Doppelgänger

Ah, The Sopranos. Last night's episode ("Join the Club") was unsettling and creepy. It's one of the rare ones that I don't want to watch repeatedly -- it's just too upsetting.

Tony's double -- and his predicament -- was bad enough, but the hospital scenes evoked, for me, late last summer in the immediate wake of my father's heart attack and quadruple bypass surgery.

There was my father, the kingpin of the France family, laid out and vulnerable and hating it; my mother, as strong and distraught as Carmella; and the kids trying to be helpful and optimistic, yet clearly in collective shock. Who needs to be reminded quite so soon? I know that this episode is having a similar effect on many who've gone through this or even worse experiences.

My father made it, and Tony will, too, but still. . . . . can't we catch a break from repeated traumas?

As far as the series goes, with Tony in intensive care and Johnny "Sack" Sacramoni in jail, the field captains can go beserk for a while. Lots of conflict to come, no question, and that always helps electrify a good story. In "Join the Club," Silvio Dante tries to keep the rest of the Sopranos team in line, but they're already balking and greedily positioning for power grabs. I'd like to see the scenes with the restless captains again (only), plus Christopher always provides zesty entertainment with his "observations." Always with the mouth.

Anyone who's been following it all must be disturbed and riveted by this season's opening episodes. After all these years, we obviously care about the characters, we're emotionally invested, and we don't want them to die any more than we want friends, family or ourselves to suffer or die. But we also know that this is the final season -- and that we are all mortal.

Again, Big Love seemed decent, but after another draining viewing of The Sopranos, it's hard yet to give it a full assessment.

Happy first day of spring, everybody! Ain't life grand?