Sunday night marked the start of Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement, on the Jewish calendar. Ironically, Sunday was also the season premiere of The Sopranos, the much-loved HBO mob drama.

Appropriately, writer-creator David Chase and his crew atoned for their sin of making viewers wallow in anxiety for 15 months by delivering the greatest hour of television I've seen since... well... since the last episode.

The plot of the episode, titled "For All Debts Public and Private," is every bit as gripping as the show's finest hours. It wasted virtually no time setting the wheels in motion for the Machiavellian mafia power plays soon to come.

Mixed in with all the intrigue, of course, is The Sopranos' scathing, sometimes grotesque sense of humor. The comic moments blend well with the grittier, violent sequences, creating a lifelike panorama of pain and joy.

The true greatness of "For All Debts" comes via surprising character turns. The most crucial development occurs between family patriarch Tony (James Gandolfini) and heir apparent Christopher (Michael Imperioli). An ambiguous tension evolves between the two until the riveting finale when their relationship changes permanently.

Though it may have been gone for a while, The Sopranos shows no sign of slipping.

-Reviewed by Nicholas Norcia