Can we simply say, after 17 lengthy years, what an unimaginable reduction it’s to have somebody categorical a real criticism concerning the finish of HBO’s The Sopranos—which does not grow to be a remark about its notorious ultimate scene? God bless Lorraine Bracco, then, for breaking the mould in a latest interview with SiriusXM’s Jennifer Shaw, throughout which, at no level, do the phrases “Believing,” “Cease,” or “Don’t” come out of the veteran actor’s mouth. Bracco, who not too long ago co-starred in Netflix’s The Union, has a complete, real different drawback with the sequence’ ultimate season, one which focuses, not on the (potential) finish of Tony Soprano’s life, however the very definitive finish of his therapeutic journey.
Which is to say, Bracco nonetheless sounds fairly mad about her ultimate look, within the present’s penultimate episode, “The Blue Comet,” which concludes together with her character Jennifer Melfi chopping ties with James Gandolfini’s Tony after coming to the (admittedly, fairly abrupt) conclusion that six seasons of remedy have solely made him a simpler sociopath. Bracco mentioned the scene didn’t sit effectively together with her on the time, and nonetheless doesn’t appear to, now. “I couldn’t imagine that. I used to be heartbroken, and I used to be not very pleased with the way in which David [Chase] ended it. I assumed it was unhealthy and mistaken. I used to be irritated, and I instructed him. How do you make investments 5 years into somebody’s life and simply stroll away? I mentioned, ‘That isn’t cool.’”
Which is, for followers of the sequence, type of fascinating, particularly as Bracco expresses her hope that Tony and Melfi bumped into one another a while down the road and resumed remedy, reversing her climactic ultimate stand. From a essential perspective, Melfi’s choice to chop Tony out of her life is mainly distinctive amongst Sopranos characters: It represents one of many solely factors in your entire sequence the place somebody absolutely involves phrases with one of many present’s central concepts, i.e., the truth that Tony Soprano, for all his charms, is a corrupting power who can by no means be mounted or bargained with, solely recognized and excised. Together with the well-known “Worker Of The Month,” it’s one of many moments that helps solidify Melfi because the present’s wounded ethical middle.
And you may perhaps hear it in how wrapped up we obtained in that final paragraph, however Christ is it good to get entangled in an argument concerning the finish of this TV present that’s not about whether or not Tony obtained whacked whereas consuming onion rings. Thanks, Lorraine Bracco. What a present.
