Slate's Bizbox
tv club: Talking television.

Mob Experts on The Sopranos, Week 10

tv club
entries
1234
from: Jeffrey Goldberg
to: Jerry Capeci

Has Dr. Melfi Become Pointless?

Posted Monday, May 10, 2004, at 5:03 PM ET

Who are these people?

Last year, each new episode of The Sopranos was analyzed by a group of shrinks; this year, each week two mob experts will discuss the lives and squabbles of America's favorite gangsters.

Dear Jerry,

You're right about Dr. Melfi—now that we're all pretty much convinced that Tony is unchangeable, what's the point? He's a terrible schmuck, irretrievable. We get it. I'm telling you, Tony's relentless needling of Janice really soured me on him; he's becoming his mother, which is interesting, but dangerous for the show, because who wants to spend an hour each Sunday night watching Tony behave like his mother?

OK, I do. So long as I also get to watch Janice give beatings to soccer moms.

You're also right about Johnny Sack; now that's a subplot. My wife, who is far more astute than I am, believes that Tony B. will be whacked next week, not by Johnny Sack, but by Tony S., or Tony S.'s surrogate, Christopher, in order to dilute the bad blood between the two families, but especially to get rid of a cousin who's nothing but trouble. I don't know where she gets these ideas, but she's generally right about things. For instance, she predicted that the finale of Friends would contain many moments of great emotion.

I'm also rooting for Johnny Sack, who is played so convincingly by Vince Curatola that he deserves his own spin-off show, like that guy Joey. (Have you figured out yet that I watched Friends last week for the first time in seven years?) Johnny Sack is a malevolent shit, but he loves his wife. And he is closest in demeanor and carriage to our idealized conception of a mob boss. He's loyal, ambitious, smart (no malapropisms placed in his mouth, unlike that of his nemesis, the buffoonish Carmine), and no one on television smokes with more style than Johnny Sack. Of course, nobody smokes on television anymore, but you get my point. The mob would be safe in Johnny Sack's hands.

Jeff

tv club
entries
1234
from: Jeffrey Goldberg
to: Jerry Capeci

Has Dr. Melfi Become Pointless?

Posted Monday, May 10, 2004, at 5:03 PM ET
Print This ArticlePRINTDiscuss this in The FrayDISCUSSEmail to a FriendE-MAIL
Share on FacebookPost to MySpace!Share with MixxDigg ThisShare with RedditShare with del.icio.usShare with FurlShare with Ma.gnolia.comShare with SphereShare with Stumble Upon
Jerry Capeci is author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Mafia and Jerry Capeci's Gang Land: Fifteen Years of Covering the Mafia. His weekly column about organized crime, "Gang Land," appears in the New York Sun and at www.ganglandnews.com. Jeffrey Goldberg is a national correspondent for the Atlantic and the author of Prisoners: A Story of Friendship and Terror.
Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum
What did you think of this article?
POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES