History Series / TheSopranos

* UndignifiedDeath: [[spoiler: Gigi Cestone]], who suffers a heart attack while constipated on the Bada Bing toilet and surrounded by porn magazines.

** Junior breaks up with his talkative girlfriend with a dramatic PieInTheFace. A shout-out to ''Film/ThePublicEnemy''.

* PostModernism: Very often, almost OncePerEpisode the show features some classic movies and songs relevant to the plot, and references to other fictional works are common. Tony himself is a movie buff with a great VHS and DVD collection and at one point the roots of gangster cinema are discussed, including the ''Film/ThePublicEnemy'', the film cited by Creator David Chase as one of his major influences building the main characters.

->''"[[Music/{{Journey}} Don't stop]] [[TheStinger believin'...]]"''

* SmashToBlack: The infamous [[NoEnding ending]], in the middle of a scene, hell, in the middle of a Music/{{Journey}} lyric.

* EvilVersusEvil[=/=]ALighterShadeOfBlack: Tony and his friends ain't no saints, but the other mobsters who are against them are much worse.

* FaceHeelTurn[=/=]HazyFeelTurn: From Phil's point of view, "The Leotardo family has been taking shit from everybody the minute they got off the boat from Italy."

* KillEmAll: The last few episodes "take care of" [[spoiler: Christopher, Bobby Bacala, and Phil Leotardo]] while [[spoiler: Silvio]] is in a coma he may never wake up from, and [[spoiler: Tony himself]] may have been shot in the final scene.

** From the season 2 finale: "You know I've been working with the government, right, Ton'?" It was heavily implied since about halfway through the first season, though, so the only surprise to the viewers is that [[ItMakesSenseInContext it's a fish saying it]].

** While Tony has moments of unsophistication, he is not the average goombah, his "semester and a half of college" background really shows up from time to time, he is attracted to sophisticated women, and can hold his ground intellectually with Dr. Melfi, understanding many references and complex concepts, e.g. he can cite Freud and Sun-Tzu. This particularly shows in his happiness that Meadow is on the path to a professional career, and his disappointment in A.J.'s... ''divergent'' trajectory.

** The FBI has ADayInTheLimeLight episode where the procedure regarding how to plant a surveillance bug in Tony's house is shown in detail. Tony is a ProperlyParanoid boss who regularly sweeps his headquarters for bugs, relies on {{Pay Phone}}s, and avoids talking shop inside his house, but he is vulnerable in the noisy basement. The bug has very limited use and the trope is subverted because the judge is adamant and the FBI is only given one shot at this method that is never used again.

** Tony in his robe and underwear. Especially his sex scenes.

** The Bada Bing!
** [[Creator/DreaDeMatteo Adriana, Adriana, ADRIANA!!]]

** Not to mention most of Tony's goomahs over the course of the show.

* FanservicePack: Meadow. To such an extent that her first post-18th episode in Season 3 has her in a bikini.

''The Sopranos'' is a [[GenreDeconstruction deconstructive]] CriminalProcedural series created by Creator/DavidChase. Its PilotEpisode was shot in 1997, and the show premiered on {{Creator/HBO}} in the United States on January 10, 1999, concluding its original run of six seasons and 86 episodes on June 10, 2007 with one of the most infamous endings in American television history[[note]]see [[{{WMG/TheSopranos}} the WMG page]] for various interpretations[[/note]].

A LicensedGame called ''VideoGame/TheSopranosRoadToRespect'', set between between seasons five and six, was released in 2006.

* AbusiveParents: Tony is emotionally manipulated and terrorized by his difficult mother throughout his childhood and well into his adult life. One notable incident featured his mother threatening to stick a fork in his eye when he was only ten years old. Tony's father was outwardly friendly, but also a manipulative sociopath who indoctrinated his son into violent crime and the mob. It's implied that the various degrees of emotional manipulation and terror Tony suffered under his parents is what turned him into a violent, sociopathic adult. [[spoiler:As the series goes on, after the cumulative effects of therapy, separation, and a near-death experience, Tony ends up subverting this trope with his own kids; he's nowhere near father of the year material, but still manages to be a better parent than the people who raised him.]]

** Chris shoots a bakery worker in the foot for taking too long with his order. In ''Film/{{Goodfellas}}'', he was shot in the foot for taking too long making a drink.
** The murder of [[spoiler:Angelo Garepe]] referred back to the death of Billy Batts in ''Film/{{Goodfellas}}''; both were beaten, thrown into a car trunk, and shot while pleading for their life. Batts was played by actor Frank Vincent (Phil Leotardo) who reverses his role from victim to executioner.

** Virtually all of the "goomahs" of the mob men are significantly younger than them. Irina is 12+ years Tony's junior, Bobbi even more to Junior. Tracee is 20 years old with the 40+-year-old Ralphie, [[spoiler:making her murder at his hands all the more tragic.]]
** A 20-year old AJ starts a relationship with Blanca, a 30-year old single mother. His parents disparage the relationship (Tony because she's Puerto Rican, Carmella because of the age gap), but figure it's a good thing that she's at least Catholic. The relationship doesn't last; it's implied that while Blanca recognizes that AJ has a good heart, she was better off with someone her own age. AJ becomes so depressed that he attempts suicide.

** Christopher in Season 1 when he suffers a [[ItWorksBetterWithBullets mock execution]]. [[DefiantToTheEnd Reversed]] later in Season 5 when [[spoiler:Tony is about to kill him and Chris doesn't back down from an accusation.]]

** Tony Soprano himself. Between his LackOfEmpathy, HairTriggerTemper, uncontrolled outburst of frustration, and grandiose sense of entitlement, there's definitely something wrong with him. While the psychiatrists in the show clearly diagnose Tony as an incurable criminal psychopath, there are several moments throughout the series when he is seen expressing true remorse for his actions as well as acting on genuine feelings of altruism, so yeah, he has a vague mental disorder left to viewers' interpretation.

** Johnny Sack's wife and eldest daughter are both substantially overweight, while his youngest daughter (played by a young Cristin Milioti) is unusually thin. The subject of food is a BerserkButton for the youngest daughter, as seen when she yells at her family for even bringing up the subject. It's implied, but never explored, that she has an eating disorder.

** Tony asking "Don't you love me?" to Junior who is going through early stages of dementia and has behaved badly to Tony. Junior is left shaken, speechless, and showing a SingleTear.

** Or at the very least, Legal VoodooShark, respecting Junior's indictments and jail in Seasons 1-2. The indictments appear to be federal ones, but then Junior is apparently detained before hearing. After a few weeks, his lawyer gets him out by claiming health problems, allowing Junior to be held on house arrest. All of this is a big to-do in the family. However, federal defendants are rarely held before trial and rarely have to post bail; instead, they are simply detained, released with conditions (like Junior's house arrest), or released without conditions, and this decision is made within a few days of the arrest. Junior would have never been held for more than 2-3 days in a real federal prosecution. Now, Junior could have been held longer on state charges (at the time; New Jersey would later adopt a federal-like system), but the charges are clearly federal. Adding to the confusion is that the judge who hears the motion to put Junior on house arrest has a New Jersey flag in his chambers (federal judges generally only have U.S. flags), but also clearly refers to the prosecution as "the Government" (which is only done in federal prosecutions; in a state criminal case in N.J., the prosecution is "the State").

** Invoked in "The Test Dream". Creator/AnnetteBening is playing Finn's mother in Tony's dinner dream. He recognizes her, and later in Tony's episode-long dream she appears as herself.

** Johnny Sack and Vito Spatafore are both barely seen in Seasons 1 and 2, but are major players later on (In Vito's case, his actor Joseph R. Gannascoli plays an innocent bystander during an incident with Christopher at a bakery in Season 1)

* BadBoss: Tony is a successful manager, but he verbally shreds his underlings on a regular basis. He is entitled by the hierarchical level of the Mafia, but crosses the line once and gets called on it when he physically assaults Ralph, as beating another made-man is a violation of Mafia protocol. He later [[spoiler:kills Ralph]], which is also against the rules. Christopher is another victim of this kind of abuse.
** Ironically, while Tony was out of line when he beat the piss out of Ralphie Ciffaretto, he could have had the man killed at any time that he wanted, for any reason. [[spoiler:Which is more or less why no one asked any questions about Ralphie's death; that, and ''no one'' was sad to see him go.]] The world of the Mafia, folks.

** Johnny Sack is usually calm and collected, unless someone makes a remark about his wife.

** A later example is Feech Lamanna. Like Jackie he tries to scheme his way to the top, but by that point Tony's learned to nip this sort of nonsense in the bud and manipulates him into getting sent back to prison before he can cause trouble.

* [[BornInTheWrongCentury Born in the Wrong Decade]]: Tony and his friends are well aware that the mob's heyday is long over with, but they have a hard time coming to terms with it. Especially with the fact that modern technology and science continues to make running protection rackets and committing crimes without getting caught more and more difficult.

* BrickJoke: Several, but the one with the longest payoff between setup and punchline involves Phil Leotardo. When he is first introduced, one of the first things you hear anyone say about him is that he is "a pimple." His last scene has him [[spoiler:shot multiple times, falling to the ground in such a way that an SUV left unattended rolls over his head, crushing it]], followed almost immediately by an FBI agent informing Agent Harris that [[spoiler:"Phil Leotardo got popped."]]

** Christopher "does a number two in his pants" as girlfriend Adriana puts it, when he is mock executed by a pair of Russian gangsters.

* BurialAtSea: [[spoiler:After Tony Soprano and his gang kill Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero (a long-time friend who betrays them to the FBI), they wrap up his body, and with heavy hearts, give it a decent burial at sea.]] Overlaps with CementShoes, a common way of body disposal during the series. Chains and actual concrete blocks are used as an anchor.
* BuryMeNotOnTheLonePrairie: Tony angrily mocks this when Janice asks him what was done with [[spoiler:Richie's remains.]] "We buried him on a hill overlooking a little river, with pine cones all around. C'mon Janice, what the fuck? [[YouDoNotWantToKnow You want to know?]]"

** A.J. too, though this is only in the later seasons. He's one of the dumbest characters on the show, but lacks the ruthless spirit that a mobster needs, so he has no real place in the world.

