Matthew Decker

Good show, but not particularly great. The whole show just kinda seems like a mess with no direction at all. There are so many plot holes in the show that could've provided some very interesting plot lines. New characters thrown into the show randomly just to be killed off a few episodes later. There really isn't any opposing forces to Tony other than Phil in 6B which was extremely rushed. Phil has some of Tony's top men killed and it seemingly had no effect. They're all kinda just like eh and Tony just has Phil killed by a random character. It really seems like 90% of the show is filler without any real movement in its entirety. The whole therapy thing dragged and didn't seem to have any effect, other than Tony dating another patient. The whole show just seemed stagnant, with nothing really happening until the last season. I get it, the whole point is they're all terrible people, but there really is no overarching plot. You would at least expect for Tony to maybe change at least a little since him going to therapy was the entire point. The children are useless and annoying. Carmela never seemed to do anything when there were multiple buildups to do so. However, the acting is good, with many good supporting cast. Christopher was a great character, but killed off too abruptly as they rushed the final season. Paulie is hilarious. I enjoyed the show, but I wouldn't go as far and put it in my top 5. I find it funny that people refer to it as a "character study" when in reality it's not much more than a glorified soap opera with a big budget and occasional violence.