Jennifer Melfi
Encyclopedia
Jennifer Melfi, M.D., is a fictional character
on the HBO TV
series The Sopranos
. She is the psychiatrist
of Mafia
boss Tony Soprano
. She is portrayed by Lorraine Bracco
.
. She is a graduate of Tufts University School of Medicine
and lives an upscale lifestyle, living in a three-bedroom condominium in Essex Fells, New Jersey
and shopping only at gourmet Italian shoppes(as revealed in "Meadowlands"). She is probably the person closest to truly understanding Tony Soprano. Over the years, Tony Soprano has been able to confide in Melfi many things that he has told no one else, not even his associates or his wife, Carmela
. However, Melfi and Soprano have an unusual, on-again, off-again relationship
. He inwardly fears Melfi's prying into his life during their sessions, but he also fears the results of not dealing with the problem. As a result, she watches him go through frequent mood swings during their time together, sometimes acting playful, other times violent — sometimes acting responsive, other times being cold and distant. At times Tony also expresses frustration with the pace of his treatment and berates Melfi with short outbursts, when he feels she is not following his train of thought.
For her part, Melfi has tried hard to help Soprano as much as possible, half chalking it up to some sort of vicarious thrill of helping a gangster but also trying to resist the idea that she has romantic thoughts about the man — she wants to keep their relationship professional. Melfi, in addition, has an ongoing battle with alcoholism. While she resisted Soprano's constant advances, which have simultaneously attracted and appalled her, Soprano no longer wishes for their relationship to remain strictly professional, for he seems to see her as the one thing that he is unable to truly have and, while continuing to pursue her, also resents her for it.
Melfi's son, Jason LaPenna, has a recurring role in her life as he is her only child. Jason's father is her ex-husband, Richard LaPenna.
During Season 1, she is seen driving both a Jaguar XJ
and a Saab 900
. In Seasons 2 and 3, she drives a Volvo S70
.
that Tony is seeing a psychiatrist. This makes Junior, Mikey, and all other members of Junior's crew who were informed extremely angry and paranoid, for they fear Melfi could be potentially used as witness to testify in court against the activities of the DiMeo Crime Family
. In the season 1 penultimate episode Isabella
, two hit men are sent by Junior and Mikey Palmice in attempt to assassinate Tony for supposedly giving mafia
related information to Melfi; unfortunately for Junior and Mikey, the hit fails; One assailant is inadvertently killed by the other while trying to shoot Tony in his driver seat from the passenger side after Tony grabs the first assassins gun. Tony throws the other hit man off onto the road, not killing, but injuring him. Tony laughs ecstatically but has taken his eyes off the road long enough to crash his SUV into a parked car, knocking him unconscious. Tony later informs Melfi that his enemies are aware of their therapy sessions, and she must go into hiding to avoid getting killed until everything blows over. To save his own life and Melfi's, Junior's top lieutenants Mikey Palmice and Chucky Signore are subsequently killed, the latter by Tony himself. Junior himself is only saved by being arrested by the F.B.I. on racketeering charges. In the Season 2 premiere episode "Guy Walks Into a Psychiatrist's Office...", Melfi is shown doing business and living in a small, roadside motel in Wayne, New Jersey
, telling her patients her office is being remodeled. After the last troublesome member of Junior's crew, Philly "Spoons" Parisi, is murdered, Tony informs Melfi that "it's over" and that she can go back to her normal life.
", Melfi is walking alone through the parking garage to her car when she is attacked by a man. He grabs her from behind and, after she attempts escape and cries out for help, proceeds to drag her to the stairway of her building, where he violently rape
s her. He leaves her lying helpless in the stairway, crying.
At the hospital, her ex-husband, Richard arrives, glad that she is okay. Once he discovers the man who raped her also has an Italian surname, he begins to feel embarrassment for himself and the Italian people, indicating that rapists make Italians like him look bad. Melfi feels his reaction is ridiculous and irrelevant. Although her rapist is arrested, he is subsequently released because of an improper procedure performed by police. This infuriates Melfi, in shock that he was released. She comments to her psychiatrist and colleague Dr. Elliot Kupferberg, "I could have that asshole squashed like a bug," meaning that she could have Tony arrange for the rapist to be killed. More shock comes when Melfi is in the fast food restaurant where the rapist works. She sees his smiling picture on the wall as Employee of the Month
(hence the episode title). She is tempted to tell Tony what happened but is torn between wanting to see her rapist punished and not wishing to involve herself in Tony's world. During her second session with Tony after the rape, Melfi is overcome by her inner conflict and breaks down. When Tony attempts to console her and asks "Do you want to say something?", she regains her composure and responds, "No."
