"Here he goes now with the nostalgia."
From its very first episode, "The Sopranos" confidently laid the groundwork for its major theme: nostalgia and idealization. Throughout the series, the characters are motivated by a glorified view of the past, whether it be family life, manhood, the mafia itself, or Italian culture. There is no bigger purveyor of nostalgia in the series than Tony Soprano. His thoughts and actions are motivated by and often times stunted by nostalgia. When Tony first met his psychiatrist, Dr. Jennifer Melfi, he described his general ennui with life by saying, "It's good to be in something from the ground floor. But lately, I'm getting the feeling that I came in at the end. The best is over." For Tony, the past was always a better time. It is no coincidence that Tony binge watches the history channel throughout the series; the past guides his life for better or worse as a Mafia leader and a father. At the end of the first episode, while sitting in a church built by his grandfather and great uncle, Tony used the past to move himself beyond his feeling of "coming in at the end." He told his daughter, Meadow, "They were stone and marble workers. They came over from Italy. They built this place...They were two guys in a crew of laborers. They didn't design it, but they knew how to build it." Ultimately, however, it is Tony's blinding nostalgia and its eventual failure that destroyed both of his families in the final season. If there is a lesson in "The Sopranos," it is that nostalgia and idealization is, at best, a doubled edged sword, or in Tony's case, a double barreled shotgun.
From its very first episode, "The Sopranos" confidently laid the groundwork for its major theme: nostalgia and idealization. Throughout the series, the characters are motivated by a glorified view of the past, whether it be family life, manhood, the mafia itself, or Italian culture. There is no bigger purveyor of nostalgia in the series than Tony Soprano. His thoughts and actions are motivated by and often times stunted by nostalgia. When Tony first met his psychiatrist, Dr. Jennifer Melfi, he described his general ennui with life by saying, "It's good to be in something from the ground floor. But lately, I'm getting the feeling that I came in at the end. The best is over." For Tony, the past was always a better time. It is no coincidence that Tony binge watches the history channel throughout the series; the past guides his life for better or worse as a Mafia leader and a father. At the end of the first episode, while sitting in a church built by his grandfather and great uncle, Tony used the past to move himself beyond his feeling of "coming in at the end." He told his daughter, Meadow, "They were stone and marble workers. They came over from Italy. They built this place...They were two guys in a crew of laborers. They didn't design it, but they knew how to build it." Ultimately, however, it is Tony's blinding nostalgia and its eventual failure that destroyed both of his families in the final season. If there is a lesson in "The Sopranos," it is that nostalgia and idealization is, at best, a doubled edged sword, or in Tony's case, a double barreled shotgun.
"The Sopranos" has nostalgia for the Mafia's past, particularly as told through movies. In many ways, the show is the flowering of the gangster films of the twentieth century, each of which offered interesting but incomplete views of the Mafia. "The Godfather" centered around the boss of the family, for example, while "Goodfellas" focused on the low level soldiers on the street. "The Sopranos" gives audiences a complete view of the Mafia, covering the leaders, their underlings, their families and friends, and, in Tony's case, even their subconscious. The show continually references other works about the mob. Silvio Dante does a recurring Al Pacino impression from "The Godfather." The backroom of Satriale's is filled with mugshots of famous gangsters, even Frank Sinatra. These photos were accentuated in the first episode when Christopher killed a colleague. The gunshots were interspersed with pictures of Al Capone, Dean Martin, and other vestiges of mob history. Multiple people ask Tony what his favorite gangster film is and which ones are the most "real." Meadow's brief relationship with an African American college student began when they watched a James Cagney movie together. Tony watched "The Public Enemy" later in the episode, which caused him to be wistful about his mother. In Season 1, after Uncle Junior discovers that his girlfriend told others about his penchant for giving oral sex, he shoved a pie into her face, mirroring James Cagney in "The Public Enemy." When Tony felt that his neighbor, Dr. Cusamano, was exploiting his gangster status to impress his friends, Tony playfully asked him to hold a box for him, a scene which clearly harkened back to The Godfather Part II when Vito Corleone's neighbor asked him to hide a gun for him. Later in the series, a scene in The Godfather Part I is referenced both in the fact that the actual scene inspired A.J. to kill his Uncle Junior in retribution for his father's shooting (mimicking the actions of Michael Corleone in the film) and also in the final episode in which a man who some theorize killed Tony walked into a Men's room just as Michael Corleone did in The Godfather Part I. When A.J. told Tony that he wanted to kill Junior "just like Michael Corleone did" in his favorite scene, Tony reminded A.J. that it was "just a movie." Finally, many of A.J.'s friends asked him about his father with questions like "Why doesn't your dad have the Don Corleone money?" and compared Satriale's to Genco Olive Oil. As other recent groundbreaking shows, most notably "The Simpsons," "The Sopranos" is a postmodern work, cognizant of its own history.
The series also idealizes Italian culture and the ways of the "old country." When Tony first saw Dr. Melfi, he asked her "what part of the boot" she was from. He was delighted to hear that her ancestral town was right next to his, a fact that, in his mind, made them romantically compatible. Later in that episode, Paulie Gualtieri, Big Pussy visit a Starbucks and complain that their heritage was being exploited. Paulie said,
Ironically, in a later episode entitled "Commendatore," Tony, Paulie, and Christopher travelled to Italy on business and were disappointed by the vast differences between Italy and Italian American culture. Perhaps the most extreme example of Italian nostalgia is in the episode, "Christopher," which depicted a Native American protest of Columbus day and how the Mafia looked to quash it. Tony and Carmella were angered by A.J.'s assertion that Columbus was a genocidal killer, an opinion provided to him by the revisionist historian, Howard Zinn, in "A People's History of the United States," a book he was assigned in school. Tony answered A.J. by saying "You finally read a book and it's bullshit" and "He was a brave Italian explorer. And in this house, Christopher Columbus is a hero." Tony's Mafia family took the revisionist version of Columbus even more to heart, as they tried to violently break up a Columbus Day protest and later tried to blackmail a Native American professor into cancelling another protest. Yet, the characters in "The Sopranos" also suffered from the nostalgic generalizations of Italian culture, one that propagates stereotypes about all Italians being criminals and one that commodifies the culture with mob films, cheap pizza, pasta, and coffee (as mentioned in the previous paragraph). One interesting aspect of the episode is how Italian women seem to be ahead of the curve in changing their image. At a meeting of Italian women, Carmella and the other wives attended a talk by a speaker who asserted, "Look how we've both preserved the tradition of our ancestors and managed to become new Italian-American women. Such flair we have added to our image. And yet, America still sees us as pizza makers and Mama Leones." In other words, Italian women had the awareness to change their image. Tony finally came to this realization at the end of the episode. After they tried to reach out to a Native American casino owner who has clout in the Native American community, Tony asked a car full of his colleagues: "Did you get all this 'cause you're Italian? No, you got it 'cause you're you, 'cause you're smart, 'cause you're whatever. Where the fuck is our self-esteem? That shit doesn't come from Columbus, or The Godfather, or Chef fucking Boyardee." They finally realize, that nostalgia has negative influences as well.