** Adriana, once the feds get their meat-hooks in her.

** Carmela and Tony reference Christopher's drug-fueled rant at [[spoiler:Livia's wake]] the year prior.
** Chris and Paulie relate the then-three year old story of the Russian in the woods in Season 5.
** Tony mentions the troubles him and Junior have had in the past (i.e. Junior trying to have him killed) to Janice.

** {{Subverted}}: After Tony finds out that his mother tried to have him killed, he goes to her retirement home to call her out, only to find that she's had a stress-induced stroke, and is probably unable to consciously hear any of his rage-fueled confrontation. This continues in later seasons, as Tony tries to call her out more than once about her attempt at killing him, and the heaps of psychological abuse she's put on him and his family over the years. Each attempt never comes to any kind of definitive resolution of their issues. In the end, she dies at the beginning of the third season, leaving Tony psychologically scarred with no clear picture or resolution of his feelings of his mother, and this affects him for years afterwards.

** "Fuhgeddaboutit" and an overuse of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRkE_Gv6ALM OH!]] for everybody.

** Silvio's impersonation of Michael Corleone in the first seasons invokes "Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in."

** In "The Strong Silent Type", Chris tries to buy scag in a rundown Latino neighbourhood. He gets robbed of his Range Rover and wallet, and then gets the absolute shit beat out of him.
** A downplayed example in "Watching Too Much Television". The locals in the rundown Black ghetto make themselves clear to Tony and A.J. that they aren't welcome if they aren't there to buy drugs. Despite one of the locals drawing a gun, and Tony TemptingFate by being a DeadpanSnarker, they're allowed to drive out without further incident.
** In "Moe N Joe", Bobby picks up a late night collection in the run down neighborhood late at night. He gets ambushed and beaten by several Black youth armed with baseball bats, robbed of his cash and his gun, and takes a ricochet bullet in the eye.

** Most of Tony's angst derives from his position of boss. He mentions the trope often, argues that his greedy underlings have no idea how hard it is to be a boss, and [[IWarnedYou warns his friend]] Johnny Sack about it several times.
** In season 6 [[spoiler:Silvio]] doesn't last more than a few days as regent because the responsibility quickly takes a toll on his health.

** Carmela in the first season is a more of a gun moll than in later seasons. In ThePilot, after hearing a noise in the night, she expertly locks and loads an assault rifle, ready to throw down. In later seasons she's more of a sheltered suburban housewife. A later episode has her again looking for a possible intruder in the house, and she's much less prepared.
** In the pilot, shot a year before the dubious greenlight, Tony is already a peerless boss, not a mere capo and provides a voiceover. Some [[TheOtherDarrin later recasts]] and several physical changes are noticeable.

** Subverted with [[spoiler:Furio. He goes back to Italy, seemingly intent on killing Tony so he can be with Carmela... and we never see him again.]]
** Subverted with [[spoiler:the cat in the final episode. It keeps staring ominously at Chris's photo on the wall of the pork store, even after Paulie moves it. We never find out why.]]

** After essentially being the BigBad for the first season, Uncle Junior was gradually phased out as his ailments got worse and worse. In season 5 he only appeared in half of the episodes and the season 6 carted him off to a nursing home where he spent most of his time offscreen. Notably, Junior only appears in two episodes during the final batch of 9 episodes.

** In "46 Long," which was barely the second episode in the series, Tony stops by his mother's house and starts looking over her pictures; one of them shows a younger Livia Soprano enjoying a cigarette. In Season 5, [[spoiler:years after Livia's death,]] Tony notices and briefly examines the same picture hanging in his Aunt Quintina's house.
** At the end of Season 1, "Larry Boy" Barese is formally indicted along with [[spoiler:Junior Soprano]], and is not seen or heard from again until much later. He shows up briefly at a mob event and is dragged away by police for violating his house arrest. He appears non-verbally in Season 4 during [[spoiler:Junior's]] trial because they were both taken into custody as part of the same wave of indictments, and are therefore being tried for the same crimes at the same time.

** Matthew Weiner plays TV-pundit and mafia expert Manny Safier in "Two Tonys" and in "Stage 5".

* CriminalProcedural: Organized crime variety. A relatively "blue collar" gangster family overshadowed by New York. The focus is set on how the professional and personal issues tend to overlap and conflict.

* DeadpanSnarker: Almost the entire cast. Silvio, Carmela, Junior, and Dr. Melfi deserve special mention, although Tony can hold his own with them himsslf.

* DeathEqualsRedemption: [[spoiler:After his son is shot in the chest with an arrow, Ralphie starts to regret the bad things he's done; soon after, he is killed by Tony during a fight over Ralphie's "possible" involvement with killing Pie-O-My.]] Tony even had a dream about him that showed a caterpillar one moment and a butterfly the next, all while perched on his bald head.

* DecapitatedArmy: Invoked by Phil in season six. [[spoiler:Killing Jersey's leadership would make its crew assimilable or at least easier and cheaper to deal with.]]
* DeceasedFallGuyGambit: The FBI investigates the killing of Willie Overall, Tony's first murder way back in 1982. After Overall's body is found and excavated, the investigation is eventually called off, when, thanks to misinformation provided by Di Meo capo "Larry Boy" Barese, the decades old murder is pinned on Jackie Aprile, Sr., who has been dead himself for several years.

** Lorenzo Barese. After he is sent to jail in the season 1 finale he only appears from time to time, but maintains his captaincy throughout the series.
** Father Intintola is a major character in the first season, makes only occasional appearances afterwards.
** Irina Peltsin is Tony's regular mistress until he dumps her. She makes continues to make occasional appearances over the next couple seasons, but her role is greatly reduced.
** Undercover FBI agent Deborah Ciccerone is introduced in season three and has a major role through a number of episodes in season four. We even get scenes from her point of view with her husband and child. Once her cover as Adriana's friend is blown, however, Adriana gets a new handler in Robyn Sanservino. From that point on, Deborah only appears in a few brief office meetings and has no further effect on the plot.

* DisappearingBullets: Many mobsters who have talked to the Feds, pissed off the wrong capo, or just outlived their usefulness to the organization get clipped in a car. Apparently the side windows of their cars are bulletproof.

** Ralphie makes a joke about Ginny Sack's weight. Johnny Sack's reaction? [[spoiler:He attempts to place a hit on him.]]

* DontAsk / YouDoNotWantToKnow: A rare instance where Tony slips some true information about whackings to Carmela, when she asks about [[spoiler:the Janice and Richie situation.]]

** Johnny Sack describing the joke Ralphie made about his wife. "He said she was having a 90 pound mole removed from her ass. The implication was that her ass is so big she could have a mole that size removed from it."

* DoppelgangerDating: Almost all of Tony's mistresses are impossible-to-please dark-haired beauties with serious psychological issues -- that is to say, just like his mom. The most striking example comes in the third season, when Tony starts seeing a new mistress, the beautiful but depressive and temperamental Gloria Trillo. After complaining about her to Dr. Melfi in therapy, Melfi points out that his description of her (much more psychologically than physically) sounds eerily like his recently deceased mother, Livia. Tony had a bit of a shock when Gloria told him, "Oh, poor you!' just like his mother used to.

** "Eloise", the penultimate episode of Season 4, includes a pivotal scene where Meadow and Carmella have brunch at the Plaza Hotel under the famous painting of the eponymous character of Eloise at the Plaza. More subtly, though, the title alludes to Carmella's dissatisfaction in her marriage and to the Unresolved Sexual Tension between her and Furio, which evokes the tragic love affair of Abelard and Heloise. The latter meaning is made clearer in the following season, when Carmella takes an interest in the letters of Abelard and Heloise shortly after separating from Tony.

* DownerEnding: Nothing upbeat about the finale: [[spoiler:even though Phil Leotardo is killed, ending the mob war between New Jersey and New York crews, most of Tony's key guys are either dead or otherwise incapacitated, making the future of the Soprano crime family pretty grim. Even worse, Carlo, one of the last trusted members of the organization, decides to testify against Tony and others. Meanwhile, while AJ finally gets his life back on track, Meadow essentially becomes her mother, with prospects of marrying a mob lawyer. Uncle Junior completely loses himself and is left to die in a mental hospital, and Bobby's kids are stuck with Janice, who starts resembling her and Tony's mother Livia. Tony himself stops visiting Dr. Melfi as she realizes he cannot be saved and abruptly ends Tony's therapy, with no real conclusion. And, finally, the last scene of the series implies Tony might have been killed in front of his family...or not. Everybody loses. Tony just left a lot of loose ends, after all. ''Paulie'' is the one character who comes out on top, so [[KarmaHoudini make of it what you will]].]]

** Meadow drops the phone after she's informed of [[spoiler:Jackie Jr.'s death.]]
** The same situation happens again when [[spoiler:Kelli]] is told the news about [[spoiler:Christopher's death]].

* TheDragon: Abundant. Paulie, Sil, and even Christopher serve in this role for Tony. Johnny Sack was Carmine Lupertazzi's, and later on Phil Leotardo was Johnny's.

** Chris struggles with heroin and cocaine addictions, and is berated and judged hopeless and unworthy by Tony and the gang. Paulie particularly. They resent more the weak nature of Christopher than the ''badness'' of drugs, since the mobsters casually indulge in the habit too and selling them is a regular source of income.

** A major issue for Christopher. He spends the entire show carving a status for himself, [[spoiler:yet after deep personal sacrifices and a rank of Captain, he gets and feels disrespected. Near the end of the show, after a long struggle, he seems redeemed and happy; he is a captain, has a new and stable family, and his long-awaited movie project is a reality. Then comes an ugly feud with Paulie, some disrespectful jokes, and a general lack of empathy with Tony, which, when combined, make him snap and relapse into his drug habits, with fatal consequences.]]

** The first season is a mild example, playing somewhat more like a lampoon of the gangster genre. It emphasizes the zaniness of Tony's two lives as a family man and a "Family" man. His wife gets this treatment as well. In one scene she expertly cocks and loads an AK-47 when she thinks there's an intruder. In following seasons she's just a typical housewife. The supporting gangsters are also constantly quoting famous mob movies, showing that modern mob culture is partially based on imitating fiction. This is de-emphasized in the rest of the show, though never completely goes away.

