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Nobody's Perfect is a new regular series where one member of the Complex Pop Culture team will revisit a great, beloved TV series looking for the the occasional misstep. If there's a particular series you'd like to see get the treatment, shout it out in the comments.
As with any intimate relationship, the connection that exists between viewer and television series can be a complicated one. Like any loved one, the television characters we come to know best have the ability to trigger a range of emotions—glee, despair, surprise, fear, anger—allowing us to love them and hate them in equal parts.
In the history of television, few shows have engaged viewers as passionately as David Chase's The Sopranos, the story of a New Jersey mob boss with mommy issues. (OK, so it's a bit more complicated.) Steeped in nihilism and based in the psychotherapy process, the show—which ran for six seasons on HBO between 1999 and 2007—has been cited by many critics as one of the greatest series in the history of television. And with very good reason.
But television is art. And art, like life, is often full of imperfections. Which means that The Sopranos is not without its flaws (even if you need to squint to see them). From specific episode moments to series-wide observations, here are The Sopranos’ 25 Biggest Flaws.
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Written by Jennifer M. Wood (@j_m_wood)
25. A Don Does Not Don Shorts
Episode Title: "For All Debts Public and Private" (Season 4, Episode 1)
It didn't take long for audiences to get used to seeing Tony Soprano scrounging for food scraps in his robe and/or fetching the paper in his underwear. But when his character was shown grilling up grub on the barbecue in a pair of shorts that would look more at home on a Midwestern tourist in Aruba, something just seemed amiss. Our omerta antenna went up—and not without reason.
In 2006, Chase told the New York Times that just a few episodes into the show's premiere he started getting indirect feedback from real-life gangsters, who overwhelmingly approved of Chase's take on mafia life. The one exception: "After about four episodes," Chase noted, "We heard, 'You're OK' With one caveat: 'We got word about those barbecue scenes where Jim would wear shorts. A don does not wear shorts.'"
Chase got the point. And even poked fun at the misstep in the fourth season when New York mob boss Carmine Lupertazzi—who received word of Tony's penchant for truncated trousers—made it clear to him that "a don doesn't wear shorts!"
24. A Perfect Coincidence
Episode Title: "College" (Season 1, Episode 5)
Story requires some suspension of disbelief, there's no way around it. But it seemed just a bit too coincidental in season one's "College" episode that Tony would just so happen to stumble upon a former colleague-turned-FBI informant at a gas station while visiting colleges in Maine with Meadow. Hmm...
While the episode does create a fantastic dilemma for Tony—juxtaposing his life as a father with his role as godfather—that someone in the Witness Protection Program would be living in a popular (if small) college town seems too perfectly contrived. Other critics, however, would disagree; Time magazine named "College" the series' best-ever episode.
23. Season 1 vs. Season 2
In 2012, series creator David Chase told Vanity Fair that "The Sopranos was ambiguous to the point where, to this day, I'm not really sure whether it was a drama or a comedy."
While fans of the show might immediately lean toward drama when picking a genre (and a nihilstic one at that), Chase is correct in that the show was able to successfully meld these tones in new and innovative ways.
But, from a tonal perspective, his genre confusion seems most pronounced when you analyze the differences from season one to season two. Sure, any "new show" will spend the first season finding its legs; but the change from comedy to drama as the prevalent feeling is palpable when you watch those two seasons back to back.
22. Leaving Las Jersey
Episode Title: "Commendatori" (Season 2, Episode 4)
All television shows like a change of scenery on occasion. The Sopranos was no exception. And while in some cases a new city can bring with it interesting new storylines, The Sopranos only seemed to be led astray when it left the comforts of the Garden State in this early episode of the second season. Previous plots were left back at home and the episode really had no purpose in the overall scheme of the season.
21. Mafia Politics
Speaking of the Garden State: since when would a New Jersey organized crime syndicate be more powerful than New York City's? Sure, they've had their differences—but Tony usually seems to hold all the power.
