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Louise Thomas
Editor
One of the main cast members from The Sopranos is not happy with her final scene in the show.
The HBO series ended in 2007 with a finale that continues to be meticulously analysed to this day. It depicts a seemingly ordinary yet extremely tense restaurant scene between Tony (James Gandolfini) and his family, which ends with the screen cutting to black.
Viewers were left stunned by the moment and, over the years, many have assumed this stylistic decision symbolised the show’s protagonist getting ‘whacked’. Ever since, creator David Chase has been fielding requests for clarification - and, in 2020, even referred to it as a “death scene”.
Now, a few weeks after Chase highlighted a season three scene that might reveal the “truth” behind what actually happened, Lorraine Bracco, who played Tony’s therapist Dr Jennifer Melfi, has candidly hit out at her character’s last appearance.
Melfi’s final appearance occurs in the penultimate episode and shows her cutting ties with a visibly upset Tony – and Bracco said she was “not very happy” with this being the end of their relationship.
“I was also not very happy the way David ended it,” she told SiriusXM show The Spotlight With Jessica Shaw, adding: “I thought it was bad and wrong. I was annoyed. I told him, ‘How do you invest five years into someone’s life and just walk away?’ I said, ‘That is not cool.’ And you know, that was it.”
While many believe that Tony died when the screen cut to black in the finale, Bracco has a more optimistic outlook.
Expressing the hope that he survived, the Goodfellas actor said: “Honestly, I think they bumped into each other in restaurants and stuff like that. I don’t know. I think part of me wants to believe that she took a moment away from him, and they got back together, back in therapy. I could believe that.”
Bracco recently revealed in two-part documentary Wise Guy: David Chase and The Sopranos that she watched the finale live with Gandolfini who had no idea how Chase had decided to end the show.
“I was with Jim and he said, ‘That’s it?!’ she said, adding: “He couldn’t believe it.”
Meanwhile, Drea de Matteo, who played Adriana La Cerva, said the abrupt cut to black made her think there had been a power cut, stating: “I started calling everybody, like, ‘Yo, did my TV just go out?’”
