History YMMV / TheSopranos

* {{Anvilicious}}: If it wasn't already clear before, by Season 6, David Chase really wants you to know that mobsters are not the people you should be rooting for and that the mafia life is not worth it. The mob war between the Soprano crew and the New York families claims lives on both sides when they least expect it, which brings the former to ruin. And when they're not fighting each other, they're fighting amongst themselves, resulting in even more deaths. In the meantime, characters like Tony and Christopher have their immorality ramped up as the toxic lifestyle of the mafia continues to enable their worst habits, with them hurting or even killing people who don't deserve it. Though, considering the MisaimedFandom the series developed, as described below, this was likely necessary.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
** A huge theme of the show. Nearly all of the characters are unprecedentedly rich with psychological nuance, complex (and often conflicting) emotions, and words and actions which can be interpreted in a number of ways. The show treasures ambiguity, and thus refuses any easy categorizations for its characters or anything else.
** Meta example. Did David Chase end the show that way to gain a [[ItWasHisSled typical audience reaction?]] Or was it an intentional "screw-you" to the fans?[[labelnote: Explanation]]As an entry in MisaimedFandom, it was discussed quote-on-quote "David Chase, creator of The Sopranos has spoken out against the many viewers who would cheer Tony on, stating that he was written to be an unlikable, hypocritical character. And, you know, a murderous gangster. And then, when those same viewers began calling for Tony's death during the show's final season, he got really frustrated, giving an absolutely scathing statement that basically said that rooting for a despicable criminal for six years and then arbitrarily deciding that it's now time for "justice" is completely absurd."[[/labelnote]]

** As a series filled with symbolism, narrative complexity, and cryptic messages that captivate more than just casual viewers, this is inevitable. Nearly every aspect of the series and its characters has been exhaustively overanalyzed. However, one of the most prevalent theories suggests that the entire series serves as an allegory for modern America and its greatest vices of the 21st century: individualism, greed, selfishness, skepticism, distrust towards the government, etc. And TheMafia ''is just a part'' of the allegory. It's worth noting that Tony Soprano himself [[BornInTheWrongCentury embodies a mindset rooted in the 20th century, a world that no longer exists, and whose profession is long past its mid-20th Century heyday]].

* EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory: In "[[Recap/TheSopranosS6E2JoinTheClub Join the Club]]" and "[[Recap/TheSopranosS6E3Mayham Mayham]]", Tony Soprano, while in a coma, dreams of himself as a salesman who loses his wallet and takes the identity of Kevin Finnerty. Numerous fan theories have suggested the dream was Purgatory, which Tony was visiting. Note that while Creator/DavidChase has {{Jossed}} all theories of the significance of the "Kevin Finnerty" name, he has neither confirmed nor denied the Purgatory theory regarding the dream itself.

** A recurring topic in Tony's therapy sessions is his adherence to "tough guy" masculinity, and how that causes more problems than it solves. Outside of the therapy sessions, a good example of this "tough guy" masculinity in action is Tony having to beat up his own bodyguard to regain the respect of his soldiers, despite recovering from serious gunshot wound not too long before and coughing up blood afterwards. Twenty years after the series, the discussion of "toxic masculinity" is going strong.

** A recurring topic in Tony's therapy sessions is his adherence to "tough guy" masculinity, and how that causes more problems than it solves. Twenty years after the series, discussion of "toxic masculinity" is going strong.

*** Another great example is during his final relapse into alcoholism, where he tries to tell something heartfelt to Paulie about daughter, only for Paulie to turn it into a highly insensitive joke and everyone else on the room laughing with him, even Tony. While it shows off the kind of toxic people he sacrificed his life for, he later deals with it in the worst way possible by drunkenly confessing his mafia activities and making false accusations towards JT Dolan, a civilian he had been abusing and extorting for the better part of the season, and murdering him when Dolan doesn't want to listen.

** Another huge example is Christopher Moltisanti, for those that don’t see him as a JerkAssWoobie. His drug addiction and abuse by Tony and the other capos is supposed to humanize him, but the fact that he’s arguably even more violent and abusive than any of them makes this hard to swallow. While Tony is a JerkAss to him at times, [[MoralEventHorizon outside of killing Christopher near the end of the series]], the worst he ever does is make fun of him and insult his sobriety, making Christopher’s complaints come across as Wangst considering he’s far more abusive to his girlfriend Adriana in comparison. It also doesn’t help that he had multiple opportunities to leave the Mafia life and actually escape Tony’s abuse, but rejected it.

