The Sopranos: The Definitive 86-Episode Ranking

Part 5

#40: Season 3, Episode 8, “He is Risen” [April 15th, 2001]

Tony starts an affair with a woman he meets at Dr. Melfi’s office when they are double-booked. Meadow starts a relationship with Jackie Jr. Meanwhile, the family squabbles when Tony tells Carmella to disinvite Ralphie and Rosalie from Thanksgiving dinner. In true David Chase fashion, Gigi dies on the toilet, solving his capo problem.
Best Line: “Serial Killer, I murdered seven relationships.”- Gloria to Tony, joking about why she has an appointment with Dr. Melfi.
Notable Appearance: Annabella Sciorra (Jungle Fever, What Dreams May Come) begins her guest stint as Gloria Trillo, with who Tony starts an affair.

#39: Season 6, Episode 14, “Stage 5” [April 15th, 2007]

The Sopranos has a way of cutting through the bullshit, showing the demise of Johnny Sack losing his battle with cancer without melodrama. Carmella sniffs around the disappearance of Ade after the Cleaver premiere when the film comes strangely close to documenting Tony’s past crimes and unfaithful history.
Best Line: “I’ve been accused of being part of a certain Italian-American subculture.”- Johnny Sack on why he is in prison.
Notable Appearance: Tootsie, Out of Africa, and Three Days of the Condor director Sydney Pollack plays a medical orderly who was an MD on the outside but is in prison for murdering his wife.

#38: Season 3, Episode 9, “The Telltale Moozadell” [April 22nd, 2001]

Things are good in North Jersey. Tony buys Carmella a gift, Christopher sets up a club for Adrianna, Meadow sees more of Jackie Jr. while even AJ avoids a suspension for the destruction of school property so that he can play in the big game. The only person not having any luck is Jackie Jr., who feels being his father’s son should earn him some respect, but he won’t get any if Tony has his way.
Best Line: “What Gutters?”- AJ to his parents, that begins a back and forth banter that tickles my funny bone every time I watch it.
Notable Appearance: Oscar & Grammy-winning star Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (also known as Lady Gaga) is uncredited as Girl at the Swimming Pool #2.

#37: Season 2, Episode 9, “From Where to Eternity” [March 12th, 2000]

During a therapy session, the first of many episodes penned for Michael Imperioli features a great interaction between James Gandolfini and Lorraine Bracco’s characters. At the same time, the family deals with Christopher fighting for his life after being shot in cold blood by two of his own crew.
Best Line: “What do poor Italian immigrants have to do with you?”- Dr. Melfi holding Tony accountable for justifying his actions.
A Hit’s a Hit: Tony and P***y catch Matt Bevilaqua, who they drag to a closed concession stand as they practice their own brand of street justice.

#36: Season 6, Episode 1 “Members Only” [March 12th, 2006]

Eugene (Robert Funaro) inherits over 2 million dollars from a recently deceased aunt and wants to give Tony his taste to get out clean. Later, it’s revealed that he is an informant for the FBI. Raymond meets with his FBI handler but dies before him, even though Agent Harris visits Satriale’s then lets him know they are only interested in terrorism now. This all leads up to the final scene when Tony checks in on his uncle, the dementia kicks in, and then shoots Tony in the stomach while yelling, “Die Malanga” (referencing the man Junior wanted to kill in Artie’s restaurant in the Pilot).
Best Line: “Family, they are the only ones you can depend on.”- Tony to his son AJ.
Notable Appearance: House of Cards’s Michael Kelly pops up as Agent Ron Goddard, the new partner of Agent Harris.
A Hit’s a Hit: Eugene hangs himself when he sees no way out, and because his oldest son is hooked on heroin, allowing his wife to inherit the fortune and take his family to Florida.

#35: Season 2, Episode 8 “Full Leather Jacket” [March 5th, 2000]

Christopher revaluates his priorities when he commits to the crew and Adrianna. At the same time, Richie tries to move on from being the boss by giving Tony a beautiful leather jacket he took off Rocco DiMeo. Meanwhile, Richie is forced to build Beansie a ramp, then deals with rejecting his gift to the boss by bad-mouthing Christopher to Matt and Sean.
Factoid: The shortest episode in Soprano’s history, clocking in at 43-minutes.
A Hit’s a Hit: Sean, while trying to kill Christopher for Richie with Matt, gets caught on his seatbelt, and Christopher gets a shot off, right in the head.

#34: Season 3, Episode 7 “Second Opinion” [April, 8th, 2001]

Uncle June continues cancer treatments but soon is abandoned by his physician when he asked for a tribunal to go over his case. Carmella starts to see a shrink, who tells her she must leave her husband while not taking a dime from him because it’s blood money. Carmella wants Tony to donate a large chunk of money to Columbia and tells him he needs to do something nice for her today.
Factoid: Edie Falco won an Emmy for this episode.
Notable Appearance: Emmy winner Tony Hale (Veep, Arrested Development) plays RN Collins, Junior’s chemotherapy nurse, and doesn’t have a speaking line.

#33: Season 5, Episode 6, “Sentimental Education” [April 11th, 2004]

Tony B. passes his LMT test, gets backed to run his own massage parlor, then finds a bag of cash dumped by suspects in a police chase, then gambles it all away and loses the business when he punches Mr. Kim in the face. Similarly, Carmella’s relationship with Robert fizzles after accusing her of manipulating him to turn around AJ’s grade.
Best Line: “Fear knocked at the door, fate answered.”- Christopher
Notable Appearance: Liza Lapira (Crazy, Stupid, Love, and 9JKL) guests as Mr. Kim’s daughter.

#32: Season 5, Episode 4, “All Happy Families” [March 28th, 2004]

Carmella begins her romance with AJ’s teacher, who takes a special interest in him, trying to get his grades up, so he can get into college. Tony asks himself, “Have I learned nothing from Richie Aprile?” and realizes Feech needs to go. He comes to this realization after Carm tells him he has no friends as the boss of his crew, then tells a lame joke, and the only person who doesn’t fall over laughing is Feech.
Best Line: “From now on, keep your antidotes to local colors, like Dinoflow or Maguire sisters.”- Tony to Feech.
Notable Appearance: Frankie Valli of The Four Seasons makes his debut as Rusty Millio. Also, David Lee Roth and Lawrence Taylor play themselves at the executive game.

#31: Season 5, Episode 13, “All Due Respect” [June 6th, 2004]

Tony and Christopher stick with the story that Adrianna left him and ended the engagement, while Tony tries to mend fences with New York. Phil hunts down Christopher, accosting his mother, then they catch up to Benny and give him a beating he won’t soon forget. The crew then questions Tony’s leadership by not giving up his cousin’s head to New York on a silver platter.
Best Line: “No offense, John, but I got an IQ of 136. It’s been tested.”- Tony
A Hit’s a Hit: In the end, Tony does the only merciful thing he knows how by shooting his cousin Tony B. quickly with a shotgun blast so that Phil Leotardo won’t have his way with him.
Notable Appearance: Mike Zegen of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel plays a partygoer in his first credited television role.