The Sopranos Return

The countdown is up and on Sunday, March 12, 2006,at 9 P.M., "The Sopranos" is officially on! This is something many of us have been anxiously anticipating for months now. Creator David Chase's sixth and final season is here with a dozen episodes rearing up and ready to go, followed by eight more to finish off the Soprano family the following year.

What exactly will finish them off is the question that inspiring minds want to know. However, although Chase may have his suspicions, nothing he writes is ever set in stone. If you notice, every episode of "The Sopranos" leaves room for multiple plots, which always stems from the character's behavior.

David Chase began his mob series from a different angle than other mafia tales by introducing the story through the eyes of each character, which breaks down every episode into many little pieces as the character's perception varies from person to person. Brilliant! According to Chase, the truth about his characters in "The Soprano's" is that their perceptions are based on lies.

"The best part about writing the show is that whatever the person is saying is not the real world. Everything is a lie, or at least 80 percent of it," explains Chase.

However, this concept is actually what makes the characters truer than many of the other characters in film and television. As fallible human beings, our ability to see the world has been shaped by past experiences (among other things), thus altering our perception to fit into the small "outline" of what we were taught life is supposed to be - the good versus the bad, if you will. BR>
With an understanding of the Sopranos and the inner complexities that make up their entire being, Chase discovered a way to give his mob boss/main character Tony Soprano an image other than simply "the bad guy." Instead, Tony became HUMAN and, for the first time in a mafia series the audience cares about the number one gun-toting gangster. Yes, Tony cheats, lies and knocks off his enemies, but we also understand the psychology behind his behavior, thanks to Chase.

Being an Italian American with a difficult mother, Chase was able to use his story to tell the story of Tony Soprano.

"I have Tony's background in my head very clearly," says Chase. "I keep creating his back story as we go along, and it seems like I'm the only one who can do that, or should."

Not only is Chase the only one who can write the history of Tony Soprano, he is the one who will make the final decision on the fate of the Soprano family. Although Tony has often worried about death or ending up in prison, nothing written by Chase is ever simple or easily predicted. Who knows where the end will lead but my guess is that it will blow us away - (no pun intended.)

Stay tuned for tomorrow night's "The Sopranos" on HBO!