In the most enduring symbol of Tony's nostalgia and idealization of his family, a family of ducks made their home in his pool. When they left, he had a panic attack and fainted. As Dr. Melfi later explained, the anxiety about the ducks flying away centered on Tony's fear of losing control over his families. Keeping to his idealistic character, Tony accepted that the ducks may not return, but still kept duck feed in the back of the house---just in case. His idealization often occurs to his own peril and causes indecision. One of the most powerful emotional moments for Tony occured in the first season, when he placed his mother into a "retirement community" (not a nursing home!). Connecting to a generation of middle aged baby boomers, Tony emptied his childhood home and was overcome by emotion as he realizes that the past is fading, giving way to the sober reality of aging. Besides his mother, Tony's other object of idealization is his Uncle Junior, a man whom he forgives and supports almost implicitly. After his life was threatened, Tony went through a period of saying both his uncle and mother were "dead to him." Yet, when both desperately needed him, Tony came to their rescue. When Livia needed funding for her return home, Tony was there. When Uncle Junior broke his hip in the shower, Tony carried him to the emergency room. Tony's idealization backfired when Uncle Junior later became demented and shot him, mistaking him for Little Pussy Malanga. Even after the second shooting, Tony later visited Uncle Junior in a state mental facility. The other character on whom Tony places high expectations is Christopher. He considers Christopher his "nephew," a term of endearment and closeness, as Christopher is actually his cousin once removed. Tony attempted to groom Christopher to be his only contact during his retirement, saying that Christopher was going to "take this family into the 21st century." Tony's love and idealization continually blinded him to Christopher's addiction to heroin, which was a major liability. Christopher received several chances to get clean, but always managed to slip back into addiction. It took Tony the entire series to see both Uncle Junior and Christopher in their true light. His nostalgia finally gave way to practicality.
In the years before Christopher's death, Tony often had problems accepting that he had to kill people in his Mafia family. In the first two seasons, Tony had difficulty coming to terms with the fact that Big Pussy Bomponsiero was a government informant who needed to be eliminated. After realizing that Big Pussy was a rat, it took more than a year for him to act. Likewise, after it became clear that Tony had to kill his cousin, Tony Blundetto, as an appeasement to John Sacramoni after Blundetto killed two people in Sacrimoni's family, Tony hesitated past the point of pragmatism. Again, Tony had high hopes for Blundetto after the latter's release from prison, citing his "balls and 158 IQ." Before killing both Big Pussy and Tony Blundetto, Tony had to plumb his subconscious to accept what he had to do. Those surreal episodes, some of the best of the series, are tremendously Jungian in nature, full of symbols and hidden desires. Still, in the end, Tony eventually did what he needed to do.
One important nostalgic concept that Tony obsesses about is a lost era of manhood. In particular, he idealizes Gary Cooper, "the strong and silent type." Tony had a clear idea of the male gender role: strength. Although therapy undoubtedly helped Tony reduce his panic attacks and grow as a person to at least a small degree, he continually complained about counseling, saying:
Tony referenced Gary Cooper many more times throughout the series. In the episode, "Christopher," in which Tony's respective families considered the heroism and Italian heritage of Columbus, Tony became frustrated with Silvio complaining about the defamation of Italians:
Another telling example is when Meadow's boyfriend, Finn, paid for a family dinner at a restaurant in thanks to Tony for his previous generosity. Tony became infuriated because Finn's actions threatened his role as the male breadwinner. He says to Finn, "Let's get something straight: you eat, I pay." It is no wonder that Tony idealizes manhood; he is the patriarch of two families. "The Sopranos" takes men who idealize old world values and brings them into the modern world. Tony is a Mafia boss, but he also has to take his daughter to look at colleges. He kills people on contract, but he also has to argue with his semi-modern wife about finances. Much of the comedy in "The Sopranos" comes from a feeling of anachronism, a collection of old world men who are suddenly blasted into the future and must cope with modern problems.
Another way that "The Sopranos" demonstrates nostalgia is when older characters return to the streets after being incarcerated for 10 or 20 years. Two characters, in particular, Richie Aprile and Feech La Manna annoyingly complained about how things were "in their day" and how they had things coming to them. Richie Aprile wasted no time in reestablishing his old power when he crippled "Beansie," a pizzeria owner who formally paid him. In a comical example, Richie gave Tony an old jacket from the 1970's, a jacket that Richie "took off the Rocco DiMeo---the cocksucker with the toughest reputation in Essex County." Characters like Richie Aprile as well as Feech la Manna and Tony Blundetto, are products of stunted growth and are permanently trapped in the past before they were incarcerated. Both Aprile and Blundetto demonstrated a lag in time, especially in their fashion sense. Tony Blundetto wore a Miami Vice era suit upon release while Richie Aprile wore a 1970's era leisure suit. Both Richie Aprile and Feech La Manna made so many waves demanding their past position, that they conjured significant trouble. After La Manna complained about how his affairs were being handled, Tony yelled, "I don't want to hear anymore how it was in your day. From now on, keep your antidotes to local color, like Dinoflow or the Maguire sisters. Otherwise, shut the fuck up!" Both Aprile's La Manna's obsession with the past led to their death or removal. In the world of "The Sopranos," nostalgia could even get you killed.
Other characters try to escape their past only to find that they cannot. Christopher sentimentalized Hollywood and dreamt of becoming a screenwriter. His experiences, however, including Jon Favreau stealing his Mafia stories, his failure to navigate Hollywood with Little Carmine, and his inability to fully realize his full vision with "Cleaver" without Mafia retribution, further demonstrated his entrapment in the world of organized crime, a life for which he was born and bred. Likewise, Tony Blundetto exited prison with the intent of being a massage therapist and staying off the street. After he realized that it's "tough to do business with strangers," he pulled out of his dream project and returned to the Mafia. Artie Bucco is a perpetual gawker of his Mafia friends, and often tried to enter to world by having small business agreements with Tony. Artie even borrowed money from Tony to fund an Armagnac venture that fails. Artie's wife, Charmaine, always brought him back down to earth as he dreams of being as rich and powerful as a gangster. He is an honest working class man and he can't escape it. Finally, more than anyone, Carmela is stuck in the life she made with Tony. She sought advice from Father Intintola and a therapist, both of whom made her confront the fact that her lifestyle and children's lives are tied to serious crimes. Yet, despite her doubts and moral ruminations, Carmela stayed in her life because of her financial dependence on Tony. When Carmela sought a divorce, her attorney refused to go forward given her husband's criminal reputation. In the end, Carmela remained in her marriage out of practicality and sidesteps moral responsibility. Once you marry a Mafioso, there is no getting out.
