Image via HBO
The Sopranos hardly needs an introduction at this point. Debuting over two decades ago and finishing its six-season run over 15 years ago, it’s widely considered among the greatest TV shows of all time. It was the first big hit for HBO, and elevated the medium of television as a whole, helping to kickstart a golden age of TV by influencing many of the biggest and best dramas of the early 21st century. It centers on a middle-aged mobster/family man named Tony Soprano and the various difficulties he has balancing his family and “business” duties. Just about all of its 86 episodes are great, but the following Sopranos episodes represent the cream of the crop, being the show’s highest-rated hours, according to IMDb user ratings.
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“Another Toothpick” – Season 3, Episode 5 (2001)
IMDb Rating: 8.6/10
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Perhaps best identifiable as “that episode with Burt Young from the Rocky movies in it,” “Another Toothpick” sees him playing Bobby ‘Bacala’ Sr., and making quite the impression for a one-off character. He’s the father of Bobby, and a good chunk of the episode revolves around him trying to recapture his glory days, in a way, over-exerting himself with a risky job he takes, as part of temporarily coming out of retirement. “Another Toothpick” also has Artie being weird with Adriana, as well as Tony and Carmela attempting therapy together, which perhaps unsurprisingly doesn’t go the best. It’s an overall very solid episode that’s placed a little before the middle of the show’s generally strong third season, and while it might not be a massive standout, an episode that’s “merely” good by the standards of The Sopranos equals something that’s pretty great by the standards of most other shows.
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“Cold Stones” – Season 6, Episode 11 (2006)
IMDb Rating: 8.7/10
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Things progress a little slowly in Season 6 of The Sopranos, at least as far as Season 6A goes (not counting the first few episodes, admittedly). There are some detours taken throughout the middle chunk of this final season’s first half, but “Cold Stones” marks a point where things pick up a little more, as there are things that happen here that have serious consequences in Season 6B. Namely, Phil Leotardo kills a member of Tony’s crew, and brutally so, partly due to his own issues and partly because he’s still likely seeking retribution for what Tony B did in Season 5. It’s a shocking sequence, and does stand out the most within “Cold Stones,” which is, nonetheless, an otherwise quite strong episode for the show that works to escalate the drama going into the final batch of episodes the show aired.
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“University” – Season 3, Episode 6 (2001)
IMDb Rating: 8.7/10
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Speaking of acts of great evil that occur throughout The Sopranos, few have a more harrowing sequence than the one seen at the end of “University.” Before this episode, Ralph Cifaretto had been unstable and certainly frustrating, as a character, but this sees him crossing a line in a massive way, beating to death a young woman who was said to be pregnant with his child. It’s all done in a very unflinching way, and stands as probably the most harrowing thing a main character in the show had done up until that point. The tragedy of this story, featuring a young woman named Tracee, is contrasted in “University” with another storyline featuring Meadow, another young woman who has a very different life, thanks to being Tony’s daughter, who has recently headed off to college.
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“Marco Polo” – Season 5, Episode 8 (2004)
IMDb Rating: 8.7/10
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“Marco Polo” is an episode defined by two key events, one relating to the family drama side of The Sopranos, and the other being something that has serious consequences which occurs on the mob side of things. Family-wise, “Marco Polo” is the episode where Tony and Carmela start to reconcile, after having separated at the end of the show’s fourth season. Then, on the more crime-focused side of things, “Marco Polo” is also the episode that sees Tony B. start to cause real problems for Tony Soprano and some other members of the New Jersey crew. His actions toward the end of the season are even more destructive, at least in the long run, but “Marco Polo” goes a fair way to setting up that escalation, which is honestly a catalyst for so much of the conflict in the show’s final season, too.
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“Join the Club” – Season 6, Episode 2 (2006)
IMDb Rating: 8.7/10
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The first episode of Season 6 ends with Tony getting shot, and then the next two episodes – including “Join the Club” – see him in an extended coma dream. Outside of Tony’s mind, the other characters in the show all have to grapple with how their lives might be changed should Tony not pull through, and some of those sequences are genuinely quite moving. Also, the dream stuff in “Join the Club” and the season’s third episode are mysterious, eerie, and also rather profound, with the ending of this Sopranos episode being especially striking. Alongside episodes 1 and 3 of the season, “Join the Club” helped establish that even as it approached the end, The Sopranos was still willing to do unexpected, dramatic, and challenging things, all the while ensuring those familiar with the show could still be caught off guard.