** Vito's several episode-long story arc after being outed as a homosexual. While it seems to be trying to humanize and sympathize him to the audience due to his difficult plight, it's hard to feel any sort of sadness for a character who was little more than a very minor FatComicRelief for most of the show, and just as cold-blooded, power-hungry, and psychotic as the other mobsters, previously killing Jackie Jr. in cold-blood and attempting to start a coup against Tony. Furthermore, his decision to abandon the chance of a no-strings-attached civilian life with a handsome boyfriend, simply because he found it was boring after ''one day'', to go back to New Jersey to beg Tony for his position back and try and convince him [[ImplausibleDeniability he's not actually homosexual]], apparently deluding himself into thinking that all his extremely homophobic associates would just believe him and forget about the whole thing, makes it hard to feel any sort of compassion for [[TooDumbToLive someone so utterly moronic]].

** Season four, which either sucked out loud or was a good season that got crapped on because the show took an introspective turn.

** The major at the military school that Tony wants to send AJ to in season three, goes on about how society is making the current generation dependent on drugs. He later becomes [[Franchise/{{Saw}} a man who puts through people through death traps to better themselves and make them appreciate their lives]].

** Paulie's character, while over the top, comical, and downright cartoonish, is still well-loved for the levity, the colorfulness of his character overall, and the depths of his relationship with his ma that his actor, Tony Sirico, nails especially in Season Six Part A. Along with that, he can also be downright vicious as a gangster when he wants to be, as [[spoiler:Minn]] and Jason Barone will tell you. And while he often acts impulsively to a fault, Paulie also possesses a fair amount of savviness when it comes to navigating the mob hierarchy that gets highlighted every so often, [[spoiler: contributing to his survival through the end of the show.]] It all helps to make Paulie one of the standout characters of the show.

* RomanticPlotTumor: Season four dedicates a lot of time to tease a potential affair between Carmela and Furio, but it never pays off. He just leaves and, aside from a throw-away line from Tony, is never mentioned again.

** It's telling that ''The Sopranos'' can be affected by this trope in a way that even ''Series/BreakingBad'' couldn't even compare. While ''Breaking Bad'' balanced its dark and gritty plot with a fair share of flawed yet genuinely likable and relatable characters, the same cannot be said for ''The Sopranos''.
** While we can't deny in any way that the show was critically acclaimed for how groundbreaking it was for its time, it certainly hasn't prevented it from aging poorly, with many of the show's tropes, jokes, and attempts of dark humor [[ValuesDissonance making them appear uncomfortable, distasteful, and mean-spirited by today's standards]].

*** Some may find it intriguing that the series delves into Melfi's character beyond Tony, and that her entire storyline provided the series with a character study of Melfi beyond what is commonly expected in a show like this. Others feel that Melfi's entire plot in this episode was unnecessary (especially considering that this event was never mentioned again) and served no real purpose for the series other than to depict a very graphic, GratuitousRape for the sake of shock value.

* GenreTurningPoint: For the ''entire medium of television''. Not only did ''Series/TheSopranos'' make {{Creator/HBO}} universally known (along with ''Series/{{Oz}}'', which had premiered in 1997), but it also established that high-quality television drama can compete with film and literature in terms of telling artfully constructed, sophisticated stories for adults. ''Series/TheSopranos'' is also credited with demonstrating that shows with complicated, [[ContinuitySnarl continuity-heavy plots]] that didn't spoonfeed information to the audience could be successful -- a revelation without which shows like ''Series/TheWire'' and ''Series/GameOfThrones'' would undoubtedly never have been greenlit. This eventually started spreading to basic cable as well, starting with ''Series/TheShield'' and ''Series/MadMen'' (created by a ''Sopranos'' veteran), and most notably executed with ''Series/BreakingBad''. It also made the [[KilledOffForReal deaths of major characters]] a regular device in its storytelling, [[AnyoneCanDie to the point that]] ''[[AnyoneCanDie nobody]]'' [[AnyoneCanDie was completely safe]]. This is now a staple of acclaimed television dramas. While other series had done many of these things before (such as ''Series/BabylonFive''), ''The Sopranos'' brought them all together and was not restricted by the SciFiGhetto, allowing it to become the turning point for television. All of this has brought about what many consider to be a golden age of dramatic television.