Tony's penchant for idealization and nostalgia meets its apex when it comes to women. His relationship with his mother, his wife, his mistresses, and even his psychiatrist are guided by his high expectations and specific roles that he expects them to obey. Tony's female universe revolves around his mother, Livia, an unbalanced and manipulative woman who suffers from a severe personality disorder. His mother is perpetually unfulfilled and unhappy, a "black hole" as he later recalled, that makes him feel grossly inadequate. Nothing Tony did was ever enough to satisfy Livia, a fact that gave rise to his constant anxiety and depression. She cried on command and repeated her catch phrase, "I gave my life to my children on a silver platter," an assertion meant to instill guilt and sympathy with the goal of controlling emotions and action. When Livia's emotional manipulation failed, and she is forced into a retirement community, she changed tactics and instead manipulated her brother-in-law, Junior, into murdering Tony because of his rising power. The failed attempt on Tony's life and the subsequent realization that his mother and uncle conspired to kill him was the most significant emotional blow to him in the entire series. As he asked Dr. Melfi, "What kind of person can I be, where his own mother wants him dead?" Despite the fact that Tony slowly realized that his mother is emotionally manipulative and joyless, he still propagated his idealized version of her---calling her a "sweetie pie," getting her flowers and gifts, and even taking care of her after she conspired to have him killed. At one point, Tony became violent with Dr. Melfi when confronted with the truth about his mother. He intensely yelled, “What do you think, my mother tried to have me whacked ‘cuz I put her in a nursing home?” He flipped over Melfi's table in the office and abruptly left. Finally, after his mother's death and funeral, at which he discovered that his mother was almost universally hated, Tony made peace with his mother's nature and its effect on him. Tony told Dr. Melfi, “This is gonna sound stupid, but I saw at one point that our mothers are… bus drivers. No, they are the bus. See, they’re the vehicle that gets us here. They drop us off and go on their way. They continue on their journey. And the problem is that we keep tryin’ to get back on the bus, instead of just lettin’ it go.”
While Tony let go of his mother's emotional abuse, she still persisted in his relationships. The women in his life existed on a spectrum between desperate or independent, both to a fault, with his wife in the proverbial sweet spot. In essence, Tony is attracted to aspects of his mother or her polar opposite. On the side of neediness was his Russian girlfriend, Irina, who desperately needed his financial and emotional support, a reality which caused Tony to refer to her many times as the "poor girl." When Tony finally left her, she desperately schemed to see and talk with him, going to the point of even calling his house to ruin his family life. On the side of independence is Dr. Melfi, the attractive, self-sufficient doctor who "wears a business suit." Interestingly, Tony only got to see Dr. Melfi's professional side. He never saw her weaknesses or personal tragedies including her rape and alcoholism. Tony idealized Dr. Melfi and was attracted to her inaccessibility and self-control. She is one of the only women in the series whom he is unable seduce romantically (though he does charm and seduce her interest). He admired her so much that Tony had high hopes that his daughter, Meadow, would be an independent professional woman like her, a lawyer or a pediatrician. Tony's array of other girlfriends fit into one of these characterizations: he dated a professional art dealer and a realtor, both dressed as businesswomen, but also had flings with underlings like strippers and employees. Two of his girlfriends were notable for their inconsistencies. Svetlana, who is both Irina's cousin and Tony's employee, was extremely independent despite her lower position. She worked hard, was mobile despite having one leg, and had emotional stability. And then there's Gloria Trillo, the businesswoman at the Mercedes dealership who rivaled Tony's mother for emotional manipulation and blackmail. With Gloria, Tony rediscovered his mother. After a fight, he told Gloria "I didn't just meet you. I've known you my whole life." In the middle is Carmela, who is, in many ways, perfect for Tony. She is financially dependent on him but is modern enough to not always depend on his emotional support. She took care of her family and made emotional sacrifices for them by ignoring Tony's many infidelities. She managed to be independent and dependent concurrently, a balance which makes her suitable to be a modern Mafia wife. Modern is the key word. Finally, in an episode called "I Dream of Jeanie Cusumano," Tony overdosed on an antipsychotic drug and had hallucinations of an Italian exchange student named Isabella who was staying with his neighbor. She is the perfect old world Italian woman: beautiful, buxom, innocent, and motherly. For Tony, Isabella was a product of nostalgia both for Italy and a better mother figure. Isabella is Tony's perfect woman, but she doesn't exist. In reality, as Dr. Melfi commented, Carmela was his best choice.
The final season of "The Sopranos" polarized audiences because it unravelled the seduction of the entire series and revealed to audiences that they had been conned by a sociopath for five seasons. It essentially strips all the nostalgia and sentimentality away from the series and shows the reality of the Mafia. Fans of the show spent time watching the inner workings of the Mafia intertwined with the family life of the members, a juxtaposition which had a normalizing effects on the events. Additionally, none of the main Mafia characters faced severe consequences for their actions, with the sole exception of Big Pussy. Interestingly, all of the murders and prison sentences were suffered by newly introduced characters, including Richie Aprile, Feech la Manna, Tony Blundetto, Sal Bonpensiero, Ralphie Ciafareto, all of whom die within a season of their original introduction. In season six, we finally saw the death of main Mafia characters like Silvio Dante and Bobby Baccalieri. Additionally, John Sacrimoni was arrested in the final episode of Season 5, received a sizable jail sentence and asset seizure, and then died of cancer while in jail. Finally, Tony is not only threatened by the excavation of a person he killed earlier in his life, but he developed a significant losing streak in his gambling, a negative change that still does not stop him from chasing high adrenaline wins, a mainstay of the wise guy lifestyle. Tony's risks with gambling, his continued position as boss, and John Sacrimoni's incarceration point to a reality best articulated by Carmela: "You eat, you play, and you pretend there isn't a giant piano hanging by a rope just over the top of your head every minute of every day." That is Tony's true reality.
The first few episodes of the sixth season explored the spiritual and moral aspect of Tony's life. After Tony was shot, he had a coma dream that suggested an identity crisis. Tony was at a business convention and picked up the wrong briefcase, which belonged to a man named Kevin Finnerty. In his dream, Tony was not in the mafia, but was a normal salesman, a job that alluded to a quote Tony said to Dr. Melfi concerning his Mafia background: "In my family, rebelling would have been selling patio furniture." Tony's alter ego noticeably lacked his usual Newark accent. Additionally, he talked to his wife on the phone, a woman who sounded nothing like Carmela. He also had a different personality: patient, law abiding, and faithful---he refused to sleep with a woman he met on the trip. Tony lost his identification and credit card and instead had those of Kevin Finnerty, which he used to get a hotel room. In a later episode, after Tony fell down some stairs, we also discovered that he had early onset Alzheimer's disease and that he will eventually forget who he is. Finally, a group of Buddhist monks insisted that Tony is, in fact, Kevin Finnerty, and that he cheated them on a heating unit and refused to answer their calls and letters. The monks eventually served him with a lawsuit. At one point, Tony awakened from his coma and whispers, "Who am I? Where am I going?
