Spaghetti and strip clubs

The sixth season of the HBO series "The Sopranos" began March 12. Its much-anticipated return after almost two years is a spark in my fire of TV love. I don't watch many new TV shows anymore. I watch more sitcom reruns on TBS than anything else.\nBut with their return to TV, Tony and Carmela's violent and tumultuous lives have made their way back into my routine.\nI don't have HBO, unfortunately (Note to IU Cable: One HBO is better than two MTV channels). Thankfully, I do have a brother with HBO On-Demand and a DVD recorder.\nTony is now comatose in an ICU as a result of senile Uncle Junior's confused actions. The Capos are ready for a power struggle and Tony's wife and kids are barely coping. The season is heating up already and it looks to be a suspenseful one.\nTony and his cronies are bad guys, by definition. Yet, they are also the protagonists. As in many mob stories, "The Sopranos'" main characters are the lesser of the evils in their crime-ridden world.\nConsidering the content, it surprises me why I love this series as I do. The women are beaten, cheated on, verbally abused, talked down to, subordinated and objectified to no end. The Italian-American stereotypes abound like marinara sauce on a pile of spaghetti. The violence and bloody deaths can cause me to wince and turn away from the screen. Still, I keep watching.\nThese aspects of the show do bother me. I normally don't like overly violent entertainment. Men subordinating and objectifying women also irritates me and usually keeps me from giving a favorable review.\nStill, I can't help enjoying watching Tony Soprano and his two families play out their drama. It isn't acceptable that Christopher beat Adriana every time she walked into the room. But this isn't why I enjoy the show so much.\nI enjoy the characters. They are incredibly complex and interesting. You root for Tony and care about what happens to him, all the while despising his every move. They fight for their kids in the principal's office and cry at loved ones' bedsides when they fall ill. The characters have lives outside of their criminal activities. Silvio Dante even has a feminist daughter who disagrees with his work at the Bada Bing strip club. \nThis complexity is why I love the show and is also why I feel conflicted about its content. Yet, it is the very reason why it is so enjoyable to watch. It isn't just a story like any other on TV. It is an interaction with its socially conscious viewers.\nFrom the mundane fights with their kids to the deadly deals they make, I just can't help watching it. As Silvio quotes, "Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in"