** Tony giving Ralph a beating after the Tracee incident is the source of a lot of conflict, as physically assaulting a made man is against the Mafia's rules. He attacked Mikey Palmice, another made man (and Junior's right-hand man to boot) in the first season with no such drama.

* EpiphanyTherapy: Subverted to hell and back; Tony mostly uses what he learns in therapy to be a more efficient mob boss. [[spoiler:Dr. Melfi eventually realizes this and terminates the sessions for good.]]
* EqualOpportunityEvil: When it comes out that Vito was spotted at a gay bar, most of the crime family's members are either crying out for his blood, or at the very least, calling for him to be removed completely. Patsy is the only one to declare that he has no problem with homosexuality. While Tony does have a problem with it, he has a far bigger problem with the fact that Vito is extremely competent and makes him vast amounts of money and wants to keep him on in an indirect fashion. However, his most homophobic members start crying too loud for him to ignore. Though the decision is eventually taken out of his hand by an even more homophobic member of another family.

** Paulie Walnuts is extremely protective of his mother and serves as a doting son. It's his one virtue. However, even ''his'' love is tested when he finds out that [[spoiler:his mother is actually his aunt and has been lying to him his whole life]]. He gets over it, however, and soon reconciles with her. In season 6, [[spoiler:he mourns his mother's passing and is enraged at the skimpy showing at her funeral]].

** The mobsters all express disapproval at Christopher's drug habits. Taken up a notch at his intervention. They freak out when it comes out that Chris accidentally sat on and killed Adriana's dog while high.

** During the uproar within the gang after [[{{Gayngster}} Vito]] gets outed, Tony is (or at least tries to be) the lone voice of tolerance, suggesting that perhaps Vito's sexuality is his own business and not sufficient reason to have him whacked. The gangsters seem themselves as this as well, one even goes so far as to claim that Vito's actions go against their principles and is "a sin". Tony doesn't hesitate to call him out on this.

** For all of Dr. Melfi's accusations that Tony is a sociopath, he does clearly love his family in his own way. He feels guilty about what he puts his wife through, sees Meadow as an innocent in need of protecting, and is tortured by AJ's floundering.
** Phil Leotardo really loved his brother and mourns his murder bitterly for years afterwards.

* EvilIsEasy: Tony's curse is that he has a measure of self-awareness, and on some vague, ephemeral level he wants to be a "good guy." He's just completely unwilling to accept any sacrifice or inconvenience required to actually be one, because it's just easier for him to do what he's always done -- hurt people for profit.

** Christopher seems to have a genuine friend in his AA sponsor, a man who he met while in rehab for his drug use. Chris then gets the guy to play in Tony's card game, covers his losses, then ensnares him in the same debtor cycle gangsters have been subjecting people to for centuries. He even beats the hell out of the guy for not paying up. When the guy understandably relapses, Chris looks at him with disgust, and eventually takes possession of his car to cover part of the loan.
* EvilMatriarch: Livia is the mother of Tony and has held a vice grip over his emotions for many years, using spite, jealousy and guilt as her weapons.

** Possibly the most evil person the show (which, for the record, is about Mafiosi) is Livia Soprano, Tony's aged mother. Extraordinarily manipulative, and not above putting a hit on her own son if it gets her what she wants.
** Uncle Junior, Tony's uncle, and of Livia's generation. In the first episode, he is plotting to kill a rival at his favorite restaurant. He becomes boss of the North Jersey Mob shortly thereafter, and conspires with Livia to kill Tony.

** Jackie Aprile also felt this way towards his own son, and [[GiveHimANormalLife arranged with Tony]] to make sure this wouldn't happen before he himself died in the fourth episode. [[spoiler:Tony doesn't succeed and [[TurnOutLikeHisFather Jackie Jr.]] ends up dead later on, further strengthening his decision to keep A.J. out of it]].
** While calling Carmela 'evil' might be a stretch, one of the ways she shows she's not in complete denial is that she longs for her daughter, Meadow, not to follow in her footsteps. [[spoiler:It fails completely, as Meadow drops out of med school and decides to become a lawyer]].

** Done in-universe. The nasty boss from ''[[ShowWithinAShow Cleaver]]'' is modeled almost verbatim after Tony, who fails to realize this at first. [[spoiler:It becomes a major wedge between him and Chris.]] Chris, terrified by the implications, strong-arms the nominal writer into taking credit for the character. He claims that [[SincerestFormOfFlattery he stole the character from another movie]], but Tony (who's on the fence about the thing) easily sees past the lie, checks the original movie, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero and takes serious offense to the whole issue]].

** Mikey, before executing [[spoiler:Brendan Filone]]:

** Lampshaded by [[spoiler:Big Pussy]], who requests not to be shot in the face so he can keep his eyes.

* FaceDeathWithDignity: Zig-zagged with [[spoiler:Big Pussy's death. He first tries to talk his way out of being killed, but once he realizes it's not working, he calmly walks to the middle of the room allowing the men to shoot him, only politely requesting that they don't shoot him in the face. However, after they pull out their guns he starts to lose his composure and begins to panic, asking that he be allowed to sit down first; at that point the men just shoot him. (They do spare his face as he had requested, though it's unclear if they were intentionally honoring his wishes.)]]

* FaceOfAThug: Silvio always has a trademark, weird face expression.

** Nancy Marchand died between seasons two and three. Her final scene was in the premiere of the following season, and was cobbled together using voice clips from previous scenes and a CGI head of her character (whose lighting does not match the rest of the scene) pasted onto a body double.

* FamilyMan: Just as the mafia films, the series is also about the family and the patriarch who wants to get their family united, no matter the cost.
* FamilyRelationshipSwitcheroo: In the final season, it is revealed that [[spoiler:Paulie Walnuts has been raised by his aunt his entire life, because his mother was a nun who broke her vow of chastity with an American soldier]].

** Livia Soprano seems at first to merely be a grumpy old lady. She is very insistent that nobody swear or smoke in her presence. Then she all but encourages her brother-in-law to put a hit out on her own son.

** Lorraine Calluzzo in season 5. She's in the shower when the Phil Leotardo and the hitmen go after her, and she runs through the house completely naked before they shoot her. It's not pretty.

** Despite being one of the most ruthless characters in the series, Phil Leotardo considers himself too agreeable in nature and willing to compromise for his own good. In reality, it is his obsession with preserving his alpha male persona at all costs that proves to be his downfall.

** After [[spoiler:Johnny Sack confesses in court his involvement in the mafia]] and is sent to prison, a disgusted and infuriated Tony tells Silvio:

** At Christopher's intervention, Tony threatens to suffocate him. [[spoiler:Later on, he does.]]

* FormerlyFat: Vito Spatafore loses 160 lbs between season 5 and 6. This was RealLifeWritesThePlot, as actor Joseph R. Gannascoli had lost a similar amount of weight for health reasons.

* FreudianSlip: Tony has one about [[spoiler:Vito]] in the season six episode "Live Free Or Die."

* FriendlyLocalChinatown: The New York family that Tony's feuds with hangs out in Little Italy, which is rapidly being swallowed by Chinatown in real life. The characters comment on this.

* GangstaStyle: In "46 Long", Brendan berates Special K for holding his gun this way during a truck hijacking. The idiot immediately goes back to holding his gun this way afterwards. This is primarily to show them to be StupidCrooks; the hijacking inevitably goes bad and they end up dead as a result when word gets back to the boss.

* {{Gayngst}}: [[spoiler:Vito]] spends a significant amount of time in Season Six experiencing gayngst when he is inadvertently outed to both his and Phil Leotardo's (somewhat homophobic) crews, flees to a small town in New Hampshire, and struggles with his duties to his wife and kids, his crew, and the web of lies he has to tell his newfound lover in New Hampshire to protect himself. [[spoiler:His gayngst arguably results in his death at the hands of Phil]].
* {{Gayngster}}: [[spoiler:Vito Spatafore]] is a straight deconstruction; the other gangsters find it disgusting, Tony, his only defender, is given a hard time, the guy has to flee [[spoiler:and is eventually killed for being gay. Vito essentially commits suicide by returning to the fold despite having found a new life and an attractive boyfriend.]]

* GirlsWithMoustaches: In one episode, several of the wiseguys are sitting around their no-work jobs, "breaking balls" about each other's girlfriends. One teases another, saying his girl had a moustache so bad it must have been like kissing a fireman.
* GoIntoTheLight: When [[spoiler:Tony Soprano]] is comatose after a shooting, he dreams that he's going to a family reunion. He's greeted in front by his dead cousin, who urges him to hand over his briefcase (despite his protest that "my whole life's in here") and go into the party in the white building they're standing in front of. As he approaches the door, the inside of the house becomes a white blur--but he hears his family calling him to come back, refuses to hand over the briefcase, and wakes up on the hospital bed.
* GoKartingWithBowser: Once the FBI agent tasked to Tony's crew is re-assigned to anti-terrorism, he starts frequenting Satriale's, Tony's hangout, because the sandwiches are so good.

* GoryDiscretionShot: Most of the mob executions are shown in their bloody entirety... except [[spoiler:Adriana's]].
* GossipEvolution: Tony gets in a car accident with Adriana as a passenger. Rumors circulate into Tony crashing the car while Adriana was giving him a blowjob and go from there; the rumors aren't true, but the two did share a lot of UnresolvedSexualTension that they most likely would have ''resolved'' (if you follow) had they made it to their destination.

* HarsherInHindsight: In-universe example: Chris groused about the Feds not investigating him like they were the senior Mafiosi, and he even bought a stack of newspapers which referred to him as a "local mobster". One has to wonder if he ruefully reflected on this in later seasons, when the FBI spent what must have been thousands of taxpayer dollars to specifically bring him down — oh, and it indirectly/directly resulted in Adriana's death, too.

** Artie is under the constant criticism of his wife Charmaine, mostly about his decisions when running the restaurant. This and other factors leads to the two nearly divorcing.
* HerCodenameWasMarySue: Christopher produces a horror film, ''Cleaver'', where undead mobster Michael comes back for revenge on his boss Salvatore and his cheating fiancé. It's quite obvious that Michael is a stand-in for Christopher, Salvatore for Tony, and Michael's fiancée for Adriana, but Christopher vehemently denies it.
* HeroAntagonist: The FBI agents who oppose the mobsters provide anti-hero, manipulative, and callous versions. Agent Harris in particular is a FriendlyEnemy of Tony's and eventually [[spoiler:forms an EnemyMine against Phil]] because of some developments about UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror.

