By FRANCES GRANT
The story of New Jersey mob capo Tony Soprano's life always has been about women.
But the third season of the suburban mafia drama, now midway through, has had to struggle along without the relationship which made the first two seasons crackle with tension, that between him and his
murderous mother Livia.
Livia, whose favourite piece of manipulation was to weep "I wish the Lord would take me now" into an ever-ready tissue, got her wish in the second episode of this season (actress Nancy Marchand died of lung cancer).
Her funeral, hijacked by her new age-psycho of a daughter Janice demanding all share their thoughts and feelings about Mom, made one of the finest scenes of the series.
With Livia out of the way, it seems there's some truth in Tony's assertion to his psychiatrist Dr Grace Melfi that he no longer needs her, despite the crucial "meat is murder" revelation about his panic attack triggered by the cold cuts.
Her role has dwindled - even a subplot in which she was raped and battled the temptation to get Tony to exact revenge seemed vicious and gratuitous rather than integral to the bigger picture.
Other subplots in the now rather rambling drama also seem to suffer from lack of what Dr Melfi might call "closure". Is writer David Chase, who has said he might wind up the show over not one but two seasons, making truly complex television or simply being too easily diverted? What was all that fuss and bother with the feds installing a bug in the basement all about?
This season, too, has seen a greater reliance on explicit violence: the episode in which a young stripper was beaten to death by Ralph was particularly brutal. And those scenes down at Tony's strip club headquarters, the Bada-bing, seem to feature far more female flesh than necessary.
The character development allowed wife Carmela (Emmy award-winning Edie Falco), however, has been one of this season's rewards.
Carmela's co-dependent relationship with priest and Mafia wife groupie Father Phil (she needed salvation, he needed pasta and DVDs) was one of the most twisted strands in the first series.
Carmela's conflict between her longing for confirmation of her innate decency and love of her material status has always plagued her. Now it's reaching new highs as she struggles with her own bout of depression and recourse to therapy.
Meanwhile, Tony's women problems continue to be the most interesting aspect of the series. His relationship with the dysfunctional Janice may not be quite in Mom's league but she's picked up some of her behavioural patterns and her antics - stealing her bete noire's prosthetic leg to force her to hand over mom's priceless record collection - provide some much-needed dark humour.
His latest affair with a glamorous but twitchy co-patient of Dr Melfi's seems to have plenty of potential for trouble. When his new love (Annabelle Sciorra shucking off her nice Italian-American girl image with relish) tells him "I must be crazy" you just know she's not kidding.
Within the mob family, however, business is getting bogged down in aged mobster decrepitude (does everyone who dodges a bullet through the brains die of cancer on this show?) and the same old problems of dealing with the hot heads. Still, committed Sopranos fans should make the most of the second half of the season because the next, not due to air in the US until next September, will be a while in coming.
* The Sopranos, TV2, 9.30 pm
By FRANCES GRANT
The story of New Jersey mob capo Tony Soprano's life always has been about women.
But the third season of the suburban mafia drama, now midway through, has had to struggle along without the relationship which made the first two seasons crackle with tension, that between him and his
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