Phenomenal television (Amanda Lotz), considering my last post, is high quality TV. There’s plot, action, murder, affairs, stereotypes, etc. However, the writers of The Sopranos take into consideration how much the music and camera angles affect the way viewers take in the plot. This show was watched by many viewers from many generations, or if people haven’t watched it they’ve at least heard of it (Incongruity, Lotz).

Season one episode five, “College”, of Sopranos, viewers can watch if they have cable with the channel HBO. The episode starts off with the scenery and it looks like he’s leaving NYC with his daughter, Meadow. It’s revealed that he’s taking her to see Ivy League Universities in the New England area. The camera cuts to different scenery as their driving, only giving the viewer a few seconds to look and to take it in.

Tony’s wife Carmela is back home with the flu when Father Phil stops by to hang out and to have some food and wine. They perform a communion in the Sopranos’s home – in the living room, and sexual tension was present ever since the priest arrived. The fire was lit to infer sin (ie: hell, the devil, they’re getting “heated”, affair), Carmela is on her knees in front of Father Phil, the camera focuses on her lips as she takes the bread and wine from him. The two characters have a mutual attraction for each other and become very close to acting upon it, but don’t.

Carmela is a catholic Italian, her husband is in the mob and they live in NYC, what could be more stereotypical? Carmela also questions the speaking of Christ, the stories and the writings of the Bible (a little more but we won’t get into that) and she creates a cultural forum. A cultural forum is a collection of differing beliefs, viewpoints and perspectives on the world (in this case the world would be the Bible and Christ).

Meanwhile, when Tony finds out that Fred lives in the same town as one of the Universities they’re visiting, the trip becomes about business. Tony goes to Fred’s house and sees that he has a new life with his wife and child, so he decides to drop the case until he can find Fred at another time and another location. That night, Meadow gets drunk at a bar with other college students, Fred finds out what hotel the Sopranos are staying at and waits it out in the parking lot until they come back. When the Sopranos do come back, they have no idea about Fred and his intentions. Since Meadow was there that night, she saved her father’s life. Characters need to be humanized for the audience to be able to like them and understand where they’re coming from.

The scene when Tony murders Fred, there’s no music playing. He’s asking Fred questions about everything, one of the things said was “You know how much trouble you’re in now? you took an oath, and you broke it!” The sounds of nature surround them (see picture below), in fact it’s kind of ironic that something so violent happened in an area where it’s so quiet and serene. This would be an example of Lotz’s “Water Cooler Status”, it would be common for viewers to talk about what happened in this episode at work or whenever they had time.