The Sopranos (1999) Review: The Mob Boss on the Couch

Is The Sopranos worth watching?

Yes. The Sopranos is still the benchmark for serious television drama, a funny, brutal and psychologically bottomless portrait of a gangster who cannot understand why he is so unhappy. It earns that status through James Gandolfini’s towering lead performance and David Chase’s refusal to make crime glamorous or simple. The only caution is commitment: 86 episodes of a show that often prefers ambiguity to plot resolution is a demanding investment.

What is The Sopranos about?

Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) runs a New Jersey crime family and lives in a comfortable suburban house with his wife, Carmela (Edie Falco), and their two teenage children. When he starts suffering panic attacks, he reluctantly begins seeing a psychiatrist, Dr. Jennifer Melfi (Lorraine Bracco), and must hide the therapy from men who would see it as weakness, or a threat. Between sessions he manages ambitious underlings such as his nephew Christopher (Michael Imperioli) and loyal veterans such as Paulie (Tony Sirico), along with a difficult mother and the constant pressures of both his families.

The Sopranos was created by David Chase and ran on HBO from 1999 to 2007; it now streams on HBO Max in many regions. It is an American series in English, and this review covers the complete show: six seasons and 86 episodes, with the story finished.

A gangster epic told from the therapist’s chair

Chase’s great idea was to make the mob boss’s inner life the real subject. The therapy sessions let the show explore Tony’s childhood, his fears and his self-justifications with a depth few crime dramas had attempted before, while the Mafia plots supply stakes and menace. The result is a study of anxiety, mortality and the hollowness of the suburban dream that happens to feature murder and racketeering.

The series is also far funnier than its reputation suggests. Its humour comes from pettiness, malapropisms, family squabbles and men who are ridiculous and dangerous at once. An episode like “Pine Barrens”, in which a routine errand turns into a freezing, farcical ordeal in the woods, shows how easily the show moves between comedy and dread.

Gandolfini and Falco at the centre

James Gandolfini gives one of the great performances in television history. His Tony is charming, needy, sentimental and capable of shocking violence, often within a single scene, and Gandolfini makes every shift believable. The show repeatedly invites viewers to like him and then reminds them, abruptly, exactly who he is.

Edie Falco is just as essential. Carmela enjoys the comforts of Tony’s money while struggling with what it costs her conscience, and Falco makes her self-deception painfully human. Lorraine Bracco’s Dr. Melfi serves as the audience’s surrogate and moral counterweight, and the wider ensemble, from Imperioli’s restless Christopher to Sirico’s vain, superstitious Paulie, fills the world with vivid, often hilarious detail.

When the ambiguity tests patience

Chase distrusts easy satisfaction. Storylines are sometimes left dangling, characters appear and vanish, and some later episodes devote long stretches to dreams and digressions that can feel self-indulgent. The final season in particular moves at a contemplative pace that rewards fans more than casual viewers. For some, that refusal to deliver conventional payoffs is the point; for others, it is a source of real frustration.

Who should watch The Sopranos?

It is essential for anyone interested in television drama, crime stories or complex antiheroes, and it rewards viewers who enjoy dark humour and psychological depth. With six seasons of roughly hour-long episodes, it is a long but deeply rewarding commitment. Expect graphic violence, frequent strong language, nudity in strip club scenes, and sexual content; it is strictly for adults.

After it, these share its DNA:

• The Wire, HBO’s other landmark crime drama, which widens the lens from one man to an entire city.
• Breaking Bad, for another study of an antihero whose rationalisations grow as his crimes do.
• Better Call Saul, a slower, character-first crime drama that owes an obvious debt to Chase’s approach.

The verdict

The Sopranos is where modern television drama begins, a novelistic masterpiece about a violent man, his family and the country that shaped them. Its willingness to leave things unresolved will not please everyone, but Gandolfini’s performance and Chase’s vision keep it unmissable more than two decades on.

Rating: 5/5