Edie Falco won the Emmy for her performance in "Whitecaps" (Episode 13). The forty-minute fight between Tony and Carmela as their marriage implodes over his infidelity with Svetlana is better than 90% of theatrical films ever written. It is raw, ugly, and devastatingly real.

It establishes the dream-logic sequences, the dark humor ("It's good to be in something from the ground floor"), and the central theme: Will Tony change? (Spoiler: He will not).

When you buy , you are buying the pivot point. Season 5 is the "Old vs. New" season. Through a RICO bust, Tony’s cousin, Tony Blundetto (Steve Buscemi, who also directed several episodes), is released from prison.