The Sopranos Changed One Huge TV Rule 12 Years Before Game Of Thrones

Spoilers for The Sopranos!

The Sopranos changed one major law of television 12 years before Game of Thrones came along and followed its lead. While Oz might be older and the actual start of “prestige” television, it was The Sopranos that earned the moniker before any other series.

The Sopranos defined what it meant to be a prestige TV show, and when you’re talking about the best TV show of all time, you’ll have a hard time convincing people it doesn’t belong at the top of the list. It changed many of the rules of television, and copying the series isn’t so much uncreative as it is inevitable.

Take Game of Thrones, a series that shifted pop culture in its own titanic way. That fantasy series was still utilizing The Sopranos‘ trick 12 years after it premiered. Game of Thrones was well known for its unique season arcs. Instead of ending the season with its biggest episode, it was the penultimate episode where the fireworks occurred.

“Baelor”, “Blackwater”, “The Rains of Castamere”, “The Watchers on the Wall”, “The Dance of Dragons”, and so on were the second-to-last episodes of each season, and along with having the biggest set pieces, they were the episodes that each season led to and were filled with the most plot-shakeups.

The final episode of the season always felt like a fallout episode, where characters dealt with the events that happened in the episode before, and the series tried to position all the plot lines in preparation for the next season. This is unlike a lot of TV shows, where the season finale is the biggest episode, but The Sopranos was pulling this trick back in 1999.

The Penultimate Episodes Of The Sopranos Seasons Were More Like Finales

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The penultimate episodes of each season of The Sopranos also felt like season finales. Season 1, episode 12 is where the Livia (Nancy Marchand) matricide storyline comes to a head, and Tony (James Gandolfini) is nearly shot. In season 2, episode 12, the big bad, Richie (David Proval), is finally killed.

Seasons 3, 4, 5, and both parts of 6 have a penultimate episode where either a major character dies, or a season-long storyline comes to an end. The season finales feel a little more like those final episodes of a Game of Thrones season. The characters and storylines sigh after holding their breath during the events of the previous episode.

It’s a clever storytelling device. In both The Sopranos and Game of Thrones, the show has to immediately deal with the consequences of the major events that just occurred, whereas other shows can push those tricky interactions and developments to a whole new season. It shows a strength of storytelling that you don’t always see.

The Sopranos Frequently Challenged TV Conventions

Sal (Vincent Pastore) with his arms in the air in The Sopranos

David Chase and The Sopranos loved to challenge the conventions of television. For a show about ruthless gangsters, a significant number of critical characters die from non-Mafia-related causes. Jilted spouses, constipation, heart attacks, car crashes, depression, and cancer kill almost as many people as shootouts.

The story arcs across seasons are also very non-traditional. Each season is filled with multiple character and story arcs that stop and start, ignored for multiple episodes just after something important happens, then are picked up again without warning. Major characters last half a season, while seemingly minor ones become central over several years. There are whole books you can read about why The Sopranos remains an incredible series, but its unwillingness to stick to convention is one of those reasons why.