Tony's case of mistaken identity points to two truths about his life: first, that he was living a double life, one in which he was a violent sociopath and another in which he posed as a normal businessman, father, and husband. Finnerty sold "Precision Optics," an allusion to the fact that Tony's alter ego saw the world more clearly and focused on his family. The worlds collided in the dream and Tony wasforced to ask if he was, in fact, Kevin Finnerty. In reality, Tony was the man who cheated the Buddhist monks, all of whom represent karma and the possibility of arrest Tony faced as he continued his life of crime. The monks asked him to take responsibility or they would continue their lawsuit. Karma will catch up with Tony if he stayed in his current life. Second, the alter-ego of Kevin Finnerty also represents the life Tony had the choice to live, or perhaps the life he subconsciously wanted to live. Tony is confronted with an identity crisis and a search for his true self which drove the rest of the season. Tony was given the opportunity to change. As the doctor said of his Alzheimer's diagnosis, which represents his identity crisis, "it is not as bleak as it would have been a while back" and that Tony should "talk to his doctors back home," an obvious allusion that he should seek counsel with Dr. Melfi.
When Tony drives to the Inn at the Oaks with the bright beacon, he had two choices. The first choice was a very real one: death or life. Tony could have relinquished his briefcase (leave his physical body) and join the people on the inside and fall into eternity, or he could have moved toward the pleas of his daughter and live. The second choice Tony confronted was whether to move toward his familial history of crime, represented by his family members inside the inn, or toward his biological family, symbolized by Meadow's voice. This choice was foreshadowed in a previous season when Tony tried to convince Little Carmine Luppertazi to become boss of a New York family after John Sacramoni went to jail. Carmine, who usually is comically oblivious, gave Tony the best advice he probably ever received in his life by relaying a dream he had about his father giving him an empty box:
The shots also alternated between tables of cub scouts, a romantic couple, and an old man---symbolizing generally different stages of life. The key to understanding the final sequence is to notice how the director used Pavlovian cues with a bell and subsequent point of view (POV) shots. Every time someone walked in the door and rung the bell, Tony looked up and we saw things from his point of view---people entering the diner. The most conspicuous person who entered the diner was a man wearing a tan Member's Only jacket who eventually sat at the bar. The director chose to focus on this man several more times, including when the man got up, passed Tony, and went to the Men's room. In the last few seconds, a bell rang, Tony looked up, and we saw his point of view: darkness, implying that he had been killed. This theory is bolstered by the fact that the man in the jacket went to the Men's room before returning to shoot Tony, which would echo the scene in "The Godfather" in which Michael goes to the Men's room to get a hidden gun before coming out to avenge his father. Additionally, the theory would explain the show's previous emphasis on victims being shot without first seeing the gunman. In an earlier episode, Bobby Baccalieri remarked about murder: "You probably don't even hear it when it happens." An earlier episode in the season depicted Silvio not realizing someone was shot next to him until blood splattered on his face. If one goes with a more generalized interpretation, Tony will be nervously looking over his shoulder for the rest of his life, anticipating jail or murder. The piano hanging over his head will fall for one reason or another.
As a series, The Sopranos examined how one man, among others, balanced life between two different types of families. In the first episode, Tony sought psychiatric help for panic attacks that stemmed from a fear of losing control, particularly over his families, which was symbolized by a family of ducks flying away from his swimming pool. He did not want to lose that nostalgia of Italian family life or of the Mafia. By the end of the series, Tony had almost no panic attacks, as much of his nostalgia and fears of loss faded. Perhaps that's why he was not able to see the gunman in the diner. Ironically, Tony's need for control and his fear of loss was what destroyed both of his families. After the war with New York, a war largely caused by him and his need to protect his cousin, Tony Blundetto, and his daughter, Meadow, his North Jersey family was destroyed with the loss of several people, including himself. The end of the family was foreshadowed by Tony's last conversation with Junior, in which he reminded him that he and his brother, Johnny, ran North Jersey in the past. Tony is disillusioned when Junior does not recall his former kingdom, a reminder that glory fades. If Tony were gunned down, it would have certainly destroyed his own family, who would have witnessed a traumatic act of violence. In any case, whether Tony was killed or will be jailed, he will have destroyed what he built. Fittingly, the tag line for the final season is "Everything comes to an end."
For almost seven years, audiences watched a show that attempted to normalize the lives of gangsters who were previously foreign to them. We never saw Michael Corleone take his daughter to see colleges or Henry Hill deal with a borderline mother. Nor did we see Edward G. Robinson or James Cagney suffer in their subconscious before they killed someone. That normalization was the genius gift of "The Sopranos:" our ability, like Dr. Melfi, to delve into the personal lives and thoughts of these interesting characters. The final season of "The Sopranos" sought to undo any future normalization caused by this voyeurism. All of the Mafia characters, however likable and emphatic, were, in the end, violent sociopaths who deserved no admiration. As in the case of Dr. Melfi, we were confronted with the harsh realties of a world that seduced us and had to accept that we were seeking sensationalism rather than enlightenment. With nostalgia lifted, we were forced to close the door on Tony Soprano just as Dr. Melfi had to. Perhaps that is why the ending was so vexing: it ripped us away too quickly from the instant gratification and nostalgia that Tony and his audiences grew accustomed to. Ah, Tony. Ah, humanity.
"Fuckin' expresso, cappuccino. We invented this shit and all these other cocksuckers are gettin' rich off it...And it's not just the money. It's a pride thing. All our food: pizza, calzone, buffalo moozarell', olive oil. These fucks had nothin'. They ate pootsie before we gave them the gift of our cuisine. But this, this is the worst. This expresso shit."
Ironically, in a later episode entitled "Commendatore," Tony, Paulie, and Christopher travelled to Italy on business and were disappointed by the vast differences between Italy and Italian American culture. Perhaps the most extreme example of Italian nostalgia is in the episode, "Christopher," which depicted a Native American protest of Columbus day and how the Mafia looked to quash it. Tony and Carmella were angered by A.J.'s assertion that Columbus was a genocidal killer, an opinion provided to him by the revisionist historian, Howard Zinn, in "A People's History of the United States," a book he was assigned in school. Tony answered A.J. by saying "You finally read a book and it's bullshit" and "He was a brave Italian explorer. And in this house, Christopher Columbus is a hero." Tony's Mafia family took the revisionist version of Columbus even more to heart, as they tried to violently break up a Columbus Day protest and later tried to blackmail a Native American professor into cancelling another protest. Yet, the characters in "The Sopranos" also suffered from the nostalgic generalizations of Italian culture, one that propagates stereotypes about all Italians being criminals and one that commodifies the culture with mob films, cheap pizza, pasta, and coffee (as mentioned in the previous paragraph). One interesting aspect of the episode is how Italian women seem to be ahead of the curve in changing their image. At a meeting of Italian women, Carmella and the other wives attended a talk by a speaker who asserted, "Look how we've both preserved the tradition of our ancestors and managed to become new Italian-American women. Such flair we have added to our image. And yet, America still sees us as pizza makers and Mama Leones." In other words, Italian women had the awareness to change their image. Tony finally came to this realization at the end of the episode. After they tried to reach out to a Native American casino owner who has clout in the Native American community, Tony asked a car full of his colleagues: "Did you get all this 'cause you're Italian? No, you got it 'cause you're you, 'cause you're smart, 'cause you're whatever. Where the fuck is our self-esteem? That shit doesn't come from Columbus, or The Godfather, or Chef fucking Boyardee." They finally realize, that nostalgia has negative influences as well.