** There are many establishing shots of the Twin Towers in New York City, including in the opening sequence of Seasons 1-3.
** Tony states that the American military never goes to war anymore.

* {{Fanon}}: While Furio's ultimate fate is never revealed, most fans like to believe he simply returned to Naples and went back to working for the Camorra, who ignored Tony's request to have Furio killed if Tony did in fact contact them as he claims to Carmela.

* TooBleakStoppedCaring: One of the most common criticisms of the series, particularly in the latest seasons, [[UnintentionallyUnsympathetic is how having humanized characters who are extremely unpleasant can become strangely discordant]]. Just remove the redeemable traits from the main cast of the show, and you would have characters that [[HateSink you would hardly sympathize with]]. Between seasons 5 and 6, everyone is so deeply corrupted, petty, hypocritical, unrepentant, and/or just plain stupid that there are hardly even ''somewhat'' likeable characters to root for—only assholes you [[AnyoneCanDie are probably going to see die]]. It's no wonder the show ended at Season 6, because it became nigh impossible to feel any sort of sympathy for Tony after seeing [[KickTheDog the awful stuff]] [[TookALevelInJerkass he does]] over the course of the season, on top of backpedaling on all his character development, making it clear he has no hope of escaping his criminal rut and is only getting ''worse'' as a person. Perhaps not coincidentally, viewership of the show fell from usually reaching 9-12 million viewers per episode in Seasons 3-5 to only about 6-7 million in the second half of Season 6 (with only the last two episodes being an exception). [[NoEnding The way the]] [[DownerEnding show ended]] certainly doesn't help.

* TooBleakStoppedCaring: One of the most common criticisms of the series, particularly in the latest seasons, [[UnintentionallyUnsympathetic is how having humanized characters who are extremely unpleasant can become strangely discordant]]. Just remove the redeemable traits from the main cast of the show, and you would have characters that [[HateSink you would hardly sympathize with]]. Between seasons 5 and 6, everyone is so deeply corrupted, petty, hypocritical, unrepentant, and/or just plain stupid that there are hardly even ''somewhat'' likeable characters to root for—only assholes you [[AnyoneCanDie are probably going to see die]]. It's no wonder the show ended at Season 6, because it became nigh impossible to feel any sort of sympathy for Tony after seeing [[KickTheDog the awful stuff]] [[TookALevelInJerkass he does]] over the course of the season, on top of backpedaling on all his character development, making it clear he has no hope of escaping his criminal rut and is only getting ''worse'' as a person. [[NoEnding The way the]] [[DownerEnding show ended]] certainly doesn't help.

* TooBleakStoppedCaring: One of the most common criticisms of the series, particularly in the latest seasons, [[UnintentionallyUnsympathetic is how having humanized characters who are extremely unpleasant can become strangely discordant]]. Just remove the redeemable traits from the main cast of the show, and you would have characters that [[HateSink you would hardly sympathize with]]. Between seasons 5 and 6, everyone is so deeply corrupted, petty, unrepentant, and/or just plain stupid that there are hardly any relatively likable characters to root for—only assholes you are likely to see dead. The way the show ended certainly doesn't help.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: The show abused this trope a lot, especially when [[HateSink the most despicable characters]] were humanized and sympathetic to some degree. It turns out that portraying TheMafia in the most [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstructive]] way possible can be ''very'' '''jarring'' or even unrealistic' when you have three-dimensional characters whom you're supposed to empathize with in certain situations of the show. Their actions, signifying a crossing of the MoralEventHorizon, can often undermine the show's attempts to be emotive or moving. Sure, we're supposed to feel sorry for them after their [[MoralEventHorizon awful actions]]...

