I've seen the entire series twice and bits of it a third time. It's very good, and you pick up more when you watch it again.

Once you've watched the entire series, it might be interesting to discuss the minor ways (IMHO) in which Tony Soprano does not fit the profile of a psychopath/sociopath

 I saw one of the series episodes. It had a grubby, shallow-minded, crocodile-brained sordidness to it... yes, the moral dilemna... come on. It's not that perplexing. Dumb, ugly, violent and trashy. I felt I should shampooing the carpet afterwards. Why bring stuff like this into your home? I did, having heard how "brilliant" it was and how "everyone" thought so. Sorry, I don't get it...

I had never watched it before Mike and I know it was controversial when it came out on Pay per view TV.

But i find it totally fascinating.  I never said it was perplexing.  Just that the lead character of Tony is terrific.  Brutal, violent, charming, kind, sweet........ 

The quality of the show is outstanding, each show feels like a small movie, not a tv show at all.

I think if I had caught one random show on TV i would have skipped it but to see it as a series, one after the other , i find it quite wonderful, in a brutal way if that makes sense

Well,Mike, my antipodean friend, - we finally have something to argue about.

I happen to think the Sopranos has the best tv script ever written.

It's brilliant!

Such great characterisation!

It is brutal in parts - but, considering it's storyline, it would have to be.

Thankfully, the brutality is limited in each episode, so it's not overwhelming. (Unlike a lot of present day tv series, where the brutality is unremitting.)

What makes the show for me is it's humour - some of the humour can keep me laughing - no matter how often I see the same episode.

Without giving too much away, ultimately the Mafia and it's violence is highlighted to show the inevitable consequences for many who choose that lifestyle.

One swallow doesn't make a summer, Mike.

The best part for me was the interplay between Tony and the psychiatrist.

He's such a strong personality - that I was wondering who would dominate who? Thankfully, it didn't disappoint and had a realistic ending.

C'mon, lastpointe, admit it - you found overweight, bald, Tony - sexy, right? 

Sorry Grim, I shouldn't have got into this.

As a boy at a boarding school where bullying was a part of the management system, and as a journalist and as a sometime prison visitor, I have seen a little, but too much, of the real thing and its enduring consequences... and the sheer pain of violence. It is grotesque and ugly and dehumanising. I have seen hysterical agony and lifelong grief as consequences of violence. I have seen several promising lives ruined by it -- beautiful people turned into embittered, ugly, things with deadened hearts and emotional dis-ease... long term. Violence is a behavioural, moral, psychological and social failure.

To depict violence without its consequences as entertainment is a form of pornography I find loathsome and degenerate; it is moral vacuity. To enjoy it is to be misled. It also to allow the softening of tolerance of the real thing... our prisons, for example, make a travesty of the whole concept of "justice", yet we tolerate their deficiencies and essential inhumanity because we feel able to "write off" the perpetrators of crime as being of diminished human worth... most , in fact, are somehow or other, the creations and victims of violence, others are mentally ill. Prisons, as they are, compound all of the horrors into new levels of complexity and human suffering. Violence as entertainment/porn gently nurtures generalised dehumanisation and dulls compassion.

I don't think I find TOny sexy.  I dont' really like the bath robe and undershirt thing on anyone.

but i truely find him likeable and endearing.  I love the interplay with Dr Malfi

I have no illusions that the mob is dangerous and cruel.

But this show, like many mob movies also shows that they live lives of confusion and ordinariness like us all.The family vrs the "Family"

Not unlike many who balance the family with the "Job".

I think they effectively show the viloence permeating their lives through the casual use of profanity. 

The quality of the show is outstanding for TV although it wasn't regular tv it was always pay per view so that makes a difference.

Mike, I get what you are saying about violence. I really do.

But I disagree with you about  The Sopranos not showing the consequences of violence.  By the end of the series you are left in no doubt about the inevitable consequences for most who live that lifestyle.

Personally, when it comes to the issue of violence , I find state sanctioned violence the most abhorrent.

Wars. When innocent civilians are killed - and described as "collateral damage".

Capital punishment.  When so-called civilised states and countries sanction the loss of life - without even the explanation of emotional involvement.

This kind of violence I find most disturbing - because to many folks it's acceptable -and therefore more insidious.

Mafia?  Bad guys.

Democratic countries declaring war and having the death penalty?  Good guys.

Hmmm!