The Sopranos: Nobody Knows Anything

"A feeling of pending doom?"

This is indeed a doom-laden episode, as dark as Tony's mood, full of paranoia, depression and unease, and making both us and the characters question things. The FBI are on the warpath, and the ground is shifting beneath everyone's feet.

The main plot thread centres on the presence of a mole, and the possibility- plausible, until the last moment- that likeable old Pussy may be wearing a wire for the Feds. This turns out to be a massive piece of misdirection, but damage has been done- we end with Pussy missing and Tony despondent, looking very much at risk of a further panic attack.

Worse, Tony's pet cop reaches a low after his arrest for using a bordello, and jumps off a bridge. And Livia shows herself to be truly evil, as allegedly poisonous as her namesake. We have an early scene where Carmela visits her, rolling her eyes at the obvious tricks and calling her out on her manipulative ways. But far more gullible is Junior, who she finally manipulates into decoding to kill her son- and it's fascinating to ponder why she hates him so. Tony ends the episode oblivious, but in real danger.

e also have one bit of comic relief around the dinner table- Meadow, interestingly, sides very much with the recently impeached President Clinton whose misdeeds were, yes, not remotely as nefarious as those of the imbecile Trump, but nevertheless a massive abuse of power. 1999, in some respects, was a very long ago, much as it may not feel so.

As ever, a superb piece of telly. Not long now until the season is don...