eventually, the season redeemed itself with the end of the Adrianna and Tony B storylines,but the fluff is so obviously forced just to fill the season which should have been cut in half. Are we really so addicted to t.v. that we can't see that this is the most overrated show on t.v.? I'm addcited to it just because I keep hoping it will get better and Gandolfini and a few of the others really are that good, but its quite silly all of the uncritical praise it recieves.
Still an Elite Show
There aren't many television shows in the 50+ years of television history that can be categorized as a "weekly event". A "weekly event" show basically has everyone talking about the episode the next day. In the 1980s, shows such as "Dallas" and "Dynasty" were "weekly events". In the 1990s, "Seinfeld" would take emerge as the show that would become a "weekly event". As Seinfeld wound up, another show would soon take that title into the 21st century - that show being HBO's "The Sopranos". "The Sopranos" would be different in that it was a show that appeared on a premium (pay) cable station and would prove that premium cable stations can produce high quality shows that provide high levels of enjoyment. I'm wasn't someone who subscribed to HBO so I felt on the "outside" on the "talk" that surrounded the episodes of "The Sopranos". However that didn't stop my curiosity about wanting to watch the show. Once I watched "The Sopranos - The Complete First Season", I not only got an appreciation for the show - but I now understood where all of the hype came from on this show. With the exception of a slight tip in the quality of the show during Season 3, the show has maintained both high quality and high entertainment value. This set, "The Sopranos - The Complete Fifth Season" is no exception to why the show among the elite television shows in history.
The show focuses on an organized Italian-American crime family that is based in North Jersey. The main character of the show is Tony Soprano played brilliantly by James Gandolfini. Tony is the head of the fictional DiMeo crime family. On the show, we see Tony try to balance his "work" in the DiMeo crime family with his home life. Tony also suffers from panic attacks and depression and therefore sees a psychiatrist - Dr. Jennifer Melfi (played by Lorraine Bracco).
Here are some of the key storylines from Season 5:
1-Tony Soprano and his wife Carmela (played by Edie Falco) are separated. During the separation, Carmela has a short-fling with Anthony Soprano Jr's guidance counselor Robert Wengler (played by David Strathairn)
2-Tony Soprano's cousin, Tony Blundetto is released from prison. Originally, Tony B wants to make an "honest living" and seeks to get is massage license. Eventually Tony B will get lured back to mob life and begin to create havic on Tony Soprano's life.
3- The New York Mafia has an internal power struggle between Carmine Lupertazzi Jr (played by Ray Abruzzo) and Johnny Sack (played by Vincent Curatola). Tony Soprano will be caught right in the middle - especially when Tony B gets involved in the power struggle
4-Tony Soprano will resume his counseling sessions with Dr. Melfi. As has been the case with the previous seasons, there still is nothing done to develop either Dr. Melfi's character or her storyline. This becomes very evident when Tony Soprano attempts to woo Dr. Melfi in Season 5's first episode. Once again, this storyline will not develop much.
5-Christopher Molitsanti (played by Michael Imperioli) will struggle to stay clean and sober following his stint in drug rehabilitation the previous season. While he will have his problems with Paulie Walnuts and Tony Blundetto, he will face his biggest problems with his fiancée Adriana La Cerva (played by Drea De Matteo) and with his "Uncle" and "Boss", Tony Soprano.
6-Adriana will continue to used by the FBI as an informant. This situation will torment Adriana throughout the year and reach a climax by the season's end.
7-Uncle Junior (played by Dominic Chianese) will continue to suffer from dementia and his condition will worsen throughout the year.
8-Meadow Soprano's (played by Jamie-Lynn Di Scala) relationship with dental student Finn DeTrolio (played by Will Janowitz) will continue to grow. Finn's role will be expanded in Episode 9 - when Tony Soprano gets him a job at a construction site - giving Finn "interactions" with several members of the DiMeo crime family.
9-Anthony Soprano Jr. (played by Robert Iler) will once again get into trouble both in and out of school - much of which will stem from Tony and Carmela's separation.
10-Janice Soprano (played by Aida Turturro) will adjust to married life to Bobby "Bacala" Baccalieri (played by Steven R. Schirippa) as well as play mother to his children. Janice and Bobby will suddenly be seen married in the first episode without any references to when the wedding occurred (there was no hint of Janice and Bobby getting engaged at the end of Season 4).
Here are some other points to consider from Season 5:
- There are several cameo appearances by famous actors. These actors include David Lee Roth, Lawrence Taylor, and Annette Bening. Frankie Valli has a recurring role as Rusty Millio - a solider in the New York Crime Family.
- The character who really develops the most is Johnny Sack. As the season went on, I enjoyed watching him more. This season also introduces another entertaining character - Phil Leotardo (played by Frank Vincent) who works for Johnny. I also enjoyed Phil as the season progressed.
