The 10 best episodes of “The Sopranos”, ranked
- - The 10 best episodes of “The Sopranos”, ranked
Josh Wolk, Dan Snierson, Dalton Ross, Lisa Schwarzbaum, Jeff Jensen, Nicholas FonsecaDecember 27, 2025 at 10:30 PM
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James Gandolfini, Steven Van Zandt, and Vincent Pastore in 'The Sopranos' season 2, episode 13, 'Funhouse'
"Lately, I'm getting the feeling that I came in at the end. The best is over."
So says New Jersey mobster Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) in the first episode of The Sopranos, setting the stage for HBO's exploration of American decline and the creeping question of how we're contributing to it. Premiering in 1999, its themes remain resonant over 25 years later, cementing creator David Chase's bracing, hilarious, and tragic work as one of the most important (and entertaining) television series of all time.
The show has far more excellent episodes than duds, so choosing our favorite installments wasn't easy. From season 1 standouts to the final season's "Second Coming," here are Entertainment Weekly's picks for the best episodes of The Sopranos, ranked.
01 of 10
"The Second Coming" (season 6, episode 19)
Craig Blankenhorn/HBO Edie Falco and Robert Iler
As Tony slips into sociopathic self-preservation in the series' waning days, his love for his children provides his last link to humanity. Yet he acts like an animal to protect them, bullying AJ out of depression and kicking in the teeth of Phil's henchman, who harassed Meadow. It takes AJ's suicide attempt to bring him back, clutching his wailing son and tenderly murmuring ''Come on, baby.'' He finds his heart, but it's too late. Devastating. —Josh Wolk
02 of 10
"D-Girl" (season 2, episode 7)
HBO/Courtesy Everett
Michael Imperioli, Alicia Witt, and Jon Favreau
In an episode where AJ turns to Nietzsche and weed while Big Pussy winds up in FBI wires and tears, the mood is lightened when aspiring screenwriter Christopher stumbles into the film industry: He scores with a foul dialogue fix on a Janeane Garofalo set, sleeps with a hungry film exec, and ultimately gets used by Jon Favreau, who swipes one of Christopher's off-limits Mob stories for his own script. A clever metameeting of two mercenary worlds. —Dan Snierson
03 of 10
"Boca" (season 1, episode 9)
HBO Steven Van Zandt, James Gandolfini, and Edie Falco
Watching Tony turn on Meadow's soccer coach is to watch him exert his influence in every way. He goes from offering strippers (when the team wins) to bribery (when the coach takes a new job) to wanting him dead (when it is revealed he bedded a player). And when word leaks Junior has a taste for a certain sex act, the old man retaliates with the best food-to-face scene since James Cagney introduced Mae Clarke to a grapefruit in The Public Enemy. —Dalton Ross
04 of 10
"Long Term Parking" (season 5, episode 12)
Abbot Genser/HBO Michael Imperioli and Drea de Matteo
In the beginning was the joke — ''We're in a f---in' stagmire,'' spoken, inimitably, by Little Carmine. In the end, though, we're still shaken remembering the miserable last days of Chrissy's tragic girlfriend and rat, Adriana — and her last desperate moments, crawling on hands and knees away from her fate at the end of Silvio's gun barrel.
She was beautiful, venal, used, and a user. She had to go. We still miss her the most. —Lisa Schwarzbaum
05 of 10
"Employee of the Month" (season 3, episode 4)
Barry Wetcher/HBO
Lorraine Bracco and James Gandolfini
The esplanade scam. Meadow and Jackie Jr. Johnny Sack's rotund wife. ''EOTM'' was ground zero for so many arcs. But it's Dr. Melfi's rape for which it's best remembered, and the way Melfi is tempted to ditch her principles for a shot at vengeance. Lorraine Bracco is almost unbearably brilliant; she makes you feel every painful inch of her physical, emotional, and ethical ordeal. Her haunting final line — ''No'' — is crushingly heroic. —Jeff Jensen
06 of 10
"Funhouse" (season 2, episode 13)
Anthony Neste/HBO
James Gandolfini and Steven Van Zandt
What's a few stolen airline tickets between son and mother? Enough to land son in FBI custody, cuffed to an endlessly destructive relationship. But this season finale truly transcends when a different ''family'' tie is severed as Tony realizes that his homeboy-turned-snitch Big Pussy must be whacked. Watching a tequila-soaked Pussy try to negotiate the terms of his deep-sea shooting triggers waves of queasy heartbreak. —Dan Snierson
07 of 10
"Pine Barrens" (season 3, episode 11)
Barry Wetcher/HBO Michael Imperioli and Tony Sirico
It's remembered as a comic high point: Paulie and Christopher botch a hit on a drunk Russian, get lost in the snowy woods tracking him, and end up freezing in an abandoned truck, sucking down ketchup packets for sustenance. But in light of Tony's paranoid housecleaning at series' end, it's the feral way the panicked duo turn on each other that resonates, a reminder how in this crew, survival trumps loyalty. —Josh Wolk
08 of 10
"Whitecaps" (season 4, episode 13)
HBO Edie Falco and James Gandolfini
The Sopranos' imperfect marriage always got by on a screwed-up code of omertà, but it takes a near-fatal whacking when one of Tony's ex-comares drunk-dials the house and tells Carm about Tony's dalliances. The fallout is family drama at its unparalleled best. Watch this episode for Edie Falco's fiery, Emmy-winning performance as a woman both exhausted and scorned. It's a historic exercise in onscreen fearlessness. —Nicholas Fonseca
09 of 10
"The Knight in White Satin Armor" (season 2, episode 12)
Anthony Neste/HBO David Proval in 'The Sopranos'
''All in all,'' says T as his sister takes her bag of need and rage back to Seattle, ''I'd say it was a pretty good visit.'' Better than that: Tony deals with a suicidal goomah, Junior sides with his nephew, Big Pussy sings. Oh, and Janice pulls the trigger on Richie Aprile in one of the greatest shock pops in Sopranos history. For a Grand Guignol flourish, nothing beats the late-night fleshhacking in Satriale's. —Lisa Schwarzbaum
10 of 10
"College" (season 1, episode 5)
HBO Max
James Gandolfini and Tony Ray Rossi
What starts as an innocent father/daughter college visit takes a shocking turn when Tony brutally strangles a Mob turncoat. But it's Carmela who serves up the show's essential themes of trust and treachery, rationalization and regret, as she flirts with Father Phil during a dark night of true confessions and illicit movie-watching: ''Well, let's face it, Father — we got some major contradictions here!'' Fuhgeddaboudit? Impossible. —Jeff Jensen
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