‘Sopranos’ returns with haunting kickoff

Other things remain status quo.

Tony and Carmela’s teenage son A.J. (Robert Iler) is still a sullen screwup.

Tony, though currently skipping his antidepressants (not a good idea), still sees his psychiatrist, Dr. Melfi (Lorraine Bracco), though how much progress he has made in his six years of therapy is debatable: “You still, after all this time, cannot accept you had a mother who didn’t love you,” Melfi tells him as he squirms.

And Tony’s Uncle Junior (Dominic Chianese) has continued his Alzheimer’s-fueled descent into addled paranoia and hostility.

It still tears up Tony to see the old man losing his marbles — never mind that, a while back, Uncle Junior conspired with Tony’s mother to have him whacked. But Tony has his blind spots, typified when he lectures A.J. that “friends are gonna let you down. Family: They’re the only ones you can depend on.”

What really seems to haunt him is the loss of self he is seeing in his uncle — which only heightens his own existential doubts. Too introspective for his own good, Tony more than ever seems plagued by questions about who he is and how he can hold on to his identity.

The episode ends with Tony cooking dinner for Uncle Junior, with a vintage Artie Shaw record playing on the phonograph.

“Comes a rain storm, put your rubbers on your feet. Comes a snow storm, you can get a little heat.” The pop-song lyrics may recall for viewers Tony’s panic-stricken slog through the snow fleeing FBI agents at the end of last season. His shoes got soaked and he got cold, but he cheated fate then.

“Comes love,” the song continues — “nothing can be done.”

Can anything be done? As the season begins, that’s the terrifying question the episode ends with.

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