HBO The Sopranos Homepageways to watch HBOHBO is home to the most talked about programs on television from groundbreaking series, films, documentaries and sports to the biggest blockbuster movies available anywhere. And its never been easier to watch HBO programs when you want, where you want. Order HBO from your service provider. Get HBOThe standalone streaming service that gives you all of HBO. No TV package required. Start Your Free Month. Included free as part of your HBO subscription from a TV provider. Season 1, Episode 9. When I revisited early seasons of The Wire, as well as the whole run of Deadwood, I did separate versions of each review for newcomers and veterans, but over time realized that the newcomers werent commenting much, if at all, and that it therefore made sense to simply do one review. Any significant spoilers for episodes beyond the one being reviewed will be contained in a separate section at the end of the review so long as you avoid that, and the comments, you should be fine. Thoughts on the ninth episode, Boca, coming up just as soon as you lie like I play the French horn. This first season is remembered so fondly by Sopranos fans some of whom still insist its the shows best because there was such frequent attention to the mob wars arc, when the series interest in that aspect of the show really waxed and waned in many of the later seasons. While Silvio has the flu, Chris and Paulie run his collections for him, which results in the pair getting lost in the woods and nearly freezing to death while Tonys. Sopranos Series 3 Episode 6' title='Sopranos Series 3 Episode 6' />The official website for The Sopranos on HBO, featuring videos, images, schedule information and episode guides. Episode information for The Sopranos on HBO, featuring videos, images, schedule information and episode guides. This is a pivotal episode for this initial arc, and all the scenes involving Junior, both in Jersey and the episodes eponymous setting, hold up incredibly well. Watch The Ice Harvest Download Full. And Ill get to that story in a bit. But what struck me most about this rewatch was just how effective the episodes other story was. Coach Hausers transgression hasnt gone down in history as an iconic Sopranos plot, and Artie Bucco is treated as an object of pity more often than not in the series. But Tony and Arties debate over what to do about Hauser and the larger point about how these two longtime pals have very different attitudes about breaking the law is gripping, and speaks to a larger point about our main character and the philosophy he shares with so many other people we meet on the series. Weve all seen stories about a pair of friends from childhood where one grows up to be a cop and the other a crook, and The Sopranos certainly could have done that with Artie. This is more interesting, though. Artie lives so close to Tonys world that he can practically taste it, but hes not a part of it, and he has Charmaine around to pull him back whenever he gets too tempted to change that. The ongoing temptation of an ordinary guy not a saint, not a cop whose mission it is to stop people like Tony, but just a man who wants to make good food and not worry about his familys well being is powerful precisely because its so small and yet so complicated. Already, Tony has offered things to Artie that he is right to say no to as we saw with the motel owner, once you go into business with the Family, it is all but impossible to get out, but others that you couldnt blame him for accepting. But if its not a flashy role, its a complicated one that in many ways made him stand out more than if, say, he had been cast as Mikey Palmice. Again, Tony and Artie grew up together. They have the same friends and have both been with the same woman, like the same food, and share many of the same values. Artie is just as angry as Tony to see a man wearing a baseball cap in a nice restaurant, even if he would never do what Tony does in response to this lack of decorum. But he knows that being a shylock is a bad idea, and as much as he wants to hurt Coach Hauser in the heat of the moment for what he did to Ally and what he could theoretically have done to Arties daughter, or Tonys, or Silvios or to let Tony take care of it, in the end he lets Charmaine again convince him to do the right thing. Two thoughts on that scene 1I love that no one felt the need to have Tony deliver an elaborate whispered threat to the guy, because by this point in the season, all involved understood that James Gandolfinis glare particularly as we see him practically vibrating at the thought of caving this guys face in was terrifying enough and 2Its a nice touch that as soon as Tony sits back down with Artie, he asks the waiter to send over a bottle of wine to the guy. Even though Tony hypocritically breaks societys rules all the time, he still understands how society is meant to function, and in that moment he recognizes that the least he owes the guy is a nice bottle of something. And in the process, Artie does something impressive he convinces Tony to do the right thing. This is still relatively early in the series, and even after the events of College, Tony is presented more sympathetically than not. Already, though, we know him as a man whos unswerving in pursuit of his own self interest and, as Charmaine points out to Artie, having Hauser tortured and killed would ultimately be about making the dads feel better more than it would help Ally, Meadow or the other girls on that team yet on this one occasion, Artie and Dr. Melfi are able to steer him off this particular path. That he has to get so fall down drunk as a result speaks to how ingrained violence is for him, and how much this episode forced him to examine his values, even for a little while, and its incredibly poignant when he lies on the floor of the Mc. Mansion and tells Carmela that he didnt hurt nobody. Thats a rarity in his life, and on the show, and it stands out as a result. Meanwhile, the Uncle Junior plot helps illustrate exactly why Artie is wise to stay as far away from Family business as possible. Junior warns his girlfriend Bobbi Sanfillipo against letting anyone in the mob know that hes a willing and equal sexual partner, because they think if you suck pussy, youll suck anything. Bobbi rightly points out the insanity of this stance that Junior is so good at satisfying a woman should be proof his heterosexual prowess is to be admired, not a sign of weakness but the mob doesnt always operate according to logic, modern or otherwise. So Bobbi tells one person too many, and the news eventually filters to Tony, leading to that hilariously petty golf game. Once again, all the trouble starts because Junior has to insult Tony about his career as a high school athlete, and you can see the bitter wheels turning in Tonys mind as he decides to go full Livia and mock Junior for his apparent indiscretion. Gandolfini and Dominic Chianese are wonderful in the scene, as Tony takes enormous pleasure in finding different ways to reference his uncles activities, while Junior only slowly figures out whats going, and then very quickly comes to a boil about it. That Tony is seeing a psychiatrist, and that Junior gives head, arent crimes, but in the world of the Family, they somehow are. And as a result of those secrets coming out into the open, Junior is now pondering the idea of murdering his own nephew. This is not a culture Arthur Bucco should want any part of, is itThe episode also does a good job of establishing that relationship never discussed previously and ending it in the space of an hour, so that we feel bad for Junior and far worse for the now unemployed Bobbi that it had to end over. This episode has his first big outburst, as he charges onto the soccer field wearing a wifebeater undershirt, no less to yell at the ref in objection to a call against Verbum Dei. A couple of interesting musical uses here. Meadow and Ally watch the video for Buena by Morphine, which means we get to see a fair amount of it, and the song which Homicide Life on the Street had previously used in an episode plays again over the closing credits.