I like it when the show is more about the business and less about the Tony's nuclear family. Paulie is a great over the top almost cartoonish character who is extremely unpredictable, which I love. Christopher too. That episode where Christopher cons his AA peer-support buddy out of all that money, beats him up, causes him to return to drinking, then guilts trips him that he didn't tell him that he had started drinking again. Also Steve Bucshemi's Litte Tony character was great. A guy with sensitivity (like Tony) but fundamentally a bad guy with sociopathic tendencies.

Yeah, the Tony family angle gets very boring.

My all-time favorite Christopher/Paulie exchange, from the Pine Barrens episode (season 3). Tony tells Paulie (during a phone conversation with a bad connection) that the Russian they shot was a former member of the interior defense. Paulie only understood half of what Tony said, and then turns to Christopher and says, "Tony just said the guy we shot was an interior decorator or something." Christopher responds, "Really? Jeez, his apartment looked like sh**"

Christopher is a bit brighter than Paulie, he just gets brought down to Paulie's level when they're together. Remember the episode when Chris could only tip the server twelve dollars on a thousand dollar dinner bill? That was one of the few episodes that truly BOTHERED me. Most of the time the show is much like the old Wolfen movie - most of the people who get whacked are junkie degenerates. But that one went over the line.

Yeah, the AA episode was an interesting one.

I was disappointed to see Little Tony get capped at the end. That was a great angle they could have played further, but I guess since he was a tragic character, they had to do it.

Yeah, more business, less Tony's nuclear family....and more Meadow!!!