Never a dull moment for the Soprano clan

The Soprano family are back for their last series of murder and mayhem.

Murder, madness, betrayal, Sir Ben Kingsley, a gay scandal ... In the end your friends are gonna let you down, philosophises Tony Soprano. Family. They're the only ones you can depend on. But are they? When The Sopranos returns to our screens on August 2, this will be the final series and Tony S. has a lot of problems to sort out, not least of which involve the family. We can give you a few clues about what's ahead - but not too much. Otherwise, we'd have to f*%$* kill you.

At the end of the last series, Tony reluctantly had to shoot his cousin Tony Blundetto in the head to appease that volatile piece of scum, Johnny Sacks. Tony's dead-eyed peacemaking meet with Johnny was interrupted by the FBI, Johnny was arrested and Tony lumbered off into the snowy forest. He's off the hook, though, his lawyer reassures him, because it was a Brooklyn sting. And Tony is strictly a New Jersey man.

However, Johnny's reach from prison continues to cause bother for Tony and his crew, who are also being targeted one-by-one by the Feds, eager for informants after the demise of Adrianna. Which no one knows about except Tony and Christopher.

That wily old rotter, Uncle Junior, is losing more of his paranoid mind, creating a life-changing crisis for Tony and a power vacuum. In the post-9/11 mood of the nation, the Feds ask Christopher to keep an eye out for anything going down with Middle Easterners, Pakistanis; and Tony jnr - AJ - wants to get a gun. But AJ, hopeless in school, is not destined to enter the family business - heaven and Carmela forbid - and takes a job at a Blockbuster video store.

While AJ's attitude causes a parental meltdown, Christopher decides it's time to push his Hollywood ambitions, and coerces a recovering addict scriptwriter into a deal to pen his conceptual masterpiece: Saw meets Godfather 2. Chris pitches his outline to a group of investors who see flaws. Big flaws.

Undeterred, Chris and Little Carmine head off to Hollywood for a poolside meeting with Sir Ben Kingsley who is also dubious and tries to shake them off. Not so easy - especially as Chris is hyped by coke and the lure of freebies and goodie-bags. Lauren Bacall has a short but vivid role in this episode.

One of Tony's team, and his top earner, married man Vito, has already been shown (to us) to have a predilection for men. But now he is spotted in a gay bar, and worse is to come. Tony simply cannot believe it. He is so upset about Vito leaving the Soprano team open to ridicule, he goes off to see Dr Melfi, who points out that guys who've done jail - like so many of his boys - would be susceptible to male-male contact. That's a one-off situation - they get a pass for that, observes Tony.

Tony meets up with some New Orleans wiseguys who see a profit in the post-Katrina situation. Carmela is in despair over AJ and his dead, nihilistic streak and goes off to Paris where she discovers old buildings and the meaning of life. Tony opens up about a childhood trauma involving a tape recorder, and Christopher makes a bad choice in the girlfriend department.

And, always the king of the one-liners, Tony confesses to Melfi that he's bored. Yes, every day is a gift - but does it have to be a pair of socks? He might be bored. We won't be.