THE SOPRANOS Reviewed by Brad Meltzer (These reviews originally appeared on e.findlaw.com, and the best part of the deal was, Brad got to watch each episode a week early!) Go to Episode Review: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 February 13, 2000 EPISODE 5: Analyze This! Okay, we all know that Robert DeNiro and Billy Crystal did a bang-up job in their movie Analyze This playing Mobster And His Shrink. But who did it first and best? You're right, it probably was Mario Puzo or someone like that. But who did it best last year? That's right, Mickey: Tony and Dr. Melfi on The Sopranos. Last season, we watched as Tony searched his soul, worrying about ducks in his pool, and examining his childhood memories. Everything meant something. The ducks were about freedom, the childhood was about misery, and the raging train barreling into the tunnel—well, that's always about sex, Goofus. So how do you analyze a show that's, at heart, about self-analysis? Is it gonna be like one of those M.C. Escher posters where the hand's drawing a hand that's drawing a hand that's drawing a hand...? And if you're writing this self-analytical show, how do you make sure that what you did last season isn't just reused and recycled during this one? The answer: you have to make it better (which is also the answer to the question: How come the ziti I made last week sucked so bad?). Needless to say, as this week's episode got rolling, the self-analysis was humming. We watched Tony struggle to express himself to old friend Hesh, while Hesh similarly tried to unload on Tony. At the same time, uber-psychiatrist Dr. Melfi was seeing her own shrink, and trying her best to figure out just why she was dreaming about her favorite (and simultaneously most-hated) patient—Tony. The goal was clearly to put Tony and the good doctor back in the same room again (the analysis must go on!) But rather than just having Tony say, "I need a shrink" (he did that last season), creator David Chase turns the tables by examining whether Dr. Melfi gets something out of the relationship as well. That's the kind of characterization that makes The Sopranos great. Indeed, rather than letting actress Lorraine Bracco, as Dr. Melfi, simply swoon for the big bad mobster, we watch her struggle with her realization. In what was one of the best, most honest, moments on television this year, she shifts uncomfortably in her chair, adjusts her suit, and whispers to her shrink, "I'm gaining weight." Actresses don't get more subtle and moments don't get more real. Mama mia, that's good TV! Best of all, when Tony gets a call from Melfi, and she asks if he'll come back as a patient, Chase makes sure that Tony stays true to his own character as well. Rather than run back with open arms, he salivates at Melfi's weakness, picks at her emotional scabs, and joyfully embraces what we all now understand is a symbiotic relationship. That's why the man's a mobster. And what else is going on while the self-analysis blooms? More self-analysis! WATCH as young mobster Christopher joins an acting-for-writers class! LAUGH as he tells his peers, "I wanna write for the movies—Goodfellas, shit like that." SWOON as he and his girlfriend wax poetic on The Glass Menagerie:   She: "You ever think that's why he's the Gentleman Caller? Maybe he's a gentleman!"   He: "He's a douchebag!" CLAP OUT LOUD as Christopher breaks down and cries while performing Rebel Without a Cause (because he identifies with the James Dean character). And DIE RIGHT THERE as he quotes movie lines from his favorite movie...Joe Pesci's Jimmy Hollywood (Jimmy Hollywood!). As we watch these characters, we realize that despite all the mob killings and face-beatings they give out, it's the normal stuff that's "hard." And that's why Tony saves the best analysis for the end: "No cure for life." Dr. Melfi couldn't have said it better herself. LAW-BREAKING MOMENT OF THE WEEK: Tony paying to have his Italian relative work at Artie Bucco's restaurant so he can clear immigration. © Brad Meltzer Previous Episode | Next Episode