In the most enduring symbol of Tony's nostalgia and idealization of his family, a family of ducks made their home in his pool. When they left, he had a panic attack and fainted. As Dr. Melfi later explained, the anxiety about the ducks flying away centered on Tony's fear of losing control over his families. Keeping to his idealistic character, Tony accepted that the ducks may not return, but still kept duck feed in the back of the house---just in case. His idealization often occurs to his own peril and causes indecision. One of the most powerful emotional moments for Tony occured in the first season, when he placed his mother into a "retirement community" (not a nursing home!). Connecting to a generation of middle aged baby boomers, Tony emptied his childhood home and was overcome by emotion as he realizes that the past is fading, giving way to the sober reality of aging. Besides his mother, Tony's other object of idealization is his Uncle Junior, a man whom he forgives and supports almost implicitly. After his life was threatened, Tony went through a period of saying both his uncle and mother were "dead to him." Yet, when both desperately needed him, Tony came to their rescue. When Livia needed funding for her return home, Tony was there. When Uncle Junior broke his hip in the shower, Tony carried him to the emergency room. Tony's idealization backfired when Uncle Junior later became demented and shot him, mistaking him for Little Pussy Malanga. Even after the second shooting, Tony later visited Uncle Junior in a state mental facility. The other character on whom Tony places high expectations is Christopher. He considers Christopher his "nephew," a term of endearment and closeness, as Christopher is actually his cousin once removed. Tony attempted to groom Christopher to be his only contact during his retirement, saying that Christopher was going to "take this family into the 21st century." Tony's love and idealization continually blinded him to Christopher's addiction to heroin, which was a major liability. Christopher received several chances to get clean, but always managed to slip back into addiction. It took Tony the entire series to see both Uncle Junior and Christopher in their true light. His nostalgia finally gave way to practicality.
In the years before Christopher's death, Tony often had problems accepting that he had to kill people in his Mafia family. In the first two seasons, Tony had difficulty coming to terms with the fact that Big Pussy Bomponsiero was a government informant who needed to be eliminated. After realizing that Big Pussy was a rat, it took more than a year for him to act. Likewise, after it became clear that Tony had to kill his cousin, Tony Blundetto, as an appeasement to John Sacramoni after Blundetto killed two people in Sacrimoni's family, Tony hesitated past the point of pragmatism. Again, Tony had high hopes for Blundetto after the latter's release from prison, citing his "balls and 158 IQ." Before killing both Big Pussy and Tony Blundetto, Tony had to plumb his subconscious to accept what he had to do. Those surreal episodes, some of the best of the series, are tremendously Jungian in nature, full of symbols and hidden desires. Still, in the end, Tony eventually did what he needed to do.
One important nostalgic concept that Tony obsesses about is a lost era of manhood. In particular, he idealizes Gary Cooper, "the strong and silent type." Tony had a clear idea of the male gender role: strength. Although therapy undoubtedly helped Tony reduce his panic attacks and grow as a person to at least a small degree, he continually complained about counseling, saying:
“Let me tell ya something. Nowadays, everybody's gotta go to shrinks, and counselors, and go on Sally Jessy Raphael and talk about their problems. What happened to Gary Cooper? The strong, silent type. That was an American. He wasn't in touch with his feelings. He just did what he had to do. See, what they didn't know was once they got Gary Cooper in touch with his feelings that they wouldn't be able to shut him up! And then it's dysfunction this, and dysfunction that, and dysfunction vaffancul!”
Tony referenced Gary Cooper many more times throughout the series. In the episode, "Christopher," in which Tony's respective families considered the heroism and Italian heritage of Columbus, Tony became frustrated with Silvio complaining about the defamation of Italians:
"What the fuck happened to Gary Cooper? That's what I'd like to know....Now there was an American. The strong, silent type. He did what he had to do. He faced down the Miller gang when none of those other assholes would lift a finger to help him. And did he complain? Did he say, "I come from this poor Texas-Irish "illiterate background or whatever, so leave me the fuck out of it "because my people got fucked over"? All right, even if he was a madigan around nowadays he'd be a member of some victims' group. The fundamentalist Christians, the abused cowboys, the gays, whatever."
Another telling example is when Meadow's boyfriend, Finn, paid for a family dinner at a restaurant in thanks to Tony for his previous generosity. Tony became infuriated because Finn's actions threatened his role as the male breadwinner. He says to Finn, "Let's get something straight: you eat, I pay." It is no wonder that Tony idealizes manhood; he is the patriarch of two families. "The Sopranos" takes men who idealize old world values and brings them into the modern world. Tony is a Mafia boss, but he also has to take his daughter to look at colleges. He kills people on contract, but he also has to argue with his semi-modern wife about finances. Much of the comedy in "The Sopranos" comes from a feeling of anachronism, a collection of old world men who are suddenly blasted into the future and must cope with modern problems.
Another way that "The Sopranos" demonstrates nostalgia is when older characters return to the streets after being incarcerated for 10 or 20 years. Two characters, in particular, Richie Aprile and Feech La Manna annoyingly complained about how things were "in their day" and how they had things coming to them. Richie Aprile wasted no time in reestablishing his old power when he crippled "Beansie," a pizzeria owner who formally paid him. In a comical example, Richie gave Tony an old jacket from the 1970's, a jacket that Richie "took off the Rocco DiMeo---the cocksucker with the toughest reputation in Essex County." Characters like Richie Aprile as well as Feech la Manna and Tony Blundetto, are products of stunted growth and are permanently trapped in the past before they were incarcerated. Both Aprile and Blundetto demonstrated a lag in time, especially in their fashion sense. Tony Blundetto wore a Miami Vice era suit upon release while Richie Aprile wore a 1970's era leisure suit. Both Richie Aprile and Feech La Manna made so many waves demanding their past position, that they conjured significant trouble. After La Manna complained about how his affairs were being handled, Tony yelled, "I don't want to hear anymore how it was in your day. From now on, keep your antidotes to local color, like Dinoflow or the Maguire sisters. Otherwise, shut the fuck up!" Both Aprile's La Manna's obsession with the past led to their death or removal. In the world of "The Sopranos," nostalgia could even get you killed.
Other characters try to escape their past only to find that they cannot. Christopher sentimentalized Hollywood and dreamt of becoming a screenwriter. His experiences, however, including Jon Favreau stealing his Mafia stories, his failure to navigate Hollywood with Little Carmine, and his inability to fully realize his full vision with "Cleaver" without Mafia retribution, further demonstrated his entrapment in the world of organized crime, a life for which he was born and bred. Likewise, Tony Blundetto exited prison with the intent of being a massage therapist and staying off the street. After he realized that it's "tough to do business with strangers," he pulled out of his dream project and returned to the Mafia. Artie Bucco is a perpetual gawker of his Mafia friends, and often tried to enter to world by having small business agreements with Tony. Artie even borrowed money from Tony to fund an Armagnac venture that fails. Artie's wife, Charmaine, always brought him back down to earth as he dreams of being as rich and powerful as a gangster. He is an honest working class man and he can't escape it. Finally, more than anyone, Carmela is stuck in the life she made with Tony. She sought advice from Father Intintola and a therapist, both of whom made her confront the fact that her lifestyle and children's lives are tied to serious crimes. Yet, despite her doubts and moral ruminations, Carmela stayed in her life because of her financial dependence on Tony. When Carmela sought a divorce, her attorney refused to go forward given her husband's criminal reputation. In the end, Carmela remained in her marriage out of practicality and sidesteps moral responsibility. Once you marry a Mafioso, there is no getting out.
