The Sopranos might be a series about powerful and terrifying men in the mafia, but it finds its roots in the emotional turmoil of its lead, Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini). From the very first episode of David Chase’s HBO series, which premiered in 1999, audiences could see that this wasn’t going to be a stereotypical mob show but something much deeper, as Tony, having suffered a panic attack, has to see a therapist. It’s then that he meets Jennifer Melfi (Lorraine Bracco), a woman who doesn’t cower in fear from this man but who looks him right in the eyes and challenges him. Tony and Dr. Melfi have a tense relationship, one with respect and attraction as well, but also anger that comes to the surface more than once. One episode, however, turns the tables by having a session that shows Melfi in need of help in the most desperate of ways. She can get it from Tony, but if she does, there’s no coming back from the consequences.
Dr. Jennifer Melfi Is Assaulted by a Man Who Gets Away With the Crime
In the third season of The Sopranos, the episode “Employee of the Month” gives us one of the series’ most heartbreaking hours and, purposely, its most frustrating. Few shows have more violence than The Sopranos, and while we’re used to that and maybe even crave it to a degree, there are certain characters who are supposed to be immune to it. Dr. Melfi is one of them. She knows who Tony Soprano is and what he really does with his life, but usually, she is left out of the worst of it. There have been issues before, such as Tony getting angry during a therapy session and getting in her face to yell at her. More than once, he has been inappropriate and come on to her as well. In one episode, Melfi even needed to go into hiding because someone was after Tony and might try to hurt her to get to him. As she was unable to treat her patients adequately, one ended up taking his own life. Tony and Melfi have a respectful but contentious relationship, but in “Employee of the Month,” great bodily harm finally comes to her, but this time it has nothing to do with Tony. Instead, he might be the only one who can help her get through it.
In “Employee of the Month,” things are improving for Jennifer Melfi as she is back together with her husband, Richard (Richard Romanus). However, she also tells Tony it might be time for him to see another therapist, which he doesn’t take well. After leaving her office at night, a young man with a knife attacks her in the parking garage, savagely beating her before taking her to a stairwell, where he rapes her as she screams and cries. It’s not an especially graphic scene, as the camera stays on Melfi’s face, but that’s what makes it even worse, as we are seeing her pain and fear expressed so close up that we want to look away. The police quickly catch her attacker, and Dr. Melfi calls Carmela Soprano (Edie Falco) to let Tony know that she’ll have to cancel her next appointment with him because she’s been in a car accident. It’s easy to see that Tony cares for her, as he’s genuinely worried when his wife tells him the news.
As unimaginably awful as this is for Melfi, it only gets worse. Because of a chain of custody mess-up, her rapist is set free. This leads to Jennifer and Richard getting into a fight, and when they make up later, Richard tells his wife that he wants to kill the man with his bare hands, but he’ll go to jail. The camera zooms in on his clenched fists before quickly cutting to Tony, who splits a piece of wood with an axe. The Sopranos just gave us some heavy foreshadowing. Tony is going to kill the attacker himself, and it’s going to be glorious.
Dr. Melfi Breaks Down During a Therapy Session With Tony Soprano
The next time Melfi sees Tony, she’s limping, holding a cane, her face still swollen. Tony wants to know all about the accident, and Melfi concocts a short story about a fake car wreck she was in, but when her cane falls over and hits the floor, she jumps, startled. Tony goes on a rant about car accidents, and Melfi tries to calm him, telling Tony, “You can’t control everything that happens.” We know she’s not talking about a car wreck. Tony says you can get pissed off, but Melfi asks what happens after that. “Lose control?” She’s speaking to herself just as much as she is to him.
After work, Melfi goes to a small local diner and sees her attacker, not standing in front of her but his picture on the wall with “Employee of the Month” written above it. The worst of the worst is being celebrated, and Jennifer immediately flees. This leads to nightmares of being in her office all alone, with visions of a pop machine in the middle of the floor. She feeds macaroni into the change slot but then gets her hand stuck as a seething Rottweiler barks at her, and her attacker slowly approaches. Suddenly, the dog is on the man, ripping at him as he begs to be released. Melfi speaks to her therapist about the dream, but she doesn’t know what the dog represents. Suddenly, it comes to her. She knows who she could sic on her attacker to tear him to shreds. She screams about the injustice of the world and how the dream felt so good. She says she won’t break her social contract, but she is satisfied to know that she could have him killed if she wanted.
At her next therapy session with Tony, as he smiles and speaks about the progress he’s making, Melfi looks suddenly terrified when he decides that maybe he should get help from someone else, too. “No,” she whispers. Melfi can’t let him go now when he can protect her. Her face freezes, she gasps and covers her mouth, then breaks down crying. Tony immediately rushes to her aid, wanting to know what’s wrong. “Do you want to say something?” Tony asks, troubled by what he’s seeing. Melfi composes herself, her jaw sets, and surely she says, “No,” as the screen goes black.
‘The Sopranos’ Denies Its Viewers a Satisfying Revenge
This is such a frustrating scene for the viewer. We so badly want Melfi to tell Tony about what happened so we can see some vengeance dished out. Tony cares deeply for Jennifer, at times too much, and we know he would not tell anyone else what happened to her. We also know he would become incensed and deal with her attacker all by himself. He wouldn’t even need to be asked and would love every second of it. Please, let us see the scumbag beg and bleed before his life is snuffed out. But The Sopranos refuses to give it to us. Someone is seemingly murdered every week, but the person who deserves it most gets away. It’s not fair, and it’s so unsatisfying, but that is all done by design.
If Melfi tells Tony she was raped, he will kill her attacker, and she will have a certain kind of justice, but then what? She has been trying to help Tony with his anger, speaking about losing control as she’s about to lose hers. No one would blame her if she let Tony in on her real-life tragedy. In fact, we’d see it as a necessity, a good and heroic deed done by Tony to a man who doesn’t deserve to live. We have that bloodlust but don’t have to live with the consequences. Melfi does. She would carry that with her for the rest of her life, and she can’t change who she is. It’s what makes her a good therapist. She has principles she sticks to. By denying us what we expect and want and leaving a character uncorrupted by Tony, The Sopranos gives us its most poignant moment. We have to live with not getting what we want. Jennifer Melfi has to live with that too and a lot more.