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“D-Girl” – Season 2, Episode 7 (2000)
IMDb Rating: 8.7/10
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A Season 2 episode of The Sopranos that ends up being surprisingly important as the seasons go on (at least for one character), “D-Girl” largely concerns Christopher finding an interest in screenwriting and the movie business. It sheds further light on how much of an idiot Christopher can be while also allowing for some cameos, most notably Jon Favreau appearing as himself. But “D-Girl” is also important in furthering drama within Tony’s family, mostly relating to his son, AJ, going through a rebellious streak, and conflict within Tony’s work life, with Big Pussy’s role as an FBI informant becoming increasingly dangerous and negatively impactful upon his life. It’s an ideal mid-season episode, pushing things forward a little, having some time to introduce certain new ideas, and continually hinting at a dramatic climax to come by the season’s end.
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“Stage 5” – Season 6, Episode 14 (2007)
IMDb Rating: 8.8/10
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“Stage 5” is a generally well-regarded episode, cracking the top 30 when going by IMDb ratings, and standing as the final episode of one important side character. But it’s also possible to call the Sopranos episode a bit underrated, perhaps overshadowed by some of the flashier and (even more) dramatic episodes that are placed within the final season of the show. Funnily enough, it’s an episode that relates to “D-Girl” and Christopher’s desire to go into filmmaking, considering part of “Stage 5” concerns the premiere of his ridiculous mob-themed horror movie, “Cleaver.” Tensions keep building between Tony and Phil’s crews, with Johnny Sack’s continued absence – and experience in jail – continuing to make things worse for the “peace” between crews. It’s strong stuff overall, and an essential piece of the fantastic second half of Season 6 (which was split into two, with 6A airing in 2006, and 6B airing in 2007).
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“Mayham” – Season 6, Episode 3 (2006)
IMDb Rating: 8.8/10
In “Mayham,” things play out in both a dream world and reality, with Tony being stuck in the former (seeing as he’s in a coma), and everyone else floundering in the latter. An already strained crew is struggling, in many ways, without Tony being there as a leader, prompting Silvio to start considering whether he has what it takes to step up, should Tony die (spoiler alert: he doesn’t). Tony’s continued journeys through a dream world continue to be compelling. It’s not always easy to understand what’s happening here in a straightforward way, but it’s emotionally hard-hitting and eerie, especially when Tony arrives at an ominous house that could well be a gateway to some kind of afterlife. He’s ultimately pulled back from the brink, and re-enters a world that stays chaotic from this point until the very end of the show’s final season.
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“Unidentified Black Males” – Season 5, Episode 9 (2004)
IMDb Rating: 8.8/10
Image via HBO
With Steve Buscemi, Frank Vincent, and various others joining the cast of The Sopranos during Season 5, it’s one point in the show’s run when there’s a particularly high number of legendary gangster movie/TV actors appearing. And Buscemi and Vincent – playing Tony Blundetto and Phil Leotardo – are key players in the main conflict this season, revolving around ongoing clashes between the New Jersey and New York crews. “Unidentified Black Males” features an escalation in this conflict, but retains some feeling of being the calm before the true storm, with things reaching a higher intensity in the last four episodes of Season 5. Outside that storyline, this episode is also a significant one for the character of Vito, who begins an arc here that continues into the first half of Season 6… and a storyline that does, admittedly, wrap up with ties to the gang war narrative.
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“Nobody Knows Anything” – Season 1, Episode 11 (1999)
IMDb Rating: 8.8/10
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Sure, most of the truly shocking episodes of The Sopranos happen later in the series than in Season 1, but “Nobody Knows Anything” is pretty alarming by the standards of that first season. It’s the third-last episode of said season, and a good deal of the drama here revolves around the notion that there is a traitor within Tony’s crew who could be working as an informant for law enforcement. The idea that informing is something that results in death is well-established here, and it’s a brutal way of life in the mafia that continues to be upheld and enforced as The Sopranos progresses along. There are some fairly big consequences as a result of the revelations discovered in “Nobody Knows Anything,” both for this episode/season and the entire show as a whole.
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