), on a regular basis. In "The Second Coming,"
he tells her that a recent study has shown that talk therapy may only help a sociopath become more sociopathic. Elliot has commented that treating Tony Soprano gives her a "vicarious thrill".
"), breaks the balance. Dr. Elliot Kupferberg mentions a study that found therapy is a failure with sociopathic people, and goes on to reveal to the other guests that Melfi is treating Tony Soprano, which angers Melfi. Following the discussion, Melfi reads the article, which states that therapy can sometimes justify the criminal acts of a sociopath or criminal. She begins to realize that perhaps treating Tony has been useless and has aided his criminal lifestyle.
At the next therapy session, Dr. Melfi scolds Tony, for she has seen him ripping out a page from a magazine. Melfi then proceeds to attack Tony throughout their session, mainly firing sarcastic comments whilst he discusses his recent problems. As the session continues, she offers to refer Tony to another doctor, leaving him somewhat confused. Finally, Melfi tells Tony that she cannot help him, saying that, due to his current family crisis, she does not want to waste his time. Tony gets up and leaves the room as Melfi follows him back to the waiting room. Tony then takes out the folded-up steak recipe page out of his pocket, unfolds it, and gently and sarcastically places it back inside the magazine from which it came. Melfi then shuts the door, seemingly ending her professional relationship with Tony Soprano once and for all.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
on the HBO TV
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
series The Sopranos
The Sopranos
The Sopranos is an American television drama series created by David Chase that revolves around the New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster Tony Soprano and the difficulties he faces as he tries to balance the often conflicting requirements of his home life and the criminal organization he heads...
. She is the psychiatrist
Psychiatrist
A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. All psychiatrists are trained in diagnostic evaluation and in psychotherapy...
of Mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
boss Tony Soprano
Tony Soprano
Anthony John "Tony" Soprano, Sr. is an Italian-American fictional character and the protagonist on the HBO television drama series The Sopranos, on which he is portrayed by James Gandolfini. The character was conceived by The Sopranos creator and show runner David Chase, who was also largely...
. She is portrayed by Lorraine Bracco
Lorraine Bracco
Lorraine Bracco is an American actress. She is best known for her TV roles as Dr. Jennifer Melfi on HBO series, The Sopranos, and Angela Rizzoli on the TNT series, Rizzoli & Isles...
.
Character description
Like most of the primary characters in The Sopranos, Melfi is Italian-American. Her father's family has roots in CasertaCaserta
Caserta is the capital of the province of Caserta in the Campania region of Italy. It is an important agricultural, commercial and industrial comune and city. Caserta is located on the edge of the Campanian plain at the foot of the Campanian Subapennine mountain range...
. She is a graduate of Tufts University School of Medicine
Tufts University School of Medicine
The Tufts University School of Medicine is one of the eight schools that constitute Tufts University. Located on the university's health sciences campus in the Chinatown district of Boston, Massachusetts, the medical school has clinical affiliations with thousands of doctors and researchers in the...
and lives an upscale lifestyle, living in a three-bedroom condominium in Essex Fells, New Jersey
Essex Fells, New Jersey
As of 2010 Essex Fells had a population of 2,113. The racial and ethnic composition of the population was 93.5% non-Hispanic white, 1.1% black or African-American, 1.0% Chinese, 1.2% other Asian, 1.9% reporting two or more races and 2.0% Hispanic or Latino....
and shopping only at gourmet Italian shoppes(as revealed in "Meadowlands"). She is probably the person closest to truly understanding Tony Soprano. Over the years, Tony Soprano has been able to confide in Melfi many things that he has told no one else, not even his associates or his wife, Carmela
Carmela Soprano
Carmela Soprano née DeAngelis, played by Edie Falco, is a fictional character on the HBO TV series The Sopranos. She is the wife of Mafia boss Tony Soprano and the program's most prominent female character.-Character biography:...
. However, Melfi and Soprano have an unusual, on-again, off-again relationship
On-again, off-again relationship
An on-again, off-again relationship is a form of casual relationship, usually sexual, between two people. It is where the couple concerned do not see their discontinuous affair as an ongoing or formal relationship...