20. Jeannie Cusamano's Twin Sister
Episode Title: "Full Leather Jacket" (Season 2, Episode 8)
A funny thing happened in season two: The Sopranos went the visual route of so many cheesy sitcoms of the past (from The Brady Bunch to Three's Company), when it gave Soprano neighbor Jeannie Cusamano (Saundra Santiago) a twin sister—both of them played by Saundra Santiago. And shot them having a conversation using split screen technology. How vintage!
19. Tony's Breathing
If we're going to get nitpicky with the visuals, then we've got a certain bone to pick with the audio department, too. Namely: Is there no way to reduce the amount of noise produced by Tony's constant heavy breathing?
As if audiences weren't already concerned that he could keel over from a panic attack at any moment, a heart—or asthma—attack also seems imminent. He's got a full supply of Prozac. Can someone prescribe him an inhaler, too?
18. Season 3 Premiere
Episode Title: "Mr. Ruggerio's Neighborhood" (Season 3, Episode 1)
Expectations were at an all-time high when The Sopranos stepped up for its third season in 2001. Like something out of a bad spy movie from the '70s (complete with a mash-up of the Peter Gunn theme), the FBI's hot to bug Tony's house and has been casing the comings and goings of its inhabitants for days. They've even come up with some cute little nicknames for each of family member in order to communicate internally: Bada Bing (Tony), Mrs. Bing (Carmela), Princess Bing (Meadow), and Baby Bing (AJ).
The agents stumble through their mission to get inside Tony's basement, and altogether it just makes for a silly sequence that feels out of place.
17. The Christmas Day Flashback
Episode Title: "To Save Us All from Satan's Power" (Season 3, Episode 10)
The Sopranos isn't the first television show to do it and it certainly won't be the last one. But it's always rather amusing when a flashback scene is attempted and the only visual cues offered that it is indeed a flashback is a bad fashion choice here and a little more hair on a balding character's head there.
While it might not be such a stretch to imagine that Tony and the gang haven't changed much in the six years since the flashback scene in "To Save Us All from Satan's Power" originally occurred, 20-something Jackie Aprile Jr. (Jason Cerbone) playing his teenaged self looking exactly the same is rather laughable.
16. Adriana Trusts Anyone
Episode Title: "Army of One" (Season 3, Episode 13)
Meadow notwithstanding, it's clear that the show's writers were quite adept at writing strong, female characters. (See: Carmela Soprano. Who—you might notice—has not been noticed in any one flaw.) And it was fine that, when they decided they needed an FBI informant inside the family, Christopher's long-suffering fianc̩ee Adriana La Cerva would fit the bill.
What didn't jive was the relative ease with which streetwise Adriana—who grew up in connected family and was engaged to a captain—was cuckolded. The whole thing kicked off at a clothing store and went something like this:
Undercover FBI Agent (hair teased, clothes tight and in her finest Jersey accent): Hey, great shoes.
Adriana: Thanks. Shoe talk, shoe talk, shoe talk—Jimmy Choo.
Agent: I agree. Shoe talk, shoe talk, shoe talk—Manolo Blahnik. Want to get some Starbucks?
Adriana: Sure. Want to be best friends?
OK, so maybe that's not verbatim. But it's pretty damn close. How as savvy a moll as Adriana could not be a bit more discerning of a new BFF—nor Christopher suspicious when this stranger starts hanging around—has the distinct whiff of "let's hurry this up already!"
15. Silvio Gets Political
Episode Title: "Christopher" (Season 4, Episode 3)
Though Michael Imperioli did write this episode, the "Christopher" in the title refers to Christopher Columbus. The episode is a strange foray into politics and cultural heritage that takes place against the the backdrop of a Columbus Day Parade, which is being protested by local Native Americans.
Considering all the flack the show took for its representations of Italian-Americans, it makes sense that the writers would want to address these criticisms through heritage-sensitive storylines. But the end result doesn't live up to intentions; it's unpolished and sticks out as an episode in which most of the characters seem out of character, particularly Silvio Dante, who—for one episode—becomes politicized. But all that ends at the stroke of midnight the very same evening.