* TooBleakStoppedCaring: One of the most common criticisms of the series, particularly in the latest seasons, [[UnintentionallyUnsympathetic is how having humanized characters who are extremely unpleasant can become strangely discordant]]. Just remove the redeemable traits from the main cast of the show, and you would have characters that [[HateSink you would hardly sympathize with]]. Between seasons 5 and 6, everyone is so deeply corrupted, petty, unrepentant, and/or just plain stupid that there are hardly any relatively likable characters to root for—just assholes you most likely want to see dead. The way the show ended certainly doesn't help.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: The show abused this trope a lot, especially when [[HateSink the most despicable characters]] were humanized and sympathetic to some degree. Turns out portraying the Mafia as realistically despicable as possible also makes it hard to make them sympathetic in any way no matter hard the writers try. Sure, we're supposed to feel sorry for them after their [[MoralEventHorizon awful actions]]...

** Many people think of Johnny Sack as a decent guy due to his love for his wife, forgetting some of his more heinous actions such as putting out a hit on someone because they dared to make a joke about her weight (granted, the person who made the joke is one of the most despicable characters on the show for unrelated reasons) or urinating on a made guy after putting him in the hospital because he thought said guy was laughing at him, as well as his ManipulativeBastard and FalseFriend tendencies towards Tony.

** In "[[Recap/TheSopranosS6E18KennedyAndHeidi Kennedy and Heidi]]", the song that plays during [[spoiler:the car crash that grievously wounds Christopher]] is "[[Music/PinkFloyd Comfortably Numb]]" from ''Music/TheWall''. "Comfortably Numb" is a song about a drug overdose by the main character of ''The Wall'', befitting of [[spoiler:Christopher being a self-destructive drug addict]], and said main character of ''The Wall'' grew up [[DisappearedDad fatherless]], [[spoiler:much like Christopher did]].

** Tony's high school football coach, Coach Molinaro, only appears in one scene, which is a dream sequence at that. However, since said scene consists of him chewing out Tony for getting involved in the mob and [[FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse shutting down all of Tony's arguments and excuses]], it's one of the show's most memorable scenes.

* {{Woolseyism}}: The Japanese dub had a curious one regarding the episodes' titles: Unlike Japanese translations for episodes from other shows, when the titles are translated either literally or adapted to the context of said episode, the episodes titles of this show are [[OneWordTitle one-word titles]] instead.[[note]]Technically speaking, they are two-letter (kanji) compounds, which, translated to English, form a single word.[[/note]] This was done since many of the titles in the original English version are either American idioms or [[ShoutOut shout-outs]] from shows unknown in Japan. For example, the title of the first episode of the show, "[[Recap/TheSopranosS1E1Pilot The Sopranos]]", was renamed as "家族/Kazoku" (Family, after the titular family), "[[Recap/TheSopranosS1E13IDreamOfJeannieCusamano I Dream Of Jeannie Cusamano]]" became "憎悪/Zōo" (Hatred), and so on. Curiously enough, the Japanese name of the last episode, "[[Recap/TheSopranosS6E21MadeInAmerica Made In America]]" was named "哀愁/Aishuu" (Sorrow), after the [[TheForeignSubtitle Japanese subtitle of the show]], "哀愁のマフィア/Aishuu no Mafia" (The Sorrowful Mafia).

* EpilepticTrees: There are heavy debates about the show's infamous [[NoEnding ending]], with discussions going on how either its symbolic themes, [[https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/1ibvq1/the_sopranos_ending_properly_explained/ this argument]] over [[spoiler: Tony being whacked himself]], or most sarcastic if David Chase just left the ending like that to piss off people who rooted for Tony despite Tony being a murderer and an asshole. [[https://www.cracked.com/article_25122_6-famous-tv-finales-everybody-gets-wrong.html People like Cracked have their own theories]].
** On a lighter note, [[https://www.reddit.com/r/thesopranos/comments/swi6d2/the_1989_movie_uhf_is_the_prequel_to_the_sopranos/ another theory]] states that Richie Aprile's prison stint was the direct result of his [[Film/{{UHF}} botched kidnapping of Stanley Spadowski]].

** Furio Giunta, particularly for being the '''most''' badass character on the show.

** Despite dying in Season 1, Mikey Palmice remains a very popular character. When fans discuss which characters they wish had lasted longer, Mikey tends to be one of the most frequently mentioned names.

* StrangledByTheRedString: Meadow's boyfriends are the source of some drama and given decent focus for the most part... except for the last one, fellow mob kid Patrick Parisi, to whom she becomes engaged. Her dates with him are mentioned but only once shown, and he doesn't even appear until the third-to-last episode of the series.