- This season introduces the storyline of Vito Spatafore (played by Joseph R Gannascoli) being gay.
- While I didn't enjoy Tony's long dream in episode 11, it does bring back many "dead" characters who have cameos - including Richie Aprile, Sal Bonpensiero, and Gloria Trillo.
- Perhaps the most interesting episode is episode 5 - involving an attraction between Tony Soprano and Adriana.
Season 5 continues a trend on the Sopranos that I refer to as "the most exciting 60 minutes on television". Season 5 backs my claim that the Sopranos is of high quality and entertainment value.. As for the DVD packaging - besides the usual extras, one thing I really liked was how there was a brief textual synopsis provided on the screen before playing the episode. Overall, this is a very good and entertaining set - highly recommended.
Related DVD's The Sopranos - The Complete Fifth Season
"So," Tony Soprano asks analyst Dr. Melfi in the wake of not-so-dearly-departed Livia's death, "we're probably done here, right?" Sorry, Tone, not by a long shot. Unresolved mother issues are the least of the Family man's troubles in the brutal and controversial third season of The Sopranos. Ranked by TV Guide among the top five greatest series ever, The Sopranos justified its eleven-month hiatus with some of its best, and most hotly debated, episodes that continue the saga of the New Jersey mob boss juggling the pressures of his often intersecting personal and professional lives. The third season garnered 22 Emmy nominations, earning Lead Actor and Actress honors for James Gandolfini and Edie Falco for their now-signature roles as Tony and his increasingly... More Info about this DVD DVD Release Date: Released the 27 August 2002 Usually ships in 24 hours
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In its second season, The Sopranos sustains the edgy intelligence and unpredictable, genre-warping narrative momentum that made this modern mob saga the most critically acclaimed series of the late 1990s. Creator-producer David Chase repeatedly defies formula to let the narrative turn as a direct consequence of the characters' behavior, letting everyone in this rogue's gallery of Mafiosi, friends, and family evolve and deepen.
That gamble is most apparent in the rupture of the relationship that formed the spine of the first season, the tangled ties between capo Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) and monstrous matriarch Livia (Nancy Marchand), whose betrayal makes Tony's estrangement a logical response. Filling that vacuum, however, is prodigal sister Janice (Aida Turturro), whose... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): James Gandolfini DVD Release Date: Released the 06 November 2001 Usually ships in 24 hours
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I have spent thousands of dollars for the priviledge of watching "The Sopranos" on HBO and on DVD. It is without question my favorite television show. I have bought every Sopranos boxed set, and went online to buy the sixth season on DVD for my holiday viewing pleasure. I'm not going to get into a critique of this season as compared to the previous five... but I am pissed off that they are forcing me to take another "bite of the apple" by splitting this season into two parts a la every other series that's been milked to death by soulless networks. I thought the Sopranos franchise was above all that BS. Not to mention, I loved that all the boxes were the same exact format -- until now. Well, guess what? Not only am I not buying the season six DVD sets... now that Deadwood's been cancelled,... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Daniel Attias - Jack Bender - Peter Bogdanovich - Henry Bronchtein - Martin Bruestle DVD Release Date: Released the 07 November 2006 Usually ships in 24 hours
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The Sopranos, writer-producer-director David Chase's extraordinary television series, is nominally an urban gangster drama, but its true impact strikes closer to home: Like 1999's other screen touchstone, American Beauty, the HBO series chronicles a dysfunctional, suburban American family in bold relief. And for protagonist Tony Soprano, there's the added complexity posed by heading twin families, his collegial mob clan and his own, nouveau riche brood.
The series' brilliant first season is built around what Tony learns when, whipsawed between those two worlds, he finds himself plunged into depression and seeks psychotherapy--a gesture at odds with his midlevel capo's machismo, yet instantly recognizable as a modern emotional test. With analysis built into the very spine... More Info about this DVD DVD Release Date: Released the 12 December 2000 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Carmela to Tony: "Everything comes to an end." True enough, Mrs. Sope, but on The Sopranos, the end comes sooner for some than others. Though for some the widely debated fourth season contained too much yakking instead of whacking, and an emphasis on domestic family over business Family, what critic James Agee once said of the Marx Brothers applies to The Sopranos: "The worst thing they might ever make would be better worth seeing than most other things I can think of." And in most respects, The Sopranos remains television's gold standard. The fourth season garnered 13 Emmy nominations, and subsequent best actor and actress wins for James Gandolfini and Edie Falco as Tony and Carmela, whose estrangement provides the season with its most powerful drama, as well as a... More Info about this DVD DVD Release Date: Released the 28 October 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
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For an even deeper immersion into the world of crime (movies, that is) see our guides to crime classics and our who's who compendium of famous mob bosses. 
