All 6 The Sopranos Seasons, Ranked

Some spoilers for The Sopranos.

Ranking the seasons of The Sopranos is not a science, and if you take a look around the internet, you'll find everyone has their own personal tastes, and there's not much in the way of consensus. Unlike a lot of other shows, the quality doesn't really dip in between each season.

When ranking the seasons of the HBO masterpiece, it basically comes down to taste. Which characters you jibe with and which storylines interest you. If you're like me and watch The Sopranos once every one or two years, you probably change your mind on which characters have your attention and which storylines are the ones you can't wait for.

So it's hard to call any ranking of The Sopranos seasons definitive, even the one you write, but I'll say this is the definitive one for this moment, having just rewatched it. Special shout-out to Ron Bernard and his incredible, meticulous deep dive into every episode of The Sopranos with Sopranos Autopsy. I found it a month ago, and it inspired my recent rewatch, which has been my most rewarding, in large part thanks to Ron's fun and thoughtful analysis.

6 Season 1

Season 1 is generally my default "worst" season of The Sopranos, which might be a bit of a cop out. There's so much to love about the first season, and it's unbelievably paced, introducing nearly every major character and their arc, "Where's my arc?" as Christopher Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli) asks Paulie Walnuts (Tony Sirico Jr.).

The only thing that keeps it low on the list is that it's obvious showrunner David Chase is still figuring out the style of the show that would go on to become one of television's best. The characters are fully fleshed out, and the actors embody them immediately, but the first few episodes don't have the stylistic cohesion the rest of the series would be known for.

The pilot in particular has some unusual choices Chase eventually abandons, like Tony's voiceover, which years later feels a bit too much like a Goodfellas rip-off. The Sopranos is more fun when the characters are bouncing off one another, their stories winding together, and season 1 has just a bit more table-setting than the rest.

5 Season 4

Season 4 was knocked down a bit on The Sopranos rankings because most of the season feels like a build-up to an explosive last quarter, which includes some of the show's best episodes, most notably the finale, "Whitecaps". Because the season is building toward the long-time coming reckoning between Carmela (Edie Falco) and Tony, the first part of the season is a little slower.

The season also includes the ultimate fate of Ralphie (Joe Patoliano), one of the greatest Sopranos villains ever, the beginning of the end of Adriana (Drea de Matteo), and Uncle Junior's (Dominic Chianese's) criminal trial, which leads into his declining mental state, something that will have massive reverberations in later seasons.

Season 4 is a true middle child. It bridges the gaps between the first half of the show, where things still seem to be in control for the Jersey family, and the second half when things fall apart. That means that some parts of the season feel a bit inessential, but there are still plenty of fantastic moments throughout.

4 Season 5

The Sopranos season 5 begins with the introduction of the "Class of 2004", members of the Soprano and Lupertazzi crime families who are scheduled to be released after two decades in prison. There's Feech La Manna (Robert Loggia), a Sicilian-born and made gangster who Alec Baldwin's character in The Departed would describe as an "Off-the-boat psycho."

Angelo Garepe (Joe Santos) is the consigliere for the Lupertazzi family who has one foot out the door, but steps back into the mafia game at the worst possible moment. There's Phil Leotardo (Frank Vincent), a bulldog who becomes one of Tony's most dangerous adversaries over the next two seasons.

Finally, there's Tony Blundetto (Steve Buscemi), Tony's cousin and childhood friend who speed-runs the tragic arc of a gangster in a brilliant, season-long storyline. Unlike other shows, where the introduction of new characters signals the writers are running out of ideas, the new characters in The Sopranos season 5 open up a wider world for the show.

3 Season 6

The final season of The Sopranos is an extra-long one, with 21 episodes broken up over two years. Though they are usually categorized as 6A and 6B, the storylines are closely entwined, and you really need to understand the first half of the season in order to get the second half.

Hated at first, the ending of The Sopranos now ranks among the best TV show endings ever, and the 20 episodes that lead up to "Made in America" are nerve-wracking, even frightening in their intensity. In season 1, Raymond Curto (George Loros) bemoans that, "No one's going to the mattresses these days."

It's a reference to The Godfather, where the Corleone family hides away as the gang war starts. The Sopranos de-romanticizes the mafia of The Godfather. There are no big wars anymore. In season 6, though, the Soprano crime family does go to the mattresses, and everyone learns why the "romantic" violence of the past is horrifying, not noble.

2 Season 2

The Sopranos season 2 is where the show finds its footing. Every minor quibble of season 1 is straightened out, and two of the show's best characters are introduced, Richie Aprile (David Proval) and Janice Soprano (Aida Turturro). Richie is a hilarious, frightening figure whose "Manson lamps" light up every scene he's in.

Janice Soprano evolves into another incredible character in The Sopranos' roster over the seasons. She's an excellent counterweight to both Tony and Livia (Nancy Marchand), and the baggage she brings with her unfurls years of trauma from Tony's past. These deep realizations coincide with Dr. Melfi's (Lorraine Bracco) growing disgust with her patient.

The real heart of season 2 is Tony slowly realizing that his best friend, Pussy Bonpensiero (Vincent Pastore), is an informant for the FBI, and the dream sequences that lead him to this realization are some of the most well-directed and psychologically probing moments of the entire show.

1 Season 3

The Sopranos season 3 serves as a sort of mini halfway point of the series, and the show takes a turn with the death of Jackie Aprile Jr. (Jason Cerbone). Though I didn't find season 3 as cohesive as every other season of The Sopranos, I enjoyed watching the episodes in this season the most.

"Pine Barrens", "Mr. Ruggerio's Neighborhood", "University", and "Employee of the Month" are some of the best episodes of the show. Even when an episode doesn't appear to contribute to the central plot, they are critical to understanding the themes of Chase's show.

The season is laced with callbacks and references to future episodes, all hidden beneath fantastic, evolving characters and relationships. The Sopranos season 3 is The Sopranos at its best, though only by a hair, and who knows? If I do this list next year, season 3 could have a totally different place in the rankings.