Tony's penchant for idealization and nostalgia meets its apex when it comes to women. His relationship with his mother, his wife, his mistresses, and even his psychiatrist are guided by his high expectations and specific roles that he expects them to obey. Tony's female universe revolves around his mother, Livia, an unbalanced and manipulative woman who suffers from a severe personality disorder. His mother is perpetually unfulfilled and unhappy, a "black hole" as he later recalled, that makes him feel grossly inadequate. Nothing Tony did was ever enough to satisfy Livia, a fact that gave rise to his constant anxiety and depression. She cried on command and repeated her catch phrase, "I gave my life to my children on a silver platter," an assertion meant to instill guilt and sympathy with the goal of controlling emotions and action. When Livia's emotional manipulation failed, and she is forced into a retirement community, she changed tactics and instead manipulated her brother-in-law, Junior, into murdering Tony because of his rising power. The failed attempt on Tony's life and the subsequent realization that his mother and uncle conspired to kill him was the most significant emotional blow to him in the entire series. As he asked Dr. Melfi, "What kind of person can I be, where his own mother wants him dead?" Despite the fact that Tony slowly realized that his mother is emotionally manipulative and joyless, he still propagated his idealized version of her---calling her a "sweetie pie," getting her flowers and gifts, and even taking care of her after she conspired to have him killed. At one point, Tony became violent with Dr. Melfi when confronted with the truth about his mother. He intensely yelled, “What do you think, my mother tried to have me whacked ‘cuz I put her in a nursing home?” He flipped over Melfi's table in the office and abruptly left. Finally, after his mother's death and funeral, at which he discovered that his mother was almost universally hated, Tony made peace with his mother's nature and its effect on him. Tony told Dr. Melfi, “This is gonna sound stupid, but I saw at one point that our mothers are… bus drivers. No, they are the bus. See, they’re the vehicle that gets us here. They drop us off and go on their way. They continue on their journey. And the problem is that we keep tryin’ to get back on the bus, instead of just lettin’ it go.”
While Tony let go of his mother's emotional abuse, she still persisted in his relationships. The women in his life existed on a spectrum between desperate or independent, both to a fault, with his wife in the proverbial sweet spot. In essence, Tony is attracted to aspects of his mother or her polar opposite. On the side of neediness was his Russian girlfriend, Irina, who desperately needed his financial and emotional support, a reality which caused Tony to refer to her many times as the "poor girl." When Tony finally left her, she desperately schemed to see and talk with him, going to the point of even calling his house to ruin his family life. On the side of independence is Dr. Melfi, the attractive, self-sufficient doctor who "wears a business suit." Interestingly, Tony only got to see Dr. Melfi's professional side. He never saw her weaknesses or personal tragedies including her rape and alcoholism. Tony idealized Dr. Melfi and was attracted to her inaccessibility and self-control. She is one of the only women in the series whom he is unable seduce romantically (though he does charm and seduce her interest). He admired her so much that Tony had high hopes that his daughter, Meadow, would be an independent professional woman like her, a lawyer or a pediatrician. Tony's array of other girlfriends fit into one of these characterizations: he dated a professional art dealer and a realtor, both dressed as businesswomen, but also had flings with underlings like strippers and employees. Two of his girlfriends were notable for their inconsistencies. Svetlana, who is both Irina's cousin and Tony's employee, was extremely independent despite her lower position. She worked hard, was mobile despite having one leg, and had emotional stability. And then there's Gloria Trillo, the businesswoman at the Mercedes dealership who rivaled Tony's mother for emotional manipulation and blackmail. With Gloria, Tony rediscovered his mother. After a fight, he told Gloria "I didn't just meet you. I've known you my whole life." In the middle is Carmela, who is, in many ways, perfect for Tony. She is financially dependent on him but is modern enough to not always depend on his emotional support. She took care of her family and made emotional sacrifices for them by ignoring Tony's many infidelities. She managed to be independent and dependent concurrently, a balance which makes her suitable to be a modern Mafia wife. Modern is the key word. Finally, in an episode called "I Dream of Jeanie Cusumano," Tony overdosed on an antipsychotic drug and had hallucinations of an Italian exchange student named Isabella who was staying with his neighbor. She is the perfect old world Italian woman: beautiful, buxom, innocent, and motherly. For Tony, Isabella was a product of nostalgia both for Italy and a better mother figure. Isabella is Tony's perfect woman, but she doesn't exist. In reality, as Dr. Melfi commented, Carmela was his best choice.
The final season of "The Sopranos" polarized audiences because it unravelled the seduction of the entire series and revealed to audiences that they had been conned by a sociopath for five seasons. It essentially strips all the nostalgia and sentimentality away from the series and shows the reality of the Mafia. Fans of the show spent time watching the inner workings of the Mafia intertwined with the family life of the members, a juxtaposition which had a normalizing effects on the events. Additionally, none of the main Mafia characters faced severe consequences for their actions, with the sole exception of Big Pussy. Interestingly, all of the murders and prison sentences were suffered by newly introduced characters, including Richie Aprile, Feech la Manna, Tony Blundetto, Sal Bonpensiero, Ralphie Ciafareto, all of whom die within a season of their original introduction. In season six, we finally saw the death of main Mafia characters like Silvio Dante and Bobby Baccalieri. Additionally, John Sacrimoni was arrested in the final episode of Season 5, received a sizable jail sentence and asset seizure, and then died of cancer while in jail. Finally, Tony is not only threatened by the excavation of a person he killed earlier in his life, but he developed a significant losing streak in his gambling, a negative change that still does not stop him from chasing high adrenaline wins, a mainstay of the wise guy lifestyle. Tony's risks with gambling, his continued position as boss, and John Sacrimoni's incarceration point to a reality best articulated by Carmela: "You eat, you play, and you pretend there isn't a giant piano hanging by a rope just over the top of your head every minute of every day." That is Tony's true reality.