* HollywoodGenetics: Meadow has a noticeably darker complexion than everyone else in her family. The actress is actually half Cuban and half Ashkenazi Jew rather than Italian-American. This gets brought up in dialogue in the fifth season, when Carmela recalls how her mother lamented "She's so dark!" when she first saw her granddaughter.
* HollywoodPsych: Dr. Melfi acts as both as a psychiatrist (a medical doctor that prescribes medication) and a psychologist (a counselor or therapist who engages in talk therapy). In reality, those are two separate professions, a psychiatrist generally only sees you for about 15-20 minutes once a month to adjust medication levels while a psychologist is the one who will see you for an hour a week to talk through issues (but cannot prescribe medication).

* HopeSpot: After her fallout with Christopher regarding [[spoiler:the FBI]], Adriana is seen driving alone with a suitcase and possibly leaving everything behind to start a new life. [[spoiler:Turns out it's just a daydream and she's a passenger with Silvio at the wheel, taking her on the last car ride of her tragic life.]]

* HowTheMightyHaveFallen: [[spoiler:Silvio, by the end of the show. Throughout the series, he swaggers around his strip club, always totally in control of "his girls." At the pork store, he always knows what to say as Tony's consigliere. As an executioner, he is able to take out victims like Adriana La Cerva and Burt Gervasi with ease. By the finale, after nearly getting shot to death in the previous episode, Silvio is in the hospital, comatose and breathing through a respirator. (Symbolized by his hair, of all things: his pompadour is gone, for the first and ''only'' time in the entire series.)]]

* HumiliationConga: Season six includes a neutral one with [[spoiler:Johnny Sack going through hell once he's the big boss; arrested, incarcerated, embargoed, and humiliated in front of his family and friends on the day of his daughter's wedding. He shames himself by breaking the ''Omertà'' code of silence to lower his sentence, only to die of cancer not much later]].
* {{Hypocrite}}: If you ask most characters, being a mafioso or abetting family member of one doesn't go in the way of being a good Christian or upstanding citizen.

** Many of the mobsters consider themselves to be observant Catholics, and the mobwives, who live on blood money, are very devout and self-righteous.

** There is also season 4's "Christopher", where many characters associate protests against Columbus Day as a slight against Italian-Americans and complain how the media portrays them as violent, uneducated mobsters. It becomes humorous when you realize that almost every character on the series falls into at least one of those categories.

** Having lost his father at a very young age, Christopher always tries to find a surrogate. The most obvious choice being Tony, but given their line of work, their chain of command, and their respective mental situations, the relationship slowly sours until it's rotten.

** Tony, of course, struggled constantly with the bad man that he is, and his therapy sessions often forced him to admit his faults. But his attempts at self-improvement never really take, and by the end of the show it's difficult to say that he's changed much at all.
** Janice also saw a therapist for anger management, though her sessions were court-ordered. She seemed to being making progress at first, but Tony goads her into losing control basically out of resentment shortly after. By the end of the show, whatever stability and self-control she'd managed were completely undone after the murder of her husband.

* InnBetweenTheWorlds: In "From Here to Eternity", Chris has a near death experience where he visits Hell or Purgatory that's an Irish bar where every day is Saint Patrick's Day and you spend all eternity getting beaten in card games.

* InterruptedByTheEnd: The series infamously ended the middle of the lyrics of "Don't Stop Believing" as part of its GainaxEnding.

* IronicEchoCut: "Whoever Did This" has a darkly funny example: Ralphie's son Justin is tragically injured, and he suffers significant blood loss and brain damage, with doctors saying that he could potentially end up being disabled. Later on, as Ralphie sits besides Justin's hospital bed, Rosalie Aprile comes in to the room. She consoles him, saying:

* JustGotOutOfJail: Various characters (Richie Aprile, Tony Blundetto and Phil Leotardo, most prominently), only show up once they're released from jail, as a fairly justified way of having the characters be old friends without using RememberTheNewGuy.

* KarmicTwistEnding: Despite Tony's KarmaHoudini tendencies, the series ends with him [[spoiler:facing prison time and very possibly murdered.]]
* KavorkaMan: Despite being a criminal prone to violent outbursts and not being particularly attractive in terms of appearance (he's middle aged, balding, and noticeably overweight), Tony finds himself in relationships with several women throughout the show in addition to his wife, Carmela. EvilIsSexy and AllGirlsWantBadBoys working in his favor, no doubt. As does [[SleepingWithTheBoss wanting to get ahead at the Bing.]]

** When Chris is torn apart after [[spoiler:ratting on Adriana]], Tony [[NoSympathy gets annoyed]] by his nephew's plight and brutally beats him instead of giving any kind of humane support.
** Phil killing [[spoiler:Vito on merely homophobic grounds and extending his scorn to Vito's strayed son.]]
** Paulie and his cronies pointlessly bully Christopher and disrespect his daughter. In turn, the evoked sympathy is lost when Chris [[spoiler:kills Dolan, his sponsor and [[HeKnowsTooMuch only friend]]]] as a consequence of said disrespect.
** Tony making contemptuous remarks against Kelli for being too melodramatic [[spoiler:during the funeral of her late husband]], like "Jackie Kennedy".

* KillEmAll: The last few episodes "take care of" [[spoiler:Christopher, Bobby Bacala, and Phil Leotardo]] while [[spoiler:Silvio]] is in a coma he may never wake up from, and [[spoiler:Tony himself]] may have been shot in the final scene.

** Vito Spatafore boasts about "how close" he got with Adriana La Cerva, Christopher's girlfriend, after it seems that she had an affair with Tony behind Christopher's back. Not only is Vito a [[{{Gayngster}} closeted gay man]], but Adriana is also his first cousin; Richie Aprile is both Vito's and Adriana's uncle. Perhaps a result of the writers simply forgetting who was related to who.

** In Season 2, Melfi's family therapist brags about having family who were associated with Murder Inc., crowing, "Those were some tough Jews!" He sees Jewish gangsters as exotic and exciting because they no longer reflect poorly on their community. This stands in contrast to earlier in the episode, when Melfi's family laments how the Mafia continued to cast a shadow on the reputation of Italian-Americans.
* LampshadeHanging[=/=]LeaningOnTheFourthWall: In the season 6 opener, Tony tells Dr. Melfi when they're discussing [[spoiler:Vito's secret homosexuality that it bothers him how every other show on TV tends to rub the gay agenda or lifestyle in your nose.]]

* LastDisrespects: Deconstructed. Upon Livia's death, Janice decides to throw a wake for her despite her own expressed wish not to have one. After much phoney expressions of sympathy and mourning from all attendees, it finally takes Carmella to speak up that she was a horribly dysfunctional and manipulative woman who spread misery to everyone who spent time with her, and didn't want a funeral because she thought no-one would miss her. No-one argues with this assessment, least of all Tony (she even gets a hear hear).

* LetMeTellYouAStory: Tony tells Junior the story of how Octavian became Augustus and ruler of UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire. The aesop about greed and generosity is unclear and it's lost on Junior, so Tony switches to a more mundane story about two bulls mating with as many cows as possible.

* LoveMartyr: Adriana is this to Christopher. She believes that deep down Christopher is a good person and would choose her over the mob in a heartbeat. When she is forced to become an informant to the FBI, she tells Christopher and after the third beating she gives him the choice. Christopher chooses the mob and it results in Adrianna's death.

* MafiaPrincess: Meadow Soprano. At first subverted then embraced: Meadow knows full well that her dad is a mobster, going so far as to out their father to her younger brother AJ when kids at his school start dropping anvils about how AJ can't be bullied because of the fact that the bullies fear what AJ's dad will do to them and their families if they tormented him. However, when Meadow finally confronts her father during a road trip to visit a college, Tony lies and Meadow believes him, even as Tony lies to her about him sneaking out during one of their nights away in order to kill a mob snitch in hiding who they had encountered by chance. She later ends up with Jackie Aprile, Jr.—son and namesake of a respected former boss of the Jersey family.\\\

* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: A twisted version near the end of the show: [[spoiler:Tony suffocates Christopher when they have an accident, killing him. The doctors think Christopher might have made it, but they have no way to determine the actual fact.]]

** Carmela smiles politely to AJ's longterm girlfriend Blanca, but behind her back, she balks at the fact that she's Puerto Rican. Tony points out that at least she's Catholic.
** Christopher claims that he doesn't bring his gumar around because she's black and knows that guys like Paulie wouldn't be OK with it. The others find this sentiment wise.

* {{Masquerade}}: Tony tries to shield his children from the truth and denies the existence of TheMafia, but Meadow is too smart for that. She gradually embarks in the same masquerade in front of outsiders, a thing noted by her parents.

* MeaningfulBackgroundEvent: The FBI approaching Johnny Sack from behind when he is talking with Tony, who reacts in time.

** Against Tony's opinion, Janice tries to forcefully do one for [[spoiler:Livia]], but it totally backfires. A stoned Christopher delivers a [[TheFunInFuneral bizarre eulogy]], the relatives don't have anything good to say about the deceased, Carmela and her father explode against [[spoiler:Livia]], and their rant is shared by others.
** Season 3 ends with [[spoiler:Jackie Jr.'s wake]] and half the cast bawling to Uncle Junior's Italian song.

* MisterSandmanSequence: "To Save Us All From Satan's Power." The brief 1995 sequences include multiple references to O.J. Simpson and Valujet, and features Jackie Sr. and Big Pussy prominently smoking in a restaurant. (It also mentions Pussy's wife booking a cruise on the ''Dawn Princess'', which actually set sail two years later, but that's neither here nor there).

* MobWar: The threat of Tony Soprano's New Jersey mob family breaking out into open civil war or becoming embroiled with one of the New York families hangs overhead in several seasons. In the last half of season 6, an open war breaks out between the Soprano crew and the Lupertazzi family under Phil Leotardo.

* TheMole: [[spoiler:Big Pussy, Adriana la Cerva, and Raymond Curto]] are the three most notable ones.