It was probably for the best.
14. Furio Becomes a Pussy
Episode Title: "The Weight" (Season 4, Episode 4)
When we first met Furio Giunta in season two, he was breaking arms for Italian mob boss Annalisa Zucca. As part of a cars-for-strong-arms foreign exchange program, Furio moved to Jersey to serve as Tony's Right-Hand Ballbuster. And he did the title proud!
In "Big Girls Don't Cry," the fifth episode of season two, Furio lived up to his name when he came to collect a debt from a massage parlor owner and used whatever object he could find to get the job done—a gun, a bat, a prostitute, and even the dude's wife.
But by season four, Furio was the Italian Martha Stewart, hosting housewarming parties, wearing bedazzled shirts and teaching his female guests some old-school dancing techniques, including Carmela, with whom he's fallen in love. (Uh-oh. Cue Furio's hasty exit a few episodes later.)
13. Tony's Crazy Goomahs
Any fan of the gangster genre knows that goomahs come with the territory. But Tony's tendency to strike up long-term extramarital affairs with some of the world's clingiest/craziest women only served to slow the show's pace down and take screen time away from more interesting subplots. How many more times did we need to see a mistress threatening to kill herself (or succeeding at it) in the wake of being dumped by Tony?
More importantly: We've seen so much of Tony's O-face over the years that it can never be un-etched from our minds. And, oh, how we wish it could!
12. Making Us Wait
Episode Title: "Two Tonys" (Season 5, Episode 1)
In 2003, approximately six months after The Sopranos' fourth season finale, it was announced that production on the fifth season would be delayed. Originally scheduled to air in the fall of 2003, the schedule was pushed back to early 2004 to accommodate James Gandolfini's growing movie schedule. The cinematic gem in question? Surviving Christmas. That's right, we can all lay part of the blame for the 15-month span of time between seasons four and five on Ben Affleck's Oscar-winning ass. (Though we will concede that the Steve Buscemi-starring season five was worth the wait.)
But the near-two-year break between seasons five and six? Well, that was just plain cruel (especially as audiences knew that the end was near.)
11. Not Killing Junior
Episode Title: "I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano" (Season 1, Episode 13)
To be clear: there is perhaps no more loved character in the Soprano family than Corrado/Junior, Tony's curmudgeonly uncle who—like Fredo Corleone—is forced to deal with the public humiliation of taking orders from a younger family member. He doesn't deal with it well.
Much of the show's first season surrounds Junior's attempts to de-throne Tony—with the help of Tony's own mother—and reclaim his spot at the top of the mafioso food chain. In the end, Junior fails; Tony finds out about the conspiracy... and yet Junior lives on throughout the entire series run?
10. Killing Junior (Metaphorically Speaking)
Episode Title: "Members Only" (Season 6, Episode 1)
This one might seem contradictory, given the previously cited "flaw." But while—from a verisimilitude standpoint—it would only make sense that Tony would retaliate against Uncle Junior for the assassination attempt he orchestrated on his life in season one, viewers were glad he didn't. As it gave them five more seasons of Dominic Chianese's hilariously cantankerous capo, who just happened to utter some of the series best one-liners.
Unfortunately, the show did not like to let their elder characters ride off into the sunset gracefully; like Tony's mom before him, Junior develops dementia, eventually shooting Tony when he mistakes him for an old (and long-deceased) nemesis and ends up living out the rest of the series in a mental institution. Leaving viewers devoid of any further "Junior-isms." Boo!
9. Are We Dreaming? Again?
Episode Title: "The Test Dream" (Season 5, Episode 11)
There are two types of television viewers in this world: Those who love a good dream sequence and those who do not. David Chase is clearly in the former category, as he regularly employed extended dream sequences (sometimes lasting an entire episode) as a chosen method of exposition for Tony's character. But wasn't that the point of Dr. Melfi's character?