The first few episodes of the sixth season explored the spiritual and moral aspect of Tony's life. After Tony was shot, he had a coma dream that suggested an identity crisis. Tony was at a business convention and picked up the wrong briefcase, which belonged to a man named Kevin Finnerty. In his dream, Tony was not in the mafia, but was a normal salesman, a job that alluded to a quote Tony said to Dr. Melfi concerning his Mafia background: "In my family, rebelling would have been selling patio furniture." Tony's alter ego noticeably lacked his usual Newark accent. Additionally, he talked to his wife on the phone, a woman who sounded nothing like Carmela. He also had a different personality: patient, law abiding, and faithful---he refused to sleep with a woman he met on the trip. Tony lost his identification and credit card and instead had those of Kevin Finnerty, which he used to get a hotel room. In a later episode, after Tony fell down some stairs, we also discovered that he had early onset Alzheimer's disease and that he will eventually forget who he is. Finally, a group of Buddhist monks insisted that Tony is, in fact, Kevin Finnerty, and that he cheated them on a heating unit and refused to answer their calls and letters. The monks eventually served him with a lawsuit. At one point, Tony awakened from his coma and whispers, "Who am I? Where am I going?
Tony's case of mistaken identity points to two truths about his life: first, that he was living a double life, one in which he was a violent sociopath and another in which he posed as a normal businessman, father, and husband. Finnerty sold "Precision Optics," an allusion to the fact that Tony's alter ego saw the world more clearly and focused on his family. The worlds collided in the dream and Tony wasforced to ask if he was, in fact, Kevin Finnerty. In reality, Tony was the man who cheated the Buddhist monks, all of whom represent karma and the possibility of arrest Tony faced as he continued his life of crime. The monks asked him to take responsibility or they would continue their lawsuit. Karma will catch up with Tony if he stayed in his current life. Second, the alter-ego of Kevin Finnerty also represents the life Tony had the choice to live, or perhaps the life he subconsciously wanted to live. Tony is confronted with an identity crisis and a search for his true self which drove the rest of the season. Tony was given the opportunity to change. As the doctor said of his Alzheimer's diagnosis, which represents his identity crisis, "it is not as bleak as it would have been a while back" and that Tony should "talk to his doctors back home," an obvious allusion that he should seek counsel with Dr. Melfi.
When Tony drives to the Inn at the Oaks with the bright beacon, he had two choices. The first choice was a very real one: death or life. Tony could have relinquished his briefcase (leave his physical body) and join the people on the inside and fall into eternity, or he could have moved toward the pleas of his daughter and live. The second choice Tony confronted was whether to move toward his familial history of crime, represented by his family members inside the inn, or toward his biological family, symbolized by Meadow's voice. This choice was foreshadowed in a previous season when Tony tried to convince Little Carmine Luppertazi to become boss of a New York family after John Sacramoni went to jail. Carmine, who usually is comically oblivious, gave Tony the best advice he probably ever received in his life by relaying a dream he had about his father giving him an empty box:
"We have this ritual at my house for years. Our kids are in boarding school. Every night, I come from work strip down, and jump naked in the pool, Nicole brings me a scotch and water. We sit, relax a little, talk, and then I go up to bed in the air conditioning. She brings me a light dinner on a tray. One night during all that fighting with John, I come home, I'm exhausted, so tired, so tense, I skip the pool, I go right upstairs flop on the bed, Nicole comes up with the drink and she says, "Darling, I think it's time you took a rest." I say '"Yeah I'm gonna. We'll take a vacation." She says "That's not what I what I meant. I don't want to be the wealthiest widow on Long Island. I want you to quit now", I'm not ashamed to say this, but she made me cry---that wonderful, loving woman. That dream with my father with the empty box, it wasn't about being boss, it was about being happy.
Carmine's story was the epiphany Tony wrestles with after he was shot. In the first section of the sixth season, Tony noticeably improved as a husband and father, showing more loyalty, understanding, and perspective. He lived by the principle that "everyday is a gift" and advised others to live in the same manner. He seemed somewhat receptive to a preacher trying to explain the universe to him in biblical and religious terms, and also considered the quantum theories of a physicist in the next room. In total, Tony seemed determined to change his life and focus on happiness and family.
This epiphany does not last into the second part of the season when Tony became more violent and put himself and his family at greater risk. In the last few episodes of the final season, we were shown the Mafia lifestyle unveiled without nostalgia----a life of addictive risk, cold pragmatism, rigid traditions, and the personal destruction of nearly everyone involved. Pitting modernity against old world traditions, season six showed the inflexibility that the Mafia has with both homosexuality and addiction. The show explored the plight of Vito Spatafore, a top earner for Tony, who was also described by his own wife as being "a good father." When Vito's secret homosexuality is made public, his life was threatened and he fled to New Hampshire (the "live free or die" state), where he encountered a much more kind, accepting culture. Eventually, as Vito was drawn back into the gangster lifestyle, he returned to New Jersey and was killed. Tony and the family discussed the relative importance and impact of having a "finook" in the crew. While some like Paulie demonstrated an absolute hatred for homosexuality, others, such as Tony and Silvio tried to emphasize Vito's earning power, the recent change in culture, and the fact that Vito "wasn't the first," suggesting that past Mafia men had been highly suspected of being gay but still continued their work. Echoing Tony's newfound view on life after the shooting, he asked, "I had a second chance, why can't he?" Vito's death pointed to the old world, even backward underpinnings of the Mafia that belie the assertion that Cosa Nostra is only concerned with "putting food in the children's mouths." By not conforming to cultural norms, Vito destroyed his own position of power and dishonored both his biological and Mafia family. In the end, a tightly held culture of honor and power ensconced in the past outweighed economic gain. Likewise, Christopher's bout with addiction garnered almost no sympathy from Tony or the rest of the family. Christopher describes Tony as "the worst type of enabler---pours you a drink with one hand and judges you with the other." While other characters insult Christopher for his inability to drink and socialize---Paulie chastised him for not being able to act "normal"---Tony is the hardest on him, expecting Christopher to remain in control, yet party with the crew to keep abreast of business dealings. In the world of the Mafia, one cannot escape doing business surrounded by a lifestyle that encourages instant gratification and excess.
Despite Tony's disdain for Christopher's battle with addiction, he continually fights his own vice: a penchant for risk. Eventually, his gangster lifestyle overcame his newfound perspective on life. As Tony told Dr. Melfi, "Every day is a gift but does it have to be a pair of socks?" Much like Vito who became bored with a "normal" life in New Hampshire, Tony decompensated and returned to a life based on risking his own life and the lives of both his families. Tony's gambling escalated in the sixth season and even becomes a life philosophy. When talking to Bobby, Tony identified two possible outcomes for himself as a mafia boss: murder or jail. Yet, he followed that realization with "No risk, no reward." Likewise, when talking to Dr. Melfi about his life, Tony said, “If you couldn’t lose, what’s the fucking point? You need the risk." Dr. Melfi then responded “What are you chasing, the money or the high from winning?" More than anything, even money, Tony was attracted to the adrenaline rush provided by risk. Tony eventually replaced his "everyday is a gift" notion with a new understanding of life: "I survived a gunshot wound. What are the odds on that? Big picture wise, I am up, way up.” In the episode, "Kennedy and Heidi," Tony solidified his now philosophical addiction to gambling after he took peyote, entered a casino, and saw life as a large game of chance. As he won at roulette, he also gleefully realized that Christopher's death was a risk that turned in his favor. For Tony, his whole life had been one big risk, and to this point, he reaped mostly rewards.
