Only One Season Of The Sopranos Is Perfect, According To Rotten Tomatoes

Even after coming to an abrupt end in 2007, audiences still won't stop believing that "The Sopranos" is one of the best TV shows (if not the best TV show) ever made. The story of Tony Soprano's (James Gandolfini) struggles to serve as the heads of two very different families is still the standard that so many shows hope to match thanks to its incredible performances and writing (the kind that other series would kill to replicate). But which season of "The Sopranos" stands taller than the rest? Well, according to Rotten Tomatoes, there's one particular chapter in Tony's life of guns, gangsters, and gabagool that reigns triumphant and currently holds a perfect 100% critics score on the aggregator website.

Forget the divisive season 6 closer or season 4 (which shows the collapse of Tony's marriage), it's season 3 that, per RT, walked away without a hitch. Riddled with dead bodies and characters making tough choices that left audiences screaming at the television, season 3 also hosts the episode any "Sopranos" fan worth their frozen mustard would agree is the one of the greatest hours in television history. Yes, this is going to be yet another article that heaps praise on "Pine Barrens," but there are a few other entries in season 3 that deserve honorable mentions as well.

By the time season 3 rolled around, "The Sopranos" had fully hit its stride, bringing in even more players — all of them looking for their own slice of New Jersey — to cause a riot both outside and within Tony's criminal empire, even if that means having to take out their boss in the process. Season 3 also begins with the death of Livia Soprano (due to the unexpected passing of Nancy Marchand) in episode 2, "Proshai, Livushka," setting the stage for the late Soprano matriarch to haunt her son mentally over the years that followed.

Anyway, let's just get this out the way: "Pine Barrens" is not only the highlight and main event of season 3, but it's also a game-changing episode in and of itself. Considered by some to be a bottle episode and directed by Steve Buscemi, the episode sees Tony trying to put out the fire left by Christopher (Michael Imperioli) and Paulie (Tony Sirico) after they run-in with a former Russian soldier and find themselves stranded in the titular frozen spot. Hilarious in places thanks to the constant bickering between Tony's inept captains, "Pine Barrens" marks a major shift in the boss' perspective of who he can trust. It's also one of the first episodes to leave questions for viewers to answer, like whatever happened to the Russian that Paulie deemed "an interior decorator."

With that being said, there's another season 3 episode that deserves a shout-out, even if its primary focus would prefer not to say anything about it all (much as we wish she would).

While "Pine Barrens" might get regularly logged as the best "The Sopranos" has to offer, "Employee of the Month" is perhaps one of the bleakest yet equally brilliant episodes of the show — one that highlights, in the best way, the blurred lines between Tony's life and those that are linked to it, whether they want to be or not. Indeed, this is the episode that sees the mob boss' therapist Dr. Melfi (Lorraine Bracco) sexually assaulted by an unknown attacker and struggling to not only move on from the horrific incident but also settle on the best path to addressing it.

A brilliant testament to what makes her one of the best characters in "The Sopranos," this episode sees Melfi doing her best to keep ahold of her moral compass (which Bracco demanded), even though both she and the audience are desperate for her to give in and set the towering monster she sees every week loose upon another. The result is one of the most uncomfortable plot threads in the entire show and one that is perhaps tied up in a way some didn't want. Melfi not only refuses to order Tony to strike back against her assailant, but she also keeps the truth from him entirely. Instead, when he asks if there's something she needs to tell him, the good doctor at her most fragile answers with a firm "No." 

The "Sopranos" series finale might feature an iconic cut to black, but the one in this season 3 episode, however brief, was even more deafening.