‘Sopranos’ Star Lorraine Bracco Was “Upset” Over Dr. Melfi’s Uncharacteristic Show Exit

Lorraine Bracco was thoroughly unhappy with the way her iconic character departed The Sopranos in the show’s final season.

During a recent visit to Talking Sopranos, the popular podcast hosted by show alums Michael Imperioli and Steve Schirripa, the actress — who starred as therapist Dr. Jennifer Melfi — revealed her disappointment with her final scene.

In the classic HBO show’s penultimate episode, “The Blue Comet,” Melfi while at a dinner party with colleagues is made aware of a study that claims sociopaths take advantage of talk therapy. Looking into the matter on her own, Melfi is convinced of the study and, in the character’s final appearance, abruptly cuts ties with Tony (James Gandolfini) during their next session without an explanation.

Bracco told Imperioli and Schirripa she always felt short-changed by the uncharacteristic departure.

“I remember being upset [with] the direction that David [Chase] was bringing Melfi,” she said. “I just felt like he wanted me to get rid of [Tony]. I felt that he did it in a very abrupt way. I don’t think that she should have done it that way. I would have liked for it to have been more meaningful. I think she cared for Tony. Even though he was a fuck-up and he was never going to really straighten out. But I think she really cared for him. You don’t spend seven years with someone and [then] discard them. I felt bad about that.”

Bracco, whose Dr. Melfi first appears in the pilot, told the podcast she would have rather Tony told her off in defense when confronted with the study.

“Wouldn’t that have been great for him to have said that to her? ‘Fuck you. I am doing what I am doing. I don’t care what you say to me. I don’t care morally where you want to guide me.’ I think that would have been powerful,” Bracco said.

The actress also noted a fun little factoid about a request she made to show creator Chase. “I begged David to play my husband,” she said. “I begged him. He said no. He was too busy writing, editing and blah blah blah.”

Watch the full episode below.