History YMMV / TheSopranos

** Christopher, when he's not being a junkie or an abusive boyfriend. He dressed sharp in suits and leather, has some great one liners, and oozes that bad boy charisma. Despite being considered average by Tony in terms of looks, Christopher certainly compensates this with other traits.

** Annalisa Zorra. She's considered by fans to be the most attractive woman Tony ''hasn't'' slept with.

** "Those two black guys." [[labelnote:Explanation]]Stems from Vito's joking excuse for Eugene hitting Little Paulie in the face with a beer bottle. It's used to refer to any robbery or hit that was pulled off without anyone being caught, sometimes elevating the status of "those two black guys" to MemeticBadass status. Made even funnier because Chris at one point did hire two black gangbangers to assassinate a key Mafia figure, then had them killed because they [[HeKnowsTooMuch Knew Too Much]].[[/labelnote]]

** "Those two black guys." [[labelnote:Explanation]]Stems from Vito's joking excuse for Eugene hitting Little Paulie in the face with a beer bottle. It's used to refer to any robbery or hit that was pulled off without anyone being caught, sometimes elevating the status of "those two black guys" to MemeticBadass status.[[/labelnote]]

* TrappedByMountainLions: Carmela's "spec house" subplot is rather underwhelming beyond working as a device for new sources of problems and conflict.

* FandomRivalry: Fans of this show have a big one with fans of ''Series/TheWire'' and ''Series/BreakingBad'', due to all three shows being widely considered to be the top candidates for the greatest crime drama (or even drama in general) show of all time.

** Much of the humor is built on BlackComedy and RefugeInAudacity, from both the writers and the characters. BloodyHilarious examples abound, with the extreme violence used to reinforce the {{bathos}}.

** Despite what a massive Jerkass [[AxCrazy Ralph Cifaretto]] is, he's also infectiously hilarious and entertaining, and Joe Pantoliano's magnetic performance especially sells it.

** Arguably, Vito's entire AmouredClosetGay arc, save for [[spoiler:his death]]. While it's clear that the show is trying to analyze what being gay would be like in a [[TheMafia mafia]] environment, it ended up being given to a background character who up until that point was mainly just a FatComicRelief, and it was an arc that dragged on for several episodes rather than being resolved in one or two. There's also the fact that any sympathy that could be given to Vito is lost on account of [[BoomerangBigot his public homophobia]] and general brutish acts of violence like the rest of the mobsters, and that his actor is generally incapable of [[DullSurprise emoting much]]. Though most people will agree that [[spoiler:his CruelAndUnusualDeath at the hands of Phil Leotardo was uncomfortable and depressing to watch.]]

** Season 6 suffers due to the two-year break after the fifth season as well as an annoyance from fans over the season being split in two. While the earlier episodes are lauded people generally disliked the way that Vito's storyline dragged in the middle of the season. Season 6 part 2 (the last 9 episodes of the series) is more well-liked though there's a decent amount of broken base concerning [[spoiler: Christopher's death]] and the GrandFinale [[spoiler: having NoEnding]].

* ComedyGhetto: Averted. While the show has a lot of acclaimed dramatic episodes such as "[[Recap/TheSopranosS5E12LongTermParking Long Term Parking]]" and "[[Recap/TheSopranosS6E20TheBlueComet The Blue Comet]]", it is the largely comedic episode "[[Recap/TheSopranosS3E11PineBarrens Pine Barrens]]" that is often claimed to be one of the best, if not the best, episodes in the series.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Fans are divided into seeing AJ as either a genuinely conflicted young adult with serious mental health problems who should have had a different upbringing or a whiny, spineless moid who despite having the same nurture as Meadow and more attention, only brings shame and distress to his family just by existing.

* TooBleakStoppedCaring: While the show was very popular and well-received during its run, there will inevitably be some people who will watch this and be put off by how reprehensible the main characters are and [[CrapsackWorld how brutal the criminal underworld really is]]. When your main protagonist is a [[TheDon mob boss]], a murderous [[TheSociopath sociopath]] and a major {{Jerkass}} to everyone including his own friends and family, you know you've hit this criteria. In fact, this show may arguably be even worse than ''[[Series/BreakingBad Breaking Bad]]''. As dark as ''Breaking Bad'' got, it at least had a cast full of flawed yet sympathetic characters that never [[MoralEventHorizon crossed the line]]. In ''The Sopranos'', on the other hand, all of the main characters are so deeply flawed, amoral, sociopathic, sadistic, and pointlessly violent that it can be difficult for some people to root for them. It definitely doesn't help that some of the characters worst crimes are played for {{Black Comedy}}.

