UPDATE: Well, that was fast service. Though my day-after "Sopranos" review hadn't been posted to NJ.com when I woke up at the crack of dawn, it showed up 10 minutes after I e-mailed my bosses. So here's the beginning of the column, and remember, if you haven't seen the premiere yet, make like a Knight of the Round Table and run away, fast as you can.
The moral of the story: always keep your cell phone charged.
Wowzers. Where to start? Even if you might have predicted that Tony was going to take a bullet, would you ever have expected it to happen in the first episode of the season? And in such a stupid, pathetic fashion? This wasn’t Tony getting shot by Phil Leotardo, or one of his own captains, or anyone else who should pose an actual threat to him, but by a frail, senile old man in a ratty bathrobe.
And then that crawl into the kitchen! If the episode had closed on the gunshot, it would have been a great shock ending. But to dwell for so long on Tony’s attempt to make a phone call (as a terrified Junior scrambles to hide in an upstairs closet) took it to a whole different level of gut-wrenching.
Whether Tony lives or dies, comes back to full health or walks around with a colostomy bag, I won’t even speculate - mainly because I already know and don’t want to spoil it. But the interesting thing here is how Tony’s past is catching up to him in dangerous ways...
To read the rest, click here. Then hurry back to comment. After sitting on this one for weeks, it's about time I get to hear some other thoughts on them.