The Sopranos is a six-season television series about the mafia and the home life of mob boss Tony Soprano, played by James Gandolfini, who passed away ten years ago at the age of only fifty-one. This HBO series is a must-watch for anyone who wants to watch a show that deals with a lot of life issues.
The Sopranos is a series that you definitely shouldn’t miss if you like drama and crime. Breaking Bad would not exist without The Sopranos, due to some of the scenes in the first season of the show.
For example, in Episode 5 Tony goes on a college trip with his daughter Meadow, played by Jamie-Lynn Sigler. In a particular scene, they show Tony choking a man to death because he is a rat. This scene is important, because it showed other TV writers the kind of brutality that can be possible in a TV series.
Season 1 of The Sopranos is a very light-hearted season, and it’s not as serious as the later seasons. The first episode of the first season shows us how Tony goes to therapy because of his anxiety, but he hates it because he does not want to change who he is.
Throughout the first season, there’s a conflict between Tony and his uncle Junior Soprano, played by Dominic Chianese. Tony is also battling depression towards the end of the season, and it gradually affects him and influences his actions. This show is great for teenagers who want a crime drama, like Breaking Bad, since everyone loves to watch a person slowly collapse.
Season 2 of The Sopranos is way better than the first season, because there are more conflicts and issues that arise in this season than in the first one. The second season also introduces us to new characters, like Richie Aprile (David Proval), who is released from prison after ten years. The second episode of this season is an absolute must-watch, because it shows how Tony’s mother, Livia Soprano (Nancy Marchand), isn’t capable of experiencing human emotions.
The Sopranos does a really great job at character development. Tony’s narcissism doesn’t show up in the early seasons, but towards the end of the series, he fully embraces his psychopathic nature as a mob boss.
There is a power struggle in this second season, between Tony and Richie, where Richie is overstepping his line with Tony and testing him. Each time those two actors are in a scene together, there is major tension between them. During this season, Tony also suspects that Salvatore Bonpensiero, played by Vincent Pastore, has been working for the government.
At the end of Season Two, Tony gets food poisoning and has one of his dream sequences that are all really good throughout the series. In this final episode, the dream sequence shows him at the pier having a diagnosed illness with no cure, but it isn’t cancer but something else. Towards the end of the episode, Tony also talks to a fish, who reveals a secret that Tony does not want to hear.
Overall, the first two seasons of The Sopranos are a great start to an amazing series, and you cannot miss it. And if you like The Sopranos, you should also check out The Wire and Peaky Blinders.