** Valery, a [[TheMafiya Mafiya]] member and former Spetsnaz who boasts in a frozen forest about harsh weather being warm to him, and gets away from Chris and Paulie when he was suppressed and about to be executed. He seemingly gets his throat crushed and his head shot, but manages to escape into the pine barrens. His uncertain fate lead to a [[WMG/TheSopranos WMG]] that David Chase deliberately {{HandWave}}d in the season 5 opener.

** Bobby goes to make his pickups from an inner-city Newark "client" late at night, and winds up getting robbed by some street kids. Because he didn't bring any backup, they get away with it, and the rest of Tony's crew mock Bobby for quite some time.

* MultipleDemographicAppeal: The mafia action appealed to fans of mob movies (up to and including actual mobsters), the well-realized characters and drama appealed to fans of family dramas, the excellent acting, directing and production values appealed to film lovers, the excellent soundtrack appealed to rock lovers, the wry wit and middle-aged characters appealed to older audiences, and the complex themes appealed to intellectuals.
* MusicVideoSyndrome: Averted mostly. David Chase had wanted to only use "in-universe" music, but sometimes music plays with no apparent source. When this does occur, the music underscores and emphasizes the emotional effect. "The Beast In Me" playing over the end sequence and credits of the first episode, for example.

* NaiveNewcomer: The FBI sends a younger agent to "turn" Adrianna because they think she'll respond better to a young woman. When [[spoiler:Adrianna is discovered and murdered by Silvio, Chris plants her car at the airport long-term parking to suggest that she ran away. Only the new FBI agent believes it, and the other agents' laughter at her gullibility is a serious TearJerker.]]
* NakedInMink: Some ladies would wear a fur with nothing underneath.

** The mob is responsible for putting on a carnival during the Feast of St. Joseph. When Paulie cuts corners that cause a ride malfunction, Tony criticizes him for the bad press.

** He also spews a lot of homophobic slurs after finding out [[spoiler:Vito is gay]], but when Dr. Melfi points out that he doesn't sound like he means it, he admits that his true feelings are closer to "Who gives a shit?" He even initially tries to find a way to keep Vito in the fold, but the realities of mob culture conspire against him.
* NoBisexuals: Despite [[spoiler:Vito Spatafore]] having a wife, children and mistress he is viewed by everyone as exclusively gay when it becomes apparent that he secretly sleeps with men on the side. The word "bisexual" is never even mentioned throughout the entire story arc. Although, a least partially {{Justified|Trope}} by the fact that mobsters wouldn't have the most nuanced view of sexuality, and anything less that 100% stereotypical macho heteronormativity would be viewed as "gay" by them, in an earlier episode it's revealed that even performing oral sex on a woman is considered potential evidence of homosexuality.

* NoDeadBodyPoops: Averted during the suicide of [[spoiler:Eugene Pontecorvo]], who also gets ADeathInTheLimelight.
* NoEnding: Probably the most notorious example. Take a look at [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZpwnI4z49A&feature=fvwrel this]] to see portions of the ending, as well as details that pop up in it. As for the actual ending itself: [[spoiler:Tony and his family sit and eat in a restaurant, with Tony continually looking up at the door to see who walks in, obviously extremely nervous. Just as another person walks in, the show immediately cuts to black, and after a few seconds the credits roll]].

** Ercole "Eckley" [=DiMeo=], the crime family's namesake, was based on Simone "Samuel" [=DeCavalcante=], who was nicknamed "Sam the Plumber" because he owned and operated from a heating and plumbing company in Kenilworth, NJ. But he loathed that nickname, and preferred to be called "the Count" because he often claimed that he was of Blue Blood.

* NonActorVehicle: Steve Van Zandt is primarily a musician. Silvio was his first acting role (it gets [[{{Expy}} somewhat resumed]] in ''Series/{{Lilyhammer}}''). Van Zandt also served as music consultant for the show and picked songs for the soundtrack from time to time.

* NostalgiaAintLikeItUsedToBe: A running theme. Tony often laments that the then current Mafia (late 90s/early 00s) is nothing like it used to be. He imagines the mob in the days of his father (mid to late 70s), picturing loyal mobsters who would never turn state's evidence and instead just take their prison sentences like "real men", as a period where the mob was "honorable" and well respected by the community. Flashbacks indicate that if anything, his father's day was just as bad or even worse.

* TheNothingAfterDeath: The last season in particular. [[spoiler:The finale, if one interpretation is to be believed.]]
* NotGoodWithPeople: Tony Soprano loves animals and animal abusers is a major BerserkButton for him but he has absolutely no problem maiming, torturing or killing someone. This is part of what makes his therapist realize he's an incurable sociopath and sever ties with him.

* OedipusComplex: Tony has an oedipus complex relating to his mother, and it is repeatedly shown to impact his relationships with other women in his life.

** Uncle Junior gets his hand stuck in the drain of the kitchen sink. Near the end of the episode we discover that Uncle Junior never got his hand unstuck, and has been standing in the kitchen for an entire day.

** [[spoiler:Adriana]] zones out while Sil drives her across the state to a hospital to see her fiancé—and has an OhCrap when the car stops in the middle of the woods, and she realizes what the drive was really for.
** Paulie's reaction when he realises he's just ordered Tony Soprano's potential future son-in-law to clean dog mess off his tires.

*** Season 4: This one's the debatable but the season premiere and "The Strong Silent Type" are the prime candidates.

** Even the nicknames start to overlap, though.. In the pilot, there is some consternation when rumors get around that Uncle Junior wants to kill "Big Pussy" -- one of Tony's right hand men, and not "Little Pussy" -- one of Junior's.
** The two Tonys, Soprano and Blundetto, were referred to as "Tony uncle Johnny" and "Tony uncle Al" as children, later simplified as Tony A. and Tony B.

* OpinionChangingDream: Several characters have opinion changing dreams. Tony has one about Big Pussy which finally forces him to confront the truth that he had betrayed them, and has another after being seriously wounded that lasts several episodes.

* PacManFever: "Meadowlands" has Tony coming in to find A.J. playing ''VideoGame/MarioKart64'' and then joins him in the race. We get the correct sounds, there is a cartridge in the UsefulNotes/Nintendo64 and they consistently stay on the same track (Luigi Circuit); A.J. does a bit of button-mashing, but not too egregious. A.J. does mention to Tony that he should "watch out for the ghosts" and, while ghosts are one of the weaker items (and a non-avoidable one), they do at least exist in the game. To really nitpick, they complete all three laps of Luigi circuit in some 20 seconds (though the time shown on the screen shows a more realistic 2 minutes 27 seconds)! All in all a pretty faithful representation of ''Mario Kart'' on TV. Oh, did I mention that Tony holds the N64 controller one handed, using the central grip, only moving the analogue stick?

** Tony, Silvio, and Artie are understandably outraged that their daughters' soccer coach [[spoiler:was having an affair with one of the other girls on the team]].
** Tony and Carmela were incensed that Meadow, threw a party at Livia's house. To be fair, [[spoiler:the house was utterly trashed, and to make matters worse, ecstasy, Ketamine, and alcohol were found at the scene.]]

** One of the factors that triggers a [[MobWar power struggle]] between Tony and Junior, acting boss and [[AuthorityInNameOnly nominal boss]] respectively.

** Both Silvio Dante and Patsy Parisi feel severely slighted when Chistopher Moltisanti is declared temporary captain of Paulie Walnuts' crew, and unofficially Tony's successor. In retaliation, they conspire to undermine Christopher's authority and torpedo his endeavors.

** Tony deciding against his initial feelings during the Blundetto crisis. His crew is uneasy, but Tony is a bit shielded, as only Silvio manifests the opposition face to face. It's complicated, as violent pressure from New York is a major consideration too.
** Tony deciding against his personal criteria during the [[spoiler:Vito situation]] in season 6; his soldiers and captains are openly rebellious about it, and he finally gives the go ahead basically because of peer pressure. A [[ShootTheShaggyDog moot dilemma]] in the end because [[spoiler:Phil beats him to the punch.]]
** Averted by A.J., who befriends some gangster wannabes who idolize him for being the son of the big man and make him accessory to some violent extortions, but he is unaffected.

* PerilousMarriageProposal: Christopher's proposal to Adriana is bad for both of them, though ultimately much worse for her. It already takes place in perilous circumstances; she's already broken up with him for his physical and emotional abuse. Her mother warns her that if she takes Christopher back, she won't be able to come back when it (inevitably) goes wrong again, but she says yes anyway. All of that happens, and then right after the proposal, Christopher gets betrayed and shot (though he does recover with Adriana caring for him). This also turns out to foreshadow exactly how bad her engagement to Christopher would be for Adriana, which ultimately led to her being recruited as an FBI informant because she was Christopher's fiancée, suffering years of mental anguish, being increasingly physically abused as he descended into drug addiction, and [[spoiler:being betrayed by Christopher and murdered when he found out she was an informant]], all the while holding onto her TragicDream that they would get married.
* PervertedSniffing: In "Second Opinion", newly "made" man Christopher receives a surprise, late night visit at his apartment from his immediate superior in the crime family Paulie Walnuts and Patsy Parisi. The two gangsters comb through Chris and his girlfriend Adriana's belongings to cherry-pick Christopher's stolen swag. Chris catches Paulie taking a mighty sniff of a pair of panties from Adriana's lingerie drawer.
* PetTheDog: Literally. One of Tony's few virtues is a love of animals. It was was used against him via Melfi's fellow shrink friends, who point out that Tony's empathy for animals is also a sign of being a cold-blooded monster, since animals often mean more to such people than humans.

** Subverted during an episode after Tony believes the FBI is about to pinch him for executing one of the {{mooks}} who shot Christopher. While he doesn't get pinched, Tony's lawyer suggests he clock in at his trash collection company just to create the mask of "respectable businessman." The job bores Tony to tears and he even develops a rash from the change in routine. So he goes back to hanging out at his restaurant with his crew and [[StatusQuoIsGod everything goes back to normal]].
** Begets major plot points later: When Meadow uses her dad to get Finn an allegedly "No Work" job at a construction site, he's not comfortable spending time with the mobsters, so he actually works. And being the young go-getter that he is, he shows up early [[spoiler:to see Vito and another man having sex in the parking lot.]] Later, the man who owns Barone Sanitation dies, and his son (unaware of his father's "arrangements") tries to sell, threatening Paulie's legitimate income cover. Paulie viciously attacks him.

