In the second season of “The Sopranos,” ex-con Richie Aprile kept creating problems for new boss Tony Soprano. Richie sold drugs on his garbage route despite Tony’s warnings to cut it out, and worked secretly with Uncle Junior to take Tony out, one way or another.

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Everyone watching the show knew that Richie had to get whacked. When Uncle Junior tipped Tony off about the impending Richie-led rebellion, Tony put out the hit.

But before the murder could take place, Richie punched his fiancée, Tony's sister Janice, and another Soprano got to take him out. Janice shot Richie twice in the chest, and his Manson Lamps were snuffed for good. Series creator David Chase shocked viewers by going against their expectations, and it was far from the first time.

Many television shows have received criticism for bending storylines to suit viewers' preferences, whether or not the resulting episodes make sense or are dramatically satisfying. Ross and Rachel will end up together on “Friends” not because it makes sense, but because they are fan favorites. Main characters tend to get happy endings, despite the fact that it rarely happens in real life.

Not so with "The Sopranos." Chase said recently in the New York Times that, “The function of an hour drama is to reassure that American people that it’s OK to go out and buy stuff,” but added that “The Sopranos” is “not about that.”

At times, his refusal to conform to the tropes of dramatic television has been the very thing that makes his show a standout. But occasionally, Chase specifically goes against popular demand, to the detriment of his show's narrative thrust and the frustration of many fans.

RIP, Big Pussy
When "The Sopranos" debuted, it was unlike previous Mafia projects in that it portrayed the participants as normal people with normal family problems (and Family problems). Tony wore golf shirts and a sloppy bathrobe more often than designer suits. His wife Carmela had a book club and studied for her real-estate license. Daughter Meadow threw a party at her grandmother’s empty house and got caught, and son A.J. sat around and played video games, unlike the emotionally mature and preternaturally verbal teens on shows like “The O.C.” or “Dawson’s Creek”. The gritty, relatable realism made the show a critical and ratings sensation.

Early on, "The Sopranos" got a reputation for killing off characters on a weekly basis. The 13-episode season ended up with 15 departed souls.

Chase played against convention by not wrapping up the storyline quickly, and in the process, let viewers know that bad things are inevitable, and patience is rewarded.

When the second season opened, viewers had come to expect a high death toll, and many figured the newest member of the whack pack would be a member of Tony's mob family. There were even betting lines in Las Vegas where people could wager on which character would be killed next. When it was revealed early on that Tony's friend Big Pussy had turned informant to the Feds, viewers knew that his days were numbered.

But Chase held off on the murder of Big Pussy until the final episode of the season, creating a drawn-out tension that inevitably paid off. Chase played against convention by not wrapping up the storyline quickly, and in the process, let viewers know that bad things are inevitable, and patience is rewarded.

A rape unavenged
Chase also bucks custom by refusing to offer pat conclusions to difficult storylines just to please his viewers.

FREE VIDEO MSNBC TV • Johnny Sack Vincent Curatola plays "Johnny Sack" and certainly knows about being on the wrong side of the Soprano family. He talked about his role with MSNBC's Alex Witt. Click here to watch the video.

Tony's therapist, Dr. Jennifer Melfi is the only woman with whom Tony has been able to maintain an emotionally intimate connection. When Tony expressed interest in a deeper relationship, Melfi firmly set him straight

The closest that Melfi came to crossing her own ethical line and allowing Tony into her personal life happened when she was brutally raped in a parking garage during the third season.

On most television shows, when something horrific happens to a character like Melfi, justice and punishment quickly follow. Yet to this day, Melfi's attacker has never been prosecuted, despite forensic evidence, and a positive identification. Melfi contemplated telling Tony what happened, knowing that he would exact painful revenge, instead kept her mouth shut.

Justice was never served, and to date, the storyline has not reemerged. Once again, Chase diverged from viewer expectations to mirror gritty reality.

It doesn't always work
Other times, Chase significantly prolongs the narrative dread, and it backfires.

Ralphie Cifaretto was a thorn in Tony's side from his first appearance in season three. At first, Ralphie seemed no more dangerous than Tony's other collaborators. Ralphie was coarse and loud and had a temper, but those qualities could also be attributed to Tony himself. That is, until Ralphie, unprovoked, brutally murdered a stripper who was pregnant with his child.

Tony Soprano would not have let Ralphie continue his disastrous floundering unchecked. Chase may have been trying to play against expectations, but by doing so, he hurt the believability of own show.

From that episode on, viewers were calling for Ralphie's head. Any conventional television drama would have realized Ralphie's retribution within one or two episodes, but it was a long, painful season-and-a-half later before the aforementioned head was finally delivered — quite literally, when Tony and Christopher killed and decapitated Ralphie at the end of season four.

Viewers knew that Ralphie was destined for death, so Chase drew out the suspense as long as possible, even to the point that viewers started to think that Ralphie would live forever.

Here, Chase’s contrary nature led the show off-track. Ralphie’s continued existence became implausible and diverting.

Tony did not have an established friendship with Ralphie like the one he shared with Big Pussy. Ralphie had made numerous mistakes, and Tony had every excuse to put out the hit. The Tony Soprano that had been established for three seasons would not have let Ralphie continue his disastrous floundering unchecked. Chase may have been trying to play against expectations, but by doing so, he hurt the believability of his own show.

Storylines to nowhere
In addition to making readers wait for storyline payoffs, Chase's flouting of established drama rules results in many dropped threads.

Viewers invested a great deal of time and energy getting to know Meadow's depressed and needy freshman-year roommate, Caitlin, and to what end? After being involved in Meadow's life during season three, she just disappeared.

Many fans still wonder what exactly happened to the Russian that Christopher and Paulie chased into the New Jersey Pine Barrens, who also mysteriously disappeared.

It's not that Chase is bound by law to follow up on every hint or provide neat conclusions for each storyline. But in a show that often rewards close viewing, these types of disappearances stand out, and become distracting.

Speculating on the whereabouts of the Russian, and trying to figure out when he might make a reappearance, kept viewers from appreciating the subtlety of the characters' interactions and often left the impression that sometimes Chase just liked to mess with his audience's minds.

Chase's unique vision for "The Sopranos" will undoubtedly continue to surprise and intrigue viewers, but it will never quite give them what they want, when they want it, in the way that they want it.

That's OK — but Chase needs to appreciate that he's set up these expectations himself. By creating a show where viewers come to expect realism, it's only natural that they'll pay attention to each nuance.

So he has only himself to blame if those same viewers become disappointed and distracted when they later find out that those nuances weren't important.

Kim Reed is a writer living in Upstate New York

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