Troy Smith
It is undoubtedly the greatest show to ever be released on television. Centered around James Gandolfini playing Tony Soprano, the Sopranos was a powerhouse on HBO from 1999-2007.
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Starting just before the September 11th attacks, and ending just before the 2008 financial recession, the show offers a unique window into a strange time in American history.
Even 16 years after it ended, the Sopranos still stands the test of time. It is heads and tails above shows produced today, and has only been rivaled in a few instances. Here are the Top 5 Sopranos Episodes of all time. If you have not seen the series (what the hell is wrong with you?), this list includes many spoilers.
5. ‘Whoever Did This’ Season 4, Episode 9
This episode displayed the level of psychopathy present in Tony Soprano. After watching his crewmember Ralph Cifaretto beat a woman to death outside of his strip club earlier in this season, Tony kills Ralph in this episode for killing a racehorse to collect an insurance policy on the animal.
It was shocking, brutal, and represented the depth that the characters in the show were going to sink in the very near future. An unbelievable episode!
4. ‘The Knight in White Satin Armor’ Season 2, Episode 12
Richie Aprile was annoying from the second he appeared on the screen. Anybody watching the show knew that Richie was in for something brutal, as he continuously went against the family and attempted to have Tony killed.
In this episode, Aprile meets his end. Not from a mafioso, or a criminal, but from his own wife! Janice Soprano, the sister of Tony.
This moment was one of those ‘holy shit’ unexpected moments that made the Sopranos great.
3. ‘Whitecaps’ Season 4, Episode 13
This episode gets the #3 position on our list simply for the brilliant acting of Edie Falco and James Gandolfini. The marital fighting depicted in this episode is so unbelievably real that it borders on being scary.
This episode depicts Tony’s attempt to buy a New Jersey beach house. The sale falls through after Tony’s former mistress calls his home and threatens his wife. He is kicked out of his home.
As a well rounded episode, the back and forth between Tony and the lawyer selling the beach home is hilarious in this episode. After the lawyer attempts to strongarm Tony, he has his crew pull up outside his home on the water and blast a live Dean Martin album… classic!
2. ‘Funhouse’ Season 2, Episode 13
This was a major turning point not just for the Sopranos as a series, but for television as a whole. Barring an actors sudden death, very rarely did series kill off their main characters in the script.
Much less watch them be massacred by their own friends. In this episode, the crew learns that one of their own, Pussy Bompiensaro, has been informing the FBI. They take him out on Tony’s boat and shoot him in a tense, confusing scene.
It set the tone for the rest of the series, and surely shocked audiences at home.
1. ‘Made In America’ Season 6, Episode 21
Though this series finale caught a lot of flack for its controversial ending, in which the screen cuts to black at a scene of Tony Soprano sitting with his family at a New Jersey Diner, it garners the top spot on our list.
We are given the closure of seeing New York Boss Phil Leotardo killed, and in an epic fashion.
In actuality, Tony Soprano is a bad guy. He cheats on his wife, he murders, he beats people, all around he is a terrible human being. The ending scene is an obvious omage to the Godfather.
A man dawning a ‘Members Only’ jacket, the same worn by Sopranos crew-member Gene (who committed suicide earlier in the series after Tony refused his attempt to move to Florida), strolls into the diner in the closing minutes. He is then shown going to the bathroom, just as Michael Corleone did in the Godfather to retrieve a gun, and the screen cuts to black.
Tony is killed, Phil is killed, and so are most if not all of their henchmen. A fitting end for a group that wreaked havoc, chaos, death, and destruction on so many.