* PoliceAreUseless: Apparently there is no law enforcement in the state of New Jersey. Tony and his crew are endlessly worrying about the FBI, but there's never a hint of state and local cops investigating them for their various crimes. It's hinted and shown that the Mafia has influence and leverage over the civil servants who can control the local police (e.g. Zellman) and some cops are on the Mafia's payroll; Bobby mentions a local police as one of his sources of information. Season 1 explores this with Vin Makazian, the detective who feeds information to Tony, and yet Tony treats him with contempt and not as a valuable asset.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Well, pretty much all of the male gangster characters are quite politically incorrect and are (obviously) professional criminals. Phil might count in particular, as he is a more homophobic/generally unpleasant person than Tony (although not necessarily much more evil). Nicely illustrated during a conversation about [[spoiler:Vito]]'s strayed son.

* PostModernism: Very often, almost OncePerEpisode the show features some classic movies and songs relevant to the plot and references to other fictional works are common. Tony himself is a movie buff with a great VHS and DVD collection and at one point the roots of gangster cinema are discussed, including the ''Film/ThePublicEnemy'', the film cited by Creator David Chase as one of his major influences building the main characters.

** One of the most iconic instances of this trope on this show comes from Tony to [[spoiler:Matt Bevilaqua]]: "'Cause that sugarless motherfucker, it's the last fucking drink you're ever gonna have."
** Silvio and Chris taunt the government informant [[spoiler:Jimmy Altieri]] before shooting him.

* ProtectionRacket: Played with in the final season. One of the family's minor protected businesses folds and is replaced with a Brand X Starbucks. Patsy Parisi and one of his guys go in to try this routine on the new manager. The manager recognizes what they are doing, but in an almost sympathetic tone he points out that the company is a billion dollar multinational with complete insurance so they won't care — or even notice — if the place is vandalized. What's more, every single bean is in the computer so he can't even cave under personal threats, since if he started skimming for the mob he'd be fired immediately and a new manager brought in. The two mobsters leave, complaining about the state of modern business and how tough things have gotten for 'the little guy'. The episode ends with Tony Soprano himself selling one of his buildings in Newark to Jamba Juice who push out the current tenant to install a franchise, and when Patsy learns about that he wonders what is even happening to the city.
* PsychopathicManchild: Several characters are debatable examples, but Paulie in particular exemplifies this trope. He has the petty self-centeredness and impulsivity of a spoiled child, and the callous disregard for human life of a stone-cold murderer.

** Finn, who put himself on a bus to San Francisco because [[spoiler:he discovered Vito was gay.]]

** Also Tony puts Janice on a bus to Seattle, after [[spoiler:she shoots her fiance, Richie Aprile.]] Tony's solace is short-lived; [[TheBusCameBack she comes back]] 'for good' on a plane (that Tony has to pay for) the next season... two episodes later.
** Lots of averted examples. Johnny Sack managed to last for another season after being sent to jail, Rosalie and Angie appeared throughout most of the series despite their husbands being whacked fairly early on, Junior made several appearances in his psychiatric hospital.
* PutOnAPrisonBus: In season five, Feech La Manna is released after nearly twenty years in prison. As a sign of respect and as a reward for not snitching, Tony allows him to collect money from various illegal activities. However, Feech stills sees Tony as a kid, completely ignores Tony's status as boss and begins to cause headaches. First he breaks the arm of landscaper Salvatore Vitro to force him to give up some of his routes. Vitro is forced to go to Tony for help and ultimately suffers enough financial difficulty that he has to pull his son from college ''and'' landscape both Tony and Johnny Sack's large homes for free. Feech apologizes to Tony and pledges his respect, but when he hears Dr. Ira Fried speak of his daughter's lavish, expensive wedding he organizes a mass hijacking of the guests' expensive cars, causing more headaches for Tony. Because he cannot have such a respected gangster killed, Tony has to resort to alternative means to get him out of the way. To do this, he has Chris and Benny trick Feech into storing stolen plasma televisions in his garage, then they tip off his parole officer. The last scene of Feech in the series is him on the bus to prison, catching as much of the outside world as he can before he returns to prison for the rest of his life.
* RailEnthusiast: Nice-guy mobster Bobby Baccalieri has a big interest in trains and can be seen building and playing with model trains in his garage (sometimes while dressed as a conductor). He gets made fun of for this hobby and [[spoiler:he is eventually killed while buying a model train at a hobby shop]].

* RambunctiousItalian: Tony Soprano is an aggressive, belligerent and short-tempered Italian-American.
* RapeAsDrama: Melfi is raped in a rather disturbing sequence and later finds out, due to the police screwing up when they arrested the man, that they can't bring charges against him. And then has the misfortune of finding out that her rapist is "Employee of the Month" at a sandwich shop she frequents. [[spoiler:Angry, full of rage, and realizing that Tony would easily murder the scumbag rapist, with or without her permission if told about it, Melfi decides to keep what happened to her a secret.]]

** Jesus Rossi, Melfi's rapist, may be one of the least-sympathetic characters in the whole series.

** Nancy Marchand (Livia Soprano) died between seasons. The writers gave her a final scene with Tony, cut from her previous work with him. It was terrible. Most jarring was that Livia's lines are pretty generic with Tony's dialogue made to fit. Not to mention that [[spoiler:Tony probably wouldn't have visited his mother or even talked to her at that point.]]

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: During his intervention, Christopher responds to the criticism of his drug habit by calling out Tony, Sil and Paulie for their own screw-ups.
* RedHerringMole: Subverted. Tony suspects that Big Pussy, one of his oldest friends in the mob, has become an informant for the Feds. After Paulie tries to confirm that Pussy is carrying a wire by taking him to a sauna, Pussy refuses to take his clothes off and skips town. Tony discovers that Jimmy Altieri (who also fits the physical description he was given) has been working with the Feds and has him killed with Uncle Junior's approval, while worrying that Paulie killed Pussy on his own initiative. Pussy later returns, [[MistreatmentInducedBetrayal now actively working as an informant behind Tony's back]], before he too is found out and killed by Tony, Paulie, and Sal.

** This is one of the reasons why [[spoiler:Tony killed Christopher. Despite going to rehab and getting his act together, Christopher [[OffTheWagon still did drugs from time to time]], which resulted in the car crash with him and Tony.]]

* ReformedButRejected: Chris's sobriety makes him drift apart from his pals, as the Bada Bing and other work places are a source of temptation. The others resent him for this. He carefully explains in an A.A. meeting how his sobriety hinders him professionally. Very sad how his almost unbearable struggle and related problems, combined with some disrespectful jokes Paulie cracks about him and his daughter, [[spoiler:make him relapse, eventually leading to his fatal car crash with Tony.]]
* RelationshipReveal: Christopher has a new girlfriend, Kaisha; he tells his boss Tony that he's never brought her around because he doesn't want to deal with the racism of the other mafiosi. A couple scenes later, we realize he was lying; his girlfriend is actually Julianna, the hot realtor that Tony has been unsuccessfully trying to hook up with.

** Reversed with [[spoiler:Christopher's death; for Tony, a big liability is 'gone' and he is very happy about that, but he has to put on a sad grimace in front of the families. Eventually, he suddenly just goes to UsefulNotes/LasVegas to enjoy himsef.]]

** Ralph is obsessed with the movie ''Gladiator'', notes he's seen it many, many times and quotes from it endlessly. In a bit of HypocriticalHumor, the other mobsters roll their eyes at him even though they do the same thing with mafia movies. AJ shares Ralph's fondness for the movie, at least.
* ScreamsLikeALittleGirl: Fat Dom's voice noticeably goes up an octave or so after [[spoiler:Carlo stabs him with a cooking knife]].

** Carmela implictly uses the nefarious power of her surname to grant Meadow admission to Columbia.

* {{Sexposition}}: There are numerous scenes where TheMafia are discussing important plot points in the Bada Bing strip club. Although if it's something ''really'' important or incriminating, they'll take the conversation into the backroom instead.

* ShownTheirWork: In true ''[[Film/TheGodfather Godfather]]'' style, Ralph gives pasta-cooking advice to his stepson Jackie. Writer Michael "Christopher Moltisanti" Imperioli learned it from a chef/fellow castmember, and advised people (on the commentary track) to try it. It works.

** Tony rates ''Film/TheGodfather Part II'' above the original and is not very fond of ''Part III''. The gang starts to watch the movie after they steal some [=DVDs=]. And if course there's Sil's famous Michael Corleone impressions...
** In the first season, Christopher is WrongGenreSavvy and thinks any business-related problem is resolved with violence, bazooka in hand and MoreDakka à la ''Film/{{Scarface 1983}}''.

** A playful one when Johnny Sack, on the day of his daughter's wedding, asks Tony for a professional favour. Christopher casually points out that Tony can't refuse, as the whole thing is identical to the one from ''Film/TheGodfather''; Tony corrects him telling it's the other way around, the father of the bride is the one who cannot refuse.
** There's another nod to ''The Godfather'' when Tony visits an undertaker to discuss [[spoiler:Livia's funeral]]. The undertaker even offers to use "all my powers, all my skills..."

** Tony is a fanboy of ''Creator/GaryCooper'', "The strong, silent type". Tony seems to blur the lines between reality and fiction with ''Film/HighNoon'' and the film appears in his dreams. Funnily enough, he also loves its SpiritualAntithesis ''Film/RioBravo'', specially the song "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2ssbgThljU My rifle, my pony and me]]."

* ShownTheirWork: The writers carefully researched the ways in which mobsters controlled and laundered their money in order to make Tony Soprano as realistic as possible, and they employed New York Assistant District Attorney Dan Castleman to advise them on this issue. When Castleman was asked how much they had decided Tony would realistically be worth, he stated that it was roughly $5-6 million, an amount that fluctuated, of course, because of Tony's substantial gambling problem.

** Distingished Meadow and [[LazyBum lazy airhead]] A.J..

** Season 5 brings New York to the fore, firmly casting [[WeUsedToBeFriends Johnny Sack]] as the BigBad and his brutal right hand Phil Leotardo as TheDragon. An escalating EnemyCivilWar also spills over into Jersey, when Tony Blundetto turns rogue agent and murders two well connected New York guys, including Phil's beloved younger brother, but Tony S is able to tentatively placate his opponents [[spoiler:by killing his cousin.]]
** Season 6 dives into an all-out MobWar, with Phil's ascension to boss. More savage and ruthless than any of Tony's prior enemies, Phil [[spoiler:decapitates most of the Jersey crew's leadership when things go sour between him and Tony, before finally being undone by an EnemyMine between Tony and FBI agent Harris.]]

