As a devoted fan of The Sopranos – my all-time favorite show – I thought there wasn’t much left for me to discover. But HBO’s new two part documentary Wise Guy: David Chase and The Sopranos offers fresh insight, focusing primarily on the mastermind behind the series, David Chase (1945), especially in its first half. Chase is a compelling figure: intelligent, introspective, and a natural storyteller. Director Alex Gibney (Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room) places Chase in a metaphorical psychiatrist’s chair, allowing him to speak candidly about his upbringing, his eccentric mother, dreams, death, and how these themes shaped The Sopranos. Chase recalls his time in college down south, which he disliked, though he was exposed to European cinema by directors like Godard, Bergman, and Fellini. “I saw 8½, and I don’t think I understood it, but it blew my mind”, he reflects. This experience ignited his desire to become a filmmaker, leading him to study at Stanford’s film school. The documentary even shows part of his student film – a gangster story with an attempted Godard flair, which is amusing in its ambition. While Chase’s destiny wasn’t in film directing, he found his calling in television. He worked on successful shows like The Rockford Files and Northern Exposure, but his true breakthrough came when HBO greenlit The Sopranos in 1998. The series became a cultural phenomenon, and Chase infused it with deeply personal elements, including therapy sessions and his tumultuous relationship with his mother. Other talented writers like Robin Green and Terence Winter also contributed significantly to the show’s depth. In The Offer, a recent series about the making of The Godfather, we learn that Coppola saw the film as a commentary on capitalism. Similarly, The Sopranos carries an underlying critique of America’s decline. As Chase puts it, “Americans have gotten so materialistic and selfish that it made a mob boss sick.” That vision, combined with Chase’s storytelling genius, is part of what makes The Sopranos so enduringly powerful.

Wise Guy: David Chase and The Sopranos is now available on HBO Max

The verdict: to stream or not to stream? To stream (especially Part 1)