The Sopranos: Every Season Ranked Worst To Best
4. Season Five
The Hollywood years. Sopranos S5 combines the high octane action of season one with the increased depth and maturity that comes from five years’ worth of crafting these brilliant characters. It’s a particularly streamlined season, with the focus throughout being on growing tension between NJ and NYC.
The presence of Steve Buscemi is a little jarring for some, a big name actor invading TV land, but as ever, he’s brilliant, and fits right in, his Tony Blundetto offering a bizarro-Soprano, and his season long arc a lovely tragedy.
After the emotional heft and drama of season four, there are some fanservice elements to this season, which at times seems to cater to the Sopranos fans who are in it for the gangster action rather than ruminations on modern America, but the season boasts some of the best examples of the form.
It’s also the high point for the great Drea de Matteo, who is given increasingly more screentime as Adriana, mob wife turned reluctant FBI informant. Her arc here is heartbreaking, stomach churning, totally inevitable, but some of the best acting the show ever boasted.