Yuku free message boards

from NY Newsday:

The Sopranos" is funnier than in past seasons. The March 26 episode ("Mayhem," written by Matthew Weiner) is actually laced with comic brilliance. This season also feels more upbeat, even more energetic, than season 5, which was dominated - often bogged down - by standoffs between Tony (James Gandolfini) and Carmela (Edie Falco), or Tony and mob rival Johnny Sack (Vincent Curatola), or Tony and his cousin Tony Blundetto (Steve Buscemi).

Show creator David Chase has also reinforced his favorite theme - families, and how they build us up, or tear us down - by weaving some new ones into his rich tapestry, such as identity and salvation. This man has always been a sucker for dream sequences, but a particularly loopy one - in next Sunday's episode - that features Tony brings a whole new dimension to this already extraordinary character. No more details here, but ask yourself this: What would Tony Soprano be like if he were a milquetoast salesman suffering from early-onset Alzheimer's?

As usual, Chase has also stuffed the series with visual illusions and literary allusions, which are maybe leitmotifs for the series' broader meaning or maybe portents of Chase's endgame. Take, for example, Sunday's opening moments when a montage of character shots is accompanied by an old recording of William S. Burroughs reading from his poem "Seven Souls." With lines like "Ren, the Secret Name [which] corresponds to my Director - He directs the film of your life from conception to death," this is a strange, hallucinatory work and was written when Burroughs was - ahem - quite possibly under the influence, but fans will still go crazy trying to figure out its meaning. (That, of course, is the intention of the crafty Chase.)

But fear not: Season six is not just a literary parlor game, but grounded in all the drama (and yes, violence) that made "The Sopranos" a must-see in the first place. In Sunday's episode, Tony and Carmela are still together, though certain uneasiness lingers. Carmela is frustrated by a work-stoppage order on her new house (she used the wrong lumber) and is still wondering about the disappearance of reluctant FBI informant Adriana (Drea De Matteo). Meanwhile, Janice (Aida Turturro) and Bobby (Steven Schirripa) have become new parents.

And the rest of our old "friends"? Vito (Joe Gannascoli) has lost a lot of weight and gained confidence and ambition. That would appear to set him up on a collision course with someone - maybe Paulie Walnuts (Tony Sirico), who assumes a much larger screen presence in the early part of the season. New York mob leader Phil Leotardo (Frank Vincent) is still nursing a grudge over his brother's death (at Blundetto's hands), but he's been forced into the role of diplomat, as intermediary between Tony and Johnny, who's awaiting trial.

And what of Christopher (Michael Imperioli)? He wants to get back in the movie game, as we see in two weeks. That means the forced reentry of poor, battered J.T. Dolan (Tim Daly), who's gone legit as a teacher of would-be screenwriters.

Like "Law & Order," "The Sopranos" has long been a staging ground for first-rate New York actors, and "Members Only" gives Robert Funaro - who plays Soprano associate Eugene Pontercorvo - his first close-up. You remember Gene: He smashed a Snapple bottle in someone's face in season five with such force that he nearly killed the guy. He's as ruthless, mindless and psychotic as the worst of them. Or is he? His story Sunday revolves squarely around the themes of family, love, honor, identity and sin. Funaro also turns in a performance that will remind everyone why we fell in love with this show so many years ago, and why we now rue its end, which thankfully won't be until the spring of 2007.