Worse yet was when one of Tony's dream sequences would conclude with Tony telling Dr. Melfi about it—attempting to further drive home its meaning but being more successful in driving those viewers who were already bored to consider this the perfect time for a bathroom break.
Chase's tendency toward other-worldliness revealed itself early in the series, most notably in the debut season's last two episodes "Isabella" and "I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano." But it was the second season finale—"Funhouse"—where Chase really embraced his predilection for the subconscious. In the episode, which jumps back and forth between dreams and reality, Tony is suffering from food poisoning and, in a state of delirium, comes to realize the truth about his soldier-turned-informant Big Pussy Bonpensiero, who's been wearing a wire.
But "The Test Dream" in season five—in which Annette Bening makes a bizarre cameo playing herself, but as the mother of Meadow's boyfriend Finn—was a particularly despised use of the technique, mostly because of timing. With Tony and his crew getting ready to go to war with a powerful New York family, the episode's insertion into the end part of the season angered viewers who were ready to get on with the imminent bloodshed.
The show's creators were well aware of the audience's disdain for these storylines, but they didn't relent. "People complained to me about it," writer-producer Terence Winter told the New Jersey Star Ledger in 2006. "I said, 'The opening shot of this series is a guy in a psychiatrist's office. You think maybe the show is going to deal with dreams and psychology?' That's how you've met Tony Soprano, so the show deals with that stuff. So if you're interested in Tony Soprano, aren't you interested in what he thinks about, what he dreams about?' You would hope."
8. Gratuitous Body Functions
Episode Title: "Chasing It" (Season 6, Episode 16)
You would think the producers would have more important things to show than Tony battling a mean case of diarrhea or Adriana vomiting all over an FBI agent. But you'd be wrong. While the show's occasional fascination with bodily functions served a psychosomatic purpose in some instances, in others it was just downright gratuitous. And gross.
Case in point: five episodes after we've last seen—or really even thought about—Vito Spatafore, whose homosexuality was revealed the previous season, there's a fairly inexplicable one-minute scene in which Vito's son, Vito Jr., reacts to his classmates' bullying by shitting in the shower... then stepping in it.
Huh?
7. Symbols, Symbols Everywhere
Ducks and bears and cold cuts, oh my. Sopranos fans would have done well to have a background in Freudian psychology in order to fully understand and appreciate the regular use of symbolism in the show—both subtle and blatant. Luckily, we had Dr. Melfi to help us understand much of it. Like the ducks representing Tony's own family (and their subsequent departure as a metaphor for the ways in which he and his family are going their separate ways). Or a plate of fresh cold cuts serving as a reminder of the many ways in which Tony's mother disappointed him.
Frankly, it begins to feel a little ham-fisted. Like being bludgeoned.
6. Tony: The Gambler
Episode Title: "Chasing It" (Season 6, Episode 16)
Is this really the best they could do? As the series raced to its conclusion (there were just five episodes left) and the war between the Soprano and Lupertazzi crime families was at its boiling point, Tony suddenly becomes a degenerate gambler who's in debt to longtime family friend Hesh Rabkin for $200,000? The whole plotline seemed contrived for the sole purpose of taking Hesh (well played by Jerry Adler) off the call sheet for the duration of production.
5. The Soprano Kids Suck
Episode Title: Every Episode, Every Season
There's a difference between being a hated television character and being a television character audiences love to hate. A perfect example of the latter would be Tony's sister; obnoxious, self-serving, and at times plain cruel Janice—masterfully played by Aida Turturro—is a classic television villain and audiences couldn't get enough of her. Soprano kids Meadow and AJ, on the other hand, are an example of the kind of characters you just plain hate.
Sure, we understand that the show was about a man balancing the role of father to both of his "families," which would've made it difficult to eradicate the kids from the show completely. But there were so few redeeming qualities in these two—either from an acting standpoint and an interest level—that it really would have benefited the show's creators to erase and start over.
Don't tell us we're the only ones who hoped that Meadow would have indeed headed off to Berkeley for college (good riddance) and that in AJ's battle with depression, his suicidal tendencies might have won out?
