Janice is turning more and more into her mother.
Damn. Rape in media gets a lot of rightful scrutiny, but that doesn’t mean it can’t ever be depicted and depicted right. A decade before Game of Thrones was put under scrutiny, Sopranos was doing it right. Sensitive but raw, it puts the focus on Melfi, the aftermath, and how she reckons with it, and the contrast between her and the men who center themselves in their angry reactions but never- besides the man who it is his job to- give her the space to be angry herself. She takes what catharsis she can, and finds some sort of pride in being able to say no to Tony, to the implicit notion that she could have him destroy her attacker. She could. But she says no. It’s her choice.
Jennifer I owe you love..
Really good episode. Shoutout Dr. Melfi and fuck Janice
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2015-07-10T01:56:46Z
Melfi makes her choices. She has every motivation to sic Tony Soprano on her rapist, to break the social compact, to give into the urges that make her want revenge, want justice, want to end the threat of the man who violated her. But she chooses not to do it. She breaks down, seems to come close to giving in, and hold firm. It's powerful, powerful stuff.
I hated this episode when I saw it as a teenager. I wanted nothing more than to see that miserable raping piece of shit torn to bits by Tony and his crew. The scene where he attacks Melfi is horrifying. It's shot in such a way that pulls no punches. It's not sensationalized; it's not dramatized; it's just chilling and real. And it stirred my teenage self all the more to want to see Tony deliver equal brutality to the scumbag who did it.
But I understand now in a way that I didn't then why it meant so much for Melfi to stand firm. Melfi has admitted the thrill she gets from being tangentially involved in Tony's world. She comes close to breaking off her professional relationship with Tony because she feels she's getting in too deep. And right when she's about to step away, the world gives her a push, almost an invitation, to give in and let her hands get dirty in the seedy business Tony Soprano operates in. But she doesn't. At the brink, to be dramatic about it, she saves her soul. She decides that her anger and her pain and her fear are not worth more than her integrity and her moral beliefs. It's a hell of an episode and a hell of a showcase for Lorraine Bracco.
The other stuff that goes on in the episode is kind of interesting, but pales in comparison. We get another chapter of Tony as the angel of Jackie Jr.'s shoulder, and Ralphie emerges as the devil on the other side. Janice's moments are an odd bit of comic relief in a heavy episode. And Johnny Sack's move to New Jersey is clearly setting something up. But this is Melfi's hour. Even her interactions with her ex-husband, who, it should be noted, repeatedly denies her agency until she basically forces him to let her take charge, are some of her strongest work in the series so far. If I'm honest with myself, the inessential parts of the episode probably ought to keep this episode from being a 10/10, but Melfi's story alone elevates it to something greater.
(And as an aside, Melfi's psychiatrist continues to be useless.)