* SpookyPainting: Tony is sufficiently unsettled by the dreary looking painting of a barn outside Melfi's office to accuse her of deliberately placing it there to fuck with him.

* StealthPun: Phil coming out of the closet when he is handling the resolution of Vito's situation.

** Ben Kingsley never loses his polite and calm demeanor when he is uncomfortably approached by some mafia men, who are in fact deflected by his suave manners and refrain from further pressure. The mobsters, however, get frustated by it and they [[KickTheDog violently mug an 81-year-old Lauren Bacall]] so they don't leave their trip empty-handed.

** Brendan Filone, warned multiple times to behave himself, can't help but disrespect those who command actual respct and has the bright idea to screw with the acting boss of the family. Junior eventually has enough and has him shot in the bath.
** Matt and Sean, two overambitious imbeciles attached to Christopher, hedge all the wrong bets and fail miserably to endear themselves to Tony. They then get the absurd idea to whack the boss' nephew as a "favour" to another mobster, who doesn't like Chris. [[EpicFail The hit is a total failure and leaves one of them dead anyway]], and all it does it [[DidntThinkThisThrough mark the other for death]]. Even Richie, guilty himself of dipping into this trope where drugs are concerned, is aghast at how utterly idiotic this plan was (not least of all because it could see him dead, too, if Tony believes he had something to do with it).
** Jackie Jr., the late boss' son, throws his weight around and invokes his revered father's name to get his way. He's a fine soldier, lacks the brains for the boss-like image he'd like to cultivate; he is manipulated by Ralphie into robbing a card game, with fatal consequences.

* SuccessionCrisis: Happens in Jersey after the death of Jack Aprile Sr. and in New York after [[spoiler:Carmine Luppertazzi and Johnny Sack pass away]]. It gets settled by the [[MobWar usual and ancestral methods]].

** The FBI has ADayInTheLimeLight episode where the procedure regarding how to plant a surveillance bug in Tony's house is shown in detail. Tony is a ProperlyParanoid boss who regularly sweeps his headquarters for bugs, relies on {{Pay Phone}}s, and avoids talking shop inside his house, but he is vulnerable in the noisy basement. The bug eventually has a very limited use and the trope is subverted because the judge is adamant and the FBI is only given one shot at this method that is never used again.

** In the pilot, Junior wants to kill Pussy Malanga, one of his underlings, and insists on doing it in Artie Bucco's restaurant. Tony, knowing that would destroy his friend's business, tries to stop Junior. When Junior refuses to be swayed, Tony burns the restaurant down so Artie can at least take the insurance and start over. After some time, Artie gets suspicious and resents Tony for it, who feels victim of the NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished syndrome.
** During the alleged Tony-Adriana affair, the two suffer a car accident that arouses much suspicion and gossip. Chris refuses to believe Tony's innocence plea and Tony feels his only option is to kill the erratic Chris for it. Blundetto meddles and suggests an alternative; they go and ask the E.R. guy who treated the car accident. Blundetto, thanks to [[ChekhovsSkill his medical knowledge]], asks the right questions that debunk the rumours about Adriana and Tony (the driver receiving a blowjob, mind you).

** Season 1 has a rather subtle stab at Jews taking pride in Jewish criminality. Melfi's doctor brags about being related to gangsters in Murder Inc. He smirks and waggles his eyebrows childlishly at the thought of those "tough Jews." ''Tough Jews'' is the name of a true crime book that had come out the year before and glorifies Jewish gangsters. His sentiments stand in contrast to those expressed by Melfi's family in the same episode, complaining about how the Mafia reflects poorly on Italian-Americans.

** An unintentional example occurs in the final episode, "Made in America". The New Jersey/New York mob war ends when [[spoiler: Tony discovers Phil Leotardo's location and Soprano family members Benny Fazio and Walden Belfiore shoot Phil in the head at point blank range outside his Ford Expedition. By sheer happenstance, Leotardo's dead body falls under the car and the large SUV rolls forward, crushing the mob boss's skull]].
* ThickerThanWater: Family is a key theme of the show, and the importance of blood and marriage is played with every which way. Tony and Christopher's relationship is the premier example, although their actual blood ties are a bit vague (an FBI agent has to pick Adriana's brain to make sense of it: Chris is Carmela's cousin by blood, and Tony's honourary nephew... but Ade claims they're actual cousins too through extended family). Tony trusts and favours Christopher over more proven and competent underlings, as their familial bond ensures his loyalty. In theory, at least -- Christopher's constant fuck ups and poor judgement eventually torpedo Tony's plan to groom him as an heir.

** Also, in season 6, after [[spoiler:Vito]] gets brutally murdered because it was discovered he's gay, one of the visiting New York guys openly implies in front of Silvio and Carlo that they had gay sex with him. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8pU4bV2TYA Hilarity ensues.]]

** Adriana has her dream to get married and have kids with Christopher. It's pretty clear to the observer that this won't end well, given that Christopher is extremely violent to her. ''And'' Adriana has stated fertility problems, and [[spoiler:then she flips and turns informant. She still holds out hope that she and Christopher will run away together, and he seems to briefly consider it...then he tells Tony.]]
** Carmela has her hope that the intelligent Meadow will become a doctor, giving her mainstream social respect and putting her out of the mob's reach. Then, after some back-and-forth where it seems like it ''might'' come true, [[spoiler:Meadow opts instead to be a lawyer, putting her right back in the mob's pocket.]]

* TroubleEntendre: In the first episode, Tony is about to tell Melfi what he did to a guy who owed him money, when she interrupts by telling him that knowing the details of his crimes would put her in a very precarious legal situation. So Tony tells her that he took the guy out to coffee. The scene then cuts to a flashback of Tony running the guy over and beating him up. Tony slips some [[FromACertainPointOfView feeble truth]] in the story, as he was finishing a coffee in the meantime.

** In season 2 David Scatino's brother-in-law, and Melfi's therapist, try to talk them into going to addiction programmes for gambling and alcohol respectively, but are unsuccessful.

* UndignifiedDeath: [[spoiler:Gigi Cestone]], who suffers a heart attack while constipated on the Bada Bing toilet and surrounded by porn magazines.
* UnfortunateNames: Phil Leotardo openly complains that his legal family name used to be "Leonardo," like the painter. But an Ellis Island bureaucrat goofed it up, and now he's saddled with a name for a ballet outfit.

* VestigialEmpire: The mafia is shown as this, a tired organization nostalgic for the golden days, tracked by the FBI, avoiding conflict with other gangsters, rotten with internal strife and having problems renewing it's ranks. It can still produce a lot of damage on society, though.

* VillainOfAnotherStory: Tony's crew sometimes have to deal with similar mafia organizations, particularly the Lupertazzi family in New York. Sometimes allies and sometimes rivals, the Lupertazzis are indicated to be much larger and have a much wider reach than Tony does but their criminal empire never really comes into focus since they're not the main characters. Even within the Soprano family itself, most of the characters we see are upper management (bosses, underbosses, capos and consiglieres), while most of the soldiers are out doing their own thing and kicking money upstairs.
* VillainousBreakdown: Tony's panic attacks are triggered by repressed phobias, thoughts, and feelings and some unpleasant situations. He also can't go an episode without breaking down in anger or throwing a temper tantrum.
* VillainProtagonist: Tony himself isn't one of the show's best protagonists. He is a thug who kills other mobsters, being a womanizer and adulterer who cheats on his wife behind her back, has a gambling addiction in the form of horse races, not a nice mafia boss to work for, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and not to mention]], being an asshole who [[ClusterFBomb frequently curses]].

* VisualPun: In Season 6A, "Members Only," Junior has Tony digging holes in his backyard to try to find a buried stash of cash. Junior can't remember the exact location, [[spoiler:either due to his dementia, or he has in fact invented the money ever being there]], so he has '''holes in his memory.'''

** Paulie smothers an old woman with a pillow when she surprises him breaking and entering.

* WeUsedToBeFriends: Tony bitterly comments this regarding Johnny Sack as the New York boss gets more ruthless and less pragmatic and amiable. Still, [[spoiler:Tony is very sad when Johnny passes away and still loves him despite some of his final actions.]]

[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-YlD9UrpA4 There is no scraps in my scrapbook, make it happen]].
* WhatDoesSheSeeInHim: Adriana and Chris. His looks aside, his demeanor in general was extremely creepy, and he certainly did not treat Adriana well. Tony says it himself:

* WhatYouAreInTheDark: Melfi gets an awesome one of these in season three. After [[RapeAsDrama getting raped]], she realises that she could tell Tony, and he would ensure that the rapist died screaming... and chooses not to.

** Zig-zagged. As mentioned above, depending on the occasion, the mobsters dress sharply or casually. They often enjoy luxury items, refined cuisine, and Artie's restaurant is one of the usual hangouts. On the other hand, below the surface, they are somewhat glorified ruffians.

** Chris and Adriana contemplate the option of joining it. [[spoiler:They don't.]]

--> '''Phil:''' I know [[spoiler:Vito]]'s bottom was impacted if that's what you're referring to.

** Ralphie takes this to the extreme and not only punches a ''pregnant'' woman, but beats her to death.
** Hot-headed Richie Aprile hits Janice. She hits him back. [[spoiler:With a bullet to the chest.]]
* YouAlwaysHearTheBullet: Discussed and debunked by Tony, Bobby, Silvio, and [[spoiler:physically averted in the final scene, according to the main theory.]]
* YouRemindMeOfX: As pointed out by his shrink, [[DoppelgangerDating Tony's goomahs bear a resemblance to his unpleasable mother]] -- dark hair, contemptuous, and with issues -- and even to Dr. Melfi herself -- interesting, independent, and sophisticated women. Tony asks his first and simplest lover to dress more businesslike, with Melfi in mind. Later on, Tony makes a explicit mother connection with the troubled Gloria Trillo.

