Warning: Spoilers Ahead
Occasionally, this season can seem like it’s just slowly cleaning up after the fourth season’s narrative foundations by delegating most of its time to binding together some scraps that were left unfinished, limiting focus for its own identity; a lot of the hateful dynamics between side characters from beforehand are also just suddenly cut off out of nowhere, since its deep focus is back on Tony again. There are also some new characters in the season that are oddly fleshed out, which leads to a few motivations and actions that don’t really feel justified from them. However, the psychology aspect of the show returns victoriously in season 5 with some of the best evaluations of Tony’s persona that we’ve experienced yet; the divorce has perpetuated an existential crisis in Anthony’s sense of place to a whole new level of delusion and thematic ambiguity that reminded me again why The Sopranos is such an unlikely program; the isolation of our lead character has somehow swollen even further just when we thought it couldn’t possibly get any worse, and sometimes, we don’t really know why, which makes it all the more fascinating.
Verdict: B
“The Sopranos” is now streaming on HBO Max.
Burning the Celluloid 
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