‘The Sopranos’ Fans Debate Saddest Moment of the Series

The Sopranos was best known as a gritty mob drama featuring inimitable performances, shocking character betrayals, gobs of violence, intensely trippy dream sequences, and quotable one-liners out the wazoo. As brutal and merciless as most of the characters were, though, there were also some truly sad moments.

Fans of the decorated HBO crime drama have been debating which moment from its six seasons was the most gutwrenching of them all over on the Reddit fan page, and there are a lot of quality contenders on the list. Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) might’ve considered “remember when” to be “the lowest form of conversation,” but that’s certainly not the case here.

The discussion kicked off when a fan started a thread claiming that “the only sad scene” was the one in Season 16 Episode 19 (“The Second Coming”) when a very depressed A.J. (Robert Iler) tried to die by suicide in the family’s pool, but changed his mind and struggled to stay above water. Tony got home just in time to save him. The poster contended it was “the only scene in the show that almost made me cry.”

From there, other Redditors began sharing their picks for the most gutting scene of The Sopranos.

Though nearly everyone in the series had committed vile acts, their final fates were still tragic to some fans. “Tony visiting Junior [Dominic Chianese] in the mental home was also incredibly sad,” one fan noted, adding, “Johnny Sack [Vincent Curatola] dying of cancer was sad too.”

Another fan pointed to the moment after Carmella (Edie Falco) learned from Irina (Oksana Lada) that Tony had slept with her one-legged cousin Svetlana (Alla Kliouka) and melted down about it. “When Carmella crashes out on Tony. I don’t care for Carmella much, but the acting by Edie Falco made me feel for her in that moment. It was gut-wrenching and raw. Just phenomenal acting!” the fan wrote of the scene.

Related

Why 'Sopranos' Creator Had Real Doubts About Casting James Gandolfini

Like Tony himself, at least one fan was more devastated by what happened to a certain animal friend than any of the two-legged folks, as one fan picked, “Pie-O-My being killed” as the most sobworthy scene of all.

Yet another moment that got a mention on the thread was a subtler one: “Don’t you love me?” That quote is from the moment in Season 5 Episode 3 when Tony confronts Junior about his aggressions towards him and says that tender line through tears, revealing his true vulnerability when it comes to his uncle.

What do you think is the saddest moment of all in The Sopranos? Hit the comments and let us know below!

The Sopranos, HBO Max