** In Season 5, is [=LaMana=] genuine when he apologizes to Tony for his attitude and [[EndOfAnEra promises to get used to how things are now?]] Or, is he only placating Tony [[TheStarscream so that he can later take him out]]? Is Tony being ProperlyParanoid by having him sent back to prison, or TheParanoiac?

** [[AxCrazy Ralph Cifaretto]] also counts. Despite what a massive Jerkass he is, he's also infectiously hilarious and entertaining, and Joe Pantoliano's magnetic performance especially sells it.

** Phil Leotardo, complete Jerkass from the moment he appears onscreen and eventual final BigBad of the series. But Creator/FrankVincent's excellent performance, FountainofMemes lines shown below and how he serves as a Foil and ShadowArchetype to Tony. Serve to make the Shah Of Iran so enjoyable and so loathsome at the same time for viewers.

** Paulie "Walnuts" Gualtieri. [[PsychoForHire Is he a ruthless psychopath in every single way]], [[AmbiguousDisorder or just a turbulent man with a childlike mind and poor impulse control?]] His KickTheDog moments and LackOfEmpathy (the waiter's murder, [[spoiler: Minn's murder]]) seem to indicate the first interpretation. On the other hand, his moments of kindness or empathy seem to indicate the second interpretation.

** In "[[Recap/TheSopranosS5E04AllHappyFamilies]]", is LaMana genuine when he apologizes to Tony for his attitude and [[EndOfAnEra promises to get used to how things are now?]] Or, is he only placating Tony [[TheStarscream so that he can later take him out]]?

** In [[Recap/TheSopranosS5E04AllHappyFamilies]], is LaMana genuine when he apologizes to Tony for his attitude and [[EndOfAnEra promises to get used to how things are now?]] Or, is he only placating Tony [[TheStarscream so that he can later take him out]]?

** Whether or not [[spoiler:Dr. Melfi's termination of her sessions with Tony]] was handled properly, with some seeing it as rushed and a disservice to [[spoiler: Melfi's character development]].

* AwardSnub: The show got ''enormous'' amounts of critical acclaim but consistently lost the Best Drama Series award at the UsefulNotes/{{Emmy Award}}s, first to ''Series/ThePractice'' and then (three times) to ''Series/TheWestWing'' (though it would eventually win for its fifth season). This led to some discussion about whether there might be some bias among Emmy voters against cable series, but at this point, there's no real way to know. (Cable may have lost the battle but won the war on that front, though; a network show hasn't won Best Drama Series since 2006.)

** AJ's psychological issues and depression was almost universally dismissed by viewers as an example of {{Wangst}}, especially the accusations that AJ is "useless", [[NoSympathy and couldn't even commit suicide right.]] Today, with greater awareness if how mental illness works, most of these criticisms are seen as highly offensive and misinformed, especially as the story ''does'' actually treat the situation seriously. The scene where Tony saves AJ during his suicide attempt is now seen as a disturbingly realistic depiction of suicide, with ''even Tony'' [[EveryoneHasStandards immediately dropping his anger and disappoinment and actually comforting AJ.]] Especially since some modern shows like ''Series/Yellowstone'' [[SuicideIsShameful have regressed back to this outlook on suicide.]]

** AJ's psychological issues and depression was almost universally dismissed by viewers as an example of {{Wagnst}}, especially the accusations that AJ is "useless", [[BotchedSuicide and couldn't even commit suicide right.]] Today, with greater awareness if how mental illness works, most of these criticisms are seen as highly offensive and misinformed, especially as the story ''does'' actually treat the situation seriously. The scene where Tony saves AJ during his suicide attempt is now seen as a disturbingly realistic depiction of suicide, with ''even Tony'' [[EveryoneHasStandards immediately dropping his anger and disappoinment and actually comforting AJ.]] Especially since some modern shows like ''Series/Yellowstone'' [[SuicideIsShameful have regressed back to this outlook on suicide.]]

* ToughActToFollow: Creator/JamesGandolfini worked pretty consistently after completing the series, taking several parts before his death in 2013 that helped [[PlayingAgainstType subvert his mobster persona]], such as the General in ''Film/InTheLoop'', Leon Panetta in ''Film/ZeroDarkThirty'', a grieving husband and father in ''Film/WelcomeToTheRileys'', and a GentleGiant LoveInterest in ''Enough Said''. That said, none of his roles matched up to the public ubiquity of Tony Soprano in popular culture.