Yet, as Tony descended deeper into his view of life as gambling, it continually affected his family and business. In the beginning of the season, Tony vindictively ordered his brother-in-law Bobby to commit his first murder, after hearing that he "never popped his cherry in that department." Earlier in the episode, Tony and Bobby had a physical altercation in which Tony was defeated. As retribution, Tony used his power hedge his own bets and put Bobby at risk. Tony's gambling also affected the Spatafore family, as Tony gambled away the money he was going to give the widowed Marie Spatafore to relocate and help her troubled son, Vito Jr. Furthermore, Tony's continued leadership directly led to the war between Phil Leotardo and North Jersey, which, in turn, led to the death of Bobby Baccalieri, Silvio Dante, and probably Tony himself (as will be explained later). Finally, and most egregiously, Tony's position in the Mafia continually put his nuclear family at risk of violence, both externally and, in the case of A.J., internally. In a subtle reference, when Tony erratically gambled in Las Vegas while on peyote, he continually bet on the numbers 20 and 24, which were the ages of A.J. and Meadow, respectively. In the sixth season, A.J. came to terms with living as Anthony Soprano's spoiled child. As he vacillated between college, minimum wage jobs, and night clubs, he confronted the fact that he has no accomplishments and that everything he had, including his social standing in his group of friends, was totally dependent on his father's infamy. Surrounded by violence and feeling worthless to his family, A.J. attempted to kill his Uncle Junior for his father, jeopardizing his entire future. Later, as he continued to confront the harsh realities of the world, A.J. attempted suicide to escape.
The most important development in the sixth season was Tony's growing numbness towards his family, and even his own fate, which culminated in the final episode. As discussed, a defining characteristic of Tony Soprano throughout the series is the nostalgia he has for his family, even to a fault. Tony finally lost his affection for Uncle Junior after the latter attempted to kill him a second time. Upon discovering that Christopher was still battling with drug addiction during a car crash, Tony suffocated him and leaves behind the dream that Christopher would be his trusted voice in the family. When Bobby and Silvio died, he expressed little emotion and instead focused on pragmatic considerations. He was practically unseen at Bobby's funeral and did not visit Silvio in the hospital until well after the event. After A.J. attempted suicide, Tony admitted to Dr. Melfi that he was deeply ashamed of his son and how he turned out: weak and feckless. Tony's relationship with Carmela suffered continued strain since their prior separation. While Carmela still showed Tony devotion, their relationship morphed into a business arrangement in which he funded her real estate ventures in return for her turning her eyes from his lifestyle. Tony even expressed disappointment when Meadow announced that she wanted to be a lawyer instead of a doctor, the latter being his dream for her. It is no coincidence that Tony hummed Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb"in a later episode and that the song played on the radio in Christopher's car before Tony killed him. Tony became numb to his previous nostalgia over his family.
The last scene of the series, which abruptly faded to black unexpectedly, has stirred, even angered fans, who feel that there is no closure to the story. In contrast, one theory persuasively explains the scene as a flash of Tony's life before his death. After Tony entered the diner, he looked at a jukebox with songs that had conspicuous meanings for Tony, particularly on the subjects of nostalgia, depression, lost love, and a life of instant gratification:
Those Were the Days
Turn, Turn, Turn
Only the Strong Survive
Somewhere in the Night
My Baby Drives a Buick
Who Will You Run To?
Magic Man
Victim of Love
I've Gotta Be Me
A Lonely Place
This Magic Moment
Since I Don't Have You
I'm Alive
June Night
Don't Stop Believin'
Anyway You Want It
The shots also alternated between tables of cub scouts, a romantic couple, and an old man---symbolizing generally different stages of life. The key to understanding the final sequence is to notice how the director used Pavlovian cues with a bell and subsequent point of view (POV) shots. Every time someone walked in the door and rung the bell, Tony looked up and we saw things from his point of view---people entering the diner. The most conspicuous person who entered the diner was a man wearing a tan Member's Only jacket who eventually sat at the bar. The director chose to focus on this man several more times, including when the man got up, passed Tony, and went to the Men's room. In the last few seconds, a bell rang, Tony looked up, and we saw his point of view: darkness, implying that he had been killed. This theory is bolstered by the fact that the man in the jacket went to the Men's room before returning to shoot Tony, which would echo the scene in "The Godfather" in which Michael goes to the Men's room to get a hidden gun before coming out to avenge his father. Additionally, the theory would explain the show's previous emphasis on victims being shot without first seeing the gunman. In an earlier episode, Bobby Baccalieri remarked about murder: "You probably don't even hear it when it happens." An earlier episode in the season depicted Silvio not realizing someone was shot next to him until blood splattered on his face. If one goes with a more generalized interpretation, Tony will be nervously looking over his shoulder for the rest of his life, anticipating jail or murder. The piano hanging over his head will fall for one reason or another.
As a series, The Sopranos examined how one man, among others, balanced life between two different types of families. In the first episode, Tony sought psychiatric help for panic attacks that stemmed from a fear of losing control, particularly over his families, which was symbolized by a family of ducks flying away from his swimming pool. He did not want to lose that nostalgia of Italian family life or of the Mafia. By the end of the series, Tony had almost no panic attacks, as much of his nostalgia and fears of loss faded. Perhaps that's why he was not able to see the gunman in the diner. Ironically, Tony's need for control and his fear of loss was what destroyed both of his families. After the war with New York, a war largely caused by him and his need to protect his cousin, Tony Blundetto, and his daughter, Meadow, his North Jersey family was destroyed with the loss of several people, including himself. The end of the family was foreshadowed by Tony's last conversation with Junior, in which he reminded him that he and his brother, Johnny, ran North Jersey in the past. Tony is disillusioned when Junior does not recall his former kingdom, a reminder that glory fades. If Tony were gunned down, it would have certainly destroyed his own family, who would have witnessed a traumatic act of violence. In any case, whether Tony was killed or will be jailed, he will have destroyed what he built. Fittingly, the tag line for the final season is "Everything comes to an end."
For almost seven years, audiences watched a show that attempted to normalize the lives of gangsters who were previously foreign to them. We never saw Michael Corleone take his daughter to see colleges or Henry Hill deal with a borderline mother. Nor did we see Edward G. Robinson or James Cagney suffer in their subconscious before they killed someone. That normalization was the genius gift of "The Sopranos:" our ability, like Dr. Melfi, to delve into the personal lives and thoughts of these interesting characters. The final season of "The Sopranos" sought to undo any future normalization caused by this voyeurism. All of the Mafia characters, however likable and emphatic, were, in the end, violent sociopaths who deserved no admiration. As in the case of Dr. Melfi, we were confronted with the harsh realties of a world that seduced us and had to accept that we were seeking sensationalism rather than enlightenment. With nostalgia lifted, we were forced to close the door on Tony Soprano just as Dr. Melfi had to. Perhaps that is why the ending was so vexing: it ripped us away too quickly from the instant gratification and nostalgia that Tony and his audiences grew accustomed to. Ah, Tony. Ah, humanity.
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