Letters to the Editor
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Doomed Therapy
How interesting that so many of us heard "I did it" instead of "I get it," when (upon review) it seems clear that he said "get," not "did." That so many of us misheard it seems to say something about our reactions to Chris' death (and all the deaths that came before it, especially Adriana's) -- on some level we want to see someone take responsibility for it. We are pained just watching the denial descend once more. And I do think denial is the right word -- Tony may not be denying the facts of the situation to himself, but he sure as hell is denying the emotional and moral reality that follows from those facts.
As for the issue of the effectiveness of therapy, I agree that part of what we are learning is that evil is not something that can be cured, at least not unless the person who has chosen to do evil chooses to truly face that evil, process it, and risk everything to change. That Tony cannot tell Melfi what really happened speaks to the severe limitations he has imposed on the therapeutic process in order to protect what he can't stand to lose: his legal freedom and his wealth. Time after time, the two of them are stuck talking around the issue. They can't really explore the core of Tony's ongoing pain (which is his own actions, not the actions of his Narcissistic mother or Sociopathic father), so Tony remains in that pain and feels rage at his therapist for not showing him a magical shortcut.
I actually think that the therapist Carmella saw ever-so-briefly, who told her bluntly that she was living off of blood money and could never free herself of guilt until she gave it all up to redeem herself, was actually the better therapist. He was direct, bluntly honest, and challenged her to make the tough choices necessary to truly find peace and freedom. He was not willing to lie to her about the path she would have to take if she wanted therapy to work for her. Melfi has chosen instead to assist Tony in his game of denial. She knows it, and Tony knows it. Their work has been nothing but a waiting game and now they are both running out of patience, realizing that the thing they are waiting for -- Tony's break into honesty -- will never ever come.