. He inwardly fears Melfi's prying into his life during their sessions, but he also fears the results of not dealing with the problem. As a result, she watches him go through frequent mood swings during their time together, sometimes acting playful, other times violent — sometimes acting responsive, other times being cold and distant. At times Tony also expresses frustration with the pace of his treatment and berates Melfi with short outbursts, when he feels she is not following his train of thought.
For her part, Melfi has tried hard to help Soprano as much as possible, half chalking it up to some sort of vicarious thrill of helping a gangster but also trying to resist the idea that she has romantic thoughts about the man — she wants to keep their relationship professional. Melfi, in addition, has an ongoing battle with alcoholism. While she resisted Soprano's constant advances, which have simultaneously attracted and appalled her, Soprano no longer wishes for their relationship to remain strictly professional, for he seems to see her as the one thing that he is unable to truly have and, while continuing to pursue her, also resents her for it.
Melfi's son, Jason LaPenna, has a recurring role in her life as he is her only child. Jason's father is her ex-husband, Richard LaPenna.
During Season 1, she is seen driving both a Jaguar XJ
Jaguar XJ
Jaguar XJ is the designation that has been used for a series of luxury saloon cars sold under the British Jaguar marque. The first XJ was launched in 1968 and the designation has been used for successive Jaguar flagship models since then. The original model was the last Jaguar saloon to have had...
and a Saab 900
Saab 900
The Saab 900 was a car produced by Saab Automobile from 1978 until 1998 in two generations. The first generation from 1978 to 1993 is known as the "classic"; the generation from 1994 to 1998 is known as the "new generation" ....
. In Seasons 2 and 3, she drives a Volvo S70
Volvo S70
The Volvo S70 is a mid-size luxury car produced by the Swedish automaker Volvo Cars from 1998 to 2000. The S70 was the saloon/sedan, and the similar V70 the estate/station wagon; they both represented mainly new styling and revised suspensions from the 1993 through 1997 Volvo 850...
.
On the run
During the power struggle for boss between Tony and Uncle Junior in Season 1, Junior informs Mikey PalmiceMikey Palmice
Michael "Mikey Grab Bag" Palmice , played by Al Sapienza, was a fictional character on the HBO TV series The Sopranos.-Plot details:Palmice starts out as a soldier in Corrado "Junior" Soprano's crew as his driver and bodyguard. After Jackie Aprile dies, Junior becomes boss, and Palmice is promoted...
that Tony is seeing a psychiatrist. This makes Junior, Mikey, and all other members of Junior's crew who were informed extremely angry and paranoid, for they fear Melfi could be potentially used as witness to testify in court against the activities of the DiMeo Crime Family
DiMeo Crime Family
The DiMeo crime family, later referred to as the Soprano crime family, is a fictional Mafia family from the HBO series The Sopranos. It is thought to be loosely based on the DeCavalcante crime family, a real New Jersey Mafia family....
. In the season 1 penultimate episode Isabella
Isabella
Isabella may refer to:* 210 Isabella, an asteroid* Isabella , an American hybrid grape variety* Isabelline or Isabella, a greyish-yellow or light buff colour* Isabella piercing, a female genital piercing- United States :...
, two hit men are sent by Junior and Mikey Palmice in attempt to assassinate Tony for supposedly giving mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
related information to Melfi; unfortunately for Junior and Mikey, the hit fails; One assailant is inadvertently killed by the other while trying to shoot Tony in his driver seat from the passenger side after Tony grabs the first assassins gun. Tony throws the other hit man off onto the road, not killing, but injuring him. Tony laughs ecstatically but has taken his eyes off the road long enough to crash his SUV into a parked car, knocking him unconscious. Tony later informs Melfi that his enemies are aware of their therapy sessions, and she must go into hiding to avoid getting killed until everything blows over. To save his own life and Melfi's, Junior's top lieutenants Mikey Palmice and Chucky Signore are subsequently killed, the latter by Tony himself. Junior himself is only saved by being arrested by the F.B.I. on racketeering charges. In the Season 2 premiere episode "Guy Walks Into a Psychiatrist's Office...", Melfi is shown doing business and living in a small, roadside motel in Wayne, New Jersey
Wayne, New Jersey
Wayne is a Township in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States, located less than from midtown Manhattan. As of the United States 2000 Census, the township had a total population of 54,069....
