The six-season run of The Sopranos defined the concept of prestige television and represented a paradigm shift for the medium. Each season of HBO's mob drama was remarkable in its own way, and there are good arguments for almost any of them to be considered the best. However, each season of The Sopranos has garnered different, if somewhat similar, levels of critical acclaim across major review aggregators like Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic, as well as IMDb for averaging user reviews.

That includes the unique structure of Season 6 specifically. While the season is overall branded as a single season, it was actually produced and released as two distinct halves. This led to The Sopranos' final season, in some cases, being reviewed separately as Season 6, Part I, and Season 6, Part II. Nonetheless, HBO's premier mobster crime drama was one of the most consistently praised originals across its run thanks to gritty storytelling and compelling characters.

Updated on March 8, 2024, by Guillermo Kurten: HBO has been consistently praised for its diverse catalog of excellent TV dramas, and showrunner David Chase's The Sopranos is an important cornerstone of that history. Across film and TV, this mobster series has been critically acclaimed as one of the best crime dramas. This feature is being updated to provide more data on the critical reception of each of the show's six seasons, including the average user ratings on IMDb.

7 Season 5 Was a Slow-Burning Season With Satisfying Payoff

Despite being the lowest-rated season by critical averages, The Sopranos' penultimate season is a more than worthy installment to the series. With years of audience goodwill behind it, the show continued to push the boundaries of narrative storytelling, culminating in episodes that continue to be discussed and debated to this day ("The Test Dream," "Sentimental Education").

The plot is a bit slow in early episodes, but overarching conflicts, like Adriana's secret role as an informant and Johnny Sack's increasingly belligerent attitude, are developed masterfully, resulting in memorable payoffs ("Long Term Parking," "All Due Respect"). Furthermore, the symbolism of the bear in Carmela's backyard is perhaps one of the most under-appreciated metaphors in the entire series. That being said, it ranks at the bottom by comparison to the other seasons.

6 Season 6, Part II Had a Divisive Ending But Was Well-Received Overall

Being the last half-season of a legendary show and needing to deliver a satisfying conclusion is a thankless job, but the so-called Season 6B does its absolute best. At no point in the series does the family find themselves in a darker and more dangerous situation, exacerbated by family trauma ("The Second Coming"), death ("Kennedy and Heidi"), and a bloody mafia war ("The Blue Comet").

All the depressing events may be hard to watch, but they also play directly into the show's themes of existentialism and the never-ending conflict between old and new. Audiences may never truly agree on the show's ending, but its brilliance is that it's exactly the way showrunner David Chase wanted his masterpiece to be remembered.

5 Season 6, Part I Made the Most of Its Development Time

With the benefit of two years of preparation, the first half of Season 6 was so absorbing and dazzling that one reviewer compared it to the works of Mozart. The show successfully built on its brief foray into dream sequences.

Season 6, Part I accomplished this by casting Tony in a multi-episode battle with his own subconscious ("Mayham"), finished off the tragic stories of Johnny Sack ("Stage 5") and Eugene Pontecorvo ("Members Only"), and even worked in a hilarious Ben Kingsley cameo ("Luxury Lounge"). With the series' ending now known, it's fascinating to go back and consider how each falling domino in these episodes gradually leads to The Sopranos' inevitable conclusion.

4 Season 4 Hones in on Tony and Carmela's Troubled Relationship

Critics had some minor gripes with the series' fourth season, considering it a tad "too carefully crafted," and yet most still couldn't help but give it stellar marks. There's a strong focus on the tension in Tony and Carmela's marriage, which allows Edie Falco to deliver some of the best acting ever seen on television ("Whitecaps").

On other fronts, Tony's resentment of Ralphie finally reaches a breaking point ("Whoever Did This"). Finally, the season offers a healthy mix of humorous interventions, jokes, and non-sequiturs to provide some dark comic relief. The chaos of the family dynamic changing for Tony amped up the show's drama a notch, but some of the earlier seasons still had a much bigger impact on viewers, putting it in the middle of the rankings.

3 Season 2 Cuts Loose With Plenty of Chaotic, Violent Drama

Betrayal rears its head left and right in Season 2, as Puss is roped into working for the FBI, Janice undermines her brother at every step and Tony's refusal to wear a jacket destroys his relationship with Richie ("Full Leather Jacket"). Unlike the show's first season, which seems rather innocent in comparison, the chaos brought on by Richie's release from prison resulted in a bevy of narrative surprises ("The Knight in White Satin Armor") and a marked shift in tone.

Nowhere is that more evident than in the tension-fueled boat ride when Tony, Paulie and Silvio confront Sal about his disloyalty. The consequences that come from their decision will haunt the series' protagonist for years to come.

2 Season 1 Was Immediately Impactful and Set the Tone for the Rest of the Series

For the uninitiated viewer who wants to know where The Sopranos excels the most, the first season is arguably the strongest example. Surprisingly, The Sopranos' first season is its most consistent, producing a constant stream of winners, besides perhaps one seemingly out-of-place miss ("A Hit Is a Hit"). Regardless, the entire cast and crew could not have asked for a better start.

Most critics focused on the show's originality and lauded the performances of Nancy Marchand and James Gandolfini for cultivating an unorthodox and outright dysfunctional mother-son dynamic. Some episodes have since become touchstones in the history of television ("College"), while others offered hints at the kind of subconscious, dream-like narratives ("Isabella") that were yet to come in later seasons.

1 Season 3 Offered Focused and Grounded Character Drama

The best season of The Sopranos, according to critics at least, was a perfect storm of mature storytelling and compelling characters that hit on all cylinders and rarely let up. In addition to including what many consider the show's best episode ("Pine Barrens"), the season also features one of its most memorable villains in Ralph Cifaretto ("University").

At the same time, Tony's Freudian relationship with Gloria Trillo ("Amour Fou") dovetails perfectly with the death of his mother ("Proshai," "Livushka"). Even in its more controversial moments ("Employee of the Month"), the writers can instill Dr. Melfi with a profoundly vulnerable complexity and show they are willing to take risks to tell important stories. No one can argue that by the time the third season rolled around, The Sopranos had found its stride, marking it as the most epic season of them all according to critics and audiences.