The Sopranos is still one of TV’s sacred texts, but binge-watching asks for a different kind of pull that I’ve never found in The Sopranos. It’s good, yes. It has a great story, yes. But it takes a lot of episodes and time to produce enough substance to hook a viewer. In comparison, there are so many shows that hit harder and the next episode feels impossible to resist right when you start them.

There was a time when I genuinely thought nothing would ever top Breaking Bad because almost every episode felt stressful in a way very few shows manage. Walter White (Bryan Cranston) kept making decisions that looked smart in the moment and disastrous five episodes later, which made the tension build naturally instead of feeling manufactured. The transformation of Walter White from high school teacher to ruthless drug lord kept audiences gripped to their TVs for five seasons. The series also stars Aaron Paul, Anna Gunn, Betsy Brandt, and Dean Norris, and it remains in the conversation of the best TV shows of all time.

Tom Hardyand James Gandolfini built careers on unforgettable roles that helped shape modern film and television, with acclaimed projects like Inceptionand The Sopranos among the standout titles on their résumés. That level of success not only raises an actor’s profile and reputation but can also become a double-edged sword, with other, no less impactful, performances flying under the radar. That is where the gangster thriller, The Drop, finds itself. Released in 2014, during the height of Hardy’s blockbuster rise between films like The Dark Knight Rises and Mad Max: Fury Road, and with Gandolfini having already played one of the most iconic mob bosses of all time, The Drop was always going to struggle to become a breakout hit, especially on a $12.6 million budget.