It begins with Carmela having an argument with her son. Nothing new. The following scene is the familiar sight of Tony picking up the paper in his underwear. Still nothing new. Does this mean Season Four will be business as usual? Hell, no. Sure, it's still violent, complex, riveting and casually sweary, but with half the series nearly over it's time for some major changes that will define the last years of the show.

First of all, the situation between Tony and Uncle Junior reverts to sour when it turns out the old man doesn't have enough money to pay his medical procedures and the upcoming trial. Unfortunately, Tony can't help him out since the cash flow has diminished significantly, a fact that upsets Carmela as well. And yet the bigger problem has yet to manifest itself, and it involves Chris and Adriana: the former still has trust issues with Tony, although the chance to finish an unresolved matter from his past seems to put a damper on that, and gets more hooked on heroin as each day passes; the latter has made friends with a woman named Danielle, not knowing that she is in fact an undercover FBI agent.

As a season starter, For All Debts Public and Private is quite calm: it doesn't have the strongly foreboding tension of Season Two's opener or the playfulness of the first Season Three episode (apart perhaps from the casting of comedian Will Arnett in the serious part of Danielle's husband - he does a good job, actually). That it maintains the exceptional level of the rest of the series is entirely due to smart writing and even better acting. The Tony-Junior conversation, in particular, is a cracker, in what promises to be the first of another 13 excellent stories.