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Part of the appeal of The Sopranos is its ability to mix genres almost seamlessly. Case in point: the penultimate episode of Season One, part Italian-style romance, part American hard-boiled gangster story.As a matter of fact, the two aspects are connected as they both influence the main driving force of this particular show: Tony's stress and medication-related loss of energy. He needs something to shake things up, to make him feel alive again. At first, he thinks he has found it in the shape of Isabella (Maria Grazia Cucinotta), a young, beautiful woman who is staying at Dr. Cusamano's while the latter is out of town with his family. Using their common ancestry as the first topic for a conversation, the depressed gangster enjoys Isabella's company, but that's still not good enough. No, what really gets his spirits up is a failed attempt on his life, sanctioned by his uncle: though badly wounded, Tony shoots both the aggressors and then drives away, the adrenalin pumping like crazy in a body that has just retrieved its life force.This is a beautiful episode of the series: it sets the tone for the season finale to perfection, hints that some people might not live until the end of the show's run, and features one of the program's most charming guest stars - Cucinotta. Though she isn't known for anything else, even in Italy, but The Postman (the Massimo Troisi and Philippe Noiret-starring masterpiece, not the Kevin Costner flop), her brief, passionate turn as Isabella provides a lush, seductive look to the episode, a visual treat that is later counterbalanced by the sudden, quick brutality of the murder attempt (which contains another tasteful Godfather rip-off: Tony buys orange juice just before he becomes a target). The scenes featuring Isabella have an almost dream-like quality, albeit different from other episodes: whereas most dreams in the show are bad omens and populated by people Tony has more or less directly killed (as seen in The Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti, for example, although that one involved Christopher), the protagonist's dealings with this gorgeous stranger from Naples have a calming effect on both the Soprano boss and the audience, before they're all brought back to the harsh reality of life in crime.Whether it all was a dream or not is never fully explained (clues indicate either solution could be correct), another reason for watching this splendid show again and again.
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