, telling her patients her office is being remodeled. After the last troublesome member of Junior's crew, Philly "Spoons" Parisi, is murdered, Tony informs Melfi that "it's over" and that she can go back to her normal life.
Rape incident
In the Season 3 episode "Employee of the MonthEmployee of the Month (The Sopranos episode)
"Employee of the Month" is the thirtieth episode of the HBO original series The Sopranos and the fourth of the show's third season. It was written by Robin Green and Mitchell Burgess, directed by John Patterson and originally aired on Sunday March 18, 2001....
", Melfi is walking alone through the parking garage to her car when she is attacked by a man. He grabs her from behind and, after she attempts escape and cries out for help, proceeds to drag her to the stairway of her building, where he violently rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
s her. He leaves her lying helpless in the stairway, crying.
At the hospital, her ex-husband, Richard arrives, glad that she is okay. Once he discovers the man who raped her also has an Italian surname, he begins to feel embarrassment for himself and the Italian people, indicating that rapists make Italians like him look bad. Melfi feels his reaction is ridiculous and irrelevant. Although her rapist is arrested, he is subsequently released because of an improper procedure performed by police. This infuriates Melfi, in shock that he was released. She comments to her psychiatrist and colleague Dr. Elliot Kupferberg, "I could have that asshole squashed like a bug," meaning that she could have Tony arrange for the rapist to be killed. More shock comes when Melfi is in the fast food restaurant where the rapist works. She sees his smiling picture on the wall as Employee of the Month
Employee of the Month
Employee of the Month may refer to:* A business award given to employees of a particular business on a monthly basis; a popular tradition in the United States* Employee of the Month...
(hence the episode title). She is tempted to tell Tony what happened but is torn between wanting to see her rapist punished and not wishing to involve herself in Tony's world. During her second session with Tony after the rape, Melfi is overcome by her inner conflict and breaks down. When Tony attempts to console her and asks "Do you want to say something?", she regains her composure and responds, "No."
Seeking therapy
Melfi also sees a psychiatrist and colleague, Dr. Elliot Kupferberg (played by Peter BogdanovichPeter Bogdanovich
Peter Bogdanovich is an American film historian, director, writer, actor, producer, and critic. He was part of the wave of "New Hollywood" directors, which included William Friedkin, Brian De Palma, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, Michael Cimino, and Francis Ford Coppola...
), on a regular basis. In "The Second Coming,"
The Second Coming (The Sopranos episode)
"The Second Coming" is the nineteenth episode of the sixth season and eighty-fourth episode overall of the HBO television drama series The Sopranos. The sixth season was broadcast in two parts; it is the seventh episode of the second part of the season. It was written by executive producer Terence...
he tells her that a recent study has shown that talk therapy may only help a sociopath become more sociopathic. Elliot has commented that treating Tony Soprano gives her a "vicarious thrill".
Relationship ends permanently
Despite several failed attempts by both Melfi and Tony to end their therapy sessions, a dinner party Melfi attends with colleagues, during the penultimate episode of the series ("The Blue CometThe Blue Comet
"The Blue Comet" is the twentieth episode of the sixth season of the HBO television drama series The Sopranos and eighty-fifth episode overall. It is the eighth episode of the second part of the sixth season, which was broadcast in two separate batches and the show's penultimate episode...
"), breaks the balance. Dr. Elliot Kupferberg mentions a study that found therapy is a failure with sociopathic people, and goes on to reveal to the other guests that Melfi is treating Tony Soprano, which angers Melfi. Following the discussion, Melfi reads the article, which states that therapy can sometimes justify the criminal acts of a sociopath or criminal. She begins to realize that perhaps treating Tony has been useless and has aided his criminal lifestyle.
At the next therapy session, Dr. Melfi scolds Tony, for she has seen him ripping out a page from a magazine. Melfi then proceeds to attack Tony throughout their session, mainly firing sarcastic comments whilst he discusses his recent problems. As the session continues, she offers to refer Tony to another doctor, leaving him somewhat confused. Finally, Melfi tells Tony that she cannot help him, saying that, due to his current family crisis, she does not want to waste his time. Tony gets up and leaves the room as Melfi follows him back to the waiting room. Tony then takes out the folded-up steak recipe page out of his pocket, unfolds it, and gently and sarcastically places it back inside the magazine from which it came. Melfi then shuts the door, seemingly ending her professional relationship with Tony Soprano once and for all.