I don’t see how anyone would have wanted to be in the mob from watching the Sopranos. It looked like a depressing way of life to me.
Death around every corner. Constantly under surveillance. Grinding out a mediocre living until you get near the top. If you do manage to not get killed no form of pension or insurance for your dotage. It’s a pretty ugly unpleasant existence depicted in Sopranos.
No one.
I hope you’re kidding. There were no winners on that show. All of them were losers or dead
“The Sopranos” had many scenes that showed the misery and sudden death of “the life they chose”.
In the first year, recall the episode where Uncle Junior arranged a hit on Tony. The hit failed, and the guy with the contract to kill Tony was himself whacked. Then Tony figured out who might be responsible, and he suddenly shot Chucky Signore to death, pulling the gun out of the mouth of a large fish on the bank of the Raritan River; later, Paulie and Christopher chased down Mikey “Grab Bag” Palmice and shot him to death in the woods. The season ended when Tony tried to suffocate Livia with a pillow in the hospital, and by him warning Dr. Melfi to “lam it”.
Tony arranged to burn down Artie Bucco’s “New Vesuvio”, and he never really got over it.
The misery endured by Christopher’s girlfriend Adrianna, who suffered severe ulcers, and then was mercilessly gunned down by Silvio when Christopher told Tony that she had been flipped by the FBI.
Or consider the wretched end of Vito Spatafore, who escaped to New Hampshire after he was observed in a gay bar by a fellow mobster. The misery that he put his wife (Lorraine Bracco’s sister played her) and family through. His death caused by Philly Leotardo, who famously emerged from a closet in Vito’s motel room.
Another story in misery was that of Eugene Pontacervo (sp), who was made in the same ceremony as Christopher. He was the mobster who inherited $2m and wanted to retire, but Tony and Silvio wouldn’t let him. As it turned out, he too was flipped by the FBI; realizing he was between a rock and a hard place, he hanged himself.
Another episode of abject misery was Tracy, the exotic dancer at the Bing who was the girlfriend of Ralphie Cifarretto (sp). Ralphie ended up beating her to death outside the Bing.
Ralphie’s son taking an arrow to the throat. Ralphie committing arson at a racetrack stable and killing the racehorse Pie-O-My. Tony killing Ralphie with his bare hands.
Consider Annabella Sciorra’s character Gloria, the Mercedes Benz saleswoman. She suffered from mental illness, and she too took her own life. Likewise, Tony’s old friend that owned the Ramsey Outdoor sporting goods store and had the store blown out because of the gambling debts he couldn’t repay.
The suicide of Vin, the corrupt policeman who provided law enforcement intelligence to Tony in exchange for bribes.
The arrest, imprisonment and death of Johnny Sacrimoni.
Tony having to find and blow away with a shotgun his cousin Tony Blundetto (Steve Buscemi’s character) so that he would not fall into the hands of Philly Leotardo.
Also, the attempt by Carmela to leave Tony.
The Sopranos was at the same time brilliant television and a sordid journey from one calamity to another.
In that sense, it was no different from Goodfellas or Casino, where the principal characters in both movies had an arc which went down and down and down.