4. Repetitive Storylines
Mommy issues. Gambling addictions. Drug and alcohol dependency. Depression. Suicide. Car wrecks. Guys who are released from prison only to realize they can't hack it in the outside world. Who knew the mob life was so boring?
Critics of the show often said that The Sopranos valued style over substance. When one views the show in a condensed setting—as opposed to over the span of eight years—those arguments gain some validity. The repetition of storylines becomes apparent.
3. Bringing Down the Old Guard
Though audiences were given a two-year warning that The Sopranos would be meeting its end in 2007, it seems as if the show's writers didn't get the memo until a few weeks out. We wanted to see as much of our favorite characters as possible up until the end, but the trade off seemed to be that most of them would be killed. And rather suddenly at that.
In "Kennedy and Heidi" (Episode 18), Tony and Christopher are in a car accident that leaves the latter in rather bad shape. He's always been a bit of a loose cannon so Tony decides to solve "the problem" by suffocating him to death.
Then there's poor, sweet Bobby Baccalieri, who is violently gunned down two episodes later while shopping for one of his prized toy trains.
Ouch!
2. Dr. Melfi Shows Tony the Door. End Scene.
Episode Title: "Made in America" (Season 6, Episode 21)
Even some of The Sopranos' most loyal fans had a problem with the series finale. While much of the negative hoopla surrounded its fade-to-black final moments (we'll get to that in a minute), Dr. Jennifer Melfi's quick and rather callous cutoff as therapist to Tony in many ways degraded what was easily the show's most important relationship; the whole premise of the show was "gangster sees a shrink."
Yes, Jennifer and Tony's therapy sessions could occasionally feel like easy narrative devices (a simple solution to get some exposition) and, yes, they could sometimes be a little boring (there, we said it). But The Sopranos was originally just as much Jennifer's story as it was Tony's, and their sessions were cathartic for both. In a way, their characters were eerily similar: outwardly accomplished in their chosen fields (she, psychiatry; he, arm- and law-breaking) but inwardly struggling with many of the same dilemmas, like how to be a good parent and role model and issues of cultural identity.
After hours of eavesdropping on Jennifer and Tony at their most honest and vulnerable, the final break in their relationship comes with Jennifer showing Tony the door when she becomes convinced (at a dinner party where no one knows the meaning of "doctor-patient privilege") that he is merely a sociopath using therapy to become a better manipulator. When Tony—who is at his weakest and has a target on his back—protests, she stands firm. But there's no conversation, no resolution. It's a missed opportunity for some emotionally-charged drama between two accomplished actors. And a letdown for all. After seven years, they're done. Wham, bam, thank you ma'am.
1. The Final Fade to Black
Episode Title: "Made in America" (Season 6, Episode 21)
It's not hyperbole to say that the series finale of The Sopranos was one of the most polarizing conclusions in the history of television. Like all things in life, there are those who shouted its brilliance from the rooftops while others sulked, moaned and complained that, "I don't get it." Spend just a few minutes reading critical takes on the show's final moments and you could be equally convinced that Tony lived or died. (We won't make a judgment either way.) The only real fact is that the ending was ambiguous, and asked viewers to draw their own conclusions.
While this wouldn't be as divisive a tactic in an already pushing-the-limits-of-reality-and-patience series like Lost, ambiguity seemed like a cop-out for a show like The Sopranos, which was famous for showing you all the things you couldn't see on network television. So to shift its viewpoint from in-your-face to existential seemed out of character.
In 2012, the cast and creators got together to create an oral history of the show for Vanity Fair. In it, James Gandolfini admitted that, "When I first saw the ending, I said, 'What the f--k?' I mean, after all I went through, all this death, and then it's over like that?" (He went on to say that after sleeping on the ending, he came to appreciate it more.) For his part, Chase has admitted that "ambiguity was very important to me," likening the final episode to Fellini's 8 1/2. For many loyal fans of the show, the final episode may as well have been titled "The Big Letdown."