HBO’s strained and curious relationship with fathers dates back to 1999, when we witnessed Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) reconcile his dueling identities of mob boss and family man on “The Sopranos.”
Tony strives to be a present father and dutiful son to a bitter mother he blames for driving away his sainted father Johnny (Joseph Siravo). Only much later do we, and he, come to understand that the absent Soprano progenitor is more to blame for influencing his son’s behavioral shortcomings than Tony first imagines.
