The Sopranos: 10 Greatest Ever Episodes

As the series marched towards its end, Tony became an increasingly monstrous character who would stop at nothing to stay at the top. By the time the final few episodes rolled round, perhaps the only semblance of humanity he had left was his love for his children. Yet, as The Second Coming proves, he’s far from being a model dad.

As the quintessential broody teenager, A.J. Soprano has never been the most popular character amongst fans. However, not even the most hardened A.J. hater could fail to be moved by his tragic suicide attempt. In one of the most harrowing scenes of the entire series, Tony arrives home to find his son thrashing around pathetically in the pool, a cement block dragging him down to a watery grave. The performances of both actors are staggering here, particularly James Gandolfini’s delivery of “Come on, baby” as a father desperately clutches his crying son. In the most emotional of circumstances, Tony seems to have found his heart.

However, it all feels too late. When Phil Leotardo’s crony Coco drunkenly leers at Meadow, he reacts in the only way he knows how - with extreme violence, dishing out the most brutal curb-stomp this side of American History X. Phil obviously wants to retaliate, and the war between New Jersey and Brooklyn is finally set in motion. In the W.B. Yeats poem from which the episode takes its name, the narrator describes how “things fall apart”. For Tony, things are falling apart fast, and what’s worse - he is the architect of his own downfall.