The second season of the Sopranos. Just remember to hold on tight...

At the end of the first season of the Sopranos on HBO, things had managed to resolve themselves into a somewhat peaceable situation. Uncle Junior was in the slammer, Mama Livia in a hospital bed after a stroke, and Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) the de-facto Boss of New Jersey. Of course, the downside was that the FBI is after him, Big P*ssy Bonpansiero has disappeared, and the panic attacks haven?t slowed down much either.

In this one, we get several new characters, Livia?s continued evil, and new problems for Tony. The level of sex and violence in this is still pretty high, with the result that this one gets a hard R rating, and most adults will find it a bit too graphic. The language is also pretty adult, with several convolutions of words that I usually don't hear much. Still ? it's a fascinating look at live and love in the Mob. What really makes this is the level of insight and character building among Tony's family and his gang of thugs, wiseguys and do-ers. These people are anything but stereotypes, as we're allowed the time to find out what makes them tick.

Guy Walks into a Psychiatrist's Office Chris (Michael Imperioli) is getting himself established as a broker, with two little goons to help him along. To say that they're not exactly white collar material is an understatement. And Big P*ssy shows up ? seems he was taking the cure in Puerto Rico. As if this wasn't enough, sister Janice (Aida Turturro) comes home to roost. To say that Tony and his big sister don't get along is a matter of words.

Do Not Resuscitate Livia is up to her old tricks, only this time from a hospital bed. Anthony Jr. lets spill an overheard conversation. There's also racial tensions on a job site, and we discover the real reason why P*ssy left town.

Toodle-F*cking-Oo New trouble blows into town when the brother of the late Jackie Aprile is released from jail and shows up for his piece of the action. To make matters even more muddled for Tony, turns out that daughter Meadow has been trashing her grandmother's house and drinking. And it doesn't help at all that Dr Melfi still isn't around to pour his troubles to, but when a chance encounter at a restaurant, she finds that there is still more to explore.

Commendatori Tony is off to Italy to consult with the home office as it were. There he has his expectations about women turned upside down, with meeting Annalisa (Sofia Milos), who is the power behind the wheelchair of the big boss. Along for the ride, Chris manages to get himself involved with strong stuff, and Pauli Walnuts gets to meet a girl from his hometown. Back home, Carmela (Edie Falco) is starting to have doubts about her marriage.

Big Girls Don't Cry Tony brings home a souvenir from Italy ? Furio (Federico Castelluccio), who's one bad mother. And Chris is a little too busy, it seems, chasing his dream of screenwriting and Hollywood. Janice and Ritchie are reigniting old flames. Big P*ssy is harboring resentment at his demotion, and having a hard time dealing with it all. Despite all this, Tony is getting a bit too angry around everyone, and therapy is clearly called for. Does Dr. Melfi take him back? What do you think?

The Happy Wanderer There's this big game, see. And Tony is now the boss of it. It's a heady, wealthy poker game, with big names (Frank Sinatra Jr as himself) and Tony is delighted to host it. But trouble comes in two forms ? one is Davey (Robert Patrick) an old friend of Tony?s who has an itch for gambling, and Ritchie. Things can only go better after this.

D-Girl Chris manages to get a meeting with a Hollywood director and his assistant, Amy (Alicia Witt), making him seriously question his commitment to the Family. For Tony, the problem is with his son, Anthony Jr., who is deciding that maybe he doesn't want to go through his first communion, along with showing up drunk in gym class and wrecking his mother's car. I confess, this was one of my favorite episodes of the second season.

Full Leather Jacket A gift from Ritchie Aprile to Tony is misunderstood, and the tension between Aprile and the rest of the gang is quickly escalating. To make matters worse, Chris has proposed to Adriana (who happens to be Aprile?s niece) and two of Chris?s henchmen decide to make themselves look good at Chris's expense. Big mistake?.

From Where To Eternity Recovering from his near assassination, Chris is having visions of Hell and gives a cryptic message to the gang, which Paulie takes a bit hard. At home, Carmela is fed up with Tony's messing about the girls and lays down the law.

Bust Out Turns out there was a witness to the shooting. Now the local cops are bearing down on the Sopranos. Davey's sports business is being looted by Tony for the bad debt rung up at the poker game. And Carmela is finding herself thinking a bit much about the man who's repapering the dining room.

House Arrest Junior is getting edgy with his house arrest and finds an old friend to provide comfort. And Ritchie has been dealing dope along the garbage route, while Tony in a game attempt to straighten up a bit, is busy 'working' at the garbage company with one of the secretaries. We also get to see a side of Dr Melfi that she's been hiding and watch in a bit of horror as she proves that the Sopranos have been rubbing off on her a bit too much.

The Knight in White Satin Armor Wedding plans for Janice and Ritchie Aprile are almost done, but there's a whole new spin to things when the lovebirds have their first fight. Let's just say that it's a big surprise and leave it at that. Love isn?t going smoothly for Tony either, when his girlfriend Irina (Oksana Baliy) takes his farewell a bit hard.

Funhouse The second season comes to a shaky resolution of several plotlines as Meadow graduates from high school. But on the night before the party, Tony is coping with a case of food poisoning and prophetic, distressing dreams. And there remains the problem of Big P*ssy and the feds. It's time to take action, as we see...

As usually, we get great direction, cinematography, and acting in this. The soundtrack this time around is grand as well, with plenty of old and new songs, and some real goodies on the DVD version. The sound and image transfer is clean, and several of the episodes have audio commentaries.

For those of you who can't get enough of a Sopranos fix, go to www.hbo.com/sopranos/ and look up the Warnicke files for some sly humor and a few insights.