Lorraine Bracco Says She Was ‘Not Very Happy’ with How The Sopranos Ended for Her Character: ‘It Was Bad and Wrong’
Bracco also recalled feeling “heartbroken” upon finishing her final take on ‘The Sopranos’
Lorraine Bracco is just like many Sopranos fans who couldn’t get behind how the series ended.
During a recent appearance on SiriusXM’s The Spotlight with Jessica Shaw, the actress — who played Dr. Jennifer Melfi on the hit series — admitted that she was unsatisfied with how the show ended things between her character and James Gandolfini’s Tony Soprano.
In The Sopranos, Dr. Melfi served as Tony’s therapist. Despite teasing a will-they-won’t-they storyline throughout the series, the two never pursued a romantic relationship. Out of fear she may be aiding his criminal activity through therapy, she informed him she can no longer treat him without telling him the true reason behind her decision.
While she couldn’t really say if the two characters crossed paths again, Braccos said, “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 and they got back together [and] back in therapy.”
The Goodfellas alum, 69, recalled feeling “heartbroken” upon finishing her final take on the show. She added that she felt equally as unresolved with the series finale.
“I was also not very happy the way [creator David Chase] ended it,” she explained. “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.”
Bracco isn’t the only castmember who had similar feelings about the show’s end.
In the new HBO documentary, Wise Guy: David Chase and The Sopranos, Bracco shared Gandolfini’s take on the final scene of the network’s drama, in which Tony (Gandolfini), Carmela (Edie Falco), Meadow (Jamie-Lynn Sigler) and A.J. (Robert Iler) all meet up for a meal at Holsten’s diner. A hit man in a Member’s Only jacket sits nearby and makes for the restroom; as Meadow runs from her parked car to the restaurant, the scene cuts to black.
“I was with Jim. Jim said, ‘That’s it? That’s it?’” she recalled. “He couldn’t believe it. … I think he was in shock like everybody else.”
Wise Guy: David Chase and The Sopranos is available to stream on Max. Seasons 1 to 6 of The Sopranos are also available on the streaming platform.
