WHEN I meet some-one who has not watched David Chase’s mobster masterpiece, I am insanely jealous.
Imagine being able to sit down and indulge yourself in all 86 episodes of gangster Tony Soprano’s journey for the first time ever. Sheer heaven.
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If you are one of those lucky few, you will have no doubt been bored to death by people like me telling you what a treat you are in for.
But let me try to summarise what it’s all about. Although, like all great boxsets, it is about so much more than just the plot.
Tony Soprano is a middle-aged, middle-ranking, New Jersey-dwelling mobster.
He has psychological issues caused by a complicated relationship with his dead mob father and very much still alive — and psychopathic — mother, which sees him go to a therapist.
It is a fact he tries very hard to keep secret while jostling for position in the mobster rankings, following the boss’s death.
Devastating watch
As he rises towards pole position, he struggles to maintain a work/life balance which, in this instance, can be the difference between life and death.
Put simply, this is the show that started EVERYTHING.
Without this, it would have been years before studio bosses realised viewers wanted slow- burning, well-written storylines, played out by deeply unlikeable anti-heroes.
I talk about boxsets for a living, but it is difficult to see a landscape that has Game Of Thrones, Mad Men or Breaking Bad in it had Chase not paved the way.
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Over the six seasons, you become so deeply attached in the lives of these characters, it can often mean a shocking and devastating watch.
It will come as no surprise that mafia henchmen have not got an amazing life expectancy — but as the inevitable happens, you realise just how much you have grown to care about each character.
The casting is exceptional. With his lead role, the late James Gandolfini gives one of the most nuanced performances ever seen, and the series made stars of the largely unknown rest of the cast.
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The Sopranos was not afraid to do things differently either — with trippy dream sequences and self-contained episodes that only feature a couple of characters sparring for an hour.
You may have heard about the way The Sopranos ends — whole theses have been written on it.
And much like the whole thing, the final hour is television like you have never seen before, and arguably will never again.
If Shakespeare was alive, he would have written The Sopranos. It is that good.
The Sopranos (15) Six seasons
★★★★★