From there, the series focuses on Tony's problematic dual families: his biological family -- long-suffering wife Carmela, straight-A student daughter Meadow, underachiever son A.J., and equally morally bankrupt sister Janice -- and the organized crime family he is involved in, who include his bitter uncle Junior, his 'nephew' (actually his wife's cousin) Christopher, [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters and more]].

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters. Some of them only show up every few years, and are, in the case of Tony's other sister and Flashback Livia, [[TheOtherDarrin recast without notice.]]

* PoliticalOvercorrectness: "Christopher" the fiercely Italian guys from Tony's crew butting heads with a Native American group protesting their town's Columbus Day parade. [[note]]The people who had that unfortunate encounter with Columbus were Arawaks from the Caribbean, not mainland natives, so Native Americans in New York complaining about the parade is a little like Belarussians protesting Mongolia's (hypothetical) celebration of 'Ghenghis Khan Conquering the Kievan Rus Day': it does concern them, but not immediately/directly. Accordingly some Native American groups DO protest Columbus Day, to the point of some states taking it away completely and renaming it "Native People's day". Many Italians are NOT amused, as by now it's largely a celebration of Italian heritage in general and not so much 'the bringing of civilization to ape-like and benighted heathen savages'[[/note]].

* PantyShot: Tony's escort in "The Test Dream" provides us with a rather lovely one.

* AmbiguousEnding: After disposing of his arch-nemesis Phil Leotardo, Tony is seen taking his wife Carmela and son AJ to a diner, later to be joined by their daughter Meadow. It's seemingly an upbeat scene, with the exception of Tony discussing potential legal troubles on the horizon. Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" starts playing in the background, and you begin to see curious shots of seemingly random persons in the diner mixed in with shots of Tony and his family happily chomping down on onion rings. The music swells, an unseen person enters the restaurant, Tony looks up, and suddenly--cut to black, series over. Was Tony suddenly shot as the screen cut to black (perhaps by the man in the Member's Only jacket?), or no? This was left a mystery for years.[[note]]However, in 2021, series creator David Chase [[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/feature/the-sopranos-david-chase-tony-ending-the-many-saints-of-newark-1235040185/ confirmed]] that Tony is indeed killed shortly after.[[/note]]

* PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad: "Christopher" the fiercely Italian guys from Tony's crew butting heads with a Native American group protesting their town's Columbus Day parade. [[note]]The people who had that unfortunate encounter with Columbus were Arawaks from the Caribbean, not mainland natives, so Native Americans in New York complaining about the parade is a little like Belarussians protesting Mongolia's (hypothetical) celebration of 'Ghenghis Khan Conquering the Kievan Rus Day': it does concern them, but not immediately/directly. Accordingly some Native American groups DO protest Columbus Day, to the point of some states taking it away completely and renaming it "Native People's day". Many Italians are NOT amused, as by now it's largely a celebration of Italian heritage in general and not so much 'the bringing of civilization to ape-like and benighted heathen savages'[[/note]].

* NobleBigot: Tony is more tolerant than many of his friends and colleagues, but even he freaks out when he discovers Meadow is dating a [[TwoferTokenMinority half-black, half-Jewish]] classmate from a wealthy New York family. He also spews a lot of homophobic slurs after finding out [[spoiler:Vito is gay]], but when Dr. Melfi points out that he doesn't sound like he means it, he admits that his true feelings are closer to "Who gives a shit?" He even initially tries to find a way to keep Vito in the fold, but the realities of mob culture conspire against him.

-->-- '''Tony''' and '''Dr. Melfi'''

* MuggingTheMonster: Bobby goes to make his pickups from an inner-city Newark "client" late at night, and winds up getting robbed by some street kids. Because he didn't bring any backup, they get away with it, and the rest of Tony's crew mock Bobby for quite some time.

* SkunkStripe: Paulie's trademark. It gets discussed and parodied.
-->'''Tony B''': [[Series/TheMunsters Grandpa Munster]] over here.

* DamnItFeelsGoodToBeAGangster: The series can make gangsters look so cool at times and so pathetically uncool at others. Working in the Mafia is shown to come with its perks, but we're also shown how much of the lifestyle is not so glamorous and sometimes even outright scary. Sure, Tony has a nice house and makes a lot of money, but he has to face his boorish family all the time (and vice versa), suffers from depression and anxiety attacks, and he always has to worry about his "friends" turning on him, maybe leading to his arrest or assassination. As Christopher finds out when he finally gets made, the promotion means that he's under even more pressure to earn and is given more responsibilities, when he was expecting it to make his life a lot easier.

* DeconstructedCharacterArchetype: Tony Soprano deconstructs TheDon. He's not a ridiculously powerful kingpin with high resources like most Mafia bosses in fiction. Sure, he has resources, but these resources are limited. This makes sense, since the show is set in modern times, where RICO law causes Tony's nightmares. Besides, his crime family shows that the mafia today is at a downfall from informants, the government, hostility from other families, and drugs. All these attributes make him one of the most realistic representations of an American mob boss in the modern-day.

** Secondary characters like Artie and Tony's father-in-law.
* HerCodenameWasMarySue: Christopher produces a horror film, ''Cleaver'', where undead mobster Michael comes back for revenge on his boss Salvatore and his cheating fiancé. It's quite obvious that Michael is a stand-in for Christopher, Salvatore for Tony, and Michael's fiancée for Adriana.

* HollywoodPsych: Generally averted. It helps that David Chase has ''had'' therapy. Although it does have Dr. Melfi acting both as a psychiatrist (a medical doctor that prescribes medication) and a psychologist (a counselor or therapist who engages in talk therapy). In reality, those are two separate professions, a psychiatrist generally only sees you for about 15-20 minutes once a month to adjust medication levels while a psychologist is the one who will see you for an hour a week to talk through issues (but cannot prescribe medication).

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: It's difficult to remember that the series is following the lives of violent sociopathic morally bankrupt hardened criminals who in real life suffer from high mortality rates, which makes for one heck of a wakeup call in the episodes where the day finally comes for one of them to be brought to justice or murdered by their comrades.

* AmbiguousEnding: After disposing of his arch-nemesis Phil Leotardo, Tony is seen taking his wife Carmela and son AJ to a diner, later to be joined by their daughter Meadow. It's seemingly an upbeat scene, with the exception of Tony discussing potential legal troubles on the horizon. Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" starts playing in the background, and you begin to see curious shots of seemingly random persons in the diner mixed in with shots of Tony and his family happily chomping down on onion rings. Arguably the most curious is a man wearing a Members Only jacket sitting at the bar. The music swells, an unseen person enters the restaurant, Tony looks up, and suddenly--cut to black, series over. To this day, fans continue to argue whether this implied that Tony was suddenly shot as the screen cut to black (perhaps by the man in the Member's Only jacket?), or that it meant nothing at all--Tony and family continued to enjoy their food without interruption. While it's impossible to know for sure, there ''are'' a few small details that could be interpreted as hints that Tony dies. To elaborate:
** The first episode of the final season is titled "Members Only", and its plot involves (among other things) Tony being mortally shot, and a man in a Members Only jacket killing someone in a diner. The man in the Members Only jacket (credited as "Members Only" in the final credits) may have been intended as a CallBack to that episode, hinting at the same thing happening.
** A few episodes before the finale, Bobby muses about what it's like to be shot to death, and theorizes that "You probably don't even hear it when it happens"--possibly {{foreshadowing}} an ending where Tony is shot to death, and never hears the gunshot.
** The last time that we see the mysterious man in the Members Only jacket, he's walking into the bathroom. This may have been intended as a ShoutOut to the famous scene in ''Film/TheGodfather'' where Michael Corleone shoots someone to death in a diner after retrieving a hidden gun from the bathroom.[[note]] Notably, A.J. mentions that very scene in another episode in the final season, noting that [[{{Irony}} it's Tony's favorite movie scene of all time]]--possibly making the final scene a deliberate case of DeathByIrony.[[/note]]
** After Tony is shot in "Members Only", he [[AdventuresInComaLand falls into a coma]], ending in a FadeToWhite when he ultimately survives his brush with death and awakens. The abrupt cut to black may have been intended as an inversion of the earlier FadeToWhite, indicating that he suffered ''another'' shooting that proved fatal.
** Several times during the final scene, the camera inexplicably cuts to Meadow struggling to park her car, resulting in her being late to dinner; the final shot of the series shows Tony looking up at the door as she finally arrives. If Tony is indeed shot to death in the final scene, this seemingly random detail would make his death considerably more tragic--since it would mean that Meadow arrived just in time to watch her father die, but too late to share a final moment with him.

* AgeGapRomance: A 20-year old AJ starts a relationship with Blanca, a 30-year old single mother. His parents disparage the relationship (Tony because she's Puerto Rican, Carmella because of the age gap), but figure it's a good thing that she's at least Catholic. The relationship doesn't last; it's implied that while Blanca recognizes that AJ has a good heart, she was better off with someone her own age. AJ becomes so depressed that he attempts suicide.

''The Sopranos'' is a [[GenreDeconstruction deconstructive]] CriminalProcedural series created by Creator/DavidChase. Its PilotEpisode was shot in 1997, and the show premiered on {{Creator/HBO}} in the United States on January 10, 1999, concluding its original run of six seasons and 86 episodes on June 10, 2007 with some of the best network ratings of the time, and one of the most infamous endings in American television history[[note]]see [[{{WMG/TheSopranos}} the WMG page]] for various interpretations[[/note]].

Routinely christened as one of the greatest and most influential American TV shows of all time (if not ''the'' greatest) as well as a quintessential piece of 2000s art, the influence of ''The Sopranos'' cannot be overstated. Still upheld to this day as a high-water mark of what small-screen storytelling can achieve, the series did invaluable work in legitimizing serial television as an art form on the same level as film, literature, and theater, and has been traced in the years following its rise to [[FollowTheLeader an influx of dark, complex character-based dramas]]. The series also helped solidify HBO's credibility as the go-to place for cutting-edge, successful original television work.

** Inverted in "Irregular Around the Margins." Despite a growing attraction to Adriana, Tony makes an actual effort to avoid an intimate relationship on the advice of Dr. Melfi. A car accident where Tony and Adriana are both in the vehicle leads to salacious rumors, bitter resentment from Carmela, and a near-fatal confrontation with Christopher; the irony of the sitation is not lost on Tony.