The second season of "The Sopranos" began in January with a swagger: Sinatra's "It Was a Very Good Year" underscoring a bittersweet montage of silent scenes detailing the recent fortunes of the key players in the New Jersey-mobster family saga. It ends Sunday night -- HBO did not send out the final installment for review -- in the wake of a spectacular penultimate episode that left viewers dazzled, delighted and drained, all at the same time.

In between, "The Sopranos" stumbled briefly, losing focus and drifting for a few episodes before roaring back with a second half that returned to it uncontested possession of the Best-Drama-on-Television title.

The nadir of season two was Episode Four, chronicling the trip Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) and his crew made to Naples. The episode felt like an indulgence, diluting the series' energy and impact.

Things began to turn around creatively at the end of the fifth episode, when Tony resumed his treatment by psychiatrist Jennifer Melfi (Lorraine Bracco). Those therapy sessions supply key revelations about and insights into the otherwise hidden fears and vulnerabilities of this irresistible and endlessly fascinating character.

Season Two also continued the tradition of brilliant writing and acting established last year -- evident not just in snappy snippets of dialogue but in searing, unforgettable scenes. Among them: · Salvatore Bompensiero, played by Vincent Pastore, wracked with guilt over becoming an FBI informant, sitting alone in a bathroom at Tony's house, sobbing uncontrollably on the day of Anthony Jr.'s (Robert Iler) first Holy Communion.

· Tony's wife, Carmela (Edie Falco), jeopardizing her marriage vows with a stolen kiss with remodeling contractor Vic Musso (Joe Penny) and using her intimidating name and presence to force a lawyer to write a college recommendation letter for daughter Meadow Soprano (Jamie-Lynn Sigler).

· Christopher's fiancee, Adrianna (Drea de Matteo), delicately pinning a small photograph of Pope John Paul to the hospital gown of Christopher as he lay near death from multiple gunshot wounds. · Last week's shocking murder of the vile old-school mobster Richie Aprile (David Proval) by his fiancee -- Tony's sister, Janice (Aida Turturro) -- just moments after he had casually punched her in the face.

In these scenes -- and in so many others -- two wondrous things are clear: The actors of "The Sopranos" don't play their characters; they inhabit them. And the show's writers do not impose actions and words on their characters; rather, what the characters do and say feels as though it originates within the characters themselves. The effect is that all we see and hear seems right and true.

Perhaps most remarkable of all is the elegant overarching symmetry of this season. Sinatra's "It Was a Very Good Year" planted the concept of aging, of inevitable generational change. Yet Tony's conversation with a black preacher in a later episode made it clear he didn't see himself as a family elder.

What great television this is.

Published 4/8/2000