Season 3 of The Sopranos: As good as television can get

You can't really say enough about Season 3 of The Sopranos, which is about as good as television can get. By this point, David Chase and his team have firmly established the personalities and the milieu of all of the major characters, and it's in this season that the interactions reach their peak and the plot lines continue to accelerate, surprise, frighten, and at times amuse us. The actors are all now seemingly living in their characters - most will forever be known for their roles in this series - and the writing, directing, and acting are at their best - both in individual episodes and across the arc of the season. To mention just a few highlights: The first episode in which the FBI goes to great lengths to install a bug in the Soprano basement - Chase et al. have us on edge rooting for the FBI - get the hell out of there before Tony comes home! - and the ending of the episode is a comic masterpiece. Speaking of masterpieces, an episode toward the end, Pine Barrens, is probably the best single episode in the entire show, in that it shows a side of the players that had been implied but never so effectively dramatized: Their love for and loyalty to one another. The episode (Chris and Paulie try to dispose of a dead man, who seemingly springs back to life) is both exciting and hilarious at every step (much praise to Steve Buscemi for his direction). Similarly, the Tim Van Patten written/directed episodes that present the Tony's troubled and tempestuous relationship w/ the fellow Melfi patient Gloria are fantastic - we see her fragility and the danger she poses for Tony far more clearly than he does, and the conclusion of this story line is one of the great Soprano moments. There are also two fantastic story lines re Dr. Melfi: first of all her rape and the terrific episode in which she ponders what to tell Tony about her evident injuries; second, the intimate look at the Soprano marriage as Carmella joins Tony for some analysis sessions - this, too, culminating in her harrowing visit to another psychiatrist. Other examples abound (a personal favorite: the golf-course confrontation w/ Junior's cancer surgeon), but a final strength is how well things elements are lined up for the next season: Ralphie's continued emergence as a malevolent sadist, Paulie's resentment and his drift toward the NY family (plus his efforts to get his mother into an expensive nursing home - all these moments that show the emotional and sentimental side of these cold-blooded killers are amazing), the FBI's planting an agent to befriend and spy on Andrea, Silvio's arrest, Junior's recovery: The season ends with the weird spectacle of Junior singing a beautiful song of love lost at the young Jackie Aprile's wake, and with all of the fear and tension around the room, held in check for a moment but poised to explode.