Lorraine Bracco, the actor who gave life to Dr. Jennifer Melfi in The Sopranos, has spoken against the show’s controversial ending. Melfi is one of many characters who are part of the life of mobster Tony Soprano. While she begins as his therapist, their relationship grows outside their continuous sessions where Melfi analyzes and judges the ethically questionable Mafia leader.
Bracco went on Jessica Shaw’s show, The Spotlight with Jessica Shaw, on SiriusXM and shared why she still isn’t happy with the way the show ended. She blames showrunner David Chase for making the controversial decision to leave things open between Tony and Jennifer, but she also says that perhaps what we saw on the show wasn’t the last time they met each other. While noting that she never actually found out what happened next between them, Bracco said:
Oh, I just think, 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.
When then addressing how she felt following the ending of the series, and filming her last scenes, Bracco added:
I was heartbroken and I was also not very happy the way David ended it. I thought it was bad and wrong. I was annoyed. I told him, you know, ‘How do you invest, you know, five years into someone’s life and just walk away?’ I said, ‘That is not cool.’ And you know, that was it.
Lorraine Bracco’s participation in the show wasn’t the only time she dove into the underbelly of the Mafia. The actor’s most prominent movie role was in Martin Scorsese’s crime epic, Goodfellas, where she played Karen Friedman Hill, Henry Hill’s romantic partner.
The Ending of The Sopranos is One of TV’s Most Polarizing Endings
Showrunner David Chase wrote and directed the final episode of The Sopranos, “Made in America.” While the decision must have involved more people, Bracco has a good point about Chase being responsible for ending the show in such a cryptic (for some infuriating) way. Melfi’s character goes unresolved, having just been seen making a decision not to treat Tony anymore. Their final interaction is not representative of what they had for the show’s six seasons.
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Why The Sopranos Was Such a Big Deal
During its six-season run, The Sopranos did something magical. It was able to change the future of television by altering audience expectations
In the final scene of the series, Chase decides to show the Soprano family having dinner while Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” is blasting on the speakers. When Meadow, Tony and Carmela’s daughter, enters the restaurant, Tony looks up and… nothing. Chase jumps to a fully black screen that stays like that for a lot of time before the credits roll. This moment became one of the most divisive and controversial open endings in TV history, and continues to be just that today.
The Sopranos
is available to stream on Max.