My Favorite Murderers

The June 3rd episode of The Sopranos was a blood bath. It is the second to last show of this fabulous, ground-breaking series which is destined to be a TV classic and a model for those who wish to write and produce in television.

Aside from Tony Soprano, my other favorite murderer on the series was Bobby, Tony's agonized brother-in-law. He was killed last night by Phil Leotardo's boys while looking over toy model trains, his much loved hobby. It's funny how you can feel that his murder is so unfair; out of all the sociopaths he associated with, Bobby seemed to have the most to give when not carrying out his mob duties. I felt the same way about Christopher's death/murder only two weeks ago though Christopher was a heartless bastard in so many ways.

Then there is Tony Soprano. It seemed that throughout the series Tony strived to better himself on a human level and gain more insight into his own personality and failings. However, the opposite has happened. Tony is far worse than when he started therapy with Dr. Melfi seven years ago. That's not necessarily because Dr. Melfi is a bad therapist: therapy only works if you put work into it. I sometimes wonder if Tony didn't use therapy to sort out his weaknesses and identify his strengths in order to be a more efficient mob boss. Tony's increasing viciousness comes at a bad time for his son, A.J., in the process of a major mental meltdown. The story with A.J. comes at an odd time: towards the series end. It's because this story has been developing over the past several episodes I'm convinced that in the final show, A.J. will wind up being shot and killed only because the original target - Tony - was missed. One source said that there is a scene in the final episode with Carmella, Tony and A.J. in an ice cream parlor. Will Carmela and A.J. get whacked by "accident"?

It's a fair assumption. Creator David Chase is a longtime fan of mob movies (like myself). The worst thing that happened to Michael Corleone was that his daughter was murdered only because she got in the way of the assasin's bullet and his intended target at the last minute. We are left to assume from the end of that movie (Godfather III) that the death of his daughter because of family "business" utterly broke him and he died a lonely, old man.

Tony talked about the importance of family throughout the series. What is the worst thing that could happen to him?

Being killed by Phil's mob? Or living to see members of his family killed because they got in the way of the intended target: Tony?

Killing Tony off is too easy. In the end, it doesn't punish him much unless you believe in the blazing Hellfire stories. The worst thing that could happen to Tony Soprano is seeing and surviving a shooting that leaves his son or wife (or both) dead or terribly maimed.

We have six days to wait and find out.