Latest 'Sopranos' turn drives the tragedy home
Warning: This story reveals an important plot twist from last Sunday's episode of "The Sopranos."
We knew it was coming all season long, but, like Adriana herself, we clung to our denial. Maybe, just maybe, she'd find freedom from the mob, and she and her beloved "Chris-tah-fuh" would be able to live out their literary fantasy? But, alas, our gum-chewing girl got as close to the Witness Protection Program as Pussy Bompensiero, another rat who got whacked. Silvio took her on a last-chance power drive down the road to nowhere.
On Sunday night, in a masterful episode near the end of what has been a masterful season, "The Sopranos" finally killed off its most endearing character, Jersey girl Adriana La Cerva, played by Drea de Matteo. It was an excruciating hour to watch, as we hoped against hope for the FBI informant, and it was a testament to the episode's writer and director -- Terence Winter and Tim Van Patten, respectively -- that they could make such an inevitable and predictable act so compelling. The dreadful moment when Silvio pulls his screaming victim out of the car, spitting an expletive at her, then shooting her as the camera cuts to the sky, kept this "Sopranos" fan tossing and turning all night. We didn't need to see her blood to feel the horror.
The episode also created a gnawing tension between the peaceful brown woods of New Jersey and the growing awareness that Adriana would not be spared, that she was a "dead man walking." Some viewers knew she was doomed the moment Tony called her to say Christopher had attempted suicide, in order to lure her onto the road with Silvio; after all, when these guys trek into nature, whether it's the forest or the sea, they often return minus one. But optimistic viewers thought she'd already escaped death, since Christopher let go of her throat after almost strangling her to death.
One of the ironies of this plot line is that Adriana has been a sweetly loyal member of the extended Soprano family. A little thick and a lot naive, she stood by Christopher when he suffered life-threatening injuries, she was joyous when he got "made," and she worked to give the feds only the most useless information. She even defended Christopher to the FBI after he threw her out of the apartment by the hair because of a rumored liaison with Tony. "If it would have been Christopher alone in a car with another woman," she said, "I would've killed him." She hardly seemed like a Soprano enemy, and watching her get wiped out was like watching a butterfly in a hurricane. It will be interesting to see how her loss affects the others in the season finale, on June 6.
The script's early nod to Steve Van Zandt, the Bruce Springsteen bandmate who plays Silvio, was a clue he'd be playing a key role in the hour. Christopher explains why he's late for a meeting by using a Springsteen quote: "The highway was jammed with broken heroes on a last-chance power drive." Later, Van Zandt has what may be his most memorable moment in the series so far, as the frowning Silvio kills Adriana with a malice we tend to underestimate in him. Sometimes on "The Sopranos" it's easy to forget that, like the rest of these guys, as well as Carmela, who is cutting her own deals, he is quite ruthless.
Matthew Gilbert can be reached at gilbert@globe.com.
